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ARMY MEDICAL  LIBRARY

         WASHINGTON

             Founded 1836
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Number -h?-^7__(T _/ _^_
            Form 113c, W. D., S. G. O.
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I 
THE
HARBINGER OF  HEALTH
CONTAINTISra
MEDICAL PRESCRIPTIONS
FOR THE
HUMAN BODY AND MIND.,
ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS.
Complete in One Volume.
Health is the first condition of Happiness.
The Angela help those who help themselves.
NINTH THOUSAND.
          BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY BELA MARSH,
       14 Bromfield Street. J^9f?k
            1868.    /§»      %^

                       usmnY 
Anwex
WBC
             Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861,

                 BY  ANDREW JACKSON  DAVIS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern
                          District of New York. 
           PREFATORY  QUESTIONINGS,

    The author would confer a few moments with  every one
 who  proposes to  take refuge in this Harbinger of Health
 The present work is, perhaps, a vestibule to some new temple
 of life, health, and happiness.   It is, however, deemed judicious
 to ask and answer a  few practical  questions in the presence of
 the reader, so that the aims and objects  of this volume may be
 fully understood :
    Question. What is the chief end of the earthly life of man ?
    Answer. To individualize his spirit, and prepare it for tho
 Summer Land.
    Q. What is the first condition of such individualization and preparation ?
    A. Physical  health.
    Q. In what does physical health consist ?
    A. In  symmetry of development, energy of Will, harmony
 of function, and  bodily purity.
    Q. Hew can these results be obtained ?
    A. First, by inheriting a sound constitution ; second, by
 obeying the law  of temperance in regard to foods and drinks ;
 third, by giving  free play and equal exercise  to the muscular
 system ; fourth,  by exerting the Will-power to keep the pas-
 sions in  subjection;  fifth and lastly, by  sleeping  and working
and  living  in accordance with the  requirements of Nature's
Laws. 
4               PREFATORY  QUESTIONINGS.
    Q. What are the penalties of disobedience ?
    A. Angular development, physical weakness,  pains,  aches,
discord, decrepitude, and disgust.
    Q. What is this condition called ?
    A. It is called Disease.
    Q. What are the physical and mental consequences of Disease?
    A. Bodily unhappiness and mental misery.
    Q In what does Disease consist ?
    A. In an excess, misplacement, or deficiency.
    Q. How can an excess be overcome ?
    A. By supplying the deficiency of some unfulfilled want.
    Q. What is the first condition of restoration ?
    A. Purification of both the skin and the digestive system.
    Q. How can these ends be accomplished ?
    A. By thoroughly washing the body and  lightly anointing
the entire cuticle ;  the second result may be obtained by fasting
for several days.
    Q What is the immediate cause of Disease ?
    A. Exhaustion of the vital forces (i. e., the spiritual dynam
ics of the soul;)  also  excessive impurity, in  some particular
organ or fluid.
    Q. What are the most prominent causes of such exhaustion and impurity ?
    A. The  causes  in this country are, first, badly prepared food
and rapid  eating;  second, deficient or excessive exercise ;
third, uncleanness  of the skin ; lastly, unhealthy respiration.
    Q. What is the immediate cause of impurity ?
    A. The  retention of inappropriate matter  in the system.
    Q. Why is such foul matter retained ?
    A. Because of the ignorance or negligence of man.
    Q. What are the proper channels for the expulsion of foul matter ?
    A. The channels are six :  The skin, the nerves, the lungs,
the liver, the kidneys, and the bowels. 
PREFATORY  QUESTIONINGS.
5
    Q. What is the process of expelling the impure matter which produces
Disease ?
    A.  The process is called excretory, because the blood sends
off its feverish exhalations,  in the form of perspiration, through
the skin; the  mind sends off its surplus magnetism  and elec-
tricity, in the form of activity, through the nerves  ; the blood-
making organism sends off  its  poisonous smoke, in the form of
carbonic acid, through the  lungs ;  the fluids of the entire body
discharge their most acrid portion, in the form of urine, through
the kidneys  ; the entire organ-building mechanism expels its
broken-down material, its cinders and ashes, in the form of bile,
from the liver ; and lastly, the  inappropriate and refuse matter
of  the  whole  body is thrown  off  through the intestines.  It
therefore follows that, if any one of these  excretory processes
be neglected, or obstructed in any degree, the consequences are
physical derangements and some form of acute Disease.
    Q. What is an acute Disease ?
    A. It is  a sudden and violent effort of Nature to expel impu-
rities from the system.
    Q. What is a chronic Disease ?
    A. It is  a less violent and more tedious  effort to restore the
conditions of health.
    Q. What are the sources of nervous power and energy 1
    A. Healthy diet, pure air, ample  exercise, and a good
digestion.
    Q. What conditions are necessary to a good digestion 1
    A. Simple food, well masticated ; a clean skin,  and content-
ment of mind.
    Q. What is simple food?
    A. An admixture of healthy substances, not to  exceed three
solid articles, for one meal; and a very temperate use of butter,
salt, vinegar, sugar, pepper, tea, and coffee.
       1* 
6
PREFATORY  QUESTIONINGS.
      Q. What will produce mental contentment?
      A. A full and complete realization of the truths of the Har-
*  monial Philosophy.
      Q In what way may we obtain pure air in a sickly district or low country ?
      A. By  breathing habitually through the  nose,  with  the
  mouth  closed ; at night, hang a wet sheet or blanket near  the
  open window of the sleeping apartment.
      Q. What is the effect upon the air of breathing it through the nose ?
      A. Its  temperature is immediately raised, which  acts upon
  impure air  just  as  boiling acts upon impure water, thus pre-
  paring the  air for the uses of the lungs.   The wet sheet unloads
  the  air of its diseasing miasm, such as carbonic acid and vari-
  ous  animal  emanations, by which  the lungs are depressed and
  the  vital system poisoned.
      Q. Should the common air always enter the lungs through the nose ?
      A. Yes^ unless while  taking violent  exercise, such as run-
  ning and jumping, when  the  heat  of the mouth  and throat is
  sufficient to purify and prepare the  air for the lungs.  It should
  be remembered that the nose is to  the lungs what the mouth is
  to the stomach.  As you would not think of swallowing  food
  unmasticated, so  you should not permit yourself to  inhale air
  unpurified.   The teeth and mouth, with their juices, accomplish
  the  one ; and the nose,   with its  various compartments and
  fluids, performs the other.
      Q. Besides air, what is the next  most important agent of health ?
      A. The  agent of life and health, next to air, is water,
      Q. What is the evidence that water is thus important ?
      A. It completely pervades  the  earth outside of man, and
  forms over four-fifths of his physical constitution ; it forms more
  than ninety per  centum  of his blood ;  is absorbed by every
  membrane  in his body ;  is the element on which all  the parti-
  cles float from part to part; is essential to all digestion, secre-
  tion, breathing, perspiration, and purification. 
PREFATORY QUESTIONINGS.               7
    Q. Is water the best medioine in a case of Disease ?
    A. The  human body is  never healed by any one agent or
element.  This book will impart a correct knowledge of the
best general treatment  for diseased conditions.
    Q.  Is it possible to live in this world entirely free from bodily ailments ?
    A. No.   The  most  careful and  obedient person will not
always escape slight functional disturbances.
    Q. Why is this so  ?
    A. Because the globe is yet young, and untamed or uncul-
tivated.   Its water,  soils, plants, animals, and  air,  are  not yet
sufficiently  refined and purified to prevent disease.
    Q. Will the time ever come on earth when Disease shall be no more ?
    A. Yes. And even " Death " will  one day be swallowed
up in victory.
    Q. How will this  be possible ?
    A. There will be no  " Disease " when the globe shall have
become  perfectly subdued and gardenized by man  ; and  there
will  be  " no Death "  when the  earth's inhabitants shall per-
fectly realize the  nearness of the Summer Land.
    Q. What  is the common object of life?
    A. Happiness.
    Q. Why are not more persons happy ?
    A. Because the  mass of mankind err as to the true means
of happiness.
    Q. What are the true means of happiness ?
    A. This all-important question  is  earnestly analyzed, and,
 we trust, philosophically answered, in  the four hundred and
 twenty pages  which  compose this volume.  And  to  the vast
 Brotherhood of mankind, therefore, the contents of this book are
 fraternally  dedicated by                      The Author.
    New York, October 15th, 1861. 
 
CHAPTER  I.
      THE  PEARLY  GATES  OF SCIENCE,

   Nature's harmonious, eternal heart, is incessantly throbbing
with the  almighty  energy of omnipotent  principles.  Sweetly
bloom the progressive truths and immortal beauties of the Infi-
nite.  They come gracefully out from their invisible sanctuary,
and shine steadily and lovingly into the gloomy abysses of igno-
rance.
  As a brief definition, we may say that Science is a knowledge
of Facts  and Forces.  What is  Art, then, but the intellectual
and manual power to control such forces  for  the gratification
and benefit of mankind ?   There is a plain difference between
Art and Science.   The latter is the embodiment of intellectual
discoveries ; the former is the archangel which puts theory into
practice,  for the world's  permanent good.
   If Science is the glory of mind, then Art  is  its crown  of
immortality.  But mankind are  admonished to travel for forty
years in the wilderness of facts not  only, but  to  traverse and
reverse their contemplations of  the Universe forever,  in  quest
of the countless treasures  which lie within the bosom  of the
Summer  Land.   When the pilgrim arrives at the goal of Scien-
tific Knowledge, no matter what path he may have pursued, the
angels bring forth and place upon his brow a  royal diadem, in
these days called •' Common Sense ! " 
10            THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
   Such a mind feels that Facts are the temporary, yet neces-
sary, stepping-stones of individual progress.   Facts are the h-ard
currency of the  intellect.  They  systematize its operations,
demolish its flickering superstitions, and promote the refining
and useful Arts.
   Those who would attend the Academy of right-thinking must
take primary lessons at the feet of Scientific truths.  Facts  in
geology, facts in chemistry, facts in physiology, facts in history,
facts in mechanism, facts in spiritualism—facts, facts, from and
of every side in the rolling Universe—are the first firm friends
of  Common  Sense, and  the  most trustworthy intercessors
between mind and matter.  Genius and transcendent talents,
even reason and intuition, are next to impossible, except through
obedience to the gospel of Facts.
   But the lesson  of Facts is impressive and startling  in
its  sublimity.  This lessons  is,  that  facts are  never  finali-
ties !   They will let you  dogmatize only  for  a brief season.
They neither begin nor terminate in and of  themselves.  They
crop out from a hidden soil, and jut over into some  invisible
world.   To the philosopher they are but palpable shadows thrown
upon  the  soaring mountains of thought.   They indicate  the
existence of  invisible  substances.   They  send  divinest dis-
patches to every mind, saying : " Seek  further,  if thou wouldst
behold the Principles of the Infinite."
   Excelsior!  is  the song  of every fact.   Beauteous flower-
facts  bedeck  the far-spreading prairies  of vision.  Butr the
fire-chemist can banish them  into the boundless ocean of impon-
derables.   These imponderables  invite you  " still  higher"
among the impersonals.   These impersonals, which  only the
exquisite sense of intuition can appreciate, are the  Principles
of Nature.  But  it  is just as  true  to say that they are the
Will-powers of Father God. 
THE PEARLY GATES OF SCIENCE.           11
   Thus Facts lead away into Principles, which are the rest and
delight  of the harmonious mind.  We are,  therefore, admon-
ished to observe and follow the lead of Scientific Facts.   Men
should teach their children to know some  facts not traditional,
but which are absolutely and unequivocally Scientific.  Other-
wise the mind is chaotic, confused, uncertain, and exposed to
the epidemical influence of priests and superstition.   Ministers
who believe only in the facts of tradition—who refuse the liv-
ing facts of a  living  Age—are  certain to take  possession of
minds not fortified with absolute Facts.  The drifting affections
of the ignorant are wafted by every wind of doctrine.  A few
well-ascertained and positive facts in Magnetism, for  instance,
have proved " an anchor to the  soul, both  sure  and  steadfast;''
while a neighboring bark has been driven by the gusty breath-
ings of a prayer-meeting upon the rocks of Bigotry and Despair.
    The priest-paralyzed Galileo was not killed, because a shield
of facts hung between  him and  his persecutors.   The Alpine
storms of priestcraft could not drive  him ashore.  His  mind
stood firmly upon a  foundation  of  astronomic  facts,  and amid
the deafening thunders of the  Vatican he cried—" the  world
does move ! "   In like manner we may record the  progressive
development of all Sciences and Arts, as also of their masters.
The burning  breath  of an hundred theological Saharas  could
not put out the  eyes of Newton.   Neither  did the  world  of
frowning superstition weaken  the  energies  of Spinoza, Kant,
Gall, Spurzheim, Combe, and more familiar minds,  who have
wrought so bravely for the advancement of common sense and
mankind.
   Put a few positive Facts before your child's mind, not  dryly
and severely,  as  though each fact was  a  "stubborn thing,"  fit
only for headstrong boys, but gently teach your child facts and
truths of the  world in which we live, and thus fortify the reason 
VI
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
ing powers against the  assaults of weakness  and superstition.
Facts are foundation stones  in  the  crystal  palace  of human
knowledge.  But, remember, the foundation—below the facts
and  temple  of  Progress—is  composed of Eternal Principles.
Facts are but  the  incarnations  of these immortal Verities.
Yet it is ordained, in the  system of moral  and intellectual
growth, that each mind shall pass through the pearly gates of
Science.
    But human ignorance  is demoniac darkness of the blackest
degree—reflecting none of the rays of wisdom—hence it does
not comprehend  the sublime import of truth.  To  the dull-
minded man, the physical world seemeth dull and  dirty—no
light is flowing  for him from every well-spring  of wisdom, in
field and forest—and yet no  murmurings, no evil  voices, no
sobbing  complaints, ever break from Nature's seemingly  ne-
glected Soul.  But  the miserable millions of earth  groan and
weep—and why ?  Not because they have faithfully labored in
the vineyards of Progress, and  failed to realize great  crops
therefor, but because  they  erringly have chosen the delusive
slumbers of idleness and ignorance.   They have  not accepted
of the "golden key to  ope the palace of Eternity"—have  not
sought to comprehend  the  developments of endlessly progres-
sive principles—but have, instead,  dwelt idly and willfully in
the mysterious  shadows of mental blindness  and bigotry.  Say
to the world, in  tones as mighty as  the thundering voice of
earthquakes, that " Salvation from all disease and  discords__
physical, social, political,  and spiritual—is possible only by and
through personal obedience to every known requirement of the
law of love and justice,"  and how many of those who believe in
salvation by and through  the blood and sufferings  of  an ancient
Martyr, would respond  " Amen " ?   Only those would accept of
such terms who wisely love truth and justice.  All the idle  and 
THE PEARLY GATES OF  SCIENCE.          13
morally ignorant would abide with the wrongly-educated of the
churches, and thus help swell the  murky rivers of bigotry and
regressive conservatism.
    But the divine secrets of Nature will out!  Herbs, shrubs,
and trees, do not more naturally grow outside the churches than
do the Arts, Sciences, and Philosophies flourish  independently
of ordained priests.  The  eternal momentum of  progressive
truth forces light through what appear to be impenetrable moun-
tains of  ignorance.  As cultivation subdued the savageness and
consequent crabbedness of the tiny wild apple, making it one of
the most umbrageous  growths of our orchards, and almost the
finest fruit in this latitude, so will the silent workings of pro-
gressive  truth  unfold  the   sourest tempers  into  springs  of
sweetness, fertilize the germs of beauty in the ugliest  bosoms,
adorn with Reason the flat, low brow  of ignorance or misfor-
tune, and  convert the primitive instincts  of crude souls into
flowering and fragrant plants of Intuition.
    Yesterday  we heard bitter  anathemas and  heart-stricken
weepings, because the ruthless hand of some headstrong Reform-
er had demolished  sacred  idols  and overthrown moss-covered
cathedrals ; but to-day, as we walked that way  in deepest medi-
tation, we heard  songs of gladness and shouts  of enthusiasm,
because of joys unspeakable, which had taken possession of the
spiritually unfolded and free!  The flowing and swelling anthem
written  by the  Poet Dana, was the grandest'

                            "0 Listen, man!
              A voice within us speaks that startling word,
              Man ! thou shalt never die!  Celestial voices
             Hymn it to our souls; according harps
              By angel fingers touched, when the mild stars
              Of morning sang together, sound forth still
              The song  of our great Immortality.
              Thick clustering orbs, and this our fair domain,
      2 
14              THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
             The tall dark mountains and the deep toned seas;
             Join in this solemn universal song.
             0 listen ye, our spirits! drink it i
             From all the air!  "lis in the gentle moonlight;
             'Tis floating midst Day's setting glories; Night,
             Wrapt in her sable robe, with silent step
             Comes to our bed and breathes it in our ears.
             Night and the Dawn, bright Day and thoughtful Eve:
             All time, all bounds, the limitless expanse,
             As one vast mystic instrument, are touched
             By an unseen living hand, and conscious chords
             Quiver with joy in this great jubilee.
             ------The dying hear it, and as sounds of earth
             Grow dull and distant, wake their passing souls
             To mingle in this heavenly harmony."
   The prospective triumph  of knowledge over  ignorance,  of
wisdom  over folly, of Harmonial  Philosophy over  Discordant
Theology,  seems  universal  and complete.   Substantially built
temples of attractive industry, the thoroughly  organized homes
of happiness  and  distributive justice,  will occupy acres  now
covered by massive structures of  mythology and  bigoted super-
stition !  The social wilderness of  vice and misery will become
a landscape of  life  and  loveliness unsurpassed.   Eternal  Use
and  its  spirit  bride, Beauty, will dwell in  every habitation.
Birds and  animals, no longer  fearing, will  love their lord and
master ;  and instead of the old heavens of storm-clouds,  and the
old earth of  thorns and thistles, " all things shall be changed."
    Who, let us now  ask, can resist  the aggressive  march of
truth ?   What power do  you know of, either in Church or State,
that can roll back upon Nature's heart the outward flowing tides
of wisdom ?  Who can lacerate and  cripple the  beautiful feet
of the Arts  and  Sciences ?   Do  you  fear ?   " 0,  ye of little
faith!"  Do  you not see  the majesty  of truth?   Surely, the
churches will float upon  the deluge of eternal principles that is
to come !  La the Arts  and Sciences flow  forward ;  the " gates 
THE PEARLY GATES  OF SCIENCE.          15
of hell " (discord and ignorance) " shall not prevail against them."
Priesthoods must  eventually  disappear beneath the sun-flashes
of justice and truth.
  Truth is incessantly speaking from the inner temple of human
life.  Ignorance is  the only misfortune and mystery; for that
which is perfectly known is neither hurtful nor mysterious.  If
a strong man  be ignorant of beauty, and  in the haste of his
blood, his  tongue knoweth  no emphatic language  suitable  to
ears refined, he belches  forth  the words  of profanity—even in
such  a mind the truth will  out; so the  ways  of God  are not
" past finding out."   In a fine sense, He is  " as full, as perfect,
in hair as heart."   His ways come out daily, hourly, momenta-
rily—in the bright and  black, in the wise  and foolish, in the
ugly and beautiful, upon great mountains, and in all the valleys,
in all human history, and upon every star in the bending firma-
nent—and thus He is " All in All! "
    Will not error and delusion vanish in proportion to the ap-
proach of truth and reason ?  It is our great happiness to believe
that the inharmonious and conflicting elements of society will one
day obey the commandment, "Peace, be still." This is the voice
of the Eternal Spirit.  It attaineth utterance through the mouth
of every inspired soul, who loveth justice and harmony between
man and man.  The good-minded everywhere, who fill high sta-
tions  in Church and State, will, in due time, join the army of the
Free !  There is no freedom outside of truth.
    Absurd and vain is the attempt of bigots to stay the advance-
ment  of eternal principles.  Truth will out!  God is absolute
Truth, and Nature is absolute Truth ; and one is no more divine
and eternal than the other ; both are unchangeable and irresisti-
ble.   Behold! ye faithless ones of earth, the world of mind  is
in energetic motion.  Its life is throbbing and yearning for har-
monious and  peaceful  expression.  The  whole  heavens are 
16              THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.

teeming and beaming with spiritual intelligences.  They must
speak, and their voices will  be heard (0, how  gladly!) by the
listening ear of the millions.   But the very proud, the noble of
earth, the so-called  educated—how  slow,  how  conceited, how
large with emptiness, how incapacitated for the simple  truths
of wisdom!
   But to reach the thronging multitudes  of every country, to
educate the masses in the natural  ways  of spiritual truth, to
convert the sectarian churches, to simplify and elevate the sys-
tems and principles of government—what an  easy task, indeed,
when man's reason begins fully to  realize the true  philosophy
ol Nature and destiny.
   We look with joy unspeakable for  the  triumph  of Science
over silliness; of Reason over ignorance, which holds itd ses-
sions of superstition in  every land.  When  untrammeled and
reverent Reason shall sweep the boundless horizon of Progress
—just as the  telescope  describes the measureless abysses of
starry worlds—then will  astounding discoveries be made  in all
the kingdoms of Nature.   Labor-saving machines will bring at
once relief to muscle and  growth to mind.   Then will mankind's
earthly condition, both physical and mental, be ameliorated and
improved.  And the paths of progress will  not lead, as now,
through gloomy forests of error and bloodshed; but, instead.
each soul will be attracted righteously by the celestial rays of
eternal Truth.  " Truth is mighty, and will prevail!" 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF  DISEASE.           17
                    CHAPTER  II.

         THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF DISEASE.

    The  Philosophy of Disease is given in the first  volume of
the Harmonial series.  We are not fond of re-writing our posi-
tions on  any subject; yet it may be  profitable to make  a new
statement of a momentous question.   Judging from the number
and singularity of the letters we have recently received, a large
proportion from several well-educated physicians, we conclude
that, even at this  late day, the Harmonial Philosophy of disease
is not very  well understood.  For  the  purpose  of further
explaining our positions, and particularly to erect a standard, or
standpoint, from which to analyze the different theories of popu-
lar schools, we proceed to  define our  philosophy  of disease.
We would invite the candid-minded, whether physicians or not,
to give the following statements more than a passing perusal.
   The human body is  constructed double throughout.  Binary
compositions, both solid and fluid, are everywhere visible.  The
right and the left, the perfect  adaptation of structures exactly
opposite  and dissimilar in function, are facts within every man's
observation.
  Now, let it be observed, each operation within the human
body occurs upon the same general plan.  Reciprocal actions
are  perfectly exhibited in every part.  The reciprocal  opera-
tions are  attended with periodical changes.   These periodical
    2* 
18
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 changes are attended with either an increased or else a dimin-
 ished degree of temperature.  This temperature exert3 one  of
 two influences : first, it either agrees with and promotes healthy
 conditions, or it does not.  If the  bodily temperature does not
 accord  with that balanced state  which we  term "Health," the
 result is a change among the atomic motions  of the parts most
 affected by the disturbance ;  and the next, or succeeding effect,
 is either too much or too little heat (or vital fire) in the assailed
 organs  or functions.  If too much heat exists  in a particular
 part, then the atoms of  that part are  in too rapid motion for
 health,  and the first development  is an " inflammation."  The
 part or  parts are "on fire;"  while in some part or parts, the
 atomic motions are  at the same time too slow, to a  correspond-
 ing extent, and the  result in those  localities is the development
 of a " chill"—all because  those departments are deprived  of
 their appropriate quantity of the  vital  fire, which  is the soul
principle,  or rather  the  ultimate organization of the  immortal
 and far  more interior spirit.

       Extreme                              Extreme
     CHILL.---HEALTH.---F EVER.
       Negative.                              Positive.

   Of course, as you readily comprehend, no substance is moved
 without being first actuated by some adequate principle or force.
 Wherefore let the doctrine be established  that, whenever the'
 body is  disturbed  from its  center of gravity,  whenever  it  is
 made to wabble in its orbit, or caused to vibrate in  the  sphere
 of life, the producing causative power may be traced primarily
 to that soul-principle, which animates  the  physical temple, and
which clothes the  mind, spirit,  or understanding—in shortest
word, the  whole interior individualized MAN. 
THE PHILOSOPHY  OF DISEASE.
19
                 I.  ORIGIN OF DISEASE.
   All diseases, therefore, are referable, as to  their  origin, to
tho soul principle.  The moving principle  is first disturbed;
then, in the lower scale, the material parts take on a correspond-
ing disturbance.   Suppose, for example, you  absorb  a dose of
arsenic.  This mineral is a deadly poison.  But would it poison
a stone jug ?  Put the portion  of poison down a  leaden  pipe,
instead of consigning it to your  stomach, would the pipe experi-
ence death by arsenic ?  The question answers itself.   But why
is the_ pipe not poisoned ?  Because, we reply, the lead is not
animated by  a principle that can  be thus disturbed.  Man's
dead body could not be poisoned by calomel, nor  awakened  by
the thunders of a nation's artillery, because  the  soul-principle
is not within it.
    Matter will not respond intelligently to  any  appeal, neither
will it,  separated  from the vital intelligence,  generate either
pain or pleasure.   Therefore, it is the hight of absurdity to ex-
pect physical results to follow the lead of mere material bodies.
Bodies without souls are dead.   If you drink a glass of brandy,
the soul-principle  is first disturbed by  the spirit within the
fluid ; then, as a natural and inevitable sequence, the body itself,
with its  varied  parts  and functions,  receives a record of the
disturbance ;  and the magnitude of such  disturbance  is always
proportional to the extent to which the soul-principle  is thrown
from its accustomed equilibrium.  A cup of tea or of coffee, a
dinner of beefsteak, and the like, exert each a direct influence
on the animating principle to begin  with  ; and then the condi-
tion of the physical organs and functions,  subsequently, will
ever be an exact  index of the kind and extent of  influence that
was generated by and within the principle. 
20            THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
           II.  PERIODICITY OF  DISEASE.
   By virtue and in pursuance of the soul-principle, which  is
composed of positive and negative attributes, all  disturbances
have ups and downs, or  seasons  of exacerbation  and severity,
followed by corresponding periods of mildness and diminution.
There is a perfect system  of vibration between  two opposite
points, or rather a swinging of the  health-pendulum from one
extreme to the other; and the number of changes in the atoms
of the body may be mathematically determined by the velocity
of the vibration.  Suppose, for illustration, you drink a  bowl of
strong coffee.  The soul-principle will  very  rapidly respond to
the spirit within the beverage.  Without detailing the chemical
facts in the premises, we will mark the effect upon the  gangli-
onic centers, and in the  throbbings  of  the heart.   The  ganglia
are larger, and the pulse beats faster than before you imbibe the
coffee.  This condition is what we term the exacerbation—the
hight of the action—the maximum state of the disturbance.
But reaction will, sooner or later, succeed to a corresponding
degree ; when the condition of the body will fall  as far below
the sphere of Health as the  previous  physiological operations
were exalted too far above  it.  Both disturbances  are diseases,
or rather they tend  to  establish  and  promote those fictitious
soul-alterations which invalidate the integrity of the vital ener-
gies, and thereby generate  the conditions of disease.
    The importance of this periodicity in  disease  is not likely
to be  apprehended  without  due reflection.   Take  experience
for your teacher, try  this philosophy  by its  lessons,  and see
whether we do not report Nature faithfully.
    Say, to  begin with, you  are  in a  perfect state of bodily
health.  You do not think of your body, either while resting
or working.   It is  without pain and fatigue.  The river of en-
ergy flows over rocks or along grassy  margins,  all the  same 
THE PHILOSOPHY  OF DISEASE.
21
without awakening bodily ills, or allaying pains you do not pos-
sess.  But your system is perfectly and mathematically periodical
during all this life of health.  Observe ;  Are you not sleepy at
a particular hour of the  evening, and  do  you not  arouse from
slumber  at  a particular hour on  the  subsequent morning?
Does  not your healthy appetite  call for food, day by day,  at a
certain never-varying notch in the sun-dial 1  All the natural
functions go forward with the beautiful regularity and precision
of the completest clock-work.  If you till the  soil, there  is a
particular portion of the day which  contributes  more to your
labors than all other portions.  You can work more, easier, and
better, at some special section  of the diurnal  circle.  If this
time came  on yesterday  at 11 o'clock, then to-day at that hour,
you will feel similarly inclined and energetic.  Or,  suppose you
should retire from your  work at 10 o'clock to-day, and then en-
gage  in quiet conversation till dinner-time ; the  chances  are
that, if you watch your sensations, you will  feel disinclined to
continue your labor at  precisely  the same hour to-morrow.
A close observer will fully indorse these affirmations.
  Again: Suppose  you indulged last  night in some delightful
amusement, the  excess  of which brings weariness upon you
through all the early hours  of to-day, the  natural effect  will
nevertheless be to cause  you to realize an undefinable  wish for
a repetition of the same  indulgence to-night  at about the same
hour.   On this principle of periodicity, you will observe strong-
minded men giving themselves  in utter  abandon to the wine
cup, to  reckless intemperance, and voluptuous debauchery, at
particular parts of the year or month,  while  the same men are
examples of sobriety and good citizenship at almost all other
periods.  Children  wish to  play periodically ; that is, at the
same hour  every day.   Artists are inspired at some  marked
portion of the twenty-four hours.  Each mind chooses  its  own
period, either day or night, and is influenced  accordingly. 
22             THE HARBINGER  OF  HEALTH.
   Nature is thus full of physiological and psychological antith-
eses.  She brings the rhetoric of Health before the imagination
of her children in no other way.   It is natural for rhetoricians
to point an argument with a brilliant antithesis; such as aversion,
as opposed to desire; past, as the extreme other end of future ;
identity, as the opposite of contrariety; truth, as the antagonist
of error ; and so, in physiology, we use inspiration and  expira-
tion,  endosmosis  and exosmosis, secretion and  excretion, action
and repose, chill and fever, because it is the instinct of reason to
look for the  counterpart, or  for the other end,  of that which is
felt or seen.
         III.  THE TREATMENT OF  DISEASE.
   In treating with disease, two things are to be kept in  mind :
first, the  fact that  all disturbances of the  physical structure
originate in the soul-principle; and second, that  the laws of
equilibrium make  it certain that  all  disturbances shall pass
periodically from one extreme to the other.
   Medicines,  therefore, are  appropriate only when they meet
the wants of the disturbed  principle—at the period when it is
struggling hardest  to restore the  material  parts  to their own
places in the  temple. To give medicine or magnetism when  the
soul-principle is  comparatively quiet—that is, when it is about
midway between  the two extremes—is exceedingly false to  the
requirements  of  either body or soul.   For  example : Suppose
you  ascertained  last night,  for the first, that  your lungs  are
covered  with " a cold."  That is a sufficient proof that you will
feel  the same thing more severely to night than at any time
during the day.   Therefore your soul-principle is not very much
disturbed, is  not struggling  vehemently to  expel the invader,
except at that particular period of the evening or night.  But
at the appointed hour, prompt and true as the  clock  on  the 
               THE PHILOSOPHY  OF  DISEASE.           23

mantle, your soul-energies summon all their available forces to
overthrow the enemy.   The Self-Healing principles exert their
wisdom and their power alike for the reproduction of harmonial
conditions.  But  suppose you—the  yet more  interior Man-
neglect to  " second the motion."  What then ?   Suppose  you,
either thoughtlessly or culpably, withhold your  encouragement!
Suppose you do not exert your Will to cheer on the struggling
soul in its gracious efforts to abolish the " cold," what will be
the consequence ?  Answer :  An increase of the original dis-
turbance, a deeper penetration of the enemy, a more hampered
condition of  the physiological functions, a more complete  over-
throw  of the soul energies.
   This is the biography of every case of chronic disease.   Con-
sumption,  dyspepsia,  &c,  are  generated in no  other way—
namely, by a disregard of the periods when the Self-Healing
Energies (the soul-principle) exert themselves for the re-estab-
lishment of  right physiological conditions.   Look  out in the
fields.   The  earth performs her functions periodically.   She
joyfully receives the prolifications of the sun every spring ; her
beautiful bosom enlarges  from month to month ;  the rivers of
life flow  through all her veins and arteries; she becomes preg-
nant with a million harvests ; they are born amid thunder, and
lightning, and storms ;  she then throws her autumnal and winter
garments upon her offspring, clasps  her myriad darlings yet
closer  to her bosom; then she  feeds  them lovingly till spring
returns with all its impassioned smiles, when she  again responds
to the engerminating  visitation  of the  sun  and the showers.
All  is periodical.   Night  and  day, seed time and harvest,
disease and health, reciprocating each the other's life.  Disease
is but the disturbance of the soul-principle.   But the effort at
equilibrium is made squarely to the law  of periodical changes.
And we hold  that  all true treatment  for the healing  of all 
24
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
diseased organs or parts will be governed  by the kind, period
and degree of effort which the soul is putting forth in the physi-
cal economy.  When you suffer most, the  Soul is then making
the strongest  effort in the  direction  of Health.  Of course,
therefore, your soul-principle is struggling less with the disease
whenever the disturbance  is least realized.  The middle state
is a  sort  of temporary health-period.   During  such a period
never take  either medicine  or  magnetism.  Be very still, or
else resume your occupation, but always  do everything with
reference to the period of struggle. 
THE MEDICAL  VALUE OF CLAIRVOYANCE
25
                   CHAPTER  III.

 THE  MEDICAL  VALUE  OF  CLAIRVOYANCE.

   The judicious employment of Clairvoyance, in the diagnosti-
cation and treatment of Disease, is a legitimate use of the power.
The best natural judgment, though crowned with the diplomatic
glory of a  scientific education, is often incapable of reaching
with certainty  below physical disturbances to  their primal
causes.   In the detection  of  the hidden  sources  of human
misery, and of  the conditions that generate corporeal discords,
no sight less penetrative than that of the genuine clairvoyant
can ever avail  much.   No professional man is more willing to
acknowledge and publish this incapacity among medical men,
than the vigorous editor of the Scalpel.  We are ever and anon
refreshed with  his Carlylish style of proving and showing up
the emptiness of the pretensions of the regular Faculty.   The
impossibility of discerning  the deep-seated causes of many  dis-
eases,  by mere sensuous  observation of symptoms,  is very
generally confessed.  The  ordinary inferences,  drawn  from
indications external, are frequently erroneous.   The  world of
sick and suffering people can attest to the truth of this assertion.
They groan day and  night, or  hobble about  with congenital
deformity,  because their parents  were once patients.
    And yet the careful instructions of the scientifically-trained
judgment are to be preferred as  superior, and as being more in
    3 
26
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
harmony with rational sense, than the blunderings  of undevel
oped or non-medical clairvoyants.  There are many and various
kinds of seers and seeresses.  Only the few, however, of a cer-
tain  kind, can  truly diagnosticate and  divulge the  causes  of
Disease.  The real-sources and philosophy  of  human suffering
are discoverable only by such of the seers as possess an appro-
priate faculty.  The condition of seership is one of the greatest
impressibility.   It  is too apt to take on and  reflect the fears,""
surmises, or established convictions,  of the  patient.  Every
sufferer, whether blessed with intelligence or not, will entertain
some definite conclusions  regarding the nature and probable
cause of his misfortunes and diseases.   And the clairvoyant is
very  certain to become involved  therewith, and will be misled
by contact with the dominant feelings and judgment of such a
patient, unless, as above mentioned, the seer or seeress be in
the full self-possession of the faculty of sight, while in the  act
of diagnostication.
    It is unphilosophical to suppose that  all  clairvoyants  are
equally or similarly endowed.  It is rarely  the good fortune of
any one genuine medical-clairvoyant to possess abilities  com-
mensurate therewith in other departments of investigation.  In
fact,  a first rate seer of disease is seldom more than a second or
third rate prescriber.   This incapacity is sometimes manifested
immediately subsequent to an examination and prognosis which
have been  pronounced  satisfactory.   On  the other hand, i'
sometimes happens that only the faculty to prescribe is perfect
That is to say, certain  seers and clairvoyants can  survey thn
field of nature and detect  the exa&t remedy  for a disease, the
origin, location, or symptoms of which  they professed no power
 to discern.  In such case it is wisdom to obtain your diagnosis
 from one seer  and your remedy from another.   But this course
 presupposes your belief in the existence of the power.  With 
         THE MEDIC A.L VALUE OF CLAIRVOYANCE.      27

this faith you can avail yourself of much  benefit by candidly
informing  the  Prescribing  seer what  the  Describing seer
reported  your disease to be—the  remedy for which  is what
you now seek.
    Certain  faculties  are  peculiar  to  certain temperaments.
For example, some persons are  only perfect in the sympathetic
detection of your disease ; while others, though obtuse  as stone
jugs  to the lines of sympathy, have brilliant powers and fasci-
nating gifts  in  other directions.  But here let it be observed,
that the degree of the endowments, as well as the kind  or class,
must  enter into your account.   A high development  of excur-
sional clairvoyance  is incompatible with a  low employment of
the faculty.   If a mind is endowed with the power to discern
objects through the  mystic distance—if  it  can discriminate
between fancies and  facts—then it is a misuse, a sad devotion
of that mind, when its powers are pressed into the treatment of
bodily diseases.  Of course the reverse  is equally true ; that
is, to  urge a  purely medical  seer to  probe  Space in quest of
distant objects of interest.  The penalties  of mis-employment,
in either case, are mistakes and doubts.
    In the Sowings  of inner life, it may happen that  the seer
accomplishes a silent spiritual unfoldment.  Its immortal attri-
butes may one by one bloom in  the garden of the soul.  In its
clairvoyant proclivities and exercises there  may occur a sort of
apotheosis ;  an  ascension  of the ordinary  powers to rank and
fraternize with  sublimer uses.   The whole mind, pulling its
attachments to material things up by the roots, may take  inter-
est in things trans-mundane.  The seer may thus  silently and
unconsciously advance to the perception of great questions, of
truths, of principles, of ideas.   What then ?  Why, then, the
investigation of Disease is next  to impossible.   The divine law
of seership  on that  plane  is repealed, so to speak;  and the 
28
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
clairvoyant is no longer useful on the corporeal side of human-
ity.  Any  such  use of the powers of a seer thus unfolded,
would  be attended with penalties not less  severe than visual
degradation.  The transgression is against the operations and
requirements of  a  divine  law.   In  many cases  mere worldly
wants, necessities, or poverty of the moral faculties, have urged
very high seers into the most unprofitable forms of the medical
business; or still more external, into  telling fortunes, reading
the stars, psychometry, &c, to the exclusion of those excursional
and spiritual exercises which expand the  soul  and develop  its
latent abilities.  Such  transgressions are attended with a loss
of virtue in the spirit, a retardation of  the normal processes of
growth, and sometimes  they ultimate in  a total suspension  of
the clairvoyant faculty.
    But we began this  Chapter with the  impression that  some-
thing must be said  on the subject of scientific  errors and medi-
cal fallibilities;"  and  that  we must pledge ourselves to ren-
der  many installments  of  such  service  for the  sake  of man-
kind.  In the department  of  physical suffering  we have had
ample  experience,  sufficient  to make us  " feel another's  woe,"
and the  lesson is not lost.  In the diagnostication of disease,
too—and  in the  practice  of pilgrimizing through  creation's
empire in quest of remedies to remove disease—our experience
is not less manifold and available.  Nor are we this day negli-
gent of " golden opportunities " whereby fresher inspirations
flow through  the  temple  of  reason.  We  do  not,  however,
employ the power of clairvoyance for the benefit  of individual
applicants.  The  reason of this was suggested in preceding sen-
tences—viz : because such use and application would check our
growth and usefulness in more important directions.   Not onlv
this, but because there is imminent danger in mis-employing  a
high  faculty.   A  power  of comprehensive vision  may be 
         THE MEDICAL VALUE OF  CLAIRVOYANCE.      29

impaired by mental unfaithfulness, or devotion to small things,
on the same principle that shortness of natural  sight is fre-
quently caused by too constantly looking at near objects, and at
fine  points,  by  which  the scope  of vision is permanently
circumscribed. 
30            THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
                    CHAPTER IV.

           NO INFALLIBLE  REMEDIES,

   The enlightened  mind need  not be told that an " infallible
remedy" for every physical  disturbance  is an  impossibility.
The vaunted potency of certain empirical compounds, each pre-
scribed and  puffed by its particular inventor as a " sure cure "
for every disorder, has well nigh disgusted the reasonable side
of mankind.  That there are virtues  in  patent  vices no  one
doubts. Pills and plasters do some good in particular instances,
and from such  they  derive extensive notoriety and popularity,
but the day soon dawns when they fall into disuse and contempt.
The fact that every invention embodies some  curative virtue,
and the additional fact that every system or school of medicine
is as  many times defeated  as it is victorious, has led to  the
development of unbounded skepticism, and also to the belief in
what is termed  " Eclecticism."
   The Eclectic school  of physicians are both dissenters and
receivers on a boundless scale.   They  avail themselves  of
every long-tested  and established remedy, irrespective of the
system in which it was originated, and prescribe it in all cases
where experience proves  its applicability.  But  the Eclectics
do not master disease.  They reject the evils of time-honored
theories, they  look upon human suffering with, clearer  eyes,
they classify diseases and assort remedies with all the medical 
NO  INFALLIBLE REMEDIES.
31
experimentation of twenty-two  centuries to simplify and exalt
their labors, yet it must be acknowledged that this new school
has neither achieved  any very  marked triumphs nor sustained
any very severe reverses, but in general is  as  successful in the
treatment of disease as any of the recently developed myths
and pathies, and that is all we can now say.
   Nevertheless, we glory in  the development of " Eclecticism."
It implies a vast scientific independence ; a breaking up of the
old mineral consolidations in medicine.  It says : " Investigate
the laws of matter in man, rise above the historical  horizon  of
physiological knowledge,  think for yourself, yet read the works
of Hahnemann, Dixon, Thompson, Bell, Muller,  Hall,  Hunter,
Marshall, Bischoff, &c.; for  in the fullness  of  human  research
and conclusions ye find the golden mean  of  common sense and
medical prosperity."
   But physicians of every school can cure more than  they do.
The difficulty is, that  their  patients will not follow the tenth
part of dietetic hints and rules  which intelligent medical men
prescribe with, or as a part of, their treatment.
    It is our happiness  to believe and repose unbounded confi-
dence  in the Self-Healing Energies that impregnate every fiber
and  function  of the  organization.  In them we find the whole
Materia  Medica—astringents,  tonics, emollients,  corrosives,
stimulants,  sedatives,  narcotics, refrigerants,  anti-spasmodics,
antiseptics,  sialagogues,  expectorants, emetics, cathartics, diu-
retics, diaphoretics, emmenagogues, abortives, antacids, errhinds,
and the fifty other effects or symptoms which these awful names
are scientifically designed to classify—all, yea all, may be found
in that wonderful repository of health and disease, the constitu-
tion of Man.'  And we hesitate not to affirm, in  justice to the
hundreds of capable and honorable men in almost every school
of Medicine, that if patients would, in  sickness, conform strictly 
32
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
to rules of health, the doctors could exert far more mastery
over the domain of Disease  than they now do.  The mass of
physicians  confess  that  the  human  system  demands almost
nothing besides good treatment, nursing, bathing, dieting, mag-
netizing, &c, during the different  stages of any known disease.
But the doctor is oftentimes compelled to sacrifice his judgment
to the ignorant demands of his impatient subject.   One promi-
nent reason why the world is swarming with chronic curses, is
the fact that, while convalescing from the effects of some severe
attack, either in organ or function, the patient stealthily omits
the helping remedy, and at  the same  time commits the private
crime of over-eating and indulging in forbidden luxuries.   The
consequence is, that such patients rise from their bed of suffer-
ing seemingly restored, but  really with  the  seeds  of chronic
disorder scattered all through their frames.
   The effect of all this is self-evident.  The imperfections and
glaring failures of various medical systems daily strengthen the
spinal  column of a skepticism in regard to all medicine on the
one hand, and develop a very general Eclecticism, or free selec-
tion, on the  other;  between which, diseases  and nostrums will
multiply and disturb the world, until the great mass of mankind,
in the  circle  of progressive civilization, will " throw physic to
the dogs," and thereupon commence the rational era of inherent
healthfulness, based upon obedience to the  Self-Healing Ene?
gies, which never fail.
   If, however, any person should " flatter himself" that he can
violate the  conditions of Health, and, at the same time, by
simply yielding to  the self-restoring  mercies of his  spiritual
constitution, recover all his original vigor and bloom, his disap-
pointment Will be complete.  Mother  Nature  is  as  loving and
as  just as Father  God.  They do not, because they cannot,
guarantee impunity from the effects of violation.   All the medi- 
                NO INFALLIBLE REMEDIES.             33

cal  isms, and myths, and pathies, from Hippocrates to the last
nostrum, cannot perform the pardoning act.   There is no infal-
lible remedy.  Pass the word all around the world—there is no
specific for any human transgression.  Let every ear hear  it.
Let every eye read it, and inscribe it in fadeless characters upon
the temple  of personal health;  and let  all  the world  rejoice
that there  is no  safety in  habitual disobedience.  The best
medicines  are  scarcely more than hints  to Nature in Man.
They oftentimes operate like oil  on  the  wheels  of life;  but
neither the broken wheels, nor the life processes impaired,  can
be  restored by medicine.    Let parents  instruct  children  to
comprehend this important  truth—no vicarious ato?iement, but
that every physical as well  as moral transgression is visited, in
due time, with  a just  and  certain  punishment.  No priest, no
physician, no  medicine, no religion,  no future,  can alter the
fixedness,  or weaken  the  justice  of this  eternal  principle
Therefore we affirm that all empiricism, either in " Law,  Physic,
or Divinity," is a mischievous deception.  An infallible  remedy
for a physical sinner is just as  impossible and deceptive  as a
vicarious atonement for a spiritual  sinner.   The only infallible
way is  the way of wisdom—straightforward obedience to the
laws of Nature.
    Although  clairvoyance can detect the healing properties of
minerals  and plants, as it were by  instinct, yet, wonderful and
far-reaching as is  this detective power, nothing is more certain
than  its  occasional  failure.   Spirits   may  take  a  benevolent
interest  in the  conditions  of the  sick and suffering, but they,
too, many times, fail in effecting perfect cures.  One spirit-seer,
for example, prescribes magnetism in a particular case.  The
application is  immediately and  marvellously effectual,  and  the
patient walks forth strong, healthy and prosperous ; but on the
morrow  the same spirit prescribes the same remedy for  the 
34             THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
                           •
same disease in the body of another person, and lo ! the failure
is  complete.   Why is  this ?   Because  there  is  no power  in
heaven or on earth, that can, with unerring precision and unfail-
ing judgment, hit  the  mark  every time exactly  in one place.
Hence the  reasonableness of our  conclusion is made manifest,
that no safety can be found outside of  perpetual  obedience  to
the established laws of life and  health.
    Palliations, however, are natural.  If we cannot restore the
limb,  it  may nevertheless be bound up  and protected.   The
rheumatic  joint may be unsocketed by  long  suffering, or  in
another case the morbid action in the different tissues may prog-
nosticate  ultimate decomposition,  yet  we  do gladly behold
possible  aids for the one, and checks to  the downward  progress
of the other.   Celebrated investigators,  such as Chomel, Bright,
Andral and Louis, have informed the profession upon the uncer-
tainty of any treatment in tissual diseases, except  that of special
watchfulness ar\d nursings.   We allude to " nursing," because
it is  an approach to  the magnetic  method, which should  be
studied and employed by every reform family.  But let us now
turn our attention to the operations of disease and debility in
the human body, and let us walk in healthful paths.
    We have  knowledge  of  cases where  Gen. De Bility is out-
rageously invasive and triumphant, notwithstanding persistent
medical  efforts  to accomplish  his overthrow and expatriation;
but, on the other hand, we have authentic news  from quarters
where the  unprincipled Fillibuster has been gloriously  assaulted
and vanquished.
    Let no human being despair of ultimate victory.  There is a
beautiful sanctity in the temple of Health.  Fear  not, 0 Man! to
leap into the rivers of  happy physical life.   Bathe thy spirit's
material covering in  the Euphrates of  sweet flowing waters.
 The isles of gladness are fertile in the lake of harmonious exist- 
                 NO  INFALLIBLE  REMEDIES.              35

ence, whose margins  are blended with the bright blue of infini-
tude, and the waves whereof unceasingly roll  with anthemal
melody eternal.   Fear not, unhappy one, to mingle with Nature's
health-giving  elements.  Let  the  strife  come at  once!  The
battle of life is not fearful, is not dangerous and uncertain; for
even now an angel's finger is raised to point  the way to youth-
fulness and victory.  No sentimental repining, no over-weeping,
no under-creeping, no  diurnal thanklessness ;  but up  at once,
in the stillness of the voiceless night, (if  chased  by ill-omened
dreams) up ! and lay  no more down, until a more peaceful silence
covereth all thy being.   If a fever  is upon thee, or  if there be a
heaviness upon thy breast, rise from  thy bed of suffering, dis-
robe thy body, walk within thy room,  where heaven's purest air
should gently circulate from window to window, and, in the holy
silence of the solitary hour, dip thy hands in refreshing water,
and  thy feet also, and manipulate thy  whole person, with steady
purpose to remove the  heat, so that tranquil  sleep  may lay
silently  down upon  all thy bodily organs, even  as the divine
blessings of immutable truth  hover about the inmost soul.  A
body full of virtuous health—of harmony deserved—is a form
of holy  beauty.   Remember the Poet's  Scriptures.  In them
'tis said that
           " A thing of beauty is a joy forever;
            Its loveliness increasing, it will never
            Pass into nothingness, but still will keep
            A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
            Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."
   A  few persons  write  us to say that,  on  attempting  to exert
their Will, through the pneumogastric and voluntary nerves, they
become mentally very chaotic, unable to fix their thoughts upon
any  one locality, and a distressing weariness soon  creeps  upon
the  entire body.   Other persons,  with naturally more   concen 
36
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
tration of mind and purpose, write us of the efficiency and effi-
cacy of the Will.  We shall now speak a few words to the former
chaotic class.  They are  the  most difficult patients to treat
with magnetic  forces;  for, owing to the incessant  jarring and
vibrations of their  nervous systems,  they filing off  all influ-
ence as rapidly as the strongest  magnetist  can supply and fix
the power upon them.  Dear sick  reader!  allow a few  words
to be spoken regarding the  routine of thy daily life.
    You are invaded by Gen. DeBility.   We suppose you to
reside  in America,  where  the climate  is a  hydra-headed tem-
perature, driven by  the finest spring and summer in the known
world.   We  have  on  this  continent  a  mixed  atmosphere, a
mixed temperature,  a mixture of all the seasons in every  sec-
tion of  the  year;  and  we  are,  in  consequence,  a  mixed
population, with mixed religious opinions, mixed political  sys-
tems, and a perfect  admixture  of health and disease.  Under
these recurrent changeabilities, it is more than simply unrea-
sonable—it  is  pure folly—to expect a uniform condition of
either  the mental or bodily  constitution.  Both involuntarily
sympathize with the conditions and circumstances of the  world
in which they for the present exist  together.  Colds, catarrhs,
croups, and  consumptions, are, therefore,  just  as natural to
man—under  pervading  conditions  of  the  globe—as  winds,
frosts,  snows, tempests, floods, and droughts, were natural to
the juvenile  stages  of  the  earth.  But—mark you, one  and
all: Man is a wondrous magazine  of  Self-Healing Energies.
So  is the earth on  which he roams.   True, reader,  but Man
is a thinking and intelligent organization.  The good earth is
not.  Man grows and unfolds from within,  and consequently
may draw upon the  fountain  again, unless by  vices and  trans-
gressions  he has  drawn  away too much  of the  restorative
principle.  Ah! this is the sad  condition  of thousands.   Is 
                  NO INFALLIBLE  REMEDIES.             37

 there, then, no " balm in Gilead " ?   Is there no hope for such ?
 No chance  to replenish their exhausted forces? no "straight
 and narrow way " for chronic sinners to be saved ?
    We answer affirmatively, and bid all the diseased to enter
 upon the  duties  of the  life-battle,  by which Gen. DeBility can
 be at once and forever vanquished.  And we would, therefore,
 admonish  every sick one to read what we have already commu-
 nicated, and to adopt whatever portion of the remedies  is  best
 fitted  to  individual necessities.   But we  have much to write
 respecting many  functional  diseases, not yet  named in these
 chapters.
    When  the warm season is upon  us, during which the  early
 morning  air  is  most  magnetic  and renovating,  there is one
 straightforward habit to be acquired by  the  consumptive and
 digestively debilitated—that is, to rise in the early dawn,  (say
 at half-past four, until autumn,) dress comfortably, and immedi-
 ately proceed  upon  a  ramble—eating  a small  orange while
 walking—and be  sure to return, disrobe, and to lie down to rest
 one full hour  before breakfast.   Sleep for thirty  minutes, if
 possible—it will be possible  by practice—and rise  in time to
 take a hand-bath, and  to dress, all before the bell rings  you
 to  the first  meal.
    We know how cruel is this  almost  sovereign  remedy for
 vital debility.   It would be far easier to " give up "—to keep
 in  bed while the  golden sun is  rising  " with healing  in its
 wings "—and,  as  the  foolish  neighbor  does, to  send  for  a
 doctor  to  administer doses of indescribable drugs and tinc-
 tures.   But  let your reason  act,  and it will  inform you,  not-
 withstanding the  hardship  of early rising, that a walk, a sleep,
 and a hand-bath,  (wash  your whole body as  you would your
face,  in  two  quarts  of cold water,)  are the  most glorious
remedies for vital debility possible  to prescribe  The refresh-
    4 
38
THE HARBIJSGER  OF  HEALTH.
ing sleep before breakfast, and after a walk in the morning,
is, particularly in this climate, a  draught of pure health.   It
is well, also, to sleep about thirty minutes  before  dinner.  Let
this rest be inaugurated by the pneumogastric effort and vital
equalization.   If,  after you rise early,  you. should attempt  to
read a paper  or  book,  to study, or  to  indulge intellectual
exercises, the  debility of  your system,  nerves,  bowels, and
blood, will  be in a few days increased four-fold.  Avoid, there-
fore, all mental  occupation  previous  to  eating  the  morning
meal.   Otherwise, your strength will soon be weakness com-
pounded.
   In regard to eating: It is proper to caution all debilitated
persons, young or adult, in the summer  months  particularly,
not to eat fruit and vegetables at the same meal.   Together, in
the stomach  and bowels, they chemically  operate to generate
various semi-poisonous gases ; by which dysentery and various
bowel disorders may be produced in a  few hours.  Of vegeta-
bles, beside bread, use but two kinds at one meal.  Away with
the " stalled  ox "—forbid  the " fatted  calf "—be  superior  to
" fowl play " as nourishment—for  your sake no sheep need  be
" led  like a lamb to the slaughter "—let no swine " find favor
in your  sight"—but,  without  pastries  and  sweet things, live
rationally and thankfully every day.
   We admonish you to be perpetually conscious of the glorious
world in which you live ; but which, with all  its beauty and
glory, is but the alphabet of the Spirit Land in the surrounding
immensity.  By coming out of the  Egypt of Disease, your eyes
will open upon the universally distributed glories of the visible
creation.  Your happiness  will be  increased an hundred fold  in
a few weeks.   Now, while  sick and confined to hospital limits,
you live like  subterranean  mortals, shut out from  the  glory  of
the infinite.  Who  ever knew a first-rate good evil man ?   Or 
NO  INFALLIBLE  REMEDIES.
39
who ever saw a happy and healthy sick man ?  Exodus and
emancipation from Disease is a wonderful deliverance from the
" Devil  and  all his imps."  The temple of Nature would possess
a new charm to the thus  delivered.  To illustrate  what effect it
would exert on the  good-minded, we will quote, from Cicero's
Natura Dcorum, the following sublime conception :
    " If  there were beings who lived in the depths of the earth,
in dwelling places  adorned  with  paintings and statues, and
everything enjoyed by those most wealthy and fortunate in the
world ;  and  if  these beings could receive tidings of the glory
and power of the divinities, and, after that, come out from their
dark residences through  the fissures of the globe to  the  surface
on which  we stand; if they could suddenly see the earth, and
the sea, and  the circle of Heaven—contemplate the great cloudy
expanse,  hear  the winds  of  the firmament,  and  admire  the
majesty and beautiful effulgence of the sun ; could they behold
the starry host of heaven in the night, the rolling  and changing
moon, and the rising and  setting of the  celestial orbs in the
order prescribed  from eternity—they would  surely  exclaim:
' There  are  indeed Gods, and such magnificent things must be
the work of their hands.' " 
40            THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
                    CHAPTER V.

SELF-HEALING  ENERGIES   BETTER  THAN
                     MEDICINES.

   Earthly language cannot embody all we have to impart under
this head, in regard to trie perfect adaptation  and competency
of man's vital energies, to self-repair and harmonize the  bodily
organs.
   As soul speaks to  soul in the blissfulness  and breathings of
magnetic attraction, so the powers which live in all the cerebral
centers  and visceral  organs meet  and mingle together, like
angels in the garden of light, for purposes of  greatest good to
the physical and mental proprietor.
   Suffering Ones of  earth! have ye not  realized the medical
wisdom that floats through every vein of your physical struc-
ture ?  There is no power more self-just and self-re storing than
that which  breathes,  and sobs, and gushes, in your personal
organization.  Atheism is not more  destitute of the divine qual-
ities  of  intuitive wisdom than are the various systems of medi-
cine  of  that restoring principle which  alone can summon the
spirit of health from its retreats in the corporeal economy.  As
ye cannot gather figs from thistles, so  ye cannot obtain health
from the drugs <md medicines.  Medicines cannot  impart  the
principle of health, any  more  than can  a book convey the lio-ht
of wisdom.   But there are aids and  helps in  medicine, just as
there are hints and streams of suggestiveness  in books. 
    SELF-HEALING ENERGIES BETTER THAN MEDICINES.  41

   The error, however, is in the source  of reliance.   The sin-
sick  soul goes  meekly  to  a priest, or  prayer-meeting, with
unbounded confidence in the efficacy of the remedies and cere-
monies prescribed by the priest.  In like manner  the  diseased
mortal seeks  the doctor with unlimited faith in  the power of
popular nostrums  and inorganic compounds. . And yet, as the
age of honesty and intelligence expands,  we find  patients and
physicians more and more agreeing that medicines, at best, but
serve and subserve the inherent energies of the organism ; that
health is possible only by means of the self-restoring and con-
servative principles which  the good Father and Mother trans-
mitted to the organs, muscles, nerves, and blood, of the living
temple ;  and, therefore, that all belief, or pretension, that medi-
cines hold and convey the life-giving  energies  of health and
beauty to  man's  body, is nothing less than mischievous super-
stition or intentional imposition.
    Disease, in very shortest phrase, is discord.  The causes and
effects  of this  one " discord " are  various  and  innumerable.
They differ in different persons, because of temperament and
occupation; also, they differ  in different seasons, because  of
temperature and potential electricities.  Spring-discords of body
are different, in the same persons and places, from those which
prevail in autumn;  so, also, for  reasons above given, winter-
disturbances differ widely from those of the summer time.
    Outward manifestations of invisible disturbances are indica-
tions of  the  causes of discord, which  preponderate either in
temperament, occupation, or temperature.  Something is unbal
anced in the empire of concealed forces—either an excess, a defi
ciency, or a misplacement  of  parts—perhaps, as occasionally
happens, all these causes of pain and suffering exist and operate
in combination.
    When the body is thus besieged with " discord," how can the
     4# 
42             THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.

soul feel harmonious ?  It cannot; for mind must suffer with the
organs by which it exists.  This fact, however, is of the highest
significance.  It teaches that the soul—which is the Fountain
of forces  out  of which  the mind  rises into entity from an
elemental  state—contains  the conquering  and  health-giving
powers.  From these  energies, and not  from medicines, the
sick may  expect  relief.  Sweet and grateful breathings from
invisible principles are cognizable only by means  of the sensi-
tive energies of mind.   Granite rocks do not hear the whisper-
ings of infinite  wisdom,  although  they invariably move  in
harmony and keep step in  progress  with such wisdom; while
human  beings, when unfolded in their affections for the soft
and thrilling music of truth, not only obey divine wisdom in the
simple luxuriousness of spontaneous freedom, but, in addition
to  such obedience, they receive  and  enjoy that handsome
healthfulness which naturally results from equilibrium with the
principles of such wisdom.  It is true that medicines and mag-
netisms can and do contribute (sometimes) to the right devel-
opment of the patient's inherent energies of health ; and  so,
indeed, do  all arbitrary appliances  affect,  either for good  or
for evil, all  bodies and forces with which they come  in contact;
but this surely cannot be interpreted and  appropriated  as a
sufficient foundation for the absurd  doctrine that drugs, medi-
cines,  and  magnetisms, contain, per se, virtues  which  may
displace or regenerate  your vices and consequent misery.
    Nay, nay—listen, 0 suffering soul of  earth!  and thine  ear
shall catch the soft and grateful music of Nature's truths.  The
authority  and  divinity of  thy  Father  are impressed upon
each  speaking principle.  Motion, Life, Sensation, Intelligence
—do not these principles  rule, or  ought they not to govern, in
every part of your physical body ?  Do they not labor day and
night, both  when you  wake  and when  you  sleep, fur  the full 
    SELF-HEALING ENERGIES BETTER THAN MEDICI NEB. 43

growth, refinement, and  harmonious  expansion, of  all organs
and functions ?  Is not the unspeakable goodness of our eternal
Father and Mother displayed within the temple of your individ-
uality ?  What principle of wisdom was it that, before you had
a personal consciousness, built your bones  and jointed them so
beautifully ?   Do you not suppose that the same energy is with
you  this very moment 1   Behold with what  promptness your
windpipe  expels a grain of sand  or a bit of bread, which  per-
chance invaded the province formed only to  attract  and enjoy
the  pure  air  of heaven.  With what divine energy does the
spirit  of blood work to  heal the wound on the surface of your
temple ?  A mote  is in  thine eye—instantly the tissues send
forth a flood of tears to wash it away !   Thy stomach is stronger
in righteousness  than thy brain.  Ever  since  your birth the
digestive  receptacle has been tempted, fed—crammed, jammed
and  poisoned—with every  imaginable good and evil thing, from
the outrageous inventions of the nurse, who first took you from
the doctor's hands, to  the last pastry cook's indescribable com-
pound of  table temptations.  Your brain could not contain one
half the shadows  which  such substances  cast  upon it, neither
could  your judgment dispose of  a tenth part of such feeling in
the shape of thought and intelligence ;  but your stomach pours
forth  its  fluid,  and commissions  its self-healing  attributes  so
promptly and perfectly, that all you can justly complain of is—
" indigestion ;" headache, of course, and intestinal disturbances.
    Recuperation is natural to all living bodies.  Every derange-
ment, if curable at all, the self-repairing energies may overcome
with harmony.  Only open your understanding to a knowledge
of those  magnetio agencies, or perhaps mechanical  aids, which
will remove obstructions, and thus put into Nature's hands the
reins  of physical government.  Man's  fearfully constructed
body  is more than paralleled by  his  wonderful mind.  This 
44            THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
power  is  endowed with the tendency to work both ways; it
will  either  bring disease  upon  the body or remove it.  If
your own mind cannot begin the work, (which many times hap-
pens,) then avail yourself of the healing attributes  of another
mind.  If your entrammeled  imagination still needs a visible
medicine to fix its faith upon, why—we are sorry for you—send
for the only physician in whom you believe ;  and then straight-
way  "let us pray" that he (or  she) will give you the most
artistically small  dose  of medicine possible for his sense of
justice and adaptation to suggest.
   The truth is, that, accidents excepted, the great majority of
human bodily diseases are of mental  origin.  Disturbances
begin in the forces and end in the forms ;  therefore, by virtue
of a psychological and physiological necessity, the remedy must
commence in  the form and terminate in the spiritual constitu-
tion.   Swallowing  a  disgusting  mass of  medicine is never
necessary, any more than is a weekly  dose of orthodox religion
indispensable to good morals  and happiness after  death; and
yet, disgraceful and disagreeable as it is, there are millions of
our humanity who habitually take atrociously large doses of
both!  From  all  this, and innumerable  other equally popular
outrages, " good Lord  deliver us !" 
A  PNEUMGOASTRICAL DISCOVERY.          45
                    CHAPTER  VI.

      A PNEUMOGASTRICAL DISCOVERY,

   Man is an immortal,  self-conscious spirit,  enveloped for
wise purposes by matter of a grosser  sort, over which  he is
designed, through his volition and  intelligence, to  hold the
supreme and exclusive control.  His  integral attribute for self-
development  and self-government  surpasses the belief of his
uneducated judgment.  He  is reckless and faithless  in regard
to the divine principles of his inner life, because he is bound-
lessly ignorant of the eternal riches that lie buried within the
soil of his spiritual constitution, and the penalty  is embodied in
the  form of Disease, whose miserable  offspring are innumerable.
Thousands of our brothers and sisters—good and tender-hearted
people, who inhabit  the hamlets  and mansions  of earth—are
dragging out a wretched existence.  The kindest, most skillful,
best paid, and latest  diplomatized physicians, can yield no per-
fect  health to these " sin-sick " and suffering  ones—and why 1
Because, in too many instances, both doctor and  patient are
equally ignorant of the psychological energies slumbering  in the
human  organization.    Coarse, cruel,  crude,  bitter drugs.'
What can they do for you, compared with  the kindly  offices of
the spiritual forces that bivouac in every part of  your  wondrous
organism ?
  Our new discovery is  not  to be patented.  We design  it for 
4G            THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
the universal use and benefit of man.  It is a self-adjusting and
inexpensive invention,  for  the  exclusive  good of  those  who,
from  whatever parentage and  subsequently producing causes,
are summoned into the battle-field against the depredations and
unlawful invasions of General DeBility.
    The insidious operations of this  celebrated " General  " are
delineated, and prescribed  for, in almost every modern news-
paper.  " The Regular  Faculty " proceed against him and all
his embattled hosts, with countless systematic poisons, all estab-
lished by Chemistry, and obscured from vulgar gaze by Latin
habiliments—" too numerous to mention."  Thompsonians stren-
uously insist that the  old  headstrong " General"  dreads the
formidable array of their  forces—in  classified  battalions—
Lobelia, No. 6, Diaphoretics, Compositions, and Steam !  Hahne-
mannians,  with  indisputable argument, show that the  most
certain plan is to fight down the first symptoms of insurrection,
invasion, or revolution—do this, promptly and  scientifically,
and the  valiant  " General" will  depart with  his  armed  host,
overwhelmed and mortified with irreparable losses and defeat.
The Cold-and-Warm-Water  Brotherhood, with unfaltering zeal
and undoubted intelligence, oppose themselves  antagonistically
to Gen.  DeBility's  encroachments  with various streams  and
dispositions of the universal element—also, with napkins,  com-
presses, bandages, straight-jackets, wet sheets, &c, to which the
enemy  generally expresses indignant  messages.   He grows
daily  more  restive  under  such  Guerrilla treatment,  proudly
disdains the style of warfare, frowns upon the hydraulic estab-
lishments throughout the continent, and  retreats to more safe
quarters and mountain fastnesses, viz : to the families where
the "  Regular Faculty " make their regular visits.
    In these remarks we do not design to misrepresent any sys-
tem of medicine.  We affirm that no medical system is master 
A  PNEUMOGASTRICAL DISCOVERY.          47
of that renowned and universal conqueror, Gen. DeBility.  Is
this  statement a  misrepresentation ?   We have knowledge of
skillful physicians, each with an extensive and lucrative prac-
tice, in whose families  the General is an  ever-present ghastly
guest.   We ask :  " Doctor, why do you not prescribe a remedy
for your diseased  wife or daughter ?"  And he honestly replies :
" I have tried every supposed specific,  every known remedy for
such cases, and each  application or administration  only serves
to aggravate the symptoms."
    Well, then, try the  new medical discovery announced at the
beginning of this chapter—not Kennedy's, recommended for
every  disease the human skin is heir to—but Nature's pneunio-
gastrical remedies, with which, whether at home or  abroad, you
are  always abundantly  provided.
    What  do we  mean ?  We will  explain briefly  as possible.
Man's  fearful and wonderful organization is regulated, or may
be, to   an  almost unlimited extent, by two great positive and
 negative conductors, viz:  The  sympathetic and the pneumogas-
tric nerves, which, like all the  lesser and more delicate nerves,
 take their rise in the brain, which is the fountain-center of all
 vitality and sensibility.
     Of the first conductor, the  Sympathetic Nerve, we will not
 now write anything at  length.   It is a wondrous and beautiful
 magnetic  telegraph cable, consisting of  a connected  series of
 polar  centers, or ganglia, distributing branch  offices through
 all  the internal organs, communicating with nerves both spinal
 and cranial, and  conferring, by transmission, the principles of
 life and sensibility  to  all parts of the  organism.  The reason
 why we  do  not  speak of this great  Nerve in this article  is,
 because, according  to our careful and oft-repeated examina-
 tions, it belongs  to  the  great  automatic hemisphere of  mind,
 and will be the  very last (because it  is the highest and best) 
48            THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
to ascend the throne of Will.  Instinct, impulse, soul-life, heart-
essence, "the depths  of the  soul," as will appear in our next
chapter, are characteristic sensational attributes of the " Great
Sympathetic Nerve." This position is sound—psychologically,
physiologically and logically sound—therefore, we  do not fear
to write it, nor to submit it to the candid consideration of every
progressive or regressive physician.
   The Pneumogastric  Nerve, on the contrary, communicates
no essential life  or vital  sensibility.  But it confers upon the
internal organism vigorous energies and voluntary movements.
It is in direct and  intelligent contact with the attributes  and
designs of  Will.  It is, consequently, a voluntary agent of the
cerebral intelligence, a motor nerve, so to say, by which the
Volition may express  its  decrees  upon  the whole  physical
economy.

      THE  DISADVANTAGES  OF  IGNORANCE.
   The more ignorant the  mind, the cruder will be the manifes-
tations  of  its desires and  ordinances, and the more in bondage
is such an  one  to  the  voluntary nerves ; while with interior
knowledge  come the requisite powers and purposes to rise out
of embarrassments into comparative freedom and independence.
We  make  these  remarks  because, as we too  well  know, there
are thousands of so-called  intelligent persons, occupying high
official  stations in  every kingdom, whose physiological experi-
ence is in direct antagonism with what we affirm respecting the
nature and capacities of this Pneumogastric magnetic conductor
of the voluntary energies.   But if such, together with all doubt-
ing  readers,  will  perseveringly  experiment  on   themselves,
while desiring truth and health, we know that we shall  receive
their unqualified indorsement.
   Become  clairvoyant a few moments, suffering reader__take 
A PNEUMOGASTRICAL DISCOVERY.          49
the living subject, (your friend,) look  straight into the consti-
tution  of his voluntary system—and  the  facts, with regard to
the origin and function of this Nerve, will shine out upon your
reason.   Keep  your vision  steadily upon  the  nether portions
of the brain.   See! a multitude of filaments put forth from
the side of the medulla oblongata, which, as a primordial nerve,
is a million times more sensitive than the brain itself.  These
thread-like  filatories immediately blend into two  small, white
cords,  filled with  cerebral  substances  (which appear as one
conductor)  forming a ganglionic battery directly  beneath the
cranium, and thence descending through the cellular envelop-
ment of the carotid artery into" the neck, and downward, between
the subclavian artery and vein, into the pulmonic organism, and
terminating in  various branchlets  of nerves in the  digestive
system.
    See,  too! as this mysteriously philanthropic conductor of
thought,  and will, and emotion, proceeds into the far  depths of
its  mission, how it lovingly twines around  neighboring veins
and  arteries, and  how  benignantly it divides its incalculable
wealth into private fortunes for the  voluntary parts of the
throat, heart, lungs, etc.  The  big  names for all these benevo-
lent bestowments  and bequeathments  of  the Pneumogastric
Nerve, are  : pharyngeal, laryngeal, cardiac plexus,  and plexuses
pulmonary and cesophageal.  Thus, in plainer language, the
Pneumogastric  Nerve, immediately on leaving the   cranium,
makes  its will, and sets apart private fortunes (in  the shape
of voluntary powers,) for the benefit of the mouth, the speak-
ing organs, the swallow, the heart, the lungs, finally pervading
the entire  stomach.
   Now, let it  be remembered, these are the parts  or organs
most  diseased  among  men.  These are the fighting grounds
chosen by  that popular  CJa«B««imU%jn-chief (of very many


                    te^7f/4-  )
                    V *    »"t>io 'AM  k. M 
50
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
American women) Gen. DeBility.   He marshals the minions of
disease  from their hiding places,  and  parades them  in battle
array upon just those territories in man where the pneumogas-
tric  conductor  is wisely and wonderfully distributed.  Conse-
quently, if  mankind but knew it, each mind holds the power,
the  long  end  of the  health-lever,  in the hands of  his  own
Will.  At  a moment's notice the  mind may summon its mili-
tary battalions.   When  these powerful forces concentrate  and
commence  action,  under  the  command  of an enlightened
Reason, the myriad  hosts  of Gen.  DeBility will  at once speed
away, like affrighted chamois at the hunter's approach.
    Do you doubt, suffering and frail reader ?  Then  doubt no
longer, for  see  with your  own vision the reasonableness of all
this, which is in store for all.
    We  shall show  you that bile—for the most part—is  the
broken  down globules  of the blood, and should be  expelled.
Food contains carbon and hydrogen.  Old and waste atoms  of
the body are particularly loaded with the deadening and life
less carbon.  This is the ammunition—the powder and shot—
used by Gen.  DeBility.  He takes  deadly aim  at your everj
organ,  and fires away!   His shots take  effect, in  the  firsl
instance, upon the weakest parts, either internally or externally
—whether functional or constitutional—and  down  you go for
two or three days, (or as many weeks perchance) unfit for the
duties and manifestations  of  a  Man!  Now,  although we  still
recommend anti-bilious remedies  to  aid Nature, we  ask  your
Will-powers to exert themselves righteously, and the  following
is the initiative:
    On  the established fact that the Pneumogastric Nerve is a
magneto-motive conductor of mental decrees,  we commend you
to yourself in the treatment and cure—yes,  perfect cure !__of
almost  all  throat, lung, heart, and bowel  diseases known on the
American  continent.  But all cures are conditional. 
             A PNEUMOGASTRICAL DISCOVERY.          51

   The true causes of physical heat are not known.  No ch?nnV
can perfectly explain the hidden sources.  The incidental phe
nomena of heat and temperature are well enough comprehended,
but the prime sources thereof are enshrouded in mystery.  Fire
is  not essential to the heat and vigor of blood.   The human
blood maintains a temperature of about 98 degrees in all parts
of the globe; the  same beneath the equatorial sun  as  at the
extreme north,  amid  eternal snows;  and who,  without our
philosophy of the  human constitution, can explain the cause of
this amazing equilibrium of temperature ?
   We declare that it is within man's will-power to manufacture
and preserve his temperature in any climate ;  and more, that he
can maintain his health under any reasonable combination of
circumstances ; notwithstanding the many trials, and privations,
and labors to which he is involuntarily subjected.
   The  common  theory is,  that  by respiration  the  system
  ^oives and gives off the elements of heat.  We say that this is
the process of generating temporary heat, but the cause thereof
lies in the spiritual principles  composing the soul.   (Let us pass
on, leaving this subject for the present.)   Oxygen of the air,
entering the lungs by inspiration, mingling with the carbon and
hydrogen of the blood, is supposed to disengage and  distribute
heat through the system.   This is not the pure heat  of  love—
the eternal ivarmth  of the heart—but it is that which is wholly
calorical and fleeting.
   Instead, therefore,  of breathing  or eating for the purpose of
increasing the amount of "animal heat," we would counsel
respiration as a means  of transmitting spiritual  vigor  to the
weak and debilitated organs.   The heart is  covered with the
cardiac plexus, which arises  from the Pneumogastric Nerve.
The lungs are supplied with many  branchlets—another  plexus
of nerves—which, also, spring out of the same prime conductor. 
52
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
Lastly, the entire digestive functions are pervaded and provided
abundantly, and in like manner, from the same voluntary battery
at the base of the brain—-just under the will !  " A hint to the
wise is sufficient."   The organs and parts named are  under the
immediate control of the enlightened mind.   This is our " medi-
cal  discovery "—try it, Brother and Sister—and keep trying,
until you rise redeemed and sanctified by the blessing and grace
of the God within you.
    But how commence ?  First, if your weakness be  general,
and the blood is  loaded with  cold matter, lay  flat  down  on
your back, and, while breathing deep, and slow, and uniformly,
Will yourself to become  healthy—in your feet and hands,
in your knees  and elbows, in your hips and shoulders, in your
bowels and liver, in your lungs and brain !  The heart will take
care of itself.  In  cases where the weakness is generally dis-
tributed,  all  you are required to practice (while  so prostrated
and respiring) is the art of concentrating your Will and desires
simultaneously on the extremities first; then work upward and
inward progressively; and when, in the lapse  of ten  minutes
of steady, deep breathing, you have reached the brain,  repeat
the process in the  ascending  scale, as indicated in the manner
aforementioned.
    By this  Pneumogastric  treatment  of  yourself, you will
receive  spiritual strength  from the  air—nothing  is   more
certain!  When, by practice, you can  breathe deeply and  hero-
ically, and at the same time put your Will upon the restoration of
the general system,  the art of fixing your mind upon some partic-
ularly diseased  part will become less  and less difficult.   Con-
sumptive persons, by simply breathing profoundly, and willing
systematically, may enlarge their chests and lungs beyond  the
possibilities of disease.   Persons of cold temperature, with irreg-
ular habits and bad  practices,  may " right about face " and 
             A  PNEUMOGASTRICAL  DISCOVERY.          53

become harmonially healthy.  Learn to depend upon yourself—
use the infallible remedies of Nature—and, in spite of priest or
doctor, you will " pass from death unto life."
    Time  of Exercises.—In acquiring this psychological powe-
over the destinies of your bodily state, and in becoming a Self
healing Institution, whether home or,abroad—it may be neces-
sary to practice (either while  on your back,  or standing, or
walking, or riding,) perhaps three times in each twenty-four
hours.  Never just before meals, nor soon subsequent  to them ;
but the true time is when chylification is going on; about 90 or
120 minutes after  eating.  The spirit  world  will aid you,  by
forming a secret conjunction with the pneumogastric  conductor.
It is certain, gentle sufferer; do not  permit yourself to doubt.
Nothing is too  good in  Nature,  in matter, in spirit, or  in
truth.
   Order and Sympathy.—It may, however, be indispensably
necessary, in some cases, to avail yourself, at first, of the  sym-
pathy and daily order of  some loving associate.  Or, in some
instances, it may also be necessary to secure  a residence at
some  Electro magnetic  Institute,  or  Water-cure,  where  the
food and  fluids  for patients are  prepared more in accordance
with the rules of health  and life.  But it is far better to con-
vert every home into a Health Establishment.
   Arouse, my countrymen !   Shake off this contemptible incu-
bus of fashionable life, by which the good of our human nature
is often  changed  to bitterness.   Abolish all  desserts  from
your tables.  Never  eat more  than three  kinds of  solid food
for dinner.  No  drinking while  eating.   Masticate  slower.
Drive all  complainings out of your  homes.   Do good to all;
harm  to  none.   The best  blessing to ask " over  meat"  is,
for a  cheerful and  contented spirit with which to digest what
you swallow.  All solemnity during meals is as irreligious as
    5* 
54              THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
excessive  mirthfulness  is  vulgar.   In  short, suffering children
of earth! let each so live—

                  " that when the summons comes to join
           The innumerable caravan, that moves
           To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
           His chamber in the silent halls of death,
           Thou go, not like a quarry slave at night,
           Scourged to  his dungeon ; but sustained and soothed
           By an unfaltering trust, approach the grave,
           Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
           About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.'" 
OFFICES  OF THE SYMPATHETIC GANGLIA.      55
                   CHAPTER  VII.

PATHOLOGICAL  OFFICES  OF  THE  SYMPA-
                 THETIC  GANGLIA,

    It  is deemed  best, since we are not writing these chapters
for the exclusive benefit of educated physicians, to express our
thoughts in language  suitable  to  the  comprehension of the
common  mind.  Now and then, however, we may be permitted
to  employ technical terms, because they best embody the
thought  designed for the  reader's understanding.  And here
we will add that we hold ourselves open to " more light," to the
end that we may explain  and further illustrate what has been
freely,  but perhaps too vaguely, communicated.
   All the knowledge in our possession concerning  the exist-
ence, anatomy, and pathological offices of the  Pneumogastrical
Nerve, was acquired by means  of  clairvoyant examinations of
the human body, extending through a series of years, and under
every imaginable  degree and variety of mental  condition and
external  circumstances.  Much, therefore, is a matter of mem-
ory, from which we draw perpetual lessons, as from the well-
spring  of a strange and multifarious experience.  But while
writing upon these medical questions, as well as upon other
topics,  there is, in addition to  this available  treasury of past
examinations, a present illumination of the intellectual faculties, 
56
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
and a  finer clairvoyance  also, whereby the things in human
bodies, about which we write, are made limpid and as systematic
as the trees in  the landscape and  the  flowing waters thereof,
under the beautiful effulgence of a July sun.
   Of the Pneumogastric  Nerve, we trace its magnetic termi-
nations into the intestinal cavity, upon the muscular fabrics of
which its motive influences are freely exerted.   This fact last
named, which is most perfectly exhibited to the inner vision,
might  induce  the erroneous  impression that the Nerve itself
penetrates  the  lower abdomen, while, in fact, it  reaches and
centers only in certain portions of the upper viscera, but prac-
tically, (i. e., in the effect  of Will upon  this  Nerve,) we were
perfectly  correct  in  our  last chapter,  which the reader  is
requested to re-examine and analyze.
   The internal beauty of the human physical temple surpasses
the descriptive power of  language.  Viewed  with  the  leaden
eyes of materialism, and studied from the wholly physiological
standpoint, the body presents nothing either "fearful or wonder-
ful."   Once open your  spiritual  eyes, however—fix   their
analytical powers upon the anatomical structure of the nervous
system—and the wonders of a universe are instantly unfolded
to your understanding.  Wheels within organs,  tissues within
muscles,  fibers  within  nerves,  globes  within blood,  motion
within life, sensation within motion, and myriads  of beautiful
processes  going on in the several departments of the temple at
the same moment—all impress the spirit-observer with sublime
and unutterable truths, and with gratitude beyond all bounds of
expression.
   The principal mystery of the nervous system is  its invisible
influence  or energy.   Physiologists have long since supposed
an identity between the so-called  galvanic fluid and that poten-
tial principle which pervades and imparts  divine dynamics  to 
         OFFICES OF  THE SYMPATHETIC  GANGLIA.      57

the whole nervous organism.  But we  are  now enabled  to
approach the presence of more interior realities, and to compre-
hend  more  truth respecting  the  nervauric mystery of man.
We are permitted to contemplate the human system in its per-
fectly dual  structure, and to  behold the  labyrinthine passages
and  sequestered retreats  of  the  Interior  Life  of  Man.  The
object of  all such discoveries is the harmonization of the indi-
vidual, with special reference to the banishment of disease and
the establishment of pure health, as the  basis  of all spiritual
prosperity and progression.
    The  double  structure of man's constitution is  illustrated
through all its wondrous detail.  Every nerve, however thread-
like and  delicate, is  composed of two distinct cords—positive
and negative lines or conductors—each having a separate  and
distinct function to perform in the organic economy.  The posi-
tive nerve is filled  with  a  conducting substance  essentially
different  from  the material  within the negative  nerve, both
lying side by side in one membranous  sheath, and  discharging
different  duties with the most  perfect harmony and reciproca-
tion.  It is beautiful to observe  how all the  nerves start out
from the primitive brain, (the medulla oblongata?) and proceed
in the performance of  their  mission in  married pairs, two by
two,  and  how  they  never become confused and separated so
long as  body  and soul  remain together.
    The  encephalos  and its  nerves constitute the  basis of all
 physiological  existence.  From  the brain we  proceed down-
 wards and inwards.   The  spinal nerves, each  brace of which
 connects with the spinal cord, are systematically  arranged  in
 pairs with reciprocal offices.  One side of each nerve—or rather
 one nerve within each tube—conveys motion; the other, se?isa-
 tion.  These  motory and sensatory nerves start out from  the
 brain-matter,  and extending down the whole length of  the 
58             THE  HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
spinal  column, they  branch  out upon  the several  internal
organs, and  distribute themselves to  all external parts of the
system.  Besides  this general  statement, with  respect to all
the nerves, it should be  observed that there are two  systems
of nerves, which operate differently within the temple.
   First, there are the long nerves and the plexuses ;  second,
the sympathetic  nerves  and ganglionic centers.    The  first
ramify throughout the exterior parts of the frame, and are the
direct lines of sensational experience, connecting the intellectual
part with the external world.  Solids, fluids,  sounds, odors,
ethers, elements, objects—all get themselves reported upon the
brain by means of the  five senses, and the nervous  influences
by  which the  organal  parts of the  system are  perpetually
inspired.  The ganglionic  system,  on  the  other hand, is an
internal structure  for the direct maintenance of organic exist-
ence.   The  grand source of  internal  sympathy is  sometimes
termed, " the great intercostal Nerve," which arises within the
brain, or from a joint contribution of the fifth and sixth  pair,
and descends by the sides of the bodies of the vertebrae of the
neck, thorax, loins, and  os sacrum.   In the thorax it perforates
the diaphragm, forms the  semi-lunar  ganglionic plexus, and
proceeds to  ramify, and fix ganglia, in all the abdominal  viscera.
In fact, there  is no part  of the body neglected by this  great
sympathetic conductor of  automatic principles.
    This great nerve-system within man's body  is the connect-
ing link between  lower life and the  instinct of the spiritual
constitution.   It  is  quite different from  the  Pneumogastric
Nerve, which conducts  the will and  decisions of the  judgment
to the heart,  lungs,  stomach,  etc.   The sympathetic Nerve-
plexuses, on the contrary, collect and  convey the pure  automa-
tic principles of integral motion,  life, and instinctive  energy, to
all the  interior structures, to all  the lymphatic vessels, and to 
         OFFICES OF  THE SYMPATHETIC GANGLIA.      59

every particle  of living blood  in  the organism, by means of
innumerable filaments ; so that, in a certain and positive sense,
all parts of the  body are sympathetically related and tied by
the bonds  of affection together, forming one brotherhood of
interest and mutuality of functions, and making it quite impos-
sible  for one  member to suffer without disturbing the health
and. prosperity of all other parts.
   We repeat that the  Sympathetic nerve confers nothing in
the form of sensibility or power of movement to the organism ;
and yet,  what is far  better, it is the grand conductor  (almost
fountain) of vitality and  instinctive justice to the different and
subordinate parts.   Intuition is derived from the  instinct of
this wonderful system of ganglia.   Sensibility, excitability, and
irritability belong to the  other system  of conductors and the
brain ; but vitality, animation, instinct, and affection, belong to
the great Sympathetic department; and so complete  is  the
inter-mechanical  operation of  these nerves and ganglia, that
intelligence and  will are  not necessary to the  performance of
their  appropriate functions.   The  pathological offices  of the
sympathetic plexuses, however, are measurably within the juris-
diction of  the possessor, as ultimately  the whole interior will
be subordinated to the voluntary powers of the cerebrum, when
man will put all diseases, as well as  more hurtful enemies,
beneath hrs feet.   The  offices pathological are involuntary, yet
the vital ends are accomplished better when the individual will
second the operation.
   It is  well known that in the healthy brain  there  is a consid-
erable quantity  of  phosphorus.    In  idiots this  element  is
deficient. Phosphorus not only exists in the tissues and fibers
of the brain,  but this  element is  constantly and  incessantly
secreted throughout  the  entire  ganglionic  systems.  The
ganglionic globules are supplied with  it, and it is  in  part by 
60            THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
means  of phosphorus that the blood is empowered to eliminate
soul-aliment for the. use of the brain and nerves.  The direct
and reflex action of the internal nerves, whether the mind i3
sleeping or waking,  and several  metamorphoses  at the looping
terminations of the  involuntary conductors,  are referable to the
electro-chemical action of phosphorus in the brain and blood.
Many physiologists  have  supposed  that  even  the  " nervous
influence" is generated by the oxydation  of  the  vesicular
fissues, which is regarded as  one  of  the four metamorphoses
accomplished in the empire  of  ganglionic jurisdiction.   The
just and healthy action of the lymphatic system is inseparable
from the vigilant operations of the cerebro-sympathetic nerves.
   By means  of these internal  Nerves  the  cerebellum  is
apprised of any and every transaction in the  vital department.
Thus, for example, if any nauseous and poisonous substance be
swallowed, the  irritation  occasioned  by  it in  the   stomach
would  instantaneously  be  reported  to  the  brain, which, in its
turn, would rouse the intellect and the involuntary system, and
each is forthwith summoned to " fly  to the rescue " of the
afflicted  part—while  headache,  dizziness,  prostration of  the
will, and exhaustion, are effects  very likely to ensue.   In this
manner one part telegraphs to all other parts  through the great
Sympathetic  Nerve  and the  brain, which is  the central  agent
and righteous ruler  over the empire.  And  now  let the reme-
dial benefit of this be well  understood   What is that  benefit 1
It is this :
   The intuition of the Sympathetic  Nerve is  wiser  than the
best physician.  Should water get into  one  of the air-passages,
the Nerve  says—" expel it!" and  your judgment obeys the
impulse to " cough it out."   When your  finger is bruised, the
Nerve says—"bind up the  injured member," and your judg-
ment responds, " protect it," but perchance you  disobey.   The
penalty in some cases has been " death by mortification."  You 
         OFFICES OF  THE SYMPATHETIC  GANGLIA.      61

are disposed to  exercise when chilled, and admonished to sleep
when fatigued,  because the  Nerve's  intuition  so  dictates  to
your  judgment.  Do you  obey ?   Or, instead,  do  you expose
yourself to  unhealthy temperatures, and stave  off  the  natural
sleepiness by artificial heat and ephemeral means of stimulation.
If so, you do not harmonize with the intuition of the ganglionic
system.  You are guilty of disobedience.   When diseased, the
Sympathetic Nerve says—" Rest, rest,  rest;  be  soothed by
magnetism;  let the lymphatic vessels  operate upon and purify
the adipose matter in your system : do not  eat  nutritious  food
now ; be patient; let time work upon  you."  So the intuitive
ganglia prescribe for the prostrate patient—not  so the educated
physicians  of the land; though many  of them  know that this
course would be far best  in  the  majority  of cases.
    The pathological value  of  the Sympathetic Nerve is exhib-
ited in its  lessons  of  what is best  and  most needful when
diseased.   If the  toad, the turtle, the mole, the bee, the  dog,
cat, horse, &c,  (when left to themselves,)  will properly  pre-
scribe the  remedies  adapted to their  peculiar or accidental
ailments,  why   not  the more  exalted and  finely organized
human being ?   Man's ganglionic system says : " Give me no
drugs,  but   instead,  gentle  aids and magnetic   principles."
But that great  experimentalist, the front  brain, says—" Why
not try a box of pills, a bleeding, and a blister?"  And thus
many times,  when the  whole  Sympathetic system  is crying
out against the injustice, the voluntary experimentalizing brain
decides to  " try the nostrum."    Once begun,  it  is hard to
prophesy the result.  So, then, since  man  cannot  immediately
affect  the ganglia  of the  Sympathetic system  by his will, let
him at least permit his judgment to be instructed  by the wise
intuitions which are thus  telegraphed to   his  sensorium  and
thinking faculties.
    6 
62            THE HARBINGER  OF  HEALTH.
                   CHAPTER VIII.

            PHYSIOLOGICAL  VIRTUE.

   Go to  the  superficial, and therefore pompous, teacher or
professor of Physiology and Health, and he will merely educate
your  perceptive organs and train  your memory.   It is the
inherent  tendency  of  his  school to educate  and store your
retentive faculties by means of isolated facts and multifarious
observations.   The  experimental and never  certain  character
of his outward science  and skill, is, therefore, inevitable, and
beyond the necessity of logical illustration.  Even  the  most
unlearned—the unpretending and common  mind—can discern,
at a glance, the unreliableness of much of the so termed medical
science of the day.  The fact, we believe, is conceded, that very
few diplomatized and college-bred physicians  pretend  to master
any of our continental diseases—such  as Dyspepsia, Hepatic
Disorders, Scrofula, Rheumatism, Erysipelas, and Consumption.
   We trace the secret of this impotency, among medical men
of learning and research, to one cause, namely : the Professors
of our colleges of medicine—with few, but glorious exceptions
—take the student out of himself, as though he were a spectator,
a foreigner, a secondary and subordinate fact, to the science of
health and the uses of medicine.  The Regular Faculty seem
shorn of the natural faculty of truth-seeing.  They are scholas-
tic in  the department of ritualism, of formulas, of routine, of 
PHYSIOLOGICAL  VIRTUE.
63
/atfarianism;  they can remember and quote illustrative remarks,
from this, that, and the other medical  authority ; but how im-
poverished  and used-up,  how  unscientific and shallow,  how
wordy and flatulent, when we call their attention to the deeper
truths, to the  sublimer realities, to the philosophical principles
of Life.
    On  the other hand,   to  see  the undisguisable contrast,
observe how naturally the harmonial teacher of health approach-
es his subject and the student.   He establishes, to begin with,
the common profound principle, that "Health is Harmony"—
that any, even the least, variation  or departure from this fine
balance and adjustment of the vital  energies,  is " Disease."
If this  departure and derangement be  recent and severe, it is
termed " Acute ;"  if of remote  origin,  congenital, or  superin-
duced by violations upon healthy  organs and conditions, it  is
termed " Chronic."
    And  now  observe  further, how the harmonial teacher of
Physiology  and Therapeutics appeals, not to the student's per
ceptives and memory merely, but to all the groups of  organs,
which are the physical foundations of the temple of Reason!
He interests the pupil  in himself;  he attracts and brings him
home.   He  then opens up to his  intellect the realities  of his
own wondrous constitution.  He explains  the marvellous har-
monies and fair proportions  of  the physical organization.  He
persuades the student out of his books into himself, and reveals
the invisible fountains  of.recuperative energy, that rise and fall,
that repel  and attract, that expand and contract, that repose
and  labor,  in  the beautiful  empire  of  individual  physical
existence.
    What a glorious medical revelation !   The great men of the
Colleges pretend  to  disdain it, do they ?  Shallow pretense!
Say, rather, that they  envy the  possessor  of  such simple, yet 
•64
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
sublime knowledge  of Nature and her Laws.   Under the influ-
ence of this harmonial teaching, the student himself becomes a
systematic work on Physiology.   His self-healing energies con-
stitute the most scientific Pharmacy of  curative preparations.
The inexhaustible treasuries of scientific lore  are  secreted in
man's  organization.  The true  physician, the unritual,  but
spiritual, teacher in the departments of physiology and health,
is certain to reach the unseen springs of life, and he invariably
depends upon the immutable  Sowings of vital energy for the
success of his prescriptions.   But  patients seldom take  any
interest  in the workings  of  the  natural powers.  Hence, fre-
quently, to the efforts of the true physician the words of Pope
are lamentably applicable :

          " Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land ?
           All fear, none aid you, and few understand.''

    By physiological " Virtue " we design to imply, not a care-
less confidence in the never-failing operations of bodily functions
—by which abuse  and neglect  are  oftentimes  surrounded and
defended—but we  mean the co-operation  of habits and daily
conduct with the requirements of the laws of life and happiness.
    For example :   If your lungs demand pure air, in order to
circulate and purify the crimson current  of life, you are vicious
—morally  and intellectually vicious—unless  you  supply  that
virtuous demand.  If your mouth  asks for bread and you give
it  tobacco instead,  then  you are  not .physiologically  virtuous.
If your  body calls for rest, quiet, or a  change of occupation,
and you heed  it not, or,  instead, give it  brandy and irritating
stimulants, you are  then violating the laws of organic virtue.
   What follows ?   All the vagabond troupe of vicious feelings
which  pervade,  torment, betray,  and crucify you, when  you
would be at peace within the temple.   The reverse  of these 
PHYSIOLOGICAL VIRTUE.
65
  conditions is equally—yea, even more—impressive and forcible.
  That is to say, give your bodily organs the free  use  of whatso-
  ever they in health demand, and cease feeding them while they
  yet have  the still  small  power to  cry,  ' Hold, enough !" and
  your virtuousness will bloom  beautifully out  upon every look,
  word, and deed.
      Rheumatism and analogous  diseases  are frequently caused
  by  inattention  to—i. e.,  vicious  treatment of—some of the
  expanding and contracting principles that regulate the organism.
  The two inseparable  processes common to all  animal bodies,
  termed eyidosmosis and exosmosis—first, the attraction of fluids
*  and ethers from the  external to the interior, and second, the
  repulsion of similar  elements from the mucous membranes  to
  the exterior surfaces—must  be kept in a balanced  condition,
  otherwise health is overthrown in an hour, and  " disease " (of
  the sort natural to the person or the climate,)  is the  inevitable
  consequence.  Vice, not virtue, prevails in such  case.  And the
  sufferer, like Job, is wicked  enough to fancy that " the arrows
  of the Almighty " rankle in the marrow of his bones and in the
  nerves of his flesh.
      A bad state of the liver is inseparable from evil impressions
  of men  and  things.  A bitter-tongued and  sour-stomached indi-
  vidual is no lover of  music, though it may excite him, and his
  opinions of his  fellow men will very nearly correspond to the
  state of his bodily vices.   " The green-eyed  monster  "  was
  never blest with  fine digestion or a sweet breath.   His food
  was changed into the  " gall of bitterness," and his cup of milk
  into the tea of " wormwood,"  and  equally perverted were all
  his impressions of men and the world.  The doctrine of demons,
  of devils, of evil genii, was conceived in the womb of physiolog-
  ical vice.  " Hell " is the shortest phrase to express " burning
  discord "—a great  boil, on the way to suppuration—an inflam-
            6* 
66             THE  HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
mation of the brain, on the gallop to a hot delirium—an erysipe-
las, burning destruction into the flesh—an itch, with no power
to  scratch—a  violent  discord,  resulting  from  physiological
viciousness, is  the bottom  of the  oriental conception  of the
" bottomless pit."  The " pit " here referred to is  no other than
the pit  of the stomach, whereon the great fulcrum of the lever
of Health works,  good or evil, just as  the  possessor, by his
habits and conduct, may at  any time  determine.  " Our young
people," says a  Thinker, " are diseased with the  theological
problems  of original sin, origin of evil, predestination, and the
like.....   These  are the soul's mumps,  and  measles, and
whooping-coughs, and  those who have not  caught them cannot *
describe their health or prescribe the cure." 
BRAIN-LIFE AND LUNG-LIFE
67
                    CHAPTER IX.

          BRAIN-LIFE  AND LUNG-LIFE,

    The mathematical and sympathetic correspondence between
the visceral organs and different sections of the brain, briefly
explained in foregoing pages, is beautiful and significant beyond
the common understanding;  and we know that we shall be con-
ferring  a permanent  blessing  by embodying,  in a few more
paragraphs, the secrets and benefits of these wonderful relations,
processes, and representations.
    Very intelligent and educated  correspondents write us sub-
stantially as follows : " I have  read your New Discovery for
general debility, &c.; the principles laid down appear reason-
able, but I cannot use my Will as you  direct; my appetite is
tolerably  steady and good; my bowels  operate regularly; I
have no difficulty about sleeping; but somehow, I am unable to
gain strength; my  food does not build up  any vital energy,"
&c, &c.  Now let us consider the health gospel.
    The tender spirit of many suffering ones blends to sadness
and despondency.   It is natural and righteous to desire  to live
long in the land.   The harp-strings of the young heart tremble
when disease seems determined to corrode them, to break them
in twain, to plack the dew-drops of happiness from  the flowers
of hope and health.  An angel's visit is frequently interpreted
to mean,  " Earth-child, come, come away!"  It  is sad to yield 
6S
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
up thy heart as a trophy, a slave, to premature Disease.  Thou
art  designed  and constituted for an earthly career " of  three-
score and ten years," and as many more as thy obedience  to the
Laws of Health may add thereto;  but thou art not designed to
dwell in the dark, damp dungeons  of corruption and disease—■
not fitted for  gloomy rooms of mortal suffering, while the earth
is filled with splendors and music, and the heavens  are  trem-
bling with the soul-essence of  the  Infinite and Eternal.   There
is nothing more desirable than pure, rosy, virtuous, meritorious
Health.   0, that we  could  speak with  the penetrative  elo-
quence of an angel!  Would that wc could " dip our pen  in the
rose-light, fresh from fountains of the sun," and write out in a
few  comprehensive celestial  sentences, the  whole gospel of
physical  perfectibility as the only basis  of spiritual  complete-
ness and  endless prosperity !  But we must content ourselves
with  the ink  and language of earth, whereby to  portray  and
enforce the glory and virtue of bodily health and greatness.
   Effect of Air on Mind.—Few persons imagine that their
lungs are inseparable from their thoughts.  Not  that the pul-
monary structures and  functions ocoupy  the heart of  thoughts  ;
but that as a man inspires the physical atmosphere, so does his
mind conduct  itself as to thinking, willing, and wishing* For
example :  If a human  being  should be imprisoned  in a small
room, not properly  ventilated, and not replenished with  fresh
air from without—so that his  breathing would be confined to
the same  atmosphere  for a great number  of  hours each day—
the consequence would unmistakably be exhibited in the mental
operations of the victim.  He would think in  a circle, because
he would breathe in a circle, and his digestion would be imper
feet.  His  thoughts could not bound cheerily over the land-
scape, because the atmosphere of the landscape does  not  enter
his  lungs.  Physicians and patients are habitually  imagining 
BRAIN-LIFE  AND LUNG-LIFE.             69
 that a " change of scene " is the secret of benefit in many cases
 of nervous prostration.  Although there is truth in this impres-
 sion, yet it is far from divulging the absolute paramount cause
 of the salutary results that sometimes follow pilgrimizing away
 from home in  quest  of health.  When once  the real secret is
 intelligently known, and  when  the  knowledge  accruing there-
 from is promptly applied by  the  possessors,  then  may the
 multitudes of sick ones save themselves the fatigue and expense
 of journeys.   If  you wish to travel  for recreation, first get a
 stock  of health to sustain you, in the shape of Air, Light, and
 Electricity.
    The  shortest *oute to firm health  is  through the lungs  and
 pneumogastric nerves.  Small  lungs—small  minds ;  or, large
 lungs and bad  air—large minds and  few  thoughts.  The  old-
 fashioned orthodox churches were  built  and  kept as tight as
 drums during service; the effect was  manifested in the narrow
 creeds and  doleful doctrines concerning God and man.  In this
 connection we  are reminded of Florence Nightingale, the
 noble nurse who voluntarily went to  the  Crimean war to  bind
 up the bleeding wounds of the soldiers.  She says :
   " An extraordinary fallacy is the dread  of night air.  What
 air can  we breathe  at night  but night  air ?   The  choice is
 between pure night air from  without  and foul  night  air from
 within.   Most people  prefer the latter.  An  unaccountable
 choice.   What will they say if it is proved to be  true  that fully
 one-half of all the  disease we suffer from is occasioned by people
 sleeping  with their windows shut ?  An open  window  most
 nights in the year  can never hurt any one.  This is not  to say
 that  light is not necessary for recovery.   In great cities, night
air is often the best and purest air to be had in the twenty-four
hours.   I could  better understand shutting the windows in towns
during the day than during the night, for. the sake of  the  sick. 
70
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
The  absence of smoke, the quiet, all  tend to make night the
best  time for airing the patient.   One  of our highest medical
authorities  on consumption and climate, has  told  me that the
air in London is never so good as after ten o'clock at night.
Always  air  your room, then, from the outside air,  if possible.
Windows  are made to open, doors are made  to shut—a truth
which seems extremely difficult of apprehension.  Every room
must be aired from without—every passage from within.  But
the fewer passages there are in a  hospital the better."
   Singular Physiological Facts.—It is impossible to think
large, manly, beautiful, virtuous thoughts, while  respiring in an
atmosphere  of  stagnation and consequent corruption.   People
who  sleep in close, ill-ventilated rooms, are forever dreaming a
set of monotonous  dreams, loaded with  vicious pictures, and
animated by strangers or demons  made from  the  confined air.
Idiots  breathe   superficially.   They seldom respire like  an
intelligent mind.  Timid persons inhale small quantities of air.
The coward has a  narroio chest, and he  only uses  the  upper
portions of his lungs.   If a blacksmith is  about  to lift a heavy
hammer, or strike a hard blow, he will (unthinkingly)  expand
and  fill his  lungs  to  their utmost  capacity.  Why does  the
strongest horse always have the  broadest and deepest chest ?
The mind cannot expand and improve, morally or intellectually,
unless the  lungs be  large, full, and constantly and plentifully
supplied with air, fresh  from the vintage of immensity.  No
high and  magnificent conceptions can be obtained  in a confined
atmosphere.   Mountainous air   is  essential to  mountainous
thoughts.  The atmosphere of infinity is indispensable to spirit-
ual expansion.
    Do you question these statements ?  Are they extravagant ?
We  challenge you to a successful  contradiction.  The lungs and
the  brain will  correspond throughout in their capacities and 
BRAIN-LIFE  AND LUNG-LIFE.             71
operations.  While writing these sentences, we detect a " breath-
less"  silence ever  and anon.  And  why?  Simply because,
between the appreciation of a thought  and the formation of the
same into  suitable  language, the  activity of the  mind is sus-
pended by a sort of hesitation, and  the respiration, as a conse-
quence, is correspondingly  suspended.   This  same-result is
brought on by an intensified effort to catch and appreciate a fine
passage of poetry, or some thrilling and sublime thought evolved
by an eloquent speaker.   The audience is spell-bound, held " in
breathless silence " literally, until the impression  is perfectly
received.   Then respiration i3  deep and hearty,  and, with the
augmentation of muscular strength  as a  result  of breathing a
large quantity of air, there rolls out the hand-and-foot applause,
so common to public assemblies.  If an audience be deprived of
pure  air,  the  best  speaker  cannot  awaken  expressions  of
enthusiasm.
    Common Lamentations.—What is the cry of our  fast-going
people ?  " My food  does  not perfectly digest!"   This  is the
saying  all  over  America.   " My poor head aches half  of the
time !"  So exclaim our young ladies.   "My lungs are the best
part of me !"   Which is, unfortunately, a somewhat common
affirmation.  " But my liver is  diseased  and torpid."  This is
the  popular  complaint.    " And  my bowels  are  slow  and
sluggish."
    Such miserable lamentations ascend from all the most fertile
portions of this glorious  continent.  Hundreds of  physicians
attribute the prevalence of hepatic disorders to the  conditions
of the soil, water, and air; others contend that  the chief cause
is lurking in the constitution  of  man, and hold that disease is
an  inevitable part of this  existence ; but there is,  fortunately, a
very general interest awakened in the  direction  of physiological
knowledge and  universal  improvement,  and the final fruit will 
72            THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
surely be :  the triumphant conquest of individual man over all
enemies to his " bodily ease and mental tranquillity."
   Is it not worthy of particular notice, good reader, that the
majority of individuals who,  as invalids, incessantly complain
m the department of  digestion, are the most  constant violators
of physiological laws ?   They assail  their stomachs, day after
day, with indecent quantities of edible substances.   They con-
sign to their inward system quarts of  unsubstantial stimulants, ♦
and pounds of over-nutritious foods.   And yet, notwithstanding
these incessantly  accumulating embarrassments to a correct
digestion—which necessitate an extra quantity of exercise and
a greater supply of fresh air—such persons  are invariably the
most unphilosophical  consumers of the abounding atmosphere.
They breathe the most confined air at night in their unventilated
bed-rooms, and  during the day many of them are too  weak
(indolent ?)  to take a long breath of life.   Full breathing  is
accomplished solely by the WILL—unless the person is about
to lift a heavy weight, strike a powerful blow, or jump a chasm.
Then a deep inspiration is an involuntary act, dictated and per-
formed by  the intuition of the  sympathetic ganglia.
    Structure of the Stomach.—The reader is aware that the
gastric secretion is designed to accomplish a separation of the
solid from the fluid portions of food.   The substantial particles
—i. e., the glutinous,  fibrinous, and albuminous portions of food
—are carefully  selected and separated from all the  liquid con-
tents of your stomach.  But do you suppose that, separate from
the  nerve-energy of  brain-life,  the  stomach  has any inherent
power to carry forward the chemistry of digestion ?  Do you
not know that the  lining membrane  of the stomach is thickly
corrugattd with follicles, or pits, or  minute waves  of  the one
substance—involutions of the mucous membrane—by which the
digestive batteries of the stomach are many times multiplied in 
BRAIN-LIFE  AND LtfNU-LIFE.
73
power ?  And  do you  not also  know that, in addition to  tho
muscular and semi-mechanical activities of the whole organ, the
fire and life of the lungs and brain are, or should be, incessantly
and  fully communicated  through the pneumogastric  nerve to
every particle of fluid and solid consigned to the  interior 1
    Relation of Lungs to Brain.—To  our perceptions it is
too clear to require  further illustration, that the vivifying fire,
the  soul-energy  of  the body, the brain-and-nerve Principle of
life, is  absorbed by the lungs from the boundless  ocean  of
imponderable  elements.   Oxygen,   so  universal,  is  but  the
vehicle of heaven's divine  breath.  The brain is master  of
digestion ;  so  also  of  the just distribution  of strength.  The
stomach depends upon the brain for a supply of all forces neces-
sary to accomplish  digestion;  but  the  brain, in  its turn, is
equally dependent upon the lungs for a requisite store of electric
riches and vital power.   The celestial elements of infinity ride
straight through the lungs into the blood; thence  to the great
battery of all  energy  and digestion, the brain;  which immedi-
ately distributes  to each part of the body the principles of
sensation, and  life, and motion.
    Deprive the lungs of heaven's invisible air—shut off the
supply of the vivifying principles of the divine infinitude—and
the  whole  beautiful machinery  will immediately  stop!  The
best food in the universe could give no strength, unless  first
baptized in the spirit  of the atmosphere.  Air is the universal
blessing!   It  cannot  be fenced in by legislative  enactments;
but it can be kept out by the ignorance or inattention of invalids.
Some  persons seem afraid to expand their lungs to their utmost
capacity, lest something  will break  and let  out the  stream of
life !  Of course, good friend, you know that any sudden and
violent conduct is  attended with a greater  percentage of risk.
Begin  deliberately  and practice daily, therefore, and you will
     7 
74             THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
find that the common air is impregnated with an electric energy,
which pervades, refreshes, quickens, and  energizes  every part
of your  physical temple.
   Vital Electricity.—Your  blood  cannot  circulate without
the electric fire of the  air;  neither  can a particle of  food
strengthen you without it.  Without the living  energy of air,
which is obtained only by way of the lungs, no  diet  could be
made universally nutritious.   Salivary  juice, as  it  pours from
the little springs on either side of the cheeks and mouth, could
do nothing without the air's vivifying electricity.   The  gas-
tric  fluid—although loaded  with its inherent pepsin, and the
acids, lactic, hydrochloric, &c, &c.—could accomplish nothing
without a  constant supply of  nerve-energy.   The  lungs  must
absorb  the electricity of the  measureless immensity;  other-
wise nothing strong  can occur, but death and  transformation
will hasten into the  temple.
   Suppose chemistry  does establish the  fact, that all food con-
tains oxygen, hydrogen,  carbon, etc.; yet it remains a problem
exactly how the heat-making and strength-generating processes
are maintained.  If these important processes  could be  origi-
nated by the electro-magnetic battery, and if  it were found that
 a breathing soul was  not necessary to  the correct performance
 of the  digestive  functions, then it would  be  perfectly safe
 for  mankind  to violate the Laws of Health both day and night.
 But the fact is that  nothing  vitally chemical can  occur in
 man's body without the superintendence of the  chemical prin-
 ciple  of  life in the  spirit.  Nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous
 substances, suitable for man's diet, are nothing  in  themselves;
 they must be associated with,  and indorsed by,  the electric fire
 of the brain which  is  supplied by means of the  lungs.  All
 the non-nitrogenized  foods  and medicines—starch,  gum, oils,
 &c.—are nothing, unless empowered by the vivifying principle
 of the  surrounding immensity. 
BRAIN-LIFE  AND LUNG-LIFE.             75
    Breathe, then, good reader !   Take in large quantities of the
 divine,  immaculate fire !   Let every woman  (and every lady,
 sans  Fashion,) give free play to  her lungs ; and let every man
 also  open  his  mouth  to  the blessings  of air, ("No smoking
 allowed,") so that all food swallowed shall  be transformed into
 the foundation of rosy Health, and every soul be a living fount-
 ain of gratitude and gladness.  Bathe your body with pure and
 beautiful water : then  rub your entire skin briskly with a soft
 flannel cloth ; lastly, make passes with your hands—so that an
 eiectrical condition will exist externally,  and, as a consequence,
 the internal surfaces  be  supplied with  healthy  magnetism
 The opposite of this condition is disease.  When the surface is
 hot or feverish, the vital parts are negative and electrical; the
 exact reverse of  the  state of Health—when the  surface  is
 pleasantly cool  with electricity, while  the  interior is magnetic-
 ally warm with  vital energy.
    The Gastric  Methods.—The reasons  in favor of full and
 intelligent respiration  are numerous  and easily  understood.
 Chyle is the last result of fundamental digestion.  But, in itself,
 chyle has no power to promote growth, give strength, or repair
 the waste of the body.   It is  the successor of chyme.  Chyme
 is manufactured from the food in the first departments of diges-
 tion.   It  is  a pulpy mass, impregnated  or charged with elec-
 tricity of the vitallic kind.  When it passes downwards into the
 second stomach, or duodenum, the pancreatic fluid and the bile
 at once combine with it, adding a positive element, by which
 chyme is transformed into  a milk-white liquid (the chyle) which,
 with the residuum, flows steadily into and through all the small
 intestines.
    What  next ?  The  numerous  mesenteric glands, with the
lacteal vessels, commence their work of forming incipient eggs
from the chylic fluid.  The unchylified  portion  (the residuum) 
76
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
meantime passes onward into the larger and  lower bowels, and
is thence  rejected with the broken-down blood  globules in the
shape  of  bile and relative excretions.  This material is wholly
excrementitious.  Now the thoracic " duct," so  called,  attracts
the chyle  from the lacteal passages and mesenteric glands, and
pours  it  into  a vein,  which, from behind  the  collar-bone,
discharges its  contents  into the  positive side  of  the heart.
Here the  chyle is mixed with the negative portion of the blood.
This venous  blood is no more nutrient than the chyle ;  neither
can  give   strength  and  repair  waste,  unless   cleansed  and
electrified.
   The Purifying Ordeal.—How is this accomplished ?   By
means  of  the pure  air of  space!  Yes, when heaven's  divine
breath  enters the air-chambers, the chyle is converted at once
into nutritious blood adapted to  the multifarious necessities of
the arterial system, and the cold venous blood is  at the  same
moment unloaded of its death-burdens, in the form of carbonic
gas and useless water.   Carbon is the principal  element of
decay and  death ;  yet it  is essential to life, and a good  con-
ductor  of electricity.  This carbon is seen  in the dark color
of the  blood.  It must be disengaged  and repelled  from  the
body, or  disease will ensue.   The  vegetable world wants the
carbonic element.  Death and life  in the  same organism !
   So, therefore,  the heart  wisely and  energetically  throws
both the chyle and the venous blood upon  the entire responsi-
bility of the lungs.   When the  invisible air  is instinctively
drawn  into  the pulmonary structures, the eternal life of  the
divine  and  infinite enters also, whereby the chyle is changed
as by magic  into a constructive principle for the soul's good,
while the newly purified blood, re-baptized  and confirmed  in
the ways of righteousness, hastens upon its mission of benevo-
lence, to all parts of the physical temple. 
                BRAIN-LIFE AND LUNG-LIFE.             77

    It is generally known that,  although  the element nitrogen
 remains nearly the  same as to quantity, whether inspired or
 expired, yet the quantity of oxygen is lessened by every inhala-
 tion  of air,  and  the quantity of carbonic acid is  increased
 with every exhalation, all  which, without  argument, goes to
 establish the  fact that human  beings  cannot with  impunity
 breathe over  and over the confined air  of improperly  venti-
 lated apartments—that small quantities of air will not suffice
 to  keep up the dynamic processes of  beautiful  health.  One
 hundred and  forty-six Englishmen were imprisoned in a room
 about eighteen feet  square.  The ventilation  was insufficient,
 there being but two small windows, in one  side,  to admit  the
 atmosphere,  and  the effect was very  soon fully manifested.
 Only twenty-three of the one hundred and forty-six strong men
 were alive ten hours after  their imprisonment in  the dungeon!
 From  this terrible circumstance  the  place  received an appro-
 priate epithet:  " The Black Hole of Calcutta."
    Morality of  Pure Air.—How many superficial breathers
 are  there, whose  lungs never   receive  the  full  ventilation
 required?   Many a human  system, we think, being filled with
 broken-down blood globules, and  other deadly  impurities, may,
 with  propriety, be styled,  "The Black  Hole of  Calcutta!"
 School-houses, churches, bed-chambers,  legislative halls, and
 every habitation, in short, occupied by organizations with lungs,
 should  be  constantly supplied with plentiful quantities of air,
 composed of  twenty-one  per cent, of oxygen  to  seventy-nine
 per cent, of nitrogen—otherwise it will  be impossible for the
 best Doctors of Divinity to  keep their congregation out cf Per-
 dition, and equally impossible for Doctors of Medicine to rescue
 their families  and  patients from the trials of private Purgatory.
No true breathing/or  remedial purposes can occur unless accom-
plished  by the WILL.  It is strictly a Pneumogastric exercise,
    7* 
78
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
regulated  by design.  Any one acquainted with the physiology
of respiration knows, that with every expansion and contraction
of the lungs—or whenever the air enters and  departs from the
chest—many motions and changes take place in the  abdominal
cavity, alimentary canals, stomach, liver, diaphragm, intercostal
muscles, &c, &c.
   There  is a  deep and beautiful philosophy behind  all this,
which our weak and feeble  Brothers and Sisters would do well
to study and heed.  Food cannot impart a particle of strength
independent of the lungs.    Do  you  believe  this  assertion?
Do you believe that  no amount of finely-prepared  and costly
nutrition can be nutritious,  until the lungs perform their appro-
priate offices  in the premises ?  It is even so, dear doubtful
reader.  Open the clear eyes of your Reason and see for your-
self.   Look straight into the  breathing department, and  judge
whether these things be so or otherwise.
   Gross matter does not, cannot,  strengthen • the  living, vital,
nervauric,  immortal Principle.   Your weakness  is  not  struc-
tural.  The bones are not suffering, but the life of  them is
yearning for  an  increase  of energy;  so of  your  internal
organs—the tissues, the membranes,  filaments, fibers, nerves,
and muscles.   These  fine  ponderables are  destitute  of  the
imponderable  principles.   You  fancy  that  matter in  large
quantities  will strengthen you.   Hence you breathe little and
eat much.  If you  should  exercise  you would  of necessity
breathe  more air; then, indeed, it would  seem that the food
does  strengthen  your  body; but, believe us, the facts are
that  the imperishable  elements  of  strength  are  drawn more
from the air than from the  materials consigned to the stomach.
   Let  us  look  into   this for  a moment.  It is  undeniably
true  that  the  food we  eat  seems  to  undergo  chemical  decom-
position independent of the pulmonary functions, but  there is 
BRAIN-LIFE  AND LUXG-LIFE.             79
 no mistake more fatal to a correct comprehension of the life-
 giving  processes.  The story is,a  short one.  »Food  is of no
 consequence as a strength-generating  substance,  until, in the
 form of chyle, it visits the pulmonary department and receives
 copulation  and prolification  from the  electro-magnetic princi-
 ples of the air.   Oxygen is  the royal  conveyance, by which
 the  deeper vitalizing principles  drive into the constituents of
 chyle.   As soon as  a  fructifying and  impregnative  conjunc-
 tion is formed  between the  chyle  and  the air, then, and not
 a moment  before,  the  food is prepared to  build  up  and
 re-make the ponderable organism.   If  the air  is  impure in
 quality, or limited in quantity, the effect is instantly impressed
 upon the fluid  material.  That  our strength is not dependent
 upon the  amount of  nutritious food  we eat, is established,
 beyond  the possibility of mistake, by the  fact  that persons
 with lung  diseases, consumption, &c,  usually  eat far greater
 quantities of food than perfectly healthy individuals,  who yet
 have forty times the volume of strength.
    Conclusion.—We  need not  further  amplify.  The  facts
 must be self-evident.   Strength is  born of the  imponderable
 elements of immensity.   The great receptive mechanism—made
 up of cells, blood-vessels,  pneumogastric and sympathetic cen-
 ters, vegetative ganglia, and bronchial tubes, ramifying  in every
 direction—is situated  in  the chest.  The right side  is more
 largely  supplied than the  left, in order to give  adequate  space
 and action to contiguous parts and organs.  The atmosphere of
 space,  on entering this beautiful mechanism,  empowers  the
 food to  supply waste and to gratify the bodily needs.   Strength
 is the  natural  issue of such supply and of such  gratification.
 Digestion is never perfect unless the  respiration is full,  and
 performed  in  the baptismal font of pure  air, which  is a vast
ocean of life and energy at least fifty miles deep, and equal on 
80
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
all sides of the revolving globe.   You will now, far more than
before, understand the importance  of breathing, (as directed,)
when using  the  pneumogastrical  cure  for  pulsaonary  and
abdominal diseases.   If you  wish to acquire absolute strength
of body, if you desire a clear and well-balanced brain, if you
want a large mind and a more noble  character—then, Breathe,
Breathe, Breathe  "the breath of life,  and become a  living
Boul." 
BLOOD, BILE, AND BOWELS.             81
                     CHAPTER  X.

           BLOOD, BILE,  AND BOWELS,

    It  seems to us  that the pleasures of health  are  beyond
description.  To  substantiate this conviction, we  refer to the
stacks  of medical works, to the entire catalogue  of poetical
eulogy, and lastly to the eloquent reflections of every intelligent
invalid since the world  began.  The care-worn and  diseased
physician remembers the time " when  all life's  sunny hours
were freshened by the  breath  of health."  So, too, the  poet,
"with  aspect wan and sunken eye," dreams of happy sunshine
days, when the music of birds, the ringing laugh of merry chil-
dren, and the romantic scenery of youthful years, kept tune to
the heart-beatings of physical harmony.  And thus, in short, it
is with every other mortal,  who, being  crippled and incapaci-
tated by  disease, reflects  back through the golden hours, when
life's bright currents ran merrily through  the Heart.
    We this time use the word " Heart " in no  spiritual sense.
The physical organ is the everywhere-acknowledged regulator
of life's  magic  stream.  It dilates and contracts, when healthy,
with equal  joy and  pleasure.   Like a jewel hidden in the
" bosom of the  deep," like a bark on  the trackless way of many
waters, so is the visible organ "heart" in  its relations to the
crimson  stream of life.  It reflects  the pleasures or the tem-
pests  of  the  more  inward  soul.   The wondrous  dynamics of 
82
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
pulsation lie deep beneath the physical structures.  The princi-
ples of motion and life co-exist and work like brothers in that
gentle current, the noiseless " blood."
    Of the blood  and the heart we have  very  much  to write.
One thousand times, no doubt, our spiritual eyes  have peered
into the secrets of the  life-fluid.  Its constitution, its mission,
its beautiful operations throughout the whole physical mechan-
ism, and lastly, its diseases, have painted, with unrivaled pencil,
many most important truths  upon our  understanding. A few
of these we present, with the hope that some reader may receive
the truth and be thereby directed into ways of gladsome health.
    First : The blood is manufactured  out  of materials con-
signed to the  stomach.  The physiology of this process  is
exceedingly beautiful in health, but we will not  dwell upon it.
    Second :  Digestion is a marvel in the  chemical laboratory
of life.   In health the mind is unconscious of  this many-sided
process.   The mucous membranes  co-operate with the muscular
tissues ; fluids and ethers, time and temperature, acids and alka-
lies, reciprocate each with the other throughout; so that,  in
health, the most sensitive mind can realize nothing but pleasure
and the  accumulation of abundant power to execute the duties
of life.   The magnetic fluid,  termed "gastric juice," receiving
its subtile energies from the brain, through the great sympathetic
nerve, can convert any soluble substance into  a limpid  nutri-
ment.   This is the  chyme, which, settling into the duodenum,
soon mingles with a discriminating fluid, termed pancreatic
juice; and the bile,  with its negative qualities coming in  to aid
the processes of  separation,  soon ultimates the  food into a fine
fluid (chyle) which is the material for  the immediate produc-
tion of blood.
    Third :  Let no one suppose that the blood is red or blue in
the beginning.  It is clear and odorless as pure milk, with but 
BLOOD, BILE,  AND BOWELS.
83
little  coloring properties,  when absorbed by the hair-vessels
that line the small  intestines.  At first the blood is composed
of innumerable eggs, which are  originated in the lacteal mem-
branes.  These vessels and  minute  membranes constitute  a
perfect ovarium, wherein the globules of the blood are primarily
formed, and from whence they are subsequently detached ;  when
they drop into the flowing  currents and thence float off into the
general circulation.   We do not give  details, because they are
deemed unimportant for the purposes  of  this chapter, which is
to indicate a few facts in the cause and cure of disease.
    Fourth : The unnumbered spherical bodies or globules are
each a center of life to the individual.  His  blood is  a moving
miniature sea of oval  forms, of countless nuclei, of points and
pivots, upon which  all the  life-wheels turn and spin the web of
spirit.  Each sanguinous egg is also a center of vitality for the
perpetuation of the race.   Let the physical eye inspect this
ovarium,  and- let the" chemist break its  eggs, and classify
their  contents, and  he will speak  (1) of red globules, (2) of
Lymph globules, (3) of  Chylic  globules, and say that the com
position of healthy blood consists  of  so  much serum, so much
fibrine, and so  much  albumen : all which, by further  analyza-
tion, yield many mysterious properties—sulphates, phosphates,
carbonates, chlorides, peroxides, &c, &c.—but the great  inter-
nal facts and laws, which are fundamental to the existence and
healthy performance of blood,  remain wrapped in  folds upon
folds  of materialism.  In proof of  this we refer to the custom,
not yet extinct among best educated physicians, of blood-letting.
What can more  clearly establish their utter ignorance in respect
to the blood's internal nature and mission in the economy ?
    Fifth : Not attempting a line of detail concerning the modus
operandi of the  circulation, showing how respiration gives color
and vitality to  the heart's  fluid, we proceed at once to inquire, 
84
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
What is Bile ?  What is its office in the digestive mechanism,
and  how  does it originate  so  many diseases ?   " Bile "  is a
bitter liquid, of a brownish  green, very negative, and pervaded
with an acid mucous.   What labor does it perform ?   According
to our examinations, we affirm that the hepatic bile, which flows
from the liver into the duodenum, performs the office of separat-
ing the  mucous and innutritious particles from those which are
suitable for becoming  chyle and globules.  Many troublesome
disorders originate  just at this point,  such  as  sick head,
gastritis, indigestion, dyspepsia, besides a multitude of symp-
toms which "indicate discord of more or less extent and severity.
That form of bile which belongs to the oblong receptacle, termed
the gall-bladder, performs the office of still more liquifying  the
contents of the stomach and duodenum.  It is composed of  the
excrementitious portion of  the  hepatic secretions, which  the
receptacle  discharges  through   the  " cystic  duct" into  the
bowels.   Hepatic bile is highly  carbonaceous  until  it impreg-
nates the fluids of  the middle stomach, when  it becomes cold,
indigestible, and wholly excrementitious.
    Sixth : But there is one thing very remarkable ; this excre-
tory and innutritious portion of the biliary fluid never passes off
the bowels unless every part of the intestinal  machinery is  in
perfect  and prompt working condition.  The cause of this fact
is not explained by physicians.   The usual term for the effect
that follows is, " biliousness."     The  victim is  sleepy, head-
achy, stretchy, chilly,  yawny,  and " don't feel very well."   It
is known that  bile  supplies carbon to all the matter destined for
blood globules.  But the pancreatic fluid  is a  powerful ally in
the work of separating dense from rare properties, and in pre-
paring every suitable particle for chylification, into which  the
great sympathetic nerve is perpetually discharging  streams of
magnetic energy.   The pneumogastric nerve  is  most  affected 
                 BLOOD, BILE, AND BOWELS.             85

 when the mind is fixed upon any subject too soon after eating;
 for through it an electrical influence is steadily imparted to the
 nucous membrane  of the entire digestive  system, a  process
 which too severe moral disturbance  or study very soon impairs
 and  arrests.   But bile is something more  than all we have
 described;  it  is broken-doion blood globules; it  is the refuse
 material  of  the entire  ovarium;  it  is  the  mud  of  the
 waters of life, the husks  of  the  corn, the  shells of the blood
 eggs ; and this is the reason why the whole body " travails and
 groans in pain" whenever  such  debris,  by  etherization or
 absorption, are taken up into  the  circulation  instead of leaving
 the temple, at the appropriate time, by the natural avenues.
    The remedy adapted to one person may be  non-effective in
 the very next patient.   A few simple rules  are invariably effica-
 cious, both as preventives  and curatives ; such as regular meals,
 proper mastication, not much fat or gravy, no heating stimulants,
 no cakes or  pastries, and punctual attention to every natural
 function.   But when the debridation  of the  old blood  regurgi-
 tates into the circulation, there is, then, no such thing as wholly
 removing it  by dieting, bathing, broivn-breading, nor  by any
 other gentle method popular with  the "no-medicine fraternity."
 Certain temperaments  may, it is  true, succeed by a persistefft
 course of diets and bathings; but the great  mass  of mankind
 would, by such means, fail both in strength and in the object of
 their exertions.
   Fgr this reason we shall prescribe preparations, very simple
 in themselves,  which cannot fail in aiding the process of chylifi-
 cation; and thus,  consequently,  facilitate the  escape of the
 broken-down  blood globules  (or  excrementitious bile   matter)
 from  the circulatory  and digestive  systems.   Let every  so-
 called  bilious  or jaundiced person, inclined  to  symptoms
already mentioned,  who  is  laboring  with  other sensations
     8 
86
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
characteristic of over much biliary fluid, mix one  tea-spoonful
of powdered willow charcoal in a wine glass of pure Holland gin,
or water, and swallow the whole just  before every third dinner,
or twice a week.
   In  severe cases,  where the system  is  subject  to  great
depression for days together, with weakness and loss  of  appe-
tite,  &c,  take  the same preparation,  with  same  quantity  of
rhubarb,  just previous to every dinner, and  continue the po-
tions for  eight or ten days.
   Now abstain from  all medicines of every kind for a number
of days.   If, then, the  bile  and bowels  continue to indicate
derangement, repeat  the  course as  before;  being  meantime
extremely temperate  in regard to rich food, and  avoiding  expo-
sure to chilly atmospheres.   There are  more  searching and
more  simple remedies,  but we  will begin with charcoal and
rhubarb.   The time, however, will surely come  when men shall
scorn all medicine, all nauseous compounds of both doctor and
priest, and, breathing the sweet air  of heaven,  will sing,  " The
ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness,  and all her paths are
paths of peace." 
THE PHILOSOPHY  OF HUMAN MAGNETISM.
87
                    CHAPTER  XI.

  THE PHILOSOPHY  OF HUMAN MAGNETISM,

    There is a very common superstition among popular medi-
 cal  men  of the  antediluvian school,  that the  intellectual
 phenomena of magnetism (or " mesmerism ") are the concomi-
 tants of hysterical states of the nervous  system.   Old line
 doctors attempt to  transcend the otherwise  insurmountable diffi-
 culties  of somnambulism and clairvoyance, by the  assumption
 of imposture, or else by  charging the mental manifestations to
 nervous or cataleptic conditions of body and brain.  It is, how-
 ever, very generally believed that the majority of diplomatized
 physicians are well supplied with ignorance concerning many of
 the most vital processes of the physical organization.  Chemis-
 try  has  recently  enriched  the physician's understanding of
 physiological phenomena.  But chemistry does not unravel to
 his mind the wondrous dynamics  of  the feeling  and thinking
 principles, which animate and govern the perfect  and beautiful
 organisms of men and women.  The mental and spiritual phe-
 nomena of magnetism are yet new to most physicians, and we
 do not, therefore, expect anything  else from them than expres-
 sions of professional prejudices, emphasized by strong  marks
of dogmatic denunciation.  But  there is,  here and  there,  a
broad-hearted and knowledge-loving physician, who is capable of
putting  a  rational  question,  with  an  honest  incredulity;  and 
88
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
who, consequently, is ever ready to exchange his learned errors
for new truths—is willing to make progress  in scientific  facts,
and to unfurl the  " Union " banner of free  thought and unlim-
ited investigation.
   But it is not the design of this chapter to construct an argu-
ment  for the genuineness of magneto-mental phenomena.  We
can scarcely believe that such an argument is demanded by the
so-called scientific of the age, and yet we know that no  class  is
more  in the rear of advanced discoveries than the graduates of
our institutions of learning.   Many of our  best  students  in
Medicine  are unable to solve  the first group of magnetic  phe-
nomena.   They treat the alleged facts as obviously incredible
and  impossible, and  so  permit  themselves to be  sufficiently
illogical to  reject the  facts, and sometimes enough uncivil  to
insult the " hewers of wood and drawers of water " who have the
audacity to present such  phenomena for scientific examination.
   The colleges and the  churches are proverbially behind in the
essentials  of  knowledge and   civilization.  The  unscientific
" people,"  the  non-professional  observers of Nature, and the
clear-eyed, matronly nurses of the sick, are the  unconscious
champions of scientific progress.  After these, like a loaded
omnibus behind the laboring horses, come the respectable  host
of physicians and clergymen—riding, and enjoying themselves
luxuriously, in the cushioned chairs of our Collegiate and Evan-
gelical Institutions.  Millions on  millions of human beings, as
well as  creatures  in lower grades of animation, breathed the
" breath of life "  all unconscious  of science—unmindful of that
chemical knowledge which would explain the  constitution of
atmosphere, and reveal the proportions of oxygen and nitrogen
to the thoughtless multitude.
   So in every other respect.   The people intuitively illustrate
the essential facts  of  science for centuries in  advance  of the 
        THE  PHILOSOPHY OF  HUMAN MAGNETISM.      89

accurate knowledge of the schools.  In human magnetism this
remark is emphatically true—" the  people," with little  or no
education, are familiar with its  essential facts, and have  prac-
ticed the principles of the  science long eras before the Colleges
reflect the first ray of light  on the  subject.   But  when the
Colleges and Academies adopt the new science, and the profes-
sors venture to instruct their  classes  in the fundamental princi-
ples of the phenomena, then behold the supercilious pomposity
of the learned dignitaries, who unblushingly inform the children
of the populace that Science has developed the new facts and
principles.  The truth is, " Science " is nothing more than the
systematic observation and orderly arrangement of those natural
facts and superficial causes, which have for hundreds of centu-
ries been  common and familiar to  the  inhabitants of  every
country.  It is, therefore, no disadvantage  to any experience or
philosophy, to say that it is not yet accepted and inculcated by
talented men  in high  places.  Because, as we have shown in
preceding remarks, the knowledge of  Colleges, and the theology
of the Churches, are reflections of the facts and discoveries of
the  Past.  " The  people," on the  contrary, without education,
are masters of realities and principles not yet " dreamed of " in
the brains of our academical professors and  evangelical teachers.
    The Source of Magnetism.—We  employ the term " Mag-
netism " in its broadest sense—signifying the principle by which
one object is enabled  to  attract, repel, and  influence another.
The source of this principle is Soul.   Crystals, various mineral
bodies, plants, trees, fish, birds,  animals, human beings—each
and all are endowed with the  magnetic principle, because  each
and  all are endowed with  a Soul, which is the  mystic life of
boundless Nature, upwelling and  ever-flowing from  the  inex-
haustible  Fountain of  the Great  First Cause.   (Students and
readers who are intellectually acquainted  with  the Harmonial
     8* 
90
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 Philosophy, will not confound  Soul with Spirit.)   The  term
 " Soul" is here used to signify  that harmonious combination of
 the principles of Motion, Life,  and Sensation, which move, and
 warm,  and perfect  the physical  organization.   Stones,  trees,
 animals, men, contain  these principles ; the latter  in  a high
 degree of development, while in the former,  the principles are
 comparatively dormant  and unfledged.   Each natural body of
 matter  is  differently capacitated;  hence, also, it  is differently
 supplied with the SouL-principles.  The  consequence of  this
 difference is a magnetic polarity between one body and another
 throughout the entire domain of Nature.  And the consequence
 of this universal polarity is the evolution and manifestation of all
 the physical motions and mental phenomena, known or unknown
 to science.
    Facts  Illustrative of Magnetic  Polarity.—The  com-
 mon magnet,  as  every reader knows, is at once  positive  and
 negative.   That is, the life of the metallic body makes two man-
 ifestations  at  the  same moment.   It  will attract a  negative
 substance, and repel that which  is positive to it.   The positive
 pole is charged with negative power, and the negative pole with
 positive power, and the manifestations of the magnetic principle
 correspond to  these facts.   The seed of a plant is negative to
the magnetic heat of the sun; consequently, the  properties of
 the seed, if sown in good ground,  leap  up  toward the magnet,
sis the needle  points to the pole.   This  explains the growth of
 egetation.  Thus the near relationship of magnetism and elec-
tricity is demonstrated.   They mutually attract  and mutually
repel each other.  Look at the common electro-magnetic battery.
 :' the electric current be permitted to traverse the coil of wire,
it will convert the rod of iron, placed in the center, into a pow-
erful magnet;  and this, in its turn, will set in motion a powerful
current of electricity, as it were, by way of compensation. 
         THE PHILOSOPHY  OF  HUMAN MAGNETISM.      91

    The  human  body  is constituted on  the same  system of
 polarity.   Man is polarized from side to side, from end to end,
 from centers to the surfaces.   His nervous  system is  a net-
 work of polarities.   From  his  inmost  organic  centers  to  the
 glands of the brain,  and from the brain-centers to the extremit-
 of every  nerve,  he  is  a  perfect battery of magnetic and elec-
 trical potencies.  The  entire left side, from brain  to toes, is
 negative.  The left-side emanations are therefore tranquil and
 attractive ; while from the  right  side,  which is positive,  the
 emanations are powerfully repellant.  Hence, man repels, and
 works, and destroys, with his right side, right arm, right hand,
 right leg, right foot, and brain; while,  with the corresponding
 parts and members  of the left side  and brain, he attracts, and
 subdues,  and  magnetizes whatever he  is  adapted  to  affect.
 The right side of the  brain is frequently unimpressible, while
 the  left side may be  easily overcome  and  paralyzed  by  the
 magnetic principle.   The right  eye, in  healthy persons,  is  the
 keenest and  best; while  the left eye is  capable of more plea-
 surable vision.   The left  eye of a susceptible  person will, for
 this reason,  more  readily  discern the colors of  a  substance.
 The location, the size, the weight,  and  the distance  of a body
 are quickest  determined by the right eye.   If the reader doubts
 these statements, let him experiment with his eyes and senses.
 Close your left eye and look at the leaf of a plant;  then reverse
 the method, and  your left eye will soon  begin  to see rays of
 light, which your right  eye  cannot discover.  In like manner,
if you  have much  susceptibility,  your left  hand will  detect
heat in substances which are cool  to your right hand, and the
reverse is equally true, only frequently practice, with care and
discrimination.   For these reasons the right hands of man and
woman  are attractive to  each  other, while, many  times, the
hands of the  same sex are mutually repellant and unwholesome. 
92            THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
Clairvoyants can detect the emanations of the different centers
by the color, which is natural to polarized principles.
   The Practical Workings  of these Forces.—The source
of the magnetic force is the Soul, and the effect of the power
corresponds to its source—that is, the power is lodged in the
soul of the subject, and the manifestations are,  therefore, more
psychological than physical.  We will suppose, for  illustration,
that  two healthy persons  seat themselves, (as in figure No.  1,)
to try the magnetic experiment.  They naturally face each other,
which is in philosophical harmony with the polarities of the mag-
netic principles; that is, the right side of the operator is present-
ed to the left side of the subject.  Previous to  the  experiment,
we will suppose each person to be in separate and distinct states,
wholly independent of each other, with  respect to sympathies
and  antipathies ; which important fact the artist has attempted
to illustrate, by the separate oval dotted lines surrounding each
individual.
                              The experiment is now to com-
                          mence.   Could  your  mental eyes
                          be suddenly opened, as is the  case
                           with clairvoyants, you would behold
                           a wondrous  exemplification  of  a
                           great  general law of Nature.   The
                           right side of the  two persons would
                           glow  with  flame-like  emanations.
                           At  first a gray colored light would
                           stream faintly from the  right side
                           of the brain, and thence downwise
          Fig. 1.          to the ends  of  the right hand and
 foot.  The natural  forces of brain, and lungs, and  heart, and
 stomach, would present a fiery  appearance, but variegated with
 many colors, like those  of the rainbow, or  like  the electrical
 
THE PHILOSOPHY  OF HUMAN  MAGNETISM.      93
emanations of millions of differently constituted plants and flow-
ers.   The fingers would  seem  to  glow like tapers in a dark
night.   In short, the  form  of each person would seem to step
out of darkness, and to be filled with- effulgence the most beau-
tiful and attractive.
   We are supposing, remember, that the operator and subject
in our experiment  are  magnetically related to  each other, so
that there can be no failure in the  progressive application  of
the principles under consideration.  The wonderful and complex
nervous system of man is a complete helix, a coil of wire, which
communicates electricity to the brain, which is the  magnet, or
central power, of  the organization; and the compensating pro-
cess, as with  the electro-battery,  goes  on  in  the shape  of
centrifugal currents of nerve-life, (a finer electricity,) which the
brain discharges  through  the  pneumogastric and sympathetic
nerves to all  parts of the temple.  We cannot now stop  to detail
the  beautiful facts of this process, but  may on some future
occasion.
   In  accord with the magnetic law,
we next observe that the  brain and
body of the operator become one o'er-
mastering positive power, to  which,
without  resistance, the subject sur-
renders himself, both physically and
mentally, and the resulting manifes-
tations  are what is  usually denomi-
nated  " psychological."  The  partial
blending of  the magnetic spheres of
the twain, is  illustrated by the  inter-
locking of the dotted lines, (see figure
No.  2,) showing that subject  and  operator  are  magnetically
more closely related as members of one  body.   In this condi-
Fig. 2. 
94
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
tion,  the operator's  Soul  is  the  center of  attraction.   The
subject's  attention is identical with  the operator's.  By the
mere exercise  of fancy, without the least mandate of will, the
operator may image his thoughts upon the subject's brain.  He
may cause him to drink wine  from a glass  of pure water; to
hear  the  roaring  of  cannon and  clashing of  weapons  on the
battle-field; to feel the strength of a giant; to catch fish  in an
imaginary stream on the carpet at  his  feet; to weep the  tears
of sorrow  at  sufferings purely fictitious ; to pray for forgive-
ness at the throne of an implacable  potentate ;  and lastly, to
forget his own individuality, and take on the feelings and exhibit
the striking characteristics of the operator, or of any one whom
the operator has the intellectual power clearly to shadow  forth
in the positive odyllic light  of his own mind.   This psychologi-
cal law lies at the bottom of  all that class of so-called " spiritual
phenomena," wherein, to the observer, it seems that the spirit
or mind  of the medium has vacated its temple in order to give
a foreign intelligence  an opportunity of manifestation.
                            One step further on in this  mag-
                         netic career will be  followed  by the
                         complete blending  of the  vital and
                         mental  spheres,  (as  illustrated by
                         figure  No.  3,) in which  case  are
                         exhibited all  those mysterious and
                         glorious  phenomena  termed "  Som-
                         nambulism," " clairvoyance," " spirit
                         seeing," &c  The  extent of man's
                         capacity in this peculiar state is not
                         easily measured.   The  subject  is no
                         longer psychological or sympathetic.
The  condition is  most favorable  to very high  perceptions of
natural truths.  The clairvoyant is capable of medical examina-
 
        THE  PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN  MAGNETISM.       95

tions; also, as a "sensitive," of testing the positive and nega-
tive qualities  and polarities  of  crystals, metals, medicines,
waters, bodies, &c.  Some persons there are who  seem  to  be
born with  the last-named gift, and  yet without the first symp-
toms of natural clairvoyance.   Reichenbach terms such persons
"sensitives," because  they are clear-feelers  rather than clear-
seers, or clairvoyants.   The German philosopher says : " Sup-
pose, now, that there  were a vein of  lead, copper ore, or  red
silver  ore,  not far below the  surface, as they are  often found;
if a high sensitive were  to walk over  them, with  attention, he
would feel them and be able to tell  their position.  Stone-coal
exercises  an  odic influence, different  from that of  sandstone
and slate, in which it is found.   If the sensitive has paid atten-
tion, beforehand,  to the sensations  which  coal causes, he will
readily recognize them when  he  approaches  a vein  of coal.
Non-sensitive men will not be able to feel  anything, but the
high sensitive will be able to say with certainty,  Here or there,
this or that mineral may be found in the earth ;  and, by digging,
proof will  be found of the correctness of the assertion, which
appears so much  the  more wonderful from the fact that  the
treasure finder can give no satisfactory explanation of the man-
ner in  which he  made  his discoveries.  The  marvel is now
exposed:  it is a purely physical effect of the odic  force on the
human nerves ; it works like a dark sense, of which we can give
no  explanation;  and a multitude of instinctive actions among
brutes will find their explanations in the same way.  And now
you have the whole secret of  the divining-rod ; not of the rod
in its literal sense, and of its rising, falling, and turning; these
were only the hocus-pocus for the inquisitive crowd, who would
not be satisfied until they could see  something.
  " You perceive  from this how great  the  practical importance
of sensitiveness, and what a career it is destined to have.  These 
96
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 sensitives and somnambulists will soon be sought and counted
 as  the  benefactors of their neighborhoods and countries.   To
 mining, this discovery promises  an extraordinary development,
 and this not only by the discovery of new beds of ore, but also
 for the running  of  their shafts underground, when the stratum
 eludes the miner."  We must here express our conviction,  that
 the pursuit  of subterranean  knowledge  will not promote the
 development  or  happiness of the " sensitive," or clairvoyant,
 who so employs his spiritual power.
       _........._                  In  order to exhibit the  full
                            course of the magnetic experiment,
                            we  introduce  the  ultimate  state,
                            called  the  Superior  Condition.
                            The dotted oval lines, which illus-
                            trate the magnetic rapport of  the
                            operator  and  subject, show  (see
                            figure No. 4)  that  the  twain  are
                            related  only  through  the  vitav '
                            powers and processes.  The brain
                            is  now  completely  emancipated
                            from  the pre-existing  magnetic
 thraldom, and consequently the mind of the  clairvoyant is inde-
 pendent of all surrounding  circumstances.  Once for all,  let
 us remark, that the magnetic process will not guarantee to every
 person  these  succeeding  phenomena, any more  than going
 through  college will insure to every  scholar the development
 of a Shakspeare, a Bacon, or a  Plato.  Favorable  proclivities
 and  organic qualifications precede the production of the mental
 phenomena.  Neither will  it  be possible for the magnetic sleep
 to succeed the passes in every case ; all these effects follow in
 a train of favorable causes and predispositions, or they do not
at  all appear.   And yet, in justice to the endowments of our
Fig. 4. 
        THE PHILOSOPHY  OF HUMAN  MAGNETISM.       97

common humanity, it is but  simple truth to say that there exist
in every person, of  every nation, the germs and faculties of all
the  grandest powers ever exhibited by any human mind.  Their
development and fruition are certain in the march  of  Time
through the ages.
    Magnetism as a Medicine.—Having  briefly  sketched the
action and mental effects of the  magnetic principles, it is now
expedient to  conclude our remarks in behalf of the  sick and
suffering.   The human body, in  its normal and healthy condi-
tion,  is endowed with every requisite power.  But by ignorant
and negligent  treatment, the natural vital forces lose their just
equilibrium, and the effects  and consequences  are soon visible
in material prostrations, in severe pains,  or in silent and  insen-
sible  decomposition.   What physicians  term " nervous  influ-
ence " is really nothing but the magnetic and electric life of the
interior Soul.  Animals, including  men, have these magnetic
endowments;  and the  principles of  vital action, in  both the
human and animal kingdoms, are exactly and universally identi-
cal.   A loss of vital  action is nothing  but  a loss of balance
between  inherent forces, which  are  positive  and negative, or
magnetic and electrical.   And yet we do not hold that the cur-
rents generated by the metallic or mineral battery can ever bo
made to act as a substitute, because the principles of  SouL-/i/e
are as  much  more fine than atmospheric electricity,  as  the
latter is finer and more delicate than the gross and turbulent
water of our lakes.
    Therefore  we recommend the judicious use of human mag-
netism in nearly all  cases   of disease—especially the use of
your own magnetic energy on different parts of your own body !
Your left side  can treat your right side; your right side can
magnetize your left side; your vital centers  can give the sur-
faces  a thorough magnetic  sweating;  your  hands will do  the
    9 
98
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
bidding of your brain ;  and your brain will act obediently to the
commands  of  a well-ordered judgment.   "Ah!" you despair-
ingly exclaim, " I've tried the experiment, and cannot succeed."
We reply :  " You do not succeed for the same reason that a boy
cannot swim, or skate,  or accomplish  anything correctly, until
the art thereof is fully  and systematically acquired."  We pre-
scribe different remedies merely as palliatives and aids to your
final  redemption from  disease, and from the fear of death, but
the  radical  remedy  is  still  within  your  own  individual
organization.
   The  therapeutic influence of magnetism may be exerted in
various ways,  differing in every case with the temperament and
the nature  of the disease, and for this reason we do not attempt,
in this chapter, to  specify methods.  It should, however, be
borne in mind, that to practice magnetism successfully, (as the
distinguished M. De Puysegur said,) " You must have an active
 WILL to do good, a firm faith in your power, and an active con-
fidence in employing  it."  Magnetism is a useful,  a spiritual-
 izing, and a  sublime  agent of  energy and health.  It is the
 all-pervading  sympathy which connects  us with the absolute
 condition and sufferings of our fellow men.  Owing to the deli-
 cacy and sublime uses of  the magnetic power, it is susceptible
 of remarkable mis-applications, much to the annoyance, perhaps
 injury,  of both  the  operator and subject.   Prof.  William
 Gregory, late of  the  University  at  Edinburg, said: " I have
 been informed, on perfectly good authority, of the case of a lady,
 highly susceptible to  the magnetic influence, who could never
 be magnetized  if a certain person were present;  and I know
 another lady, who is  easily and pleasantly magnetized by one
 person, while the magnetic influence  of a third individual is  to
 her  insupportable."
     The same excellent authority says :  " Another  class of fail- 
        THE PHILOSOPHY  OF HUMAN MAGNETISM.      99

ures depends  on  a  different  cause;   I  mean, the prevailing
fallacy, that all  cases  of animal magnetism, in their different
stages, exhibit precisely the same phenomena; that, is, that  if
we have seen, or read of, a case, in which the various stages of
the  state  of somnambulism have each  exhibited the principal
phenomena peculiar  to such stage, the  next case or cases must,
of necessity, present the same facts,  and in the same order.
This fallacy is nearly universal, and  the consequence is, that
many persons, who have  seen, or heard of (for example) thought-
reading, or  clairvoyance in any other  form, in  one case, cannot
imagine that these phenomena may be absent in another.  They
clamor for what they have seen before;  the  exhibitor rashly
tries to produce it;  but  the subject is an inferior one, or in  a
different stage,  and  entirely fails to realize the expectations  so
ignorantly formed.  This, however, would be nothing, were  it
not that the failure is seized on by many as a proof of imposture.
It proves,  however, only this : that the  spectators were  mis-
taken in expecting  the  same  results  in  every case, and the
exhibitor entirely  wrong in attempting to gratify them.  Every
case  must be  studied for itself, and,  although certain general
laws apply to  all cases, yet the variety in the details,  both as to
their nature and degree,  is infinite.
    " Not only do  different subjects differ in the nature of the
phenomena  they exhibit, as, for  example, when  they can  only
be got into different stages of the somnambulistic state,  each
persisting in his own stage, but, even in the phenomena of one
stage alone, the same variety is observed.  Thus, in the lucid,
or clairvoyant stage  or state, some are  utterly insensible to all
sounds save  the voice  of their magnetizer; others hear every
sound, often with increased acuteness.  Some will only answer
the magnetizer,  or those  placed by him en rapport with them ;
others will answer questions put by any one.  Some retain their 
100           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
sense of identity, others lose  it.   Some require contact with
the person or thing to be observed, others do  not.   Some  see
their own frame, in all its minutest details, as well as the bodily
state of other persons; others  see nothing of  all this.   Some
possess vision at a distance; others  are devoid of it.   Some
can read  closed letters,  or letters shut up in a box, or mottoes
inclosed in nuts; others fail entirely to do this, while they can,
perhaps,  read our  inmost thoughts, a feat which, possibly,  the
letter-readers may not be able to accomplish."
   We have now given you the general principles of  the mag-
netic medicine treasured  up  in  the organs and brain-centers  of
your own individuality.  An inflammation is a positive condition
of an organ or part;  therefore, apply your  positive  hand and
Will to it.  Why ?   Because  two positives  repel,  and your
hand, being a healthy positive, will  scatter the  inflammation,
which  is an zmhealthy positive, and thus establish the natural
equilibrium.  Your brain is loaded with blood!  Not so.  Your
mental magnet is surcharged and overstocked with vitalic cur-
rents—which should be engaged in other parts of your economy
—and  thus the  dependent blood  is not floated off.  Some
doctors will bleed an apoplectic  patient.   This method  is absurd.
No man's system ever generates more blood  than it  needs  for
its own private use.   But it is possible, nay, easy, for the mag-
netic  potencies  to  be thrown  out of balance, giving  rise to
co-ordinate symptoms  of excess in one place, and of deficiency in
another;  the remedy  in all cases being the same, viz  : a resto-
ration  of the  magnetic equilibrium,  between  foot and brain,
between stomach and  liver, between  heart and lungs, between
spleen and kidneys, and  the inevitable consequence will  be
perfect Health.  And now may our  Father  God and  Mother
Nature, who are always in supernal harmony,  save all the sick,
with an everlasting salvation. 
        THE PHILOSOPHY OF  HUMAN MAGNETISM.     101

   Magnetic Processes.—There are  various  methods  prac-
ticed  by different  magnetizers ;  but  (says Morley, in his pam-
phlet  on the " Elements of Animal Magnetism :") we think the
following preferable :
   " If you wish to put a person into the magnetic sleep,  cause
him  to sit as easy as  possible in an easy chair, with his head
reclined back, and require him to be perfectly quiet; sit down
before him, place your knees beside  his ; then take his thumbs
in such a manner that  the inside of your thumbs will touch the
inside of his.  Concentrate your attention, and will him to sleep ;
after  holding him thus about ten minutes,  slowly raise your
hands, with the palms turned outward, to his head, then, turning
the palms inward, let  them descend  to his shoulders, and let
them remain there five minutes; then let your hands descend,
with  the fingers pointed  toward the arms, at the distance of
two or three inches from them to the extremities of his fingers ;
let your hands  then ascend, sweeping them off to the right and
to the left, to their extent, palms outward, as before; raise them
as high as  the  head;  then descend,, as before ; thus continue
from  five to ten minutes, and lastly, lay the right hand upon the
pit of the  stomach.   Remember that  unless  you keep  your
attention fixed, your will  steady and unwavering, your efforts
will be in vain.  The operation is principally intellectual; many
make no use of the manipulations, and produce all the effects by
the mere energy of the will, at a distance from the  patient;
but still, the movements of the hands give some  assistance in
producing  the  magnetic  current; the  downward motions are
magnetic, the upward are not.   Some  persons are much more
susceptible to the magnetic influence than  others; hence  some
require a longer time in being put into  the magnetic sleep than
others; in some cases the processes are  shortened, in others
they  must be lengthened.   There are some persons upon whom
     9* 
102
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
magnetism has no  sensible effects.  Another  very successful
method is, to take the patient by one hand, and place the other
hand on the head, and exert the will, as in the preceding case.
   " But a comparative few that are  put  into magnetic sleep
become somnambulists.  If a  person  in this sleep will answer
the questions of his magnetizer, he is  in  somnambulism.   To
awaken the patient from magnetic sleep, make upward motions
with your hands before his face, willing  him  to awake, and he
immediately awakes.
  " The magnetic sleep is highly restorative, and always should
be resorted to when the complaint is general; but when there
is  simply a local pain or  disease, there is no necessity for it.
For headache, place  your hand  upon  the part affected,  and
exercise a constant  and benevolent  desire  to relieve pain;
and,  after holding it there a few minutes,  pass it lightly over
the head from right to left; if the pain is occasioned by the
stomach, next place  your hand on  it, and proceed as with
the head.   If the  headache  is accompanied with cold  feet,
after  holding the  hand on the head for  a short  time, draw
the hands slowly from the head downwards, along the sides,
to  the  knees; soon the head will be  relieved,  and  the feet
become warm.  If the pain has existed  for years, it is chronic,
and must have a prolonged treatment.
   " In rheumatism, if local, place your hand where  pain is felt
hold it for  fifteen  or twenty  minutes,   then pass  your hand
lightly to the extremity of  the feet, and  thus continue for ten
minutes ; but if the  limbs are generally affected, make passes at
a short distance from them  to  their extremities, for an hour or
more;  if  the disease is chronic, repeat the operation daily
until the relief is complete; and so of  every chronic  disease.
Says Deleuze,  ' I have seen a fit of the gout, so violent that
the patient could not put his feet to the earth, relieved by one 
         THE PHILOSOPHY  OF HUMAN  MAGNETISM.     103

 sitting and cured by three, and the pains have not returned for
 eighteen months.   I have also seen a somnambulist in fifteen
 days  cure her  magnetizer, who  for a long time suffered with
 the gout  in  the knees and feet.  For this purpose  she merely
 employed passes along the  legs, continuing them each day for
 a  quarter  of an  hour.  When the gout has mounted  to  the
 head  or chest, magnetism readily brings it  down to the feet,
 and then draws it off at the  extremities.'
   " We  mean by  pass, simply passing the hands  or  moving
 them as we  have stated.
   "For toothache hold the hand on the part affected for a few
 minutes,  then pass the ends  of the fingers slightly over  the
 sheek from  right to left.
   " In biles, magnetize when the inflammation begins.
   " For  a felon, make passes along  the  arm  as  far  as  the
 extremity of the  finger, and then  concentrate  the  action, and
 then draw it off from the end.
   " It is(  not pretended  that  magnetism  cures  all  diseases;
 some are  beyond  its reach;  but it is  a valuable auxiliary of
 medicine, and every physician  should be familiar with its prin-
 ciples ;  and a general knowledge of them would  relieve many
 of the ills of life, and preserve  multitudes from untimely graves.
 Says  Baron Dupotet, ' The value of such  a discovery as animal
 magnetism is to be  estimated, not by the  evils to which  its
 unskillful application  may give rise, but by the positive good
 which may be derived from it.   Already we have seen that
 during the state of magnetic  insensibility, the most painful sur-
gical  operations may be performed  and the patient remain the
whole time in a state  of perfect unconsciousness.  Is this net
a boon to suffering humanity  ?  This is not all; the most obsti-
nate and painful chronic  diseases have been relieved and per-
fectly cured by its application.  It was the  successful treatment 
104
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
and cure of diseases which had notoriously resisted every other
remedy, which  compelled the rudest and  most inveterate of
our  antagonists to recognize  the  influence of  magnetism;
and when these facts were demonstrated beyond all reasonable
controversy, it  remained  for them to seek in the umbrage of
their  imagination the solution  of the mystery.  In epilepsy,
hysteria, neuralgia, chronic  rheumatism, headache, I know of
no remedy so immediate and availing.  How often have  I seen
the victim of pain writhing in the most acute agony, sink under
its influence into a state of the most placid composure !  How
often have I heard thanksgivings and prayers breathed in grati-
tude  to the Creator for  the relief which the afflicted have
hereby experienced !  At  Groningen, a girl nineteen  years old
was suffering under hysterical  spasms,  which sometimes con-
tinued forty-eight hours ;  after being magnetized half an hour
a day for three  weeks, she recovered.  A lady residing in Lon-
don, after  a violent attack of fever, under which  she was  suffer-
ing in December and January last, was affected  by convulsions
of every kind, but mostly by fainting, which  often lasted two
hours, and  it  was difficult  to  bring her  to herself.   I was
present one day when the  fainting was coming on, and tried to
make  application  of magnetism;  I had scarcely begun to ope-
rate when she  quickly recovered from  the fainting, as though
she had been awakened from a dream, and from that moment she
gradually recovered.'  Says Dr.  Elliotson,  of London, one of
the most eminent  physicians in the British empire, ' I know of
no certain cure  for epilepsy but magnetism; I have cured seve
ral by it.'   Says Baron Dupotet,  ' In many acute diseases, medi-
cine should be used with magnetism.'
   " To cure a person of any bad  habit, as  intemperance, he
must be put into the magnetic sleep,  and then the magnetizer
must will with energy that the  least participation in intoxicat 
        THE PHILOSOPHY  OF HUMAN  MAGNETISM.      105

ing drinks, snuff, tobacco, opium, or whatever it may be, should
cause nausea, and he will be forever unable to  partake of the
interdicted articles ; unless, in another magnetic sleep, the mag-
netizer should remove the interdiction.   It may be equally well
applied to anger, revenge, and every evil passion.  Hence, the
philanthropist, by a practical knowledge of this  agent, has his
means of relieving suffering humanity increased a thousand fold ;
and many frightful  maladies  will take their flight, before its
bright rays, from our globe.*
    "Cautions  for  Operators.—Says  Baron Dupotet:  'I am
anxious to impress on the minds of those who may feel inclined
to try the experiment, that the operation is not always unattend-
ed with danger; for I have  known  instances of many, who,  in
endeavoring to  induce  the  magnetic phenomena, have  placed
themselves in a very painful position, and the person operated
on in a very alarming state.  Of course,  animal magnetism, like
every other science, has its  own laws, and these should  be dili-
gently studied,  before any  individual attempts  to practice  it.
M. de S.  C, a retired officer,  having heard a vague report of
animal magnetism, attempted to make the experiment upon his
own daughter,  although she  complained  of no illness.  He
merely wished to ascertain whether he could make her feel the
magnetic sensations.  With  this view, and without being aware
of the extent of the mischief he was provoking, he laid his hand
on the stomach of his daughter and obeyed the magnetic injunc-
 tions.  After a  few moments of magnetization, she experienced
spasmodic attacks, and shortly was seized with  violent convul-
sions ;  and  her father, not knowing how  to calm  them, only
 increased their intensity, and she thus remained for a week.'
     " Says M.  de  Puysegur:  ' A young  lady  of  Nantes,  of
    * A person cannot be magnetized when under  the influence of any stimulat-
ing drink, food, or any excitement 
106
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
distinguished birth, when on a visit to her relative,  the Mar-
quis de B., was indulging,  with  the  rest of  the  company, in
passing sundry jokes upon  magnetism.  Her  uncle, M. de B.,
who outstepped, by his sarcastic remarks, every  one  present,
and was gesticulating with great  freedom, began to direct his
pretended influence upon  his niece, when they both set about
magnetizing each  other as  fast as they could.   At  first, the
young  lady  laughed  very heartily, but it  was  soon discovered
that this laughter was anything but natural; and she was grad-
ually  losing her  reason;  she  followed  her magnetizer  every-
where,  and yielded to  his sole  influence.   The  spectators
attempted to separate them, but this only provoked  dreadful
convulsions.  Her magnetizer  felt extraordinary  sensations;
the lady remained in that alarming state  several days.'
    " But if convulsions do occur, the magnetizer, by being calm
and firm, can  soon quell  them, by making passes at a short
distance from the patient, and  directing the energy of his will
to  soothing or  calming   them.  An experienced  magnetizer
rarely  ever induces convulsions, and if he should, he can speed-
ily remove them.  In magnetizing for  the relief  of  any local
pain, there is no danger;  so that any one  can attempt it with
impunity.   In nearly all cases where  there have been convul-
sions, they have  occurred when  attempts were  made, through
mere  curiosity,  to excite the  magnetic phenomena.  Women
can magnetize  equally as well  as  men; all nurses  should be
magnetizers.
    " Magnetic Treatment  of Insanity.—Physicians are often
ignorant of its cause.   There are portions of the brain that can-
not bear the least pressure without derangement or fits.   The
organs  of  destructiveness and combativeness are most easily
affected.  When there is  an equilibrium of the  circulation of
the blood, there  will be no derangement.  Lack of circulation is 
         THE  PHILOSOPHY OF  HUMAN MAGNETISM.     107

 the first cause of insanity ; then a portion of the serum does not
 become blood.  A  bruise  becomes  bad blood, and pleurisy is
 produced by thick blood.
     " Different organs become deranged, as eventuality, construc-
 tiveness, secretiveness,  and  acquisitiveness—when  the last-
 named organ and color are deranged, the person thus affected
 will steal articles  of a certain color.   The  physician's  first
 object should be to  ascertain what organ is affected.   H  mirth-
 fulness is disordered, excite veneration.  Try to draw the  sur-
 plus blood from the brain toward the  extremities by magnetic
 passes.
     " Insane persons  ought never to be opposed.  Follow them
 in their views, as if they were  sane, by small portions, in due
 season.  Examine the patient's hands and feet; when they are
 warm, and animal heat is equalized with moderate perspiration,
 and the system is open, the health of the person is good
    " Tranquilize the patient by dieting, and not permit him to
 eat food that makes  blood.  The following articles are appropri-
 ate, namely: crackers, rice, and molasses, and avoid stimulants.
 Palsy is produced by a similar cause as insanity.   Never let the
 insane know that you think them insane, as it makes them worse;
 and also  eyeing  them  with  suspicion  does  the same.   The
 reason  why  their best  friends prove  their worst enemies is,
 because they eye them closely, which horrifies the insane, and
 increases  their malady, and  begets  in them  extreme hatred
 toward their friends.  Insane persons should be talked with as
 if they were sane and rational.   They ought to  see  frequent
 change of scenery, the oftener the better ;  and, in extreme cases,
 let pictures in the room be changed hourly.
    " Persons that become  insane by fixing their thoughts con-
stantly on one thing, are hard to cure.   Any person confined in
a white glass globe  would become insane in six hours.   Long 
108
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
and intense thinking on one subject will render any person more
or less insane.
   " The doctrine of Election causes more  insanity than any
other one subject, because it leads  its believers to doubt and
melancholy, and finally  to despair.  Universalists are  rarely
insane, as they are buoyed  up by hope, and  are often cheerful.
All insane  persons are costive.   Typhus fever is a species of
insanity.  The nerves of voluntary and involuntary motion are
opposite; if the one  class are unusually active, the others are
proportionally inactive.
   " In  addition  to  the other  remedies,  give a tincture  of
Cayenne pepper and alcohol, and  use the warm  bath, with fric-
tion, by rubbing the patient with  a wet woolen cloth.
   " If the foregoing treatment was observed in the insane hos-
pitals, in one  week  three-fourths of the  patients  would  be
cured." 
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.            109
                   CHAPTER  XII.

          INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.

   It is clear to a demonstration that " What we shall be doth
not yet appear."   By  interior  investigation we  arrive at the
ennobling conclusion that, in the future of individual progress,
man's innermost is destined to become uppermost in the sphere
of physical circumstances.  We behold the consoling truth that
the human spirit is constituted upon  the  principle of master-
ship  and self-sovereignty.  Conceiving thus, we are well nigh
prone to  exaggerate  the present sphere  of man's  individual
responsibility.  We are,  like many Christian ministers, almost
disposed  to accuse mankind of  intentional wickedness,  and
to say:  " If men  would but  will  better,  they  would  do
better;" and because they do  not  so will, we  are  ever  and
anon tempted to add, " Men should  be compelled to righteous-
ness," for they are  radically capable of lives vastly more noble
and harmonious.
   This  view would  lead to  censoriousness  and vituperative
denunciation.  It would put us out  of tune with that " charity
which thinketh no evil/'  It would inspire us with pity, sarcasm,
irony, hatred, and contempt.   It would embitter all our love for
mankind.  It would cause us to quote  condemnatory sentences
from poetry, old sermons, and the  Bible.   But we  are saved
from all  this misfortune  by the  discovery that man's character
     10 
1.10
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
is not  self-made, but that it is a reflection of a combination of
causes, over which, for the present, he has little or no control.
    The truest Spiritualism  is beautifully practical  as well as
gorgeously theoretical.   The truth is known by its adaptations.
With regard to man the truth is, that, while he is interiorly organ-
ized for complete self-government and unlimited moral responsi-
bility, he is not, in the present state of his spiritual development,
much  more than a creature  of external  interests and circum-
stances.   His  outside,  every-day,  working  Character  is  a
product of his most positive surroundings.  He acts and  mani-
fests traits in accordance with the circumstances by which he is
compelled to  exist.  He is a creature of motives, of interests,
of downright physical necessities.   " A hungry  man knows  no
law."  It is a fixed maxim of common sense  that " evil commu-
nications corrupt good manners."  Good manners crop out from
good morals.   Morals, therefore, are first injured and corrupted
by vicious associations.  May it not be equally true that discord-
ant external circumstances will unbalance the most harmonious
character ?
    The fertile sources of human discord lie back of man's birth ;
also in the sphere of immediate social and physical circumstan-
ces. Christians accuse  the  human heart of evil.  We do not.
Because  the world's evil and  iniquity  are traceable to  the
world's outward constitution.  It is vain for moralists to expect
spiritual beauty from  persons  overburdened  with  grievous
wrongs and misfortunes.   In vain  may preachers  enforce the
practice of  great  principles upon minds  well nigh crushed by
the weight of poverty and injustice.  Thousands  all around us
are compelled by their circumstances to expend their noblest
energies for the  preservation of mere  physical life.   Others are
tied to the wheels of perpetual servitude.   And yet others there
are, who, by the accident of  birth, or from  some other equally 
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Ill
 external cause, are bound  day and night  by the tyrannical will
 of heartless  and  soulless  men—themselves the inheritors of
 wrongs and  injustice  done to ancestors  long since departed.
 With body cramped and diseased, with soul fettered and stricken
 down from its natal hour, with every external condition  unfa-
 vorable to the development of the gentle  virtues and beautiful
 attributes,  what  can you expect ?   What may we  hope  from
 delicate women  who are wasting vital forces  by the incessant
 effort to maintain themselves and families ?   What shall we
 expect  from  finely-constituted  men, who,  being crushed by
 poverty, are  straining every nerve to provide for  the bodily
 necessities of those dependent upon them  ?  Beautiful minded
 persons there are, who  have not an hour to devote to mental im-
 provement.  They are  chained to the labor-wheel  of  servitude,
 and compelled to toil year after year for the benefit of others.
    We wonder not that there are vicious men and down-trodden
 women.   We  should wonder  exceedingly if men and women
 were not just what they are :  the  reflections at once of their
 inherited organizations and social circumstances.  The higher
 spiritual  spheres look  down with  unbounded  charily upon all
 human kind.  Higher intelligences see that " the just and the
 unjust " are alike the effects of antecedent  and  existing causes.
    That the world cannot be reformed by  merely appealing to
 the moral affections, is  clearly demonstrated.   The well-known
 and successful " Five Points Mission," of this city, was prosper-
 ous only when the physical conditions of the abandoned popula-
 tion  were  examined into and absolutely  improved.   Just in
 proportion as the bodily circumstances  of  the  depraved were
 reformed, in that same proportion did the inhabitants become
 contented and  virtuous.  All  preaching of  Christian morals,
prior to the physical  improvements  of  the down-trodden,  was
like water spilt upon the  sand  which yields  neither  fruit  nor 
112           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
flowers.  In this manner it is demonstrated that physical slavery
is the cause of  moral deadness and degradation.   The soul is
bound with the body; they cannot, in this life, be separated.
   Now, if you apply this reasoning to the political  institutions
of a country, what will be your conclusions ?   You will at once
decide that great national progress is impossible under political
injustice and tyranny.  A corrupt government is better than no
government at all, because  the  people,  under its diabolical
oppressions and obvious wrongs, make progress by their efforts
to overthrow its  foundations.  But such progress  is replete
with cruelties and excesses.   The people shed their burdens by
violent efforts.  They break their  chains by destroying those
who fettered them.  All  this is sad and lamentable,  but  it  is
natural  under certain  physical conditions, and every despotic
government will know it in the coming future.
   But there is  a more excellent way " to  overcome  evil."
A human soul gains nothing  by fighting the conditions of evil.
If you quarrel with  evil, it will overcome and vanquish you.   It
will compel you to become like itself—ugly, bitter, hateful, sar-
castic, ironical, combative, cruel, malicious, murderous.  How-
ever good  in the start, in the end you will  be like that which
you  have  resisted  and  fought.   Suppose  a  traveler should
lose his path in the mazy wilds of a vast forest.  He cannot find
his way out, and a  lonely death  in the wilderness  seems the
impending fate.  What would you  think of him  were he  to
commence  cutting down the  trees as the best means of escape ?
Would he not die in the useless labor ?  If he should spend the
same number of hours, and the same amount of strength, in  an
intelligent  effort to discover his way back to civilization, would
you not approve and applaud the wisdom of his undertaking ?
   So of every other human  mistake, misfortune, or evil.   Do
not spend  an hour  in  fault-finding and combativeness, but  go 
               INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.            113

straight over the " evil" to  that  condition which  is  " good."
Do not fight disease, but fix your eyes upon the  conditions of
Health, and put your body in a situation  to be improved and
strengthened.   Do  not  fight a private vice.  All efforts to kill
the vice will result in  your defeat.   You may " resolve and
re-resolve," but you will " die the same."  And why ?   Because
you have not attempted to overcome (or to go over) evil with
good, but instead, have spent your noblest energies  and sweet-
est hours in vain  attempts to conquer evil with evil.  If your
ship is sinking, take to  the life-boat, and pull for the shore.
If your neighbor be unjust to you, do not give the bad example
of fighting with him, but straightway put  yourself beyond the
possibility of a like invasion.  It is stronger and far more pro-
gressive to do right than wrong.  It is  far  easier to contend
with  an evil than  to inaugurate a good; and  most people take
the easiest, and  consequently  the surest, road to  failure.  A
conquest is rare.   If  a man have an error, what will you do for
him ?  Will you  quarrel with  him and with  his error, or will
you  present a new truth to his  mind ?   Suppose the case is
your own, and you have an error or a  vice.  (You have many,
doubtless.)  What will  be your wisest and straightest rule of
conduct with reference  to yourself?  The  wisest, we affirm, is
to progress away from  it  and  them.  Suppose you  have the
ungentlemanly  habit of using profane language.  Now how will
you  break up  the habit ?  By  endeavoring to remember what
words you  should not  use  in  conversation ?  Far  otherwise.
The true way is to  make up your mind as  to the words you will
employ in communicating your thoughts.   Suppose  you are an
imbiber of strong  drink, and you wish to  cease the  use  of it
from  this hour.  (We  hope you  do so desire.)  What is your
best course ?   To  fight against  the propensity to intoxication  ?
No, Brother.   The only certain way is to turn your back  upon
     10* 
114
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
yourself, and decide, not what you will not drink, but what you
will drink, or  die in  the  attempt!   This is overcoming  evil
with good.  All progress is positive  and affirmative ;  all failure
is negative and conservative.  The first is characterized by the
development of superior  conditions ;  the latter by an  attempted
overthrow of conditions that are low  and evil; and the result is,
that while the  latter  is  struggling to overcome evil  with  evil,
the  former is really transforming evil into good. 
HOW  TO DO GOOD.
llo
                   CHAPTER  XIII.

               HOW  TO  DO  GOOD.

    We receive questions substantially as follows :  " How shall
 a believer in the Harmonial  Philosophy most advantageously
 live for the world's permanent progress ?"  Or, " How shall  a
 true friend of Progress devote his energies so as to accomplish
 the greatest amount of good to his race ?"
    Glorious questions!   A truthful  answer is demanded  by
 every noble aspiration, and we shall, with all possible  brevity,
 attempt to evolve a  few thoughts, which, we trust, will find
 lodgment  in the vast storehouse of intelligence.
    Man, at last, stands upon the threshold  of  a true  civiliza-
 tion.  We mean  exactly what we say—"threshold."  For the
 best one among us has not entered  the temple further than the
 middle of the spacious vestibule.  Behind him  is the Cauldron
 of the Past.  Past opinions, thoughts of olden times, antiquated
 religions,  theories of departed philosophers, fables of the ancient
 ages—all, in one  conglomerated mass, is boiling, seething, bub-
 bling, fermenting, over the fire of purification, in the Cauidron
 of the Past.  The fire of emancipated Reason  is distilling the
 clear wine of Truth from the fruit and grains of departed  gene-
rations.   Thousands in the march of civilization retain tenderest
sympathies  for the  traditions and  doctrines  of  the earlier
periods.   They shout with  pain at the sight  of decomposing 
116           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
creeds and falling temples  of  sacred error.   Those  who  stand
on the door-step of spiritual civilization, beholding the destruc-
tion of the useless forms of past revelations, are the  first to cry
out against those just before  them in the onward march.  But
those who have penetrated  the vestibule of the  Future era on
earth, are the first  to behold the principles, and consequent pro-
gress, of the human mind.  To such, the vast  realities of harmo-
nial brotherhood,  crowned with  the  diadem of  distributive
justice and universal liberty, loom up in the immediate future
of civilization,  like  the temple of happiness in the  heart of
Deity.
    The  best man, the  wisest woman, the boldest thinker, the
most lucid poet, the sweetest philanthropist—none of these are
wholly civilized.   To send our institutions into Africa, to pro-
 ject our systems  of religion into the Japanese Empire, to fix
the manacles of our incomplete government upon less powerful
nationalities, to hold up  our examples  as   the best  for the
heathen,  is to extol a green civilization as though  it  were
adapted  for common digestion.  It would be not less injurious
to other peoples, than unripe plums to the stomachs  of children
Flushed by the rapid  development  of successful  machinery
overcome by the intoxicating stimulus of commercial expansion,
made vain by the discovery of unlimited powers of thought, the
 vanguard  shout  " Victory!"   and " Christian  Civilization!"
when, in sober reality, we are but just stepping out of barbarism
into the vestibule of that "good time," which shall be a grand
 joy unto all people.
    We  live in a  glorious age, not because this is a civilized
 epoch, when liberty and happiness are appreciated and enjoyed
 equally  by all, but this age is glorious  because it  is  the bad,
 just before the era of flowering  into magnificent  beauty.  In
 their  highest efforts of thought,  men  have  not advanced much 
HOW  TO DO GOOD.
117
beyond a weak  juvenescence, a sort of spiritual infancy, and
much progress is yet required in order to crown them with the
dignity and glory of  adolescent wisdom.    Therefore, to the
true friend of man, all life is practical.  The real, true, harmo-
nial soul, does not speculate on the nature  of his aspirations,
to  the  neglect  of  his  co-ordinate   duties.   He  wants   t:
know what  he  can advantageously- do to hasten the Better
Day, and to  fit  him  individually to unfold, without pain  or
regret, in another sphere of existence.   He believes in the
principle of progress.  He understands that it will  force him
onward, even  though he  should not attempt to harmonize with
it,  just as  the  ocean tide  wafts forward  the  drift rubbish
upon its bosom ;  but he naturally scorns  the  imputation  of
being only  a  block-head, or  a man  of rotten wood, and there-
fore asks : " What can I do to accomplish the most good for the
Race ?"
    Noble Reader !  Your soul hath honored its sublime consti-
tution in the putting of a question so benevolent and  angel-like.
We love thee now, more than ever, with a growing love, full  of
 joy and fraternal peace.  We come close  to thee, very near to
the inner life  of thy being, and whisper a few words of counsel.
Dost thou hear them ?
    Be not deceived.   Thou art in the march of Civilization, but
not civilized ; a believer in Spiritualism, but not spiritualized ;
a worshiper of Truth, but not truthful; a lover of Wisdom, but
not wise ; a seeker after Happiness, but not happy; a pilgrim
in the ways of  Progress, but not progressive; and so the sub-
lime picture  of life  is broken in  fragments  at thy feet;  the
whole  of creation is often  less  stupendous  than a  small
part  before  thine eyes;  the good God  of Nature  is  some-
times hardly equal to  a  man;  and,  in  the  very  nature  of
things, thou art just as far from the Harmonial  state as a child 
118
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
is removed from the condition  of Manhood.   What  is to be
done ?
    Answer:  BE  A  MAN.   That is,  whether  brother or
sister, be a whole soul.   How ?   To  all  the  faculties of
thy  being, be  true.   Be  true to  all  the  dictates  of  thy
superior powers.   Speak the  truth;  do  not  falsify.   Get
knowledge; do not propagate  ignorance.  Be spiritual;  not
merely  a Spiritualist.    Exemplify  freedom;  do  not  be  a
slave.   Become civilized; do not  remain in  barbarism.   Be
happy as possible just  now, in your circumstances;  do  not
put off  the hour of happiness.   Make progress ; do not merely
preach it.
^^^ 'Tis easy to counsel  thee, dear  reader, but how hard to
practic"e4v^ay> <luite otherwise.  Truth-speaking is as  easy
as truth-writmg^-^^It  is  more  easy to  do right  than wrong.
Motion, to  thee, is  easier" than  stillness,  even as happiness is
more pleasurable than discord.   Doubtless you will fail a few
times at first, as children frequently fall between the cradle and
independent walking, but invariably  the  " right  comes upper-
most " after successive efforts to bring it.
    Go  forward  and upward ! The heavens are populated with
spirit-hosts  adequate to  thy necessities.  Make the  march of
mind a sacred reality,  not the dream  of   the  over-heated
enthusiast.  Do your work  nobly, with a spontaneous love for
it,  and with  energy.   Do  not  look timidly back  upon  the
boiling  cauldron of error.   The  fire of dispassionate Reason
will  purify  the hell  of all past  deeds.   It will  burn  and
destroy your  vices, and  all crimes, but  not  until you  assist
in  kindling the fire.  Every soul is required to  place some
fuel  under the  distilling   crucible.   Another  man's  merit
will  not  make you  happy.  It is ordered,  and wisely,  too,
that no idle man  may long enjoy the  food  and  fire of the 
Hnw  TO DO GOOD.
119
industrious.  Bring fuel to  the fire  of reform, therefore,
and  work  to burn up  your own evils.   Set your alcohol on
fire.   Destroy  all  your  noxious weeds of  vice.   Let the
furnace  of  private  redemption burn hotter and hotter, until
every personal  discord is  consumed.  Fix your  whole heart
firmly upon what your higher faculties  admire, and  do their
bidding. 
120
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
                  CHAPTER  XIV.

             MIND  AND MATTER.

   Earth's powers and principalities exclude most men from
the society of poetry and eternal principles.  Matter is a pow-
erful and  controlling  God; it is the  " prince of darkness " to
millions of our throbbing humanity.  Matter clings and  clusters
heavily about man's interior Life ;  it is the dead freight of his
perilous voyage from the cradle to the coffin.  Men  are neces-
sitated to worship at the  shrine of Matter.  They make it the
chief object both of masterly effort and spiritual contemplation.
Thousands  reverence  Matter  incessantly.  They  bow  down
before  its  altars.   They bring to it many offerings—tithes of
mint, anise, cummin, and lip-service—covering its temples  with
everything within the power of man to bestow;  with scientific
art and the works of genius, with developments  of  the  noblest
talents—with everything, even life itself.
   Mammon is but the  servant of matter; matter  is  but  the
servant of soul; soul is but the servant of spirit; but, in this
lower  world, it happens that spirit, and soul, and matter, are the
servants of Mammon.  No  human soul  is independent of its
material surroundings.   All human " Life is real " bondage to
matter.  Individual " life is earnest" in overcoming this bond-
age.  But  " the grave is not its goal," because the soul is not
destroyed  by its  environments.  The physical  circumstances 
MIND AND  MATTER.                121
of the spirit are negative at last;  but they are  absolute and
positive in this sphere.   Matter is the mind's jailer.   Want is
the overseer who lashes the  prisoner  into  his  daily labors.
'Tis the  mandate  of matter which the mind obeys nine-tenths
of earthly time.  The sight of  objects, the taste of flavors, the
smell  of  odors', the  cognition of  sensations, the hearing of
sounds—thus the  spirit looks out and lives through the grated
windows  of its prison castle.  A defect in  either sense is so
much  subtracted from  the liberty and  capacity of the mind.
Deficiency in  blood  or  brain, and  misplacements of  either
material,  or  the  slightest  excess  in  any  department, are
recorded mathematically upon the ledger-pages of the life book.
    The universe, with its beauties, and laws, and harmonies, is
nothing  to the idiot mind  caged  in matter.  The  gorgeous
heavens, with their unnumbered systems of suns and stars, are
nothing  to a  soul  bowed  down by the daily drag of  material
necessities.   The ponderous globes of space, so attractive to the
uplifted  mind  of  the philosopher,  are nothing to my brother
who makes a God of gain.  Matter and money surround him on
either side.  He drives through his surroundings, and then they
drive  through  him ;  and so goes his daily life,  " to  the last
syllable of recorded time."
    The fair  sky of heavenly  truth  never  covers the earthly
mind.  Angels do  not dwell in the  shades  of pandemonium.
Matter is the raw material of Heaven and of angels.  Strange
paradoxes!   The world  of matter is the region of  discord.
The myriad  forms of evil originate in  the realms of Matter.
The history of our  beginning is a  salutary history, because it
teaches the lessons of progression and imperfection—how chaos
precedes order ; Matter, mind.
    But it is  a pleasant thing to  die!  Why ?   Because the
countless  shades of matter, like storm  clouds and dreams of
     11 
122           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
prison life, begin to  move  off and  forever away.   Matter, the
soul's prison, is abandoned.  The spirit in quiet looks upon the
dim  substance stretched and  cold  on the earth below.  The
dark broad mountains of matter, where the thunders of earthly
discords rave both  day and night, are forsaken or  exchanged
for flower-clad hills, " eternal in the heavens."
   It is  a pleasant  thing to  die, and  to  join the  peaceful
brotherhood of the upper realm.   The Divine Mind, whose infi-
nite  powers and  principles fill all the temple of  immensity, is
seen by spirit.   Matter is incapable of contemplation;  yet it is
the deep-hewn valley in which soul is cradled.  The soul is the
chariot of the golden spirit; but alas ! in this world, Matter  is
both the driver  and the steeds.   Matter is molded  into shapes
replete with grandeur and  sublimity; but the power to cognize
and enjoy is inseparable from spirit.
   It is a pleasant thing to die, because, by a natural going forth
of the spirit, at the appropriate  period of its history, the evils
of matter are more readily comprehended and overcome.  The
music of  spiritual waters  floats  into the new-born soul.  Thf
Bickening  shadows of terrestrial ignorance and misunderstand
ing depart among the broken urns, behind the curtains of time.
The principalities of falsehood lose their power.   They fade
away.  The pure light of a measureless firmament shines  down
into the reasoning faculties.  Whirling globes, supporting innu-
merable forms of life and  beauty, fill  the immensity with the
glory of  God.  Harmonies of the  affections,  touched by the
awakening love of celestial fingers,  come up and down like the
breathings of truth, causing the immortal hills to sing like birds
of a thousand voices.   Outspreading landscapes  become  vocal
with an abundant harvest  of eternal love-lessons,  too pure  for
earthly language to embody. And thus, the unearthed soul is sent
bo school  among  the angels of truth and the Titans of wisdom. 
MIND AND  MATTER.
123
    It  is  a pleasant  thing to  die, when the death is natural,
because  the soul " makes  a Sabbath  day's journey"  toward
Deity—gets nearer to the central Fountain of everlasting life—
nearer in  the  sense  of realizing  more love and acquiring  a
higher knowledge concerning the spiritual laws of the  universe.
The kindling fires of infinite  life  light up the trans-mundane
pilgrim with a  larger and  diviner  comprehension.  The great
cycles of  the world's progression  appear like  changes  in the
performance of  an  operatic  drama.   The  rise and fall of
empires  seem not more important than the  shifting of scenes
in a theater—the lights and shades of an immortal picture.
    It is a pleasant thing to die, and to get out  of  the prison
of  engrossing and heavy matter, because its  chemical transac-
tions emancipate  the spirit from the imperative  besetments of
hateful appetites.  Although the soul retains the  effects, sad
and many, arising from the multifarious transgressions  of the
principles  that  are indispensable to its progression ;  yet, by the
fact of chemically altering the relations subsisting between soul
and body,  the spirit  is measurably empowered and  inspired to
rise above its ruling earthly  passions.  With  the body goes
tobacco, alcohol,  stimulants, &c.;  and with  death  comes  the
power to  be larger  and  happier.  Some  minds are vicious
because of physiological defects.  Brains sometimes are impris-
oned  by a malformed skull,  and spirit is  embarrassed by  a
hampered  brain, and  character is deformed as a consequence ;
so that, in contemplating our common humanity, it is  wisest to
put down a large amount of evil to externals, which,  in this life,
are positive in begetting personal manifestations.  An accident
has been known to jar into  life certain portions of a long-slum-
bering brain, whereby the  prosy person was at once converted
into a  poetic  genius  and  partial musician.   Imperceptible
alterations in the cerebral polarities will be  followed by special 
in •
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
changes in the character and habits of the individual.  Sorrow-
ful persons may suddenly become joyous and gay; drunkards
change into the finest examples  of temperance;  vulgar souls
turn into the paths  of refinement; and thus, " in the twinkling
of an eye," it is possible for Death to elevate the character and
multiply the opportunities of a man.   Even  here, under the
magic touch of human magnetism, the ignorant soul is suddenly
converted into the embodiment of surpassing intelligence ; and
by means of the same transforming influence, the mouth of the
dumb is opened, and the slow tongue is made to move with the
lightning flashes of eloquence.   If a few passes  of the human
hand can work changes so instantaneous and  so marvellous upon
a human soul, while yet in the body, what are  we  not author-
ized to expect  when Death bursts the "prison-house of clay,"
and gives the mental powers liberty to run to and fro "through
the halls of creation," in the  natural exercise  of all constitu-
tional rights and inclinations ?
   Yesterday  we  climbed to the loftiest  summit of a  dark,
broad, and  beautiful mountain.  We sought a solitary dwelling
place beneath  the shadow o*f many trees.  The  beetling cliffs
lifted their stately summits on either side.  The  music of the
deep valleys below filled the femplc with  sacred melody.  The
far-off silvery clouds, floating  between our  upturned eyes and
the summer sun, seemed to welcome our thoughts to the worlds
on high.  We  there obtained a wondrous vision  of truth, and
law,  and soul,  and matter; and, for  the thousandth time, we
acquired a lesson  from Mother  Nature to this effect—" it is a
pleasant thing to die." 
      PART II.
PHAKMACOPCEIA.
125 
 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         127
       DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS,

   The  leading  pathological  propositions  set forth in  this
volume,  by which we  trust  all  progressive  physicians  and
patients  will  be  guided  in  the  application  of  our various
prescriptions,  are :
  - 1. That all diseases originate in a disturbance  of the  soul-
principle, which consists of Motion, Life, and Sensation.
   2. That the effect  of  such disturbance is a development of
local suffering, invariably in the region of the greatest previous
weakness, or where there is the most constitutional tendency to*
disease.
   3. That the concomitants  are an increase  of motion and of
temperature, or else a reduction of  temperature  and a diminu-
tion of motion, in  the fluids and forces of the parts assailed.
   From the above propositions we  are  authorized to conclude
that all diseases are characterized by active and passive  symp-
toms or states ; and we hereby suggest, with all due deference,
that friendly physicians and  all patients be regulated by these
principles in the administration of appropriate remedies.

Spring  Time Diseases.

   When we emerge from the Winter months into the terrestrial
thawings and atmospheric  changefulness  of  the coming Spring,
the eccentric action of this peculiar se*son upon the fluids and
solids of the body, is  irregular and  disease-generating. Dense
fluids descend from the brain and lungs, and disperse through
the lower viscera—laying  the foundation for various stomach,
membranous, and  liver  disorders,  resulting in  obstructions,'
diarrhoea,  congestions,  and  inflammations.   Meanwhile  the 
128
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
lighter and rarer fluids ascend from the bowels  and liver, and
diffuse themselves through the solids and nerves  of the throat,
face, and  brain.  These  currental and vitalic  changes occur in
every human body, just as surely as the upward flow of  sap in
trees, at  the very beginning  of the  Spring  months.  In the
perilous passage between Winter and Spring more children get
sick, and more  adult invalids depart for the next Sphere before
they should, than during any other season of the year.
    Prevention and Remedies :  May holy  angels throw their
strong, white arms around the multitudinous little ones of earth;
and may the understandings of all parents be opened to the true
ways of  life and health.   Especially do we pray for the protec-
tion and conservation of the diseased, the suffering, the famish-
ing, and  the unhappy.   Let them  organize themselves  into
•systematic,  thorough-going, wide-awake defenses against the
approaches and invasions of the  ruffian, Gen. De  Bility.   Each
human being is provided by the Father and Mother with ample
constitutional means of resistance.  Whole  troops of  Will-
Powers are garrisoned in every visceral organ  of the  body ;
indeed, it is  literally true  to  say that  every  organ—from the
top of  the  head to the depth of the  abdomen—is naturally an
impregnable fortification.
    Incredible as it may seem,  it is nevertheless true, that man's
body is a strong tower of defense, a fort of marvellous construc-
tion, which no  atmospheric changes can affect or touch, if the
proprietor but  understood  the shielding power and vast sweep
of the invisible Will.  Faith,  knowledge,  imagination, affection,
intuition, and fidelity, enter as ingredients into the composition
of WILL.  It is not what phrenologists term Firmness, it is not
an obstinate and dogged  principle of stubbornness in the  mental
■constitution—not  a " will " and a " won't " propensity—quite
otherwise; by  Will we  mean the concentrated whole-hearted- 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          129
ness of the brain and soul-life flowing  like sunlight within the
blood to any desired part of the physical economy, distributing
the fertilizations of sublime health and strength through every
crevice, and tissue, and nerve  of the dependent frame.
    We admonish each of all our readers to put forth this regen-
erating, this anti-suicidal, this immortal energy of the spirit.
Suppose that Spring is about to burst upon you, with its varied
terrestrial and atmospheric characteristics ; with its  fickleness
of sunlight, hesitancy  of temperatures, and with its changeful-
ness  of  electrical and  magnetic  currents.   Go  forth, then,
armed with well-balance'd manhood!   Like  a strong, well-
formed, beautiful woman, go forth  lovingly to greet and cheer
on the Spring; do not remain in the house all day, whether sick
or  well,  but walk forth, panoplied with the will-power, and
thank the universal  God of Nature that in him you " live, and
move, and have a being."  Be always very thankful; let your
face shine with gladness, your cheeks blush with youthful vigor,
(although  the record may be that you are more than sixty years
old,) and the host of overseeing intelligences will drop a " new
lease upon life " in your heart, which will then  steadily beat
against your bosom as the nearest friend you have.   Do  not get
a " bad cold ;"  do not permit yourself to cough ;  do not  get the
habit of taking on rheumatic pains.  All these ailments may be
prevented.  Bathe your feet in cold water before walking ; keep
them protected against the  dampness  of the ground;  breathe
deeply  while  walking,  allowing  the  breath  to  escape  only
through  the nostrils; swing  your arms, firmly shutting and
opening your hands occasionally; be strong and energetic, not
flexible as India rubber, in putting forth muscular  effort;  get
honestly warm  and generally fatigued—earn  and deserve your
weariness—then, on returning to thy habitation, go  into thy
chamber,  lock  the door against every external  intruder,  and 
130           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
resign thyself  to  the nourishment of slumber.  Nature  will
faithfully  awaken  you at the  right  moment;  then,  whether
sleepy and rested or not, arise  and resume the business of the
hour.
   During Spring months it  is  better to eat almost no meat.
Whether sick or well, this counsel is  applicable to  you.   Eat
various kinds of simple puddings for dinner, only one compound,
with bread and butter, at any meal.   Farmers and merchants,
mothers  and  children—each and all, better keep " Lent"  and
grow healthy  by fasting in the  early Spring months.   The fol-
lowing is a good dinner for two days of each week : " Take half
a pound of bread crumbs,  half a pound of  potatoes, boiled,
quarter  pound  of suet, chopped fine, two eggs, well  beaten.
Mix with milk, and boil three hours."  A large family, of course,
would require a larger pudding than these proportions indicate.
   Abolish the  demon, " coffee."  Do not spend another copper
to obtain this  copper-colored enemy of lung, liver, stomach,
bowels,  throat,  brain,  and reproduction.   Nature will allow you
to use black tea, not too strong ; never oftener than twice a day,
seldom at night.  Let  all  families manufacture a beverage for
Spring drinking; to be used at any time, even at meals, instead
of warm drinks, ale, or porter ; for it will give a healthy fluid-
ity to the blood before warm weather, open the bowels mode-
rately, and assist the feeblest digestion.
    A Spring Beverage.—Eight ounces of  sarsaparilla, three
ounces of liquorice, six ounces of wild cherry bark, half ounce
of mandrake, one ounce of  gentian, and half a teaspoonful of
each cinnamon  and red pepper.  Boil  in  three  gallons of  rain
water until the  quantity is about half reduced.  Let  children
and adults drink a wine-glass of this whenever thirsty.  Do not
sweeten it much ;  nor allow yourself or little ones to indulge in
sweets. 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         131
    Better eat an orange before breakfast than at any other time
during the day.   Give your little children oranges without the
pulp or seeds.   They cannot easily eat too many oranges in the
Spring.  They contain very rare properties of strength to the sick
and debilitated.   Dyspeptics would do well to walk before break-
fast, and  eat a couple  of oranges, breathing as directed in the
meantime.  Consumptive and bilious persons may obtain much
relief from the  free use  of oranges  anywhere between early
rising  and the  second meal.   Let every reader of the  New
Philosophy give  evidence of the glorious faith within him.

Origin  of Skin Diseases.
    Our  philosophy of diseases  of the skin  differs, in several
essential particulars, from the received theories of high medical
authorities.  It  is deemed necessary to explain our impressions
concerning these distressing afflictions, in order  to answer, at
one  and the same time,  scores of letters from persons sorely
afflicted with external  diseases.
    The opinion most  generally  received  is that all  eruptive
affections originate  from unhealthy  conditions of  the blood.
Pimples,  pustules, blotches, scabs, itch,  rash,  salt  rheum,
measles, scarlatina, fever sores, scrofula, cancers, tumors, erysip-
elas, small pox, &c, are  attributed to  depraved  and  poisoned
conditions of the blood.  Thousands of patent nostrums are
manufactured expressly to take pecuniary advantage  of this
prevailing error and consequent weakness among men  respect-
ing the blood-origin of all skin diseases.  There is no  exag-
geration in the  statement that, notwithstanding the barrels of
empirical syrups and quack  tinctures made and swallowed per
annum, in order to  cleanse and  purify the blood, the number,
and variety, and intensity of skin diseases, are constantly and
alarmingly on the increase.  All through  civilized  society we 
132
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
observe the palpable evidences of scrofula, erysipelas, cancer,
small pox, &c, and the victims, as a general thing, receive but
little assistance from the leaders of medical science.   Manufac-
turers and venders of infallible medicines require their patients
to take  their medicine according  to printed directions on the
label.  These printed directions, being literally translated from
the mysterious  depths of the internal sense, in which  their
authors wrote them, would read thus :  " The manufacturer and
proprietor  of this Sovereign Remedy (for all  skin  diseases)
cannot guarantee a permanent cure unless  the  directions be
faithfully  and strictly followed;  and  these  important  and
authoritative directions are, that  this  infallible  preparation be
shaken  and taken ' internally  and eternally,' on which condi-
tions alone the proprietor hereby promises to  refund  the  price
of the bottle if a perfect cure be not effected."
    The primary origin of skin diseases is the disturbed condi-
tion of  the vital principle within the blood, by the positive and
negative operations of which, the bodily fluid is kept warm and
ceaselessly in motion.   This position is established by the fact,
everywhere well known and acknowledged, that all persons are
not susceptible  to the  same skin  diseases.   Certain tempera-
ments  do  not  absorb  small pox, the itch, salt  rheum,  ha.',
while others will take on these and  yet other skin diseases  at
the slightest  exposure.   The depravity, or derangement,  origi-
nates first  in the life principle ; then,  as  a logical sequence, the
external will receive the form   and  embodiment.   The soul
(which  is the  vital covering of the immortal spirit,) is primarily
disturbed;  and other  consequences will  follow, " as  the  night
the day," until the  effect itself becomes a disease, and subse-
quently the cause of  like disturbances within the soul.   The
blood is a dependent subject of the controlling,  animating prin- 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          133
ciple ;  and the diseases of the body, therefore, are indications of
diseases existing first in the soul.
   When a disease ultimates itself, and  begins  to  organize  a
life of its  own, it is then self-evident that the truest treatment
is  to disorganize the new comer and at once dispel it, some-
what  as you would  drive  a wild beast from the  threshold
of your house.  But in the first instance, no treatment would
prove efficacious, unless directed toward the  vital forces of  the
entire organism.   The  true medicines are food, air,  light, exer-
cise, sleeping, &c, all which come within the jurisdiction of
love, will, and wisdom.
   But suppose from a  small bruise or scratch on the foot, shin-
bone, knee, or  finger, a sore  is organized and established.   Do
you not see that the state of the blood is not the cause of  the
ulceration ?  The  blood may be perfectly healthy, and yet an
injury  done to the anatomy of the skin may be, and often is,  fol-
lowed  by  the  organization  of a cancerous  body, or of inflam-
matory and malignant sores.   The anatomy  and  physiology of
the skin are sufficient  to demonstrate that, irrespective of  the
condition of the blood, the injured structure  of the  cuticle will
organize a disease of its own.
   It  is plain that,  in many cases  of eruptive  diseases,  the
directest treatment is the wisest.  Cancers  frequently return,
because, although sometimes  perfectly  removed by external
applications, the membranes and hlood-vessels (not the blood) of
the cuticle are not perfectly  restored to their  original  state.
The  deranged and mutilated parts, after the  tumor or cancer is
removed,  commence forthwith to malconstruct the bodily nutri-
ment into another nucleus, which, in  time, is likely to become
the center of a similar formation.
   Your blood might be as healthy and pure  as that  of an angel,
and yet, if the membranous  layers,  the delicate  nerves,  the
     12 
134           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
refined tissues, and the conducting vessels  of the skin be dis-
organized,  either by  sickness  or  accident, it will be  next  to
impossible  for you to  avoid  the organization of some external
disease.  The only possible preventive is the judicious use  of
your Will,  and the restorative  magnetism of  a  magnetic hand.
Sometimes the act of rubbing a chronic  sore with an emollient
salve, or simply by bathing and dressing it with the gentle hand,
imparts a healing power to  the parts, which the maker of the
salve appropriates and attributes to the virtue of  his prescrip-
tion.  The  cause of the restoration  is human magnetism, and the
Will.   The arteries and veins form a net-work on the true skin ;
it is also supplied  with  lymphatic  vessels, with glands, and
capillary nerves;  so that,  in cases  of accident  or injury done to
the  delicate parts, the risk is very great  as  against the welfare
of the system.  The skin is full of glandular lungs, so to speak ;
its  health  depends constantly on  natural  ventilation.   If the
exhalation  of bodily vapors  be retarded  by  lack of cleanliness,
or if  the inflowing magnetism of immensity be excluded by a
like cause,  the consequences are direful on the brain, and, ulti-
mately, within the soul-forces  of the higher  organism.
    We make these remarks as practical hints to  all patients who
apply our  prescriptions  for  cutaneous diseases.   We wish
the  philosophy of  skin affections to be practically comprehended
—namely :  that the condition of the skin is  of more importance
than the  state  of  the  blood—and  that we   do  not propose  to
purify  the  blood  by  syrups,  but  rather to balance the vital
forces  and restore the structure of the skin  to its  original
condition.

Acute  and  Chronic Cases.
    "It   is   a  fearful  thing to teach,"  says  that remarkable
book  entitled  the  " Healing of  the Nations,"  through  the 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          135
inspired  mediumship of Mr.  Linton.   " The secrets  of true
knowledge are hard  to  find,  and when found are  hard to be
explained.   Hard  to find,  because they tend,  step by  step,
towards  the  Center—God ; and  hard to be explained, because
all things are as rays of Him—and He cannot by aught below
Him be comprehended."
   Not less  difficult  is the discovery and  explanation of the
true  causes of disease and bodily misery.   Here, for example, is
a patient, suffering with what several able physicians, in general
phraseology, term "a disordered liver."   One  authority says
there is in this  case  an  excess of bile, a torpid  state of the
liver, and mucous derangement of the stomach ;  another asserts
an excessive activity of the liver, a deficiency of bile, and sym-
pathetic  disease of the digestive system.
   Symptoms.  Yellowness of the white of the  eye, dry skin,
bitter  tongue, thick saliva, dull headache, redness of the nose
and  chin, occasional flushings and nausea, nervous irritability,
restlessness, deficient evacuations from the bowels,  and irregu-
lar appetite for even  the most agreeable articles of food.   These
symptoms appear and disappear, rise and fall, with considerable
periodicity of movement.   About every twelve  days they put
forth premonitory indications. They increase in  number and
violence, and culminate  with  pains in  the back, shoulders, &c,
and then subside, all within four  days from the commencement.
But  the patient is never  in an  amiable mood.   Is it  chronic
inflammation of the liver ?  His mental irritability is incessant
and  extreme.  Sometimes he fancies  that  his  heart  is badly
diseased.  At  one time  he is  afflicted  with   impatience and
disgust; is unreasonably peevish and flagrant in his combative
suggestions; anon, without any apparent  cause,  he is mercurial
and  impetuous in disposition ; and then comes on  a period  of 
136
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 gloominess and bitter depression of feeling, enough to repel the
 tender watchfulness of a sainted soul.
    The Real Disease.—What is the  real  secret of all  these
 signs and symptoms ?  We  have examined many such cases,
 and therefore know that it is not a disease of the liver, but a
 chronic inflammation of the duodenum.  This part is the short
 channel between the stomach and  the  small intestinal  system,
 The gall  ducts  empty  the  bile  into  the  chyme just at this
 important junction, and  right at this point, also, the ganglionic
 magnetic  energy  is dissipated,  resulting  in  muscous  and
 nervous derangement of the  liver and  bowels.  This condition
 is very common among American women.  The great ganglionic
 net-work, of  magnetic and electrical conductors, is incidentally
 disordered and incapacitated.  All the biliary signs and symp-
 toms are traceable to this diseased state of the duodenum ; and
 the mental  irrascibility  and quarrelsomeness are inevitable
 where duodenitis, in chronic form, exists and prevails.
    The Cure.—Shall such a patient experiment with  the pneu-
 mogas'tric forces of his own system ?  Certainly, but it must be
 accompanied  with obedience to the laws of Health in other par-
 ticulars.   By stimulating food, passion, and excesses of various
 kind, it is easy to overload the liver with blood.   It may secrete
 too much  bile for a long time; then, again, it is hardly able to
 generate sufficient  for  its own support.  The chyme  is  neg-
 lected.  The  consequence is a redundant action in the duode-
 num—making the feebleness and oppression of digestion worse
 and worse.
   What is  the treatment?   Besides  using the  Self-Healing
 principles, the patient must  abstain from fluids for breakfast,
and omit his  supper, taking only a roasted potato, with a  little
bread, not later  than five o'clock, P.  M.; the dinner  may be
composed of well-known healthy substances ; no drinking while 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          137
eating, and  at  no time in quantities  sufficient to  distend  the
abdomen.   Two  hours after  this meal  he should  put a large
cold-water bandage about the waist, well  enveloped by a  dry
woolen cloth ;  then attempt to  get a little sleep;  after which
take a walk, or some other sort of physical exercise.  Pursue
this method day after day, until the inflammation is reduced in
the  duodenum,  but avail yourself of  human magnetism  fre-
quently.  It is highly necessary for this class  of patients to
abstain from all  hot-water bathing; but a sweat  by vapor, per-
haps thrice  a month, is not unprofitable  in disorders of the liver
and blood.  And now, gloomy sufferer ! cheer up and act like a
man.   To thee the poet hath  well said,
            " Many a foe is a friend in disguise,
               Many a trouble a blessing most true,
             Helping the heart to be happy and wise,
               With love ever precious, and joys ever new 1
                     Stand in  the van,
                     Strive like a man!
             This is the bravest and cleverest plan,
             Trusting in God while you do what you can.
                     Cheerily, cheerily, then! cheer up."
    Your frettings  and quarrelsomeness are  signs  of discords
within you.   You profanely imagine that  the  Almighty is con
cerned  in the  apportionment of your  sufferings.  Away with
such  conceptions.   Be stoutly honest henceforth, and say : " I
have  sinned against the  laws of health, both knowingly  and
innocently,  and the true consequences  are upon me."  Shak-
speare, in the play of  King Lear, says:  " This is the excellent
foppery of  the world, that when we are sick, (often  the surfeit
of our own behavior,) we make guilty of our  disasters the sun,
the moon, and the stars ;—as  if we  were villains by  necessity—
fools by Heavenly compulsion—and all that we are evil in,  by a
Divine thrusting  on."
    12* 
L38           THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
How to Exert  the Will.
   Question.—" Dear Sir : You teach that every disease may
be cured by the action of the  Will, and more particularly 'gen-
eral debility.' ....  I can very readily understand the action
of the ' Will' in the common sense of  the term ;  that is, to will
anything done is to do it.  For instance :  I have a very severe
pain or rheumatism in one of my members.  I  may wish and
desire it well, but that won't do it.   But if I procure the proper
remedies, the  cure is accomplished.   Now is  it not  done  by
acting out the Willi  Would it not be like the  wagoner when
he stuck fast in the mire ?  He  called upon Jove  to help him
out.   But a voice called to him and said :  ' Apply thy shoulder
to the wheel and whip thy horses well, then call upon Jove and
he will help thee out.' "
    Answer.—We are persuaded  that our interrogator cannot
easily misconstrue the significance of the terms  "will" and
"willing," as applied to the action of mind in the treatment and
eradication  of disease.   WILL is the diplomatized plenipoten-
tiary of all the impulses of love, and  it is equally  the agent of
all the  intelligent mandates  and  wishes  of  Wisdom;  so that
when the whole  mind, with righteous  intent and  totality of pur-
pose, directs its  nervauric force upon any part of the body,  the
effect cannot but be absolute.
    Blood constantly goes  in large  quantities to  the  brain, in
order to give stamina and energy to its constitution and temper-
ament.   If  the  front brain be principally used,  then the blood,
(or rather the magnetism thereof,) will concentrate at the head,
leaving the  extremities and visceral organs comparatively desti-
tute of their appropriate proportions of the vital power.   On the
other hand, a constant employment of the muscular system of
 the  extremities, including the vital organs, will attract the mag-
netic forces from the brain, and, as a consequence, continuous
 vigorous thinking becomes well nigh impossible.
    Now we find by long and patient experimentation,  that the
 WILL, under the direction of both desire and judgment,  is 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          139

capable of throwing a magnetic force upon any muscle or organ
within the body.  The true way  to  begin, is :  to act upon  the
voluntary muscles of the extremities while lying on your  back.
Cause the toes and fingers to open and shut simultaneously.  In
a short time, both extremities will become warm and magnetic.
Then swell, and stiffen, and  relax, alternately, the  muscles of
the legs and arms.   Deep, long  breathing  is  indispensable to
success.   At the  next experiment, fix your will upon the longi-
tudinal muscles of the abdomen.  Cause them to dilate and  fall
steadily and firmly.
    After  a few  trials you can  affect  the liver, stomach, and
heart, just as surely as you open  and shut your hand.   Do you
not know that man's Will-energy  is  terrible in power ?  In  the
medical realm the Will's self-healing attributes are little known.
We know that, with many good people,  the theory of exerting
Will upon their sick  bodies is an  impracticability.  But even
so it was for a long time  wholly impossible for Dr. Winship to
raise 1,000 pounds from the earth, but he has done it again and
again.   Time has been when a tenth part of that weight would
have fatigued him.   Do you not recall the expressive anecdote ?
" How much  do  you weigh, Jonathan ?"  asked a frail-bodied
merchant of a young New England farmer.  " Wal," he replied,
" commonly speaking, I  weigh  one hundred and forty-five
pounds—but," he added, stretching  his fine form up to his  full
hight,  and dilating  every muscle with  the magnetic energy of
Will—" but when I'm mad I iveigh a ton!"  Does  not  our
reader weigh a ton, also,  and that, too, in  a good cause—in  the
direction of Health,  for instance ?

Automatic  Forces.
    In examining the mind's internal mechanism, we get at  not
only the action of  organs, but also  discern the nature of  the 
140
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
action.  Each part of the mind diffuses a particular influence all
over the constitution, and the influences  that have emanated
from  all  the parts constitute " sensation," or the lightning of
the nervous system ; and, inasmuch as human beings are organ-
ized upon the same principle, so it happens  that an influence
imparted to another awakens in that other  effects analogous to
those felt by  the one who imparted it.  Thus a combative per-
son, on imparting  his organal influence, will cause  another to
experience identical sensations.  The same is true of every organ.
    These  facts are  familiar  to  modern psychologists.   They
stand in the gateway between heaven  and earth—preventing at
once too  great  credulity and  too much doubt—for such facts
demonstrate,  not only that the nature of man is double, but also
that he is  not the cause of all spirit phenomena.   The automatic
hemisphere of mind is  quite  as  marvellous  as  is the counter-
hemisphere of voluntary powers ; and, when truly studied, man
becomes as much of a wonder before  death, as when he returns
in the estate of spirit.
    It would seem that man's own spirit ofttimes continues the
process originally  instigated  by invisible  intelligences.   They
may diffuse an influence upon his nervous system, which, enter-
ing into   chemical  combination  with the  sensitive elements,
they (the spirits) can neither control nor extract from their sub
ject.  It is evident that many spirits  have little knowledge of
their own  abilities  to control the influence they cast upon their
fellow men.   The  consequence  is, that what should be volun-
tary, and under the control of the wishes or will of the subject,
becomes, instead, automatic and beyond management.

Man's Telegraphic Power.
    The question is : Can the spirit within the earth body con-
verse with another spirit in earth  body without regard to
distance of separation ;  and, if so, under what conditions ? 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          141
     Answer.—The sublime science of spirit telegraphing is yet
 hidden in the laws of action and reaction, which pervade, and
 more or less obviously govern, all  forms and  gradations of
 matter.   Every organ in the  brain, and every ganglionic center
 in the visceral department, has  its own peculiar sympathies.
 These sympathies are  distinct  and  available.   The  superior
 organs generate exalted and expansive influences, which radiate
 over all other organs in the same body,  and outwardly, also, to
 immense distances ; and these influences are  positively certain
 to touch  and affect,  in a similar manner, the corresponding
 organs and centers in other persons, whether they be absent or
 present.
    The  entire history of mankind  demonstrates  the foregoing
 principle.   When  a kingdom is  involved  in war, or  when a
 people cherish  combative and warlike feelings, the populations
 of both  foreign and contiguous kingdoms are certain to realize
 a   corresponding   moral,  and  perhaps   political  disturbance.
 Thus, too, a frightful murder committed  in one part of a great
 city, or small village,  is  almost  certain  to be immediately
 succeeded by several crimes of like magnitude and correspond-
 ing severity.  Of rapes, suicides, accidents, robberies, treachery,
 falsehoods, mistakes, errors, &c, the same is undeviatingly and
 irresistibly true.   The  murder  mania is thus  explainable  on
 philosophical principles.  Not understanding this  law of action.
 and reaction, an exchange says :  " There  must  bfe some evil
 influence in the air, spreading murderous  contagion, for murder
 has become epidemic.  Besides the home  tragedies that have
 recently appalled our  city, the telegraph brings us intelligence
 of others perpetrated at the same time in various parts of the
 Union.  Every  day brings its  record of fresh  murders  and
attempts  to murder, and  it is  a noticeable characteristic of the
present bloody mania, that women and children are the  most 
142           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
 frequent victims."   Now it is plain that the author  of the fore-
 going remarks did not realize the  law of social  sympathy that
 underlies all social phenomena.
    " Behold what a great fire a  little  matter kindleth !"   A
 turbulent  and wayward  character in the habitation of angels,
 would excite like feelings, and provoke  like  conditions  in the
 most amiable  and  lovely.  Reason, on this law,  appeals  to
 reason, love to love, hate to hate,  disease  to  disease, health  to
 health, virtue to virtue, vice to vice, crime to crime ; for the
 laws of social intercourse and brotherhood are universal,  and it
 is folly of the sickliest kind to expect harmony in a part  of the
 world, while all other parts are  telegraphing the messages  of
 discord into the finest deeps of the sympathetic soul.
    Unlimited  mental intercourse  and social  sympathy,  there-
 fore, are  productive of either pain or  pleasure.  Effects will
 correspond to  the  generative  conditions.   We  are desired
 to define  the  conditions.   Nothing is easier,  or more simple,
 or more  certain of demonstration.   What  is true of two
 individuals, will apply equally to any two kingdoms or nations.
 The ipsjcho-telegraphic law of one isolated soul, in the  secrets
 of  its  own  dual  constitution,   is  the law of  telegraphing
 between   any  two  souls  through any  distance.   What is the
 law, and what the conditions of its  operations, in the individual?
.Briefly these :
     Feet  telegraph  their  sensations to the  brain.   There are
 hundreds of material obstacles and prominences between them,
 yet  they  sympathize and  converse.  Foot says : "I am lame
 and  sore  from over-walking."  Brain receives  the telegraphic
 message,  and  responds:  " You  shall be comforted."   Foot
 replies :   " Thank  you—hope you'll keep your  promise."  In
 this familiar  manner each organ  converses  with  every other
 organ,  and then they  all, individually  and collectively, report 
              DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          143

 at headquarters—at the universally acknowledged  seat of gov-
 ernment—the mind, which is enthroned at the mountain top of
 all organizational existence.
    What are the conditions ?   Manifestly these : that foot and
 brain be connected by some subtile cords  of sympathetic con-
 tact.   The  same cords are necessary between all other parts
 and extremities.   But how can these conditions  exist between
 two congenial s juls, " wide  as  the  poles asunder," and in the
 external world ?   Thus : by a mutual understanding  that, at a
 given  hour of the day or night, when all the rest of the world
 is shut out of the charmed circle, each will think a certain kind
 and number of thoughts with reference to the other, with all that
 distinctness and earnestness which would naturally  characterize
 a familiar face-to-face conversation.  The amount of time to be
 consumed in thinking such thoughts, and the exact metliod of
 arranging  them  into   sentences,  or questions  and  answers,
 should  be  a matter of prior  mutual  understanding.   Note
 down every thought  that bolts in upon the mind while so tele-
 graphing.  In this way a melodious concert of sweet sympathies
 will be organized; after which, notwithstanding the  immense
 distances, the twain may commune on the principle of the mag-
 netic telegraph.  We will cheerfully give more on these impor-
 tant points,  if it be desired-
    In  one short sentence let us  commit ourself to  the  long-
 cherished conviction that, in the not  far future of this  life,
 mankind will enjoy telegraphic intercourse  independently of
 physical agents and machinery.

Nature's Progressive Energies.
    Nature's heart is filled with forces and principles of perfec-
tion, and  nothing can resist their ultimate  manifestation.  A
strongly constituted man, for example, will recover from sick- 
144           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
   ness in spite of blue pills and the  lancet.   So the whole body
   of mankind, being filled with  every adequate  energy, and with
   conquering  principles,  will make progress in spite  of earth-
   quakes, epidemics, bad religions, oppressive governments, and
   destructive wars.
      It  is  true, however,  that  sections of Nature  (below the
   spiritual Man)  constitute  a kind of War Department—a West
   Point Academy—where the quadruped brain (which yet remains
   in some men) acquires the art of living  by means of  violence
   and bloodshed.   Life feasts upon death.   Construction employs
   Major-General  Destruction  to  superintend  the progressive
   advancement of organic  existence.   That which lives in the
   world depends upon that which dies in the world.  Destruction
   spreads the table for the support of construction.  All  depart-
   ments  of Nature,  therefore,  are regulated  by the  mutually
   operative  wings of Progress,  viz :  Destruction and Construc-
   tion, or Death and Life, or War and Peace.   The bird eats the
   fly, the owl eats the bird, the hawk  eats the owl, man kills the
   hawk, and so all the way up  the steps of the  organic growth;
   and yet we hold that Human  Beings are not  designed to be
   influenced and educated hj our inferiors—by the fish, and birds,
   and animals, that live and breathe at the foot of  the throne on
   which mankind sits—" a little  lower than the  angels."
      Minerals, vegetables, and animals, climb up to the produc-
   tion  and position of Mankind  by means of force-won  posses-
   sions.   Beasts have war establishments in their brain, and teeth,
   and  claws.  Race  eats  race, as streams run  into streams, to
-*  make the ultimate.   Force and violence  are natural, until the
   spiritual is reached ; then the  spiritual is the natural,  and force
   and war are monstrous and unnecessary.  Let each reader ask
   himself this  question:  " Is war congenial to my reason and
   affections?"  If the  spirit  within  shall whisper "yes," then 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          145
blurihingly and sadly we write the verdict, that  your develop-
ment is not spiritual.

Spiritual Briers and Thorns.
   A certain correspondent addressed us as follows :
   « Sir :—All I now require is a few direct, practical, inoffen-
sive words.   Can you explain to me the cause of my failure to
interest  persons, of either  sex, in my feelings and most cher-
ished views of religion.....I am dreadfully cast down at
times—hopeless,  have thoughts of suicide, hate everybody, and
everybody shuns  me as though I was a nest of vipers, or a tree
of poison and thorns. ...   Do give me a simple ' Whisper ' of
explanation, and I will remain forever obliged."
   Remedy.—Abolish from  your mouth everything, whether
fluid or solid, which is not necessary to meet the  demands 01
honest hunger, and to quench  the  burnings of honest thirst.
One hundred days from the commencement of this mode of life,
you will begin to feel and to act like  a  new man.  Your impa-
tience will be diminished, your irrascibility of temper and your
overtaxed  nerves will rapidly subside into peaceful  conditions,
and your excessive sensitiveness  will depart from the  surface
of your external  character.
    Now begins the struggle between the Will of your awakened
aspirations and the propensities of your inherited and acquired
characteristics.   Buckle on  your whole armor,  Brother, and
prepare  your will for a conflict with  passion.  Your wrestlings
with the Satans  of inherited discords and  propensities will be
sternest and most painful in your bed-chamber.  Your disposi-
tion is hard to  control.   Sensitiveness is  an effect of  your
diseased brain and nervous system.  You are easy to imagine
yourself " misused "—" slighted "—" insulted."   0, how  easy
it is  for  you  to  think evil  of your own best  friends.   All
 alone, in secret—where no human eye can see your frowns, and
the bitter curl of your lips,  and where no human  ear can  hear
     13 
146           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
the low blasphemy of your wrathful mutterings—yes, in your
bed-chamber!   Thus, Brother,  you  convert  yourself  into a
thorny tree  of poison, bearing bitter fruit to those about you—
a thistle bush, which children dread, and which even birds and
beautiful animals will not visit.   Everybody walks around you!
People would go ten  rods out of their  way to shun your dark
frown, and to  avoid your complaining tone of voice.
   And yet you  think " folks are  at fault" in all this, and
intend merely  to  annoy  and to  offend you, because of your
unpopular  opinions.  Not so.  Love  begets love,  friendship
enkindles  friendship, good nature and  civility  awaken  good
nature and civility.  Try it, Brother, and  mark the fact!  People
will  soon forget  to  hate  you for opinion's sake.    Everybody
and their children will say:  " We like M-------; we love him
dearly; he's so good and so cheerful;  but we don't like  his
doctrines—that's  no consequence among  friends."   We admon-
ish you to contemplate subjects which will  lift
                          " Thy thoughts
                  Far above the dust of worlds."
It is  impossible  to  think or to  act unworthily of your better
nature without degrading the waters of life  at their fountain
head.   Take  heed!   No  more littleness : no more offending
the image of purity in  thy bosom ;  no more hostility to  the
practical teachings of Harmonial  Philosophy; no more secret
violations of the sweet processes  of  daily life ;  no more  suppo-
sition that you can do evil,  or think evil, and yet escape  the
consequences in  all  their magnitude ; no more imagining that
the sight  of guardian spirits is  dimmed  by the walls of your
 chamber, or that you can be a brier-bush in social life, a poison
 tree in the  garden of the  family, a thistle in the hands of friend-
 ship, and yet be  loved, and courted, and  aided in business by
 your neighbors and acquaintances.  Come, Brother! be simple 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.
147
and  strong,  sweet and healthy, intelligent  and  affectionate,
spiritual, harmonious, hopeful, and free as the  air of  celestial
mountains.   When you think that you are worthless and unim-
portant,  or when  thoughts  of evil  sweep through  your  mind
toward a fellow being, then read  the following inspiration, by
Bailey, the author of Festus :
             "Nothing is lost in Nature—so, no soul,
              Though buried in the center  of all sin,
              Is lost to God : e'en there it works His will,
              And burns to purity.  The weakest things
              Are to be made examples of His might—
              The most defective, of His love and grace,
              Whene'er He thinketh well.  Oh! everything
              To me seems good, or tendencing to good;
              The whole is beautiful! and I can see
              Nought absolutely wrong in man or nature—
              As from His hands it comes who fashions all,
              With qualities k germ that shall unfold
              All holy as His word.  The world is but
              A Revelation.  His Spirit breathes upon us
              Before our births—as o'er the formless void
              He moved at first—and we are all inspired
              With His Spirit.  All things  are God, or of God."

Cause  and Cure of Impatience.

    " Intellectually speaking," says a reader,  " I delight in  the
speculations and  beautiful theories of Spiritualism—in them  I
am a sort of connoisseur, walking about, superficially it may be,
like one in the corridors and halls of a royal  gallery of immor-
tal paintings.  Yet every day, or whenever I  attempt to fix  my
attention upon any one  of the  pictures, something seems to
blind  my eyes  so that I cannot see.  A feeling of impatience
seizes  upon my thoughts,  so that  I fear  that I can never realize
anything of  the '  Harmony ' prescribed  in your writings as pre-
requisite to  true  spiritual enjoyment......Why is   this ?
Will you oblige me so much as  to  explain   the  cause of, and
prescribe a remedy for, this impatience ?"
   Remedy.—Corridors and halls of Art are frequently visited 
148           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
by individuals who have in no way qualified themselves to study
the triumphs of genius and  inspiration.   Many people look at a
picture with such haste as to completely " blind their eyes " to
its  intrinsic  merits.   Many correspondents write  to  us for
instruction in psychical laws, by  which in a  few weeks, or
months  at  most, they  may  enter upon all  the  pleasures  and
spiritual benefits of the " Superior Condition."  Such ambitious
ones do not  often  remember that  every Captain on shipboard
served a  term of  years " before  the  mast,"  or  among  the
"hands" by which  the common work of life is accomplished.
Experience makes perfect, and time, with obedience to the laws
of personal improvement, brings the legitimate reward.   Noth-
ing is truer than the saying, that " The way of the transgressor
is hard."
    The  writer of the  above experience is a " transgressor.''
This will   explain the failures of  which  he complains.   In
approaching the " beautiful theories " of the Harmonial Phi-
losophy, and while attempting to fix his " attention," his thoughts
fly off like sparks from the  blacksmith's anvil.  He finds  him-
self a sort of  " connoisseur," and nothing more,  and  then
behold the consequences.   He  is deprived of the  interior
enjoyment  which he  intellectually  sees hanging in  luxurious
profusion  through  the halls and   corridors of  the  Spiritual
gallery of  Inspiration and Reason.   All because he is a " trans-
gressor."   Of what?  Of  the psychical laws of  quiet.   His
motive and mental temperaments push him beyond the tranquil
point, making meditative study out of the question, and of course
" a rolling  stone  gathers no moss."   He  is nervous,  hasty,
precipitous, in desperate haste, in a flutter, and feels hurried ;
and, neglecting  to  analyze the sources of his impetuous impul-
ses, he is   more  than  half  inclined to be superstitious, like a
goodly number of  chaotic minds, and charge his lack of  con- 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          149
centration  at  a  particular  point  to  the   intervention  of
" spirits."
   Friendly reader, see to it that  you do not  superstitiously
trace  your mental impatience  to a false source.  Believe  us,
the cause  of your defeat is nestling in the unbalanced con-
dition  of your temperaments.  When  you would do good, evil
(or chaos)  is present with you.   Cultivate the Will-power, and
hold your thoughts to their purposes.  Give yourself more time
to enjoy a truth.   Drink  deeply, but with great deliberation—
always  taking a long  breath of  meditation  between  each
draught, while  at  the flowing spring  of  spiritual  realities.
Divine  ideas  require  very respectful  attention.  Speed  in
spiritual things is impossible.  It takes the best parts of a year
to raise a moderate harvest of  good thoughts.   In the cold and
stormy "winter of discontent"—which every soul is certain to
experience—such harvested thoughts will feed and nourish the
INTERIOR.

Od-Force  and the  Odoscope.
    The etymology of these terms has been given by the  learned
Reichenbach, in  the following  translation by Hittell:  Od is  a
force analogous and nearly related  to  the other forces  already
known  to  science.  It  includes  a group  of  natural  events,
(Vorgae?ige,) improbable  but  perceptible  to the senses,  for
which we have no measure or agent  save the  human  senses,
and even these only under peculiar circumstances of the  sensi-
tive impressibility.
    The reason why it has hitherto escaped scientific investiga-
tion, and has even been  directly and stubbornly repelled  and
excluded by science, lies in the want of a universal odoscope or
odometer, which  might be placed within the reach of every one,
     13* 
150           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.

and whereby its existence might easily be demonstrated before
the eyes of all the world.
   And again, the reason why no odoscope has yet been dis-
coverable, springs from the nature of  od itself, because  of its
power to pervade all things and all space, without accumulating
in any place sufficiently to become perceptible to mankind gen-
erally.   There are insulators  for heat, electricity, and  light,
but I have  been  unable  to find any for od.  This want of con-
finability, I have thought proper to use as a hint for  a  name
which might be suitable  for the varied combinations of scientific
nomenclature.
   Va, in Sanscrit, means to blow.  In Latin Vado, in old Norse
Vada means  I go quickly, I  hasten away, I flow.   From that
Wodan, in old German, means the all-pervading;  it changes in
various dialects to Wuodan, Odin, signifying the all-pervading
power which is finally personified in a German deity.   ' Od ' is
consequently  the name  for a force,  which, with  irresistible
power, rushes through and pervades universal nature.

Physics and Metaphysics.

   Proposition.—Metaphysicians sometimes present man to us
as a  mere machine, and  at times as  the soul of all machinery,
or even  the great Mechanic.   Now, " who  shall  decide  when
doctors disagree ?"   But is it really so  difficult to show what
part  of the divine drama he plays ?  Cannot his whereabouts be
defined  to the  common understanding  to know whether he is an
individual of duty and responsibility or not ?
   There is certainly a vast deal  of darkness, uncertainty, and
error, in relation  to this, among those who have  joined  the
reform discipleship.  Some consider themselves machines,  and
will  rest in quiet till they are operated  upon ;  while others
consider themselves souls, or mechanics, and are  ever positive
and active, turning the world upside down in reform or deform,
they little know or little care which.   If men are machines they
are not responsible ;  if they are mechanics, they are.
   The above opens a great and important question.  If mind 
              DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          151

can act in the absence of predominant motives, he is a mechanic;
if  not, he is a machine.  And it either can or cannot; it is an
absolute^ alternative, and no law can fail to have a direct bearing
upon  the  yea or nay.   I therefore submit this  question:  Can
mind act in the absence of predominant motives ?
   Explanation.—The most  skillful navigator  on the mystic
sea of metaphysics will sometimes  misguide  his ship.  He
occasionally will, with  the best phrenological  chart, and  with
the best mental  compass, steer into quicksands,  and  founder
in sight  of port.   We have  witnessed  sad  shipwrecks  upon
rocks  with  which  far  less intelligent  pilots  were  perfectly
familiar.   Time never  was,  and the  day will not soon arrive,
when every man will escape.the perils of progress.  The storms
of discord are natural, and the disasters consequent upon them
are natural  also, and we compassionate  and pity the mind that
would fight  against Nature.
   Now we say, and with due reflection, that certain men,  with
certain temperaments,  are  natural  fatalists, and  such  are, by
necessity, quite mechanical in nearly all their thoughts and
conduct.   They are fixed fast  in the wheels of incorrigible des-
tiny.   They move with the motions of the  world.  The laws of
cause and effect—of Necessity—are, to such, clear  as the prin-
ciples of mathematics.  They  are  spiritual  Necessitarians,
natural machines, fatalists, presbyterians;  and there is  no  hon-
est philosophy, no true logic, no natural religion, that can drive
them  from their strong fortifications.
   Why not?  Because they have not only the  inexorable  laws
of logic  to  sustain them, and to explain their positions, but
experience  also;  so that, as  a correspondent  truly remarks,
" there are  things  in man's most intimate economy which per-
fectly stump the imagination."
   Especially so, because there are other men,  with other  tem-
peraments, who feel an integrality of  indestructible  powers; 
152           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
who do not act from sensuous impulses;  who  receive and yet
control the influences by which  others are overcome and com-
pelled to act; who give fashion and shape to the circumstances
about them, just as the potter molds the moistened clay.  They
work from within, and their action  is in consequence of self-
conscious and self-authorized impulses.  They believe in " free
will," and  in  self-originated motives for conduct;   and they
laugh at those who profess  to act by necessity, in obedience to
fixed laws.
   Who will answer our correspondent's  question : " Can mind
act in the absence of predominant motive ?"   Or, is not action
by man  a  result of  some  power superior to his  will ?   Is not
his will a subject, not a master, in the circle of existence ?
   Our  reply (how unsatisfactory!) is yes, and no.   Different
temperaments, with different experiences concerning the same
matter, will entertain different convictions   Some are masters,
while others are slaves, within the  same  set  of circumstances.
Human  experience and observation,  therefore, are ample  on
both sides of this question ; and the  consequence is, that doctors
differ,  and erudite metaphysicians  disagree;  for Nature  and
Truth are on both sides of this question also.
   And  we experience no  conflict  when so  contemplating the
answer.  We  perceive  that man (i. e., mankind) is both a Lati-
tudinarian  and  a Necessitarian. Not every  man, indeed, but
only he who is rounded out.  The true man is self-poised, self-
intentional, and grandly responsible for his conduct; and yet,
here comes the paradox, he is perpetually obedient to the fixed
laws of the Infinite.
    The  human  individual's responsibility  is  commensurate
with, or  in proportion to, the mind's potver to conceive of justice
and freedom.   He  who seeth  the  way  to do better, and yet
goeth  not  therein, moved  thereto by his love  of  justice,  is 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          153
responsible to  the Divine presence which worketh within both
day and  night.  Let the gospel be full-spread everywhere, that
Man, in  the wondrous duality of his being, is forever a master
over conditions, but a subject of the laws by which those con-
ditions  are generated.   That  is to say, Man  is subject  to the
law of digestion, but  he is, or should  be, master, with respect
to the conditions and  kinds of food.

Marriages of the  Temperaments.
   When  quite  a boy (says a correspondent,) my father was
born into the Spirit World.  Since then I have lived in sixteen
different  homes.  Have seen  a very few  happy and orderly
families.   The many  are full of "angles," discords, and con-
tentions.   I see  two great causes  of  all this : first, we  come
into the world deformed, either physically or mentally (caused
by an ignorance of  the natural Laws of reproduction ;) second,
the nutritive-sensuous temperament tries to  marry and live with
the motive-mental temperament (caused by an ignorance of the
natural  Laws  of marriage.)   Now, I  ask, which of these two
causes is the most prolific in depriving the married of true hap-
piness ?   I have  seen  the lower  temperaments live  happily
together, while I know of no  instance  where the lower and the
higher temperaments were happy in marriage.  The first feed
upon  "pork;" the latter upon "thought."
    Explanatory  Reply.—We  deeply feel the  responsibility
which  attaches  to  whomsoever  assumes  to  analyze and  treat
upon  this  forbidden  subject—" marriage."   There is certainly
no relation of profounder import, of wider range, more delicate,
or influential on human affections, prejudices, and destiny, than
that to which  our observing correspondent asks  our attention.
Having  lived through all the life of sixteen families, felt their
discords,  relished their  contentments, and  observed from the
Harmonial standpoint the  many and  diverse causes of  their
unhappiness, he comes upon the stand as a witness,  in the full
use of all  his  senses, declaring that one of the  " two causes " 
154           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
prevails in every  case  where suffering and  discord gain  the
ascendency over  peace  and harmony.  And  his  question  is,
" Which of the two is the most prolific source of trouble among
the married ?"
  Our reply in this connection must be brief, though the theme
demands lengthy elucidation.  And in our answer we include all
professional persons of every country, laborers, mechanics, rich
and  poor, philosophical and  uneducated,  because the Central
principle is not partial and unjust, but universal and everywhere
applicable—viz.:  that blood-love (which  is a reproductive pas-
sion,) and spirit-love (which is  a divine attraction,)  can never
assimilate and dwell harmoniously in the relation of  marriage
In strictest truth it may be affirmed that no human or so-called
supernatural  authority can ever join such temperaments in true
nuptial relation.   They live  a tedious life,  compounded  of
misery, detestation, bitter mockery, and what is worse, doing a
cruel injustice to the consequent progeny.   Priests  may per-
form at  the  marriage altar, and say, " What  God hath joined
together, let  no man put asunder," but Nature and Nature's
God say, " These persons are not one, but twain, being unmated
in essence, wherefore no power in heaven or on earth can pro-
nounce and crown them as  'husband and wife.' "
    The true and effectual  remedy,  as we have many  times
affirmed, is a universal  knowledge of and obedience  to the nat-
ural law of temperamental adaptation.  Legalized unbinding, or
divorcement, according  to  the  decrees  of statute law, though
in  many cases absolutely necessary  and just,  is, after all,  but
treating effects, palliating the pain of consequences, while  the
 sources and  producing causes  in society remain in  full supply
 and energy.   We say, then, incorporate a knowledge of such
 temperaments as may be joined in wedlock, with every young
 person's education;  thus multiply the number  of  right mar- 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.
155
riages, of  happy  homes, and diminish the  sum  of human
misery.  (See fourth volume of the " Great Harmonia.")

Progression of Primaries.
   The philosophy of the progressive development of primaries,
through  proximates  to ultimates, is  peculiar to the Harmonial
Revelations of Nature.  The hypothesis cannot be traced to any
other form of truth.  We hold that all matter goes an infinite
number of times through  every link of the endless chain of pro-
gression.   It flows back  and forth, down  and up, in and out,
without cessation, from the commencement of one eternity to the
birth of  another, before it reaches the highest form and sphere
of organic life—i.  e., the physical body and spiritual constitution
of Man.  We are delighted with the latest chemical discoveries.
They bring out and establish among scholars, and, therefore, in
the schools of our land, the very principles  for the perception
and  advocacy of  which  the  sectarian  portion  of the world
labels us with unbrotherly names.

Law of Contagions.
    Sympathy, or contagion, is the general law of human nature.
Every act of a human being is referable to some particular
organs of  mind.   These faculties emit  an influence which acts
correspondingly upon the like faculties of other persons. Hence,
vice,  as  well as  virtue, is contagious.  Those who live in the
midst of fraud, poverty, vice, and profligacy, necessarily absorb
the  degrading nervauric  magnetism thus generated,  and  lose
some of that higher influence which stimulates  and builds  up
the superior faculties.

Exhausted  Primates in Man.
    A Philadelphia correspondent sends us the following curious
diagnosis,  which  he received from a medical practitioner, whc 
156           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
resides  not far from the " hub of the universe."  The patient,
writing  for information  on some obscure point of the diagnosis,
says : " Some six weeks ago a person, in Boston, had a flaming
advertisement representing himself  as  being able to cure very
difficult cases of disease pertaining to males and females.  I
wrote to him, and stated my case in full.  I will give you some
extracts from his letter, viz.:  ' Cold water never  alone could
cure you, for you, as well as  all other human beings, are com-
pounded of some seventy-five primates, one or more  of  which
has become  exhausted,  and, therefore, must be restored before
you can regain perfect health.   In your case, the absent primates
appear to be, 1st, Lime ; 2d, Manganese  ; 3d, Phosphorus ;  4th,
Iron ; restore  these to  the system (after  treating  the chronic
inflammation  of the parts involved,) and you must get well at
once.'
   " He then describes  the treatment which is  necessary, and
adds, ' This will cure you perfectly, just  as surely as that one
and one make two.'   I did not try this treatment, as his charge
for furnishing the medicines was fifty dollars."
   Answer.—Our correspondent wants us to solve many ques-
tions  concerning this doctrine  of the  "  primates "—whether
they consist of metals,  salts,  &c.—and whether man must take
" cordials," &c, in  order to keep his "primates "  in sufficient
quantity and equilibrium. We answer, that the learned words
at the head of  this  paragraph, contain considerable intelligence
when applied  to soils   or plants ;  but they  mean absolutely
nothing when applied to the constituents of the human constitu-
tion.  The diagnosis above given is without foundation in Nature.
It is simply unsound and ridiculous in the  eyes of Science ;  and
the theory is dangerous to the  millions who know little of the
chemistry of  bodily existence.
   All  substances in the world are composed of sixty-four  (not
seventy-five,) simples, called  "primaries," because  we first find
them in rocks.   These rocks, by means  of pulverization during
the labor  and lapse of  ages,  result in soils. From these soils
vegetables are unfolded, which lift up and  still more perfect and 
             DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          157

refine the  " primaries," until they  become sufficiently atten-
uated and  potentialized to unfold and sustain the organization
of animals.  Man's constitution  is a reservoir  for all the ulti-
mates (or proximates,)  of rocks, soils, vegetables, and animals.
He does not exist nor subsist on the primaries.   The basic ele-
ments  are first taken up by the lower orders of plants ;  they
progress through  all  the ascending grades of vegetable bodies,
till they form part of the air, and water, and food of .animals ;
and, still passing  gradually upward, they (the primaries,) ulti-
mate in the human organism.   Man, therefore, is composed  of
ultimates ; not of crude " primates."
   In view of this truth, how shallow—not to say mischievous—•
is the  above diagnosis ! The patient must take medicine  com-
pounded of gross and  indigestible primaries !  Rocks, metals,
earthy  matters, must be dissolved or mixed with liquor and
syrup,  and then spooned out to the unfortunate victim !  Chem-
istry of itself will expose the  fallacy.  The higher orders  of
plants will not appropriate the crude properties of the sixty-four
simples.  It is  necessary to feed plants with  the  manures  of
other plants, or with  fertilizers that have been refined by  pass-
ing hundreds and hundreds of times through the life-processes
of lower orders of animals. For this reason, our intelligent farmers
and horticulturists find valuable  manures in fish, in pulverized
bones of animals, and in lime composed of the infusorial remains
of departed ages.
    The truth, then, is precisely and unmistakably this : Man is
compounded of ultimates (which were once  contained  in the
primaries  and proximates,) and  it is, therefore, impossible  to
strengthen  him, or  to  cure  his maladies,  by dosing him with
crudities  and mineral masses; for these all are foreign, incom-
patible, and consequently disadvantageous, if not poisonous, to
his physical and spiritual constitutions.  If all readers will, from
     14 
158           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
this  hour, obey the simple laws of life  and health—as to diet,
sleeping, drinking,  exercise, breathing,  willing, and  magnetism
—they will  find all deficiencies of body, and even the evils of
transgressed laws, gradually supplied and transformed to good.
" Throw physic to the dogs," scorn the chicanery of advertising
pretenders, and at once set up for yourself.  This prescription
will cure you as certainly as that " two and two make four," and
our fee is not fifty dollars.

Sources of Vegetation.
   The vegetable kingdom  is composed  of materials derived
from  the mineral  kingdom, which is  hidden  in the  earth's
deep bosom.  Whence  the materials  composing the mineral
world ?  From the four primal elements  of  all matter—viz :
Fire, Heat, Light, and Electricity.
   In  all searchings, we terminate in these four original prin-
ciples.  By "Fire" is not meant the  condition of matter in
flame or combustion, but the finest state of material motion,  out
of which issue Heat, Light, and Electricity.  The finest motion
of matter  results in  the illumination of matter from its own
inward sources.   Electricity of immensity is the conveyance of
all vital action in  the universe.   Fire, Heat, and Light, are pas-
sengers in the omnibus of Electricity.   They get in this chariot
of infinitude, and the integral motive-principles propel it through
every avenue of boundless Nature.
   The omnibus stops for a moment  at the different stations
along the  interminable highways of infinity ; and,  at such  a
moment, passengers enough leave it to start the organization of
& world like this globe on which we live.  Fire, Heat, and Light
—the three grand primal principles of matter—retire from the
Electrical  chariot  in  minute particles, and forthwith   unite,
chemically, for the origination of a planet.  [The first stage of 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          159
 a planet is invariably that of a comet.]   Then onward rolls the
 triumphant chariot of Electricity !  Passengers are permitted to
 terminate their ride at just that point in space where they expe-
 rience  more  attraction to sojourn than  to proceed.   But it is
 very strange, yet  true  always, that only a sufficient number of
 passengers (or particles,) alight from the shining vehicle, to
 commence the new planet in that particular locality.
    You perceive that Fire, Heat, and Light—the primary prin-
 ciples of all  matter—contain the requisite  properties for  the
 composition and ultimation of all mineral, vegetable, animal, and
 human bodies.  Of the  life-forces and spiritual sources of these
 different bodies, we do not  now say anything ;  believing that,
 with the foregoing sketch of the origin of planets, and of their
 elemental primaries, you can settle many other problems to your
 perfect satisfaction.  Think,  contemplate, and you will see
                      " How Father God,
            From the mute shell-fish gasping on the shore,
            From men to  angels, to celestial minds,
            Forever leads the generations on
            To higher scenes of being ; while supplied
            From day to day with His enlivening breath,
            Interior orders in succession rise,
            To fill the void below "

 How to Balance the System.
    Proposition.—" You say,  'Harmony  is possible only when
 both brains, back and front, are equally exercised.'   Physicians
 have told me  that my continued poor health was  the result of an
 undue activity in the frontal lobe  of the brain, which robbed the
 rest of the system  of its vitality, and that  I must  stop thinking,
 and cultivate  other facu'ties or departments of the brain.  Very
 likely this is good philosophy, but the question is, hoio to do it?
 If my health  depends upon the answer to this question, it cer-
tainly is  a very important one."
Answer.—Your physicians  are  scientifically right.   An 
160           THE  HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
undue  activity in the voluntary or  frontal lobe of the brain, is
certain, imperceptibly, to refine, spiritualize, and attenuate the
sanguineous and muscular systems ; but physiologically viewed,
the opposite effect is  certain to be a corresponding amount of
debility in the vital organization, resulting in a variety of func-
tional weaknesses  and prostrations, wholly unfitting both mind
and body for cheerfulness, naturalness, and even ordinary beauty
of expression.   The philosophy of all this we cannot stop  to
present, but will at once define a  few simple rules in favor of
restoring an equilibrium.
  First. Observe, with cheerful gratitude, the taste, the flavor,
of everything yo\i eat.   Think of its odor, also, and endeavor to
appreciate, by feeling, the goodness, and the virtue or sweetness
thereof.   Acquire the  habit as soon and as perfectly as possible.
(Of  course, you will not eat or drink any substance, or fluid,
unless its flavor and  odor are wholly congenial.)  The habit  of
thinking upon foreign subjects while partaking of food, is very
unphysiological, and even wicked.  We  have oftentimes, while
dining with  a  friend, been interrogated upon  some abstract
subject; but our answer has uniformly  been,  " one thing at a
time."  In  truth, no  mind can be illuminated while in the pro
per act of feeding the physical organization.   Be entertained
with your food.   Social  converse, with natural feeling, and the
mirthful chattings which naturally come of it, make business
enough for the brain while eating.  The  ghostly, stately, minis-
terial, iceberg dignity of some believers in old theology, during
the happy process of  food-taking, is hurtful  to  both body  and
mind, and will be rebuked by every physician whose brain  is
sealed with  the  crown of  common sense.  Be genial, be good,
be grateful! these are the  only infallible anti-dyspeptic medi-
cines ; the only perfect remedy for torpid liver and constipation.
   Second.  Never read  upon any  deep  philosophical subjects 
             DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          161

after  twelve o'clock, A. M.; nor upon any occult, abstruse, or
spiritual question, after four o'clock, P.  M.; nor  attempt to
meditate in the regions of sublimity, ideality, conscientiousness,
or  veneration,  after the evening's repast.    None of  these
rules  are  positively applicable, except  in  cases  where  the
cerebrum, the front brain, has  gained the supremacy over the
vitalic forces, and has, in consequence, become involuntary in
the performance of its thought-generating  functions.   This
almost every intelligent physician will tell you.
    Third.  In  regard  to  food, clothing,  and exercise :   You
require very little fluid of any kind.   Solids from  either king-
dom,  the vegetable  or  animal, in small quantities.  Hunger is
indispensable to gustatory enjoyment.   If you do not get truly,
stoutly, and universally hungry—so that  every mouthful is  a
grateful luxury at the time—then wait, go without both  solids
and fluids, until  Nature's infallible voice, " slay and eat," is
heard emanating from every joint and organ.   Then obey;  but
only as you would feed an infant.   The whole digestive system
pall " cry for more,"  doubtless ; but  give to  your mouth feel-
ingly and temperately.  The divine God-code of laws is written
all over  the membranes of  your mouth and  digestive  system.
Believe—obey—be grateful—and thus convert every meal into
an act of worship—just as  the bee gathers honey, as the bird
sings, as water makes music, while performing innumerable mis-
sions in Nature.
    Do  not be too conscious of existence by means of thinking.
Some persons think, and think, and think, until they think them-
selves into a sickly nervous fluid.   Such become intensely aware
of self—of individual feelings—of besetting wants and needs—
of  egotistic necessities, which many times become imperative
and uncontrollable.   All this is disease.   Feel nobly, and think
only as you feel, except in the morning hours, when it is right
       14* 
162
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
and healthful to think, and read, and study, and contemplate,
whether your feelings coincide or not.  Lot every one, young or
old, sick or well, rich or poor, try to acquire these intellectual,
these social,  these  harmonial habits of life.  They will bring
healing in their wings.
  Of Clothing : Always wear next to  your flesh what is most
congenial to the cutaneous sensibilities.   Protect weak and sen-
sitive places with more garments than you wear  upon healthy
parts of your  body, and  do this  in  opposition to  whatever
" fashion"  may prevail in the surrounding world  of dress.  At
another time we propose  to take up this dress-question, and
will,  therefore,  abstain  from further remarks  in this con-
nection.
    Exercise  should always be directed to reach and strengthen
the weakest and most undeveloped parts of the body.  A pri-
vate gymnasium is less expensive than a silk dress.  A whole
family may be benefited by an outlay per annum about equal to
the cost of tobacco for the masculines during that period.  Long
walks are, many times, worse than no exercise whatever.  Horse-
back riding in the  afternoon, or driving about in au ~>pen car-
riage, is much better than long walks—especially the former—
yet, as  the human  constitution  is  made  for  every imaginable
variety of motion, no one exercise can  ever comprehend and
stand substitute for all other kinds.  And remember, that what
we  term " Rest,"  is  not inaction, but a change of occupation ;
a different form  of motion,  another employment of  the  same
muscles and  identical faculties.
    Finally, dear friend, we  admonish you to begin—although
this may be  a late  day in  your earthly  life—to  be  harmonial
and  natural.  Untrammeled by the  demon-influences of old
theology ; free from the yoke of bondage to the dismal supersti-
tions of popular creeds ; open to the warmth and light of infinite 
             DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          163

love and wisdom,  as  displayed  all around  you, as  incarnated
even in your own personal organization—we counsel you, in the
name of all these blessings, to systematize your daily habits of
feeling and of thinking, so that a beautiful healthfulness may be
conceived and brought forth, as  the beginning of your everlast-
ing salvation from discord and unrest.

An Orange before  Breakfast.
    Question.—" Dear Sir : As I am always for knowing the
why and wherefore of things, you will confer a great favor on
me if you will state the reason why you prescribe that a  person
should  eat an orange in the morning, when xvalking out early,
and should, after returning, go  to bed again."
    Explanation.—The  medicinal properties  of citric acid, or
the acid of lemon, are positive and useful in several conditions
of the system.  But we prescribed the milder form of acid to be
derived from the  citrus aurantium, which is the Latin for
Orange.  If the acidulated juice of orange be consigned to the
stomach while empty and weak, as it is in the morning,  the
effect, on a few trials, will be exhibited in the disappearance of
bile (alkaline matter,) from the duodenum, a revivification of the
digestive powers, and a cessation of nervous headaches.  But
neither of these desirable  effects  will follow the eating of an
orange  before breakfast, unless the other directions are punc-
tually adhered to, especially the walk and the sleep  previous to
taking the customary substantial food of the morning.
    The reason why sleep is particularly necessary after a morn-
ing walk, and before breakfast, is, the restorative influence which
a repose of blood, bone, and  brain, at that hour, is  certain to
exert  upon the entire  organization during the rest  of the day.
On the other hand, active employment of the brain, or muscular
labor, or long walking in the early morning—without a rest and
sleep after such  exercise, and before  eating—is quite likely to 
164          THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.

result in an increase of digestive prostration, considerable head-
ache, greater nervous irritability, and a more general lassitude.
The orange  juice  is  gratefully refrigerant and  cooling to the
heated membranes of the  dyspeptic  stomach, distilling a fine
positive power upon the pneumogastric centers, and preparing
the blood-making system for the  healthful discharge of its extra-
important offices.  (We  say all these things, remember, as appli-
cable, chiefly, to  the  Debilitated.)  The sleep remedy is of the
greatest consequence  in debilitated conditions of the blood and
nervous system.   Consider the ability to sleep after a morning
walk, and before eating nutritious food, as an accomplishment
of  great  individual  merit.  It  will  bring you an  abundant
reward—peace, refreshment, satisfaction, health.

Early Rising Triumphant.
    Miss Martineau is  a great advocate of Early Rising.   She
says : " I speak from experience here.   For thirty years my
business has lain  in  my study.   The practice of Early Rising
was, I am confident, the grand preservative of health, through
many years  of hard work—the hours gained being given, not to
book or pen, but to activity.   I rose at six, summer and winter,
and (after cold  bathing,) went out for a  walk, in all weathers.
In the coldest season, on the rainiest morning, I never returned
without being glad that I went.   I need not detail the pleasures
of the  summer  mornings.   In winter, there was either a frag.
ment of gibbous moon  hanging over the mountain, or some star
quivering  in the  river, or icicles beginning to  shine in the
 dawn, or, at worst, some break in the clouds, some moss on the
wall, some  gleam on the  water, which I carried home in the
 shape of refreshment.  I breafasted at half-past seven, and had
 settled household business, and was at my work, by half-past
 eight, fortified for seven hours' continuous desk-work, without
 injury  or fatigue." 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          165
Objections to Early Rising.

                            Providence, R. I., June, 1860.
   Dear  Sir : I have often read with  interest your medical
productions, and, as  far as actual effort has gone, think I have
derived material benefit from  your disclosures and suggestive
declarations. But will you not dissect the following, against your
theory of Early Rising, which may be found in Hall's Journal
of Health, volume  7, page 116.   He says :
   " Breakfast should be eaten in the morning, before leaving
the house for exercise, or labor of any description ;  those who
do  it will be able  to perform more work, and with greater com-
fort and  alacrity, than those who  work  an  hour or two before
breakfast.
  " Besides  this, the average duration of the life of those who
take  breakfast before  exercise  or work, will be a number of
years greater than of those who do otherwise.
    " Most persons begin to feel weak after having been engaged
five or six hours in their ordinary avocations ; a good meal rein-
vigorates, but from the last meal of the day until next morning,
there is an  interval of some twelve hours ;  hence, the body,  in
a sense, is weak, the stomach is weak, and in proportion, cannot
resist deleterious agencies, whether of  the fierce cold of mid-
winter, or of the poisonous miasm, which  rests upon  the sur-
face of the earth wherever the sun shines on a blade  of vegeta-
tion or a heap of offal.
    " This miasm  is more solid, more concentrated, and hence,
more malignant, about sunrise and sunset, than at  any  other
hour of the twenty-four, because the cold of the night condenses
it,  and  it is, on the first few inches above the  soil, in its most
solid form; (but as the sun  rises, it  warms and expands, and
ascends to a point high enough to be breathed;) and being taken
into  the  lungs with the  air, and swallowed with the saliva into
the  stomach, all weak and empty as it is,  it is  greedily  drank
in  thrown immediately into the circulation of the blood, and car-
ried directly to every  part of the body, depositing its poisonous
influences at the very  fountain-head of life."
    Now, if this is really so, your many readers ought to know
i\  and act accordingly.    Yours, for  truth,        E. T. D.

    Answer.__We can perceive no  " poisonous miasm "  a few
inches  above the  soil, except in regions where large bodies of 
166          THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.

vegetation and stagnant waters are undergoing rapid decompo-
sition.   The ordinary reduction of temperature, by which dew
is  condensed from atmospheric humidity, or the corresponding
elevation of the temperature, by which the same dew is returned
to  the upper  air, are  changes more to  be provided for and
shielded from, than  any  of the miasm  consequent upon them
The true  external protection  is dress ; while food is naturally
the safeguard  of the inner man ;  in  addition to which may be
mentioned exercise, and the active breathing inseparable there-
from.
    All the moving millions of lower animated Nature—the birds
and  worms,  the quadruped world, and  almost every form of
vegetable life—follow the solar laws with instinctive precision.
They seek repose and recuperative slumber when the sun sets,
and with auroral light  they awaken  to  the  duties of the day.
The period  of magnetic  attraction commences in our latitude
positively at the moment of  full sunrise, and although  it is
chemically true that  unvitalic ethers  rest upon  the soil, both in
the evening and  in the morning,  yet is  man physically capable
of separating the good from the imperfect,  and that, too, with-
out making the process a matter of design.
   The civilized method is, judicious clothing and sufficient feed-
ing of the body, which is the  chemical  factory for the elabora-
tion of the form in which we shall hereafter appear. Man should
not  trouble  himself about fogs  and miasms in this latitude.
With regard to Early Rising, or exposure to  the evening air,
the  whole  physiological law  is  fulfilled by  attention to one
point—Temperature.  Let this vulnerable point be well guarded,
and all  the  rest will redound to his advantage.   It  is demon
strably certain that all human  diseases originate in a reduction,
or in too sudden and too  frequent alteration, of the bodily tem-
perature.  Keep  this  temperature as nearly as possible  in  a 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          167
state of equilibrium, or guard against too rapid transitions, and
you are  almost absolutely  impervious  to  the encroachments
and bombardments of disease.
   In keeping with  this philosophy of health and disease, we
prescribe for the " Debilitated " an  early morning ramble, the
eating of an orange, at least thirty minutes of quiet sleep, and a
light hand-bath—all previous to the first meal.  In many cases
the luxury of sleep is unspeakably better for health than eating.
   The  French proverb : " He who  sleeps, eats,"—is the  ver-
dict of experience.  For digestive derangements and nervous
diseases, where the  brain  is  involved, we know of no food so
good as an abundance of dreamless sleep.
    We  agree with Dr. Hall, that much exercise or protracted
labor before  breakfast is unphysiological.  It will eventually
prostrate the  vitalic  powers  of the  finest constitution,  and
shorten the natural period of earth-life.   We do not, therefore,
recommend much labor before the first meal.  But we do enthusi-
astically urge the practice of " early to bed and early to rise," with
a  substantial meal to start the duties of the day upon, as the
most rational and harmonizing life for intelligent human beings
to live.  And we  believe that all who receive the principles of
Harmonial Philosophy, will be willing to obey the voice of uni-
versal  Mother Nature, when  she  calls her  human offspring
through the myriad voices of the lovely landscape, and through
the golden light that comes streaming with such rich luxuriance
from the regions of the far-reaching Aurora.
    The doctrine  of  late to bed and late to rise, will meet the
wishes  and suit the habits of the night-loving population of gas-
lit cities.   It  is very delightful to believe, after excessive mid-
 night debaucheries, or with the fatigue consequent upon volup-
 tuous indulgences, or  after late novel-reading and intemperate
 habits, that the earth is covered with a  "poisonous miasm" 
168           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
about the period of sunrise.   It is so pleasant to sleep on, with
the assurance of medical men that it is unhealthy to rise early
with the singing birds !   Nay, not so.  Be up and doing while
" the day lasts,"  for the earth is then filled with the innumera-
ble splendors of the infinite Father.

Physical Strength and Energy.
    Physical  strength is the primal inheritance.   Men  could
conceive of the principle of power when they could not compre-
hend the spiritual quality of love.  It is natural, therefore, in a
certain stage of human development, to believe in giants, heroes,
and in gods  of boundless powers.  Great men, because good and
wise, are remembered and venerated only by the cultivatedfew
who appreciate  spirit and  cherish  ideas.  But mighty men,
because physically ponderous and  strong, are  the historical
companions  and crowned gods of the millions.  The glory and
power of God were revealed long prior to the finer and higher
attributes of love and wisdom
   It is,  consequently, natural for children to enjoy stories of the
feats of huge giants—marvellous tales of some great strong man
who could carry the earth upon his shoulders, or eat it, as some
legends say the first men did.  In keeping with this infantile
law of growth, the first  entertainments  and amusements were
physical; the first memorable exploits also ; and the gods were
promoted and adored in  proportion to the demonstration which
they made of skill, cupidity, and muscular supremacy.
   Thus Hermes, or Mercury, represented  as a pleasing young
man, with bright eyes and a  cheerful countenance,  became the
universal  favorite.  He  was  the champion of  the physically
strong during a considerable era in human history.  Believing
parents would relate his mighty deeds  and crafty exploits to
their children.   He roguishly purloined the sword of the great 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          169
god, Mars ;  took many ponderous  tools from the blacksmith
shop of the grizzly Vulcan ; stole the girdle of Venus, and the
scepter from  the mightiest god, Jupiter ;  killed the hundred-
eyed Argus ; fastened the strong Ixion to a wheel in the infer-
nal world ; sold the  powerful Hercules to the Queen of Lydia;
delivered the mighty Mars from the superior power of Alcides ;
and for these exhibitions of physical energy and skill, Mercury
was appreciated, promoted, and worshiped.
    It is natural, we  repeat, to believe  in gigantic energies, and
to admire extraordinary feats of bodily strength.   We respect
great physical power in man, as we venerate  noble mountains
in  Nature.  It  is respect  and  fear;  not  love.   Pigmies are
oftentimes both pretty and pitiable ; but giants are at once fear-
ful and a refuge of strength ; and to this conclusion the intel-
lectual world is rapidly hastening.
    Swimming schools and gymnasiums are  developing on every
hand;  ball playing  in summer  and skating in winter, for the
young  or adult of either sex;  and innocent games or entertain-
ments,  not injurious to good morals, but promotive of intel-
lectual power, are multiplying in exact ratio to the invention of
labor-saving machinery.
    We were  encouraged  and delighted, as well as astonished,
when authentic news came that Dr. Winship, of Boston, had
succeeded in  lifting the enormous weight of one thousand, one
hundred and  thirty six pounds, and that he did not doubt his
muscular ability, one of these days,  to raise a ton from the
earth.'  The extraordinary feat  inspired us  with unspeakable
gratitude.  We  realized more than ever  the omnipotency of
truth and mind over  the material muscle.  It was all attributa-
ble to the wellspring  of spirit and power within the human soul
--fpr  every philosopher knows that matter, of itself, is  power-
less and dead,  depending every instant of time upon the mental
    15 
170           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
forces for motion, life, energy, and government.  So, too, when
we heard that the New York gymnast, Ottignon, was enlarging
his establishment, and improving his system of physical train
ing, and that similar healthful institutions and enterprises were
being inaugurated in other cities, for the physical benefit of
pupils of either  sex, we  rejoiced exceedingly—for we believe
in bodily perfectibility as  a foundation of true moral develop-
ment.

Power-Generating Habits.
   We will give you a portion of the interesting testimony of
Dr. Winship, of Boston, whose  experience in power-generating
habits is good  authority :
   " I was nearly seventeen years of age," he says,  " before I
seriously undertook to improve my physical condition.   I  was
then but five feet in hight and a hundred pounds in weight.  I
was rather strong for my size, but not strong for my years,  and
my health was  not vigorous.   I am  now twenty-six years of
age, five feet seven inches in hight, and  one hundred and forty-
eight pounds in  weight.  My strength  is more than twice  that
of an  ordinary  man, and  my health  is  as  excellent  as  my
strength.
   " What has produced this  astonishing change in my physical
oondition during the last nine years ?   I will attempt to sum up
a  few  of  the  proximate  causes  that  may  have  led  to  this
result.
    " I  have  breathed an abundance  of pure, fresh air almost
constantly.
    " I have exposed myself sufficiently to  the sun.
    " I have eaten an abundance of wholesome food.
    " I  have drank less  than a quart of spirituous liquors? and
less than a gallon of fermented. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          171
   " I have used less than an ounce of tobacco.
   " I have taken, nearly every day, about half an hour's gym-
nastic exercise in the open air.
  " I have  conformed to the customs of society only so far as
they were not at variance with  health."

   Among  other  important   conclusions,  we  find  the  fol-
lowing :
   " That  increase of the muscular power was attended with
increase of the digestive.
   " That  one means of increasing the digestive power was to
increase the muscular.
   "That many articles  of food had formerly proved injurious
to me, not because  they were unwholesome, but because I was
unable to digest them.
   " That  a person may become  possessed of great physical
strength without having inherited  it.
   " That,  by increasing  the strength, a predisposition to  cer-
tain  diseases  may  be  removed, and diseases already present,
removed or mitigated.
   " That  increase of strength cannot long  continue on a diet
exclusively vegetable.
   " That increasing the strength made excretion take place less
from the skin, but more  from  the  lungs  and the other  emunc-
tories.
    " That  what  benefits  a part of the body, benefits, more or
less, the whole.
    " That long before I succeeded in lifting 1,100 pounds with
the hands,  or  in  shouldering a barrel of flour from the floor, I
had ceased to be troubled with sick headache, nervousness, and
indigestion. 
172           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
   "That a  delicate boy of seventeen need  not despair  of
becoming,  in  time,  a   remarkably  strong   and   healthy
man."

Preparation of Healthy Food.
   Dr. Trail, in his excellent pamphlet, has expressed numer-
ous valuable  thoughts on Dietetic  Rules.    " After  all,"  he
remarks, " the most difficult part of the Hygienic system is the
management of the dietary.  Few persons know anything about
hydropathic cooking ; and so perverted are the appetences  of
the masses, that to talk to them of physiological victuals is very
much like talking to a brandy-toper of the beauties of ' clear
cold  water,' or to a  tobacco-smoker of the virtues of  a  pure
atmosphere.   Bread, which is, or should be, the staff of life, has,
by the perversions of flouring-mills and the  bakers, become a
prolific  source of disease and death.  Much as the  Health
Reformers declaim against the abominations of pork, ham, sau-
sages, and lard, as articles of human food, I am of opinion that
fine flour, in its various forms of bread, short-cake, butter-bis-
cuits, dough-nuts, puddings,  and pastry, is quite as productive
of disease,  as are  the  grosser   elements of  the  scavenger
swine.
   " Nearly all the bread used in  civilized society is made  of
fine,  or  superfine  flour, which is always obstructing and consti-
pating, and which is  deficient  in some of  the most important
elements  of the grain;  and it  is still further vitiated  by fer-
mentation, or by acids and alkalies, which  are employed to ren-
der the bread light.
   " Pure and wholesome bread can have but three ingredients
—meal, water, and atmospheric air.  The  water is only useful
in converting the meal  into dough ; and  the atmospheric  air
serves to expand its particles, so as to make light and tender 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          173
bread.  If properly managed, bread can be made as light as ordi-
nary loaf-bread with no other rising than atmospheric air.  To
effect this, three essentials must  be regarded.   1.  The dough
must be  mixed  to a  proper  consistence—neither too stiff nor
too soft.  2.  The dough must be  cut  or rolled into cakes, or
pieces, so as  to expose the greatest possible surface  to the heat
of the  oven.   3.  The oven must have  a brisk, or  quick
fire."
   In keeping with the  foregoing three essentials,  the Doctor
gives a number of  healthful directions, several  of which we
quote.  We  commend them to  our readers generally, whether
sick or  well,  students or farmers.
   Boiled Grains.—Wheat, rice,  hulled corn, and samp, boiled
until the kernels are entirely soft,  but not broken nor dissolved,
rank next to  bread in wholesomeness.   They may be eaten with
syrup, sauce, sugar, milk or cream, or  fruit.
    Wheat-Meal Crisps.—Mix  the  meal  with  water,  cold,
warm, or  hot, into a stiff dough ;  roll  it out as thin as possible,
and  cut into  small narrow pieces, or strips, and bake in a quick
oven.   These  are  excellent  for  sour stomachs  and  irritable
bowels.
    Rye-Bread  Rolls.—Rye-meal (unbolted rye-flour,) may be
made into bread-rolls, or batter-cakes, in the same manner as for
wheat-meal bread rolls.  They are very light and delicious.
    Loaf-Bread.—Very good  loaf-bread may be made of six
parts of wheat-meal, two parts of corn-meal, and one  part of
mealy potatoes, mixed with boiling water, and  baked in the
ordinary way.
    Fruit-Bread.—Stewed  apples, pears, peaches, pitted cher-
ries,  black currants, or berries, may  be  mixed with unbolted
flour, and made  into fruit-bread.   A little sugar added will con-
vert the article into fruit-cake.
          15* 
174
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
    Rice Apple Pudding without Milk."—Boil rice till nearly
done, then stir  in  sliced tart  apples, and cook  about twenty
minutes.
    Griddle-Cakes.—Oat-meal, wheat-meal, or  corn-meal, may
be made into a batter by mixing with cold water and baking on
a soap-stone griddle.  Some prefer hot water for oat-meal.
    Squash Cakes.—Mix flour, or meal, with half its  bulk of
stewed squash, or West  Indian  Pumpkin ; add milk sufficient
to make a batter, and cook on a griddle.
    Soups.—Split-peas, beans, barley, and rice, are employed in
the preparation of hydropathic  soups.  One pint of split-peas,
boiled for  three hours, in three quarts of water,  makes one of
the best soups  for vegetarians.  Some add  a  trifle of sugar.
Bean soup  is made of similar proportions, and then boiled in a
covered pan for four or five hours.  Rice should be boiled until
entirely soft.   Barley should be soaked for several hours, and
then  boiled slowly, in a covered pan, for four or five hours,
Tomato soup, made in  the following manner, is a pleasant and
wholesome dish :  Scald and peel good  ripe tomatoes; stew
them  one hour, and strain through a coarse sieve;  stir in a little
wheaten  flour, to give it body, and brown sugar in the propor-
tion of a tea-spoonful to a  quart of  soup; boil  five  minutes.
Okra, or gumbo, is a good addition to this and other soups.

Food of Vampires.
    There is  a Spanish  fable, founded on  a very ancient fact,
traditionally  descended from  the earliest population of that
country, to the effect that persons buried in a trance would, in
a few weeks, revive, and ask for food and fresh air.   On one
occasion, the learned doctor ordered the arisen patient to drink
a cup of blood taken from the arm of a healthy  person.  The
"ssult was  astounding.  While the man, from  whose arm  the 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          175
blood was drawn, soon languished and died (no doubt from the
operation of some  other  cause,) the patient, who so greedily
imbibed  the crimsoned fluid, rapidly recovered, and lived long
in the land.  But he was  feared by the superstitious, and after
his death, the most alarming stories were  told of his midnight
wanderings in quest of living blood.
   In a few instances thereafter, where persons, entombed in a
trance state, experienced  a bodily resurrection, the doctors fed
them the  blood of bullocks.  This, also,  had the restorative
influence, and so rapidly, that blood puddings became a rare but
popular dish, in Southern and Central Europe.
    This  was the origin of the fable of Vampires.  But it would
be interesting to trace the fancies of mankind upon the Vam-
pirism of the middle ages, and even not more than an hundred
years ago.  See the very  extraordinary report of a surgical and
military commission, made about a century since, on the subject
of Vampirism  in Hungary, or some province  adjacent—many
of the victims were " hey-dukes."   The so-called Vampires, it
would appear, were buried alive, in a state of epidemic trance,
and their neighbors complained of being grievously haunted by
their appearances.   A  number of them were  exhumed (some
after a  burial of many weeks,) and exhibited signs of life, in
fresh blood at the lips,  and in cries and groans, when their
heads were cut off,  or when a stake was driven through them, as
they revived.
    Naturalists, rejecting the  demoniac significance of the term,
apply the word to various kinds of bats and vulturous  birds ;
many  of which, even  by the best writers,  are  supposed  to
destroy human beings by sucking their blood.  But this is no
more true of certain bats, than it is of spiders  and other crawl-
ing creatures of the tropics.
    There is  a moral, however, to all this : that human beings 
176           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.

should never be entombed alive, nor while in a death-like trance,
however  profound,  but  only when real disorganization shall
have commenced.
The Uses of Animal Food.
   In  contemplating the future of humanity, nothing is  more
vividly clear than  the total abolition of all animal diet.  Men
will  not  slay and  eat when they become true  philosophers and
spiritualized poets.  But the worjd is physiologically adapted,
at the present era, for  the consumption of animal substances.
Any total abstinence will be attended with an exaltation of the
mind, a quietude of the pneumogastric and sympathetic nerves,
an indisposition to hastiness of temper, and an increase of bodily
powers to resist disease.  And yet, we do not recommend total
abstinence, but would urge a temperate use of fish,  flesh, and
fowl—i. e., not more than  once  per diem, at  dinner.  And it
would be far  better to  abandon their use utterly during four
months of every year.   Select the months when your  appetite
dictates a change.   We suggest April, May, July, and August.
    Beefsteak, when eaten to excess,  will swear outright  in
human speech and conduct.  But it is very remarkable that
a fruit and vegetable diet, persevered in for years, both winter
and  summer, will not build factories and elaborate railroads.  If
we  insist upon the development  of  gigantic enterprises, the
diets of the gods must be suitable for giants.  Poets, musicians,
artists, and the truly spiritual, will not so construct and exe-
cute ; therefore, they need not the ferocious and heroic diet.
Food, like dress, must  have reference to occupation.  A frail
physical system, with enfeebled blood-making powers, will sur-
 vive longer, and accomplish more, on a moderate meat diet.

 Food as a Medicine.
     The  human system  is pervaded by all its impressible ele-
 ments.  Every organ in the brain is a center whence irradiates 
              DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          177

an  influence,  which,  blending with the  emanations perpetual
from each neighboring center, mingles and diffuses itself through
all  subordinate parts.  Hence, either food or medicine exerts
an influence upon the whole constitution at the moment of abso-
lute contact.  All good medicines are, therefore, nutritious to
the entire system, and all good food is, or may be, medicinal in
its  influence—as water, for example, which, at the same moment,
is both nutritious and therapeutical.
    The best Materia Medica, therefore, is the best apportioned
cupboard of food ; and the judicious use  of eatable and drinka-
ble substances, is the best medical treatment.  Certain articles
of food will bring on  constipation of the  small intestines ; con-
sequently, those  substances will either cure  or palliate undue
relaxations,  diarrhoea, and watery discharges.  Some kinds of
food will generate mucous,  filling the  healthy system with
catarrhal predispositions, including lung  and throat irritations
and oppressiveness ;  therefore, those substances—butter, beef,
eggs, oysters, and wild game—may be depended  upon, in mod-
erate quantities, for all the blood and vital strength which  the
debilitated may require.
    The Hahnemannian School has fully demonstrated the instan-
taneous and universal effect of a medicine upon the entire con-
stitution on  the moment of proximity,  and by  so doing, our phi-
losophy is  established, which  teaches  that  there  can  be no
boundaries fixed between medicines and articles of food.  Human
brings   get sick under the influence  of  food.  Does not this
prove the power of food  to produce health ?  Physicians  arc
needed more to instruct the world  regarding  the rules of com-
mon sense in human life.   Heat, light, air, exercise, sleep,
fuod, clothing, magnetism, water—behold! these are our great
good Physicians.  Where these doctors prevail, the people  aro
all healthy, happy, and beautiful. 
178
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
The Evils of Gluttony.
   It has been the remark of every intelligent foreigner who has
enjoyed the opportunity of studying our social customs, that no
people on the globe  eat as much as Americans.  Medical men
in our midst attribute the  prevalence of dyspepsia chiefly, if not
altogether,  to  this gluttony.  We begin, they say, to stuff" in
childhood, we continue it through adolescence, we persevere till
middle age  ; and when, at  last, the stomach succumbs, worn out
by over-tasking, we lament  for the rest of our lives  our  com-
pulsory abstinence.  It must be  confessed that these charges
are  substantially true.   In the dwellings of the comparatively
poor, as well  as in the households of  the rich, there is, on the
average,  twenty per  cent,  more food consumed  than nature
requires, or health will allow.  So universal is this national foi-
ble, that few are really aware  of it.   Hundreds  and thousands
of men, women, and children, in these United States, daily eat to
excess, yet will smile incredulously when first accused of it.
   To this gluttony, more than  our climate, is to be attributed
the  sallow complexions we have  as a race.   To  this,  also, may
be traced that tendency to depression of spirits which  is equally
characteristic of us.   The over-loaded stomach is never per-
mitted to have  rest, and,  as a consequence, the  skin  acts  slug-
gishly, the  mind feels dull, and a lassitude pervades the entire
system.  Let any one of our readers, who has been accustomed
to hearty meals, and who  complains  that he  feels stupid after
dinner, and indisposed  to work, try for a week  or two a more
frugal diet; and our word for  it, he will find that he sleeps bet-
ter, that his animal spirits are higher, that his intellect acts more
clearly and rapidly.  Even his personal appearance will improve,
his  complexion becoming clearer, and his eye brighter.  Nor is
it our sex alone that would be benefited by more temperate eat-
ing.   Many a fair belle who now flies to cosmetics,  would be 
               DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          179

 vastly lovelier, without the aid of art, if she were less fond of
 luscious  cookery,  and more self-denying in disposing of it.
   It would be a curious, but instructive calculation, to count up
 in dollars and cents the amount wasted in the United States, in
 excessive eating.  We have no doubt that the aggregate would
 buy up food, year by year, for all the famine-struck nations in the
 world.  Millions would  be inadequate  to  represent the total.
 Think how much  greater  the realized wealth of the American
 people would be, if a healthful temperance in eating had charac-
 terized them for the last two generations !   There would have
 been, in  that event, more than enough to  liquidate  our whole
 foreign debt, including all the money borrowed for our railroads,
 canals, coal mines, &c, &c.   It is probable that, on the average,
 one-fourth of the  money now spent on  the table, everywhere
 throughout the Union, might be saved, not only without injury
 co those  eating,  but  positively to their advantage.   Intemper-
 ance in food is almost as general as intemperance in drink once
 was,  only the former,  from being less immediately deleterious,
 does not  attract so much notice.

 The Secret of Longevity.
    Perpetual youth (says a  modern poet,) was the fountain for
 which the chivalrous Spaniards sought, with the enthusiasm
 inspired  by sincere faith in its existence.  That there is  far
 more  youth  for  the human race than is enjoyed, there  is no
 doubt.  The average life of man has  been,  and ever will  be,
 affected, in its length and  pleasures, by his habits.   It is, we
 believe, no fable, the tale of men living centuries in the earlier
 o^es  of the world, when the habits  and pursuits of  men were
 purer and simpler than  they since have been, and  now are.
 There is,  even now, a great difference in the longevity of men
of different races and nations ; a difference traceable to, and 
180          THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
only to be accounted for, by the difference of their manner of
life.  In our communities, we  can mark the same difference in
the average term of life,  by  glancing over the different castes
and professions of society.   The  author, artist, lawyer, physi-
cian, and merchant, are not proportionately long-lived, compared
with the men who  dig trenches, carry the  hod, wield the sledge,
or guide the plow.  Why  is it ?   Because life is sooner fretted
or worn out by excessive than by slight friction.  The man who
labors with both body and mind, whose sphere of action  gives
greater exertion to the nerves, upon which sensibility  and the
acuteness of the intellect rest—whose physical and mental wheels
whirl electrically—cannot, and, if he studied the philosophy of
cause and effect, would not, expect  to live as long as he whose
machinery felt but the equable flow of life's current.   The most
intellectual, as  a class,  are proportionately  short-lived.  They
are so by reason of the greater friction to  which their organiza-
tion impels them, and also, because, as a class, they seek and
accept artificial stimulants, which, however accelerating  to viva-
city or  power for the moment, fearfully cut short the  term of
life, and which the man of quieter organization  seldom or never
indulges in.  The American people, could they have their tastes
and feelings so changed, that honest, peaceful agriculture, would  t
be the goal of  their physico-industrial ambition, and the whole  I
nation  be  transformed  into  simple-lived  and happy peasantry,
with plenty to  eat, drink, and wear, and  no inordinate  craving
for more—three generations  would not pass without lengthen
ing their average life  at least one-fourth.  They now hurry
themselves out of the world,  by exciting and straining the deli-
cate net-work in which  soul  and body are compounded.   And
this goes to prove that life, peace, and pleasure, are  granted to
man just in proportion to the truthfulness of his thoughts, habits,
and pursuits. 
I
l'
                  DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          181

        All professions or acts which accelerate decay and death are
     more or less false.   Byron thought gin enabled him to compose
     more freely and rapidly than  he could otherwise have  done.
     Other  authors, artists,  and Wgh intellects,  have thought  the
     same of coffee, opium, and tobacco, and for the moment were
     correct; but  every unnatural  tension of nerve  and  spirit pro-
     duced by these agencies brings a reaction, the effect of which is
     the  loss of stamina—of life.  Byron,  without  his gin, would
     have been not  only clearer and cooler headed, but his nerves
     would have  stood  by him a quarter of a century longer.   He
     burned  them by his  intensifying process.   The true source of
     the  fullest physical, mental, and moral power, will, by-and-by,
     be understood  as based upon  the simple and natural healthful-
     ness of man's organization ; and as man learns that his life can
     be prolonged and made more  valuable, pleasurable, and noble,
     by keeping its  fountain healthy, the false pursuits, habits, and
     agencies, which now  stimulate  him to disease and death, will be
     abandoned.   There is no reason why man should not live as long
     now as in the patriarchal and truly Arcadian days.  Nothing
     prevents it but his  habits of life.

     Magnetic Disturbances.
        Mankind  are very  impressible  to magnetic  disturbances,
     especially in certain conditions of  the atmosphere.   The skin
     is organized so exquisitely, that every such disturbance is likely
     to ultimate upon it, or  else in  the glands of  the bowels, throat,
     or lungs.  The almost certain preventive of scarlet rash  and
     consequent fever, is, first, bathe the  body in cool  (not  cold,)
     water ;  then dry it with the hand ; and lastly, anoint the whole
     surface, and wrap  it in soft flannel.  No stimulating drinks or
     heating foods ; only  rest  and  nursing.  Let the  Self-Healing
     Energies 'operate through a few days of quiet and human mag-
     netism.
        Remedies.—Unnumbered remedies suggest  themselves for
     human  ills, but we  do not make mention of them, because, what
            16      ^ 
182           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
will operate effectually in New York or Massachusetts, would have
little beneficial influence on the same disease in Illinois or Iowa
Hence, we  give  only such general  directions as cannot fail in
the multitude of cases,  and in an5»latitude.   In order to get the
full benefit of the Self-Healing Energies, and to  unfold to your
own understanding the philosophy of Nature's curative princi-
ples, we  admonish you to spend  no more money  for medicines,
but save your dollars, and, when diseased, avail yourself of Rest.
simple Food, peaceful Spirit, and the Magnetisms of Friendship

Antiquity of the Bath.
   The delightful and health-sustaining practice  of Bathing—
(says Culbertson's Circular,)—maybe traced to the earliest times.
In many of the ancient religions, the purifying effects of water
had either typical or virtual significance.  The Hindoo temples,
as well as those of most other nations, were  generally by the
side of some stream, or were furnished with artificial means of
bathing;  while in the  Hebrew ritual, cleanliness is specially
enjoined.  All had their  sacred rivers, and  travelers are still
told of the virtues of the Nile, Ganges, and Jumna.  Through the
lapse of centuries,  from the days  of Noah to Presnitz, water has
been  esteemed a  remedial agent.  The baths of the Romans
were often magnificent, and although  despoiled and ruined, the
traveler is still amazed at their extent and number.  In Russia,
the use of the Vapor Bath is general, from the Emperor to the
poorest serf.   Through all Finland, Lapland, Sweden, Norway,
and the vast Northern Empire,  there is no hut  so destitute as
not to possess its family Vapor  Bath.  Equally general is the
use of the Vapor Bath  in Turkey, Egypt, and Persia, among all
classes, from the  Pasha to the  poorest camel-driver or Arab
boatman.  Even the Red men  of our  forest have more fully
appreciated the advantages of the bath than their more civilized 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          183
 successors.   They  had, and still have* their Vapor Baths, by
 throwing water  upon hot stones, and standing or sitting in the
 steam.   In  America, the Vapor Bath  is much less known and
 appreciated than in the continents of Europe and Asia, and yet,
 in no country are they more needed.  In England, and all other
 moist  climates,  the skin is kept in a supple condition, the cuti-
 cle pliant, and the  pores, or orifices (every one  of which is an
 excretory organ,) are habitually opened.  It is for this reason
 that the blood is so  readily discernible, giving a fine  color to
 the  face of the English  lady ; and thus,  we  find the English
 complexion better than that of France and many other countries,
 while we rarely meet with that pallid appearance so common to
 the inhabitants of our cities, or the  sun-burned and opaque com-
 plexion  of  the inhabitants of the country.  While  all other
 organs  of the body are equally healthy with those of England,
 the immediate surface of the skin is less so, and hence, all those
 diseases common to the surface are more prevalent in America
 than in  England.   Some  of these  diseases of the surface are
 readily communicated to any weak organ, and thus, in some parts
 of the  country, colds and coughs prevail.

 Pseudo Health.
    The reader will consider himself hereby authorized and duly
 commissioned to " whisper"  the  ensuing  statement  to  every
 individual who "enjoys miserable health,"  or whose  symptoms
 aie variable—now up, now down—under the treatment of some
 college-bred physician, to  wit:  That it is impossible to commu-
 nicate  health and strength to the human body.   Let the remark
 be a thousand times  emphasized and enforced from the mouth
 of every sacred canon :  That no human body can be stimulated
up  into  a healthy and harmonious condition.   The  constitu-
 tional vigor  is increased or diminished only by and through the 
184          THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.

Pneumogastric and Sympathetic Nervous Systems; and these
Systems, with all  their manifold complications and diversified
ramifications, are  dependent  upon that Power of Will, which,
(being warmed by love and directed by wisdom,) occupies the
chambers  and convolutions of  the  brain.  All health is  born
legitimately.  It,  like  Venus, arises out of the  " foam of the
sea" of life—the  Blood.  Nothing can develop Blood save the
process  of digestion, the organs  of which, in order to fulfill their
beautiful mission, require  to  be supplied with plain, nutritious
food.  A roasted potato is more nutritious than eight ounces of
fish or fowl;  and a quart bowl of porridge, made of equal parts
of Indian meal  and rolled  Graham crackers, is more health-
generating, and more strength-giving, than two pounds of porter-
house beefsteak.   In  like manner, you will find it chemically
true that five long, deep, well appropriated inspirations of  pure
air, are  more invigorating than a cup of either  wine,  brandy,
or coffee.
Tea, Coffee,  Alcohol, and Tobacco.
    The  following is extracted from a letter written by a young
man of this city :
    " Is  it possible that it became necessary, in the progress of
the world, that  mankind should degenerate  physically, and be
exalted, or strengthened,  mentally ?   Is the mental tempera-
ment  gaining on  the nutritive  and muscular ?   Did man  need
such  drugs  for  any such purpose ?   In a word,  have they a
mission, directly or indirectly beneficial to the race ?  Just as
a young duck naturally takes  to water, so did the writer love
Tea, Coffee, and  Tobacco, before he  used either.  My experi-
ence teaches that most drunkards are men above mediocrity.
E. A. Poe is a  remarkable instance.  And it really seems that
the brightest, keenest,  most  refined  and delicately organized
minds, are most susceptible, and the readiest victims of stimulus.
Why is  this ?  Please reply to              A Young Man."
    Explanation.—When mankind were simple, unartistic, igno-
rant, and undeveloped, their  physical  and mental wants  were 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          185
few and  simple, and, therefore, easily satisfied.   Limited capa-
cities demand limited means of subsistence.  The simple-minded
have simple desires, and such seek only simple gratifications.
   But as the law of Progress began to swell the buds of human
intelligence, and to expand and enlarge man's capacities for dis-
covery and  mechanical inventions, in that same  proportion did
the excitability, and irritability, and irrascibility of the mind
increase and multiply.  High susceptibilities of  organization
are indispensable to the development of Art, Music, Science,
and  Spiritual  Experience.   Poetry,  Philosophy,  Literature,
Architecture, &c, are impossible to coarse and low-toned minds.
Exalted refinements of the voluntary parts of the brain, and great
delicacy, also, of the whole ganglionic nervous web-work there-
unto  attached,  are  prerequisite to the conception of fine princi-
ples in any department of human interest.
    Parents, of such exquisite refinement and consequent genius,
transmitted, not their talents and  superior proclivities to their
offspring, but,  instead, all the excitability, and irritability, and
restiveness ;  and thus, many times, the children of very superior
parents  receive only such miserable inheritance by the fires of
procreation.  Consequently, as you readily perceive, such off-
springs  are  diseased in many ways, especially in their nervous
systems ; and such, therefore, search for the  appropriate reme-
dies as  "a  young duck naturally takes to the water."
    Originally, and by themselves considered as medicines, the
various  stimuli used by different races are pure and appropri-
ate remedies for  diseases  of the  nervous system.   Tobacco,
coca, apium, hashish, alcohol, tea, coffee, &c, are beautiful and
appropriate  medicines.  And the  all-wise Father principle of
man's existence unerringly led the East Indian, the Greek, the
Italian,  the  Chinaman, the  Monks, the Indian of Amerioa, and
the nervously-diseased of all countries, to the perfect remedv
      16* 
186           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
for the evils absorbed by parentage and from the mother's milk.
Hence, it is not strange that many desire these stimulants even
before they use either—for diseased organs, covered with their
appropriate ganglionic nerves,  are instinctively actuated toward
the natural means of procuring health.  The brightest and most
promising persons are  sometimes irresistibly moved to subdue
the irrascibility of  their high-toned organizations.  Thus, the
most " delicately organized are the readiest victims of stimuli."
But the roughest  and grossest natures,  with  low-toned and
limited  mental  capacity, join the army of intemperance from
sheer imitation, when young ; and  subsequently they continue
in such habits, even after  judgment  and conscience rebel, from
the tremendous force of a misdirected appetite,  which will not
" down at the bidding."
    Our meaning may be better understood  regarding stimuli, if
we here remark that, according to our investigations, alcohol and
the popular drinks are not irritants or stimulants, except in their
primary, or  first and  immediate, effects upon the ganglia and
nervous  system.  Their secondary  and absolute  effect  is the
exact  opposite of excitement  and irritation.   Tobacco,  opium,
tea, coffee, &c, are debilitants, and  prostrating  to the nervous
organism.  They generate a temporary fortitude, beget a  stoical
indifference, and a  disposition to take no  part  in surrounding
vehemence and  boisterousness ; they impart a fictitious equa-
nimity, a tranquilness, an  imperturbable composure,  amid the
raging delirium and fuming excitements of a discordant society.
And it was solely in consequence of  these desirable effects that
the human race was, in the first instance,  led to the discovery
and use  of several stimulants.  But,  strange to say, these same
medicines will  generate exactly opposite effects  in the nervous
systems of those who, in health, use them  as socializing  agents
and as habitual  luxuries ; that is to say—tobacco, tea,  coffee, 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         187
rum, &c, will  beget  in healthy persons the  same excitability,
and irritability, and irrascibility, which symptoms these reme-
dies are given by the God of Nature to destroy in " those that
are sick."
    But  the  time  has at length come on earth, we think, when
people  may erect  the standard of Health.  This standard will
permit the use of  remedies only in cases of disease and suffer-
ing.  All stimulants and weeds are medicines.   If our parents,
by the  force of any imaginable cause or habit, imparted to our
nervous system a love for stimuli, it is our individual preroga-
tive to exalt Will, and Wisdom, and Love, above the hereditary
bias.  " A young man " must be A MAN—on his own account,
and for the promotion of his own individual prosperity, both on
earth and in the Spirit Land.  His  dear mother may have lived
and worked through long years of suffering and excitement, the
friction  and  hardship  of  which  she  may have sought  in
ignorance to overcome, by recourse to tea and coffee, or, per-
chance, by the use of opium and snuff; so, too, his headstrong
and not well-educated father—fired with energetic blood, and
with  the irrascibilities consequent upon  some  transgressions,
either physical  or mental, may have resorted  to alcohol and
other so-called stimuli, as means of oiling the wheels of life—
imparting the mad wish (or appetite,)  for delightful sensations
to the nervous system of our  " Young Man."   But there is but
one absolute remedy, namely : Individualize yourself, and set
out to control your appetites by the WILL, which is the center
of gravity in the possession of every individual mind.   Remem-
ber :  The  gods help  those  who help themselves — in  other
words, you will have plenty of  friends when you do not need
them.  Hence the necessity of Self-Friendship.
Self-Rectification in this  World.
    Statement.—" In  my soul there is a feeling of evil done by
itself to  itself.   Having lost all my former faith  in oral confes- 
188           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
sions, and being  without hope of  relief through importunate
prayers—yet feeling that my nature needs something arbitrary
to guide it, something external to do as  a penance—I take the
liberty to inquire how, in  the light of  Spiritualism, am I to
satisfy my own soul, how reconcile  myself to myself, how over-
come  the evil effects of past deeds, that  I may become once
again  happy  in my heart?"
   Remedy.—There  is a glimmering of truth  in the Catholic
doctrine  of  penance  imposed upon sinners as  a  preparative
remedy for  the  removal of their  sins.  But the  philosophic
method, which can heal in any measure the wounds self-inflicted
on one's own spirit, by non-obedience to  the highest attractions
of the soul,  is this : To cheerfully and  promptly set about the
performance of all possible offices of benefit to the universal
brotherhood of Man—commencing  with  self-justice, both phy-
sical and mental, which includes the happiness of the other self
(the  conjugal  counterpart,) and  extending  such kindly offices
and offerings, whenever  opportunity shall offer, through every
link of the golden chain which  unites man to man, the human
soul to Mother Nature, and all, in one glorious eternal union, to
Father God.

The Meaning of the  Term  "Principle."
  In  the New Philosophy, the term Principle is  employed with
two significations, which should  be observed by every one who
sets out to master its metaphysical and trans-mundane teachings.
   "Principle,"  in the first place, means an immutable mode of
action.   In  this application of the term, we mean to embrace
every expression of matter, also  every established  and unalter-
able  rule with  respect  to  mind or science.  A mathematical
principle, for example, signifies the unchangeable law that regu-
lates  the science of numbers.  In  like  manner, a physiological
principle means the fixed  mode of action natural to organs and 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.
189
functions.  When the mind thinks of Principle, with this appli-
cation  of the term, it thinks of an immaterial, non-substantial,
undiscernible rule or mode of being and acting.
   " Principle,"  in  the  second place, means an immutable and
immortal substance—ethereal, spiritualized, beyond the detection
of the five  senses, yet as real, as material, as much  the oppo-
site of nothing as anything  substantial and indestructible can
possibly  be.
   In  this sense  we  employ the term Principle, when speaking
of man's  soul and spirit;  also, when referring to Nature or  to
Nature's God.  " God is a spirit"—the same is true of Nature
—and  both  are substantial, inter-intelligent principles.  Their
immutable modes of action  are also " principles," but  this is
true only in the first definition : for  the second use of the term
is applicable to that which acts, rather than to the action.
   A  person may discover and conceive of a method of matter,
and he may  call that method  " Principle," and yet it is possible
that the  same person entertains no clear understanding of that
which  thus  acts  before  his  senses.   In such case we term the
man a  sensuous or a scientific reasoner ; but if he can compre-
hend the  second  meaning of  " Principle," then, we say,  he is a
metaphysician and a spiritual philosopher.

Which is the First—the Body, or the Spirit?
    Question.—Does the spirit grow up  out of matter ?  Is it
the refined product of material organization 1   Or, is the mate-
rial organization  the manifestation and product of spirit 1
  Answer.—All formation and organization are the  effects of
eternal Principles, which are inter-intelligent and divinely per-
fect in all their operations.   These Principles are: Association,
Progression, and  Development.  The first manifestation  is a
revelation of the  first law ; next comes an unvailing of the sec- 
190
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
ond principle ; lastly, the third principle is disclosed in all the
splendor of its immortal powers.   In all parts of the  " stupen-
dous whole" these three Laws are fully revealed to the mind of
the philosophic observer.
   Now comes the answer to your question :  Matter and mind,
which are two principles, move onward  as essentially One sub-
stance.  The two eternal principles begin at the fountain vortex,
flow up from the abysmal depths of the God-center, and,  toge-
ther, move outwardly through suns, planets, minerals, vegetables,
and animals—terminating their  diversified pilgrimage in the
formation of the human type.  What  is true on our earth, is
equally true on thousands of other planets in  space.
   Body and soul grow up simultaneously upon  the summit of
all the lower kingdoms.  Man's spirit is unfolded by the  joint
action of his body and soul.   The spirit is not first, but last, in
order of development.  Do  not understand  us to teach that
body and soul, like husband  and wife,  become  parents to the
spirit (in the sense of  creating it,) but this : that the Spirit is
attracted to and enthroned within the body-and-soul temple, by
means of the perfect order and form which the twain  establish
in the  embodiment.  Spirit,  therefore, becomes sovereign over
both body and soul, as  it were, by invitation and attraction, and
so man's individuality is fixed.
   After man's individual existence is established, then the three
actuating Laws, before mentioned, commence and continue their
work among the mind's attributes.

Incorrigibleness of Blood.
   Question.—-Does a religious education overcome, as  some
assert, all the  inherited predispositions  to evil 1
   Answer.—No ;  for the original or progenitory bias  of blood
is the root-life of the mind.   Education is a graft upon the life 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          191
     tree, which  will bear fruit like unto itself, but the vital source
     is  organization.   You  will  remember Amintor's speech to
     Evadne, in the play of the " Maid's Tragedy,"  wherein  ante-
     natal propensities, stronger than education, are thus painfully
     acknowledged:
                       -----" Do not mock me
                Though I am tame, and bred up with my wrongs,
                Which are my foster-brothers, I may leap,
                Like a hand-wolf, into my natural wildness,
                And do an outrage.  Prithee, do not mock me!"
         An important question suggests itself just here, with respect
     to the remedy for constitutional defects of character, but which
     we will  not now consider.   Let the  first birth be right;  a
     treasury of pure love and sweetness; a harmonious infancy "that
     opens like perpetual spring."

     Do Infants grow up  in Heaven?
        Question.—Do  infants  grow up to the proper stature  after
      death ?  If so, shall we  recognize our little ones when  we  go to
      them 1
         Answer.—There are many things to be written on the sub-
      ject of infants, some of which may come up hereafter for consid-
      eration,  but now we will only answer the question propounded.
         One who had died an  infant, and become  an adult  in the
      spheres, returned to its parents yet  on earth, and caused the
      medium  psychologically  to  perceive  it as it appeared before
      death, some  twenty-two years previous.   The  seeress accord-
      ingly reported the departed one  as  yet in its  infancy.   The
      description was so complete, in every particular, that the listen-
      ing  parents  could not but  acknowledge the presence of their
!      darling  spirit child.
!          In like forcible and convincing manner, when parents enter
      the Spirit Land, the grown-up children gone  before will, by cer- 
 192           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.

 tain  internal  signs and intuitive  appeals, perfectly  satisfy the
 parents  of the relationship subsisting between them.   Not by
 psychology, but by the force of intuitive wisdom, by which time
 is annihilated, and  the spirit is enabled to comprehend its own
 history and dependencies.  By the wisdom of intuition you will
 again meet the loved one lost.   Remember that Intuition
             " Unvails all Nature's laws and miracles.
              The world's incomprehensible is no more,
              But all is plain as new-born starry spheres."
 Why Primary Processes are  Discontinued.
    Question.—Why are not man and the animals produced now
 as they were at first ?
    Answer.—Because the ultimate  processes  of Nature have
 superseded the fundamental methods ; just as  the spinning of
 wool  and cotton by  machinery takes the place of the hand-loom,
 the distaff, and the spindle, of the last century ; or,  to use
 another figure, just  as the human head takes precedence of the
 body  in carrying forward the functions of organic life.
    But  do not misunderstand our meaning.  We  know of no
 era in the earth's history when men and animals were produced
 in a manner differing from the present universal law of procrea-
 tion.  We, however, do  observe a  period in the extreme past
 when  plants merged into animal organizations, and another more
 recent epoch when the highest animal structures started, through
 the reproductive organism of the  prepared  female, the  lowest
 types  of  the human family.  But  we do not behold any time
 when  the forms of plants became animals, nor any  transforma-
tions by which the forms of the highest animals became human
beings.   We teach,  therefore, that  the human race was started
in the perfected spermatozoa of the highest animals, but not that
the  structures of the highest animals were  gradually modified
and promoted by progression to the form of man. 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.         193
   The reason why primary processes are not continued must
be obvious to every thinker.

Unity of the Universe.
   The atmosphere of truth is never darkened by the clouds of
fear.   Only those  go astray who do not realize the holy influ-
ence of truth.  Can you not attract higher intelligences ?  The
chain of causation is never severed, though it may seem to be
broken, when some unseen Spiritual confusion disturbs the gen-
eral harmony.  Nature's  empire is governed by immutable laws.
Hence the  poet was misinspired when he wrote—
            " In Nature's chain, whatever link you strike,
             Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike."
Not  so, reader !   Nature is  the conjugal mate of the Infinite
Mind.   Each is a perfect translation of the other.   And the
higher the  intellect, and the purer the affections of man,  the
greater is  his  appreciation and enjoyment of the " stupendous
whole."

Temporary Marriages.
   Should one who believes that his soul-companion is in  the
Spirit World, ever marry in this life 1 and would not marriage
be rendered unhappy by  the entertainment of such a belief ?
   Answer.—The divine law of true harmonial marriage—that is,
of one man to one woman, each being the other's counterpart and
equal—is eternal in its power over human destiny.  Only the
wandering, the  uncompanionated, the pure-loving, can feel at lib-
erty to marry.  No heart  can yearn in purity for conjugal fellow-
ship, unless  its fountain of love is unsought,  or if sought,
unsatisfied  and  unmated.
   It is impossible,  we think, for  those who  sincerely  and
devoutly believe that the heart-mate is waiting for them beyond
       17 
194
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
the tomb,  to  enter upon a worldly marriage—to  consent to  a
mere legal mockery of the genuine—for sensual gratification and
temporary  purposes.   Disappointment  and  loneliness would
infest their earthly hearts, and  deadly  discords  would  prowl      f
through their haunts and habitations.  Happiness can bloom
immortally only upon the life-tree of  an  eternal conjugal union.
But the belief that no soul is to be forever alone—that each heart
will one day be indissolubly joined to  its true mate—should
inspire the world with unspeakable joy.

What is  Evil ?
    Many minds are greatly troubled with the puzzle of Christ-
endom, namely, the Origin of Evil.
    We answer briefly, that the Origin of Evil is Ignorance, and
that the Origin of the Devil  is Evil.  The blue heavens are a
mixture of darkness  and white  light.  Nature is a vast mag-
netic  machine or battery, with a positive and a negative pole,
and man is the armature.  Man is an intermediate being, and
connects the two opposite poles.  He joins the animal and the
angel  worlds into  one.   The consequence of which is, that he
receives the antagonisms of the one, and feels the attractions of the
other.   Evil is the raw material of this life ; the incident of that
good which is to come.   Darkness  is driven away only by the
approach of light.   Our want of development  is the only abso-
lute evil.   The Devil never lives  in the presence  of Wisdom
and Integrity.

Where goeth the  Soul of Things.
    Proposition.—A  correspondent  writes :   " You  establish
that animals  and plants are not immortal, but what becomes of
their  thinking, sensitive, and life principles  after their death 1
Where goeth their soul?"
    Answer.—According to our  investigation, now continued 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          195
 for more than twelve years, the soul  of nothing is necessarily
 immortal as to its shape or form; neither, in an essential sense,
 is  anything susceptible of  annihilation.  Only ultimate forms
 are eternal.  The  internal  form of man is an ultimate form,
 therefore, his internal form, with its glorious endowments, is
 eternal.  But  the  forms of plants and animals are transitional
 forms;  therefore,  such forms,  with  all their life principles,
 eventually  cease  from existence.  Only  the form ceases to
 exist;  the life principles eternally continue.
    But whither  go the soul principles of animals when they
 die 1  Into  the illimitable sea of life that  throbs  and surges
 around, above, and through  us.  The bodies  of  animals  and
 plants decompose and blend with the substances of the material
 world ; so the souls of these transient bodies dissolve and mix
 with the vital principles of the spiritual universe, which encom-
 pass  us on  every side boundlessly.   The earth is  incessantly
 producing new bodies, new  fish, new  plants, new animals, &c,
 and into  these last developments the elementary principles of
 previous bodies freely enter, on their way up to Man.

 Habits  and their  Consequences.
    Question.—" Although I have read much, I am not satisfied
 with what I know of Tobacco, Alcohol,  and Syphilis.  Why were
 men so constituted  as to love the first two, or engender the last?"
    Answer.—By a  close  and cautious  examination,  we  are
 forced to the conclusion that no human being is constituted to
 love either alcohol or tobacco.   The effects that follow the first
 use of alcohol  are pleasing and tranquilizing.  The memory of
 this temporary relief from worldly annoyances  and fatigue, is
 the magnet  that  draws thousands to  drink  more,  and more
 and  yet more,  until  the  habit  is  fixed  beyond  the  power
of will to resist.   And this  is  true  even after judgment and 
196            THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
conscience have combined against the habit.   The use of tobacco
is  at first an  affair of imitation among boys; subsequently it
becomes an independent,  injurious habit, uncontrollable by the
individual's will.
   Mother Nature is very kind and just to all her loved chil-
dren.  If they obey her best laws, she crowns their deeds with
happiness.  If,  however, they remain under the guidance  of
lower  laws, she  metes  out to them the philosophical conse-
quences of their misdirection.   She  crowns conjugal love and
true marriage with the diadem of happiness ; but she as justly
generates disease and  corruption  in the vitals  of* those who
violate her sanctities.

Put on the  Will  Power.
   Disease.—" I am  a sufferer from no apparent disease, but
possess little vigor of either  body or brain.  I desire to know
if  this arises from some  defect of organization, or is it a weak-
ness I may some time surmount ?"
   Remedy.—It is unworthy an immortal spirit to surrender its
powers to that lawless wretch, the  meanest sinner among five
hundred diseases, known in these  parts as  " Gen. De Bility."
Concerning the  duration of  bodily  infirmities, we give answer
in the  poet's words :
                       " Naught eternal is
          But that which is of God. All pain and woe
          Are therefore finite.  Can the robber steal
          From  God?   All souls are His, and Him deriv'd,
          And thus are good, and Good alone is endless.
          But Evil, having birth from second causes,
          Created things, gross matter, and their laws,
          Is not from all eternity with God,
          But hath a recent origin, and thus
          Hath not an endless, but a casual being,
          And  must expire where its reign began."
    Obey the laws of bathing in cold water every morning; arise 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          197
early ;  go out into Mother Nature's auroral embrace ; rest half
an hour before dinner ;  put on the Will Power ; step strongly ;
and  thus summon forth your yet dormant energies.  You may
conquer.

The Evil  of Suicide.
   Persons who  die  by sudden accidents do not suffer  intel-
lectually and morally, because their misfortune is purely phy-
siological or  physical  (the same in this respect as that of the
suicide,) while the  deliberate or desperate taking of one's own
life  is  attended, in the other world, with the superaddition of
all the intellectual disqualifications and moral darknesses which
were antecedent to, and consequent upon, the  state that led to
the  ignoble  act.  No individual can  go  self-sent and abruptly
into  the Spirit Land, without ultimately discovering the secret
cause of the deed to have existed within his own mental consti-
tution.   This is certain, no matter how great the earthly provo-
cation which  primarily-induced the person to  consummate the
act.   It is the vivid  consciousness of  this individual unworthi-
ness that, for  a  lengthened  period in  the other life, causes the
regrets and sufferings of J,he suicide.

Hahnemann's Materia Mediea.
    There  is  much truth in the  following  remarks by Dr.  Hem-
pel : Who would  not rather give his child a  few pellets of
hepar  sulphuris, spongia, bichromate  of potash, etc., to have it
cured  of croup, than to have it bled, purged,  crammed full of
emetics, and to have its skin blistered by vesicatories ?  Or who
would  not rather be cured of pleuritis or pneumonia in two or
three days, by taking a few pleasant, harmless pellets of aconite,
bryonia, belladonna, etc., than by submitting to all the tortures
of the  regular treatment  for three times the length of time
           17* 
198           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
required by  the Homeopathic practice ?  The  obstinacy and
blindness of the pretended  " regular "  physicians are  truly
wonderful; they all  have it  in their power to shorten the suf-
ferings of their, patients by treating them Homeopathically, and
yet, there is not one of  them who would only  condescend to
look into Hahnemann's Materia Medica, much less to call upon
those who have  studied  it, and who would  be glad to inform
their  dissenting brother practitioners of the  treatment to be
pursued  in  particular  cases, and to gradually initiate them in
the principles of our art.   There seems to be a gulf between
the Homeopathic and Allopathic practitioners, which can never
be filled; there  can be no intellectual fellowship between those
two classes of men, and nothing is left to  the Homeopathic phy-
sicians except to appeal to the common sense of the public, and
the brilliant results of their practice.

An Infallible Catholicon.
   The Eclectic Medical Review gives  the  following,  from a
young lady who was fashionably educated at boarding  schools,
and indulged in idleness at home, so that there  was neither
strength  nor elasticity in her frame :  " I used to  be so feeble
that  I could not even lift  a broom, and the least physical exer-
tion would make me ill for  a week.   Looking one day at the
Irish  girls,  and noticing  their healthy,  robust appearance,  I
determined to make a new trial, and see if I could not bring the
roses  to  my cheeks, and rid myself of the dreadful lassitude
that oppressed me.   One sweeping day I went bravely to work,
cleaning thoroughly the parlors, three chambers, the front stairs
and hall, after which I  lay down and  rested until noon, when
1 arose and  ate a heartier meal than for many a day.   Since
that  time I have occupied some portion of every day in active
domestic labor, and  not only are all my friends congratulating 
              DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          199

 me  upon my improved  appearance, but in my  whole being-
 mind, body, and spirit—do I  experience  a wondrous vigor, to
 which I have  hitherto been a stranger.   Young ladies, try my
 catholicon."

 How to Live One  Hundred Years.
    Ralph Farnham, the veteran of Bunker Hill, says :  " Though
 I am in my 105th year, I am not past all usefulness ; I split my
 own kindling wood, and build my own fires.  I am the first one
 up in the morning, and the first one in bed at night.  I never
 sleep or lie down in the day time, but rise at five,  and retire at
 seven, and this I continue summer and winter.  I have always
 been temperate, and for over thirty years past I  have not tasted
 a  drop of spirituous liquors, or even cider.  I  was never sick
 in  my life,  so  as to require  the attendance of  a physician.
 About twenty-five years  ago I broke my thigh by falling on the
 ice, and had a surgeon to set it, but this is the only time a doc-
 tor ever attended me.   I live on plain farmers'  diet, drink tea
 and coffee, and eat a very light supper, never eating meat after
 dinner.  I have  no doubt it is owing to these abstemious  and
 regular habits, and the  avoidance of medicine  at all little ail-
 ments, that  my life has  been so  prolonged.  I  voted for Gen.
 Washington for President, and have voted at every Presidential
 election since."

 A Word to Mothers.
   Fanny Fern has contributed the following excellent medi-
 cal instruction to mothers, on the subject of air  and exercise:
 " Consider it your religious duty to take out-door exercise with-
out fail, each day.  Sweeping and trotting round the house will
not take its place:  the exhilaration of open air  and change of
scene are absolutely necessary.  Oh, I know all about  ' Lucy's 
200           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
gown that  is not  finished,' and 'Tommy's jacket,'  and even
* his ' coat, his buttonless coat thrown in your lap, as if to add
the last  ounce  to  the camel's back ; still I say—up—and out!
Is it not more  important  that  your children in  their tender
years should not be left motherless ? and that they should not
be  born  to that feeble constitution of body which will blight
every early blessing ?'  Let buttons and  strings go ; you will
take hold of them  with  more vigor and patience when you  do
return, bright and refreshed, and if every stitch is not finished
at just such a moment (and it is discouraging not to be able to
systematize in  your  labor, even with  your best efforts,) still
remember that  ' she who hath  done what she could,'  is entitled ^
to no mean praise.  Your husband is undoubtedly  ' the best of
men ;' though there  are malicious people who  might answer,
That is not- saying much for him !  Still, he would never, to the
end  of  time, dream what you  were dying of: so accept my
advice, and take the matter speedily in hand yourself."

The Use of Calomel.
    There  are numerous and  various  reasons why we do not
approve of the administration  of calomel in any case.   The
best medicine  that can be given for an inactive liver, is a tho-
rough mechanical manipulation of the  stomach  and bowels,
 including the liver side, and the lower extremities, twice every
 day, in  connection with a  judicious use of food,  air,  exercise,
 and sleep.  In some cases, the administration of mercury,  as a
 medicine,  may  not leave  any serious  effects behind,  because
 some constitutions are  strong enough to repel both its disease
 and the  scientific  nostrums ; but in every case where the system
 of the  patient is prostrated  by  disease,  and where  it cannot
 master the mercurial preparations of science,  we have observed
 a subjection of the patient's  blood and bone (and brain some- 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          201
times,) to the arbitrary action of the physical elements.   This is
slavery, with calomel for a master.

How to Keep the Teeth  Clean.
    In order to keep the luxury of a sweet  breath, we advise,
first, a cheerful and grateful disposition ; second, regular meals,
temperance in quantity, and a prompt digestion.  On the sub-
ject of teeth cleaning, we quote the  teachings of modern chem-
istry : Microscopical examinations have been made of the mat-
ter deposited on  the  teeth  and  gums of   more  than forty
individuals, selected from all classes of society, in every variety
of bodily condition ;  and in nearly every case, animal and vege-
table parasites, in  great numbers, have been discovered.  Of
the animal parasites, there are three or four species, and of the
vegetable, one or two.  In fact, the only persons whose mouths
were found to be completely free  from them, cleansed their
teeth four  times daily, using  soap once.  One or two of these
also passed a thread between the teeth, to  cleanse them more
effectually.  In all cases, the number of the parasites are greater
in  proportion to  the neglect  of cleanliness.   The effect of the
application of various agents was also noticed.  Tobacco smoke
and juice did not impair their vitality in the least.   The  same
 was also true of the chlorine tooth-wash, of pulverized bark, of
 soda,  ammonia,  and various  other  popular   detergents.    The
 application of soap, hoicever, appeared to destroy them instantly.
 We may hence infer that this is the  best and most  proper spe-
 cific  for cleansing  the  teeth.  In all cases  where  it has been
 tried, it receives  unqualified commendation. It may also be
 proper to add, that none but purest white soap, free from all dis-
 coloration, should be used.
 Sweet Oil  in Relation to Poison.
    In the  first of the Harmonial series of  volumes, we urged
 the immediate use of sweet oil, to be followed by an emetic, in 
202
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
cases where active and  deadly poisons had  been swallowed
The  prescription was treated as worthless  by many so-called
scientific physicians.  Now, however, we learn by the  Tribune
that  "M.  Blandlet, of France, has called attention to a very
curious toxicological fact, namely, that greasy matters  have the
power  of  diminishing considerably the solubility of arsenious
acid, either in pure water or in acid and alkaline liquids.  Thus,
in contact with grease, the poisonous properties of arsenious
acid  are  much  decreased, and,  at the same time, it  becomes
more  difficult to render its presence evident by chemical reac-
tions.  A very slight quantity  of greasy matter, according to
M. Blandlet's  experiments, reduces the solubility of arsenious
acid to one-fifteenth or one-twentieth of what it is when it is in
a pure state.
   " This  explains why arsenic, taken in the form of  powder,
remains sometimes for a considerable interval in the body with-
out producing injury; it explains also how it is that, in cases
of poisoning by arsenic,  this substance  has not readily been
detected in such portions of the body or the aliments which con-
tain  much grease.  It  seems  to teach, also,  that cream, for
instance, is an excellent antidote for arsenious acid.  Morgagni
states, in  his  writings, that, in his  time, the  Indian  boatmen
used to astonish the bystanders by  swallowing, without hurt,
large  pinches of  arsenious acid, having taken  the precaution
beforehand of drinking a quantity of milk, or eating some greasy
matter.  As  soon as the public retired, the  boatmen got rid of
the poison by vomiting."

Change  of Clothing.
   Do  not be in haste to put off woolen garments in spring.
Many a " bad cold " (who ever saw a  good one ?) rheumatism,
lumbago, and other aches and pains, are lurking in the  first sun-
shiny  days, ready to pounce upon the incautious victims who 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          203
have laid aside their defensive  armor of flannel.  All sudden
changes  in  the system  are  attended  with more or  less of
danger, but the body can accommodate  itself to almost any
condition, provided it be assumed gradually.   The  use of
flannel guards  against sudden  changes of temperature.   In a
warm day, when perspiration flows freely, if it be allowed to
pass off rapidly, the quick evaporation carries with it much heat
from the  body, and a chill may be produced, followed by the
derangement of some function:  as  "cold in the head," or
unnatural discharge from the bowels.   Flannel contains much
air in its meshes, and is, therefore,  a slow conductor of cold or
heat.   Evaporation proceeds from  it  more slowly than  from
cotton  or linen, hence its excellence as a fabric for clothing
Many persons wear it next to the skin  the year round, and find
it a shield against prevalent complaints  in summer.  No general
rule can be given as to this ;  it must depend upon the constitu-
tion and employment of the individual.   In all cases, however,
flannel  should  not be laid aside until the weather is settled
permanently warm.—Med. Journal.
An Unhealthy  Occupation.
    Nothing is more beneath the estate of either Man or Woman
than sacrificing health because some money is to be gained by
it.  If your occupation is not agreeable to your happiness and
bodily health, leave it  at once and forever, just as you should
flee from the  presence of any o'er-mastering  evil, and hence-
forth pursue some calling in which you will feel at home and
healthy.   Allowing the love of dollars to eclipse our manhood,
and especially to do evil that a selfish good may accrue, is wor-
thy the  execration and the condemnation of every honest and
philanthropic mind.
Impure  Water.
    Set a pitcher of water in  a room, and in a few hours it will
have absorbed nearly all the respired and  perspired gases in the 
204           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
room, the air of which will have become purer, but the water
utterly filthy.  The colder the water is, the greater its capacity
to contain these gases.   At ordinary temperatures,  a pint of
water will contain a pint of carbonic acid gas, and several pints
of ammonia.   The capacity is nearly doubled by reducing the
temperature of the water  to that of ice.  Hence, water kept in
a room awhile, is always  unfit to drink.  For the same reason,
the water in a pump-stock should all be pumped out in the morn-
ing before any is used.  Impure water is more injurious to the
health  than impure air.—Ec. Med. Journal.

The Arsenic Eaters  of Styria.
   According to an article in the  Pharmaceutical Journal,
arsenic is commonly taken by the  peasants in Styria, the Tyrol,
and  the  Satzkammergut,  principally  by huntsmen and wood-
cutters,  to improve their mind and prevent fatigue.   The
arsenic is taken pure, in  some warm liquid, as coffee, fasting,
beginning with a bit the size of a pin's head, and increasing to
that  of a pea.  The complexion  and general appearance  are
much improved, and the parties using it seldom look so old as
they really are.  The first dose  is always followed by slight
symptoms of  poisoning, such as  burning pain in the stomach,
and sickness,  but not very severe.  Once begun, it can only be
left off by very gradually diminishing  the daily dose, as a sud-
den cessation causes sickness, burning pains in the stomach, and
other symptoms of poisoning, very speedily followed by death
As a rule, arsenic eaters are very  long lived, and are peculiarly
exempt from  infectious diseases, fevers, &c.; but unless  they
gradually give up the practice, invariably die suddenly at last.
In some  arsenic works  near Salzburg, the only men who can
stand the work any time are those who swallow daily doses of
arsenic—the fumes, &c, soon killing the others. 
              DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          205

 Treatment of Frost-bitten Persons.
    A medical writer says: " With regard to the treatment of
 frost-bitten persons, the part affected should  be rubbed with
 cold  water or snow, and then with fluids of a medium tempera-
 ture, in a cold room ; cautiously bring the patient into  a warm
 atmosphere, and administer small quantities of cordials or warm
 tea,  then  cover  him up  in bed, and  encourage perspiration.
 Even where the patient seems quite dead, or has lain as  if dead
 for days, you must give  a fair trial to these remedies.   When
 poor Boutillat, the French peasant, who  awoke crying out for
 drink after his four days' sleep in the snow, was brought to his
 friends,  they wrapped him in warm linen, dipped in aromatic
 water, and this was but too probably the cause of the poor fel-
 low's feet mortifying.
    How cold  slaughters its victims we  do  not exactly  know
 some  say it paralyzes the heart; others think that the cold, t<
 use a popular  expression, drives the blood inwards, and kills by
 apoplexy.   The irresistible sleepiness that creeps over a per-
 son  ' lost  in  the  snow,'  is well known, and has often been
 described; if  once it is yielded to, death, under the forlorn cir-
 cumstances usually present, is sure to result.   But, undoubt-
 edly,  it may kill at once.  Persons have been found stone dead
 standing upright at their posts, all the machinery of life  having
 stopped  at once—the  mouth half open, as it was when the last
 groan was uttered ;  the limbs still in the position they assumed
 during life, and having undergone, through  the  peculiar anti-
 septic nature  of the  cold, none of the changes we  find after
other forms of death."

Influence of Cod-liver Oil and Cocoa-nut Oil.
   Dr.  Thompson, in  a paper  read before the Royal Society,
states, that he  found that, during the administration of cod-liver
       18 
206
THE HARBINGER  OF  HEALTH.
oil to phthisical patients, their blood grew richer in red corpus-
cles.  The use of almond oil and of olive oil was  not  followed
by any  remedial effect; but from  cocoa-nut  oil  results  were
obtained almost as decided as from the oil of the liver of the
cod.   The oil in question was a pure cocoa oleine, obtained by
pressure from crude  cocoa-nut oil,  as expressed in Ceylon and
the Malabar Coast, from the dried cocoa-nut kernel, and refined
by being treated with an alkali, and then repeatedly washed with
distilled water.   It burns  with a faint blue flame,  showing a
comparatively small proportion of carbon, and  is undrying
The  whole  quantity of blood abstracted, for analysis, having
been weighed, the coagulum was drained on bibulous paper for
four or five hours; weighed, and divided into two portions.  One
portion  was weighed, and then dried in a water-oven, to deter-
mine the water.   The  other was macerated in cold water until
it became  colorless, then  moderately dried, and digested with
ether and alcohol, to remove fat, and  finally dried completelv,
and weighed as fibrin.  From the  respective weights of the
fibrin, and the dry clot, that of the corpuscles  was  calculated.

The Brain of the  Negro.
   According to  the investigations  made by Prof. Tidemann, of
Heidelberg, the weight of the brain of an adult male European
varies from three pounds and three ounces  to four pounds and
eleven  ounces  troy weight; that of the female weighs, on an
average, from four to eight ounces less than that of the  male.
The brain usually attains its full dimensions at the age of  seven
or eight, and decreases in size in old age.   At the time of  birth,
the brain bears a larger proportion to  the size of the body than
at any subsequent period of life, being then as one-sixth of the
total weight; at two years  of age it is one-fourteenth ;  at three,
one-eighteenth ; at fifteen, one-twenty-fourth ;  and in the adult 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          207
period, that is, from  the  age of twenty to that of seventy,  it
is  generally within the limits of one-thirty-fifth and one-forty-
fifth.
   No  perceptible difference  exists  (says Prof.  Tidemann,)
either in the average weight or the average  size of the brain of
the negro and of the European, and the nerves are not larger, rela-
tively to the size of the brain, in the former than in the latter.
In the external form of the brain of the negro a very slight dif-
ference only can be traced from that of the European ; but there
is  absolutely no  difference whatever  in its internal structure,
nor  does the  negro brain exhibit any greater resemblance to
that  of the orang-outang than  the  brain  of the European,
except, perhaps, in the more  symmetrical disposition of its con-
volutions.  The facial angle in the negro is smaller than in the
European.

Effects of Tea on  the Body.
   The  general theory of chemists  hitherto has been that tea
lessens the waste of the body, and so sustains the bodily powers
with less nourishment than is otherwise required.   Dr. E. Smith,
at a  recent meeting of the Society of Arts,  gave  the result of
some experiments he  had made to ascertain the truth of this
theory.  He found that  if there was abundance of food in the
system, and that, especially, of the farinaceous or fat kinds, tea
is  a powerful digestive agent, and, by promoting the transform-
ation of food, it aids in nourishing the body ; but with a defi-
ciency of food,  it wastes the tissues of  the body, and lowers the
vital powers.

The Evil of Over-dosing.
   " If a Christian man offers a proper prayer to the Lord, short
and  to  the point, and then stops, as all sensible men  do, many 
208          THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
persons think it's no prayer at all, and that the petitioner must
be a very stupid soit of a fellow, not having  sense enough to
know how to pray.  Such persons would  read  Christ a lecture,
if he were here now."
   The foregoing sensible remarks are taken from the  " Union
Baptist Church " organ, the Christian  Banner, published at
Fredericksburgh, Va.   We respond, "Amen,"  and proceed fur-
ther to remark,  that  most  persons think  that a doctor  who
does not  prescribe an enormous quantity of physic to a  sick
patient, is no doctor at all.   " Daughter, thy faith hath made
thee whole," is too Homeopathic for the great majority of man-
kind.  They dose the  Almighty with large quantities of pray r,
for the same reason that they swallow large doses of medici .e,
namely, because  they have  not progressed  out  of ignoran -e,
superstition, and error.                *

How  to make Iron Magnets.
    Question.—" Is it possible to bring common cast iron into
the state of permanent magnetism ?   Is  such magnetism better
than the hand in disease ?"
   Answer.—It  is well known that any bit of iron, properly
related  to the earth's magnetic currents, will become perfectly
magnetized.   According to the Professor of Natural Philosophy
at Louvain, the artificial process of magnetizing cast iron is sim-
ple.  Cofford Crahoz, at a  late meeting of the  Academy  of
Science, at Brussels, presented the Professor's modus operandi,
which is equally practicable for  any person, who, with economy,
wants a permanent magnet.   The Professor  takes a bar of gray
cast iron, which he brings  to a red heat, and  then sprinkles it
on both sides of three-fourths of its whole length with prussiate
ofpotassia, and puts it, then, in cold water, and when cooled, it
is magnetized  with  a strong  electro-magnet.   It  may also
be used for a horse-shoe  magnet.   The human system is com- 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          209
posed  upon  magnetic principles, and  is, therefore, the best
battery for healing purposes.

Food for Infants.
    Says  a writer :  No mother would feed a child on the milk of
a sick  cow, if she knew it;  but  is  there any reason to suppose
that the  milk of a sick woman  is  more healthy than that of a
sick cow?  Either must inevitably  be sources of disease.  The
cows in New York, fed on distillery slops, are no worse off, and
no  more diseased, than thousands of  mothers,  who live  on
unhealthy flesh, and  drink, not  the  slops, but the liquor of the
distillery, with the additional poisons of tea, coffee, tobacco, and
various drug medicines.  What with diseased mothers and dis-
tillery cows,  our children have a hard time of it; and  so, ten or
twelve thousand die every year in this single city.   And this
appalling mortality, far more frightful than the cholera, goes «m
year after year,  and  nothing is done, because we think it inev-
itable, and  have got hardened to it.  I have written upon this
subject for years, and I am determined that people shall think
upon it.  When they have  once thought, there is no fear but
they will act.   There  is  no man  with a human heart in his
bosom, and there can be no  woman, who must not feel interested
in ascertaining the causes  of infant  mortality, and the means of
staying its terrific  progress.

American  Improvements in Surgery.
    Probably no diseases (says the Illustrated News,) have been
so ineffectively  and unsatisfactorily treated as those  attacking
the spine, the hip, and the knee,  the reason being found in the
fact that but little has been accurately known  of the real nature,
progress, and cause of these maladies.   A recent discovery has,
however, thrown considerable light  on these subjects, and prom-
      18* 
210            THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
ises to be of considerable use  in the treatment of a large class
of sufferers.    Dr. H.  G.  Davis,  a physician  of  this city,  is
the author  of this discovery.    From researches and investi-
gations prosecuted  during many  years,  he  has found that
wherever any  joint whatever is  stiffened from any cause, and
the ends of the  bones  are closely  pressed  together  by mus-
cular  action, a very small area of each articular surface receives
the whole pressure, and  by  the action of a well known law, this
pressure produces waste, first  destroying the cartilage, and then
attacking the head of the bones beneath.  The area of pressure
being  thus gradually enlarged,  the  destruction  of the  bone
spreads, until at length the  case becomes desperate.  The point
originally decayed has  extended, and  spread, and  deepened,
and now an operation is indispensable, the  limb being, perhaps,
inevitably sacrificed, and the  life of the patient  placed in jeo-
pardy.   Now  it  is evident that as, according to these  state-
ments, the whole  mischief results  from the continued muscular
pressure on the  joint, the first and chief object must be  to
remove this  pressure, and to relax, for a  considerable period,
the muscles  producing it.  The simple apparatus which Dr.
Davis has  devised for  this purpose, has been exhibited  before
the New York Academy of Medicine and the Medico-Chirurgi-
cal College.   We learn that  it  has also been adopted by Dr.
Buck in the New York  Hospital, and with  more or less modifi-
cation by Dr. Sayre and other  eminent surgeons.  Its results
are stated to be very satisfactory.

Bite of a Rattlesnake.
    The Petersburg  Express publishes the  following from a
 reliable correspondent:  A  carpenter,  while engaged  a few
 days ago in pulling down an old house and  removing some of the
 rotten timber nea: the  ground, was bitten  by a rattlesnake.   In 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          211

a few moments his finger was  swollen to four times its natural
size, and  a red streak commenced running up his hand and
wrist.  A deadly languor came upon him, and  his vision grew
dim, clearly indicating that the subtile poison that was coursing
through his veins was  rapidly approaching  the  citadel  of life.
But a remedy was tried, merely by way of experiment, which,
to the surprise of all present, acted like a charm, the component
parts of  which  were  onion, tobacco, and salt, of equal parts,
made into a poultice ; and  at the same time a cord was bound
tightly around the wrist.   In two hours afterward he was so far
recovered as to be  able to  resume his work.   I knew an old
negro who cured a boy who had  been bitten by a mad  dog, by
the  same application.

Modern Luxuries  Everywhere.
 ^  When  we reflect upon the extreme luxury in which the poor
and middling classes live, now-a-days, as compared with much
richer people of former centuries, we cannot but wonder how
our respected ancestors could have existed at all.  We have but to
go to a closet and turn a faucet, and we have fresh, cold water ad
libitum.   We have but to touch a brass key in the corner, and
the  gas furnishes us with a fine and plentiful light.  We com-
municate with our distant friends in the  twinkling of an eye, or
go to see them with the speed of the wind.  Yet, all these lux-
uries, and many more, inexpensive and  common to us,  were
unknown to our  forefathers.   Who can  say the world does not
progress ?

Electricity in Vital Processes.
    May not that great binding chain of the universe, that uni-
versal pover, that wonder-working principle, whose intensity
continues  the same at all accessible distances from  the earth's 
212           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
surface—" electricity "—be also the origin and universal cause
of vitality and life, both  animal  and vegetable, by which  the
instantaneous  action  of thought  and  feeling is   telegraphed
throughout the animal frame ?   Let us inquire, and by way of
illustration we will take an  acorn or an egg.   Now, it  is well
known that neither an acorn nor any other seed will germinate
if kept dry, nor will an egg produce at the common temperature
of the atmosphere (at least  in this country,) but both will inev-
itably perish if their  position is not changed.
   If the acorn, or a grain of wheat, or of any other plant, be
buried in moist earth, all the requisite  conditions necessary to
its growth are fulfilled, because we surround the seed with  the
means from whence the nutriment for the organization and con-
struction of the plant is derived ; and the electric circuit being
also completed by that  simple act, such nourishment is distri
buted by the  circulating  current  generated,  as has just been
pointed  out;  and this electro-chemical  process  constitutes, in
fact, the  only  vitality of plants.    The  suspended vitality  of
seeds may be regarded as  analogous to the  broken galvanic, or
electro-telegraphic circuit, in which the  electrical action is
suspended.

Positive and Negative.
   Question.—The terms Positive and  Negative are often used
in our Philosophy as distinct and absolute.   Will you give your
views of the distinctive significance of these terms ?
   Answer.—We have  used these terms with two meanings.
First, which  is an  inferior  use, to  designate  the difference
between power and weakness, or  between that which is passive,
(negative,) and the opposite term for whatsoever is active and ener-
getical.   But we have a second and higher definition, which is
most common in the  New Philosophy, namely :  " Positive " is 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         213
applied to any power which works from the surface toward the
center ; while, of course, " Negative "  would signify any equal
power or fellow-principle, which commences at the inmost and
works outwardly to the circumference.  With the latter sense the
terms  are applied to Love and Wisdom—to woman and man.

How the  Roots of Plants  Feed.
   The following query is important : " Can the roots of plants
take up only such substances as are dissolved in the ground,
and  thus  prepared for  them, or can they themselves dissolve
them?"
   This question has  been solved by Liebig, and  by experi-
ments made  before the  Society of Natural Science in Carls-
ruhe.  He has proved that  the roots of plants, by giving forth
some acid — probably  carbonic  acid—do dissolve  the  alkali,
ammonia, and phosphorus in the soil.  Dr. Schimper  showed
the meeting,  as a further proof of Liebig's doctrine, some peb-
bles, which evidently had been eaten in by roots of plants. The
fact was visible ;  the process, however, is not yet clear.
   This, valuable discovery of the great chemist goes clearly to
show us why the rains  and  floods cannot wash out of the ground
the substances forming the  food  of plants ; on  the contrary, we
now know that the earth takes from the liquids which touch  it,
and solidly appropriates substances which the roots of the plants
ao-ain absorb by their action.  In the same way we clearly per-
ceive how plants can draw  from  the soil  substances which aie
solids, and which are not soluble by water.

Corn-fields and Magnetism.
   " Will you give your opinion relative to invalids  visiting corn-
fields, and inhaling  as much  as possible of their atmosphere ?
Also, the  best method for  throwing off  the influence  or dis-
ease received while magnetizing the sick ?" 
214
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
    Answer.—It is of the utmost importance to invalids, and
not less to persons in good health, that the pure air of growing
vegetation be absorbed without measure.  The  exhalations of
corn-fields are  particularly healthy and nutritious.  The atmo-
sphere of many flowers is secretly refining, and is emasculating
as well.   But the emanations from pine, hemlock, and cedar
are far more salutary.  Meadows are not at all beneficial to the
sick.   Better visit some high place, where the light of heaven's
effulgent  sun shines more than half of the day.  Repose there,
and breathe in the spirit of health and contentment.
    After  magnetizing the sick, wash your hands thoroughly,
and  manipulate each by the other until  they are perfectly dry
and  warm.   Another washing would  make your exemption
certain.

Rain  and Electricity.
    The scientific world of America has not been willing to see
anything  favorable in our  " Philosophy of the Production and
Fall of Rain,"  published in the Harmonial Man,  but the
" British  Association"  has bestowed  more  attention on the
subject.   Mr. Weekes, of Sandwich, writes as follows  to  Mr.
Rowell, who, at the British Association, suggested the possibility
of bringing down rain  from the clouds  at pleasure : " I  have
from very early life been an assiduous experimenter  with  elec-
tric  kites, atmospheric  exploring wires,  &c.  Now, I beg to
assure  you that  it has several times happened that, when my
kite has been raised immediately under a distended, light, fleecy
cloud, at  a  moderate elevation, a free current of sparks has
passed from the apparatus during some ten or twelve minutes •
i" have  suddenly found myself bedewed with  a descent offline
misty rain ;  and on looking up, have seen the cloud on which 1
was operating surprisingly reduced in magnitude" 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         215
Thoughts of a few Good Heads.
   Emerson says : Nature makes fifty poor melons for one that is
good, and shakes down a tree-full of wormy, unripe crabs, before
you can find  a dozen dessert apples ;  and she scatters nations
of naked Indians, and nations of clothed Christians, with two 01
three good heads among  them.   Nature works very hard, and
only hits  the white once in a million throws.   In  mankind,
she is contented if she yields one master in a century.  The
more difficulty there is in  creating good men, the more they
are used when they  come.   I once counted in a little neighbor-
hood, and found that every able-bodied man had, say from twelve
to fifteen  persons dependent on him for material aid—to whom
he  is  to  be  for  spoon and  jug, for backer and sponsor, for
nursery and  hospital, and many functions beside ; nor does it
seem to make much difference whether he is bachelor or patri-
arch ; if he do not violently  decline the duties that fall to him,
this  amount   of  helpfulness will, in one way  or another, be
brought horne to him.  This is the tax which his abilities pay.
The  good men are employed for private centers of use, and for
larger influence.   All revelations,  whether  of mechanical,  or
intellectual, or moral science, are made not to communities, but
to single  persons.   All the  marked events  of our day, all the
cities, all  the colonizations, may be  traced back to their origin
in a  private brain.  All the feats which make our civility,  were
the thoughts  of a few good heads.

Curative Properties  of Grapes.
   Dr.  Herpin,  of Metz,  has  published a very  interesting
account of the curative effects of grapes in various disorders of
the  body. They act,  first, by introducing large  quantities of
fluids  into the system, which, passing  through the blood, carry
off, by perspiration and other excretions, the effete and injuri- 
216           THE HARBINGER OF ■ HEALTH.
ous materials  of the body ;  secondly, as a vegetable  nutritive
agent, through the albumeroid  of nitrogenous and respiratory
substance which the juice of the grape contains ; thirdly, as a
medicine, at the same time soothing,  laxative,  alterative, and
defarative ; fourthly, by the alkalies, which diminish the plas-
ticity of the blood, and render all more  fluid;  fifthly, by the
various  mineral elements, such as  sulphates,  chlorides, phos-
phates,  &c, which  are an analogous and valuable substitute for
many mineral  waters.  Employed rationally and methodically,
aided by suitable  diet and  regimen, the  grape  produces most
important changes  in the system, in favoring organic transmuta-
tions, in contributing healthy materials to the repair and recon-
struction of the various tissues, and in determining the removal
of vitiated matters which have  become useless and injurious to
the system.

Dreams in  Disease.
    You must  not deem all your " night thoughts" the whisper-
ings  of departed  spirits.  You  are not in perfect health.  In
your present pathological condition, it  is but reasonable to sup-
pose that, at best,  your " dreams are but mind-clouds—high and
unshapen beauties—like mountains which contain much and rich
matter."  Bailey,  in  " Festus," said :  " Dreams are rudiments
of the great state to come.....We dream of what is about to
happen  to us."  But such dreams are the inspirations of the
 sleeper, when his bodily state is not much diseased, and when
the slumber  is nearly perfect and harmonious.   Be not over-
 much troubled.

 Sleep, -without Dreaming.
    It is better (says a medical authority,) to go to sleep on the
 right side, for then the stomach is very much in the position of 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         217
a bottle turned upside down, and the contents are aided in pass-
ing out by  gravitation.  If one  goes  to sleep on the left side,
the operation of emptying the stomach of its contents is more
like drawing water from a well.   After going to sleep, let  the
body take its  own position.   If you sleep on your back, espe-
cially soon  after a  heavy meal, the weight  of the  digestive
organs, and that of  the food resting  on the great vein of the
body, near the backbone, compresses it, and arrests the flow of
blood  more or less.   If the  arrest is partial, the sleep is  dis-
turbed, and thero are unpleasant  dreams.   If the meal has been
recent  or hearty, the arrest is more decided, and the various
sensations, such as falling over a precipice, or the pursuit of a
wild beast, or  other impending danger, and the desperate effort
to get rid of it, arouses us ; that sends on the stagnating blood,
and we awake  in a fright, or trembling, or perspiration, or feel-
ing of exhaustion, according to the degree of stagnation, and the
length or strength of the effort made to escape the danger.
Eating a large, or what is  called "a hearty meal," before going
to  bed, should always be  avoided : it is the frequent cause of
nightmare,  and sometimes the cause of sudden death

 Patience, as a  Medicine.
     Patience and serenity of disposition should be cultivated as
 a remedy, to neutralize the irritability and fretfulness of the dis-
 eased organs.  The  electro-battery can do but little good.  A
 faithful medium, when under  the true Indian influence,  can
 restore life to failing limbs.  Sleeping with the head northward
 results in  establishing  the magnetic (or warm) forces in the
 vital system, and in  directing  the  vital  electricity (cold) upon
 the brain and cerebral nerves. Sleep, dreamlessness, and health,
 are the natural consequences.  Always sleep with your mouth
 closed.
        19 
218
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
Summer Foods  and Drinks.
  The following sensible  whisper is taken  from Dr. Hall's
Journal:  Physiological researches establish the fact that acids
promote the separation of the bile from the blood, which is then
passed through the  system, thus preventing fevers, the prevail-
ing diseases of summer. All  fevers are " bilious," that is, the
bile is in the blood.  Whatever is antagonistic of fever is  cool-
ing.   It is a  common  saying  that fruits are " cooling,"  and
also  berries  of every  description;  it  is because the acidity
which they contain aids  in separating the bile from the blood.
Hence the great yearning for greens, and lettuce, and salads, in
the early spring, these  being  eaten with vinegar ; hence,  also,
the taste for something sour—for  lemonades—on  an attack of
fever.  But this being the case, it is easy to see that we nullify
the good effects of  fruits and berries in proportion as we eat
them with sugar, or even sweet milk, or cream.  If we eat them
in their natural state, fresh, ripe, perfect, it is almost impossible
to eat too many, or eat enough to hurt* us ; especially if we  eat
 them alone, and not taking any liquid  with them whatever.  Also
 is buttermilk, or even common milk,  promotive  of health  in
 summer time.  Sweet milk  tends to biliousness in sedentary
 people; sour milk is antagonistic.  The Greeks and Turks are
 passionately fond of milk.   The shepherds use rennet, and the
 milk dealers alum, to make it  sour the sooner.   Buttermilk acts
 like watermelons on the system.

 Effect  of Wearing Silk  Dresses.
    A lady  correspondent propounds  the  following  question :
 " How does the wearing of silk dresses  affect us ladies ?"
    Answer.—The wearing of  " silk dresses "  exerts a variety
 of wonderful influences upon  both  body and  soul.   We have
 seen examples  of intense chronic  suffering occasioned  by the 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          219
habitual wearing of " silk dresses " too tight over the region
of the diaphragm.   Instances  are  on record, also, where the
length of " silk dresses " has inveigled the wearer into divers
and sundry  difficulties.   Deplorable cases are known where the
price of " silk dresses " has disturbed the financial equilibrium
of very respectable progenitors.  That alarming and epidemical
phenomenon of the age, known as the traili?ig of " silk dresses '
over  tobacco-stained pavements, is rapidly developing among
sensible  classes  a  psychological disease called " disgust."  In
young female minds we have observed, with some beautiful
exceptions,  that  the wearing of very fine " silk dresses "pro-
duces  an enlargement  of certain cerebral organs—developing
the symptoms of  insulation,  superiority to poor folks, pride,
approbation, and temporary  shallow-mindedness.   The  phy-
siological effect of " silk dresses " is not much, however, unless
the wearer is nervously-diseased and dreamful.  Then the fabric
is too electrical  for health.

Corruption and  Groans.
    Mr. Emerson, in his late volume on the " Conduct of Life,"
says :  " There is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-
bred, to  all rational  mortals, namely, their distempers.  If you
have not slept, or if you have slept, or if you have headache, or
sciatica,  or leprosy, or thunder-stroke, I beseech you, hg all
angels, to hold your peace, and not pollute the morning to which
all the housemates  bring serene  and pleasant thoughts, by cor-
ruption  and  groans.  Come out of the azure.  Love the day.
Do not  leave the  sky out of your landscape.  The oldest and
the most deserving person should come very modestly into any
newly awakened company,  respecting the  divine  communica-
tions, out of which all  must be presumed to have newly come.
An old man, who added an  elevating culture to a large experi- 
220
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
ence of life, said  to  me :  ' When you come into the room, I
think I will study how to make humanity beautiful to you.' "

Cotton for Garments.
   The  best fabric for purposes  of health  is composed of
flax  and wool.   Silk  is a third-rate article for garments.  It
should be woven with linen or woolen, to supply the demands
of physiological laws.  Cotton  is a neutral, or passive substance
on the body ; while linen is  constantly electrical, and woolen
powerfully magnetic.  Silk, being a  non-conductor of life and
vitality,  is inclined to  exhaust  the  entire body through the
nerve-forces.   Linen and wool, woven into one fabric, are best
for stockings, undershirts, and garments for the skin.

A Cure  for Cold Feet.
   If you have cold  feet, immerse them morning and evening
in cold water, rub with a rough towel, and run about your room
till  they burn.  In one month you  will be entirely  relieved.
This advice is excellent, and  the  remedy is good, " all other
things being equal,"  but the  truth is, that nothing external or
internal  can  cure  cold feet if the  stomach does not promptly
digest its daily food.  A cheerful spirit, plenty of simple nour-
ishment, whole shoes and cotton stockings, with appropriate out-
door exercise—these  constitute the true medicine for cold feet.
Zinc and copper plates, worn in the stockings at night, are very
useful when your vitality is depressed.

Red and Black Pepper.
   In the treatment of  disease, black pepper is a powerful and
useful irritant, and there are conditions of the  stomach, bowels,
and  brain, in which  pepper tea, or  a few grains mixed with
sugar, would  act very beneficially.   But it is  not wise to use 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          221
pepper every day.  The effect is telegraphed to the membranes
of the head, throat, and lungs.   Pepper cannot be digested.  It
is foreign  to the  nature and composition of the blood, and is,
therefore, propelled through the stomach and intestines by the
coercive influence of the peristaltic motion.  No doubt many
persons have headache and bowel diseases from the constant use
of such an irritant.   Use no pepper, either black or red, except
as a medicine.

The Wonders of Blood.
    The liquid of the blood is colorless, and its red appearance is
due to the presence of innumerable little bodies floating in it,
which are so small  that three millions of them are  contained in
a  drop which  may be suspended  on the point of a needle.
These corpuscles are sacs filled with a compound substance, and
it has been  ascertained what both the film of the sac and its
contents are  composed of.  Each one of these little bodies has
its  own  life.  They are formed, and grow, and die ; and it is
calculated that nearly twenty millions perish  at every pulsation
of the heart.

MHk and Water  as Beverages.
    Children  naturally love  artificial beverages—especially the
milk of  goats and  cows ;  and  they love to  imbibe the unfer-
mented juice of fruit  and berries, because such drinks are as
natural for  mankind as is pure water from the spring. In grape-
growing  countries  men drink more wine than any other  fluid  ;
yet, beastly intoxication is  a sad condition rarely seen in those
regions.  But of  the future  we prognosticate thus :  Wine,
ivater, and  milk will  eventually displace and banish alcoholic
drinks, and all falsely-artistic table beverages will, in like man-
ner, be swept from the  earth ;  then, when  sound health  and
          19* 
222           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.

common  sense shall  become  the  rule—and not,  as  now, the
exception—the " wine-cup will be forever broken, and righteous-
ness will everywhere prevail."   " Fly swifter round, ye wheels
of Time, and bring the welcome day."

Minerals in Vegetation.
   M. Eugene  Risler  maintains  that  iron plays  a  principal
part in the nutrition of  plants ;  he shows that in the roots,
seeds, and white portions, it exists as a protoxide, while in the
green portions it is in the form of a peroxide.  Expose vege-
tables  to  air and light,  and the  protoxide becomes a peroxide
with  a rapidity proportioned to the intensity of light.  The
chlorophyll is green because it combines the two oxides, blue
and  yellow ;  and they form a voltaic pair, which  decomposes
water  and the carbonic acid held in solution, the carbon and
hydrogen entering  into the organism.  Nocturnal nutrition  is
oxidation, diurnal nutrition  is deoxidation, and the  vegetable
tissue is  formed like the weaver's,  night being the warp, day
the woof, with the iron of the chlorophyll to serve as the shuttle.

Man in the Animal  State.
    " Do you  think that man existed first  in a germinal capa-
city in the first forms of animal life, and then grew up through
them,  developing more perfectly as he ascended ?"
    Our   investigations  bring us  to  this  conclusion :  that
 just as a Building exists,  in a germinal state, in the mind of the
architect first, then in all  the materials accumulated, and lastly,
in all the many and various forms which such materials are made
to assume in the constructive process, until the idea is accom-
plished ;  so,  in like manner, the design of a Man,  male and
female, was  the  original  idea or conception in  the  spirit  of
Mother  Nature  and Father  God;  that this  vast machinery 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          223
of means (of minerals, vegetables,  and animals,) are the appro-
priate materials of construction—through all which Man germ-
inally lives, until fully organized as an entity.

Twenty-one Systems.
    We  have received many letters from students of physiology,
who wish to read  the old authors  with light  furnished by the
Harmonial Philosophy.  Much will depend on their own good
sense and untiring industry, while studying.   We would call the
attention of all who love to study man's constitution—" fearfully
and wonderfully made "—to the beautiful natural divisions of the
textures of the corporeal organization.  They  may be  divided
into three ti?nes seven systems, thus :
1. Osseous.           (\. Mucous.      (\. Cellular
2. Medullary.
3. Cartilaginous
4. Fibrous.           i 4. Glandular.    I 4. Arterial
                    5. Dermoid     | 5. Venous
5. Fibro-Cartilaginous.
6. Muscular, animal.
7. Muscular, organic.
 6. Epidermoid.  I' 6. Exhalant.
k 7. Pilous.      V 7. Absorbent, with their glands.
A Medicine for every Home.
   Not only should we  cultivate  such tempers as serve to ren-
der the intercourse* of home amiable  and affectionate, but we
should strive  to  adorn it with  those charms which good  sense
and refinement so easily impart to it.   We say easily, for  there
are persons who  think that a home cannot be beautiful without
a considerable outlay of money.   Such people are in error.   It
costs  little to have a neat flower-garden, and to surround your
dwelling with those  simple  beauties which delight the eye far
more  than expensive objects.  Nature delights in beauty.   She
loves  to brighten the landscape  and make it agreeable to the
eye.   She hangs ivy around the ruin,  and over the stump of a
withered  tree  she twines the  graceful vine.  A  thousand arts
she practices to animate the  sense and please the mind.   Follow 
224           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
her example, and do for yourself what she is always laboring to
do for you.—Colton.

Wretchedness  at Home.
   It is not a medical whisper, but a short sermon on Love,
and Trust,  and Faith, which  many require for bodily recupera-
tion.  Perhaps you  have lost the bright fresh feelings of the
soul.  If so, you fancy your body diseased.  Stand straight up
before yourself, then, and let the native power  of your soul
shine and work into your daily life.
           " Oh, it is great to feel we care for nothing—
            That hope, nor love, nor fear, nor aught of earth
            Can check the royal ravishment of life;
            But like a streamer strown upon the wifld,
            We fling our souls to Fate and to the Future.
              -----On! said God unto the soul
            As to the earth, forever.  On it goes,
            A rejoicing native of the infinite—                      *
            As a bird of air—an orb of heaven."
   We  administer the foregoing as the remedy best suited to
heal many  infirmities ; the balm  for many a broken  head  and
heart; the  best medical whisper in our pharmacy for  hundreds

The Pleasures of Home.
   Question.—A correspondent asks : " Suppose all marriagea
ble persons should, from this  day,  marry in accordance  with
what  you term ' temperamental  adaptation,'  do you think the
ordinary broils and  vexations  of human homes  would cease
altogether ?"
   Answer.—If the  writer had made a more comprehensive
supposition (including all  the married throughout the world,)
we should  reply affirmatively ; excepting, of course, all such
ordinary " broils " as those which  are  indispensable to  meet
the demands of honest hunger. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          225
   Let the already truly married practice the principles of Har-
monial love and wisdom toward each other, and let those about
to embark upon the  conjugal existence, regulate their attach-
ments  and lives by spiritual  delicacy and private truthfulness.
We  can  guarantee  that  such  a home  will be  a  natural
Sanctuary of heavenly blessedness.  " The family circle" would
shine like a ring of diamonds.  Each throbbing heart would be
a well-spring of love,  tenderness, grace, and gladness.  Good
angels would go in and out of such a sunny home,  just as the
healthy children  thereof would glide to and fro, on the swift
feet  of unrestrained enjoyment.  A divine  joy  is certain to
pavilion  such a happy home, and one tender  bond is  sure to
embrace all hearts ; for it would be the royal house of the
indwelling God, and the very " gate of heaven."

Sympathy with an Amputated  Limb.
   It is a truth  that man's  soul  does  not leave an amputated
limb and  take  up its  residence in the interiors  of the living
body until  after the lapse of many  days ; even though, to all
external sense  and seeming, the violently removed  and buried
member would  indicate  no possession of life.   The brain main-
tains a nervo-vital record and governmental sympathy with each
part of the lower organism, and such sympathy cannot be with-
drawn violently nor hastily.   After death, as we have frequently
observed, the vitality treasured up out of a limb severed from
the body, elaborates  the spiritual limb  in exact harmony with
the form and proportions of what Nature had first decreed.   So
that, in the immortal state, each maimed and deformed individual
appears, not as  he externally looked at the moment of death,
but,  instead, in  such form and embodiments as he would have
possessed if Nature's designs had not  been  arrested in their
development in this world. 
226
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
     An  authentic instance  of cerebro-vital sympathy with  an
  amputated limb, will  illustrate the principle.   Recently,  at
  Tower's Mill, in Lanesborough, Mass., a young man named Jerry
•  Swan was  caught by the arm in some machinery, and the limb
  was so badly broken and mangled that  immediate  amputation
  was necessary.  This was  successfully performed, but, accord-
  ing to the Pittsfield Eagle, Mr. Swan's connection with the dis-
  severed limb did not cease with the operation.   The Eagle says :
  " On recovering from  the  stupor (produced by the use of chlo-
  roform,) Mr. Swan still complained sorely of  an aching hand.
  Late in the evening his distress became very great, and  he
  insisted that the hand was  cramped by being doubled up.  The
  limb had been placed in a  small box and buried.   His attend-
  ants dug it up and straightened the hand, and he was soon easier.
  This morning the limb was  again buried.  But he soon com-
  plained of a sensation of  cold and great pain in  it.   It was
  accordingly taken  up again,  wrapped up,  and deposited in a
  tomb, since which he is again relieved."

  The Influence  of Indian Spirits.
     Indian spirits are robust, healthy, and sympathetic ; but they
  seldom confer wisdom upon their mediums.  In the Spirit Land
  they are  exceedingly officious and  useful in many ways ; par-
  ticularly in receiving and taking sympathetic charge of the spi-
  rits of persons who have just died  in hospitals, by  accident, or
  on the field of battle.   They exhibit the finest shades of sympa-
  thy and brotherly  love, but are rarely wise and prudent in the
  employment of  their powers.  For this reason, principally, the
  gregarious tribes of the Spirit Land are subdivided into classes,
  as in a school;  and  thousands of illustrious wise men, once so
  called on earth among men, delight in appointing themselves to
  the office of monitors and teachers among the classified Red men
  who are so grouped in  the celestial sphere-i. 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          227
State of the First Man.
  Question.—" Was the first man created in a state of infancy,
or did he  emanate from the Divine Hand in a high state of intel-
lectual development ?"
   Answer.—Whatever is right and authoritative derives its
sanction  and power, not  from popular opinion or statute law,
but from  the  true order  and harmoniousness of the universe.
Divine revelations, so  called, are nothing, unless they coincide
with  the  teachings of Nature, whence  such revelations derive
whatever  of  truth and authority they may inherently possess.
The  teachings  of Nature are  explicit to this point: That the
" first man " was born just  as the  first child in any family is
born  {while exceedingly young,) and that he was not  " created"
in a perfect state of intellectual development, but commenced
the journey of life crowned with every glorious endowment, yet
clothed with ignorance or inexperience.
The Caging of Birds.
   We  contemplate the operations  of our loving Mother, and
solicit instruction from her million voices.  From  every mouth
we hear the electric word—" Liberty !"  A bird is a beauteous
bit of ascending  Nature  on  wings of flight.   Man is another
form of  the  same Nature, walking upright,  the Lord of all
beneath his exalted mind and commanding position.  He is good
and  glorious in his government when the spirit of freedom pre-
vails  in the least  of things about  him;  but what shall we say
of his lordship,  of his influence and administration, when he
cuts  the  wings  of Liberty,  cages  the  birds  of  paradise, and
enforces obedience by his will with a rod of iron!  Judge  of
yourself what is right.
Spiritualistic  Superstition.
    Question.—" You  have, on at  least one occasion, hit Spi-
ritualists  pretty  severe  raps  for being  ' superstitious.'   By 
228
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
unbelievers, all  Spiritualists are supposed to be superstitious.
Will you please  define what you mean 1"
   Answer.—We denominate all persons superstitious,  who,
with excessive credulity, and  no absolute  evidence,  attribute
unusual physical sensations to the work of spirits ; also, they*are
superstitious who  imagine that their own mishaps and discords
were developed  by the special intervention of the invisible.  It
is superstition  to believe that a medium is influenced  by any
disembodied intelligence to  do  or say anything earthly and sen-
sual.   We hold every one individually accountable for all  unwor-
thy  speeches and physical indulgences.   Let all Spiritualists
believe that " every  good and perfect gift cometh from above,"
and reversely, that every discordant and miserable influence is
generated beneath, in the regions of the flesh, and we will assure
them that the " mediums for evil spirits " will number far less
than at present.
True and  False  Hospitality.
    We think that if friends and strangers would deal with each
other candidly and gently, without dissimulation and  hypocrit-
ical etiquette, they would never  be  driven from each other by
distrust  and enmity.  It is  the most malignant form of hypoc-
risy to invite persons to  call upon you, while, secretly, youjvish
they would not; and it is, perhaps, not less injurious  to extend
the  hospitalities of your house to individuals, while, in truth,
you dislike them, and want them removed from your vicinity.
But there is a higher development for  you and all, namely, to
feel the  spirit of universal  adoption, whereby, at all times, you
can impart hospitality and kindness alike to friend and stranger,
without  violating the principles of self-justice and truth.   It is,
however, far better to be honestly and undisguisedly exclusive,
than to be hypocritically hospitable for the purpose of acquiring
 a reputation for benevolence and philanthropy. 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.
229
Would You Stop the Flowing River?
   Many correspondents will find our answer in the following
lines:
                " He who checks a child with terror,
                   Stops its play and stills its song,
                  Not alone commits an error,
                   But a great and moral wrong.
                " Give it play, and never fear it,
                   Active life is no defect;
                  Never, never break its spirit—
                   Curb it only to direct.
                " Would you stop the flowing river,
                   Thinking it would cease to flow ?
                  Onward it must flow forever ;
                   Better teach it where to go."

The Duty  of the  Skin.
   Some curious  facts were presented in a recent lecture of
Dr. Thudicum on  the Turkish Bath.   The human body can bear
300° of heat.   The perspiration from a clean skin has an agree-
able odor or none  at all, while a disagreeable one is the product
of an ammoniacal  salt, formed of urea and  volatile acid.  The
ventilation of the bulk of tissue—cellular  and muscular—is the
peculiar duty  of the skin.

Traveling  as a Medicine.
   The principles inculcated in our philosophy of Disease, are
within the intellectual grasp of every reader ; and we think that
every patient  is physically qualified to apply our rules of treat-
ment.   The scientific name of your disease is of no consequence,
so far as the  application of this philosophy is concerned.  The
state or symptoms are the all-essential questions. Life is worth
nothing without Health as its  crowning  glory, and  even this
glory is worthless without  those  spiritual  feelings which exalt
       20 
230
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
and beautify existence.  Rely  on your Self-Healing energies !
Traveling is vastly better than medicine for every one who can-
not break up a tedious routine of habits and feelings at home.

Vegetarianism among  Animals.
   There are  many animals that practice  nothing but pure
Vegetarianism,  and yet, as characters, they do  not  improve.
Linnaeus states the cow to eat 276 plants, and to refuse 218;
the goat eats 449 and declines  126; the sheep takes 387, and
rejects 141; the horse likes 262, and avoids 212; but the hog,
more  nice in its  provision than any of the former, eats but 72
plants, and rejects 171.

A Word to Magnetizers.
   If you  want wisely to affect your  patients, do  not talk  to
them while bestowing the benefits of your manipulations.   You
cannot ask questions, and keep  an intelligent conversation with
your patients,  while exerting yourself to overcome their dis-
eases.  You need all the breath you can inspire, while your
patient needs a perfect tranquillity of the mental organs.  Prac-
tice with the strictest composure, with ceaseless assiduity, with
loving kindness,  with the  sweetest devotion to the  cause  of
Health and Happiness.

Infusorial Reproduction.
   The polypi  are reproduced just as the blood globules and
most cellules in animal bodies are formed—namely, by buds or
eggs cropping  out from the vital parts, attaining to perfection,
and then dropping off  somewhat as apples fall from their pro-
ducing boughs.   Among the infusoria there is no direct organic
contact for  purposes of reproduction ; for, like most medusa and
worms, each individual  is hermaphroditic, having the reproduc-
tive organs of both sexes. 
\
              DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          231

Value of Sunlight in Houses.
    The following fact, says a good authority, has been estab-
lished by  careful observation ; that where sunlight penetrates
all  the rooms of a dwelling-, the inmates are less liable to sick-
ness, than in a house where  the  apartments lose  its health-
invigorating  influences.  Basement rooms are the nurseries of
indisposition.  It is a gross  mistake to compel human beings
to reside  partially under  ground.   There is a defective condi-
tion of the air in such rooms, connected  with dampness, besides
the  decomposing paint on the walls, and the  escape of noxious
gases from pipes and drains.   It is strange that builders .persist
in doing violence to humanity,  by still erecting houses with
basements.

Enlarge your Thoughts and Perceptions.
    Perhaps your experience is replete with items of imperisha-
ble wealth.   Never expect inspirations of truth, however, until
you  ascend to the altitude of  Principles.   The eye that perma-
nently contracts its  scope to the points  of diamonds, however
valuable in themselves, is not capable of surveying the chem-
istry qf elements, nor is such  a mind capable of feasting upon
that happiness which results from the grander and freer employ-
ment of the intellectual powers.
    We hope and expect to impress hundreds  of thousands with
the belief that there is no antagonism between enlightened Rea-
son and Nature's highest, onost central Truth, which is Father
God.  If  mankind will reverently  learn the lessons of Nature,
and  become intelligently receptive, like  the unconscious flower
which  unrolls its petals to receive the vivifying heat and light
of Heaven,  they may very rapidly  bud and  blossom  into
happy families and progressive Brotherhoods. 
232           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
What and Where is Heaven?
   Heaven, as we  use  the  term, signifies the soul's Harmony
with Deity ; so that, in very truth, such  a person can say :  " I
and  my Father are one."   This, «nd this  only, is Heaven.
Country, climate,  time,  space,  infinity,  eternity—these have
nothing to  do with  the  soul's  true Heaven.  Wherever  the
human spirit beats thankfully and melodiously with  the pulsa-
tions of the Soul of Nature, there, in that  spirit's silent deep, is
the kingdom of peace and righteousness.
   Yet, in  the outward immensities of the universe,  where  the
stars  are suns of immeasurable  magnitude, and where myriad
groups of them form circles inconceivable, there are substantial
worlds, or locations, which we term  " Spiritual Spheres."

How to Quiet Children.
   Let them have  a goodly supply of bodily activity during the
day-time.   Give them nothing sweet, except  your smiles, after
the second meal.  Avoid domestic contradictions in their pres-
ence, and never give way to anger in their absence.  Never give
a child either tea or coffee.  Many little ones crave and ask for
stimulants, because  of hereditary bias and the force of*daily
example.  If your  child is very irritable, give its body a good
rub-down, as  you would dress the limbs of a young colt,  just
before delivering it  over to the safe keeping of the guardian
Angels of the night.

Don't  Stand on the  Track.
    The train,  says  a railroad gazette, may steal suddenly upon
you, and then  a little trepidation, a slight misstep, a  slip of the
foot, and we shudder to  think of your  crushed and bleedino-
body.  So, in  the journey of life, perils are around you on every
hand.  But don't plant yourself in their path and defy them; 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          233

don't stand in  their track and disregard them.   Perhaps you
now and then take a little intoxicating drink.  My friend, if so,
you are standing  " on the track," while the car of retribution
comes  thundering  on—moving  in  a right line—approaching
with steady and rapid wheels.  Will it not bear down and crush
you ?  Perhaps you spend  an occasional evening with a party
of friends, amusing yourself with cards  or dice, staking small
sums to make the game interesting.   My friend, you are stand-
ing "on the track." Thousands have stood there and perished.
Don't wait to hear the  panting of the iron steed,  and  the rat-
tling of rushing wheels, but fly from the track.  At a safe dis-
tance, stand and  view  the wrecks which yon  ponderous train
will spread before you.   Look well to the ground on which you
plant your feet, and forget not,  for yet these many days, our
parting words : " Don't stand on the  track."

Pure  Alcohol  as a  Medicine.
   A  correspondent  writes   for  information  respecting the
effect of pure  alcohol on a scrofulous system—especially as a
remedy in cerebral embarrassments—occasioned by a  humor
partly inherited, and aggravated  by a diseased condition of the
liver.
   Answer.—The human system cannot appropriate the liquid
known as alcohol.   Years after it is imbibed, you»will find it in
the serum and other fluids of the brain, and in precisely the
same state as when it was originally consigned to the stomach.
If the  blood would accept of alcohol as  a component part, or if
the solid and tissual structures of the body would temporarily
convert the liquid into  their uses, then the voice of wisdom
would  proclaim the utility of an alcoholic  remedy for disease.
But  all this is  impossible.  The whole body, under the govern-
ment of the brain, says to alcohol : " Monster ! stay without the
temple."  And yet, we  know  that there are circumstances and
     20* 
234
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
conditions  of  the  brain  and nerre-system, when alcohol, in a
modified form, is one of the  best medicines within the reach of
man.  Snake poisons, and some forms of insanity, will yield to
its counter-irritations.  But  let no man expect a better brain, a
finer  digestion, or a more active liver,  from the use of forbid-
den fluids.

The  Disgusting Habit  of Chewing.
   Go where you will, says Dr. Dixon, in his Scalpel, on board
of any steamboat  or rail-car, and  you witness  the  disgusting
habit  of chewing  every variety of unhealthy  mess, nuts and
candies, that may be offered by traveling hucksters, and immedi-
ately it is transferred to some human  mouth.  It would almost
seem  that everybody in America  is half starved ; the chewing,
munching, spitting, and tooth-picking,  has become disgusting to
every decent foreigner. Nature requires food periodically; there
is no mistaking the call; when hungry, the stomach and salivary
glands are prepared for it.  As a general rule, instinct indicates
what  is wanted, and when it is wanted; and whoever habitu-
ally eats whenever food  of any  description is placed before
him, will never reach middle life in health. Even animals know
better, for when their hunger is appeased they will stop.  What
a poor slave is he who has learned to  chew tobacco!   He must
always have a  big box in his pocket, a big  quid in his mouth,
and a big  dish for the juice.   Poor fellow ! if he had no com-
pany in  this filthy habit,   everybody would believe  him crazy.
You  say you  can  leave  it whenever  you choose.  Then clean
out your  pockets, your  mouth ;  get your linen purified and
bleached; burn cotton till the disgusting odor is removed, and
quit.
   The  present annual production of tobacco  has been estimated
by an English writer at 4,000,000,000 pounds !  This is smoked, 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         235
 chewed,  and  snuffed.   Suppose  it all  made  into  segars,
 100 to the pound, it would produce 400,000,000,000.   Four
 hundred billions of segars!   Allowing this tobacco, unmanufac-
 tured, to  cost  on the average 10 cents  a, pound, and we have
 $400,000,000 expended every year  in  producing a noxious,
 deleterious weed.  At least one and a half times as much more
 is required to manufacture it into a marketable form, and to dis-
 pose of it to the consumer.

 The Madness of Intemperance.
    Judge  Johnson, in sentencing a culprit to death, said : "Nor
 shall the place be forgotten in which occurred this shedding of
 blood.  It was  in one  of the thousand  ante-chambers of hell,
 which mar, like  plague-spots, the fair face of our State.  You
 need not be told that I mean a tippling-shop, the meeting-place
 of Satan's minions, and the foul cesspool  which, by spontaneous
 generation, breeds and nurtures  all that is loathsome and dis-
 gusting in  profanity, and babbling, and vulgarity, and Sabbath-
 breaking.   I would  not  be the  owner of a groggery for the
 price of this globe converted into precious* ore.  For the pitiful
 sum of a dime, he furnished the poison which made the deceased
 a fool,  and  this trembling culprit  a  demon.   How   paltry
 this price of two  human lives !  This traffic is  tolerated by law,
 and, therefore,  the vender has committed an offense not cogniza-
 ble by earthly tribunals ; but, in the sight of Him who is uner-
 ring wisdom,  he who deliberately furnishes  the  intoxicating
 draught which inflames men to anger, and violence, and blood-
 shed, is particeps criminis in  the moral turpitude  of the deed.
 Is it not high time that these" sinks of  vice and crime should be
held rigidly  accountable  to the laws of the land, and  placed
under the ban of an enlightened and virtuous public opinion ?" 
236           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 The Evils of Opium-eating.
    The evils of the too prevalent habit of opium-eating are well
 illustrated by a case recently reported.  Dr. Kozieradzki, in a
 foreign medical journal, says that he was  called to see a lady
 aged thirty, who had suffered  since her thirteenth year from a
 painful affection of the  heart, and had obtained ease by taking
 opium,  increasing  the  dose from  one-eighth  grain to thirty
 grains, so that, at last,  two hundred grains were  taken daily.
 After a while,  epileptic fits came on.   She had a prematurely
 old appearance, was deaf of one ear, and had lost almost all her
 teeth.  Being one  day unable to procure her accustomed dose
 of morphine, and having to pass twenty-four hours amid pains
 at the heart and repeated fainting, she became so much pros-
 trated that, when next day her accustomed  dangerous anodyne
 was brought  her, she was seized with  a convulsive  attack, and
 died.

 The  Opium-eater's  Insanity.
   Nothing  but a potent  determination to abandon the use of
 the opium will effectually cure it, and  compensate for  its  cus-
 tomary effects.  If  there be  a  venous, enlargement, extending
 upwardly to  the brain, the fact is against an independence of
 the drug.   You  may  pacify sometimes, by applying fomenta-
 tions of bitter  herbs  to  the stomach ;  and, internally, a  tea-
 spoon twice full of the tincture of hops in a  little common black
 tea, without milk or sugar.

 Substitute  for Strong  Drink.
   A correspondent asks for information respecting the nature
of intoxication, and  whether there  is any remedy or substitute
for it.   The case is that of a respectable and intelligent man who
unfortunately, is a  great lover of rum, and often gets  beastly 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          237
drunk.  His passion for strong drink is more powerful than his
will, and his slavery is, therefore, absolute.
   Remedy.—All attacks  of disease and discord are periodical.
They are developed  and governed by the retirement of one set
of forces and the ascendency  of another ; so  that all  remedial
enterprises must be instituted with strict reference to the week
(and particularly to the day of the week,) when the patient usu-
ally yields to  " the passion for strong drink."  Passion is not
as a sleeping lion aroused from his  lair by the presence of temp-
tation, but it is the reaction of a class of discordant faculties—
and this explains why some persons experience and demonstrate
anger without any sufficient apparent cause, and  explains also
why many very noble  characters yield to  the ruthless govern-
ment of some  silly weakness  far beneath their moral and intel-
lectual status.   Of course, no patient can be cured of his " pas-
sion for strong drink," unless his whole soul be  fully inspired
with  the sublime wish to be a whole Man!  Take this as the
bottom-work of the foundation, then watch the period of habit-
ual  intemperance, and  forestall  it by shielding the  appetite
in every conceivable way—by withholding  the customary table
temptations.   This system should  commence at least three days
before the " passion " is stealthily developed to its overmaster-
 ing hight.  When the patient (commonly termed " the drunk-
ard,") is impassioned and mad for his intoxicating  beverage,
 administer the following:
    Extract Hasheesh {Indian Cannabis,)  15 grs.
    Sweet Flag-root {Acorus  Calamus,) pulverized  perfectly,
 1 scruple.
    Mix well, and divide into  fifty powders.  Give one every
 two, four, or  six hours,  according to the intensity and incorri-
 gibleness of the victim.    In some cases a much  finer prepara-
 tion  would  be  required.  Once pass the season  of temptation, 
238           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
escape the period of passion, and the battle is mc re than half-
won.   But there is another remedy for this malady.

An English  Cure for  Drunkenness.
    The*re is  a famous prescription in use in England (says the
Springfield Republican^) for the cure of drunkenness, by which
thousands are said to have been  assisted  in  recovering them-
selves.  The  recipe came into notoriety through the efforts of
John Vine Hall, father of  the  Rev. Newman Hall, and Captain
Vine Hall, commander of the Great Eastern steamship.  He had
fallen  into such habitual  drunkenness, that his.most earnest
efforts to reclaim himself  proved unavailing.   At length  he
sought the advice of an eminent physician,  who gave him a pre-
scription  which he followed faithfully  for seven months, and
at the end of that time  had lost all desire  for liquors, although
he  had been for many years led captive by a  most debasing
appetite.   The  recipe, which he  afterward published, and  by
which so  many other drunkards have been assisted to reform,
is as follows:  " Sulphate  of iron, five  grains ;  magnesia,  ten
grains ; peppermint-water,  eleven  drachms ; spirit of nutmeg,
one drachm ;  twice  a day."  This preparation acts  as a tonic
and stimulant, and so partially supplies  the place of the accus-
tomed liquor, and  prevents that absolute physical and moral
prostration that follow  a  sudden breaking off from the use of
stimulating drinks.   In  cases  where the appetite for liquors is
not too strong, the medicine supplies the place  of the accus-
tomed drams  entirely,  but  Mr.  Hall  continued the use  of
liquors at first with the  medicine, diminishing the amount
gradually  until he was able to  throw away his bottle and glass
altogether, after which  he continued to  take the medicine a
month or two,  till he felt  that he was wholly restored to self-
control, and could rejoice in a sound mind  in a sound body. 
             DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          239

Physical Evils are  Transient.
   An uncle of  mine (says a correspondent,) aged eighty-five
residing here, after having been a habitual tobacco-chewer for
more than sixty years, about two years ago lost all appetite for
it, and has had no desire to taste it since !   There was no change
in his habits, and he was always more healthy than most men.
Some Spiritualists say that the love of the tobacco, alcohol, &c,
adheres to man in the spirit-life.   But may it not be, as in this
instance, that, by some peculiar chemical or physiological change
in the organism of the spirit, the appetite may leave them imme-
diately on their introduction  into the other life ?

Natural and Artistic Beverages.
   Man  is  an  artist,  a  natural inventor, and his intellectual
endowments, urged by the inward force of his  diversal wants,
among other necessities and inventions, impel him to compound
his foods and to artificialize his drinks.  It is, therefore, strictly
natural for man,  while passing through  the  transitions from a
crude Savagism  to a spiritualized Civilization, to drink and eat
many hurtful (because artificial) inventions of his own unfolding
genius in the direction of art and discovery.  But the primor-
dial and instinctively simple beverage is pure spring water.  It
is the  most unartistic, the cheapest, most poetic,  altogethci
beautiful, and the healthiest.

Man's  Voluntary Powers.
   Our  philosophy teaches us that man, beginning his earth-life
as   an  automatic  being,  will,   when  ultimately  unfolded
in all the hidden centers of spirit,  become wholly voluntary •
that then, solely through the energetic fiat of his untrammeled
 will, he may direct or withdraw vital forces to and from any part
of his organization.   In this way, we hold that man will  " heal 
240          THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
himself" when afflicted with disease, and shield his body from
the ruthless assaults of epidemics and contagious disturbances
In short, we believe that man is organized to triumph over all
his enemies.
    At this  proposition, the doctors level their shafts of ridicule.
" I scout the  doctrine," says one,  " because  the mind's volun-
tary powers are fixed within certain well-defined and  unaltera-
ble limits," &c.
    We reply, that no intelligent physiologist  can venture to fix
the domain of mind without  some knowledge  of psychology—a
department of  science as yet scarcely known to our best med-
ical scholars.   Man is unspeakably superior to fish, bird, or
beast; and is endowed with  powers greater than all the millions
below him.   The voluntary powers  of the inferiors'1 brains are
but partially understood.
    The  Alpine hunter will tell you that the Chamois, a beauti-
ful creature among the everlasting mountains, is capable of run-
ning at the rate of one hundred and twenty-five miles  per hour.
    The  Ostrich will run swifter than the fleetest horse.
    Certain fish seem to fly rather than swim.
    Some birds can dart against, and through, the adverse  serial
currents, and will  make  nearly two miles per minute, showing
that they might, if kept  in one  course,  encompass the earth in
less time  than  is required for a fast  steamer to cross the
Atlantic.
    The  crushing  might of a cannon-ball is less than the awful
force  with  which a Whale strikes the ocean's bosom.   The
powerful drumming of the  Gorilla upon its own breast can be
heard at the distance of half a mile.  Some  muscular animals,
like the Buffalo, can dive from ten to twenty  feet under  water.
   And all  these exhibitions  of velocity and strength, take their
rise from  the voluntary centers of the animal's brain.  Is not 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          241
man destined to be, and to do, more than any  creature which is
inferior to his exalted  make and station ?   We believe that he
is—do you still doubt, reader 1

The  Mind in Sleep.
    Question.—"Do you think that the mind, in sleep, is inde-
pendent of the body ?  If so, does it wander in the Spirit Land 1
If such be  the  case, why is it that spirits are supposed to be
taken by surprise when  they die  here, and waking, find them-
selves in a strange place ?"
    Explanation.—Our answer in this place must be brief,
more  particularly because the  subject has been considered in
the third volume of the Harmonia.
    Notwithstanding all our investigations in the realms of mind,
wc have no knowledge of an instance  where spirit escaped the
body, except by means of thought, idea, or consciousness, until
the moment of  final dissolution.  But through the medium of
idea, feeling, or  clairvoyance, the apparent escape and the seem-
ing independence of the spirit,  are enough complete to impress
both subject and witness with a conviction of absolute certainty.
We held this belief for nearly three years.
    The philosophy  of  mind is the same as the philosophy of a
river  of pure  eternal water.  Man's spirit is a substance, com-
posed of all the  divine essences and principles.  Its conscious-
ness  is the effect of motion, just as the waves of water are the
results of some disturbing force.   The  mind may be quite still
during sleep ; therefore, during sleep, it may be wholly uncon-
scious.  If the substance of the mind is in motion during sleep,
it  will then, of necessity, be both  conscious and dreamful.  It
may,  however, be exalted  into clairvoyance,  so that, through
sight (and  even through  all the spiritual senses,)  the mind
may extend its personality, or consciousness, into new scenes and
associations.
    21 
242           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
Electricity and Phosphorus in Animals.
   An investigator of the faculties and habits of certain fish and
insects, asks to be aided  " by a few impressions on two points :
First, whether the lightning-bug is  endowed with  a power of
collecting and discharging electricity the same as the torpedo or
electric eel, and  second, whether this power is  functionary or
under the control and direction of the fish's and  insects will 1"
   Answer.—These questions reach down  and jut out into the
realm of particulars.   Our impressions may be too  general for
your purpose, but they are at your service.   The lightning-bug,
so called, is capable of generating and emitting light from  the
presence of that mysterious substance which  was  first discov-
ered by the Alchemists, but now everywhere known as Phos-
phorus, an  essential element of all animal organization.  The
generation  and employment  of this phosphorescent light seems
to be subject to the insect's will.  There are  many impressive
instances on record where this fire-fly has destroyed poisonous
spiders and consumed their webs, when the necessity of self-
defense urged the little creature to persistent action.
   But nothing of this is true  when  we come to examine the
means  of  self-defense peculiar  to  the torpedo, ray-fish, elec-
tric  eel,  etc.  With these beings of the ocean, the truth seems
to be,  that, by means of their  digestive membranes, they can
generate and accumulate^the electric fluid in large  quantities.
This they  do  with wonderful rapidity when  excited by either
fright or anger.  The under-skin becomes distended and puffed
like  that which  holds the  quills of the "fretful porcupine."
Thus,  the  electric  eel  is  charged  like the  Leyden Jar, and
can, unlike  the  jar, emit  sparks without coming  in contact
with any other body.  It is now prepared to wage an aggres-
sive war, or  to do battle in obedience to the instincts of  self-
preservation.  Fishes of this class can,  at will, emit sparks in
all directions,  can give  off brilliant emanations,  which  often 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          243
prove  fatal to  the  recipient,  and can direct  the lightning of
their privately-forged thunderbolts, which seldom fail of hitting
the  mark.  The electricity employed is identical with  that
formed in the vital centers of all animal organisms.

Causes  of Hemorrhoidal Infirmities.
    More  than two-thirds  of the sick who write to us for pre-
scriptions  are afflicted with hemorrhoidal troubles, commonly
called " piles," of which  there are  many forms and  painful
symptoms.
    The Cause :  Pathological physiologists have for  a  long
period said that piles are produced by a dilatation of the blood-
vessels in the walls of the rectum ; that the cellular coatings of
the  lower  orifice, by becoming enlarged  and flabby, protrude
and  discharge mucous or blood ; and with  this explanation,  they
have classified piles  as (1)  blind, (2) mucous, (3) bleeding, (4)
excrescential.
   The first form is  known as a thickening  or swelling of the
membranes  and vessels within  the rectum; the second  form is
a discharge of mucous from  what appear to be ulcers, but which
is usually nothing more than a pus exuded from excoriated sur-
faces within the anus  ; the  third  form, attended with pain  and
uneasiness,  is characterized  by a discharge of  blood  during
evacuation ; the fourth form, and by far the most difficult to treat,
is known by the existence  of fleshy tumors  in the upper walls
of the  rectum, flat or  fig-shaped excrescences,  which are com-
monly  removed by surgical  operation.   But we perceive a  bet
ter explanation.
   The causes of piles begin at the brain—in the center of all
energy.  They signify an unbalanced  condition of the nervous
system.  The  registration  of this nervo-disturbance is made
upon the negative side of the circulating system,  namely, upon 
244           THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
the veins, and the local development of the condition is invaria-
bly wherever the body is the weakest.   The disturbance in one
person may be  called " liver disease  ;" in another, " costive-
ness;"  in a third  instance, "apoplexy;"  or  "piles," if the
rectum and lower bowels are the weakest or most taxed part of
the venous system.   That piles originate from mental rather
than from physical  disturbances,  may be easily demonstrated.
Piles may result from anxiety, or sorrow,  or suffering, or  from
long-continued excitement of the  feelings in any direction.
Straining  and anxiety during pregnancy  and parturition  have
frequently brought them on; or occupying the mind with read-
ing papers or books while engaged  in the function of evacua-
tion.  This habit is as dangerous to  the lower intestines and
rectum as it is disgusting  and offensive to every fine sensibility.
It is a very common cause of piles.   Any mental occupation
foreign  to the proper and prompt performance  of the function,
is positively certain to stamp the impress of disease upon the
weakest part; and, inasmuch as,  while  engaged in this particu-
lar function, the  vessels and fibers of the rectum are distended
and principally taxed, so is inattention at the time  most likely
to produce one or more of the above-mentioned forms of hemor-
rhoidal disturbance.                                         •
   It should be  remembered that the veins are negative to the
arteries,  and that mental  disturbances  are more likely to tele-
graph themselves upon the most  negative parts of the venous
system ; which explains why little  children, and even  animals,
are  sometimes victims  of piles and  diseases of the anus.   And
it is  worthy of very particular remark,  that piles are periodical
in their appearance, "painfulness,  and  disappearance.  If, for
example,  you suffered most from them in April, last year, you
will  be very  likely to  experience a return of similar  troubles
about the  same  time this spring.  Or, if  you suffer most  from 
               DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          245

 piles  in the after part of the day, the symptoms will revive
 during the same hours to-morrow ; thus giving your mind the
 impression  that periodicity is a law as much in  disease as in
 health.
     Remedy.—The  treatment  recommended for  this disease,
 is  different in different schools  of medicine.  The  remedies
 are  almost   innumerable,   and   yet,   the  disease  prevails
 throughout  civilization.   Thousands have the piles without
 whispering  the fact to their nearest  friend.  People seem  to
 regard with indelicate suspicion, if not with mortification, cer-
 tain parts and functions of their organization.  Excessive  mod-
 esty is not the sign of intelligence and refinement,  but it is,
 rather, a symptom of conscious embarrassment—a momentary
 loss of self-possession—while in the presence of those who are
 supposed  to think unworthily  of the subordinate functions of
 physical organs.   Intelligence and refinement, instead of mask-
 ing and falsifying themselves  in  furtive glances  and prudish
 expressions, will throw a white halo of significance and respect
 around the least of things.
    Physicians of  every school, when  they  ascertain that their
 patient is afflicted with piles, will  prescribe, in addition to  phy.
 sical  treatment, mental quietude and freedom from muscular
 exertion.  The disciples  of Hahnemann  have  found  sovereign
 remedies for piles in their minute pellets and powders, because
 they very judiciously started with the theory that the disease
 is a spiritual disturbance ; and hence, logically, that prolapsus
 ani and  hemorrhoids will  yield to  the  spiritual parts of  Nux
 vom. and Sulphur, Belladonna,  Arsenicum,  Carbo-ve»et., Mer-
 cur. sol., Ignatia, Cocculus, or  to  the  active principle of some
other remedy or combination in  the pharmacopoeia of infinitesi-
malism.  All the success  of homeopathic physicians, according
to our perception,  is attributable to the practical application of
     21* 
246            THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
a correct theory in their possession, that disease is spiritual in
its origin, and that symptoms, consequently, are the  voices of
the internal disturbances, which  may be  hushed  and forever
silenced by the prompt administration  of whatever they (the
voices,)  infallibly call  for—this,  more  than the " like-cures-
like "  principle, is the central secret of the triumphant progres-
sion of Homeopathy.   But more of this hereafter,  when we
come to write a few  articles  on  the " isms "  in the world of
Medicine.
    In  order to treat piles, or prolapsus ani, successfully, it is
necessary to obey all the  psychological  by-laws, and comply
with all the mechanical conditions which the disease suggests
to the  understanding.  First,  you must  cease straining to dis-
charge the excrementitious  contents of the intestines ; second,
you must conform to rules heretofore given, by which " costive-
ness "  is effectually cured without medicines; third, you must
not occupy your thoughts and dissipate  your Will-power while
performing your bodily functions ;  fourth,  you must not procrasti-
nate the hour of obedience to this demand of your being, but the
utmost system and regularity are  required, and if your daily
labor calls you early, so that you cannot attend to this function,
then adopt  the hour before bed-time as the most appropriate,
and insist upon teaching your  intestines to respond promptly at
this period ;  fifth, if the vessels or lips of  the anus protrude after
the operation, lean forward and push them fully upward within
the orifice,  to  their  proper position.    Never  neglect this
mechanical adjustment of the  fallen  and distended vessels, for
there are reasons why the  contracting muscles cannot always
accomplish this important result.   If the vessels are allowed to
remain without the  rectum  for a few days, they become stran-
gulated and  hardened—perhaps ulcerous and exceedingly sore— 
               DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          247

  so that a surgical operation is sometimes the only way of escape
  from results more serious.
    Ointments and salves are not curative.   They seldom do any-
  thing more than soothe the external  and exposed parts, while
  they almost  certainly inflame the cellular membranes of  the
  rectum.   The drug stores are full of quack  medicines for piles,
  hernia,  &c, not one of which is likely to  accomplish  more than
  temporary relief.  One of the best palliative treatments is that
  of our hydropathic establishments—correct diet, frequent bath-
  ing, and cold water syringes.   But the cure, whenever accom-
  plished,  occurs by and  through the restoration of the primeval
  equilibrium between  the nervous and the venous systems, or,
  more  properly speaking, by establishing  a  balance of the spi-
  ritual forces (dynamics,) in the  circulatory organism,  which
 includes every possible ramification of the veins  and arteries,
 beginning  in the brain, pouring through the moderator,  called
 the " heart," and diffusing its  life-principles  to  the minutest
 bounds of the structural economy.
    Recently our  attention was arrested by the assertion of a
 scientific  gentleman  in this city—one of our first inventors__
 who declared that, without being able  to give  a philosophical
 reason, he  had been cured of piles by simply carrying a horse-
 chestnut in his pantaloons' pocket.   The discovery of this pecu-
 liar power in the horse-chestnut was accidental on the part of
 another  gentleman, who  had been previously  cured.  It was
 found that, so long as he carried the chestnut about his person,
 the piles, although exceedingly annoying  and  painful before,
 were kept in subjection, and at last entirely overcome.
    We have  examined  the  emanations of the  horse-chestnut
 since the  above fact came to our knowledge, and  do  not hesitate
 to prescribe the experiment to  our patients.   Indeed, we do not
recommend it as an " experiment," but  as a remedy ; inasmuch 
248           THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
as the active principle of the nut  is friendly to the removal of
hemorrhoidal swellings ;  but it is not a remedy under violations
of by-laws and conditions already specified.
    The subtile  penetrations of certain metals and plants  are
exceedingly curious  and magnetical.   Much  superstition  and
folly have been developed by too much reliance upon the virtues
of various herbs and mineral bodies.  And yet, there  is a scien-
tific truth at the bottom of all mythology, alchemy, and  astrology.
The ancients were peculiarly, but  often erroneously, impressed
with  the spiritual properties of salts and herbal preparations.
Alchemists, for example, found  much spiritual {i.  e., dynamic
and  psychologic  force or) energy  in what they  termed  the
" Volatile Salt of Vipers."  One writer says: " To judge well of
the effects which this Volatile Salt can produce in our bodies, we
must know its manner of operation, which is to open, to comminute,
to pierce, to attenuate, and to drive to the  extreme parts  of the
body, and through the  pores of the skin, all the impurities and
all the strange bodies that can get  out by those ways.  Further,
it is an enemy to all  corruption—very friendly and  very agree-
able to our nature, which it assists and fortifies, enabling it to
expel, not only by the  pores of the skin, but by siege, and by all
the emunctories of the body,  the superfluous humors  which
molest it; whence it comes to pass, that it produces admirable
effects upon a thousand occasions, curing a great number of
sicknesses, or, at least, giving great relief therein, even in those
that are most refractory and most difficult to cure—such as apo-
plexies, lethargies, convulsions, agues, and many other maladies,
believed to have their  source in the brain."
    With this singular  quotation from one of the ancient alchem-
ists, who was evidently impressed with the aural powers  and
odyllic energies of mineral bodies,  we will conclude—hoping to
hear from correspondents after carrying the horse-chestnut for 
DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          249
a few weeks.   It seems to us that the constant presence of the
chestnut for the cure of particular diseases, will arouse and con-
centrate your pneumogastrical powers.

Piles Cured by  Horse-chestnuts.

                               Fremont, Ind., June, 1861.
   To A. J. Davis : Recently, in conversation with  a gentle-
man  (a mason by trade,) he stated  that, some years  since, he
was attacked with the piles,  which readily disappeared, in con-
sequence (as he verily believes,)  of carrying a horse-chestnut in
his pocket, and continued well  for about five years ; during
which time he carried it (the chestnut,) in his pocket; becom-
ing worn out, he threw it away.   The disease returned in a few
weeks, but was again promptly  removed, by resorting to  the
same remedy,  which he still  uses.                     *
   He also  informed me  that an acquaintance of his (also  a
mason,) related to him a similar experience respecting the sana-
tive influence of this apparently very simple remedy.
                     Truly yours,     S. W. Corein, M. D.

The Cause  and  Cure of Hydrophobia.

   " My Dear Sir : Please inform me, as soon as you possibly
can, what  is the best medicine for .preventing or curing Hydro-
phobia.  Mad  dogs have  been lately very  numerous through
this  neighborhood.    Do, for  humanity's  sake,  inform  your
readers what is the most efficacious  treatment of Hydrophobia,
and  you will, I assure you, be instrumental in saving many of
your fellow beings from misery and  an untimely grave."

   Answer.—The best known natural prevention of the disease
called " Hydrophobia" is, a wholesale destruction of all dogs
in Christendom.  But the pound of "  cure" is more popular.  Of
the s3*mptoms of Rabies in the human being we need not say
anything.   They are, unhappily, familiar to  thousands.   The
poison may remain  latent  in the human body  for days, weeks,
months, and even years, and  then break forth  with all its terri-
ble symptoms of paroxysmal  destruction. 
250          THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
   Treatment.—The wound just made by the bite of a rabid
animal, should be thoroughly and instantly cut open, so that the
vessels will  bleed  freely, and  all the parts should be immedi-
ately syringed or soaked with diluted aqua ammonia (spirits of
hartshorn.)   This remedy will give much pain,  but  it is  of
utmost importance.  It is a good precaution to bind the upper
portion of the wounded limb firmly with a strong ligature, in
order to  prevent  the absorption  of the  subtile  vapor  into
the circulatory-system.   This  bandage  may be safely removed
in a few  hours.   After  thoroughly drenching the wound with
weak spirits of hartshorn (spirits of camphor will sometimes
act as a substitute,) the parts may be drawn together, and  then
carefully covered with arnica court-plaster.   This plaster can
be obtained of any homeopathic physician, and of most drug-
gists.  (Better get the ammonia and the plaster at once, for 'tis
said  that  " a wise man foreseeth an evil and hideth  himself.")
One  thing is  necessary—i. e., a free discharge of venous blood
from  the  parts bitten.   If there is tardiness  in this respect,
apply a suction force to the wound without delay.   All this will
act as a preventive.
   Remedy in Last Stages.—In  case the system is contami-
nated with  the  Rabies,  and the premonitory symptoms of the
culmination  begin to appear, then have nothing whatever to do
with drugs.  Tinctures of scull cap, musk,  elecampane, chick
weed, &c, &c, ad infinitum, are worse than nothing; let calo-
mel, and all the myriad forms  of recommended drugs, entirely
alone ; and instead, put the sufferer into a  very hot vapor bath,
as near 150° Fahrenheit  as possible, and continue the sweating
process for nearly twenty minutes.  After which astonish the
patient with a shower of cold water, and immediately cover him
with blankets in bed.  This will be followed by a desire to drink
Borne cold fluid.   Instead, give a tumblerful of  strong  red- 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          251
pepper tea containing one tea-spoonful tincture lobelia.  (Pro-
cure a bottle of  this tincture now.)  Perhaps a paroxysm will
immediately come on;  if  so, repeat the sweating process, with
even more heat,  if possible, for ten minutes ; then,  as before,
give the tumbler of cayenne tea and the tincture of lobelia.
    It may be necessary to  put the patient four times through
this terrible ordeal.  But as soon as the system is excessively
weakened by the steam process, and the sickness at the stomach
is succeeded with copious vomiting, the crisis is passed, and all
danger of a fatal termination is removed.   While vomiting, it is
well to  give a little spearmint or sage  tea.  If, however, the
paroxysmal indications  reappear, let nothing deter  you from
administering, still more vigorously, complete repetitions of the
course above prescribed.
    In some  incorrigible temperaments the virus of the animal
Rabies resists the most energetic remedies for several hours,
and even days,  especially after the final symptoms  have been
fully  developed.  The snake-stone  of  most countries, and  the
mad-stone, also, will neutralize the psychological vapor of Rabies,
but not unless the individual is aware  that the charm is within
his possession.  For it should be borne in mind that  one-half
of the deaths by hydrophobia, as by cholera, owe their origin to
the erroneous belief of the patient that death is inevitable.

Vapor Baths for Hydrophobia.
    Some  twenty years ago the following case was stated in the
Boston  Transcript: A gentleman suffering  from hydrophobia
conceived the idea of suicide by means of a hot vapor bath.  He
entered the room when the temperature was about two hundred
degree.'', expecting to be suffocated, but soon fell into a profuse
perspiration, and was permanently cured.   Sometimes a sudden
plunge in cold water will break the paroxysm 
252
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
Galen's Remedy for Hydrophobia.
   A favorite remedy for the bites of the  rattlesnake, and in
cases of hydrophobia, was introduced by Galen, under the name
of "  Mad-wort."   The Latin name for it is  " Marrubium Vul-
gare," which, being boiled down and done into plain English, is
the common "Hoarhound,"  so  generally and  wisely used in
cases of coughs and asthmatic affections.  There is, unquestiona-
bly,  a medicinal  quality in this  "mad-wort," which, if persist-
ently used both  in the form of poultices and as a drink, would
neutralize the venomousness of snakes and rabid dogs.  Let
this  be remembered when no other remedy is at hand.   There
is much experience in its favor.

Coup de Soleil,  or Sun-stroke.
   This malady is produced by exposure to the heat of the sun's
rays. It is  a modified form of apoplexy, and is most likely to
attack persons of bad  digestion, or of bilious and intemperate
habits.  The  brain  fever which succeeds  a  sun-stroke, is dan-
gerous.   Prevention is better  than  cure.    Experience  has
shown  [says a military writer,]  that  troops serving in warm
climates greatly need protection from sun-stroke, often quite as
dangerous and fatal as the fire of the enemy.
   The judicious  care and foresight of the British  officers, in
the recent campaigns in India and the Crimea,  protected their
soldiers from the danger, by thick white linen cap covers, hav-
ing  a cape  protecting  the back of the neck, which "reflected,
instead of absorbing, the heat of the sun.
   Farmers and teamsters—indeed every one much exposed to
the  sun's rays  in  mid-summer—might save themselves from
headaches and  sun-strokes by  this  simple cap. Sun-strokes
may also be prevented by keeping a wet handkerchief or napkin
in the hat.  This is the best remedy for any person whose head 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          253
is accustomed to ache while exposed to the sun's rays.  Always
have two or three small holes in the top of your hat.

Proper Amount of Sleep.
    Sleep is of the utmost consequence to the nervous and debili-
tated.   But it should be had at  night or before dinner; not
afternoon, nor at irregular periods.   Henry Ward Beecher hath
well said :  Men vary with regard to the need of sleep.  A ner-
vous man can  get along  with, perhaps, from five to six hours'
sleep, while, perhaps, a phlegmatic man requires to sleep from
eight to nine hours.   The amount of sleep which a man requires
depends upon  his temperament.  It seems strange to  some that
the most active  men  sleep the least.   Men that work fastest
sleep fastest.   A nervous man does  everything quick;  he
sees quick, and hears quick, and steps quick, and works quick,
and  sleeps quick.  He does twice as much in an  hour as a
phlegmatic man, and he only requires half the time in which to
do up his sleep-work that the phlegmatic man does.  Every man
ought, from his own experience, or from the advice of a physi-
cian—one who knows something—to determine what amount of
sleep he needs, and  then take that amount.   He that steals
necessary sleep from the  night, steals from the Lord.   He com-
mits a  theft   for which God will visit him with punishment, in
the shape of suffering and premature old age.

Sleeplessness—its Cause and Cure.
   We  know  a person who  presents a wonderful instance of
wakefulness.   No  medicines  can cause him to  sleep naturally ;
not even  drowsiness  comes  upon  his diseased and tremulous
nerves ; and he is moved in despair to exclaim :
                                " Oh. Sleep:
         Nature's soft nurse ! how have  I frighted thee,
         That thou no more wilt weigh  my eyelids down,
         And steep my senses in forgetfuLuese ?"
22 
254
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
    Cause and Remedy.—The cause of all sleeplessness is insep-
arable from the condition of the ganglionic system.  The centers
of life are temporarily  changed, and  the  mind trembles and
wabbles in its orbit, somewhat as a planet would if thrown from
its  polar relations to the sun.   The Remedy, therefore,  cannot
be found in anodynes, opiates, &c, but in the re-establishment
of the nervous and cerebral motions.  This can be accomplished
by the  " Movement Cure " in some cases; in others, the result
may come on by applying the magnetism of a harmonious and
healthy  operator.  Chronic  wakefulness  may  be greatly  con-
trolled by eating plentifully of onion soup from twice to thrice
per week.  All sedatives, anodynes, and  somnolent medicines,
—such as opium, morphine, laudanum, hasheesh, tobacco, &c.—
are at variance with the  natural  repose of the sympathetic gan-
glia.  The loving and harmonious  are  invariably the sweetest
sleepers; but  the  stoutest slumberers are they who work much
and think  little.

How to Procure Refreshing Sleep.
    An unbalanced condition of the brain and its dependencies
constitutes the  cause of  an  " oppressive  fullness " in  many
cases, and also  explains  the source of much mental fatigue and
bodily weariness, on awakening in the morning.
    Remedy.—Every night, before retiring, subject the posterior
portions of your head to a thorough rubbing, chafing, and smit-
ing, by the hands of another.  While  endeavoring to sleep, do
not forget to breathe fully many times.   The habit of reading
and thinking, or of talking upon any exciting topic, after nightfall,
is never promotive of the physical harmonies.  Extreme sensi-
tiveness, cither physical or mental, should be regarded as amor-
bid condition. 
               DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.         255

 Bad Dreams every Night.
     We know a truly refined and poetry-loving person who is
 troubled nightly with  dreams, the most grotesque and detesta-
 ble.  The case is not unusual.
   Remedy—Do not gratify your appetite with  too many kinds
 of food.   When a  child, you  were injured with affectionate
 expressions in the shape of candy, raisins, nuts, and rich cake.
 Yes,  you were, good patient—don't  deny it.   These are the
 worm-generating "evil spirits "  that now beset you in dreams.
 Sleep  with  your head toward the North Pole  hereafter, and
 always go  to sleep on your right side.  Eat or drink nothing
 after seven o'clock P. M.

 Origin of Physical Beauty.
    A family physican (who is a sort of Abernethy in his  way,)
 says : " You may laugh at me as you like, Miss, but, I tell you,
 it is a positive fact, which you are at liberty to disprove if you
 can, that, when Venus  rose from  the sea, the rising took place
 the very first thing  in  the morning,  or else she never would
 have been the beauty she was !"

 Earth's Polarities  at  Night.
    In this  world, the  external  body is  identified inseparably
 from the spiritual body; that is,  the Motion, Life, and Sensa-
 tion of the latter are distributed throughout the former, as water
 through a sponge ; so  that, whether in sickness or in health,
 the two bodies are practically and consciously one  and the same.
 The distinction between these dissimilar bodies  is realized in
 advance  of  death only by those who enter the  trance, or the
 state of complete clairvoyance.
   All  the  earth's electrical currents flow northward.  These
are cold.  The human brain is supplied with more blood than 
256
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
all  the  body besides.  The head is, therefore, warm and mag-
netic, but sleeping  with  your head northward is best, because
then the earth's cold fluids flow over it, and preserve a healthy
state.  The feet will be warmer in proportion.   While sleeping
with the head southward  has the effect to deprive the extremi-
ties  of  their proper animation, and to fill the brain with extra
heat and uneasy dreams.   East  and North are healthy ;  while
South and West will produce nervous disease in the  sleeper ;
but these remarks apply only to this  latitude and longitude.

The Gospel of Self-Healing.
   As all disease is the opposite of Health, and as all discord
is the opposite of Harmony, so is the power of Health  and Har-
mony identical with that by which disease is maintained.  We
would, therefore, counsel all  fathers and mothers to heal their
children by  " laying on of hands ;" not in anger, but with the
full knowledge that  healthful magnetism is the natural medicine
for  all sick bodies.   The nerves  convey disease or health  in
proportion as they are falsely or righteously influenced.

Unequal  Bodily  Development.
   A correspondent writes a historical statement of his daugh-
ter's physical condition,  which  reveals  a sad case  of unequal
development  of the limbs, to which no ordinary treatment  is
applicable ; but it may be possible to bring the motor nerves  of
such a patient under the control of the will of Indian spirits,  in
which  case  there  are great probabilities of  cure.    Under
ordinary circumstances, however, we  counsel a  castor-oil rub-
bing over the affected parts, every  other  night, with  rapid
manipulations on the neck and across the hips.   Do not despair,
for such a patient may become a light in your home !  We would
not have you  administer any drugopathical preparations. 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          257
 Confidence in  Mother Nature.
   Question.—" Why is it that poets, philosophers, and  men of
 science, as a general thing, discard revealed religion ?"
     Answer.—Minds  that  think  independently  and  with
 becoming care—expanding day by day with the out-flowings of
 facts,  beauties,  laws, and principles—very soon ascertain  that
 God made Reason, and, therefore, did not make an unreasona-
 ble revelation for man's guidance!  God's natural revelation is
 congenial alike  to the  fool and philosopher, to the Hindoo and
 Christian, while man's  written revealments are suggestive  and  *
"spiritual, yet invariably egotistic and uncertain.  Wordsworth
 says :
                      " Nature never did betray
              The heart that loved her ; 'tis her privilege,
              Through all the years of this our life, to lead
              From joy to joy; for she can so inform
              The mind that is within us, so impress
              With  quietness and beauty, and so feed
              With  lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
              Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
              Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
              The dreary intercourse of daily life,
              Shall  e'er prevail against us, or disturb
              Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
              Are full of blessings."
    Put confidence  in your nature, and you  shall be strengthened.
 The gods of the beautiful  Summer World will bless thee.  By
 daily obedience to  the Self-Healing principles of life, thy con-
 dition  will become more  attractive to the  upper good.  The
 Eternal  Father  and Mother of  " spirits " have  written their
 commandments  in the  human  constitution.  Look within  and
upward.  Read  such books only as contribute  to the  sum of
practical wisdom.   Do  not strive  to acquire  knowledge  too
rapidly—think, act, enjoy.
     oo# 
 258           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.

 Remain in your own Climate.
     The climate of Pisa, in Italy, has  been long  considered
 favorable to persons  afflicted with bronchitis and consumptive
 diathesis.   It is very mild and moist, but many times relaxing
 and oppressive, to persons of northern nationalities.  We would
 recommend  you to remain in your own climate, obey the laws
 of Nature, keep your spirit happy by doing good deeds, and take
 those simple remedies prescribed  in this book for consumptive
 conditions.
                    "Oh Health!
           Oh happiness ! our being's end and aim ;
           Good, pleasure, ease, content, whate'er thy name,
           That something, still, which prompts the eternal sigh,
           For which we bear to live, or dare to die."

 Softening of the Brain.
    This condition is very common  ; the heart is proportionally
 hardened.   Professional,  but  more  frequently business men, are
 its subjects.  The  predisposing   cause  is  sumptuous  living.
 After  a morning  fully occupied with business  matters, a man
 comes regularly to a dinner of various and highly-seasoned dishes
 of fish, and fowl,  and flesh,  with  every adjunct  to  excite and
 gratify the appetite.  He  partakes freely  of  food and wine, in
 excess, to be sure, though, perhaps, never  to the  extent of glut-
 tony or inebriety.   The papers are read, cigars  are  smoked, a
 few hours are passed socially, and the evening closes.with a hot
 supper  and  abundant  punch.  If a man living thus continues
 successful in his plans and his business, he may go through life
 with no other physical or mental  infirmity than  the pain  and
 irrascibility of gout, or the  distress  and  gloom of  dyspepsia.
 But  if it be otherwise, if he meet with a  reverse  of fortune, or
 if some grief or chagrin come  upon  him, then he is exceedingly
liable to this fatal disease, which is  the joint product of luxuri- 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          259
 ous living and some torturing  anxiety or disappointment.—See
 Report of Dr. John E. Tyler, Superintendent of the McLean
 Asylum.

 How the Will Acts on Nerve-Centers.
    Physiologists  cannot  determine in  the  living subject  the
 exact condition of the nerve-batteries located at the base of the
 brain and in the spinal cord.   These centers in color are gray,
 derived from  the positive substance of the cord ;  and by fibers
 (or thread conductors,) they communicate with every muscular
 tissue in the  organization.  Your Will can, through the mag-
 netic forces of these centralized  batteries, reach and  ramify
 through  every part.   Practice a few  days, as  we have admon-
 ished you, and your experience will sustain our philosophy.
    Oue correspondent writes that  the Willing-remedy, applied
 to  herself for deafness, has already benefited the parts ;  but
 complains  that the  exertion of Willing, accompanied with  the
 suitable manipulations, has the effect to induce sleep.
    Many patients would be delighted to have similar results
 follow their pneumogastrical efforts.  If, however, every patient
 so  affected would  take a foot-bath  of tepid  water, while in  the
 act  of manipulating  and Willing, we are sure that a  cheerful
 wakefulness and other benefits  will  ensue.

 The Will-energy at  Work.
    See how that fellow works ! (says a writer); no obstacle is
 too  great for him  to surmount; no ocean too wide for him tfi
 leap ; no mountain too high for him to scale.  He will make a
 stir in the world, and no mistake.   Such are  the men who build
 our railroads, dig up the mountains  in California, and enrich the
 world.  There is nothing gained by  idleness and sloth.   This is
a world of action, and to make money, gain a reputation,  and 
260
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
exert a happy influence, men must  be active, persevering, and
energetic.  They must not quail at shadows, run from lions, or
attempt to dodge the lightning.   Go forward zealously in what-
ever you undertake, and we will risk you anywhere and through
life.

The Man who  can Will.
    Mirabeau  said : " Why should we feel ourselves to be men
unless it be to succeed  in everything, everywhere.  You must
say of nothing, That is beneath me, nor feel that anything can be
out of your power.  Nothing is impossible to the man who  can
Will.  Is that necessary ?   That shall be : this is the  only law
of success."   Whoever  said  it, this is in the right key.  But
this is not the tone  and genius of the men in the street.  In the
streets we grow  cynical.   The men  we meet are  coarse and  tor-
pid.   The finest wits have their sediment.  What quantities of
fribbles, paupers,  invalids,  epicures, antiquaries  politicians,
thieves,  and  triflers,  of both sexes, might  be advantageously
spared !  Mankind  divides itself into two classes—benefactors
and  malefactors.  The second  class is vast, the first a hand-
ful.   A person  seldom falls sick,  but the bystanders are ani-
mated with  a faint hope that he  will die :  quantities of poor
lives ; of distressing  invalids ; of  cases for a gun.   Franklin
said :  " Mankind are very superficial and dastardly ; they begin
upon a thing, but meeting with a difficulty, they fly from it dis-
couraged ; but they have capacities,  if they would employ them."
Shall  we, then,  judge  a  country  by the  majority, or by the
minority ?  By the minority, surely.   'Tis pedantry to estimate
nations by the census, or by square miles of  land,  or other
than by their importance to the mind of the time.—Emerson. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         261
 Gall and Spurzheim's Works.
    In the history of the investigations, of phrenological science,
 we first meet with the celebrated Gall.   This physician was the
 first  to make practical observations upon the living brain.   But
 Doctor  Spurzheim's classifications and works have superseded
 those of Gall in popular estimation, because the former was the
 most successful in bringing the facts of  mind  more clearly and
 simply before the world.
    It has been  ascertained that  the front lobe of the brain
 exerts  an influence which  is  invigorating  and refining  to all
 the  senses and the nervous system, but that its effect upon the
 muscular  and  osseous  systems is  somnolent  and debilitating.
 Harmony .is possible only when both brains, back and front, are "
 equally exercised.   (See  "A Remedy for an Unbalanced Body
 and Brain," on another page.)

 What the Will can Do.
   Question.—" Do you mean  to convey the idea that a person
 who has inherited nervous infirmities may ever, by careful, con-
 scientious  use  of the internal,  self-healing powers,  become .so
 ' redeemed and sanctified ' as to have ' a sound mind in a sound
 body  ' ?   Can one with undeveloped concentrativeness make use
 of the practice  recommended in Pneumogastrical remedies ?"
   Answer.—Yes ;  we certainly mean  to  teach that mind is
 destined to stand sovereign master  over  all below its exalted
 plane.  Matter—the  body—is  below  the soul;  therefore  the
soul is capable of instituting an absolute  government. " Prac-
tice makes perfect,"  is an old and a true proverb.  The method
cf applying the Will-power is as simple as walking, moving your
hand,  or speaking, for all such motions are from the Will.   Why
not extend the operations of this  power over all parts of the
dependent  organism? 
262
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
Forms  of Temporary Insanity.
   A Friend of Reform wants to know what medicines or pre-
parations will produce temporary insanity—meaning a mental
derangement of a week or two—and then pass off without entail-
ing disastrous consequences.
   Answer.—There  are  several  medicines, besides alcohol,
capable of inducing an insane condition of the brain.   Our
insane Asylums show that from  one-fourth to one-third of all
cases admitted,  have been made insane  by the habitual use of
alcohol.  This fluid, although  it mixes readily with the serum
(or water) of the blood, never ceases to be alcohol.  It produces
a contraction and condensation of the  tissues, and liberates the
brain for  the time being, very much  to  the enjoyment of the
mind and social feelings ; then ensues the second stage, called
inebriation, or drunkenness, which is  an  insanity, exhibiting a
melancholy  derangement  of  the intellectual  faculties ;  and
lastly, the individual is correspondingly depressed, relaxed in all
the fibers, and rendered unfit  for the manifestation  of  either
mind or muscle.  The middle  stage is productive of all those
oddities and  eccentricities which usually characterize the ine-
briated individual.   Thus, by the temporary insanities produced
by alcohol, we get:
             1.  The Fighting  Drunkard.
             2.  The Social Drunkard.
             3.  The Mirthful  Drunkard.
             4.  The Political  Drunkard.
             5.  The Burly Drunkard.
             6.  The Cowardly Drunkard.
             7. The Melancholy Drunkard.
             8. The Religious Drunkard.
             9.  The Blasphemous Drunkard.
            10. The Voluptuous  Drunkard.
            11.  The Sentimental Drunkard.
            12.  The Beastly Drunkard.
   You will observe that, fundamentally considered, the condi- 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         263

tion of the Drunkard is that of insanity. The variations are trace-
able to the natural propensities of the individual character, which,
at such times, are not modified and controlled by the deeper life
and understanding.  This sort of mental derangement may be
produced  by the administration of a great variety of prepara-
tions.   American  Hellebore  {Veratrum   Viride,)  Henbane
{Hyoscyamus,) Foxglove {Digitalis,) Skunk's  Cabbage {Sym-
plocarpus,) Thorn-apple {Stramonium)  Indian  Hemp {Canna-
bis Indicus,) Tobacco, Prussic Acid, Spurred Rye {Ergot,) &c,
&c,  and yet many other sedatives and inebriants may be men-
tioned, which, given either  in tincture or by decoction, will, if
taken in  continued  or over-doses, produce temporary insanity,
and  many visionary symptoms, always varying with the heredi-
tary characteristics of the individual patient.  The consequences
of temporary insanity are  not necessarily lasting or disastrous.
And yet,  years are sometimes wasted in the effort to restore dis-
eased nerves.

 Brain Rest  Absolutely Necessary.
    Brain rest is sometimes  better than medicine, particularly
 in cases  where the  nervous system is deranged, and the diges-
 tion enfeebled.  We  cannot  promise restoration of a nervous
 patient, even under favorable conditions, in a period of less  than
 six  months.   We counsel you to engage in some employment
 not intellectual,  during the period consecrated  t<3 the process of
 recuperation.   Over 'you, at all  times, is the Summer Land.
 You will receive, if you  deserve, aid and  comfort from its
 inhabitants.

  Cause  of Brain Fits.
   In some cases we detect a diseased condition of the ganglia,
  extending each side of the spinal column.  The upper portion 
264          THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
of the spinal cord, the medulla oblongata, is enlarged as by an
inflammation in its  substance.  The motor nerves are, conse-
quently, disturbed ; the right side being sometimes  more dis-
eased than the left, imparting an involuntary wish and tendency
to roll or whirl as an amusement.   As the nerves of seeing, and
hearing, and tasting, arise near the diseased parts, it is but rea-
sonable to expect that these senses will be gradually impaired.
    Remedy.—There are but two paths of approach to the  seat
of the disorder—one, through the nerves of the stomach ; the
other, through  the  spinal  column.   Raw  onions should be
applied externally over the stomach every day, in the  form  of a
poultice ; also a small one, well macerated or grated, should be
administered every morning and  evening, mixed in molasses if
desired. Magnetic treatment is capable of reaching the throne
of the  disturbance, through the  spinal column.  It should be
used faithfully, with the human hand.  It is necessary to keep
the patient's head erect, or in a natural position, which may be
effected by girdling the neck with a hair cushion.

Treatment for Epileptic. Fits.
    Fits of  unconsciousness  are caused by a  sudden strangula-
tion in  the  nervous  circulation, which, from many causes, may
take place along the track of the  Pneumogastric nerves, some-
where between  the brain and the bottom of  the stomach.   An
account of synrptoms is deemed unnecessary.
    Remedy.—The philosophy of curing this frightful malady is
simply  the  removal of the  tendency to arterial strangulation,
and the consequent nervous suspension  in the route of  the sym-
pathetic and pneumogastric nerves.  An equal distribution of
the vitalic forces is absolutely necessary.   We, therefore, coun-
sel you never to yield to the temptations of your appetite, to
over-eat or  to drink largely of any fluid.  When a fit of hunger 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         265
overtakes you, beware ! for even  then  inverted Nature is pre-
paring to adjust itself by a shock called  " epilepsy."   This sur-
prise  of the nervous system  is accomplished by the righteous
operation of long unbalanced forces.  But, unhappily, if Nature
does  not attain her balance by a few  shocks, the tendency is
toward a greater loss of equilibrium in the brain and its rami-
fied influences.  Therefore, a gradual failure of memory and of
intellectual  vigor, even to imbecility, are the resulting conse-
quences.
    We make these remarks in order to enforce the import-
ance on parents, and mankind generally,  of early attention to the
fundamental causes of this malady.   Remove the nervous stran-
gulation, and instantly all the symptoms will  depart; and the
same  is  philosophically true of all  nerve-pain, cramp, spasms,
and paroxysmal affections.   But in advanced stages of this  dis-
ease,  the treatment must  be  varied to suit temperaments and
occupations.  In every case of long-standing, we prescribe butter
milk, whenever the thirsty symptoms begin, and it may be drank
plentifully in response to the extra sensations of hunger.  Wear
a  compress  or bandage of either crushed wormwood or life-
everlasting around the waist every night. During the day wear a
little  linen sack of equal parts of powdered belladonna and iron-
rust  directly on the pit of  the stomach.  Do not fear the pro-
gress of this disease after you adopt the means of overcoming
the causes in the arterial and nervous systems.

Fits  of Indigestion.
    Sometimes what is termed "Falling Sickness"  is caused
by a  peculiar kind  of  indigestion.  In such  case, the  disease
becomes sympathetic with the digestive functions, and may be
controlled mainly through the pneumogastric nerves.
    Remedy.—Never eat out of season ;  nor  between meals ; not
      23 
266           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
even an  apple  or a few nuts.  No fruit or berries for supper.
A rigid system  of hygiene must be enforced by the authority of
your will and reason.  Make  the following  paste :  Powdered
leaves of stramonium, one ounce; flower of sulphur, two ounces ;
Spanish fly {cantharides,) powdered, twenty grains ; iron filings,
one ounce ; and a small piece of burgundy pitch.  Amalgamate
these ingredients over a slow fire by stirring constantly.  Put
about one-quarter of this magnetic paste  into a thin kid sack,
and wear it next to  your body, immediately over the pit of  the
stomach.   It should be renewed about once in every six weeks.
This, in  connection with  your Will-power and correct habits,
will cure.
   More than half of your distressing infirmity is caused by a
j oriodical stagnation of nutrition in the small intestines.   The
fJiyle is not appropriately absorbed through the mesenteric sys-
tem.   The sympathetic and  pneumogastric  nerves enter their
just complaint at  the throne,  and  seek from the brain (and  the
mind,) a  full  recognition of their wrongs, and plead for ample
reparation:   The  effect  of  this  struggle  is   a prostrating
paroxysm.

Brain Fits and  Incipient Epilepsy.
  " Some two  or  three  hours after eating (says a correspond-
ent,) frequently,  my eyes  begin to blur, and  after  awhile I
become quite deranged, very nervous, and at times so nervously
excited that  it would  take ten men to hold me. These par-
oxysms will last about an hour, when I am suddenly relieved, and
become exhausted  and weak, perspiration  will roll off me,  and
my nervous system is all unstrung.   The only relief I have ever
found has been  obtained by eating !  Eating  will stop  the trou-
ble,  if done when my eyes begin to blur ; though lately that has
not had  so good  an effect as  formerly.  I  have increased very
much in flesh within a  few years."
    Remedy.—The  case is similar to one we treated and cured
in 1847.  Memory brings back every internal fact of the patient. 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          267
There was a disease all through  the  mesenteric system.  The
lacteal vessels refused to drink up the chyle at the right hour ;
the sympathetic nerves promptly reported the rebellion at the
brain ; the brain sent dispatches over the pneumogastric nerves
that the digestive  collections  must go forward ;  and so ener-
getically  did  Nature insist and persist,  that  the patient  was
thrown  into violent paroxysms—incipient epilepsy.   Our treat-
ment was very simple, and the  same is adapted to many persons
—viz :  Take the extract of chamomile, half a drachm ; camphor,
ten grains ; cayenne pepper, one scruple.   Of these substances,
well mixed, make seventy pills.  Take two about an hour after
breakfast and dinner for one week.  Subsequently take but one,
and only when the  symptoms   re-appear.   Use the Will-power
energetically.

Philosophy of Neuralgia, or Nerve-pain.
    Very many suffer from periodical attacks of this indescriba-
ble pain.   Sometimes the distress fixes upon nerves within the
stomach, in the left side, and  often the pain is most unendura-
ble in the forehead, behind the eyes, showing  that there is an
exact correspondence between different sections  of the lower
organism and different strata of the brain.  Thus : If the bow-
els  are diseased, the base of  the brain  is  disturbed, and the
patient suffers alternately in both regions ; in like manner, the
middle portions of the brain sympathize with all derangements
of the liver and stomach ; and in consumption, as in all cases
of bronchial irritation and debility,  the  superior parts of the
brain are involved  in more or less disturbances.  For this cause.
as general observation  declares, all consumptives  are  more
hopeful and less desponding  during the several stages of the
malady than patients afflicted with  any other known  disease.
This is true, because the superior organs of the brain are affected 
268            THE  HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
and stimulated to activity whenever the upper part of the lunga
are diseased.
    With  these  explanatory  remarks,  we call  attention to the
causes of nerve-pain, and  affirm that no human being can expe-
rience any  such pain unless there  be first a compression or
embarrassment somewhere in the functional or circulatory sys-
tem, by which the blood has been forced into some capillary or
hair-like vessels, thus tying up, or ligaturing, so to say, some
of the important nerves which convey the elements of vital-life
from  the  brain-batteries  to  the  different organs  in the bodily
structure.   And, therefore, no  one can ever be perfectly cured
of what is termed " neuralgia," until  the  circulatory systems
are in perfect running order.  Not a particle of bile, of broken-
down blood, or of unworthy material, must float in the empire
of veins and arteries.  All magnetic-passes, all  palliative mix-
tures, all nursing, and petting, and waiting " patiently " for  the
pain to subside, will  amount to almost nothing.   If  Nature is
able to restore the balance of circulation, with or without medi-
cines, the  patient is suddenly relieved and cured ;  but if  the
internal ligaturing of nerves by the blood-vessels is established,
then, alas  ! the victim is destined to be a sufferer of pains, more
or less endurable and aggravating, for months or years, or until
the angels unlock " life's flower-encircled door," to show  the
worn-out pilgrim of earth  the holy scenes of the Summer Land.
    Remedy.—Many plans may be adopted to restore the arterial
and venous circulation to  a perfect balance.  The Thompsonians
and Hydropathists are about equally successful in accomplishing
this result.  They  sometimes  cure  severe  cases,  as do  the
Homeopathists also, with a marvellous degree of celerity  and
completeness; but we know of instances of incorrigible nerve-
pain, wherein the chieftains of every system of medicine,  and
even Nature herself, gave the  patient over to the law of Pro- 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          269

gression, which steadily  marches through the tomb.   The law
of Cure, however, is as  plain as the  eleventh commandment,
viz : Establish  an  equality  of  operations  between part  and
part.   That  is,  equalize  the   bodily  temperature ; distri-
bute the  activities of the heart, and brain, and stomach ;  and
then, having liberated the nerves from their special embarrass-
ments, the patient will experience instant relief; and, with care,
the sufferer may  never have a return of the indescribable ago-
nies of neuralgia.
   Let all patients, suffering with  this nerve-pain, commence
at once to take  two thorough bodily sweatings  every day, either
by means of vapor baths, or by packing in many folds of cotton
and woolen quilts.   It will  be necessary to  drink some very
warming  tea, such  as  Crawley,  or  Ginger and Red-pepper, in
order to facilitate the process of perspiration.  The entire body
should be bathed with bay-rum,  or with weak  vinegar and salt,
immediately after the sweating, which should continue at least
fifteen minutes.   The  patient should invariably wear sheepskin
moccasins at night,  and  during the day also, if the pain threat-
ens to return.

Drug Treatment for Neuralgia.
    Some time  since we published a  recipe to cure neuralgia.
Half a drachm of sal ammonia in  an ounce of camphor water, to
be taken a tea-spoonful at a time, and the dose repeated several
times, at intervals of five minutes, if the pain be not relieved at
once.  Half a dozen different persons have since tried the recipe,
and, in every case, an immediate cure was effected.  In one, the
sufferer, a lady, had  been subjected to acute  pains for more than
a week, and her physician was unable to alleviate her sufferings,
when a solution  of  sal ammonia in camphor water relieved her
in a few minutes.—Med.  Journal.
     23* 
270
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 Remedy for a Sudden Neuralgia.
    In cases of violent attacks of nerve-pain in neck, teeth, face,
 e'.rs, and head, we recommend the following mixture ; Wine of
 f pium, 30 drops;  sulphuric ether, 1 scruple ;  fluid extracts of
 •elladonna and yellow jessamine {i, e., gelseminum,) of each 1
 Irachm ; put into  1 ounce of lavender water.  Saturate a linen
 cloth with this mixture, and apply it for an hour or  more over
 the region of the  pain.

 Spasms, Periodical.
    In such cases there is much irritation in the medulla oblon-
 gata—meaning that portion  of the spinal cord which is situ-
 ated within the bones of the skull—and the tendency is to  the
 rapid  development of tubercles.   The patient is subject to
 spasmodic fits about  every ten  days, preceded by  a  craving
 appetite, hot head, cold extremities, and  sallow  complexion.
 The patient may be fleshy, and well developed in physical pro-
 portions, and yet in general health be  very unsound.
    Remedy.—Watch  the approach  of the  premonitory symp-
 toms.  Face them resolutely, and work to bring  about a bal-
 ance of temperature.   Wrap  the feet and legs in many folds of
 flannel.  If they do not freely perspire, but are only hot on the
 surface, then chafe them with a little flower of mustard before
 enveloping with flannel.   Stop all food of every kind, except a
 little porridge, full twenty-four hours before the spasms usually
appear.  During the crisis, let the patient rest on a  small pillow
filled with hops and a  little  camphor.
A Passive  Use  of the Pneumogastric  Remedy.
   Mr. Davis :  Allow me to give a testimony concerning that
which has proved of much benefit to myself, and might be of use
to ethers.  I tried your first general directions for  the appli-
cations of the Will-power (given in your Herald of Progress,
 }f June, 18&0,) but without receiving any  benefit.  Being sus-
ceptible to influences of spirit-mind,  I  got the impression that I
ehould assume the  passive instead of the positive condition, and
become as negative as possible,  observing  the same rules of 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.           271
 time, &c, as you directed.   I soon felt the recuperative powers
 of  my system becoming active.   Six months have passed, and
 I have been gradually, but steadily, gaining all that time.
    I reason of the  change in this wise :  Mine being an  active
 positive temperament, the AVill-power  had  exhausted  or over-
 taxed those faculties or organs of my system which were  neces-
 sary to convey the life principle  to the diseased parts ;  conse-
 quently, passivity, rest, and the influx  of  spirit-power which I
 invoked at the time, and  very perceptibly felt, was best adapted
 to my condition.     Thine, for truth and investigation,
                                            Mary M. Bishop.

 There is  a Purpose in  Pain.

    We have, from the first, described  "pain" as the language
 of discord in the  soul-principle ;  it is the voice of divine  life in
 man, crying for  health  and happiness.   It seems that  Owen
 Meredith does not teach differently.  He says :
                   " There  is purpose in pain;
         Otherwise it were devilish.  I trust in my soul
         That the Great Master Hand which sweeps over the whole
         Of this deep harp of life, if at moments it stretch
         To shrill tension  some one wailing nerve, means to fetch
         Its response the truest, most stringent, and smart,
         Its pathos the purest, from out the wrung heart,
         Whose faculties, flaccid it may be, if less
         Sharply strung, sharply smitten, had fail'd to express
         Just the one note the great final harmony needs.
         And what best proves there's life in a heart ?—that it bleeds I
         Grant a cause to remove,  grant an end to attain,
         Grant both to be just, and what mercy in pain!
         Cease the sin with the sorrow!  See morning begin 1
         Pain must burn itself out if not fuel'd by sin.
         There is hope in yon hill-tops, and love in yon light,
         Let hate and despondency die with the night!"

Remedy  for Pain  in the  Face  and Neck.

    In reply to  the  questions  of  many  correspondents,  we
republish  the following:  Extract  of  cicuta and  stramonium,
each five grains ; laudanum, half an ounce ;  brandy, two ounces ; 
272
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 Put  these  ingredients together, and add one ounce of alcohol;
 then warm  and shake the composition until its constituents are
 in a complete state of amalgamation.  (Get  the  medicine and
 keep it in the house.)
    Directions.—Bathe  under  and behind the ear, under the
 jaw, on the  cheek over the aching teeth, and put a piece of cot-
 ton, saturated  thoroughly with the liquid, into the ear ;  change
 this  frequently, continue to bathe as directed, and relief will
 almost immediately follow.

 Pain in the Neck of Housekeepers.
    There is a wonderful network of glands, batteries, and life-
 conductors, or nerves, in the back parts and at the sides of your
 neck, which are  disturbed  by clogging matters whenever you
 have over-exercised about the  house.  The  true remedy con-
 sists  in bathing your neck and back-head thoroughly every morn-
 ing, in pure cold water; to be  followed by self-manipulations
 and gymnastic exercises.  Squeeze your throat whenever it is
 threatened with soreness, and gargle with red-pepper.  Chew a
 few chamomile flowers before breakfast.

 Remedy for Pain in the Joints.
    The causes of such pains and lameness are entirely " too
 numerous to mention."   We will tell you how to remove every
 pain  and  ache, which originates from rheumatic and negative
 conditions in the joints, or from a sudden sprain and local tension
 of the tendons near a socket.  Make a powerful decoction of
 burnt coffee, say half a pint; to which add four ounces of chloro-
form, and one ounce of cajaput oil.  This magnetic wash should
be kept tightly bottled, and  used very sparingly; a few drops
at a time on the parts affected, to be followed immediately with
manipulations for ten or fifteen minutes. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          273
 Sciatica Neuralgia.
    This is a disease of the sacro-sciatic nerve.   The pain, lame-
 ness, and  special symptoms,  may exist  independently of other
 nervous derangements. We have examined numerous cases of this
 kind, but never have found what some physicians term an inflam
 mation of the nerve ; although, in many instances, the neurilemma
 (or nerve-sheet,) has been considerably  enlarged  by an excess
 of fibril heat.  The  nerve-pain is principally owing to a sort of
 strangulation of the nerve itself.   The life-principles of health
 and vigor cannot freely circulate through their appropriate con-
 ductors.   Sciatic  pain, or rheumatic  neuralgia, is  a  common
 effect from  such  conditions.  There is no quicker or shorter
 road to take to reach healthy conditions, than that of hand-
 friction and magnetization.  The parts need to be rubbed vigor-
 ously, and then manipulated, every day.  When the pain  is
 severe, apply a poultice of burnt salt and baking soda—one tea-
 spoonful of the latter to  four table-spoonfuls of salt—mixed in
 a sufficient quantity  of common meal.

 Pain Between the Shoulders.
    Your excruciating shoulder-pain is caused by a derangement
 of  the  hepatic  functions.  The pneumogastric nerves report
 your liver  disturbances  in  the shape of  pain, and a fatiguing
 ache on the right shoulder, near the neck.  The nerves of the
 head sympathize and throb with the confusion of sensations in
 the system.
    Remedy.—Adopt the  Will-cure  at  once.   Straighten the
 body, and  breathe deeply several times in the fresh  air before
 breakfast, which  should  consist only of  one boiled egg and  a
 piece of  stale bread.  Not  more than  one cup of any warm
 drink.   Practice  throwing your arms backward, and, meantime,
give your  shoulders a variety of sidewise and churning motions. 
274
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
Indigestion is the main cause of the whole disturbance.  Let some
good friend pound and pommel you about the waist before going
to bed.

Pain in the Right Side.
   As a general remedy for right-side pains, we recommend a
thorough manipulation of the left side, from the shoulder down
to the hips, so as to affect the action of  the spleen, kidney,
heart, stomach, and intestines.   These organs  and parts,  by
being invigorated  and surcharged with functional activities, will
send aid and health to the suffering on the opposite side.   This
is the best  method, often, when one side  is healthy and the
other diseased.  Surcharge  the  healthiest parts, and  they will
naturally magnetize their  disabled  neighbors in the visceral
cavity.

Sudden Pain in  the Breast.
   This peculiar pain is caused by a sudden compression of small
vessels, accompanied with the generation and confinement of air in
the cellular tissues, all which indicates a weakness in your general
system.  The best treatment for immediate  relief is a thorough
steam-bath ; keep up the sweating for many hours, by means of
hot bottles, &c, and the use of crawley tea.   Wear a very warm
garment or bandage  of lamb's skin next to your body  in winter.
Frequent  sweating will aid you;   always  avoiding  sudden
changes :  and exercise in the house when yo-u cannot go  out.

Deficient  in the Cords of the  Leg.
   A mother states that her daughter, ten  years of age, is defi-
cient in the  cords  of one leg.   The muscle is not fully devel-
oped, the foot turns in a little, and there is every indication that
the tendons, toward the extremities of the muscles of the limb,
are deficient and nearly  useless. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         275
   Remedy.—It should be remembered that the muscles  and
tendons are like so many ropes and cords, by which parts of the
body are changed or kept in proper position ; and, further, that
every muscle  is  compounded of many fibers, very delicate in
material and structure, which  are fed by the brain-life through
the nervous system.  The true remedy for a deficient muscle,
therefore, is to be found in the brain  of its possessor.   Tell the
patient,  then,  to fix the  mind  on the parts  which  are to be
restored, and next, to  throw a volume of WILL into  the cords
of the weak and trembling limb.  Take each step with  great and
firm resolution, and stop walking the moment the resolution is
weakened.   To strengthen the general  system, and to prevent
spasms, we prescribe a bowl of wild cherry tree bark tea, for a
few weeks, to be drank between Mondays and Wednesdays.

Hot Head and Feverish.
   A friend writes : " My head is hot and feverish most of the
time ; my  stomach  is  very much  out of order ;  also my liver
and kidneys are somewhat affected;  in fact, I am diseased all
over."  Remedy.—Use the Will-power, as heretofore described;
correct your  daily habits of eating ; and take the  following
"rough  and ready" remedy: Two  gallons  of old cider;  add
half a pound of rusty nails, and half an ounce  of  rhubarb-root.
Let this preparation tincture  for one week.  Dose.—Take one
wine-glassful immediately on rising  in the morning.   Add one
more gallon of cider in a few days.  Eat plenty of stewed apples
and  bread for  breakfast; no  meat until dinner; never drink
anything intoxicating.

Remedy for "Lock-jaw."
    The terrors of tetanus may be dissipated by a strong, steady-
nerved magnetizer.  The  disease is  not necessarily dangerous. 
276          THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
 It may be controlled by magnetizing the feet  into a perspira-
 tion,  and by administering  the  homeopathic  preparation  of
 Aconite  and Belladonna alternated, or Mezereum and Merci-
 urius, thirty minutes  apart, for  six hours.  There are several
 methods of relaxing the contracted fibers, but we would place
 magnetic treatment before all the rest.

 Remedy for a Stiff Ankle.
   A  patient writes an account of his stiff ankle, which  has
 been disabled and troublesome for about three years.  There is
 a hard swelling on the outside of the joint, as large as a hen's
 egg ;  and a kind of puff swelling on the inside ;  with much pain
 and wasting away of the limb.  Remedy.—Adopt the system of
 diet recommended for patients afflicted with itch or erysipelas.
 Frequently  lay the hands  on the parts affected, thus open the
 pores  of the  skin to  let the disease  escape, and  keep up the
 operations every  day  until the  swellings  disappear.   Apply
 nothing else during the day-time.  Every night put your foot
 into essence of peppermint and  sweet oil,  bathe the swellings
 thoroughly, and then envelop the parts in cat's  or woodchuck's
 fur.  Use the entire skin with the fur next  to the ankle.

 Membranous Rheumatism.
   There is a neuralgic disease of the membrane about the
 bones.   This  affection  is known  by exquisite sensitiveness  of
the limbs and joints, with occasional pain of the severest kind,
but with little or no swelling of  the parts and joints so suffer-
ing.  Remedy.—Take as much bodily exercise as possible with-
out incurring excessive fatigue, and this every day.   After such
a walk, or (which is far better,) work out in the  sun until quite
warmed up, cover the affected parts with a preparation of soap,
cayenne pepper,  lobelia, and camphor.  Thus : One pound of 
DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          277
 common soap;  one  tea-spoonful of red jepper; two ounces of
 fine-cut  tobacco  (or lobelia;) one table-spoonful of powdered
 camphor.  Add water  enough  to blend these articles together
 over a slow fire.  When cold, it should be of the consistency of
 common paste.   Give  the rheumatic  parts  a  coating of  this
 paste, and wrap them up, excluding the air, with thin leather or
 oiled silk.   A great  fact in all rheumatic affections, is inactivity
 of portions of the system.  Bring all parts into action as rapidly
 as possible.  Use such articles of diet as will keep the bowels
 alive every  day.  Avoid all  narcotizing  remedies.   Opium,
 internally, is no friend  in this disease ; it gives you  a  ticket
 from Bad to Worse; better  purchase  a passport to the  High-
 lands of Happiness.   Work your passage !   Examine  the laws
 of health  relative to  diet, and  do not dare to act contrary to
 your best light.

 Remedy for  Periodical Rheumatism.
    Prepare the  following magnetic liniment: Oil of hartshorn,
 Of mace, and of lavender, of each  four ounces ; stir them into  a
 prepared mixture composed of  one pint  of alcohol  and  the
 whites of six eggs perfectly amalgamated.   On the first sensa-
 sation of uneasiness  of the rheumatism, give the parts a  severe
 hand-chafing at night.  It would be far better to get a friend to
 curry you  down, and dress the  affected members from top to
 bottom, as you would manipulate  the limbs of a favorite trotting
 horse.  Then apply  the  magnetic liniment in small quantities
 When the pain becomes severe, use the mixture twiee or thric«
 per day; but it will be  necessary at such  periods to sleep in
 tightly-fitting flannel garments.
 Periostitis and Headache.
   There is more than  one beloved patient who is strong-bodied.
yet remarkably sensitive and weak-headed ; not  in the intellect
      24 
278
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
ual part, but  in  the  fibrous membranes, which  clothe the sur-
face of the bones.  The head will ache, and the teeth also, even
when  the general health is  sound.   Shall we name  it " Peri-
ostitis" ?  meaning a  rheumatic inflammation of the Periosteum.
Yes, that term is sufficiently descriptive of the  seat and  cause
of frequent headaches.  In  such a case, put cold water behind
your  ears, and  on the back of your head and neck, before you
bathe  any other part  of your body, each morning.   Do not wet
the top and front of your head.  Keep these portions dry in the
morning.
Nervous Burnings and Pain.
    It is not uncommon for an American woman to displace some
of those  physical energies that are necessary to the possession
of harmony and happiness.  She is excessively nervous at times.
But anodynes and sedatives are not the remedy.   For the pain-
ful and burning symptoms she should use no preparations in the
shape of  stimulating washes.  Her pathway to Health  leads
through obedience to  the pneumogastric and self-magnetic reme-
dies.  It will be necessary for the patient to retire very early,
supperless, and without warm drinks of any kind.  For break-
fast and dinner, she may eat and  drink whatever and as  much
as her appetite and reason will honestly prescribe.   About two
hours after dinner, each day, it will be necessary for friendly hands
to rub and pommel the patient, as hard and rapidly  as possible,
without severe pain, upon the neck and shoulders, down the entire
Bpine, and all the way around the waist.  Meantime, remember,
full respirations are necessary. Magnetism, alone, would amount
to nothing to one in such a condition.  The patient needs the bene-
fits accruing mainly from vigorous mechanical pressure and judi-
cious  buffetings.  But these latter remedies will also prove non-
availing and injurious, unless bestowed by the hand of benevo-
lence and sympathy. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          279
Weakness and Emaciation.
   A correspondent  writes  that his companion " is  tall  and
slender, very poor in flesh, but rich in spirit;  she has  a lively,
intelligent  mind, quick of  perception; and is  as good a wife,
and judicious a mother as  can  be found."  But she is  afflicted
with a  general  incapacity of the muscular system.   He says :
" She is a  strange compound of strength and weakness.   She
bathes with water every day ; eats no animal food ; works hard ;
can easily walk three miles per day ; has a good digestion ; good
white teeth ; regular bowels ; regular and painless in her men-
struation ; warm feet, etc.; yet feels excessive  weakness ; faints
sometimes ; small appetite ;  dandruff  on her  head ;  is very
emaciated  and weary; slightly inflamed eyes;  white, odorless
discharge, in small quantities, from the vagina ; is troubled with
a sleepy feeling, but never with any such thing as depression of
spirits,  for she is a Philosopher '"
   Remedy.—There is a  sure  medicine for the emaciation  and
Bymptoms above described,  which  are not uncommon among
women  in  this  country.   It will consist of dietetic influences
for the  invigoration of the  absorbent and  secretory systems.
There is a deterioration in the constituents of the blood. There
is no want  of iron in the system (for the bile is  sufficiently
charged with ferruginous elements derived from milk, eggs,
water, and vegetables,) and yet there is a want of appropriating
power in the alimentary canal and symphatic absorbents gener-
ally.   And to set the entire  system in good  working order,
than which the music of the  spheres may not be more harmoni-
ous, we recommend  for  breakfast, one  soft boiled egg, with
bread and butter,  and one small glass of  strong beer.  With
your dinner (which may be composed of anything you wish suit-
able for the season,) drink a tumbler of weak tea of wild cherry
tree bark.  For supper, which should not include fruit or cakes,
you  may drink  a cup of Homeopathic chocolate. Experience
has proved that a person thus afflicted, may  eat all kinds of
light  bread and biscuit not  containing potash, soda, or other 
280           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
similar ingredients, and not too fresh ;  cakes composed of meal,
eggs,  sugar, and a little butter ; buckwheat  cakes  not raided
with fermenting powders ;  light puddings and dumplings of
wheat, Indian meal, rice, oatmeal or bread, without wines, spices,
or rich sauces; hominy, Indian mush, rye mush, groats, pearl
barley, potatoes, turnips, carrots, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower,
asparagus, green or dried peas or beans.  It will be necessary
to use vaginal syringes,  two or three times per week, of strong
motherwort  decoction,  or warm water  containing from three
to five drops of sulphuric acid.

Remedy for  Weakness and Pain.
    This unbalanced condition between the sensory nerves ar.d
the nerves of motion, may be overcome by establishing an equal
circulation  of  the magnetic  energies  between the brain and
extremities.   This equilibrium can be accomplished only by
and through a persistent  course of magnetic treatment.   You
should be pounded, rubbed, manipulated, and  lastly, oiled from
head  to feet, at least once a day for many weeks.  Home is the
best place.

Treatment for Painless Paralysis.
    Symptoms  of paralysis in one or both limbs, affecting the
face  and brain, call for continuous magnetic  treatment.  The
blessings of health will flow through  man's form much quicker
and more permanently  under the proper external circumstances.
But there is another method which may reach many sufferers,
viz :  Take one-third pound opium, macerate (soften,) it in  suffi-
cient water  for two or three  days, occasionally working it over
with  the hand.  Then  add muriate of ammonia, one ounce ; oil
of cinnamon, or of cloves, two ounces ;  alcohol, one  pint.  Mix
thoroughly and add one pint of water    Dose.—A very little of 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         281
 this preparation will penetrate the magnetic membranes of the
 entire system.   It  must always be used externally, and in con-
 nection with olive oil in case the smarting is too severe.   The
 spine should be bathed with this tincture once a day, from the
 neck downward—then your arms and legs—concluding by bath-
 ing the soles of the feet thoroughly.  We pray that the watch
 ing angels will extend healing hands to every Brother.


 Remedy for a Multitude  of Sins.

    A patient says : " About three years ago I got under what is
 called  ' conviction for sin.'  My feelings were horrible beyond
 the power of any pen to describe.   Such feelings continued for
 six months, until my mind was  almost lost and my body shat-
 tered.   .   .  .  Spiritualism has done wonders for me mentally,
 but the body is afflicted as follows :  1st. Nervousness.  2d. Pain
 in the  region of the kidneys  and across the  small of back.
 3d. Great prostration and general weakness.   4th. Fever most
 of the time, nearly always after dinner.  5th. Headache, gloomi-
 ness of mind,  disposition  to  look  for evil.   6th. Costiveness,
 heat in head, face often flushed, pain in legs, sweat  under the
 arms all the  time, but not any  other part of my body."   This
 catalogue, though brief, covers the symptoms of very many of
 our countrywomen, and  there  are also  diseased men, who have
 the most afflictive disturbances, including  horrible  feelings
 developed by " conviction of sin."

   Remedy.—Stop  voluntary sinning from this hour, and your
 mental condition will improve wonderfully fast.   As a medicine,
 eat nothing between breakfast  and supper ; never eat  any  bread
fresh baked; no  pancakes  or  salted food of any description ;
 with this understanding, we will prescribe for you—for every-
body with  these  symptoms—the following Chylifier:  Cinnna-
mon bark and  nutmegs, bruised, of each one table-spoonful;
 cardamon  seeds,  horse-radish,   ginger-root,  mandrakes,  and
Turkey rhubarb, powdered, of each  two table-spoonfuls ; let all
these macerate—that is, soften and dissolve in water sufficient
     24* 
282
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
to cover them and more—for twelve days, in a light vessel, then
strain and add two quarts of cider brandy or half a pint of alco-
hol.   Use this remedy without sweetening, if you possibly can.
Dose.—A tea-spoonful, with or without water, at the usual din-
ner hour, and the same  on retiring  for the  night.  In some
cases  the dose may be doubled: not, however,  if the feverish-
ness is increased thereby.   Take a warm  water wash-off, or a
thorough steam-bath, once every week, for a while.

Resignation as a  Medicine.
   The initiatory step toward a cure,  in many nervous diseases,
is resignation.  Your body and all its nerves will improve when
your  mind voluntarily yields allegiance to existing conditions.
Do so at once.  Will yourself into a  state of comparative care-
lessness.   Become passive and  resigned—not because of the
necessity, but from wish  and intention.  It is a sad spectacle to
behold a  human soul compelled  by disease to be passive and
tranquil.   Such is hopelessness and frail weakness. Perhaps this
is not yet your condition.   Listen, therefore, and be strong in
your weakness.  Resign virtuously and beautifully out of the still
fountains of prayer and will.   We style this course the first step
to physiological  restoration.   We do not counsel you regarding
food, sleeping, clothing, water, &c, for all these things you may
have attended to from your youth upward.   Only this : Resign
while  you can.   Allow yourself to become an invalid.  Have the
luxury of doing while you  may before yielding because you
must.  Observe, now, that we teach  you to be passive spiritu-
ally, and  thoughtless  as to the action of medicines, and indiffer-
ent whether   you get well or  go hence.   Yet you  should
exercise  early every  stormless morning.  Return and resign to
rest;  the manipulations  will  benefit you.  Let some friendly
hand give your body a thorough castor-oil rubbing once a week; 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          283
use flannel  cloths only on parts of your body most sensitive
while exposed to the cold air.

Remedy for a  Failing Memory.
    Several correspondents  have  written  for  prescriptions
adapted to restore the memory.  We will answer all of them, in
general terms, that failing of the powers of memory is a symp-
tom of inactivity and decay in the thought-substance on the sur-
face of the brain.  The true remedy consists in a reinvigoration
of the digestive  organs by a temperate use of food.  It will  help,
to sponge off the surface of the body in cold water every morn-
ing.  Great care must be instituted about the appetite.  Thou-
sands eat themselves out of all  their most retentive faculties.
Dyspeptics are invariably disqualified for the retention of beau-
tiful  memories.   They recollect distinctly  what  did not suit
them at  the last meal.  If you want to put your brain in  good
condition, never load your  stomach with anything.  Neither
smoke nor chew tobacco.

How to Overcome  Morphia.
    We have  heard from  many  victims of Opium, Morphine,
Snuff, &c.  Some deny the existence of any power of reform in
themselves.   Others think they have the requisite Will-power,
but plead ignorance of its application, as the  principal reason
why  they do not apply it instantly.   A suffering lady, under the
dangerous mastership of Morphia, has written for information
and remedy.
    Remedy.—Resolve  to live a natural life or die in the effort.
Be  inspired with great power of Will.  This is the beginning
of redemption.  Refuse to  take another portion of the  Master.
Put  it beneath  your feet;  plant  your heel  on  the Serpent's
head; arise, loved patient! in your spiritual might, and to Morphia
say : " Get thee  behind me, Satan !"   Having passed the hour 
284           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
for  taking  the  customary portion, your only next step is  to
reduce the quantity of food at least one-half, and do not increase
the  amount at any subsequent meal, for many days, although the
pangs of hunger may smite you severely at times.  If a " gnaw-
ing  "  is felt, take a little lemon juice on sugar, or drink a small
cup of strong coffee without milk and food.  Avoid fruit between
meals.  Green fruit, well cooked and not very sweet, or a table-
spoonful of Indian meal, in a cup of water, every morning, will
act as a cathartic and diuretic. Lastly, provide yourself with the
homeopathic preparation of  camphor, and, for  a few days from
the  hour of resisting the evil, take a portion of it as substitute.
Remember, you  have the power of " Self-Healing " treasured
up within  your organism.  Evoke  it at once ; believe  on it;
and the gods will cover you with their benedictions.  [We have
recently heard  from  the  " suffering lady,"  just alluded to,
assuring us that she did conquer the habit.]

Treatment for Nervous Debility.
    In cases where the system is chronically afflicted with a nerve-
debilitation, the  symptoms varying with  changes of the season,
but never quite removed, we prescribe a complete and thorough
change in the habits of life. For fashionable persons, in independ-
ent  circumstances, the adoption of habits of working, eating, and
sleeping, like farmers or mechanics, is advisable ;  and, per con-
tra, those who live by the sweat of their brow, should be per-
mitted to rest a few weeks from  their labors, aided meanwhile
by the abundance of the wealthy, until  their worn and weary
bodies can recover somewhat of natural  tone and  power.  Let
everybody work  enough to  deserve the food he  eats and the
raiment he  wears ; let no one be compelled to earn sufficient to
support another in idleness ;  the sick, the aged, and the infantile,
are  naturally exempt from labor; but no Health can exist  in a 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          285
world  where  two-thirds are  under-fed  and over-worked,  and
where  the residue are over-fed and  habitually cloistered in
mansions  of  luxury and indolence.  If all  should work some
every day, " the world would  be  the better for it."   Doctors
and ministers could very soon be spared  from such a world.

The True Elixir of Life.
    A  correspondent  of the Knickerbocker  gives the  following
testimony :  " I am a Woman :  have been  through all the ' expe-
riences;'  hooping-cough, measles, dyspepsia, 'nerves,' 'blues,'
et cetera; have ' died daily;'  and, at last, come to life, health,
and happiness, having found the ' Elixir of Life '—Exercise and
Fresh Air.  I began with the  homeopathic dose of half a mile ;
felt the  thumb-screw torture  at every joint; persevered ;  and
now count ten miles a trifle, in  all weather, and at all times ;
never take cold, dyspepsia, 'nerves,' or the doctor's stuff; and
in consequence, never get cross."

Depression of the  Vitality.
   Many persons complain of a depression in all the vital forces.
The patient is frail and failing from a general deterioration of
the functional processes.  Your  true  medicine  is human mag-
netism, but  circumstances may be against you; therefore, as a
revivifying tincture, we prescribe :  One  quart of Holland Gin ;
put in  it  caraway, fennel, and mustard-seeds, of each, bruised,
one ounce ;  gentian root, mandrake, and thoroughwort, of each,
bruised, half an ounce; then  put it all  in a bottle  or jug, and
add half  a pint of olive oil and  a table-spoonful of  finely-pow-
dered  cloves.  Always  shake before  using.   Dose.—A  tea-
spoonful or more after awhile,  whenever your weariness is most
difficult to bear. 
286
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
Cause for Aphtha Chronica.
   The patient, if a child,  is very weak, and poor, and- puny.
He vomits  much.  His  food  seems to do him  but little good.
His flesh is soft and flabby, and the skin looks dead.  He sweats
nearly  all the time when asleep.
   The depleting cause of this disease is in the nervous depart-
ment.  The ganglionic forces are weak.  There is, consequently,
a preternatural apathy—a morbid suspension of the energy of
the brain in relation to the digestive processes—and,  perhaps,
an aphthous condition of the whole alimentary canal. Physicians
usually expect to find evidences of this disease upon the tongue
and gums, inside of the lips, and  on the palate,  in the  shape of
little white ulcers.  With these indications, the disorder is com-
monly  termed  "thrush."   But aphtha lactucium  is  the best
and most comprehensive word to convey the whole meaning.
Old persons are  sometimes thus affected just before  physical
death.   It is often a final symptom.
   Remedy.—Make a little pudding, two or three times a week,
of equal parts  of rice, barley, wheat-flour,  and hearts of mullen,
all perfectly pounded and macerated together, and boil the whole
compound until it is thoroughly  done.  This will be a curative
food for the suffering.  It may be given with milk, or in sweet-
ened water.  An onion poultice  should  be  applied over the
stomach in the early part of each day.  Let it remain  on about
two hours.   The onion is capable of invigorating the prostrated
nerves  of the digestive system.   Let the patient sleep  with the
body, from the hips  upward,  considerably elevated.   Never
give it  food  more than four times in twenty-four hours

Derangement  of the Liver.
   The patient complains of great languor  and  low spirits ;
brick-dust deposit from kidneys ;  inclined to  costiveness ; sour 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          287

stomach frequently ;  complexion yellow, with brown spots here
and there on the face ; no great suffering, but much depression
and weariness.
   Cause and Remedy.—The liver is the sugar-making organ in
the human economy, and is the first of all the visceral confed-
erates to report any deficiency or excess in this particular.  The
above  symptoms  prove  that there is an excess of bile (or old,
worn-out, broken-down blood  globules or eggs,) and that there
is too much sugar and alkali sent out from the liver.   The con-
dition of the  kidneys and stomach, taken in connection with the
pallor  and languor,  are evidences unmistakable.   The  true
remedy consists in a cheerful spirit (a very difficult medicine to
obtain under some circumstances,) and plenty of nutritious food,
which  must  be  selected wholly from  the vegetable  kingdom.
For supper eat no stewed berries or fruit.  Nothing sweet, nor
sour, nor salt, but only a tumblerful of  Indian meal  porridge,
with a little unbuttered bread.  Retire very early ; arise, if pos-
sible, before  the sun ; walk out, breathe, and think of the Sum-
mer Land.  Cultivate the spirit of Hope.  Truth is more lovely
than persons ; worship it; let them not  enter the sanctuary of
Thought.  For breakfast drink one cup of black tea {sans milk
or sugar,) and eat nothing.  Let hunger assail the citadel.  Do
not yield.  For dinner eat whatever, and as much as, your appe-
tite demands.  Never sleep after dinner.  This course of treat
ment will  effect  a cure in about  four  weeks.   Take a  mild
cathartic two or three times.

Torpid State of the Liver.
   The symptoms are as follows : The eyes seem to swell in their
sockets.  Severe pain in the  front and lower  portions of the
brain; giddiness.   Extreme  sickness ensues ; vomiting of bile,
and  discharges  from the bowels, until the lower system is
depleted.  Then  you are prostrated, unable  to  labor, only able 
288           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
to sleep and groan.  Food is loathsome ;  and your flesh is wasting
slowly away.   You have these turns  from  six  to  ten times
a  year.  Quarts of medicine have  flowed  down  your throat.
Powcters, pills, plasters, poultices, and  other  pestilences,  have
been  used in your behalf.   You  have no  faith  in  the Water
Cure, because you have " tried it;"  no faith in the Old School,
for you  have "paid it" all your dollars; and you, therefore,
want—
    The Remedy.—This is very simple, and was from the begin-
ning—to wit: during the period of comparative freedom  from
the symptoms, let your friend rub and pound the parts  most
affected.   Frictionize just over the liver ;  manipulate the stom-
ach and  bowels;  chafe the  skin upon your back  ; and lastly,
squeeze  and smite the legs  and arms.  After this  process is
completed-—which  should be  in the early part of  every day—
let the same hands anoint your surfaces, and then wrap them in
thick flannel.  Previous  to the  manipulations, it  is  proper to
wash and cleanse  the skin of  its perspirational accumulations.
Rabbit's  oil is the  most penetrating  for this purpose, but olive
oil will answer, if mixed with  a small  quantity of  oil of spear-
mint.   In addition to this, take charcoal mixed in  Holland gin.
The ancients were  not  unscientific in the use of sweet-smelling
oil upon the body.

Remedy  for Persistent  Biliousness.
   Many want  to. know how to overcome  a  constant inactivity
of the liver, biliousness, jaundice, headache, fever, chills, &c,
which abound in many parts of this country.   Remedy.—When
the system is clogged and surcharged with broken-down blood,
wasted tissue, semi-oxygenated fluids (out of which corruption,
all manner  of jaundice,  biliousness, headache, melancholy, fever,
chills, &c, are brought forth,) the  only remedy consists  in  a
persistent and judicious  course of cathartic treatment, such as
rhubarb,  and charcoal in  gin or water : a  tea-spoonful of each, 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          289
every night for, perhaps, a week ; then every other night,  for
some ten  days or longer ; lastly, once a week, as long as there
remain  any symptoms of torpid liver, or any disease whatever.
If the operation  of the medicine produces weakness,.yield to it,
and rest both day and  night.   Persons should  use less or
more  of the  rhubarb,  according to  their intestinal suscepti-
bilities.   Dietings, nursings, and milk and water  treatment,
in incorrigible cases  of biliousness, are simply trifling with a
formidable enemy.

How to cast out  the  Devil.

   A  mother, having a little faith in the Swedenborgian phase
of Spiritualism, and  considerable more faith in " good,  old-
fashioned New England Presbyterianism,"  is  alarmed for one
of her eldest children, who is a partial medium, thinking  it pos-
sible that some " evil spirit " has taken possession.   The symp-
toms  are variable, but  the  following is given as a synopsis :
Occasional  flushes, or  a circumscribed spot  on one  or both
cheeks ; the eyes become dull; the  pupils dilate; an azure
semi-circle  runs along the lower eye-lid ;  the nose is irritated,
swells, and  sometimes bleeds ; occasional headache ; an unusual
secretion of saliva; furred  tongue ;  breath very foul, particu-
larly  in the morning ;  appetite sometimes voracious, with a
gnawing sensation in the stomach, at others, entirely gone ; occa-
sional  nausea and vomiting; violent pains throughout the abdo-
men ;  bowels irregular, at  times costive; belly  swollen and
hard;  urine  turbid;  respiration  occasionally  difficult,  and
accompanied by hiccough ; uneasy and disturbed  sleep, with
grinding of the teeth ; temper variable, but generally irritable.
   Causes and Remedy.—Our decision in such a case (religious
predilections being set aside,) is, that the patient has not been
well educated in matters of eating and drinking ; has  from child-
hood  used  too much sugar,  ate bread made with saleratus, too
many buckwheat pancakes;  and that, as a sad consequence, the
patient is  a " medium " for evil and  diabolical " spirits " in
the horrid form of " Worms !"   We cheerfully give directions
      25 
290           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
for  exorcism of  the invaders.  In order to successfully " cast
the  devil out" of your child, first reform  the  diet, abolishing
bad bread and all sweet articles of consumption ; secondly, give
the  sufferer  a cup of  tea  made of a little of  each—sage and
sweet fern—every forenoon ;  or  rhubarb and charcoal once or
twice  a week. May the " devil " soon  depart both from  your
creed and family !

Dyspepsia and  Despair.
   This is a disease of the mesenteric glands of the ganglionic
nerves in the digestive system, affecting  the intellectual and
better faculties of mind.  Depression and mental dyspepsia are
natural symptoms under these conditions.
   Remedy.—Evoke your whole manhood !   Never say  " die."
Take a tea-spoonful of Charcoal, in hot water, twice or thrice a
week.  Take a lemon, cut off the end, fill  it with white sugar,
and then slowly squeeze the contents into  your mouth.   This,
and nothing else, is  your  last meal.  Your  nights will  soon
become periods  of rest and invigoration.   Rise early.  Sleep
before breakfast, if possible.   Your morning meal must not be
watery ; nor your dinner; neither should you ever taste a par-
ticle of fruit or berries between meals.  Thoroughly oil  your
whole person with sweet oil, perfumed as you like it, once  per
week.  When thirsty, use lemon  and sugar  ; not anything stim-
ulating, nor  cold water.   Believe in Nature's remedies—they
will not fail you.

My  Dyspepsia and my God.
    Alas ! madam (said a plain-minded deacon,) I have seen too
many souls go to perdition by what you call " Health Reform."
No sooner  has  a person quit coffee,  than  he disbelieves in
Infant Baptism ; with tea goes his reverence for the Eucharist;
let  him leave off eating pork,  and he will  discard the doctrine 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          291

of Vicarious Suffering ;  let him take no more medicine, and he
stands in danger of the heresy of Universal Salvation ; and by
the time he  is a finished vegetarian, he will deny the doctrine
of Plenary  Inspiration, and drift straight into the quicksands of
Infidelity.  No,  madam, give me, rather, my dyspepsia and my
God!

Looseness of the Bowels.
   Many persons are afflicted with an almost continued looseness
of the bowels ;  sometimes troubled after meals,  or whenever
the least excited.
   Remedy.—The Pneumogastric Cure will perform wonders
in all such cases ; for  the stomach  and bowels throughout are
wholly under the scepter of the sympathetic and pneumogastric
nerves, through which  the Will-power works like  a lever over
its fulcrum.  Lest,  however, the  patient is deficient  in  voli-
tional ability to  " heal " himself, we prescribe for all ordinary
forms of summer complaints, relaxation of the bowels, diarrhoea,
&c, simply and only this : Chew a few cloves every day—better
between breakfast and dinner.  Avoid drinking largely between
meals.  This remedy will cure even  chronic cases of looseness.

Heat and Pain in the Bowels.
   There is  ofttimes a subdued inflammatory disease of the
muscular  texture  of the intestines—almost enteritis; also  a
tardiness of action in the mesenteric glands, causing weakness
and distension to result from much eating ;  defective chylifica-
tion  at  times ; an almost neuralgia of the  sympathetic ganglia
throughout the bowels.
   Remedy.__Beware of everything which  tends  to entaticus,
(physical irritation.)  In  your programme  of  eatable articles,
the following must be omitted : " Old smoked salt meat, salted
fish,  veal, geese, ducks, the liver, heart, lungs,  or  tripe of ani-
mals.  Rancid butter, old strong  cheese, lard,  fat pork, turtles, 
292
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
terrapins, oysters, raw or  cooked, hard-boiled eggs, omelets."
Adopt this plan, but eat regularly of whatever else  suits your
taste.  Envelop your bowels in oiled silk every night, or rub
with  sweet  oil, and wear an apron of fine fur on the surface of
your abdomen all day.  Let every person afflicted with neuralgic
pains in the stomach and bowels adopt the fur-remedy at once.
It is equally good for coldness of the intestines, tardy digestion,
and habitual flatulency.  But  manipulations  and the Will are
indispensable in all cases.

Cure for Sick Headache.
   For years some poor soul is severely afflicted with a nervous
sick headache, which gradually wastes his body away, and brings
his existence to an end.  He has tried every remedy within his
reach, without relief.  Remedy.—Such a case is not hopeless. We
almost know that it can  be tuned up and made healthy—on condi-
tion,  of course, that the patient will  strictly follow the prescrip
tion hereby  imparted.  First. He must particularly scrape the
tongue every night and morning.  Remove all debris of the  salivary
ghmds, and wash away from the mouth all  miasmatic epithelium,
so that the tongue shall  be clean and capable of accomplishing the
first offices of digestion.  Second. He should drink nothing stimu-
lating of the alcoholic character, must not eat as much meat  as
he may sometimes  crave,  and, particularly, he should fast  at
least  twelve hours previous to the usual period  of attack.
Third. The sovereign remedy may be confidently administered
—namely :  Drink a glass of very sour buttermilk instead of sup-
per, and repeat the dose a few minutes before breakfast.   The
milk should be used at night only a few  times previous to the
usual  sickness.  The object is to   remove  the  fibrile action
throughout  the  body,  which is the  cause of the progressive
emaciation, and nothing can do this but a remedy that shall sup- 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         293
ply lactic acid to the blood, and at the same time overcome its
extreme alkalinity.  In most  cases this remedy will prove a
cure  for  sick  headache, more  especially when the stomach is
sore and the kidneys weak.

An Inveterate Dyspepsia.
    Pain soon after eating breakfast, bloating immediately aftei
dinner, and " a horrid nightmare almost every night," or a
dreadful headache about every third day. . Remedy.—Eat  pre-
cisely that which you  know gives you  the least suffering, and
as much of it as you want; but omit your supper, without devia-
tion, until completely  cured.   Instead  of tea or supper, eat a
lemon, only a  little  modified with white sugar.  Before break-
fast, drink a tea-cupful of sour  buttermilk.  We think that this
course will cure you, because your dyspepsia is wholly owing to
a deficiency of lactic acid in the system.

Remedy for Bilious Vomiting.
    Persons afflicted with bilious vomiting, and sometimes diar-
rhoea, should eat nothing after dinner.  Let this be a rule day
after day for months.  Hunger will be a good medicine. First
thing on rising, mornings, drink a tumbler of cold, weak, black
cherry bark tea, which may be  prepared during the preceding
evening.  A little  powder  of  camphor, or of salt, laid on the
tongue after the vomiting commences, will stop it, and  prevent
diarrhoea.

Swelling of the  Abdomen.
    A  Boston  lady describes her case as follows : " For a few
months past I have been troubled with a swelling of the abdo-
men, and  hardening at the same time.   There is no pain at all
accompanying this swelling, but it alarms me.   It occurs nearly
every day—sometimes, indeed,  more  than once a day; is never
    25* 
294
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
larger than usual in the morning before rising, but as soon as I
bathe  myself, it  swells and hardens almost before I can get
dry."
    Cause and Remedy.—This is the second instance of a pecu-
liar  affection which has come before us  in the department of
human  disease.   The anterior surface  of the  intestines is
covered with  adipose matter, called  " omentum," which, in per-
sons  of  fleshy proclivities, is  abundantly deposited  between
strata of the serous membrane.   The mesenteric glands, through
which the  lacteal vessels  pass  to the thoracic  duct, are some-
what inflamed.  From thence a gas  is rapidly diffused between
the intestines and  the membrane that contains  the  omentum.
The sudden swelling and hardening  are natural concomitants of
this  intestinal transaction.  In one case, where this condition
was permitted to exist for  over two  years, the patient died with
a tumor  (fleshy and fatty  in  composition,) in  the  abdomen.
Another, with identical symptoms, recovered by abandoning all
drinks at meals, and taking, every  forenoon, a  very warm sitz
bath for fifteen minutes.   For every such bath make  a strong
decoction of hemlock boughs.  It is essential for the  patient to
perspire freely in the bath.

Water in the  Stomach.
   In most cases, we observe that the accumulation of water in
the side,  stomach, bowels,  or about  the heart, is caused, in  the
first place, by the derangement of the liver, and, in the second
place, by  generation of gas in the lower stomach and  small
intestines.   Remedy.—Drink  nothing  between meals, and no
more  than a tumbler of fluid while eating.   Twice a week, take
a table-spoonful of powdered charcoal in a wine-glass of warm
water, about one hour before dinner.  It may be necessary to
rest  or sleep  a  few minutes whjle  under the immediate influ- 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         295
ence of this medicine.  For  " Prairie Itch " there is nothing
better  than the tea of yellow jessamine ;  also wash the body
with strong decoctions of lavender and hemlock bark.

Cure  for Habitual Costiveness.
   A  constant constipation may be cured without recourse to
artificial means.  Graham bread and plenty of apple-sauce for
breakfast; no meat, no hot cakes oftener than twice a week ; no
coffee  at any time ; and  very  little fluid of any  kind.  This
method is adapted to all persons whose occupation keeps them
within doors.  For an  immediate relief, take  a table-spoonful of
Indian  meal  or  Graham  flour, in a tumbler of water,  before
breakfast, quite early in the morning.  Perhaps several doses
will be necessary.

A Bilious Medicine.
   The system of every bilious patient is  radically impaired
It must be built up by the most persistent effort of Will.  In
addition, we prescribe a bitter medicine, as follows :  Mandrake
root, pulverized, one  drachm; orange-peel and cloves, of each
one table-spoonful, well pounded. Put in one pint of good brandy,
one pint of water,  and one pound of brown  sugar.  Stand one
week; then add another pint of water.   Dose.—Commence with
a tea-spoonful before meals.

Evils of Eating for Amusement.
   A Newburyport (Mass.) paper says : " A young man resid-
ing not a thousand  miles from  Beck-street,  being disappointed
in going to the Bluff,  last Monday, consoled himself by consum-
ing the following  refreshments, in  addition  to  three  hearty
meals : Five sheets of gingerbread, three glasses of small beer,
five glasses of nectar, three large pickles, twenty cocoanut cakes, 
296
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
six ounces chocolate cream drops, ten cigars, seven large apples,
half pint of peanuts, four cents worth of old cheese, one stick
of candy, one pint of new milk, four glasses of ice water, and
an emetic, which was ordered by a physician, to save his life for
further duties."

Tone of the Stomach Destroyed.
    When your stomach is inclined to burn,  and to refuse every
ordinary  article of food  and drink, the true  remedy  is hand
magnetism, applied to the spine and over the stomach.   Drink
the mildest tea of roast onions occasionally.  Rye bread,  well
toasted, is better than wheat for a weak  digestion.  Swallow
uncooked Indian meal, or chew wheat berries
    Your diet should henceforth be more nutritious.  Not either
" fish, flesh, or  fowl,"  but the grains that grow in the sunlight.
Make a pudding of equal parts of Barley, Wheat (cracked,) and
Corn.  Eat this as the principal article for your dinner.   Aban-
don desserts of every description,  and  take a light breakfast.
    When the stomach continues  weak,  with weariness in the
fore part  of  the day, but a  better state of feeling as  evening
approaches, we recommend the patient to eat nothing hearty till
dinner.   Sleep, an hour in the forenoon, is particularly  useful.

A New Test for Diabetes.
    Professor Paine, in his Journal of Eclectic Medicine, says :
Drop one or  two drops of the urine upon a slip of clean tinned
iron, hold it over a fluid lamp, evaporate the fluid, and continue
the heat.  If there is sugar in the urine, a rich, reddish-brown
color will appear  on  the place from which the urine  is evap-
orated.
Remedy  for Urinary Weakness.
    Some children, as well  as adults,  have  an inveterate habit
of wetting their  beds at  night.   It may be proper to  denomi- 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          297
nate this disease Diabetes insipitus.   It  is caused by a super-
abundance  of serum in the blood, which contains a too large
proportion  of  saccharine matter, unassimilated.   The  urine at
first is clear and sweetish, but very soon gives off vapors pecu-
liar to the general condition of the system.
    Remedy.—Hygienic means are  always in order, and essen-
tial to a cure.   That is, the unfortunate victim should eat or
drink  nothing sweet or sweetish; nor  may the  stomach  and
bowels be  fed with starchy food, such as potatoes and fresh
bread.  A  morbid  state of the blood is the cause of the weak-
ness in some children ; but in nearly all cases the primary cause
is a too frequent use of milk and sweet  diets, puddings, etc.
No fluid should be taken with meals, or at any other time, unless
the thirst is intense, in which case use strong lemonade without
sweetening, or a tea-cupful of water, medicated with from one
to three  drops of diluted sulphuric acid.   Twice a week the
body of the patient should be thoroughly anointed with sweet
oil, dissolved with a little of each—spirits turpentine and alco-
hol.  Always  bathe and manipulate from head to feet, except
when the patient has  some local inflammation, or special pain.
$3t The disuse of  all starchy and  sweet foods, the use of the
WILL as both a policeman and a physician, and the acid drinks
recommended,  is a good treatment for the great majority of
cases.    Severe  and  long-standing  sufferers  with  incipient
Diabetes, may aid their cure by putting one ounce of cascarilla
bark,  one drachm each of cloves  and cinnamon, pulverized, and
four-ounces of lemon-peel, in one pint of  best port wine.   To
tincture  one  week.  Dose.—A  tea-spoonful, with a Graham
cracker, for supper.

How to Stimulate the Kidneys.
    A bilious state of the system  is  sometimes attended with an
obstruction of the flow of urine,  which tends rapidly  to aggra-
vate all  the symptoms, and to  inaugurate the disease  called 
298
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
jaundice, which, in turn,  is not unlikely to  affect  the hepatic
functions, and ultimately the lungs.
    Remedy.—There are many articles in the vegetable kingdom
calculated to stimulate the kidneys.  Balsams, turpentine, dul-
camera, digitalis,  juniper  berries, spirits of nitric  ether, &c.;
but the most popular with  a few practitioners over the Atlantic,
is a remedy called Stork's-bill  {erodium  cicutarium,) which
grows in several parts of this country.  Dr. Bryerley, of Cheshire,
England, gives, in  the Medical Times and Gazette,  the follow-
ing directions for its use : " The mode of preparation  is,  to
infuse  an ounce of the dried plant  (every part of it,) in three
pints  of  water, stewing it in an oven until  two pints remain.
The dose  for an adult is four or five fluid ounces three times a
day ; probably more may be needed in some cases.  The Stork's-
bill is indigenous  in  England, where  it grows  abundantly  on
sand-hills  near the coast, but it  has been introduced into this
country, and is to be found on the shores  of Oneida Lake, in the
State of New York."

Medicine  for a Weak Stomach.
    Sweet fern, if pulverized and chewed about an hour before
dinner, would prove higly  beneficial to  a  weak stomach.   Swal-
low the juice only ; not any of the herb.   Sweet flag is not good
for nervous characters.  A sweet disposition, used  abundantly
between sleeping hours, is a royal remedy.
    The roots and berries of {Aralia  racemosa)  spikenard arc
sometimes efficacious  in  dyspeptic  disorders.   Botanic and
Eclectic physicians attribute Stomachic  and mild Balsamic or
stimulating  properties to  this common  herb.   The  alkaloid
extract is occasionally used.  We have found it useful  only
when combined with two or three other medicinal herbs of more
power. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          299
   There are  two ways of preventing and of curing dyspeptic
conditions—the manly and the mean ; the manly by going to the
table twice a day, and nobly curbing the beastly appetite, say-
ing : " I will eat this and so much, and no more by a single atom."
The mean or ignoble, by having " this and  so much, and not an
atom more," sent to a private table ; the " this and so much,"
the quality and quantity, having been determined by the observed
instincts and  needs of the system;  each man  being a rule for
himself, under the guidance of a wise physician, or of an uner-
ring and competent judgment of his own.

Remedial use of Sugar.
   A little reflection will inform you when, and in what cases,
the use of sugar or  syrups is consistent with health.   Sugar
may be advantageously used only whenever patients are not dis-
eased  in their nutritive  functions.    Digestion  is sometimes
injured by the too free use  of sweets.   For this  reason we  do
not often prescribe " syrups " for our patients ; as, in this coun-
try, the majority of diseased persons are dyspeptics, or greatly
debilitated in  their  organs of nutrition.    In the stomachs of
such patients  sweets become  acids, and  thus many unpleasant
symptoms are  developed.

Cure  for a  Sour  Stomach.
   The causes are various.  The  remedy is simple : Use a few
drops of pure  lemon acid just before  eating.  But your food
should be plain ; no sugar,  or sweets, or pastries ; eat plenty of
rye bread,  and sometimes chew chamomile  flowers.

Honey and  other Sweets.
   The nectar of flowers, gathered by bees, is a watery solution
of cane sugar.   In the process of this transformation, the cane 
300           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 sugar is decomposed into three different kinds, which constitute
 honey.  The heat which the  bees  maintain  in the hive causes
 this change.  Weak acids, as well as heat and moisture, can
 effect  a similar  conversion  of cane sugar.   Your  digestive
 organs cannot, in this  northern  climate, dispose of large quan-
 tities of sugar.  Health  demands very little  of either sweet or
 sour.  Children do not need more sweet  than is  contained in
 the milk and fruit they everywhere naturally consume.

 Sweating of the Extremities.
    This is generally produced by an inactivity of the absorbent
 system.  The mesenteric  glands are  diseased, causing symp-
 toms not unlike indigestion and torpid liver, but the effect on
 the  nerves  is debilitating and harassing.   Remedy.—Horse-
 radish  and  Turkey rhubarb,  of  each one ounce, infused in one
 quart of good brandy for  one week.  Then add  one pound of
 brown sugar, one tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, as much red
 pepper, and mix by shaking frequently.  Dose.—One tea-spoon-
 ful, with an agreeable quantity of water, whenever the sweating
 of hands and feet  is  most profuse and  troublesome.   You
 should  never take  more  than three doses  of  this  prepara-
 tion in twenty-four hours.

 Worms in Children.
   Some children have a predisposition to this distressing and
disgusting form of disease.  The long round worn, or lumbricoid
ascaris,  is very common.  The tapeworm is  rare,  but danger-
ous.  The usual symptoms are griping pains  in and about the
abdomen;  variable and voracious appetite ; fetid  breath  and
occasional nausea; wasting away of the  body ;  disturbed  by
troublesome dreams ; dizziness ;  bloating of the stomach ; pain
and  itching at  the  navel;  grinding of teeth while sleeping ; 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          301
picking and irritation of the nose ; and sometimes slight convul-
sions.
   The Remedy.—Stop all sugar and sweets of every descrip-
tion ;  no pies, puddings, cakes, or preserves ; bathe the stomach
and bowels in diluted  oil of cloves.   Mix a little of finely-pow-
dered cloves with whatever the child eats  for supper.   Weak
clove tea is excellent.  But  the quickest and least dangerous
remedy is an injection of. a tea-spoonful of linseed-oil in a suffi-
cient  quantity  of  warm water.   This may be used twice or
thrice a week.   Constipation must not exist.  With costiveness.
a cure of the depraved condition will be impossible.
   Adult intestines are not exempt  from such verminous visita-
tions.  We shudder when we recall  what  we have witnessed in
human bodies.   Vermifuges are numerous.   For an adult, three
grains of pulverized  Indian Hemp  {Apocynum Cannabinum,)
twice a day.  Male fern tea, for  children,  or tansy and worm-
wood steeped together,  and drank every other day.  We would
recommend injections of a weak decoction of cabbage-leaves.

The  Prepared  Female  Organism.
    Question.__" Mr. Davis : In your answer to a correspond-
ent's  question, ' Why are not  men and  animals produced now
as they were at first V you say : ' We do observe a time when
the highest animals started  through the reproductive organism
of the prepared female,' &c.  Now, the question I wish answered,
is this : What  do you mean by the prepared female?"
    Answer.—Readers of the  volume of Nature observe that
each chapter of material development is marked by deep-reach-
ing  changes in the fluids and solids of the globe—vast crises
and earth-wide revolutions—accompanied by the retirement or
extinction of one set of physical conditions, and followed by the
inauguration of new and superior circumstances in the  material
constitution of things.  These changes, or crises, or revolutions,
       26 
302
THE HARBINGER  OF  HEALTH.
or whatever you wish to term these transition points and pas-
sages in the globe, are  far more  perfect, and,  therefore, less
conspicuous and less remarkable, in the world of organized ani-
mation.  By Clairvoyance we anticipate the results of scientific
discovery, which will be this doctrine of the origin of the human
species : That  mankind  came not from the  progressive trans-
formation of the physical organisms of the superior animals or
Troglodytes,  but by and through the advanced reproductive
organisms  of females of the ante-human types, which  had, in
this particular respect, arrived at a fruit-bearing crisis or change
in regard to procreation, whereby a higher type (the first human
organizations,) entered upon existence.   The  particular philoso-
phy of all this will  be explained in our little volume on " The
Reproductive Organism."

The Presence of Milk.
   Question.—Dr.  J.  P. C....., Iowa, relates a remarkable
case,  and asks whether the presence of milk in the breast is not
an infallible sign of an  advanced  stage of gestation and preg
nancy ?
   Answer.—No ;  the  secretion and  accumulation of milk in
the breast is not an  infallible sign, because there are many well-
established exceptions.   And yet, as a great  general principle,
the fact of pregnancy is invariably accompanied by this kind of
evidence.  Man's organization has been known to  secrete and
convey milk to one qf the breasts, and thus to support life in
a very young child.   Captain Franklin, in his interesting narra-
tive of his  journey  to the shores of the Polar Sea,  relates the
case  of a young man, of  the  Chipewyan tribe, who, having lost
his wife three days  after giving  birth  to a son, actually nursed
the child from his left  breast,  and  long subsequently it wa.«
ascertained that he  had discharged the  duties  of  wet nurse 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          303
toward  several little  members of his son's  family.  He per-
formed these offices, so unbecoming to his sex, from gratitude
to the " Great Master of Life "  for permitting him to save his
motherless infant son.

Cure for Inferior Desires.
    Question.—" Is there anything in the Materia Medica that
will prevent sensual thoughts from rising in the mind?"
    Answer.—This disease, in the majority of cases, is heredi-
tary.  Being wholly ignorant of the direful consequences, thou-
sands encourage depraved imaginings, until character  is mal-
formed  and virtue is swept from the sphere of private life.  No
system of  medicine  is master of the human system.  All pre-
tensions of physicians to cure reproductive diseases, are impo-
sitions.   Otherwise, the  word would be : " Go  heedlessly forth
—sin every day—you  shall not suffer."
    With great  success,  however, we  have prescribed, for the
truly repentant, two grains of African Capsicum (cayenne-
pepper,) made  into a pill,  and  swallowed  the  last thing on
retiring every night, and continued for several weeks.  For the
young,  this  prescription is  particularly effective  and useful.
Sufficient employment, mild diets, cold water bathings, and con-
templations of Nature, are all remedial.  The sovereign remedy
is a true  conjugal  life,  wherein  love—not  passion—rules the
soul with an unerring government.
    Step the use of cane  sugar in every form.   Take no drinks,
cakes, or puddings, which are sweetened with  sugar or treacle.
Grape or  rose  saccharine is  good.  Hence honey is not  injuri-
ous in  this  disease.   Another way to restore  the seminal ves-
sels to  their original strength, is,  to chew plentifully  of the
leaves and flowers of chamomile during the forenoon, only swal- 
304
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
lowing the wine and saliva, which, by the process of mastication,
you extract from the quid.

Weakness  of Bladder and Kidneys.
   Bathe your back and  throat in cold water every morning
From breakfast to dinner chew prickly-ash berries, or bayberry
bark, either of which will cure a weakness of the  bladder and
kidneys.  A throat affection is sympathetic.
   If you have often a weakness  through the small of the back,
which prevents you from doing anything that requires strength,
there is an incipient disease in the kidneys—a wasting process
inaugurated  in the cellular tissues — which  must  be stopped
at once.  Sweets must not be taken ;  no pastries;  nor hot
drinks of any description.   Get Thimble Weed  {Rudbeckia
lacinata,) and chew it  plentifully every afternoon,  swallowing
only the  juice and balsamic properties.  Frequently bathe the
loins  in  cold  water.   Every night wear on  your back a cold
compress (a  bandage wrung  out in cold water,) and well pro-
tected  with woolen cloth of much thickness.  Disuse all very
salt food ; no fresh-baked bread ; plenty of fruit, if well-cooked
but not for supper.                                 •

Cure  for Fluor Albus.
   It is  not  necessary here to enumerate  the primitive  causes
that ultimate in  Leucorrhoea.  Every intelligent young lady is
sufficiently enlightened on physiology to know that the increas-
ing discharge of a white secretion from the internal membranes
is certain to result unhappily in  the after years, which  should
be full of joy and beauteous health.
   Remedy.—Use  a syringe every morning of white of an egg,
thoroughly  amalgamated with  a table-spoonful of liquid honey.
Pour  this mixture  into  sufficient blood-warm  water to make 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          305
over half a pint, for  injection.  At night take a one-grain pill
of the extract of chamomile.  After one month, if your symp-
toms  are not removed,  substitute for the above injection one
pint of blood-warm water, containing from three to six drops  of
diluted  sulphuric  acid.  In a few weeks get your  druggist to
make you  an hundred pills, of two grains each, composed  of
equal parts of extracts of chamomile and dandelion.  Take two
every other night.  Obey all the laws of Nature, and so realize
a full unity with the Spirit of your Father God.

Cure for Vaginitis,  or Irritation.
    All  women, young or advanced, may treat the symptoms of
this affection, and cure  it.  The term " Vaginitis " is applied
by pathologists to that very  prevalent  irritation and painful
inflammation of the vagina, caused by some form of the disease
known as leucorrhoea.  The Bulletin de Therapeutie publishes
the most reasonable prescription for this painful affection, con-
sisting  of eighty parts of glycerine and twenty of tannic acid.
    When the vaginitis first appears, the inflammatory symptoms
should  be calmed by appropriate  regimen, baths, and frequent
emollient injections.   When the first stage of the inflammation
has passed away, and the oareful introduction of the speculum
has become possible, abundant injections of water  are to be
 thrown in, so as to remove all  the muco-pus which lines  the
 walls of the vagina, and these are then dried by a plug of charpie,
 placed at the end of a long forceps. Then  three plugs of wad-
 ding, well soaked in  glycerine and tannic acid, are to be intro-
 duced.  Next day, after a bath, the  plugs are  removed, new
 injections made, and the dressing repeated.  M. Demarquay has
 never had to have recourse to more than four or five such dress-
 ings.   After discontinuing them, astringent injections, consist-
 ing of  infusion of walnut-leaves, in which one drachm of alum
      26* 
306
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
to the quart has been dissolved, are employed two or three
times a day for a week or ten days.

Cure for Painful Menstruation.
   For painful menstruation and low circulation, we prescribe
magnetic manipulations.  If you cannot avail yourself of  this
treatment, then, as a  substitute, wear  a fur garment  below
your waist, enveloping the entire abdomen and the hips, which
should be put on and worn constantly about three days before the
flow  commences, and taken off  two or three days subsequent to
the cessation.  If  your feet and body are painfully cold, after
retiring for the night, your best remedy is very long fur stock-
ings,  and mittens  of  the same,  with neatly-fitting wristlets.
Wear these only at night.   Fur soles within your shoes during
the day,  or  moccasins.  Lamb-skins,  with  wool next to your
body, will answer in place of certain kinds of fur.  The fur
should always be worn  with the flesh-side inward.
   Whenever menstrual pains are severe, or your body is more
than  usually  weak,  put across the small of your back, over  the
kidneys, and reaching to the loins, a girdle of flax-seed poultice,
well  sprinkled with pulverized camphor.
Displaced Uterus.
   The throat diseases, and many other  symptoms which afflict
you,  are caused by the  derangements of the reproductive organ
isms.  Remedy.—Let some lady physician adjust the organ to its
appropriate  place about two days  before  menstruation.  Do
nothing that will cause  a recurrence of the misplacement. Take
the Spring Beverage as prescribed. Use your Will whenever you
walk in doors or out.
Cure for Spina Bifida.
   Physicians have classified  this  disease into dropsy of the
spine {Hydrorachis,) and an incomplete state Of the vertebra. 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          307

giving rise to lumps and  tumors under the skin.   As to the
treatment, we  know of nothing comparable to the electro-mag-
netic battery in connection  with hydropathic hygiene.  If taken
in time, and skillfully manipulated daily, either form of Spina
Bifida would  get well—providing, of course,  the patient has a
constitution strong enough  to furnish the healing energies.

The  Source  of Marrow.
    The  marrow (scientifically  called  medulla)  is  digested
through diverse cellular membranes, and then, by a secretory
process of-the small arteries, it is deposited in  the appropriate
cavities of the cylindrical bones.   It contains very little of the
primal constituents of  the  organization, but, as  a residuary and
conservative substance in the hollow of the structures, a healthy
marrow is indispensable.

Treatment  for Lumbago.
    This is a painful rheumatic affection of the muscles about
the loins.   It sometimes begins by stabbing the patient severely
for a  few  hours, and then leaves  the victim with a lameness of
the most distressing character in the hips and loins.   Remedy.—
Take care to keep the skin  of the parts perfectly clean by means
of soap and  warm water.   Wear a lamb-skin  across the  hips
every  day ; sometimes, when  the suffering is  intense, keep it
bandaged  on all night.  Let  all  sufferers beware  of sensual
indulgences.

Nervous Trembling at the Stomach.
    It  will be necessary for the  patient to  receive magnetic
treatment, half an hour every day, from the hand of some con-
genial person, either man  or woman.   You should assume an
easy position, close your  eyes, aud remain  passive in spirit, 
308           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
while the operator's hand is laid upon the pit of the stomach,
occasionally making passes from the  stomach upward to the
throat  and around  the neck,  terminating under the back hair
A powerful operator need not often move his hand during thirty
minutes.   We regard still-magnetization as far more efficacious
when applied  to the pit of the stomach.  The left hand should
be first applied.

Spiritual Afflictions and Discordant  Spirits.
   Perhaps your nervous system is exposed to the magnetisia
of discordant cogitations.  They may invade  your chambers of
thought—
                      " Like the pitchy cloud
            Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind,
            That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung
            Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile."
   And yet you may assert yourself as Empress : and you uay
conquer  your invisible enemies.   First. Take nothing from the
castor with  your food, except salt in small quantities ;  abolish
meat, except fish and eggs, for twelve weeks ;  bathe your person
in tepid water, or take  a hot water bath, twice a week, removing
all the debris  that will roll off by  rubbing ; lastly, read an hour
or two every  day in some work  on exalting  subjects, and dis-
cipline your  mind to  contemplate spiritual themes, and your
heart to  pray  (desire,)  for the kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Magnetic Treatment for Intoxication.
    A  case may be  beyond the control of medicine, but not of
magnetism.  The  spirit of alcohol may have  taken possession
of the soul.  It is like an enchanter's charm, dispossessing the
Will of its mastery, inclining the patient to do that which is most
 repugnant to his higher convictions.  Drunkenness is a spiritual
 disease—not a habit which may be broken at will—and  the true 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          309
remedy therefor is  magnetism.  Thus .  Let some efficient ope-
rator  persist until  he gets the subject under mental control,
which  is indicated  by his ^obedience to  the mentally expressed
wishes  of the  operator ; then let the latter impress upon his
brain  a feeling of  intense  hatred of alcohol, at the same time
inspiring his Will to  resist the least approach of the enemy in
any form whatever.   This  practice will  be  attended with great
success, if the  operator  himself  be  a  temperance man, and a
lover  of good for its own sake.

Beware of the  Tyrant, Disease.
   A  young lady writes a volume in the following paragraph :
" Brother  Davis :  The world is  before me, and, in the buoy-
ancy of youth, I build  ethereal castles, that dwindle into nothing-
ness before  my more enlightened reason. Hopes and fears, joy
and sorrow, are the computations of my every-day life ; and I,
therefore, long for more  congenial  conditions in the Angel
World.  My physical system  is   not in harmony, caused by
obstructions that resist the influence of the usual remedies.  No
one can possibly prize the value of  health  who has never been
sick.   If I  could once  more regain my health, I should be as
happy as the wild fawn that bounds o'er the western prairies."
   Answer.—The  most unnatural slaveholder is Disease.  No
tyrant was ever half so full of  fierce  mischief.  His hands are
red with human blood.  He lives in  our dwellings—nay, in our
very  bosoms, nestling in the warmest recesses of our hearts—
destroying health and beauty before, and ofttimes in, our very
eyes !   How can we longer bear the  presence of this  sleepless
wretch?  If humanity should  weep  a  flood of hot tears, for
forty  days  and forty nights, the   deluge of sorrow would not
drown this serpent, this rampant monster, this great foe of all
men, called  "Disease."  Drugs, doctors, ministers, cannot kill
him •  he is sovereign  of them all,  and of all the world besides.
And yet there is one certain way to conquer him, to wit:  Obey
the laws of Nature, and thus intrench yourself in Health. 
310
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 Dysentery,  or Bloody Discharge.
    All diseases, as we have  many times told you, arise from
 disturbances in the magnetic and electrical dynamics (or forces)
 which pervade and regulate the corporeal system.   Of this dis-
 turbance a  change in bodily temperature is the first symptom
 or evidence.  If the  disturbance be  a surface one—such  as
 closing the pores of  the skin, and taking a cold in the joints,
 and the like—the  symptom is an inward fever, being an  extra-
 heated  condition in the vital parts.  This  condition increases
 the pulse, coats the tongue, stagnates  the digestive functions,
 and  reduces the desire  for  food, but increases the desire  to
 drink.  On  the  other hand, if  the  disturbance of the equili-
 brium commenced in the vital parts, such as oppression on the
 lungs from  a cold, overloaded state  of the stomach and liver,
 costiveness, and the  like—then the  symptoms are a surface
 feverishness, headache,  stretchiness, sleepiness, accompanied
 with a very  general depression and loss of bodily strength.   In
 the summer season,  as  has been always observed in  all hot
 countries, in camps, and over-crowded places, the most frequent
 effect of magnetical disturbances is exhibited in Dysentery, or
 bloody flux, and  diarrhoea.
   Symptoms.—Frequent griping pains in the intestines, with
 loss of  appetite, sometimes  nausea, chilliness and  hot flashes,
lassitude, and a little headache.  The discharges  are  chiefly
mucous at first, mixed with blood, but the passages are attended
 with griping pains, and, in some  persons, a  falling  of the rec-
tum, and a bearing down, as in bad cases of piles.   There is a
typhoidal state of the  system—a wearisome fever, accompanied
with a very exhaustive weakness, and,  perhaps, some delirium.
These are the characteristic symptoms of dysentery.  We will
now indicate the best home treatment, adapted to everybody and 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          311
to every place, which will leave the patient free both of medi-
cine and disease
   Treatment and Cure.—The usual, but mistaken, course, is
to give the patient a physic.   The old (and yet popular,) school
of doctors still resort to gentle aperients—rhubarb, magnesia,
castor-oil, mercury, and diffusable stimulants.  Many of the old
line physicians will yet bleed for  dysentery, if the patient be
plethoric  and corpulent,  or inclined to apoplexy.  Sudorifics,
emetics, diaphoretics, and even blisters, for  counter-irritation, in
connection with laudanum  and  Dover's  powders, are  still
employed by allopathists in the treatment of  this very simple
disease.
   In order  to cure the acute form of dysentery, without leav-
ing bad effects in the system,  stop all food of every kind.  The
greatest  danger lies  in eating.  It is a mistake that you must
eat to keep up  your strength.   You should remember that, in
dysentery, several of the finest vessels of the intestines are bleed-
ing.  The entire mucous coating is overloaded with slimy per-
spirations and with negative exudations from  the blood ;  and
eating, therefore,  is  the most dangerous  and  most unnatural
act, because perfect digestion is impossible. If it be necessary
to give the  patient anything  " to keep up strength,"  let it be
something mucilaginous,  like  the tea of flax-seed,  gum-arabic
water, slippery-elm tea, or the broth of mutton.  Occasionally
use a gargle of salted water, in order to allay thirst and dryness
in the mouth.   So  much  for  food during hours, or, perchance,
for days, or while the disease is upon you.
 " Next,  as to bodily treatment:  Take a warm  Sitz-bath two 01
three times a day.  Remain in the water from fifteen to twenty
minutes.  After drying the skin, which should  be done briskly
with the hand of some magnetist, if possible, cover the bowels
with cotton, which  should be well  sprinkled with the pounded 
312
THE HARBINGER  OF  HEALTH.
gum of camphor.   Keep the bowels and stomach warm and com-
fortable by external applications—so also the feet and legs, by
enveloping them in several folds  of  flannel.  Be quiet, walk
about but little, and always sit in an inclined position.   If the
feverishness  is considerable, the patient should be washed all
over in tepid water, should be rapidly dried with the magnetic
hand of friendship, and  then placed between fresh sheets.  This
treatment, with little or no homeopathic medicine, will cure the
severest case of acute dysentery, in three or four days.  \V e
would urge one other thing, viz.: The  use of small water injec-
tions about three times a day, or  immediately after there has
been a considerable discharge of mucous and blood, accompanied
with straining  and griping pains  in  the bowels.  Retain the
injection until Nature insists upon another discharge.

Treatment for Chronic Dysentery.
   This disease may be controlled and cured by simple methods
The  first, as  in acute attacks,  is to stop eating.  Make a tea of
flax-seed,  with a strong infusion  of cloves ;  drink a swallow
every fifteen  or twenty minutes.   Strong  coffee, without milk
and  sugar, may be taken, with a little roast potato and bread,
for dinner.  Warm water, or slippery-elm injections, are not to
be omitted in chronic dysentery.   Bilious persons, having the
obstinate form of this disease, will find great virtue in  the fol-
lowing : Turkey rhubarb and willow charcoal, of each (pulver-
ized,) one table-spoonful; of saleratus, a  piece as large as a
hazle-nut; put these in a tumblerful of water ; let it stand cov-
ered up  twelve  hours,  when,  after thoroughly stirring  it, the
liquid  will be  ready for  use.  Dose.—A tea-spoonful  of the
liquid about once in every four hours during the day.
   (BP Never wake up at night to take anything in  the shape
of medicine.)  We cannot too strongly urge the value of hand- 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         313
magnetism in restoring  the  balance of health to  the  system.
And, furthermore, we would once more impress you to  remem-
ber that, especially in all stomach and bowel disturbances, the
WILL is a powerful physician.   Do not fail to avail yourself of
his skill  and benefactions.  Always sleep with  your mouth
closed, so that the air, by passing  through the warm  nostrils
into your lungs, may be purer and more lhagnetic, and, there-
fore, more energizing to the nervous system.

Diseases of the Heart—Hypertrophy.
   A father  says : " My daughter is seventeen years old.  At
times,  suddenly,  and without any warning, her  blood seems to
stagnate ; she then falls to the floor, and we have to rub around
the heart  in  order to bring her back  to consciousness.  After
she comes out of  this situation,  she remembers nothing about it.
Her body and face swell, and it is some  hours before  she can
again pin her clothes together."
   Diagnosis.—The left  cavities of  the heart—particularly the
walls  of  the  left  ventricles—are considerably thickened; and
there  seems  to be a diminution of the capacity of  the cavities,
and not  an enlargement, as is  most commonly the case in this
eountry.   And yet the organ is not absolutely diseased ; it is
merely arrested,  and  spasmodically contracted now and then,
while  in the  performance of its functions.  If long continued,
the result would  likely be hypertrophy of the left  auricle near
where  the pulmonary artery and the  aorta overlap it,  but this
extremity need not be feared, because it may be avoided.  The
above symptoms may be  classified under a general term—Car-
diac Syncope—which means to  strike  down, or produce swoon-
ing, by disturbances proceeding from the  organic action of the
heart.  It is possible that, occasionally, the membranes of the
lungs  and heart would enlarge with an excess of watery blood,
but this is unimportant in administering the correct prescrip-
     27 
314
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 tions.   The primary cause of the whole disturbance lurks in the
 pneumogastric  and  sympathetic nervous systems.  The brain,
 not the heart, circulates the blood.   The heart is merely a mod-
 erator—an organ to regulate and graduate the operation.  Hence
 the treatment should be addressed to the seat of those forces by
 which the blood is made to flow through the organism.
    Remedy.—Numerous remedies hasten to present themselves
 from the fields, water,  and air; but we  must give the formula
 that is  best, and most likely to  be followed:  Mandrake-root
 {Podophyllum peltatum,) Fox-glove {Digitalis,)  and Hardhack-
 leaves {Spira tomentosa,) of  each  half an ounce.  Let these
 articles macerate (soften,) over night, in one pint of rain-water.
 Then steep over a slow fire about two hours, and strain off the
 liquid.  When entirely cold, add one pint best brandy and half
 pound of  brown sugar.  Dose.—This simple medicine is very
 powerful, and must be used with care, as  an  overdose of it would
 bring on  the symptoms which it  is here given to cure.  The
 largest  dose  is  a  tea-spoon two-thirds full ; it is best to begin
 with only ten drops  night and morning.  When the patient is
 attacked with insensibility, convulsions, and coldness of extremi-
 ties, and swelling about the waist, do not fail to make hot appli-
 cations  to  the  skin  over  the heart and  about the waist.   It is
 well to rub and manipulate the chest and spine a quarter of an
 hour each  night.  Feet must be kept warm and dry, and rubbed
 with both  hands,  and then wrapped in  flannel every night.
Drink little fluid;  eat no  uncooked apples ; one roasted potato,
with brown bread and butter, should do for breakfast.  Practice
deep-breathing about ten o'clock every morning ; likewise a few
minutes after retiring  for the night.  The Will-power should
be frequently exerted  on  the  muscles of the  stomach  and
 bowels. 
DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.         315
Palpitation of the  Heart, and Wasting.
    The great destroyer of the tissues, called Oxygen,  works
upon food, when  the system  is in a healthy condition ; but, in
diseased conditions, Oxygen co-operates with the alkalies, and
thus consumes the tissues.  This warfare is going rapidly for-
ward in all  inflammatory  and febrile disorders, resulting in
emaciation and in the  perceptible wasting away of the bodily
•substances.  But  when  the digestion  is normal and prompt in
point of time, then the oxygen inspired performs the kindest
and most beautiful offices—the vivifying effects thereof being
equally distributed through all parts of the dependent economy.
Any deficiency of acid  in the  stomach and in the blood, or any
excess of  alkalinity and residuum in either, is  sure to be suc-
ceeded by some local derangements in places the most impres-
sible or predisposed.   Palpitations of the heart are among the
commonest symptoms  of  indigestion.  In such case, we know
that a rectification of the digestive functions would be a cure.
Take a tea-spoonful of lemon juice just before breakfast and
dinner—or, instead, eat  a whole sour orange.   Never eat
between meals.  Expand  your breast, absorb the air, enlarge
your spiritual  heart, and  all  the rest shall be added—refresh
ment, strength, health,  happiness.

Heart Disturbances and Nervousness.
    Your heart-troubles are occasioned by magnetic exhaustion
and dyspepsia.  For long years you have swallowed enormous
quantities of coffee every day.  Your temperament is motive-
mental ; that is, you are  overflowing with mental activity, and
with nervousness  contrary to all the laws of health and longevity.
You are wearing out and wasting rapidly away.   Now, put your-
self under the discipline  of the WILL.  The effect should be
motion  only  when  motion is  required  by your occupation. 
316           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
When you can, take Rest in Spirit—do not "fret," and "stew,"
and " worry " the life out of those about you.  This will soon
relieve the "heart disease."   No  patent medicine in America
can furnish you with the elements of health.

Dyspeptic  Pain about the Heart.
  For breakfast eat plenty of brown or rye bread crumbled into
a tumblerful of sour milk, in which you have  first beaten up a
fresh  egg.  Use  very little  sweet—no pies,  no puddings, no
drinking between  meals.  Twice a week, before dinner, dissolve
fifteen grains  of magnesia in  a wine-glass of peppermint water,
and drink it  at once.  Manipulate your waist, and knead the
bowels while  suffering from a dyspeptic pain in the heart.  You
may fortify yourself, if you will but obey the laws of life, against
the fillibustering approaches of Gen. De Bility.

For Lump in the Throat.
   Manipulate the throat  from behind the ears forward, and
thence down over the  breast, just previous to retiring for the
night.  Once a week it will be well to anoint your whole  body
with good olive oil, mixed with a little essence of spearmint
Restrain  your desire for  stimulations  of either tea or coffee.
May the  angels sing their songs into the heart of earth's chil-
dren.   Be thou a justice-lover and a peace-maker in the land of
thy fathers.   The  upper spheres will aid thee  and thine

Canker on the Tonsils.
   The simplest  remedy for chronic  affections of the throat,
with canker-ulcers on the  tonsils, and lassitude throughout the
system, is  this: Thoroughly rub the skin of  the  neck with
cicuta  ointment,  such as is  put up by druggists—Unguenta
Conii.  Then envelop the throat in a compress of lamb-skin or 
DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.         317
cat-fur.   Remove it every morning, and bathe the parts in c^ld
water,  always drying by means of manipulations.  Internally,
the following is the best general remedy : Golden seal {hydrasis
Canadensis,) and  Pleurisy-root  {Asclepias tuberosa,)  of each
four ounces.  Make a quick fire,  and boil  these ingredients, in
three pints  of  rain-water, down  below one-half.  Strain when
cold ; add one  pound of brown sugar, and one tea-spoonful of
red  pepper. Dose.—Take  a tea-spoonful in the mouth and
swallow slowly, whenever the soreness is most severe, or when
the body feels most like dropping with debility.   Three or four
doses per day may be taken with benefit.

Diptheria and  Sore  Throat.
    Diptheria owes its origin to certain atmospheric influences,
which are  generated and  widely diffused in some  localities,
while other and adjoining regions are wholly untainted by the
poisonous vapor.  Any one is liable to an  attack of this  subtile
inflammation, and  there is no condition, save  that of sound
health, which may be considered a harbinger of safety.  Doctor
Bruce says : " Upon a  careful and somewhat extended investi-
gation of the  history of Diptheria, I find that it raged as an
epidemic in Rome A. D. 380; Holland, in 1337; Spain, in 1600;
Naples, in 1509; New York, in  1611 and 1771, when  it was
 extremely fatal."
    Symptoms.—The most prominent symptoms are that of weari-
ness through the joints, and the sensation of a cold in the head,
 and throat, and lungs.   Sometimes, however, the throat is not
 sensitive even when the diptheritic exudation has commenced.
 A fetid odor in the breath, and some  slight redness and enlarge-
 ment of one of the tonsils,  are among the incipient symptoms.
    Remedy.—Stop all  food, even when  your appetite is good,
 except gruels, porridges,  and panadas.   Drink not a spoonful
     27* 
318          THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.

of cold water.  Bandage your entire  throat, in early stages of
the disease, with several folds of flannel.  Keep this cravat on
both day and  night without changing.  Be very quiet, and do
not fear the progress of your disease.  Gargle your mouth and
throat  every half hour with  a strong gargle made of vinegar,
honey, red pepper, and salt,  mixed  in a tumblerful of  warm
water.   Do  not  go out  of  a warm room for several successive
days.  Breathe the vapor of hops occasionally ; also sleep on a
pillow  filled with them.   Take no physic or emetics.  Keep the
bowels open by warm water enemas.   (This course, accompanied
with  some  gentle magnetic  passes  to  quiet the  nervous
excitement, will check almost every form of throat  disease.)
     Putrid   and  diptheritic  inflammations  of  the throat,
although resembling  croup in  many  symptoms, should  not be
treated like  the latter,  but invariably as you would attempt to
prevent an attack of yellow fever, viz.: By bathing the extremi-
ties in hot mustard water, rubbing them until the skin becomes
very tender, and then enveloping them in many  folds of flannel.
The American Medical Times calls  attention  to  the efficacy
of  creosote  as a local application for diptheria.  Ten drops of
creosote to a gill of warm water is  applied as a gargle ;  one or
two applications effect  a cure.  Try  it.  Just balance the sys-
tem in regard to temperature, give  it plenty of rest for several
successive days,  and you  will escape  almost  every form  of
putrid inflammations  and eruptive fevers.

Malignant  Sore Throat  and  Croup.
    This semi-throat  disease  sometimes appears among adults,
though children are most commonly subjects of it.  It is a strange
and painful malady,  arising  from atmospheric conditions, and
should be promptly treated as an electrical affection.   Its symp-
toms are somewhat like croup, combined with malignant scarlet 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         319
fever, attended with  occasional vomiting  and purging, and con-
cluding with the formation of a membrane or  transparent film,
which, covering the windpipe closely, brings on horrible sensa-
tions of choking and suffocation.  "Violent delirium is a very pos-
sible symptom in a certain advanced stage of the affliction.
    Remedy.—Treat  the patient vigorously, as in a case of yel-
low fever.  That is  to say, bathe the arms and legs with warm
water  containing as much mustard or red pepper  as  the skin
will bear without  blistering.   Or, which  is a good substitute,
bathe  the  arms and legs with camphorated alcohol and warm
water ; and keep the head very cool by constant application of
cloths dipped in ice water.  Then manipulate downward rapidly,
until the surface is quite red  and sensitive with the friction and
irritation.  Stop  all food, and give  only a tea-spoonful of ice-
water at a time.  Use frequent cold compresses upon the throat.
Give  from one to three warm water enemas  each twenty-four
hours.  The wet-sheet pack is good when the surface is dry and
hot.  In extreme cases, where suffocation  seems unavoidable,
apply fresh beefsteak  compresses to the throat.   Rather than
permit the disease  to proceed, bathe the patient's  extremities
every half hour.

Sore  Throat and Bitter Stomach.
    For bronchial weakness, if long-continued,  we prescribe the
constant wearing  of lamb-skin in front  over  the lungs; and at
night, after severe symptoms, a bandage  of the same about the
throat.  Keep the skin  of your body  clean, and get a  fresh
lamb-skin when necessary.  Wash your  whole  person in soap
and water once a week.   For a sour and bitter stomach take a
tea-spoonful of yeast three times a day; or, about twice a week,
drink a bowl of weak tea made of equal quantities of wild cherry
bark and spearmint,  or take a three-grain pill after supper, made 
320
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
of equal  proportions of extract of liverwort  and dandelion.
These  medicines  are prescribed to operate favorably in cases
where  the well-known  common laws of  Health are obeyed,
and where stimulating  beverages  and physical excesses are
avoided.

Bronchial Weakness, and  Neuralgia.
   As  a general fact in this climate, a Bronchial weakness is a
symptom  of a low condition  of  the vital forces.  The  bodily
powers drop below their true level, and  then, in America, the
symptom  is either a  neuralgic attack or a diseased condition of
the throat.  We  allege  the basic cause  to be hastiness, over-
work, over-eating, and improper digestion, and  early neglect of
physical functions, particularly the bowels.
   Remedy.—Give conscientious attention to the demands of the
different  functions;  live  regularly, systematically,  in  every
external  particular ;  and then, with great confidence, you may
apply to  your  body, throat, back, and bowels,  this ointment:
Take tincture of arnica, olive-oil, oil of spearmint, and common
turpentine, of each  four ounces;  pulverized camphor  gum, a
table-spoonful;  prepared " goose grease," or refined lard, suffi-
cient to reduce the whole, over a  slow fire, to the consistency of
molasses.   This  wash may be thinned  by the  introduction of
alcohol.  This unguentum will penetrate  your venous system,
and  remotely  affect the  nervous forces, if you apply it, as
directed,  twice a week.   Use it every  night over your lungs
and about your throat, when either are sore or debilitated.

Consumptive  Irritation in the Throat.
   A  correspondent describes many  cases in writing of his
afflicted wife :  " Last spring we were surprised to find that her
lungs were very  much diseased, according to the diagnosis of
two physicians.   She has  taken no medicine, but has practiced 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          321
your direction in regard to breathing, early rising (until recently,)
and the Will-power.   By the use of these natural means, I think
the lungs  are  nearly or quite healed, strength very  much
improved, and general health vastly better.  The disease, how-
ever, seems to be now in the bronchial tubes, producing cough,
&c, and the above means do not seem to overcome it."
   Remedy.—Wear  cotton  stockings with fur insoles, and fur
wristlets also, every night, or wrap the extremities in  folds of
flannel.  Sleeping with these points very warm (magnetic,) will
greatly aid  Nature in the  curative process.   The cough will
yield to something like the following : Pulverized pleurisy-root
{asclepias  tuberosa,)  two ounces;  extract of dandelion,  six
ounces ; extract of hoarhound, the same quantity ; cayenne pep-
per, one tea-spoonful; onion-juice, three table-spoonfuls ; brown
sugar,  one  pound.   Boil and mix, and convert  this compound
into candy balls about the  size of white walnuts.  Dose.—Use
this candy as freely as you can without nauseating the  stomach
—especially during  parts of the  day when the  cough  is most
troublesome, or  the throat the most sensitive.  Do not  abandon
the pneumogastric efforts at Self-Healing.

Bronchitis, and Mucous in  the Throat.
   At night, and on rising  in the  morning, there  seems  to be an
accumulation of mucous  in  the throat.  After several attempts
to  clear  away   the  obstruction,  the  patient  finally coughs
two or  three times,  which  may bring it away in the shape of
mucous and hard clots  of yellow matter, sometimes streaked
with blood.  This may all occur in one who is temperate, eats
no animal food, but leads a somewhat sedentary life.
   Remedy.—These symptoms are owing to a depression of the
vital forces in the pneumogastrical department.  No medicines
can cure unless aided in  their operation by regular exercises of
the chest  and  throat, by means  of breathing and  reading, or 
322           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
vociferating with earnestness for a few minutes every day.  We
prescribe for incipient bronchitis : One drachm of nitric acid in
two  ounces of pure water.  Dose.—Three drops morning and
night, on sugar.  Occasionally take a vapor bath, and rub the
whole body with equal parts of  sweet  oil, spearmint essence,
and alcohol.  Frictionize the skin with hair mittens.

Pulmonary Weakness and  Irritation.
   Many persons are  threatened with  a scrofulous irritation
throughout  the  entire breathing organism.  The membranes of
the stomach are loaded with a gelatinous deposit from the viti-
ated condition of the lungs.  And  yet  the lungs may not be
diseased.  A weakness is apt to spread over the nervous sys-
tem, and react upon the spinal-centers, with some  neuralgia.
   Remedy.—Bring the motor nerves under the control of Will.
Exercise the stomach  and bowels by exerting your Will upon
the muscles that support and regulate their external interests.
Your cure will begin with the just and appropriate performance
of the digestive functions.  Use the pneumogastric exertions
immediately after getting  in  bed for the night.  Breathe the
fresh morning air freely, then swallow a few grains of red pepper
mixed with Tolu syrup, or use it as a gargle.  Place new  wool,
fur, or flannel, on any part of your body which is affected quick-
est by very cold weather,  or by  long rain  storms.   Obey the
laws of life and health with respect to  sleeping, eating, and
drinking, otherwise  you may very soon  become incurably dis-
eased.

Irritation in  the Throat.
   Many  suffer from a  continual  irritation in  the throat.
We know that, with few exceptions, such persons are constant
drinkers of coffee at the breakfast hour.   And we must inform 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.         323
you  that nothing can cure your throat while you continue the
use of coffee  as  a  beverage.  Besides, no one can reasonably
expect medicine to  heal diseased membranes, unless the limbs
are perfectly protected, and the extremities kept habitually dry,
after duly bathing them.  The climate of this continent will not
justify any long-continued physical exposures—not  even occa-
sional  dampness  of the feet.   No reader of this volume need
plead ignorance of the laws of Health.

Naked  Arms and Sore Throat.
   The following wise  words are taken from  " Lewis's New
Gymnastics."   Let  every mother read  the truth, and then see
whether  the dresses  of her little ones correspond:  A distin-
guished physician, who died some years since in Paris, declared :
" I believe that  during the twenty-six years I have practiced
my profession in this city, twenty thousand children have been
carried to  the cemeteries, a  sacrifice to the absurd custom of
exposing their arms naked."
   I have often thought, if a mother were anxious to  show the
soft, white skin of her baby, and would cut out a round hole in
the little thing's dress, just over the heart, and then carry it
about  for  observation by the company, it would  do very little
harm.   But to expose the baby's arms, members  so far removed
from the heart, and with such feeble circulation at  best, is a
most pernicious practice.
   Put  the bulb of a  thermometer in a baby's mouth ; the
mercury rises to 99  degrees.  Now carry the same bulb to its
little hand; if the arms be bare, and the evening cool, the mer-
cury will sink 40 degrees.  Of course, all  the blood which flows
through  these arms and hands must fall from 20 to 40 degrees
below the  temperature  of the heart.   Need  I  say that when
these cold  currents of blood flow back into the chest, the child's 
324           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
 general vitality must be more or less compromised ?  And need
 I  add that we ought not to be surprised at ito frequently recur-
 ring affections of the lungs, throat, and stomach ?
    I have seen more than one child with  habitual cough and
 hoarseness, or choking with  mucous, entirely and permanently
 relieved by simply keeping  its hands  and arms  warm.  Every
 observing and progressive physician has daily opportunities to
 witness the same simple cure.

 Swelling of the  Throat.
    Now and  then  a female will complain of a sense of weight,
 quite oppressive at times, on  the throat and lungs.  This symp-
 tom is  caused by an internal swelling of the muscles and cords
 of the entire neck.   The cause of such symptoms is inseparable
 from the reproductive organism.
    Remedy.—Use  your Will-power on the  intestinal regions.
 Lift the whole lower system upward with all your Will, particu-
 larly while walking, and breathe deeply two or three times per
 day.  Get some friendly hands to squeeze and press your throat
 together,  extending  the  same  operation downward over  the
 back and  lungs.   At night  sprinkle a little gum myrrh and
 camphor between two layers  of cotton, with which envelop the
 throat.  Use cold water over your kidneys every morning.

 Clergymen's Sore Throat.
    A correspondent of the  London  Times writes:  " Medical
men recommend all  public speakers who have  a tendency to
 ' relaxed uvula,' ' clergymen's sore throat,'  or * aphonia cleri-
corum,'  to  let the beard grow under the chin, and I  cannot
recall any  one case  of this complaint where  this  treatment was
adopted, while all which I remember happened to clergymen
either beardless or shavers under the  chin.  Again, when  the
exposure to wind and weather, to which the active clergyman 
              DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.         325

submits  in the discharge of his duties, day and  night, is taken
into consideration, I think no  reasonable man  or woman  can
refuse us the use of the protection which Providence has given
us.  The parson in the Yorkshire moors, the eastern  county
fens—loved home of piercing east winds—the wilds of Glouces-
tershire, or the chalky hills of the Southdowns, as he wends his
way through  lanes  bounded by hedges no thicker than tooth
brushes, or over  country with  no hedges at all, is victimizing
himself,  not to do his duty, but to  the absurdities of fashion,
and brings on himself all sorts of  thoracic and pectoral woes
every time he  shaves.  Possibly the Bishop of Rochester thinks
a woolen comforter a sufficient substitute for Nature's own cov-
ering : but the fact is, that more colds are caught with  a com-
forter  than without.  It  chafes, and so produces  an artificial
heat, and often a great perspiration,  and then a draught or chill
comes, or the comforter gets loose, and a cold follows ;  while,
if the mouth is covered, the breath is driven inwards and damps
the  neckcloth, and  so we get a sore throat.   I heard from  a
laboring  man,  a week ago, a striking argument in favor of beards.
He used to spit blood, and was  in a  bad state of pulmonary dis-
ease.  Last spring he ceased to shave ;  since then he has  not
only not spat  blood, but also gained over thirty pounds of flesh
in weight.  How  many consumptive  clergymen might now be
strong and useful, if they had had equal wisdom !"

Tuberculation and Adhesion of the Liver.
    We have knowledge of a gentleman who  has led a literary
life for the past ten years.  His reading has been considerable.
Many hours of each day, during those years, have  been  conse-
crated to study  and reflection.  Physical inactivity, at times,
was  unavoidable.  From various causes, a few small tubercles
early formed on the right and upper edge of the left lobe of the
liver.  But his general health being good,  and his temperament
wiry and elastic,  the parts partially healed over  and ceased to
     28 
326
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
give pain.  The healing process, however, was not perfect.  A
somewhat raw surface was exposed, and  the result is, an adhe-
sion of a small portion of the liver to its investing membrane,
a cellulo-vascular covering, which  is intimately connected with
the portal veins and hepatic arteries, with the ducts, and nerves.
and absorbents, which are  inseparable  from the organ and the
performance of its varied functions.
   Symptoms.—A pain in the right side, extending from about
the middle of the ribs down to the hip ;  sometimes the pain is
only slight and confined to the lower part of the ribs, or rather
to the region under  the  middle of the  floating ribs ;  at other
times it is quite bad, and extends up and down, and even to the
left side.  At all times, if he breathes freely or inspires deeply,
he feels as if his side was  kept back from a full expansion by
some kind of compression.
   Remedy.—Wear a bandage of  thin  india-rubber, six inches
wide, about the waist and over the  parts affected.   It should be
put on as tight as possible without painfully affecting the breath-
ing,  but only at night, being careful invariably to separate the
rubber from  the  skin by the  interposition of some light fabric,
except, of course, the parts diseased, upon which the  bandage
should press  close enough to  exclude the air.  After the treat-
ment is  persevered  in for a number of nights, then  practice
deep inspirations every day, accompanied with muscular efforts
to rub and thrash out the soreness.  No person with  tubercu-
lated lungs or liver, either with or  without adhesions, need fear
any injury to arise from judicious pounding and rubbing of the
most painful parts, aided by deep inhalations of  pure air, in
large quantities, through the nose.

Cure  for Parasitical  Croup.
   In  these  days of diptheritic  affections, by  which  many,
both children and adults, are hastened prematurely  into the 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          327
transmundane sphere, the scientific treatment of croup may not
be  inappropriately  considered.   We  know,  by  clairvoyant
inspections, that the  membrane of the throat will, when inflamed
or thickened by cold, produce quite a crop of  moss-like sores,
fungi, which may be  destroyed by the prompt administration of
diluted nitric acid,  and gargles of  red pepper tea, sweetened
with honey.  "The Dublin Hospital  Gazette states that  Doctor
Jodin, in  a communication to the Academy of Sciences, on the
nature of croup  and on the treatment of the same, says that his
researches have led him to the following conclusions : First.
That  croup and pseudo-membranous angina are merely para-
sitical diseases,  due  to the formation of fungi.  Second. That
the treatment of these affections requires neither general medi-
cation nor incendiary cauterizations,  and that they maybe cured
by simple  parasiticidal  applications.    After enumerating  the
various therapeutical means  resorted to in this and  analogous
diseases, Mr.  Jodin  declares  that  he  much prefers to those
uncertain, alarming, or dangerous remedies, the sesquichloride of
iron, which completely impregnates  the fungus, exercises  its
action on  the surface only, and may be absorbed without dan-
ger.   This medicine destroys  the parasitic  growth,  and also
modifies favorably the hemorrhagic condition constantly observa-
ble in  the affected  parts  and their neighborhood ; it  further
induces expectoration, and thus promotes  the  rejection of the
false membranes."

Remedy for  Loss of Voice.
   Aphonia  may be  caused  from  an inflammation of the parts
around the larynx.   But in most cases, the loss c I voice is owing
to a deficiency of tone, a weakness of the muscular fabric of the
Btomach and throat, a kind of atony, as the doctors express it, and
the most distinct symptom is nervousness of the entire pneumo-
gastric region. 
328           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
    Remedy.—The general system must be  strengthened.  To
do  this  it will  be necessary to  eat a moderate breakfast of
brown bread, with, perhaps, one  boiled egg; or two soft-boiled
eggs, and nothing else.   For drink, a small quantity of Brewer's
ale, mixed with  an egg, and sweetened to your taste.   No salt
meat for dinner.  Fish will do, if not salt, and bread and butter.
Nothing hearty  for  supper; no  fruit, cakes, or, sweetmeats.
Bathe  your  entire chest in cold water every morning, followed
with considerable friction, and bandage your throat with a cold
compress every  night.   Always  remove it in the morning, and
shower the entire throat and shoulders with cold water.   Chew
occasionally a little sassafras bark.

Bronchocele,  Goitre,  or Big Neck.
    The  enlargement of the thyroid gland of the  neck, which
slowly assumes a firm fleshy appearance, extending toward the
sides of the throat, and sometimes  attaining to very large pro-
portions, is  caused by a variety of influences affecting the lym-
phatic glands and cellular tissues in early youth.
    Remedy.—This must consist  of timely  efforts, before the
painless enlargement has assumed a fleshy hardness, otherwise
the  patient  may not expect permanent relief.   Let every per-
son  remember that the early "ounce of prevention " is a cure,
when the " pound of cure " is worse  than nothing.  Our only
general  prescription is,  go out  every  day to   some running
stream  of fresh water,  bare the  neck, and  bathe it long and
thoroughly ; then dry the skin by continuous manipulations, and
cover the throat  with a soft fur cravat.

Cure  for Tuberculosis.
   Taking as a basis  the sum generally considered as that of the
population of the  globe, it is  fair to estimate that from eighty
to one  hundred millions of its inhabitants succumb, by a prema- 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          329
 ture death,  to some form of this  disease.   It destroys nearly
 a sixth of the population of England.  We prescribe Breathing
 as the remedy and preventive.

 Objections to Deep Breathing.
    A  lady  correspondent, who, for a time, adopted our Deep-
 breathing Cure, writes  as follows : " Let me mention an objec-
 tion which  I find to  the application of your prescriptions for
 deep-breathing.   I  have been experimenting in that way for a
 few weeks, and  now have not a garment that tvill meet around
 my waist, owing to the  expansion  of my lungs !   Perhaps some
 of my Sisters may be deterred by the prospect of such incon-
 venience, from seeking  health by this  method.
                       " Faithfully yours,       Matilda."
    Answer. — Many of  Matilda's  fashionable  Sisters  will
 undoubtedly be  " deterred by the prospect of such inconveni-
 ence,"  and  yet, somehow, we are  credulous enough to believe
 that there are thousands of progress-loving mothers who will
 not only practice deep breathing, but  will instruct their daugh-
 ters to obey the laws of beauty  and health in this respect, even
 if a " Reform  dress "  should  become the  eventual necessity.
 We shall see.

 Enlargement of Glands in the Throat
    Your sore throat may be caused by a singular enlargement
 of the cartilage at the  top of the  swallow.  It may be partly
 caused  by nervous anxiety,  or care  and watchfulness, 'or by
 dreams.  The true remedy,  besides  pure  cold water, is mag-
 netization by  some congenial hand.   The throat  should be
 squeezed and softened  by tender  pressure, as you would mel-
low a peach.  And, above all, you must soon forget that your
throat  is affected.  If  the glands  are much swollen, use poul-
tices of Life-everlasting every other night.  Shower the neck
every morning with plenty of cold water.  This will  stop the
enlargement; perhaps will cure it.
    28* 
330
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
 Remedy for Difficult Breathing.
     There  are several modes  of  treating  such a  negative
 condition  of the  lungs, but  it  is  deemed  wisdom,  first,  to
 reach and arouse  your energies  through  the stomach  and the
 skin.  Perhaps the original cause of your present prostration was
 imperfect  chylification.  Your liver  has been torpid, your kid-
 neys much disabled, and the ultimate of all disturbances is fixed
 upon  the  lungs.  It will be necessary for you  to use  weak
 chamomile-tea  injections three or four times  per week, for a
 month or  two.  The intestinal action must become natural and
 prompt.   A tea-spoonful of pulverized prepared charcoal in a
 wine-glassful of lime-water,  is important just before eating
 every other dinner.  Arise !  This  life is yet best adapted  to
 thy  development.   Use your Will-power !  Swing your  arms
 backward, upward, and walk with your mind in your feet.  (This
 counsel is  to every sick person.)  After one week of this treat-
 ment, prepare a large Burgundy pitch-plaster, sprinkle  the  sur-
 face evenly with opium, and apply it  all over the upper portion
 of your chest.   When this wears off, you  should either renew
 it or apply the treatment recommended for a "Negative Condi-
 tion of the Lungs."  Eat moderately at noon,  with plenty of
 red pepper {capsicum,) on cooked or  broiled meats.

 Prevention  of Cold-taking.
   We   would  most  gladly  aid  our  Brothers  and  Sisters
 in  the   effort  to  keep an  equilibrium  of bodily tempera-
 ture,  which is the  surest  preventive  of colds, catarrhs,
 bronchitis,  &c, &c. ;  but the  Scientific American has produced
 a paragraph so  entirely to the point, that we  cannot refrain
 from  substituting it for what we were about to  write on the
 subject:  A " cold " is not necessarily the result of a high or .
low temperature.  A person  may go directly from a hot bath 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          331
into a cold one, or into snow, even, and not take cold.   On  the
contrary, he may take cold by pouring a couple of table-spoon-
fuls of water upon some part of his clothing, or by standing in
a door, or  before a stove, or sitting near a window or  other
opening,  where one part of the  body is  colder than another.
Let it be kept in mind that uniformity of temperature over  the
whole  body  is the first thing to be looked after.  It is  the
unequal  heat  upon different parts of the body which  produces
colds, by disturbing the uniform circulation of the blood, which
in turn induces  congestion in some part.   If you must keep  a
partially  wet garment on, it would be  as well, perhaps, to  wet
the whole of it uniformly.  The feet are a great source of colds,
on account of the variable temperature they are  subjected to.
Keep these  always dry and warm, and  avoid draughts  of  air,
hot or cold, wet spots on the garments, and other direct causes
of unequal  temperature, and  keep the  system braced  up by
plenty of sleep,  and the  eschewing of debilitating  food  and
drinks, and you will be proof against a cold and its results.

Coldness in the Back of the Neck.
    A  lady complains of a coldness on  the back of her neck,
which has troubled her  for several years.  In spite of many
folds  of  flannel, there is always a cold sensation, except in  the
warmest weather.
    Cause and Remedy.—The origin of  a local  chronic cold-
ness is an inflammation of the membrane  {the periosteum,)  that
covers the bone and over-taxes the fibers in the affected region.
Liniments, and bandages, and plasters, are useless,  except as
palliatives and temporary protection.  The parts are constantly
exhausted of the vital magnetism.  Electricity accumulates and
escapes at the point of coldness, and yet all about that negative 
332           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
pole there is a circle of smothered inflammation.   The remedy,
therefore, consists in equalization of the vital currents.   This
course will reach all the membranes of the system, no matter
how remote from the part affected.   A sponge full of cold water
squeezed upon the cold spot every morning, followed by vigor-
ous rubbing of the adjacent parts, and  pounding or chafing the
stomach, waist,  bowels, and awakening  action generally in  all
parts  of the legs and arms—this is the radical remedy.  But it
is also good, occasionally, to  fix a small bag of table salt upon
the coldest place.   Equalize the general circulation, and your
health will become sound as an angel's.   This prescription will
disappoint no patient.

Bleeding from the  Nose.
    The general cause  is  concealed in the nervous  system.
Debility of the nervo-power is the usual cause of all  hemor-
rhages ; whether from the  lungs, anus,  nose, stomach, or other
parts  of the body.   And, therefore, the true remedy  consists in
whatever  restores vigor to the nervous system.   Witch-hazel
bark,  or borax, pulverized,  applied within the  nostril, will stop
the bleeding very soon.  Cold water should be poured on the
wrists and nape of the neck,  until the parts are  very much
reduced in temperature.  Also, before  the  bleeding is likely to
commence, press the large veins  on either side of the throat,
rubbing  downward, thus arresting the  extra  determination of
blood  to  the  head.  This  should  be   remembered in  sudden
attacks of headache.   Lift the nervous vigor by a  gentle diet of
fruits  and grains.   Animal food  is  unfavorable  to  a  rapid
up-building of the nerve-powers.  In addition to  the foregoing,
we  suggest, as conditions of cure,  " temperance in all things,"
and plenty of  " time." 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          333
The  Theory  of Hyper-Oxygenation.

   A New York physician  has started a new theory of tuber-
cular  consumption;  the  points of which are : " 1st. That the
morbid  condition of  the  blood in this disease is one of Hyper-
oxygenation, or an excessive amount of oxygen in proportion  to
its oxydizable material.   2d. That there is due to this oxygena-
tion a certain pyaemic diathesis, or production of partly-formed
pus in the blood.  3d.  That tubercle is nothing more than this
purulent formation  excreted  as  effete or  dead  matter, and
impacted in the  air-cells of the lungs.   The immediate cause  of
Tubercular Consumption being Hper-oxygenation of the blood,
the indication of cure consists in the administration of an agent
having a strong  affinity for oxygen, thereby acting as a preserv-
ative, and preventing both the  rapid  oxydation of the  tissues,
which is the cause of wasting, and  the formation of purulent
matter  in   the   blood,  which  is  the  cause  of tubercular
deposit."

   We  think  that a certain amount of truth lies at the founda-
tion of  the above theory, but we do not think that consumption,
in the  majority of  cases,  arises from  a superabundance  of
oxygen,  by which  the tissues are consumed.  Persons with
weak  digestion, who  habitually violate  the law of inspiration—
that is, those who customarily eat too much and breathe too
little—are  the surest victims of consumption in this  climate.
More people  die " for want of  breath" than because  of  an
excess of the oxygen in the air.   The best remedy for consump-
tion   is  a reasonable quantity of most agreeable  food at each
meal, a  firm Will, systematic breathing before eating and after
retiring for the  night,  and throwing the shoulders  backward  in
order to expand the lungs, so  that they may admit more life-
giving oxygen with the magnetism of sunlight.
   Persons who sit several hours per  day, while at their labor,
should inspire large quantities of air, thus filling every part of the
Jungs with the element of life.   The shoulders should be thrown
back,  and the head kept erect, so that the smallest crevice of the 
334
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
pulmonary  structure may be perfectly filled and expanded by
the breath of heaven.

Negative Condition of the Lungs.
    This condition is a cold  state of the pulmonary membranes.
The small vessels in the chest are swollen and incapable of dis-
charging  their  duties.   The symptoms  are oppressive breath-
ing, asthma, throbbing at the heart, and headache at night.
    Remedy.—In any case or climate the sweet-oil bath is first
necessary—that  is,  anoint  the  back and body thoroughly with
olive-oil and turpentine, warmed  together and mixed by means
of alcohol  and  a little  of the oil of spearmint.   Then apply a
coating of raw wool, or  cotton, over the entire back and lungs,
including the throat, and cover it  tightly with  a suitable ban-
dage.   A temporary wool jacket might be constructed for this
purpose ; but it will be necessary to use fresh wool after wear-
ing it  a  few days  and nights.   The effect of this bandage is
legitimate  and  beneficial when the  surface covered by  it is
heated almost to a sweating temperature.   It should be removed
every night, previous to going to bed, for the purpose of re-oil-
ing the skin or cleansing off the perspiration.   Then replace it
as before, and sleep  in it.  Breathe !  Breathe !

Negative Lungs and Cold Extremities.
    A weak and  cold condition of the lungs (by which the entire
system is affected, giving cold extremities, and  a frequent lia-
bility to taking  " a  cold,") may be  more than half removed by
covering  the bosom and throat, for a few nights, with a light
paste composed  of dampened  flour well  sprinkled with pulver-
ized camphor.   Spread this camphorated paste on a thin cloth,
and cover  the  outside  with flannel.  For sudden attacks of
rheumatism, this remedy is  very efficacious. 
             DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         335

Cough and Incipient  Consumption.
   There  is much bronchial weakness ;  a loss of power in the
upper part of the lungs ;  some cough ;  easy to  take cold ; and
premonitory signs of consumption.
   Remedy.—Practice breathing deeply every morning.  Do
not neglect to  dress warmly.  Walk from one to three miles
every day. Get three quarts of good cider-brandy ; add one tea-
spoonful of  powdered  red pepper, three ounces extract  of
liquorice,  four ounces of wild cherry bark.  Let this tincture
for three  days.    Take  a  wine-glass full early every morning.
Stand erect!   " Blessed is the upright man."   Straighten your
spine.  Expand your lungs.  Throw back your shoulders.  And
breathe plenty of  Heaven's pure ethereal  flame.  Come,  read-
er ! work  with a good heart,  support your family, think  inde-
pendently, let others enjoy the same luxury, and thus begin to
unfold the Harmonial Man.

After Effects  of Lung Fever.
    Strengthen your lungs by Nature's only infallible medicine,
namely, by a good digestion and by systematic discipline of the
lungs.   The  after-effects of lung fever may be wholly removed
by attention  to  food, dress, bathing, breathing, and exercise.
Everything depends on your  stomach.  The best of food, with
a feeble digestion, will  ultimate  in depraved blood ; and even
so will  the best  digestion, supplied  with unwholesome  food,
vitiate the crimson streams  of life.  " Blood food" is plausible
enough in the light of chemistry; but,  seen  by the light of
digestion  and assimilation, it is supreme quackery.  Every and
any thing  digestible by the stomach is " blood food."   But it
will not result in blood fit for circulation, unless the lungs fur-
nish pure air in sufficient  quantities.  Give attention, therefore,
to your stomach, and to  the gradual expansion of your lungs : 
336
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
at least as much attention as you give to eating and drinking.
Any straining of the pulmonary substance, by too  deep inhala-
tions, or by too rapid  expirations of the air, will be considered
unphilosophical  and  contrary to our  counsel.  But we advise
systematic breathing, slowly in and more slowly  out, for  ten
minutes three times per day.   Avoid sudden changes of bodily
temperature.   Food and drinks should not be warmer than your
blood.   Take a vapor bath once or twice a week; always sponge
off with cool water immediately after it.  Be cheerful, faithful,
beautiful,  and progressive !

Treatment for  Chronic  Asthma.
   Patients  all  speak  of violent, crowing, suffocating  cough,
with constriction of the trachea; sensation as if there were  too
little air in  the  chest, with pain and pressure in the pit of  the
stomach, as if that region were too  narrow;  sleeplessness  and
debility ; aching of all the limbs.   Sometimes  with flatulent
colic and  abdominal spasms ;  dry cough ;  contraction  of  the
chest and larynx  ; have to sit up ; relieved when coughing; sud-
denly wake in the night with dry cough.   We think that, in
true  asthma,  the immediate  cause of the suffering is paralysis
or falling of the floor of the lungs, viz. : the diaphragm.
   Remedy.—We deem  this affection for the most part, like
Fever and Ague, a periodical disease of the involuntary ner-
vous system.   The sympathetic ganglia, and the pneumogastric
nerves, also, are many  times  principally involved.   We insist
on our Will Cure equally in every  case of Ague and spasmo-
dic Asthma.  There are persons who can, if they will, stop  the
tremor of their  system.  The  sure way, however, to defeat
the object, is to believe  you can't do it.  But believe that  you
can ; then we know  you will.  Several  so-called remedies
for Asthma are known to the medical fraternity.  The  fact is,
there is no  positive  cure save in  the  pneumogastric nerves.
Therein we find the  pharmacopoeia of all divine life, energy, 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          337
wisdom, and health.   Asthma is a periodical disorder of the
pulmonary forces; sometimes it is  an effect of other disturb-
ances, and sometimes it exists  and operates as a cause.   But
whether your asthma be an effect, or a cause, of other troubles,
we urge  you to treat it periodically—that  is, do  nothing and
take nothing to avert the symptoms  until a few hours or min-
utes previous to their reappearance.  At such times put forth
your strong Will; walk about fir?nly,  resolutely, determinedly ;
and breathe slowly, but really, with a steady  might; get well.

Irritation of the Air Passages.
    Irritation of the lungs, and much  coughing, may be caused
by  infusoria,  or little  animals, which infest the air passages.
They produce inflammatory conditions, plant the seeds of con-
sumption, and sometimes ultimate in cutaneous diseases.
    Remedy.—Get some phosphorus, dissolve it in oil, stir it,
and inhale the vapor, once a day.   Also bathe the breast, throat,
and spine, every night, with the following:  Oils of amber and
spearmint, of  each half  an ounce ; sweet oil and laudanum, of
each  one  ounce ; alcohol, half pint;  mix by shaking;  apply
plentifully with the hand, after having rubbed the  skin with a
dry towel.

Wasting of the  Blood.
    For wasting of the blood, whieh is an effect  of  long-contin-
ued disorders  of the liver  and stomach, accompanied by very
great weakness and weariness, and  some aching  in the right
side, with nausea and  loss of appetite,  we prescribe an oint-
ment.
    The Remedy.—Equal  parts  mutton-lard and gum of cam-
phor—say eight ounces of  each ; first dissolve the lard over a
hot fire;  then  stir in the  gum as fast as it will melt and mix ;
and lastly, add  a table-spoonful of red pepper,  and thoroughly
     29 
338
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
unite the mixture over  the  fire.  Apply it  cold, using youi
hands  to  all parts  of the patient's throat, breast, back, sides,
hips, legs, arms, feet, and hands, every morning, applying plenty
of the  ointment, and concluding by wrapping the feet and hands
in folds of flannel.  For food,  use well-toasted rye bread with a
few spoonfuls of chocolate.  Whisky and linseed-oil, equal parts,
a little at a time, will be useful.  Three or four times a week
swallow a tea-spoonful of powdered willow  charcoal in a little
gin, or sweet oil, and warm water.  E^3 Use  your hands mag-
netically  while applying the ointment.  The patient must Will
to become whole.

The Duodenum and Sore Eyes.
   Almost all cases of common sore eyes, with  occasional inflam-
mation, can be traced to a disordered  state of the stomach and
duodenum.  Even if  the food be  properly digested,  there  is
some derangement in  the lower  departments, where  the bile
joins the chyle, and where the ultimates of food are prepared, Ly
the magnetic action of the mesenteric  glands, for assimilation
with the blood.
   Remedy.—About ninety minutes after eating dinner and sup
per,  take a table-spoonful of the following tincture, as a promo
tive of secondary digestion : Mandrake, rhubarb, and red-pepper,
of each (powdered,) one drachm ; put them in one pint French
brandy ;  let it stand a week;  then add one pint of water, shake,
and  use  as  directed.   If you travel, or cannot be at home at
meal times, take  a  little bottle  of this preparation with  you.
Wash  your eyes in  buttermilk whenever possible, or rub them
with buckwheat flour.  But  without a radical change  in your
diet, the above medicines  will avail you nothing. Do not eat
meat at breakfast or supper ;  and not largely of any kind of ani-
mal  food at any middle meal.   No pastries of  any description at
any time ; no fruit or vegetables  for  supper.   " Under all  cir 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         339
cumstances keep an even  mind."  We will give every tobacco
chewer a great task  to perform for  his own good—Abandon
the use of Tobacco  in every form,  and pledge  yourself,  in
heaven's name, never  to use it again !

Prevention  of Scarlet Fever.
    If you suspect that your child, or any member of your family,
is about to  have scarlet fever, the  best preventive is: Give
three drops of belladonna, in a wine-glass of water, three times
a day.   Burn coffee in the room twice per day, and treat mag-
netically according to directions already given.   Do not let the
patient go out of the room until the inflammation of the tonsils
and the fever symptoms subside, and  then only when the earth
is dry and  the  sun  warm.  Gargle  with  salt and vinegar in
warm water,  and sleep with the head  more elevated than usual.
If the  bowels are costive,  and the system is very feeble, give a
tea-spoonful  of castor-oil  in  as much  good brandy, with a little
water.   Wash the body with  some  cooling fluid,  or anoint
with sweet oil, and manipulate.

Dry and Humid Asthma.
    The only sure course to adopt in the treatment  of this
troublesome disease, is to apply your remedy just before  a recur-
rence  of the constrictions and paroxysm.  The pneumogastric
nerve  is implicated ;  in fact, the disarrangement of this  nerve
is, in nine-tenths of cases, the  cause of the disease.   The dry
asthma is quite unlike the humid affection ; and the paroxysmal
asthma is different from either ; but the fundamental methods
of the  periodical treatment should be uniform—namely: When
the symptoms are slight, give the whole surface a thorough oil-
ing (1  tea-spoonful of Cajaput oil in 1  pint of Olive do., mixed
with sufficient  alcohol to unite the oils,) and immediately prac- 
340
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
tice respiration, full and slow, expanding the bronchial tubes by
throwing the head and shoulders backward.  Use your Will.
Wear a jacket next to your body made of oiled silk.  Keep the
skin clean  as possible.  When the breathing is most difficult,
inhale a little, now and then, of the vapor of saltpeter.

The Wheezing, or Hay Asthma.
   Pathological authorities will, no doubt, hesitate to believe
that  this species  of  asthma can be reached through the spine
and kidneys.  Let us try.   Infuse two ounces of black henbane
{hyos cyamus niger,) in one quart of brandy.  Whenever  the
attack threatens to be severe, apply an onion poultice, saturated
with this tincture, to the back,  opposite  the stomach.  We
think a few applications of  this remedy, in connection with the
breathing effort, will  accomplish a cure.

Hemorrhage of the Lungs.
   Adopt our principles of Self-Healing, and begin the work of
Personal Reform  from this hour.  Get the resinous exudation
of a pine tree, one drachm; the same quantity of cayenne pep-
per ; make  into pills of two grains each.   Dose.—One pill at
ten o'clock each  day, or immediately after considerable bodily
exercise, and one  the last thing at night.  Take, occasionally, a
t(a-spoonful of olive oil in  a little cider-brandy.   Eat nothing
sweet,  drink nothing  over-heating, but " be  thou whole."

Treatment for Catarrh and Cough.
   Many persons  are afflicted  with catarrhal symptoms ;  offen-
sive breath  at times ; take  cold easy ; expectorate hard and dry
mucous ; and have a  hacking cough.
   Abolish  the  use of all sweet food and  drinks ;  may eat
plentifully of eggs, if not hard-boiled or fried in swine's grease ; 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         341

no meat of any kind  oftener than twice a week.   The only two
medicines we can  discern  are, first, the  homeopathic prepara-
tion  of Phosphorus,  three  drops  in  a  wine-glass of water,
whenever the symptoms are severe or troublesome, two hours
between  doses ; and second, a lemon, slightly sweetened, as
medicine  every evening, between  supper  and bedtime.   As
soon as the symptoms  subside, use the lemon-juice now and
then,  but only  during the early part of  the  day.  The  bowels
and  digestive  system generally must  be  kept  healthy  and
prompt, by means of kneading and vigorous manipulations.  No
cathartics of any kind should be administered.   These direc-
tions will cover a multitude 6f catarrhal cases, unless the patient
is suffering from several diseases combined.

Soreness in  the Lungs.
   With a just and  systematic treatment of the lungs, in the
inception of their disturbance, all future trouble may be avoided.
Watch the period of greatest uneasiness.  When are you most
conscious of having lungs ?   At what  hour is  the disturbance
most  distinctly realized ?  Apply your  treatment accordingly.
In going from the  house into the open air, or the  reverse, it is
wisdom to keep the  mouth  firmly closed, using the nose for
heating the atmosphere before it reaches the lungs.  All persons,
whether sick or well, should adopt this rule.

Sulphuric Ether for Deafness.
   The  new cure  for deafness, which  has created so much
excitement among the physicians of France, has long been well
known in this country.  It consists in dropping sulphuric ether
into the aural conduit.   Several physicians in this city and else-
where  have,  for years,  employed  it  either alone or in  com-
bination with glycerine.  By the latest accounts from Paris, we
      29* 
342
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
see that the opinion  was beginning to gain ground, that the
virtues of this remedy, though great, had been overrated.

Origin and Use  of the  Probang.
   The probang was invented by a surgeon, to push down into
the stomach substances which lodge in the throat or aesophagus.
It is, properly speaking,  a surgical instrument.   Of late, it has
been used  to touch ulcers in the trachea, a dangerous method,
which  should not be adopted.   A flexible piece of whalebone,
with an oval piece of ivory, or a piece of  sponge, fixed to the
end, is called a probang.

Remedy  for St.  Vitus'  Dance.
   The best and simplest remedy for St. Vitus' Dance, in the
young, is cold water and human magnetism.   The water should
be applied to the whole body  every day, by means of a wet
sheet and a plunge-bath afterward, and the magnetism by means
of another's  hands rubbing the body entirely and rapidly dry.
Passes should be made from the back and sides of the neck to
the ends of fingers and toes.  Take mandrake-root, two ounces ;
lobelia leaves, half an ounce ; boil in half gallon of water to one
pint.  When cold, add one-half pint of  brandy and half pound
of  sugar.   Dose. — One tea-spoonful  before  breakfast and
dinner.  Anoint the body with sweet oil.
Pain in the Joints.
   In  cases where the joints are painful and stiff, and particu-
larly where the bones of  the neck  and back head are sore and
rheumatieally affected, we  prescribe the following palliative,
which  may be applied with the hand:  Common brandy, two
gills ; laudanum, one ounce ; oil spearmint, one drachm ; tincture
arnica,  two ounces.  Mix, and use whenever the pain and rheu-
matic achings are troublesome. 
DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          343
Cure for 111 Temper in Children.
   A sensible woman, the mother of a young family, taught her
children, from the earliest childhood,  to consider ill-humor as a
disorder, which was to be cured by physic.  Accordingly, she
had always small doses ready, and the little patients, whenever
it was thought needful, took rhubarb for the  crossness.  No
punishment was  required.   Peevishness or ill temper and rhu-
barb were associated in their minds always as cause and effect.

Effect  of Disease on  Life.
   By calculation, it is shown that, of 1,000 individuals, 23 die
in their birth ; 277 from teething, convulsions, and worms; 7 in
measles ; 2 women in childbirth ; 195 of consumption, asthma,
and  other  chronic complaints ; 250 of fever ; 12 of apoplexy ;
and 41 of dropsy.  Or, in another point of view, of 1,000 per-
sons, 200 die within  the first year, 80 in the second, 40 in the
third, and 24 in the fourth; and within the first eight years of
life 445, or almost one-half of the number, are cut off by prema-
ture  death.

Cure for Melancholy and Meanness.
   A correspondent writes  as  follows:  "I should be much
obliged  for a remedy for the following complaint: Dullness of
mind ; incapacity to study much without becoming sleepy ; con-
fused thoughts ; some melancholy ; and, perhaps, some  mean-
ness."
   Remedy.—It will be necessary,  first of all, to wash your
body every morning in  cold water.  Next, eat nothing animal
for your breakfast, not even a grain of butter, nor drink a spoon-
ful of milk.  Next, eat a light dinner  on  the day when you wish
to  read  and  meditate.  Never  attempt  to read  or think soon
after a hearty meal.   Next, take up some one subject and con- 
344           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 centrate your Will upon it, and think steadily while your Will
 is positive.  For " meanness,"  take  plenty  of exercise,  and
 think of the Summer Land.  Let your daily life be regulated
 by fraternal  love, Justice to thy neighbor, and  the principles
 of  untrammeled Freedom.

 Headache  or Cephalic Pills.
    Cephalic Pills are good for periodical and nervous headache,
 chronic lameness, indigestion, nervous debility,  &c, &c.  Red
 pepper, whitewood bark, mandrake, life root {Senecio aureus,)
 of each, pulverized, half a  drachm.   Divide into pills of three
 grains.  Dose.—From one to four of  these pills  at night,  or
 morning, when  symptoms are severe.   But there is one secret
 worth remembering, namely : That absolute rest to the stomach
 is one of the simplest means of cure, in  both acute and dys-
 peptic  diseases.    Not one atom of  food  of  any  kind  should
 be taken in any case of acute disease.  Starve for twenty-four
 hours,  and  drink a little water; nothing further is necessary.

 Cure  for Cold in the Head.
    Some individuals  are  constantly taking cold in the head,
 and having an ear-ache, almost every winter night, in spite of
 every  precaution.    The  explanation  of the  err-ache and
head-cold,  is :  You  sleep on  a soft pillow,  which  allows
your head to sink down into a hollow of feathers, by which con-
 siderable perspiration is  promoted about  your neck and ears ;
then, as soon as you change your position in  bed, the cold air
strikes the  sweating surfaces, which very rapidly become nega-
tive, and hence the cold in the head and the distressing  neural-
gia.  Of course  you  will hereafter  use a pillow so hard that
your head cannot  sink into a heated valley. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         345
 Odor from the Nostrils.
    The accompanying symptoms are : A sense of fullness in the
 head ; of weight  between the eyes ; frequent sneezing ; some
 hoarseness  of the voice ; occasional expectoration ;  and a  dis-
 gorgement  of fluid and fetid mucous  from the throat.   These
 symptoms are developed as the accompaniment of indigestion,
 fever, worms, measles, rheumatism, &c.
    Remedy.—The diet  is the essential.   Use no salt butter ;
 no meat or  gravies ; nothing  sweet after dinner.  Milk is  par-
 ticularly unfavorable unless it is sour;  but wheaten  grits, rice,
 hominy, and Indian  cakes and puddings, with stewed fruit, are
 useful and advisable.   As a  special  remedy  we recommend
 a cold water  compress about the  neck at night, and showering
 the head and neck behind the ears with cold water every morn-
 ing.  This  should  be done  before washing the face. For the
 nose :  Get of camphor twenty grains ;  blood-root half drachm ;
 both must be  perfectly pulverized, and  mixed equally together.
 Use a very little of  this powder, as a snuff, twice or thrice per
 day.

 Cultivation of the Sense of Smell.
    There is hardly any limit to the teachable capacities of the
 sympathetic nerves.   The five senses—touch, taste, smell, hear-
 ing, and vision—are but different organizations  or depots of the
 sympathetic  ganglia, which are inseparable from the cerebral
 functions.   Brain  and nerves must be in a healthy condition,
 otherwise it will be  impossible to greatly enhance the delights
 of this sense.   The nerves of smell are spread upon the mem-
 branes that line the air passages.   Consequently the  tasting of
 an odor is as natural as the feeling of a sound.  It is well known
 that deaf persons hear  and  enjoy the  music of an  orchestra.
 The intuition of cultivated  smell is  infallible.  The  North
American Indians, before their overthrow and  banishment by 
346           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 our ancestors, could distinguish different tribes, or the different
 members of the same nation, by the odoriferous exhalations of
 their bodies.  Dogs, foxes, horses, and many other animals, are
 endowed with remarkably  acute powers of smelling.   Snuff-
 takers  are  deprived of  the delicate pleasures of  this  sense.
 Diseased and morbid nerves are keenly sensible  only to odors
 the  most repulsive.  We know of  mediums who first commu-
 nicated with  their familiar  spirits by means  of smelling sweet
 and aromatic odors diffused through the room.  Several orthodox
 clergymen  are said to  have smelt—" brimstone!"   We  are
 strongly inclined to admit their testimony.

 Cure for Common Deafness.
    An  aged  man must  not expect to keep  his  senses in full
 force.   Many, however,  suffer the  misfortune of deafness  to
 creep upon  them from inattention to the ears during a cold  or
 after a fever.  In all cases where the wax is dry, the tympanum
 sound, but hearing imperfect, we  have prescribed, with curative
 effect,  the  following : Nitric  acid, one drachm; water, one
 ounce ;  phosphorus, one grain ; mix, and  filter through  a fine
 cloth, into a table-spoonful of burnt olive  oil. Keep it tightly
 corked.  Dose.—One drop in each ear (or  in the one affected,)
 every morning.
    If  deafness arises from a recent cold,  or exposure and
 fatigue, the patient can  get  relief by  smoking dried hops, and
 then forcing the vapor from  his mouth into the throat-passages
 leading to the  ear-chambers.
    Again, if your deafness is not a symptom or effect of some
 derangement  of the  system, but  is traceable to  a dryness of
 the natural moisture within the  eustachian tube, then there  is
no simple remedy better than a draught of roasted onion in each
ear.  Or, soft  clay made  into convenient shape and size, then 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          347
dampened with saliva, and put in the orifice of each ear, confin
ing them with cotton and a bandage.  All such applications are
best made at  night.

Ulceration of the Ear.
    A remedy for chronic ulceration of the ear may be found in
the common " Witch-hazel " {Hamamelis  Virginica,) which is
one of the most healthful  productions of earth.   Make a very
strong decoction of all the fine  parts of the bark scraped  from
the body of the tree.  When done, you should not have more
than a wine-glass full; add one drachm of borax, a table-spoonful
of cream, and  it will be ready for use in twenty-four hours.
Saturate cotton with it, and stop the ears every night.  IdF3 In
the morning, bathe the neck, behind the ears,  and wash the
orifices quite clean, before wetting the face and forehead.

Decaying Gums and Loose  Teeth.
    One preparation is applicable to the restoration of emaciated
gums, namely :  White oak  bark, pulverized, one  ounce ; one
ounce of camphor  gum ; quarter ounce of lobelia leaves, put
together and tinctured  one week  in old cider-brandy.  Clean
the teeth and gums with pure soap, using a soft brush, and then
saturate the gums with the  clear tincture.  This process should
be adopted immediately after eating each meal. Breathe through
your  nose as much as possible, because the cold air, passing
over the teeth and gums, tends strongly to their decomposition.

Enlargement of the Thyroid Gland.
    An  indolent enlargement of the thyroid gland is termed
" Bronchocele." The incipient stages of this painless tumor are
quite controllable by the persevering use of the electro-magnetic
battery in connection with  the  hand.   When it has existed for 
348            THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
some time, and the soft elasticity of the gland has disappeared
in a firmer enlargement, which extends toward the sides of the
neck and involves the lymphatic glands, then the magnetic cur-
rent  is of little  benefit.   Iodine was long administered inter-
nally for this disease, with next to no benefit, but certainly leav-
ing traces of its  inadaptedness.  In advanced  stages of this
swelling, we would recommend the frequent  application of the
magnetizer's hand.   Let no patient expect an absorption of the
gathered  material after  the hardening process is  complete,
unless by a  most constant use of human magnetism, in connec-
tion with  an occasional bathing of the parts with cajaput  oil
mixed with  chloroform and bay rum.

Treatment for Old Sores.
   The best general remedy within our knowledge for a disease
in the feet and ankles, with sores that open and close for months,
is a wash made of pokeberry leaves and roots, or of crab-apple
tree bark, or of  black Indian  hemp.  Make a strong tea of
either, and  use  it to wash and cleanse the parts, with or with-
out soap,  as you feel inclined.  It will greatly expedite the cure
to expose the  parts to the breathings of  a horse, dog, or cow.
If possible,  let a dog sleep near, and exhale his breath over, the
sorest surfaces.

Fever  Sores and Tumors.
    Syringe  the  sore every morning with the following liquid :
White oak bark (inside,) four ounces, boiled in a quart of water
to a pint.  When cold, bottle it, and add one ounce of borax, in
small pieces. Use a little for each dressing of the sore.
    Bathe a growing tumor with the  fresh juice of burdock.
Pound and press the leaves  until you obtain sufficient fluid to
thoroughly  saturate  the diseased part.  After this application, 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          349
 use the magnetism of your own hand ; always rubbing from the
 top downward.  Bathe the irritated surfaces thoroughly with
 pure  soap and  flax-seed tea, forming a  suds, then take fresh
 slaked lime and dust the diseased parts at least twice a day.

 Medicine for Scrofula  and  Erysipelas.
\    Let no patient expect to be healed by the performance of
 miracles.  " Vicarious  atonements " are dangerous  in theory,
 and impossible  in practice.  You must  individually deserve the
 possession of every luxury.  If, therefore, you would be healed
 of eruptive diseases, itch, salt rheum, &c, let your table-habits
 be righteous and reasonable.   Cancerous and scrofulous consti-
 tutions cannot be too careful about the  solids and fluids  which
 they eat  and drink.  In addition to directions  which we have
 been impressed to give in a former volume, we will suggest the
 following beverage for scrofulous individuals : Mountain dittany,
 yellow dock, elecampane,  and comfrey roots,  of each  eight
 ounces ;  white-pine, wild-cherry, and butternut  barks, of each
 five ounces ; guaiac  chips, blue flag, and licorice-root, of each
 two ounces ; break these ingredients together, put them into an
 iron vessel, and  tincture them one week in three quarts of
 brandy, when strain off the brandy ; then add three gallons of
 water, and steep the mixture over a slow fire for one whole day ;
 add the same quantity of water, and boil the whole rapidly down
 to nearly one  gallon ; then strain it immediately.  After this
 liquid is perfectly cold, add half an ounce of the muriated tinc-
 ture of iron, return the brandy, and one quart more of good
 French brandy, and bottle it very tight.
    This  preparation  may  be regarded  as wine.   It may be
 diluted with water, and sweetened with  sugar, as  the  patient's
 taste  and strength demand.   Whenever thirst is experienced,
 and  while eating  such articles of food as  are  prescribed  by
     SO 
350
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
experience,  this pleasant and highly potent beverage may be
used as wine.  It  may be much diluted—even a table-spoonful
of this wine  to a gill  or  two gills of water—and  it will  assist
the diseased structures to harmony.
    This  beverage  should be made and taken for at least one
year, with occasional  intermissions.   It is designed for  those
various  cutaneous conditions,  already named, which are  the
incipient manifestations of the cancerous  or scrofulous  tend-
encies of the  system ;  but it is  particularly good, as a remedial
drink, for such constitutions as are  already suffering with the
cancerous or scrofulous formations.

Treatment for  Chronic Erysipelas.
   This disease is  characterized by a redness and inflammation
of the  skin  at  the place attacked, accompanied in a few  hours
by considerable swelling and oppressive fullness.
   Remedy.—The  patient should have a vapor-bath, producing
a thorough sweat,  every  day—perhaps twice, if the symptoms
are violent—until the  inflammation  is all drawn out of the
head, and a balance of the system is established.   If the  limbs
are affected with the erysipelas fire,  we still urge  a  complete
sweating of the body  every  day, with proper attention to diet.
The patient  should go from the bath to the bed, and remain
well covered  for half  an  hour.   Magnetic  passes  should then
be made from the  head  downwards, over  the  hands  and feet.
Drink a tumbler of buttermilk every day.  Diet should not
be  drawn from either  the  fruit or animal kingdoms.   The
various  grains,  made  into puddings, and bread, and porridges,
are best.  The  disease  is not  dangerous  unless  it is rapidly
developed in the face and head—in which case, no remedy ia
comparable to human  magnetism. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          351
Medicine for  a Canker Humor.
   Thousands suffer  from a depravation of the fluids which are
propelled through the lymphatic system of glands and vessels.
Nearly all  cankerous  and scrofulous forms of disease originate,
first, in faulty digestion,  and, second, in the vitiation of the
functions of the  lymphatic'system.  The remedy, in all cases,
must be  directed primarily to the  nutritive functions, and indi-
rectly to the lymphatic vessels throughout the body.   The most
convenient preparation within our  knowledge is  this:  Scull-
cap {scutelaria lateriflora) four ounces ; spikenard {aralia race-
mosa) six ounces ; gentian {triosteum perfoliatum) two ounces ;
cloves, pulverized, one table-spoonful.  Put these articles in a
jug containing one quart of water  and one pound of sugar ; cork
tight, and  let it  stand near a fire for three or four days ; then
add one quart of  best brandy, and you have a medicine which
will penetrate and vivify the entire lymphatic system.   Dose.—
Begin by taking less  than a tea-spoonful about two hours after
both dinner and tea.  Increase a little every day until you can
bear a table-spoonful  ; then add some more brandy and water to
the medicine, and white  sugar, as  in the first instance.   Eat
and drink whatever suits you best.  Arise !  be cheerful!

An Intermittent  Eruption.
   The disease is entirely one of the under skin, appearing and
disappearing on different parts of the body, and it is, therefore,
absurd to drink blood-purifying syrups as a remedy.  The best
treatment  for a  simple  incorrigible eruption, is  a wash com-
posed of kino, borax, and cream.  Of borax  take two ounces;
two drachms of kino  ; cover them with one pint of rain-water,
for three days ; then add half pint fresh cream, and the mixture
is ready for application.   First give yourself a thorough scratch-
in or chafing, so  that the  surfaces are as much inflamed as they 
352
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
ever appear  after rubbing them ;  then apply the mixture tho-
roughly.   The smarting, burning, and inflammatory effects that
succeed, will be of short duration,  while a healing process will
be forthwith inaugurated.   Perhaps it will  be  necessary  to
repeat  this  treatment  every night for a week or two, but the
remedy is quite  certain  to  remove the cause just beneath  the
skin.   This  treatment, remember,  is adapted to  simple erup-
tions, with inflammatory aspect.

Cause and Cure of Ringworm.
   The technical term for  this  affliction is Nerpes  circinatus,
but physicians  are not agreed as  to the cause of this trouble-.
some vesicular eruption.  We have carefully observed  that the
circular patches  float  upon a transparent fluid ; which, indeed,
is the cause of the irritation and  exfoliation—a saline acid, dis-
tilled from a diseased  condition of the mucous membrane of the
digestive organs.
   Remedy.—The pathological base of the ringworm is an ery-
sipelous condition of the fluids and blood.  Salt, therefore, must
be avoided.   Reject all food in which  the saline property is
prominent.  Follow this plan throughout your earthly life ; else
you will never be free from the evil seeds of  erysipelas.  This
rigid course will strike at the bottom of the ringworm diathesis.
Bathe  the eruption with half ounce of borax, dissolved in two
gills  of water, and one do. of cream.  Add to this wash about
fifty drops of sulphuric acid.  Use  it twice or thrice per diem.

Use of Sulphur for the Itch.
   This affection of the skin  has been displaced by the morbid
conditions of erysipelas.  It is  said  that " since the improve-
ment in  microscopes, the Itch is found to be a living creature
burrowing in- the  flesh.  This was  discovered in 1812, by M
Gales,  apothecary to the hospital  of St. Louis, in Paris.  Experi- 
              DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          353

ments were immediately commenced to ascertain the best reme-
dies to destroy so formidable an enemy.  It was found that the
Itch will live in clear water four hours ; in sea water it died in
three hours ; in Goulard's solution it survived but one hour; in
castor, olive, almond and  sweet oil, it died in two hours ; in
croton oil in  four  hours  ; in lime-water three-quarters of an
hour ;  in vinegar twenty minutes ; in alcohol  twenty  minutes ;
in spirits of turpentine nine minutes; in hydridate of potassium
six minutes ; in solution of arsenic four minutes ;  in sulphuric
acid three minutes ; in  creosote it died instantly; placed on
powdered sulphur it was found dead next day.  From all these
experiments, it was found that sulphur was the surest and safest
remedy."  Such is  understood to be the history of the discovery
that " Brimstone "  (of the  orthodox stamp,)  is useful for the
above disgusting eruption.  Our impression is distinct that the
" living creature "  is an effect—not a producing cause—of the
cutaneous affection.

Juvenile Excitability and  Eruption.
    The  natural cure for  youthful nervous excitability consists
in  a  speedy development of the  Nutritive  and Muscular tem-
peraments.   To begin this work, it will  be necessary to keep
from  the young stomach  all exciting drinks and heating diets.
No animal matter, no butter after breakfast, no milk after din-
ner ;  but plenty of rice, barley, wheat (coarse,) corn, and some-
times rye.   Simple puddings or cakes of these grains, with fruit
and berries, in their season, constitute a fine diet for the devel-
opment of young bodies.   Much  of the nervous activity will
depart with the incoming of womanhood.
    For the  eruption we  prescribe a strong wash of burdock
{arctium lappa) roots, leaves, and seeds, to  be used freely on
the irritated surfaces once or twice per week.  Many kinds of
     30* 
354           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 prickly eruption can be overcome by a plentiful use of burdock
 tea externally.  When other remedies fail, try this  in  good
 faith.

 Cure for Prurigo Pruritis.
    In papulous eruptions,  characterized  at first by  soft and
 smooth elevations of the cuticle, the  surface-skin becomes dis-
 eased.  Hence, when not cured in youth, or successfully treated
 when  it makes  its appearance, the disease slowly establishes
 itself in chronic form.  It is now exceedingly difficult of  man-
 agement.  The most convenient remedy is : Equal parts spirits
 turpentine, and oil of sassafras, and sweet oil, amalgamated by
 alcohol.  Rub this thoroughly into the skin wherever the symp-
 toms  are exceedingly troublesome.  If the tingling and stinging
 is too intense, add a coating of light cream.  Dieting will make
 no difference.   Avoid the extravagant use of salt.

 A Nervous Rash.
    The condition of many is described by a lady patient thus :
 " I have for about  eight years been afflicted with  a rash, appear-
 ing with great violence, whenever I am warm or excited—caus-
 ing my head to throb violently, and  my face  to swell.  The
 spells last usually about ten minutes, and then  leave me  shiv-
 ering."
    Remedy.—Get  Valerian root, half an ounce ; extract of dan-
 delion, one  ounce; cayenne pepper,  one drachm;  cinnamon
 bark,  one tea-spoonful—pound and  mix these  together ; let
 them  tincture in half pint of pure  alcohol for ten  days, then add
 one pint of pure water. Dose.—Thirty drops in a wine-glass
 of water immediately after an attack, or when the " shivering "
sensation  pervades the nervous system.   Eat  no  salt food.
Drink little of any  fluid, except  when thirsty. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          355
Small White Blisters on Children.
   Children  afflicted with any form of erysipelas,  scratches,
white blisters, sores, or scrofulous swellings, should never sleep
with each other, never with a healthy child, and certainly never
with adult persons.  The magnetism of a spaniel, or half-cur
dog, is healthful for children so diseased; and it would be bene-
ficial to  give  a scrofulous child a dog (not a poodle or King
Charley,) for a sleeping companion.  A fresh cat's skin {minus
the cat,) bandaged over the white  swelling, or a piece of fresh
beef applied every night  to a  scrofulous tumor or abscess, will
effectually dissipate poisonous  vapors, and partially restore  the
conditions of health.  Diet and hand magnetism  are the next
best remedies.

A Virus Developed by  a Scratch.
   By particular inspection, it became  evident, in the case of a
young  woman, that, in consequence of an unfortunate brier-stab
in the superior nerve of her foot, a scrofulous and neuralgic virus
had  been diffused  (rather aroused,) throughout her  system.
Sometimes it happens that a pin-scratch, or a needle-wound, at
first inappreciable, will give rise to years of discord and suffer-
ing.   You  know how small a variation from  the tone of  the
master-key will untune  all the cords  of  the  finest and most
costly  instrument of music—or,  how slight  an injury done
the works of the best-made chronometer—even a grain of sand
lodged in the wheels of your watch—will throw the movements
out  of harmony with the noiseless march of  Time.   0 man !
0 woman ! bow  down and worship the Divine  Wisdom—the
great, beautiful, gracefully operative Principles of the Universe
__from whose loving bosom proceeded the " fearful and won-
derful "  dynamics of individual existence.
   The  best  remedial  course to  over-reach  and remove  the 
356           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
nerve-virus will  be : A thorough  steam bath  once or twice a
week, about middle of the  day.   Food, for that day, gruel or
porridge.  Occasionally bathe the locality of the wound, and all
the implicated parts of the limb, with a weak solution of ammo-
nia, and a little chloroform.  Use  no  salted nourishment, but
take regular out-door exercise.

Cure for Itch  and Tetter.
    We have received upwards of one hundred applications from
persons  suffering with various eruptive diseases—Itch, tetter,
rash, barbers' itch, salt rheum, &c.   Remedy in  General.—
Eat nothing in the shape of swine's flesh; abandon all salt foods
and black pepper ;  soups  are good, but gravies  injurious ;  eat
no butter after breakfast;  drink  plentifully of buttermilk ; and
cautiously bathe  the  affected  parts with the following : Olive
oil, half pint;  oil of spearmint, two ounces ; crude oil of tur-
pentine, one tea-spoonful;  hartshorn, ten grains ; stir these into
the well-amalgamated whites of six eggs.  Always shake before
applying it to the irritated skin.

Pityriasis, or  Red and Rough Eruption.
    The skin is at first only red and rough, but soon becomes bran-
like, or  meally and scurfy.   After the scales repeatedly form
and separate, the exfoliations become rapid and troublesome.
Remedy.—Take  equal parts  of Witch-hazel  {Hamamelis Vir-
ginica) and butternut bark {Juglans Cineria) ; boil them with
fresh lard down  to the consistency of an ointment.   Use it once
a day.  Eat plenty of tomatoes ;  no animal food ; and abstain
from salt.

 Cause  and  Cure of Freckles.
    Scientific investigators have given the term ephelis as a name
for freckles, and very properly, we think, because it is clear to 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         357
 a demonstration, that (as the term  implies,) the direct rays of
 the sun produce freckles, large brown patches, and other dusky
 blemishes, which appear on the face of persons  of certain tem-
 peraments, who are not in perfect health.  In a peculiar man-
 ner the  skin  is oxydized in spots, and these spots are freckles,
 or ephelis, as the ancients judiciously named them.  The remedy
 will be found in phosphorus and acetic acid. Twelve grains of
 phosphorus in one ounce of the acid.  First dissolve the phos-
 phorus in as little olive oil as is necessary, then add the acetic
 acid.  Keep  this  preparation tightly  corked.   First give the
 skin a slight coating of milk, then apply the preparation.   Great
 care is needed, in making the application, not to get  any in the
 mouth  or eyes.   Immediate  exposure to the sun would prove
 unfavorable.   One application a day  is sufficient.

 Worms Under the Skin.
    Flavius, a student, writes :  " For a year I have felt a prick-
 ling,  burning, very disagreeable, and often painful sensation,
 a little above the outer extremity of the right eyebrow, thence
 upwards  to the hair.   Continued and difficult  study makes it
 worse ; sometimes, however, it becomes worse without any appa-
 rent  cause, often resulting in a breaking out at  the upper part
 of the affected region."
    Cause.—A diseased action or obstruction, whereby are gen-
 erated the depraved elements  of the scabies vernicularis, but
 the healthiness of the system, and the activity of the nerves in
 that region, will prevent any formation except something in the
 shape of a sore, if allowed to proceed.  Remedy.—Bind on fine
 salt moistened with spirits of  turpentine.   Use  the electro.
magnetic battery a few times.

 Chapped Face, Hands, and Lips.
   Druggists  will charge from  twenty-five  to fifty cents for a
" camphorated " preparation, which the reader may provide for 
358
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
a few pennies and  a little industry.   In cold weather, and par-
ticularly in windy seasons, when the  delicate skin of the lips of
unhealthy persons crack open and bleed, and the hands of out-
door laborers become rough and sore, it is always wise to have
a remedy within the reach of all.
    Remedy.—Take equal quantities in weight (much or little as
you please,) of  fresh  mutton-tallow  and camphor-gum.   Put
them in a tin vessel,  over  a moderate fire, and let them melt
and blend into one  compound.   Stirring the mixture will more
perfectly interblend the two substances.  This preparation you
may term  " camphor ice,"  or  " camphor cake," or " camphor
ball," or " armandine," or  any other name more elaborate or
chemically  mysterious.  Keep it in a convenient jar, and use it
as  often and as  plentifully as your " chapped " surfaces may
require.

Scar on the  Face.
    We  do  not perceive any cure for  the  " scar " on yo^ir face.
Better be thankful  that it is not a disease, and in your joy for-
get the blemish through all this life.  The  next time  you are
born, the form and features of a beautiful face  will be revealed,
free from  all earthly accident,  spot,  or  blemish.  Some  excel-
lent souls thus wait the inheritance of their fortunes.  But real
beauty, after all,  comes from pure spiritual affections and har-
monious states of mind.  With  these  elements behind the phy-
sical, within the bosom and within the brain, the external, how-
ever  deformed, will take on the light  and graces  of beauty.
Without such  interior elements, the most attractive form and
face slowly  waste  and crumble into hideous deformities.
    Voluntary defacements should be prohibited.  The dangers
of tattooing, so much practiced among seamen, have been pointed
out in a recent report of the Inspector General of Health of the
French  marine.   The loss of an arm, and even death itself, are 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          359
shown to have  resulted from operations of this nature, while
minor accidents from this cause are very numerous.  Authority
calls on  sailors, inviting them to abstain from this dangerous
practice.

Cancer cured by Nitro-muriatic Acid.
   A jeweler, who  had a bad  cancerous pimple on his cheek,
having occasion to dissolve some gold in nitro-muriatic acid, rub-
bed  it several times, unconsciously, with his  impregnated fin-
gers, and was surprised to find  it speedily change its appear-
ance, and shortly disappear.  M. Recamier, suspecting the cause,
made  several uniformly successful  experiments of the same
mixture, and thus by accident discovered a new causth. for can-
cerous affections.  The proportions are one ounce of the acid to
six grains of chloruret of gold.

Confessions of a Cancer Doctor.
   Most of the vegetable plasters for  cancer owe their activity
to mineral  substances.  One consists of arsenic and sulphur,
with powdered  crow-foot leaves mixed with white  of eggs;
another of arsenic and extract of conium; another of  sulphate
of zinc and extract of blood-root; another of  chloride  of zin*.
and  blood-root;  another of potash alone, boiled down to the con
sistence  of a plaster ; another is made  by evaporating the spirit-
uous infusion of bitter-sweet, stramonium, conium, belladonna,
yellow-dock, and poke, adding fresh butter to make an ointment;
the poke and dock-root are also used separately.  A celebrated
cancer-powder is composed of arsenic, charcoal, and  cinnabar.
The acetate of  copper mixed with  vegetable extracts is  also
used.  The  chloride  of zinc, however, is now the remedy most
relied upon, and generally it is mixed with the extract of blood-
root.  Many obstinate  tumors and ulcers have been cured by 
 360           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.

 the above remedies : all of which are called cancers, but few of
 them  are really  such.  The  last-named is mainly used to kill
 tumors,  and make them fall out of their places, which has  been
 practiced for a hundred years.

 Nature and Cure of Scarlet Fever.
    Several  mothers have written for remedies to cure their lit-
 tle ones of scarlet  fever.   This  disease, sometimes termed
 " Scarlatina," from the Latin  scarlatto (meaning a deep red,) is
 a kind of spring  contagion among children.   Measles, mumps,
 chicken-pox, and  the like, so  common to childhood  and youth,
 may all be prevented. They are  caused mainly by the accumu-
 lated matters and vapors in the blood—a result of stimulating
 diet during  the cold season, with  no change of food which would
 be  consistent with  the alteration of ^temperature.   The symp-
 toms  are known as  swelling of the  face, a scarlet  eruption
 appearing on the skin in  patches, sickness at the stomach, fits
 of  heat,  lassitude, vomiting,  depressed  pulse,  and difficult
 breathing.
    Remedy.—Prevention  consists in giving your children less
 stimulating food,  and  less in quantity of every kind, during the
 forty days of transitional  weather at the close of winter  and
 during the early  spring months.  From the last of February to
 the middle  of  April, you  cannot be too watchful of your chil-
 dren's  dietetic  habits.  Fresh  fish  may be used  occasionally.
 Sparingly of milk, butter, and gravies.  No meat of any kind ;
 not a mouthful.   But plenty of fruit, and bread, and simple pud-
 dings.  No  pies or  greasy nuts.
    If the disease  is upon your child, with threatenings of malig-
nant sore throat, do not delay the  administration of warm water
injections, two  or three  times the first day.   Suspend every
description  of  eating, and  give the little  patient very prompt
attentions, calculated  to inspire quiet and confidence.  Bathe
the  legs and arms in water, hot with mustard, after which wrap
them in soft flannel, and keep them very warm.  This should b* 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         361
done at  least once every day ; twice, if the symptoms are vio-
lent.   This will gradually overcome the throat irritation, and
establish a balance of energy in the vitals.   If the throat is vio-
lently threatened with diptheria or malignant symptoms, apply
thin  beefsteak compresses about  the neck.  Change as often
and  as quick as the  piece, becomes dry under the influence of
the fever.  This treatment, in connection with the usual home-
opathic remedies, will scarcely fail to save the patient.  Always
magnetize the bowels, and hold and rub the feet and hands of
the sufferer,  after administering  the water injections.   Keep
old-fashioned  drug doctors out of  the house ; ditto all ministers
of old school theology.

Origin  and  Philosophy of Fevers.
   A positive condition of the blood is a perfect panoply against
fevers of every shade  and name.  Fever  is taken by the breath.
The  lungs absorb the contaminating effluvium, and the blood is
forthwith poisoned.   A cold negative state  supervenes, and the
vital heat rushes out upon the surfaee.
   M. Roy has  found that the fever which is  so prevalent in
Algeria  is due  to the fact that  in the region of volcanic and
primitive rocks, the   clay contains  phosphorus, and this, acted
on by fogs and dews, which contain  ammonia, diffuses its noxious
qualities in  the atmosphere, and  occasions fever.  By way of
testing this  theory, he  created an artificial atmosphere of this
sort, and, on breathing it, found he had all the symptoms of the
African fever.

Continued  and Exhaustive  Fever.
   The signs of a low, feverish, typhoidal state of the system,
are : Sickness and sinkings at  the stomach,  heat and dryness of
the skin, headache frequently, pain in  the  bones, weariness in
the limbs, tongue  dry in the  morning, and white-coated, faint-
    31 
362
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
ness and trembling while walking, with a costive state  of the
bowels, or a little relaxation.

    Remedy.—For this condition we know of nothing that will
compare with  a daily vapor bath and magnetic operations over
the entire  body.  It is  a mistake to eat anything after dinner.
For  dinner  you should eat a pint or so of porridge, made of
Indian meal and Graham flour, or rice, nearly equal parts, with
water well  boiled.  Milk, sugar, salt meat, fish, cheese, cakes,
pies, puddings, &c, are not allowable.   You  must work to put
power into your vital system, otherwise  the fever  cannot  be
resisted ; therefore, as the nausea, and faintness, and trembling
subside, let your own appetite  and judgment  select the most
agreeable diet.  Drink a tea (half a pint) of white or pleurisy-
root about  every other  day.  Be very hopeful;  the  day of
deliverance will soon  dawn.


Diseases  of the Eye.

   We will just now  write only  of  that subtile  description of
eye weakness,  which is very general.  Eyes so affected have  a
fixed debility in the posterior  membranes and ciliary arteries.
The  entire nervous  tunic  in the back portions of the  orbs is
aqueous  and  feebly conditioned.  The ciliary  processes, both
nervous and vascular, are de-magnetized and deficient in power.
The brown and black matter of the eye—the pigmentum nigrum
—is manufactured by the joint action of the ciliary arteries and
their  accompanying nerves.  This material is also imperfectly
formed  and tardily secreted, and thus the eyes  are unable to
reflect or absorb  the light  promptly, which  fact will  account
both for concealed inflammation and the weakness felt when
reading.  We  find  no disease  in the ligaments, none in the
choroid  membrane  Although so  intimate   with  the  ciliary
mechanism,) none  in  the  optic  nerve, and the organism gene-
rally is in good condition.

    Causes  and  Symptoms. — It  will not comport with  the
objects of this department to enter upon lengthy details.   Pages 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          363
must be condensed  and packed into short, perhaps ungraceful
paragraphs,  and shorter still in brief sentences.   Scientific
knowledge and practical experience, in this day and age of the
world, are tending to comprehensive conclusions, put into syn-
thetical forms of expression.   People, consequently, are called
upon to read, to analyze, and to reason for themselves, on every
imaginable  subject.   In one  word, then, we  affirm  the cause
of generally weak eyes to be  a loss of the necessary magnetic
vitality from  the  ciliary processes.   The first cause may be
connected with too steadily gazing at the sun, perhaps to observe
an eclipse, but whatever the producing cause, the effects are as
described, a hidden weakness and occasional inflammation, which
no dieting, no  virtue  in habits, can ever perfectly remove.
    The Remedy.—The diseased  posterior portions of  the eye
cannot  be  reached by washes and  internal treatment.   The
only  sure  and direct  method  is  magnetic.   The  necessary
equilibrium  must  be  restored by means of the  human hand,
in conjunction with the electro-magnetic battery, unless some
Indian spirit will inspire a medium to prosecute the treatment.
Apply the negative pole alternately behind the ears ; the posi-
tive pole  in a bowl  of water,  in which  the  upper part of the
patient's  face  should  be immersed.   This process for twenty
minutes every night.
    In cases where economy is necessary, we would  substitute
for the battery, after  a thorough  manipulation of the face  and
neck, and forehead, a  bandage behind the ears  loaded with  a
poultice composed  of  white of an egg, a bit of unslaked  lime
poivdered, and  sprinkled with the black oxide of manganese.
It is wise, also, in severe periods of inflammation within the lids
of the eye, to moisten the bandage with diluted sulphuric acid.
A fresh preparation of this kind should be made every day, and
more frequently in urgent cases.   Let it be observed, once for 
364
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
all, that this semi-magnetic  remedy  for eye-weaknesses  is
effectual only in connection with human manipulation.  If a heal
ing medium can be obtained, so much more rapid and pleasura-
ble will be  the restoration.  Any imperfect chylification of food
is  a clog  in the wheels of success.  Eat what you need ; not
what you want, unless healthy.   Only the good are free !  " The
way of the  transgressor is hard."

Chronic Sore and Weak  Eyes.
    Follow the hygiene and general laws of health prescribed for
the cure of eruptive diseases.  Put cold  water on the back of
your neck and behind  your  ears every morning.  Do this tho-
roughly first; then wash the face as usual.   Manipulations  on
the temples  are very useful, especially after  going to bed for
the night.    In  addition to the  foregoing,  but  always  after
removing all dampness occasioned by  the  morning  ablution,
bathe and saturate the  eyes with four table-spoonfuls of  sweet
milk,  in which you should pour half a tea-spoonful of laudanum.
This treatment will also serve  for weak and  watery eyes, with
this exception—tepid water should be substituted for the sweet
milk.

Blurring  or Dimness of  Sight.
    In all cases of eye-disease the patient must not be permitted
to  use salted food, nor  saleratus in any form with  daily nourish-
ment, as both are irritants of the  poisonous kind to every deli-
cate membrane, and  to  the liver.   If the taste calls for " salt,"
it  is wisest to place a  little on the tongue, simply to allay the
wish  for it, but do not swallow much of the salted or alkalined
saliva.  Many eye-diseases, which began with inflammation, may
be  cured by anti-salt   and anti-saleratus habits at the  table.
Use no salted  bread, nor butter,  nor salted  meat of any kind, 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         365
while suffering with  throat or eye  disturbances.  Fresh fish
will not be palatable, and should not be used under this treat-
ment ;  but eggs, and cooked fruit and vegetables, may be advan-
tageously  used.   With  these  rules employ human magnetism
from head to  feet.   A  diseased human body should be rubbed
and dressed down by  the hand, somewhat as favorite horses are
manipulated by their keepers.   Many persons would he extremely
grateful for  treatment as kind  and tender as that bestowed upon
the expensive trotter in the stable.   Make a tea of blood-root,
{sanguinaria canadensis) and bathe the eyes with it twice or
thrice a day.

Ophthalmia,  or Inflammation  of the Eye.
    This painful inflammation of the eye  is  usually produced by
a  cold wind,  dust, or some external irritation.   It generally
begins with the  appearance of a net-work of blood-vessels on
some part of  the conjunctiva  of the eye-ball  or eyelids.  The
eyelids become swollen and tender, and the redness soon covers
the whole conjunctiva ;  there is increased discharge of tears,
intolerance of light.  There  is more or less of constant pain,
and a sensation as if particles  of fine sand had insinuated them-
selves under the  eyelid,  accompanied by a great heat and prick-
ing pain.  A glutinous matter is now secreted, especially in the
nio-ht, which causes the eyelids to stick very firmly together.
    Remedy.—It  is no  unusual thing for  the disease to com-
mence in  one  eye, and in a day or two to seize the other.  Mild
cases of  conjunctiva ophthalmitis generally run their course in
a few days, and cease spontaneously, or are removed by a purga-
tive, abstaining from the usual diet, and remaining in a dark
place.   The  best local applications  are :  A  warm or  filtered
decoction of poppy leaves, or one fluid drachm of the tinctura
opii in eight fluid ounces of distilled water.  The eye should be
well cleansed from the glutinous matter  with warm milk and
water.
     31* 
366
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
 Paralysis, and Total Blindness.
    Blindness is  sometimes sympathetic—a result, through the
 involuntary system, of physical suffering—involving the middle
 stratum  of the  brain.  That  the  optic nerve  is paralyzed, to
 some extent, no one acquainted with the  structure of the eye
 can doubt; but  this fact  in  physiology does not preclude the
 effectual application of restorative  influences.
    Remedy.—Hold the head down on rising every morning, so
 that an attendant can pour from a hight of three or  four feet,
 a quart or more of cold water, steadily on the back of  the neck,
 behind the ears, and on the lower portions of the brain.   This
 practice should be continued until an eruption or boils come out
 on the part so treated,  or until the eyes begin to take on more
 sensitiveness to the sunlight,  when  it is best to commence the
 periodic  application of hand-magnetism by manipulation to the
 neck, temples, eyes, and  lower brain, including the  face and
 shoulders.

 Obliquity of Vision.
    The sight of organs may be good ;  and yet it is possible to
have obliquity of vision.  Only a partial relief can be rendered by
artificial  means.   Archery  is  a fine  discipline for the vision.
Ninepins and  billiards very  injurious.  It is  our impression
that a certain kind of spectacles, usually worn by persons in the
first stages of old age or weak sight, will assist greatly in cor-
recting the  defect.  Hand-magnetism would be useful  at times.
Avoid night reading.   And always look squarely at any object.
To do this well, employ your Will.

Spots, Webs,  &c, before the Eyes.
   The cause of these symptoms is traceable to a dormant con-
dition of the liver, affecting the spleen and kidueys.
   Remedy—The  right side must be thoroughly pressed and 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         367
 kneaded—sometimes pounded every forenoon, so that the bowels
 and kidneys will act promptly and freely.   Sluggishness of the
 intestines will  bring " spots " before  the eyes, and occasional
 blindness.   The sight depends  almost exclusively upon  the
 health of the nervous system.

 White Spots on the  Eyelids.
    Remedy.—Treat them as you would a mole or wart—viz.:
 Take a hair and tie it tight around the base of the  excrescence.
 By cutting off the capillary circulation, and stopping the flow of
 the nerve-life, the blemishes  become foreign bodies, decay, and
 soon drop off.  Perhaps  it will  be necessary to keep the liga-
 ture on for many days.  If you cannot tie a thread at the base
 of  the mole  or wart, the  true substitute is to use a needle to
 draw a thread through the  excrescence, leaving  the two ends
 about an inch long.  Occasionally pull the  thread back and
 forth, and the contents of  the spot, wart, or mole, will soon run
 out.

 The Eye and the Mind.  •
    The mind (says a writer,) like the eye, has  its adjustment to
 near  and remote objects.  A watchmaker can find the broken
 tooth in a ship's chronometer quicker than the captain,  and the
 captain will detect a sail in the distance long before the artisan
 can see it.  Physiologists and metaphysicians look at the same
 object with different focal  adjustments.

 Wash for Sympathetic Sore Eyes.
   Take a large pinch of bayberry bark {Myrica Cerifera)—not
 "barberry," remember—make a strong tea of it;  when cold,
wash  the eyelids with it,  both at night and  first  thing in the
morning. 
368
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
    If there be granulations on the lids, as an effect of inflam-
mation,  take equal parts of table-salt and citric acid, say half a
tea-spoonful of each, and mix them  in  the  white of an  egg.
Bandage your  eyes with this every night.   Never use the same
mixture twice.  Make it fresh just before applying.
    If there be much itching of the lids, use the water of tur-
pentine, which may be obtained by pouring rain-water on crude
gum taken from the  pine  tree ; six ounces of gum or " pitch "
to half pint of warm water ; let this tincture stand two or three
days, then apply several times during twenty-four hours.   Pei
sons with sore eyes must not use salted food.
    If there be temporary loss of vision, it will then be neces
sary to arouse the nerve-energy of  the  best  eye by the use of
hand-magnetism.  Pouring cold water on the  neck every morn-
ing is good, as a tonic, but is not likely to  do what magnetism
can.  Do not delay  the  application of the proper means for
your recovery.
    There is  a sort  of  rainbow in  every  eye—the colored
membranes around the  pupil — called the "iris."  Watch it
closely,  when  the  light is in  "proper angle with  the  sight, and
you  will see a rainbow.  What does it  " promise " ?

Nutritious Food  for  the Sick.
    The  Eclectic Journal says such  food may consist of vegeta-
ble soup  prepared by boiling pieces of turnips, potatoes, rice,
or cracked wheat  or  rye,  and adding small quantities of fresh
dried beef, allowing the patient to take a wine-glass full,  three,
four, or  five  times  a day, if required.   Dropped  egg,  egg
toast, bread toast,  bread  coffee, rye and  wheat gruel, are  also
admissible, and many other  kinds of farinaceous gruels  and
broths. 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         369
Pleasant Drink  for the  Sick.
   We  prescribe for the sick, everywhere, the following deli-
cious beverage :  To one and a half pounds of white sugar, two
table-spoonfuls of brewers' yeast, put in one gallon of  water.
Let it stand in a warm place  till it ferments.  Then strain and
bottle it.  Keep it in a cold place.   It should not be used until
the day after it is put away in well-corked bottles.

Poultices for Wounds and Injuries.
   These may be made of slippery elm, flax-seed, bread  and
milk, etc.  A  very convenient  flax-seed poultice  is made by
taking flax-seed malt, and adding boiling water, until it assumes
the consistency  of  a poultice.  Slippery elm poultice may be
made  in the same manner.  Bread and milk poultice may be
made, by taking  equal parts of each, and boiling them until they
are in the form of mush.   Potato and carrot poultices are made
by boiling these articles, and mashing them  fine.  Poultices
should be  spread on small pieces of cloth,.laid on to the part,
and protected by a small piece of oiled silk.

Water  Dressings for Wounds.
   Many surgeons now-a-days  are  in  the  habit  of applying
water-dressings  exclusively to  wounds.   These are made by-
taking  several  folds of linen or  cotton, wrung out of cold or
tepid  water, and applying them to the  part.  Change as often
as necessary to keep the parts moist.   They should be covered
with oiled silk, in the same manner as poultices.

Rapid  Cure for  Burns.
   The Medical Gazette of  France says, that, by an accident,
charcoal has been discovered  to be a cure for burns.  By laying
a piece  of cold charcoal upon a burn, the pain subsides urined*- 
370           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.

ately.  By leaving  the  charcoal on  one hour, the wound is
healed, as has been demonstrated  on several  occasions.   The
most painful, but most sure and positive, remedy for a bad burn
or scald, is the tincture of lobelia used as strong as the patient
can bear it.
Treatment for  Poisoned Wounds.
   A disciple of Hahnemann says : The application of dry heat
at a distance is an excellent remedy against the bites of venom-
ous serpents, mad  dogs, etc.   This remedy is  strongly recom-
mended by Dr. Hering.  A red-hot iron, incandescent coal, &c,
ought to be  placed as near  the wound  as possible ; without,
however, causing too  sharp a pain;  this should  be continued
until the  patient begin? to shiver and stretch himself.  If this
should take place a few minutes after the heat is first applied,
the application may be continued for  an hour, if the  patient is
able  to bear it, or until the effects of the poison disappear.

Excellent  Mixture for Burns.
   According to good medical authority, two parts of collodion
and one of castor-oil make  an  excellent mixture for burns.   The
mixture  should be spread on with  a camel's-hair  pencil.   It
forms a covering that protects the parts from the  air and  other
irritants, and is perfectly painless.  It may be allowed to remain
until  suppuration begins,  when  a poultice  of  light bread and
water will remove it.  The healthy granulating surface may be
dressed with simple means, and it readily heals.  Should cracks
occur in this artificial cuticle, a little more of the  article will
close them up.  Two coats, put on the first and second day, will
answer the purpose.
Remedy against Poisoning by Phosphorus.
   Poisoning by phosphorus  has become so frequent, in conse-
quence of the universal introduction  of chemical  matches, that 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          371
it  is highly important  to  make  every one acquainted with the
best means of counteracting the  effects  of that substance, in
order that speedy relief may be afforded to those who may have
had  the misfortune to take some.  The Medizinisch-Chirurg-
ische Monatschrift, a  German medical paper, proposes calcined
magnesia  as  the  best  remedy for the purpose, stated to have
been largely experimented on by Doctors Antonelli and Borsa-
relli.  In cases of poisoning by phosphorus, or by any other
substance containing  that metalloid, the administration of fatty
substances should be avoided ; because, far from attenuating the
effects of the poison,  they increase its energy and facilitate its
diffusion.  Calcined magnesia should be  administered in large
quantities,  suspended in water that has been exposed to ebulli-
tion.   In cases of dysuria occasioned by phosphorus, the best
remedy is acetate of potash.   All mucilaginous beverages admin-
istered to  the patient should be  prepared with water that has
boiled, in order that  they may contain as little atmospheric air
as possible.

Antidote for Strychnine.
    Tannin, which  retains nicotine, unites also with  nearly all
the other alkaloids.  Kursak recommends it as an antidote for
strychnine, in doses of sixty grains of nut-gall to one of alkaloid.
Nearly any astringent vegetable  substance which happens to be
at hand,  may replace  the tannin, such as  the glands or bark of
the  oak  and  of the chestnut.   The  use  of acids and alcohol
should be avoided, as these  agents  dissolve the poison.

Results of a Useful  Emetic.
    A  small  child  having got a cherry-stone lodged within its
nose, and the efforts of a regular practitioner having failed, the
services  of the village barber, who likewise practiced the heal 
372           THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
 ing art, were called  in.  He administered a powerful emetic,
 and at the moment when vomiting was about to commence, clap-
 ped  a handkerchief  tightly over the child's  mouth.  Either
 from  the violent expulsion of the  contents  of  the stomach
 against the nares, or  from the impulse given by the air expired,
 the stone dropped on the floor.

 Swallowing Lizards,  Frogs, and Toads.
   Bertholin, the learned Swedish doctor,  relates strange anec-
 dotes of  lizards, toads, and frogs ; stating  that a woman thirty
 years of age, being thirsty, drank plentifully of water at a pond.
 At the end  of a few months, she experienced singular move-
 ments in her stomach, as if something was crawling  up  and
 down; and,  alarmed by the  sensation, consulted a medical man,
 who prescribed a dose of orvietan in a decoction  of  fumitory.
 Shortly afterwards, the irritation of the stomach increasing, she
 vomited  three toads  and two young lizards, after which  she
 became more at ease.  In  the  spring following,  however, her
 irritation at  the stomach was  renewed, and aloes  and bezoar
 being administered, she vomited three female frogs, followed
 the next day by their numerous progeny.   In the month of
 January  following, she vomited five  more living frogs, and in
 the course of seven years ejected as many as eighty.   Doctor
 Bertholin protests that he heard them croak in her stomach!

 Poisoned  by Saltpeter.
   This poison produces violent symptoms, and acts like many
other   poisons,  with   fatal  promptness.     Treatment.__Any
 emetics which excite  and irritate the stomach, are very danger-
ous.   Vomiting,  however,  should be immediately induced by
 large and constant draughts of light mucilaginous drinks__flax-
 seed tea,  gum water,  skim milk, sweet oil, barley water, slippery 
DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          373
elm tea, either of which may be  used to  induce vomiting,  and
thus save the patient's life.  After the removal of any poison, it
is best to eat and  drink only small quantities of  the simplest
preparations.

Poisoned by Ash-Leachings.
   Vinegar and ley, by uniting chemically, form the acetate of
potash.  Oil and ley, united, form soap.   Therefore, should a
person, by  mistake, drink ash-leachings, the natural antidote, to
save life, would  be a large draught of either sweet oil or vine-
gar, immediately administered.  During the twenty-four hours
succeeding, give  the patient an  abundance of flax-seed  tea ;
almost no  food  of any kind ; and lay cold compresses on the
stomach and abdomen.

Bee  or Serpent Poison.
   For the bite of any venomous creature, reptile, spider, bee,
or locust: Mix  gunpowder and sweet-oil  together  (just enough
oil or lard to make the grains of  the powder adhere,) and apply
immediately ; do not fear ; the result will be favorable.  Change
the poultice several times during the day.

Persons Stricken by Lightning.
   Never use the magnetic current upon persons stricken down
by lightning.  Open their clothing at once, giving  free scope to
lungs and blood, and drench them with frequent buckets of cold
water.  Try artificial respiration also—i. e., breathe into the
patient's mouth,  pressing the breast immediately after inflating
the lungs—and apply vigorous friction to  the hands and  feet.

Cure for  Foul  Air.
   When an unpleasant odor (tobacco excepted,) is found in the
6ick  room  or  elsewhere, if a few grains of coffee  are scorched
    32 
374
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
  or  roasted (not burned) in such places, the  disagreeable odor
  will soon  depart.   Casks,  or  other  vessels,  also clothing, can
  likewise be  cleansed  in  this manner.  Those  who  have not
  tried  it, will be  surprised to  witness  its quick  and positive
  effect.

  Removal  of Superfluous Hair.
      It sometimes happens that the conditions for the production
  of hair  exist  in parts of the face or  body where Mother Nature
  did not design to fix  them.   In such  cases, the  tuft of extra
  growth  is many  times a  source of annoyance.  It  should be
  understood that each hair,  in  growing  through the  skin, carries
  with it  a transparent sheath.   Each hair, in  fact, consists of
  several  hairs ; among them, there is a passage for  the growing
. fluid to  flow out and in.  The  true way to obliterate hair, there-
  fore,  is : To eradicate  the minute  canals which  convey  the
  nutrient liquids to the visible  stems.   This can hardly be done
  without injury to  the  skin.   The simplest remedy within our
  knowledge, in this country, is  the active principle of Colchicum,,
  (get the alkaloid  extract);  moisten with weak vinegar, apply  it
  to  the  parts after shaving the hair down, and cover the medi-
  cine with court-plaster,   Renew the  remedy a few times ; keep-
  ing the air  from  the  parts under treatment.  You should put
  great faith in Time—
                  " Time, the beautifier of the dead,
               Adorner of the ruin,  comforter
               And only healer  when the heart hath bled—
               Time ! the corrector  where our judgments err,
               The test of truth, love—sole philosopher,
               For all the rest are sophists."
  Restoration  of the  Hair.
      Tincture of cantharides, one  drachm ;  orange-flower water,
  eight ounces;  sugar of lead, half a drachm ;  sulphur,  three 
              DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          375

 quarters of an ounce.  Shake this mixture thoroughly on using
 it.   We can assure every lady, unless her bodily  state is  very
 low and feverish, that the foregoing is  the  surest remedy for
 diseased or itching scalp, falling hair, and premature turning of
 color.  The hair  must be first  combed  carefully with a leaden
 comb ;  then saturated with  the above restorative  at bed time ;
 next morning the head  may be washed with a little  soap and
 much water.  Patients  troubled with headache after  dressing
 long hair, should remove the extra length with the scissors.
    The premature loss  of hair is sometimes attributable to an
 alkaline deposit, which  can be removed by frequently washing
 the scalp with weak sulphuric acid.   Only ten  drops  to half a
 pint of rain-water.

 A  Genuine Hair  Tonic.
    The following formula,  having been  fully tested by our
 "Angel of the House," and pronounced " good " by the author-
 ity of her  experience, is hereby recommended to  the  million :
 Take one ounce sugar of lead ; one ounce lac. sulphur ; half
 ounce oil of bergamot;  one  gill of bay rum ; one tea-spoonful
 of salt.   First dissolve the oil of bergamot in half a gill of alco-
 hol ; then  add all the  ingredients to one gallon of rain-water,
 bottle it up  tight, and it will be ready for use.  Use  it once a
 day, rubbing the scalp thoroughly.

 How to Wash your Mouth.
    Cleanse  all parts of your tongue and teeth, punctually before
 breakfast and directly after  supper.   This simple act  of devo-
 tion will silently sweeten your whole body.  You  should remem-
 ber  that man's dental organism is not subject to climatic influ-
 ences.  If  your Causality be  developed, we advise you, first of
all, to look for  the causes of defective  teeth in  the  nervous 
376           THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
American's ill-ventilated lungs ;  next, in the gallons of malari-
ous ethers that emanate from ill-digested food in the diseased
duodenum.  It will be seen that bad breathing is a great cause
of bad teeth.

Origin of Eitter and Sweet.
   Dr. W. Herschel has discovered that the mixing of nitrate
of silver (lunar caustic) with hypo-sulphate of soda, both remark-
ably bitter substances, produces the sweetest substance known ;
a proof how much we are in the dark as to the manner in which
things affect our organ of taste.   So, bitter and sweet, as well
as sour,  appear not to be  an essential quality in  the matter
itself, but to depend upon the proportion of the mixtures which
compose it.

Thin Shoes and Wet Feet.
   It is useless to amplify and moralize upon this fertile source
of female suffering.   Thousands pass from girlhood into  the
grave—but many times  not before they have injured the world
by the bestowal of one  sickly child—solely in consequence of
habitually wearing soleless  shoes.  Remedy.—Get wisdom, take
exercise, breathe plentifully of  pure air, add a pair of easy,
thick-soled shoes, and improve the style  of your dress.

Onions  and  Cider as Medicines.
   The popular roots (called onions,)  are  filled with medical
properties.  The magnetic power of the  compass-needle will be
entirely changed  or  destroyed  by  the  touch  of onion-juice.
Human instinct first used them in poultices.
   We do not deem apple-wine or cider good as a beverage; at
times it is both anti-bilious and cathartic ;  in general, it is the
reverse in effect.  See preceding pages for our doctrines regard-
ing Foods and Drinks. 
             DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          377

Origin of the Human Spine.
   The spinal cord is an extension of the mammalial world into
the human organization.   Spines pre-existed in the organic
sphere  for ages ;  the  brain  was  an  after development.  Say,
rather,  that the brain is composed  of a  multitude  of spinal
cords.

A Palm Blister as a Remedy for Disease.
   W e proclaim another mode of treating  disease  (says the
Scientific  American) — a  treatment that casts  homeopathy,
hydropathy, steam  doctoring, the  movement cure, and the sci-
ence of therapeutics itself, entirely into the shade.  It  is well
known that all these systems, though they make a loud noise in
the world, really accomplish very little ; nearly all patients who
recover under the  treatment of physicians of any  school, would
have recovered without the aid of  the physician, and  it  is very
seldom indeed that fatal diseases are diverted from their course
by putting  drugs into the stomach.   But our system is  effectual;
it will cure many of the worst  diseases to which mankind are
subject, and it will  prevent  them all.  It is as simple  as it is
powerful ; it is nothing more than raising a blister in the palm of
the hand.  The blister  must not  be raised  by cantharides or
other  poisonous irritants, but  must  be produced by friction,
accompanied with an alternate contraction and extension of the
muscles.  If the operation acts as a sudorific, inducing  a sensible
perspiration between the clavicles and above the eyebrows, it is
all the more  efficacious.  Almost any solid  substance  may be
employed for administering the  friction,  though it  has  been
discovered that the best substance for the purpose is the handle
of some tool,  such as a hammer, saw, or plane ;  the  very best
of all  being the handle of a  plow or hoe.
   This treatment produces the good effects of all the  articles
     32*   - 
378
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
 in the whole materia medica, and with more power and certainty
 than  they.  For instance, it  is a more powerful  opiate  than
 opium, and, while  the sleep  induced by narcotics is succeeded
 by nausea and  debility, that resulting  from this treatment is
 wholly refreshing  and invigorating, and is followed by a pecu-
 liarly healthful and buoyant exhilaration.
   As a  tonic  it is more beneficial than bark or iron, not only
 strengthening the  muscles, but actually enlarging their volume.
   To give an appetite, it is  better than any dinner pill.   If
 the epicure, who sits down to his table with indifference, and
 forces a  few  mouthfuls  of his  dainty viands into his stomach,
 where they give him great distress, will adopt this treatment,
 he will come  to the- table with a keen  desire  that will give a
 relish to the plainest food; and digestion waits upon an appetite
 thus produced.
   It  is  a  better remedy for incipient consumption than  cod
 liver oil, and  is a  sovereign cure for dyspepsia, jaundice, liver
 complaint, and a long train of chronic diseases.
   It will not only remove  bodily ills, but is  the best of all
 medicines for  a mind diseased.   If a man who is suffering from
 hypochondriasis, who feels that the burdens of life are greater
 than he  can bear, and who sees the  clouds of despair settling
 over his  future, will take hold of a shovel-handle and raise a
blister in  the palm of his hand, he will be surprised to see how
 the troubles that have oppressed him are brushed away, and the
future before him is brightened.  New beauties will come upon
the face of  Nature, and  new joys and hopes will spring up in
his heart.   This is the true elixir of life.
   While other modes of treatment are expensive, this not only
costs  absolutely nothing, but it is a source of revenue to  the
patient.
   It removes not only sickness and despondency, but poverty
also.   It is a remedy for all the ills that flesh is heir to. 
DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          379
   Though  this system is the best of any for the cure of com-
plaints, its great superiority is as  a prophylactic.   If properly
administered to a healthy subject, it will prevent all disease.
The next neighbor to the writer of this  died, at  ninety-four, of
old age.  A few days before his death, in conversation with him,
we asked him if he had ever consulted a physician.  He replied
that  he never had.
   " Were you ever sick ?"
   " No."
   " Not a day ?"
   "No."
   "Not an hour?"
   " No."
   "You were never sick in your  life ?"
   " No."
   This  man knew nothing of physiology ; he had never prac-
ticed any system of dieting ; but every day, Sundays and all,
for more than eighty years, and generally (excepting  Sundays)
through the  whole  day, from  before sunrise till after sunset,
he had applied friction to the palms of his hands.

An  Antidote for Putrefaction.
   In all malignant diseases there is a rapid tendency toward
putrescency, which  may be obviated by the use of several anti-
septic medicines, either  in the form  of solids or as vapors.
Among the  best may be mentioned acetic acid, sulphate of iron,
corrosive  sublimate, sulphate of  copper,  creosote,  chlorine,
acetate of iron, chloride of lime, soda, alcohol, and quinine.  In
houses infected  by the poison-vapor of small-pox, or by other
epidemic  and  malignant  diseases, we recommend the constant
burning of a chlorine lamp.  The vapor will diffuse itself through
all parts, and prevent the general tendency to putrefaction. 
380
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
The Medical Uses of Water.
   We would remark, for the good of all invalids, that the tem-
perature of water  is the positive essential.   Cold water, rang-
ing from 60  down to 32 degrees, is charged with electricity;
while hot water, or vapor, from 100 to  140 degrees, is magnet-
ically charged; and much of the medicinal  effect of this ele-
ment must, of necessity, be in accordance with its temperature.
The  scale of  temperatures, according to the  latest publication,
is thus given : Cold, 32 to 60 degrees ; cool, 60 to 70; temper-
ate, 70 to 80;  tepid, 80 to 85 ;  warm, 85 to 100 ; hot, 100 to
120;  vapor, 110 to 140.
    The  father of  the  hydropathic  system,  Priesnitz,  was
strictly a "cold water" physician.  But his success  with  dis-
ease  was not very remarkable ; and so, we observe,  many of his
followers have enlarged their  views and have  improved his sys-
tem.   Every hydropathic institution  in America, of any conse-
quence, has added the movement cure and some magnetic treat-
ment to their improved applications of water.  Their patients,
as a general rule, leave with better  complexions and higher
hopes.  We have great faith in water as a preventive of dis-
ease, and think  it should be more used.

Nervous and Convulsive Diseases.
   All such diseases can be cured if the patient will bestow par-
ticular attention upon the application of Food, Water, Air,  and
Magnetism.   The application of zinc  and copper plates to the
feet,  after  bathing the latter in cold water, will be of great  ser-
vice  at night.  Time,  and not medicine, is the best remedy for
such complaints, especially when the individual is obeying  the
laws of Nature, and  striving  to repel, by Will of  mind, the
malady from the system.   Let spirit arise superior to the visi-
ble form;  keep the  Htter continually negative and the former 
DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.          381
positive.   A  strong-minded  man  is  seldom diseased; he  is
determined not  to  be subdued by various afflictions, for he is
superior  to them,  hence Wills  and repels them away.  So
should our patients do, assisted by the spiritual influence of
some congenial person.  The principal food should be solid and
nourishing.  Watery  substances for diet tend to weaken  the
blood,  solids, and muscles.   Exercise should be moderate, and
early in the morning.  Patients should be very careful to avoid
all excesses.   Study, or passionate exercises of the mind, must
be abandoned, and the unequal action of one class of organs of
the body or  mind must not be  permitted.   Sleep  an hour
between breakfast and  dinner.

How to Retain a Good Face.
   A correspondent of the Home  Journal has some good ideas
on the importance  of  mental activity in retaining a good face.
He says : " We  were speaking of handsome  men the other
evening,  and  I was wondering why K. had so lost the beauty
for which five years ago he was so famous.  ' Oh, it's because
he never did anything,' said B.; ' he never worked, thought, or
suffered.  You must  have  the  mind chiseling away at the fea-
tures if you want handsome middle-aged men.'   Since hearing
that remark, I have been on the  watch to see if it is generally
true, and it is.   A handsome man, who does  nothing but eat
and drink, grows flabby, and the fine lines of his features are
lost; but the  hard  thinker has an admirable sculptor at work,
keeping his fine lines in repair, and constantly going over his
face to improve the original design."

Cholera Morbus and Cholera Flatulenta.
   All severe forms of cholera begin with symptoms of flatu-
lency ; with a sense of oppression, soreness, pain, and disten- 
3S2
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
sion, in the stomach and throughout  the bowels ;  all which is
quickly succeeded by great depression of Will and spirits, and
by severe vomiting and purging, and a clammy sweat all over
the body ;  sometimes there  is much  difficulty in breathing, hic-
cough, irregular pulse, convulsions,  cramping  of the  cords  in
the legs, and a coldness  of the skin, while the patient persists
in calling for cooling drinks,  thinking that he  is  burning up
with great  heat.
   Remedy.—Do not fear anything, but make  up your  mind
not to die in that unbecoming manner.  The cause of all your
suffering is to be traced  to some  imprudences of your own.
Stomach and liver are resisting the evils of your recent viola-
tions.  Put mustard and onion poultices  on the feet, extending
up the legs ; also poultice  the hands, wrists, and the  stomach
and bowels; or use plentifully of hot-water  cloths  over the
stomach and intestines.  Eat  nothing.  Drink weak lemonade
and flax-seed tea, without sugar ; or lime-water, in order to stop
the vomiting and quiet the bowels.  Abstain from solid food for
many days.  If  the  cholera should result in a dysentery, then
treat the patient according to directions for that disease.

Treatment for  Typhoid  Fever.
   September  is a fearful  month to persons who  are predis-
posed to a low grade  of typhoid fever.  The summer time, with
its peculiar influences upon the brain and blood, in passing away,
is certain to leave a " strait" for mankind, filled with malarious
vapors and  bilious fevers.   There are  three predisposing and
producing causes of eccentrical epidemics, viz. :
  1st.  The miasmatical character of the location, and  the con-
spiring effluvia of its environs.
   2d. The position of the location with reference to  peculiai
longitudinal magnetic currents of the earth. 
              DIAGNOSES  AND  PRESCRIPTIONS.         383

   3d. The situation of the street, or city, or other location, as
determining the degree of light received from the sun.
   In  different places a low form of typhoid debilities prevail
—with a slow, consuming fever—but  without  producing the
ulcers  in the  bowels, and lesions, which  are  the  well-known
characteristics  of the regular typhoid.
   Remedy.—Stop all  food as soon as your head begins to ache.
Drink nothing but cold flax-seed tea, or the tea of slippery elm,
with a few  drops of lemon-juice.   Magnetism is  a great remedy
if applied vigorously to the  extremities in the  early stages of
the disease.  The Water Cure system is the best for the symp-
toms  of this  fever.   Nothing  can be more remedial, or more
grateful to  a hot skin, than a wet-sheet pack once  or twice a day.
But we think there  is no danger from this fever, if the patient
will  abstain  from food  on the first noticeable symptom, and
gradually return to his customary diet after his appetite is fully
restored.   Quinine and calomel are popular but dangerous medi-
cines.  They leave the  patient with some other disease.

The Physical  and Spiritual Man.
   Man is  a unit.  It is  not  true that he has a body to be cured
of disease  separate from his mind ;  nor is it true that man has
a spirit, a soul, a heart, to be cured of sin-diseases separate from
his body.   The physical and spiritual organizations of man are, in
this rudimental or caterpillar state of existence, " one and insepa-
rable !"  If clergymen suppose (as  many of them most consci-
entiously do,) that the moral and religious sentiments and qual-
ifications of the  human  soul can be touched and unfolded into
practical exercise merely by preaching sacred  principles to it,
then we are impressed to undeceive them. And if physicians
believe (as many of them profess  to,) that the  human body
can be »ured  of its  endlessly  modified  afflictions  merely by 
384
THE HARBINGER  OF  HEALTH.
 administering scientific preparations of mineral and vegetable
 substances, then we are also  impressed to undeceive  them.
 It  is  absolutely impossible to develop realizations of heaven
 in  the soul when  that  soul  is not  attuned  to  perfect har-
 mony.  From various causes, which have been  fully explained,
 the  animating  essence  of the  human body  is  thrown  or
 pressed  into  different degrees of  discord;  and  the  relation
 between this  essence and  every organ, nerve,  and muscle, is
 so  inconceivably  and inexpressibly intimate,  that the  body
 becomes the day-book and ledger in which  are recorded the
 most trivial as  well  as the most complicated of disturbances
 which  the spirit is made to experience.   The enlightened mind,
 therefore,  cannot  but perceive  that any  unsettled accounts
 between the human soul and external nature will act as positive
 obstructions to the development and exercise  of  pure religious
 principles.   But how  surprisingly  unphilosophical  are the
 teachers of the present generation !  How unphilosophical and
 useless to preach and complain  that the  human heart is slow to
 perceive truth,  is  inclined to  evil and  sin, that it  resists the
 saving and  momentous truths of heaven, when, from  some cause,
 the soul—the  entire  individual—is  suffering  from the melan-
 choly effects of dyspepsia, or constipation, or from other consti-
 tutional inharmonies  !

 The Physiology  of Courage.
   Emerson, in his  latest  work, gives the physiology of cour-
 age : Courage—the old physicians taught (and their meaning
holds good, if their physiology is a little mythical)—courage, or
the degree of life, is  as the degree of circulation of blood in the
arteries.  "During  passion, anger,  fury,  trials of  strength,
wrestling, fighting, a large  amount of blood is collected in the
arteries, the maintenance of bodily  strength  requiring it,  and 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          385
but little  is sent into  the veins.  This  condition is constant
with intrepid persons."   Where the arteries hold their blood, is
courage and  adventure possible.  Where  they  pour it unre-
strained into the veins, the spirit is low and feeble.   For per-
formance of great mark, it needs extraordinary health.......
There is no  chance in results.  With adults, as with children,
one  class  enter cordially into the game,  and  whirl with  the
whirling world;  the  others  have cold  hands,  and  remain
bystanders, or  are  only dragged  in by the humor and vivacity
of those who  can  carry a dead  weight.  The  first wealth is
health.  Sickness is poor-spirited, and  cannot serve any one : it
must husband  its resources to live.  But health or fullness
answers its own  ends, and has to spare, runs  over, and inun-
dates the neighborhoods and creeks of  other men's necessities.

Tea, Coffee, Cocoa,  and Chocolate.
   Coffee, or tea, or chocolate, when very strong and very hot,
are very injurious.   It  is  not the tea, nor the coffee,  that is
injurious to the constitution, but  it is  their strength, their  too
great heat, and their excessive use.  Cold coffee is sometimes a
pleasant and highly valuable tonic.  Tea is not very injurious,
and weak  cocoa and chocolate are both important beverages in
some lingering and  nervous complaints.

Sweet Oil as  a Remedy for Poison.
   "It is now over twenty years," says a  dairyman, "since I
learned that sweet oil would cure the bite of a rattlesnake,  not
knowing that it would cure any other  poison.  Practice, obser-
vation, and experience, have taught me that it would cure poi-
son of any kind,  both in man and beast.   I think  no  farmer
should be without a bottle in his house.  The patient must take
a spoonful internally and bathe the wound for a cure.  To cure
    33 
386
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
a horse it requires eight times as much as a man.  Here let me
say, one of the most extreme cases of snake bites in this neigh-
borhood, eleven years ago this summer, when the case had been
over thirty hours standing, and the  patient given up to die by
his physician, I heard of it, carried the oil, gave him  one spoon-
ful, which  created a cure.  It is  an antidote for arsenic  and
strychnine.  It will cure  bloat in cattle, caused by eating too
freely of fresh clover ;  it  will cure the sting of bees,  spiders,
or any other insects ; and it will  cure persons who have been
poisoned by low running vines, growing in meadows, called ivy."
   [The reader is  prepared to believe that our confidence in
the sovereign virtues of olive oil is strong, from the frequency
with which it  is prescribed in this volume.  But we do not
indorse the merits  and uses of sweet oil to the above extent.
So  much  reliance upon its power to antidote  every  kind  of
poison, would be attended  with great  and fatal disappointment.]

Remedies for  Fever  and Ague.
   Intermittent Fever, or  Fever and Ague, as we have before
written, illustrates  the  origin and  philosophy of  all human
diseases.  It will be seen that  the temperature of the body is
thrown  into a  positive  state  by certain electrical conditions of
the atmosphere, and into  a negative state by conditions which
are exactly opposite.  The negative  condition is cold, and the
positive warm.   In  other  words, the positive state is the fever-
ish condition, and  the  negative  state the condition  of chill.
Fever  and chills in the  atmosphere, therefore,  develop  and
strengthen fever and chills in the human system.   This atmo-
spherical condition can and does exist a long time, in some sea-
sons and countries, before  the resisting power of the human
body is  overcome.   But the physical structure, like the  spiritual
structure, is ever subject  to the influence of surrounding condi- 
              DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          387

tions and circumstances ; and the power which these conditions
and circumstances possess, is not only sufficient finally to over-
come the resisting power of the body, but they first throw the
mind itself out of  health, harmony, and due proportions.  The
abounding  dampness  and  electricity (which are negative,) con-
tract the cuticle glands, relative membranes, and serous surfaces
of the organization, and thus are  repelled the spiritual forces
and fluids which reside in and circulate through them when the
healthy temperature and condition  exist.   The consequence of
long-continued disturbances of this kind, is a chill, which  soon
reacts into a fever ; and thus is established the intermittent com-
plaint.  The fever is occasioned by  a  partial return of the
forces  and  fluids  to  their appropriate places  on  the  external
surfaces.
    The  difference  there  is between intermittent fever  and
other spasmodic  complaints,  consists in this : In Fever  and
Ague there  occurs an incessant succession of spasmodic motions
during the  whole paroxysm ; while  in the other affections these
motions are more  concentrated and conspicuous ;  but in every
spasmodic  disease, the same muscles  are affected in the same
manner, and by the  same  primary causes, differing from chills
and fever only in degrees of violence and frequency, according
to which difference  they have been branded with a Greek or
Latin name  by the  medical profession.   If an individual has
once had chills and fever, he is liable to a recurrence of the
disease at any time—especially whenever a heavy cold is taken,
or the bodily temperature  is changed.  The disease is simple
however, and its cure is correspondingly easy and  natural.
   If we  have been enough  fortunate  to fully  impress the
reader's understanding with the true Philosophy of Disease, he
will not need to be reminded in this place that it is the nerve-
dpirit (or force within the  nerves,)  which shakes and trembles 
388           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
in the  cold or cu*lly stage of this disorder.  No man's nerves
would stir if his  spirit was withdrawn  from them.   It is the
dynamic life of the mind—the force, the  energy,  the power
within the nerve—that is disturbed.  Hence the spirit, and its
Will, are  the chief agents of cure.  It is this fact, underlying
the  ten thousand  " charms "  practiced by superstitious " sev-
enth sons " and credulous old ladies, by which many Fever and
Ague patients have been instantly  healed.  But what will  cure
one in a few days, or hours, perhaps, would exert no  remedial
power upon persons of different organizations.   The success or
failure of psychological  " charms  "  among  the sick, is wholly
referable  to temperament—which  law is  strikingly illustrated
in religious revival meetings, where, under  the  enchanting
God-spell {i. e., Gospel,)  imparted  from  the pulpit orator,
one  person is  straightway  " converted  and  saved,"  while
another remains cold, untouched,  uninterested, and, therefore,
unchanged.
   Remedy.—If a person has been  long afflicted with this nerve-
chill, with its accompanying headache, resultant fever, and ulti-
mate  prostration, it will  be  necessary for  him to leave the
country which brought the disturbance upon him;  It is within
the power of every person to prevent attacks of this disease,
simply by keeping  his appetite within bounds, discarding  gra-
vies, fat meat, butter, hot  drinks,  and  newly-baked bread, and
not working his strength down to a low point in the spring or
autumn.  But the  " pound of cure " is  most in demand, and
that  doctor  is considered  the " cleverest,"  and most  " whole-
some "  to send for, whose doses are largest and most energetic
in their operation.   If an ignorant man  pays fifty  cents  for a
dose of  medicine, he wants his " money's-worth " in quantity
of the article to be swallowed.   The " quality"  is  of  little
account in his  estimation.  Many ignorant, but good people, 
               DIAGNOSES AND PRESCRIPTIONS.          389

 swallow calomel and quinine, as if it were within the power of
 such minerals and barks to heal their bodily infirmities.
    Before prescribing for your Fever and Ague—or chills^nd
 fever—or intermittent disturbances—all the same thing under
 different names—we urge you to remember that your restora-
 tion will depend upon the promptness  and energy with which
 you exert your own  Will.  All medicines  are sometimes liable
 to  fail.   Nature's  laws  will  never fail.  They are  the life  of
 God.  They cannot be changed, nor staid in their  slow, calm,
 eternal round of operation.  They tell us, infallibly, that Mind'
 is master of Matter.  So let it be !
    When you  feel the  chill coming on, prepare your mind  to
 resist it,  arise to your feet, walk, or enter upon gymnastic exer-
 cises,  and do  everything to bring up  the arterial circulation.
 Your coldness is owing to the blood principally occupying the
 veins, thus depriving the arteries of their customary magnetism
 and warmth, and producing a sensation of cold or chilliness all
 over the body.  If you wait for the  reaction, then you get an
 unnatural heat, which is the prostrating fever.  Do not wait for
 such slow reaction.
    The  following is a sure remedy for breaking up the chill :
 Get one  gill  of best  brandy, put in  it a table-spoonful of fine
 salt, mix  thoroughly, and  take a wine-glass full on the first sen-
 sation of the ague.  The influence of salt on the sympathetic
 and pneumogastric nerves is very surprising.  It is well known
 that salt  will counteract  the  action  of brandy  in the  human
 stomach, so that a very drunken man  may be perfectly sobered
 in less than an hour.   Salt and water will stop a hemorrhage in
 the head,  nose, or stomach; the same, tea-spoonful  at a time,
 is good for  stomach worms.  If an aguish patient  should try
 the  above remedy, he will be  astonished at the relief which it
will bring to  his shaking nerves.  In  some cases it may be
    33* 
390
THE HARBINGER  OF  HEALTH.
 necessary either to  reduce the quantity, or take several doses,
 before  the exact point of benefit is reached.  The true way to
 cure this disease, is, to meet the chill with both  your Will and
 your remedy, promptly and "energetically.

 Phthisic,  or  Asthma.
    When a child is badly afflicted  with the symptoms, give a
 tea-spoonful  of' pure  linseed-oil in a table-spoonful  of white
 brandy.  In  severe  cases, add to the oil and brandy twenty to
 thirty  drops of tincture  lobelia, or less of ipecac.   Also dip
 a piece of brown paper in a  solution  of  saltpeter, let it dry,
 and then burn it  so you can inhale the vapor.
    If the lungs are weak, then, just before eating  your first
 and second  meals, take about twenty drops  of pure olive oil.
 Take in your mouth,  mix it  with  your saliva, and  swallow
 slowly.   Let all  cases  of  chronic dyspepsia try  this  simple
 remedy for a number of weeks.

 Pin Worms in Ano.
    The quickest cure for " seat  worms,"  so-called, is very
 strong salted water.   First moisten  the  finger in the white of
 an  egg, then immerse it in the salt water, and thus introduce
 the  remedy up the anus.   A few applications will relieve the
 most inveterate cases.

 Catarrh and Difficult Breathing.
    For  chronic catarrh and difficult breathing—symptoms, pro-
 fuse and fetid discharge  from the nose, and  occasional  sore
 throat—take a tea-spoonful of sweet oil early in the morning and
 last thing at night.   Also rub  the breast and throat with  the
 same every night and  morning.  Persist in this, and you will
get well. 
DIAGNOSES AND  PRESCRIPTIONS,          391
   We  admonish all this class  of patients to be exceedingly
cautious of sudden  changes in bodily temperature.   Bathe the
feet in cold water before going to bed.  Then give them a tho-
rough coating of sweet oil ;  next, draw on flannel socks, such as
you do not wear daytime ; and lastly, take a tea-spoon half full
of linseed-oil  internally.  Also a few drops of the  same  any
time during the day, whenever your cough is dry and the  pain
troublesome

Tenderness  at the  Pit of the  Stomach.
   If your female  friend has an inflammatory disease of the
mucous membrane of the stomach, the " pit " will be tender, or
sore to pressure, showing  that  the  pneumogastric nerves are
much disturbed.  She must avoid-"spoon victuals"—such as
bread and milk, &c.—in short,  everything that distends  the
stomach with gas.   Slowly her health  will improve, if she is
careful to obey the  laws of life ; in this  we  include regular
kneading,  and also manipulations over the  stomach and bowels
For painful menstruation, lay a  light flax-seed poultice on the
abdomen,  sprinkled  with powdered camphor.
Proclivity  to Suicide.
   The propensity  which  some  persons experience to commit
suicide, whenever the physical system is deranged and depressed
in energy, is owing  to the great sensitiveness of the brain.  You
can suffer or enjoy much, but the  action  of your brain is uneven.
Did not your  loved mother, before your birth, suffer suicidal
emotions  to disturb her spirit ?  You should cultivate  your
organ of  Hope, and absorb vitality from lower faculties of
mind.
Poisoned by Mineral Acids.
   Aquafortis (Nitric Acid,) Marine Acid (Muriatic,) or Oil of
Vitriol (Sulphuric Acid,) if swallowed by mistake, may be anti- 
392           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
doted by the abundant  administration of calcined magnesia, or
strong soap-suds, or saleratus, to neutralize the acid ; then give
warm water  to  induce vomiting;  after which give  plenty  of
flax-seed tea,  or slippery-elm water, until  the  irritation has
entirely subsided.

Sinking  at the Pit of the Stomach.
   Such stomach  sensations  are nervous, but pain in the right
side indicates that the liver is diseased.  Remedy.—Take a tea-
spoonful of powdered willow charcoal in a  little cold water just
before each dinner.  Get some friendly hand to knead your
stomach and  side, as if to make bread of them, about thirty
minutes after dinner.

Remedy for American Leprosy.
   The best remedy for the American form of Leprosy, is  an
ointment of the following : Gum kino, half an ounce ;  gum cam-
phor,  four ounces ; cajaput oil, two ounces ; mutton tallow, six
ounces.   Dissolve and  mix over a hot fire.  Use it when cold.
Give  yourself a  thorough  cleansing with  soap and hot water.
Afterward  use this ointment on all parts of your person.   It
must  be rubbed  by the friction of your hand into your skin.
Take  a tea-spoonful  of olive oil  every morning for several
weeks.
   Dr. Valentine Mott, of the University Medical College, made
lately, in one of his clinical lectures, a striking and novel state-
ment.  It was to this effect:  That, to his  mind,  the  conviction
was irresistible  that leprosy was  the great progenitor of both
syphilis and struma;  that they were  all  three  essentially the
same  disease. His conviction, he stated, was  founded upon
extensive observations  which he  had been able to make upon
leprosy in its various phases, while traveling in the East.  The 
             DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         393

analogy between  leprous  and  syphilitic   sore  throats  and
skin diseases, he instanced as being  particularly striking and
complete.

Rheumatism and Sore Eyes.
    For chronic  rheumatism in the joints, which  are enlarged
and drawn out of shape, there is nothing better than the follow-
ing ointment:  Flower of sulphur, one-half ounce ; gum  kino,
one-half ounce ;  borax,  one ounce ; oil of amber, two ounces ;
turpentine pitch, one ounce ;  camphor  gum,  four ounces ; mut-
ton tallow,  eight ounces.   Melt and  amalgamate over a slow
fire, stirring the mixture steadily while dissolving ; use it when
perfectly  cold,  by rubbing  it  into  the joints with all your
strength and with all your Will.  Always use  your own  hand,
or get  a friend  to  act for  you.   A piece of brown paper satu-
rated with this ointment, and laid on your eyes  at night, will do
something toward giving them aid and comfort.   Cheerfulness,
and a mind of peace in the midst of discord,  are important rem-
edies for you.

Remedy for  Tobacco  Tremens.
    A correspondent says  that " it makes him almost crazy to
leave off the use of tobacco.  He longs to be free from the
habit, but fears  he cannot find himself strong enough to accom-
plish it."
    We counsel all who find the habit so fixed, that to break it
disables them for labor or business, to give up all attention to
any occupation until the trembling nerves become steady.  It
is a kind of sickness, and the tobacco-chewer, in order to  break
up the narcotic habit, must  lay up a  few days, like any other
sick person.   Meantime, while the appetite  is strong—perhaps
ravenous and fickle—the WILL must forbid hearty eating.  Let
a man say :  " I will it," and his Will shall draw heavenly aid. 
394
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
Boils Cured  by  Creosote.
   Dr.  Lynch  (in the Eclectic Medical Journal) in treating
boils  as  a kindred  disease  to erysipelas,  says :  " In all cases,
creosote is an effectual local remedy.  It produces  a blister, over
which forms  an eschar,  or  scab, when the sore readily heals.
And I have never known a single failure, where the remedy has
been  applied prior  to the formation of a  'core,'  or the death
of a portion of the areolar tissue.   I have broken up whole crops
of boils with this agent, without any other treatment.   How it
acts, or its modus operandi in these cases, let pathologists deter-
mine.   But when the tumor has ' come to a head,' as a certain
stage  of its development,  in common parlance, is termed, creo-
sote will afford no service;  and  then  suppuration should  be
favored by emollient applications, as poultices,  fomentations,
&c, till the ' core ' is disengaged, when the ulcer rapidly heals
under simple  dressing."

Sympathetic Sore  Eyes and  Catarrh.
   Your sore eyes may arise from sympathetic connection with
a periodic disturbance in the head and nose.  Your disease  is,
perhaps, one of  the mucous  membrane, commencing  in  your
stomach, and terminating in catarrh and sore eyes.  Remedy.—
Mix two ounces of sweet oil  with half an ounce  of  camphor,
over the fire.  Rub this ointment into the skin of your stomach,
in the cheeks, on the eyes, and very thoroughly  manipulate  it
into your temples, and where  the nose is most afflicted.  Snuff
sweet oil into your nose two or  three times per  day.   Arise !
Let blood flow into your feet and hands.  Become very healthy,
and, therefore,  beautiful.  Will it strongly.  If the eyes are
badly  inflamed,  and  the  eyelids  very much thickened,  then
apply  at night  a poultice of rye  flour mixed with the white of
an egg.   Always spread poultices for the eyes on linen cloths 
DIAGNOSES  AND PRESCRIPTIONS.         395
Figs as  a Cure for  Cancer.
   Mr. Thomas Puderton, an English gentleman, gives the fol-
lowing recipe for cancer,  which he says has been of great ser-
vice in several dangerous cases : Boil fine Turkey figs in new
milk, which they will thicken; when they are tender, split and
apply them, as warm as can  be borne,  to  the  part affected,
whether broken or not.   The part must then be washed, every
time the  poultice  is changed, with some of the milk.   Use a
fresh poultice night and morning,  and at least once during the
day, and drink a quarter of a pint of the milk the figs are  boiled
in, twice in the twenty-four hours.   If the stomach will bear it,
this must  be  persevered in three or four months at least.
   The efficacy of figs, in hastening the absorption of inflamma-
tory particles in a cancerous sore, is indisputable. 
396
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
        THE  REPRODUCTIVE ORGANISM.

   Few readers permit themselves to live an hour in profitable
conscientious meditation.   No  soul knows what Life is without
occasionally coming  into  nearest  rapport  with all its  holy
essences and normal manifestations.   We know that this age is
heated with a boundless nerve-fire !  Its subtile flame reaches
and scorches  almost every living soul.   Thousands who would
think calmly and  act deliberately, cannot;  they are disturbed
every moment by the  storm-beat of discordant  circumstances.
The elements are all astir.   Therefore few persons stop to con-
sider  profoundly anything.  The deeper  your thought, the less
likely is it to reach  the multitude, for whom you think.  Yet
we would utter a brief word  concerning  the  totality  of  the
high  powers of mind called  " Wisdom."
   It is  the  office of Wisdom to  listen  reverently to the sub
lime teachings of  eternal principles.  Wisdom  sits  on the glo-
rious throne of all natural laws—presides over the innumerable
manifestations of all  constructive  attributes—and is superior,
both  in position and  power, to all the qualities and essences
which fill the universe with moving organized bodies.  Wisdom,
therefore, is unconscious of either pride  or prejudice.  It con-
templates and comprehends the  teeming congregations of truths,
which are perfectly displayed and infinitely expanded in every
direction ; and yet not for one moment does it  (Wisdom) become
self-conscious of its constitutional supremacy  even to the truth 
THE  REPRODUCTIVE  ORGANISM.          397
   itself.   Therefore,  the sublime simplicity of Wisdom is inex-
   pressible—its order and form, its light and life, its grace and
   elegance, its uniform  majesty, its  constructive  attributes, sur-
   pass the descriptive power of human language.  Therefore let
   no  earthly  mind wonder that, even in the  celestial realms of
   angel-existence, where exterior forms are known to their inmost
   centers, the revelations  of Wisdom are pregnant with elemen-
   tary simplicities, and with  aphorisms  congenial only to the
   intuitions of " the  pure  in heart."
       Wisdom wants  and  seeks the  Truth—independently and
   unconsciously of foregone conclusions.  It is, consequently,  a
   stranger to prejudice — is  equally  unmindful  of  prudential
   restraints—takes no knowledge of personal or private  consider-
   ations—but, attracted alone by the heavenly breathings of the
   Divine  and  Eternal, Wisdom opens its myriad hearts to the
   influx of  light  from all  points of the  infinite radius, and medi-
   tates and  legislates, unconscious of its sublime capacities and
   immortal  powers, like a child of  the  Most High playing with
   the  valley  flowers, by  the  silently-flowing  streams of the
   expanded earth, beneath the unfolded heavens.
       But the office and characteristics of man's intellectual facul-
   ties are conspicuously different; for they are far more external
   than wisdom.  If we gather together all the thinking faculties in
   man's nature, and systematically assemble all his judgmatic organs
   into one self-conscious congregation of thoughtful powers, it would
   then be most appropriate to class such an aggregation or  con-
   gress  of thinking  faculties  under one  comprehensive term—
   " Knowledge."  This name will express both the powers of
   acquiring information, and the acquisition also.
       Under  the term Knowledge we comprehend or include all
   such familiar names  as  " understanding,"  " reasoning facul-
*  ties,"  " power of judgment," "intellectual organs," &c.  It has
        34 
 398           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.

 long  seemed to  us that the most comprehensive name for the
 totality of man's  self-conscious  and  external powers of mind is
 Knowledge; because Wisdom is interior and spiritual, or celes-
 tial, in its attributes, and because, in respect to office and char-
 acteristics, Knowledge is the natural opponent  of what we have
 so imperfectly described as Wisdom in man's organization.
    The inherent propensity, and, therefore, the office of Know-
 ledge, is,  to  energetically and persistently make  explorations.
 It is the embodiment of  inquisitiveness,  and the universal Yan-
 kee  is, therefore, the embodiment of  Knowledge.  He  is the
 latest revelation of the human family, and will  go in pursuit of
 Knowledge  " under difficulties "  never dreamed  of by  ancient
 Greek or Roman.  Art,  Science, Mechanism,  Commerce, are
 volunteer troops  or body-servants—the express  agents and
 incursive  fillibusters — under the supervision and government
 of the  one  despot—Knowledge. Without  faith, or fear, or
 politeness—but stately and lordly independent—it penetrates
 to the most  secret recesses of human life.   No temple  is too
 holy for its presence—no subject too  private or intricate for
 its  investigations.  It is bold,  and  audacious, and skeptical.
 Destitute  of modesty or suavity.it "is bold to inquire" of every-
 body  exactly what a  body means to mean  on  every imagina-
 ble occasion.   Knowledge, according to our definition, is rude,
 rugged, intrusive, invasive, introgressive, aggressive, and pro
 pulsively  determined to  ransack " the wide, wide world "  in
 quest of gratification.  It is constitutionally set to destroy every
 palace of  mystery; to tame  every wild horse  ; to conquer  a
 peace in every land ; to kindle inextinguishable chemical  fires
 beneath every combination of unyielding elements ; to become
 equal to the gods in comprehending good and evil; and, lastly,
to annihilate,  " both root and branch," every form of ignorance,
error, and superstition.                                         • 
              THE  REPRODUCTIVE ORGANISM.          399

    Now  it is useless  to  attempt to disguise the fact that this
 age is full of Knowledge-seeking propensities.  The Wisdom-
 age has not yet dawned upon the glittering edifices of mankind.
 Only through a few delicate, courageous, inspired, retiring souls,
 have the  rays of the eternal sun reflected upon the institutions
 of this era.  This present age is strictly one of straightforward
 inquiry.  But the dare-devil mode of such " inquiry " is  often
 painful to the kind, prudential, and reverential.   Man's external
 mind—his Knowledge  department—says : "I want to know, to
 understand, to weigh,  and measure, and  realize—and what is
 more, I will."  Moved energetically by this inborn determina-
 tion to know, to be convinced, the young man, and not less the
 young woman, institutes the supposed necessary inquiries.  If
 these be  not  satisfactorily answered by the parent, the friend
 the playmate, or the teacher, then begins the ignoble and humili-
 ating process  of investigation—to wit, acquiring information of
 the secrets of life by means of intrusive conduct; by overhear-
 ing and eaves-dropping ;  by buying  and  stealthily  reading of
 books  on  sexual  physiology, written by libidinous authors for
 mercenary purposes ; by closely watching the conduct of winged
 insects in the summer  time ; by observing the barn-yard fowls
 all the year around;  by sensually cogitating upon the procrea-
 tive habits of  domestic animals ; by waiting for the natal  hour
 of, and curiously observing all the external facts connected with,
 the birth  of lambs, colts, and  calves—these, and a variety of
 other and less commendable methods of investigation, are insti-
 tuted  by  the children of  prudential,  squeamish,  and unwise
 parents and teachers, until Knowledge becomes  to its possessor
 a source of incalculable mischief, instead of a glory and a bless-
 ing of endless  duration.  To attempt to prevent the ingress of
Knowledge is folly of the shallowest kind.  Knowledge is a bold
highwayman, remember—a fillibuster, a sort of  invisible Goth, 
400           THE  HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.

or spiritual Vandal; it will not be  delicate and  graceful in
approaching the  penetralia of truth ;  for it is inherently stub-
born,  naturally hard-headed, peremptory, conceited,  egotistic,
despotic, resolved to waylay and obtain its rights at all hazards ;
and he is, therefore, inexpressibly unwise and inexcusably igno-
rant of the laws of mind, who attempts to set bounds to the pen
etrations of Knowledge.
  Secret physiological knowledge,  or  information stolen out of
circumstances, is a source of general mischief.  If a young man
imagines himself to be in  possession of information concerning
the reproductive  organism, which is  not known  by  young
women, he is at once impressed with the unfortunate conviction
that he is superior  to his sisters, both by nature and attainment.
It is an equal misfortune for the young woman  to imagine that
the essential and orderly functions of her organization are con-
cealed from the world's comprehension.   She is deluded by the
popular  faith that  Nature  has perfectly shielded her from the
encroachments and incursions of scientific inquiry, and that it
is .impossible for her brothers and  young masculine acquaint-
ances  to  know anything positively of woman's procreative struc-
ture and functions.  There  are thousands of both sexes  deeply
impressed with this  mistaken  conviction.  And yet, with con-
summate  wisdom,  the boundless  Father   and Mother  have
made  it impossible that man should remain ignorant of woman,
or woman of man.
   But how inexpressibly essential it is that correct Knowledge
should displace the present popular learned ignorance of man-
kind !    Incorrect  information, regarding  the  reproductive
organism, is the fountain-source of much disease and misery.
Boys, before their  twelfth year, think  they know all the  arcana
of human  reproduction.  Girls, between  their  twelfth  and
eighteenth year, indulge  the same fancy.   Both  sexes assure 
THE  REPRODUCTIVE  ORGANISM.          401
 themselves that they have  acquired  much  secret information
 without the assistance of teachers, or the knowledge of parents ;
 and each sex has also the conviction that the other knows some-
 thing very different respecting the other's  organization, func-
 tions, and experience ;  but the universal Mother hath wisely and
 lovingly  built  the temple of Life,  and hath printed  over the
 spacious vestibule, before the eyes of young and old alike, these
 words:  "Know thyself."   Hence  universal  ignorance is
 impossible.
    We are  impressed  to  do what we can to universalize as
 much of reproductive truth as we possess ; believing that virtue
 and  civilization effectuate  from the interior realms of wisdom
 and causation.   The centermost  truth of man's position in the
. system of creation, is almost universally overlooked—viz. : that
 he (man and woman as  one) occupies  the  highest place in the
 structural world.  Mankind  are the  kings of organic structures.
 All forms, orders, degrees, forces, and principles, of the visible
 world,  meet and co-operate in Man.  He is an ocean composed
 of all the streams of life.  The whole  earth meets and mingles,
 and packs itself snugly in the human physical and spiritual bodies.
 His exterior is oft-times a rough casket—a thick, course, heavy,
 bad-smelling box, or trunk—but  the priceless  jewels and spot-
 less  robes are  all within, waiting  for the quickening power, for
 the congenial  touch of  the  angel-hand, for the coming of the
 adequate commandment, saying :  " Come forth  and live."
    In  consequence  of  the universal overlooking of this center-
 most truth—concerning  the position and microcosmical pro-
 perties of mankind—a very great  fallacy prevails respecting the
 facts  and physiology  of reproduction.   Embryologists  and
 investigators of procreative truths have made a  mistake by sim-
 ply regarding men and  women as  they do the males and females
 of any  branch  of the animal kingdom.  Because  woman has a
      34* 
402
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
 mammalial organization, and  because the elementary facts and
 incipient processes of reproduction are the  same in mankind as
 in mammalial  organisms in other parts of Nature,  therefore,
 what is true of  such animals is also true of mankind, and the
 secret  of  reproduction is no  more profound in one department
 than in another.   So the doctors reason among themselves.
    Now the mistake, the  mischievous  fallacy,  is this : Over-
 looking the sublime fact that a man and a  woman are superior
 by organization, by endowment, by attainment, and by Destiny,
 to each and all the innumerable bodies and powers of the lower
 kingdoms,  popular  physiology contemplates generation  in  a
 rabbit  with the same standard of judgment as procreation in the
 human  family.    The human  species, quadrupeds,  and  other
 animals, are examined and disposed of in the  same manner.
 Who would not blush before the looking-glass held up by such
 physiology ?  The females of quadrupeds, in nearly all books on
 reproduction, are  the same as your  sisters and your mother.
 The phenomena among human beings, of attraction, gratification,
 impregnation, gestation, parturition, and  of  nursing and foster-
 ing the young, are treated  by physicians generally  as though
 they were of no more importance than similar phenomena occur-
 ring in any family of the quadruped world.   Constantly, there-
 fore, mankind  are compared  with and  treated like the animal
 creation.  The superior is measured and adjudged by the infe-
rior ; and the effect is visible in the licentiousness and animal-
ism of  mankind.   Young men  are mis-educated by such popular
physiology; and the young woman, from the same cause, knows
not the real worth of her existence.  The spiritual supremacy
of Human Life is overlooked by many learned physiologists ;
and their students (the young physicians of the age) are not
 exempt from the degrading influence.    Thousands  of young
human  mothers have been  ruthlessly treated by college-bred 
THE  REPRODUCTIVE  ORGANISM.          403
physiologists, simply because physical organs and reproductive
functions in woman are supposed to be but little superior to the
corresponding parts of animals.
    Nearly all hypotheses  on the subject of conception and
reproduction, are nothing more than approximate truths.  When
the  true  philosophy of human  origin is  comprehended and
taught, then will commence  a new era in  the history of earthly
men and women ;  then will dawn that divine faith which teaches,
as through mythology so also by inspiration, that mankind were
stationed " but  little lower  than  the angels."  It will one day
come to be seen that woman inherits, by  organization, not only
all the physiological processes known as natural to the inferior
kingdoms; but, what is infinitely more, that through her spiritual
principles  descend  the impersonal essences  of  an  immortal
individuality.  There is a  divine life  throbbing  within  these
visible structures—a more important, a far more sublime func-
tion performed by the reproductive organism than is presented
in modern books on anthropology.  A human female is not com-
parable to the female of the quadruped world ; neither is a man
to be measured and gauged by the  male  of any lower organ-
ism; because there is that superior divinity in the soul of each
human  being,  which takes  hold upon the amazing truths of
eternity.  We, therefore, hope to inspire  woman with  a higher
and  holier  estimate  of herself—so that,  to  her sisters, and
daughters, and little  children, she may impart the delicate les-
sons with the simplicities of Wisdom.   Men regard their phy-
sical functions unworthily, because they have been mis-impressed,
or because they have been left wholly in  ignorance concerning
the  ulterior purposes of their physical  existence and  spiritual
endowments.  It is  our impression that mankind,  aided by the
limpid light of physiology and pure principles, may  and will
attain to a higher mountain of truth. 
404
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
        A  VOICE  TO  ALL  WOMEN-

   Wretched Mothers !  Suffering Sisters !  Unhappy Wives !
we ask your most earnest attention.  Our pen moves unfettered
in your behalf.  We write to you and for you, in  perfect trust,
as one loved and well-tried friend should write to another—-" in
freedom which  the heart approves,"  and in confidence which
friendship loves.  We speak freely to you before all men, as it
were in their very presence ;  and before all their sons  also,
appealing to every noble and saintly sentiment.  Apologies are
confessions of blunders committed, and graceful pardon-askings
are acknowledgments of criminal deeds done.  We are conscious
of neither, and shall not, therefore, waste our moments in  writ-
ing sentences of more than doubtful taste and  courtesy.  Our
mission is  to teach the  golden  ways of personal happiness,
through obedience to Nature's immutable laws, which are,  amid
frozen oceans as on summer  seas, the  sacred will-decrees of
eternal Father God.  It is our inborn mission
                 -----" To show
           The secrets of the heart and mind ;
             To drop the plummet-line below
             Our common world of joy and woe,
           A more intense despair or brighter hope to find."
   We do  not, therefore, seek a  quiet Eden-home, away from
the world's intrusions, where the groan of the sufferer and the
burdens of the  broken-hearted cannot penetrate ; but instead,
We take our seat near  the throbbing core of the world's human 
A  VOICE  TO ALL WOMEN.
405
life, by which we realize the  prayers  of paid  priests and the
pains of unpaid  clod-hoppers  by the  road-side ;  the  folly of
fashion-rangers and the sorrows of wasted home3 ; all in vivid
contrast with the wisdom of angel hosts and the grateful joys
of the pure in heart.
   At the  center of this wondrous combination we gladly live,
and  move, and perform  our mission.  To this  center come
innumerable  letters from  the wealthy,  the weary, and the weak
—from  the  exceedingly  poor—also,  from the  robbed,  the
spoiled, the  hunted, the broken-down, and  the very sorrowful.
The bodily bonds and distresses  of many mothers  surpass the
liveliest imagination.  Thousands  of young women,  too, take
their places in  the legion army of invalids, all marching—slowly
__sadly—steadily marching toward the insatiable cemetery,
just behind yon  trees or beneath the dark shadow of the village
church.  Not less than  fifty descriptive letters,  received from
suffering women  living in  homes or huts all the way from the
Atlantic to the Pacific coast, await an  early answer—appealing
tearfully for  strength of health and the grace of harmony ; and
in almost all cases we observe a  sort of  chronic ignorance con-
cerning  physiological truths the most  simple and important.
In view of this condition among the young women and diseased
mothers of our earth, we propose an unfettered utterance to the
multitude.   Let  all men  listen,  for our discourse is to them
not less.
    Human Reproduction.—This term  is derived from repro-
duco, meaning to produce  again.   It is the general term for that
sacred function  by which living, organized beings, reproduce
their like.   Anatomical details and physiological particulars are
 deemed unnecessary to  correct  government of such functions.
But we consider a knowledge of the underlying principles abso-
lutely essential to every human  mind.  Physicians do not pre- 
406
THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
sume to fully comprehend the inceptional phenomena of repro-
duction.  Of  all secondary processes and progressive  trans-
formations, however, the students of embryological science may
be said to be familiar, and their definite  knowledge in these
respects has  augmented the practitioner's  power over the dis-
eases of women.
   But to affirm that physicians can cure  the  reproductive
diseases of either men or women, is to assert  what innumerable
facts will hopelessly  invalidate.   Only a small  proportion  of
American women are  healthy.  Almost all fashionable ladies
are reproductively  debilitated;  they suffer  periodically,  and
eighteen-twentieths are incapacitated for the divine office  of
reproduction.   The working women  in our farming  counties,
like the less industrious mothers of large towns and cities, are
about equally diseased in the holiest functions of their being.
All along the border regions of this continent, as upon the sugar,
rice, and cotton plantations of the entire South, the women, " irre-
spective of age or color," are generally afflicted with uterine
misplacements and prostrations exceedingly  painful.
   To  teach the philosophy of prolification, in this connection,
would be of little service.   The finest memory would ere  long
forget the detail, and with the loss of memory would depart the
salutary lessons.  We will  not write useless  facts on this sub-
ject.  Neither young nor matured mothers would make much
progress by reading a learned description of muscular cavities,
hypogastric arteries, ganglionic nerves, uterine veins, fallopian
tubes, ovaries,  &<$., &c, because  it is wisely and  beautifully
ordained,  and it is so written in the Bible of  Nature, which is
God's only infallible revelation to mankind, that living organiza-
tions shall reproduce their like as it were without thought.  It
is  an act to which both body and soul instinctively consecrate
and unrestrainedly abandon the deepest vitality of their exist 
A  VOICE  TO ALL  WOMEN.
407
ence.  Hence it will ever remain philosophically and theologi-
cally impossible to regulate the act of reproduction by intel-
lectual statutes  or scientific commandments.   In truth, and to
be plain, the reproductive office is exalted far beyond and above
the  stoical plane  of intellectualism.  It is Father  God  and
Mother Nature  in spontaneous conjunction, evolving,  as from
the unfathomable  riches of their fountainous heart, the ascend-
ing forms of endless duration.   What, then,  shall be  deemed
the true  standard  by which to govern and regulate the process
of reproduction  ?   The only possible standard  is a true know-
ledge of its principles,  and  a reverential regard for  its sacred
office.   (We do not now speak of social and statute laws regu-
lating the marriage relation, remember, but only as a physician
of the  reproductive functions in  living  organisms.)   These
principles  are very simple and divinely beautiful.  They con-
sist  of the  highest and holiest proximity of  exactly opposite
embodiments, resulting in metempsychosis of mutually attrac-
tive  forces, and eventuating in the complete organization of their
inmost " image  and likeness."  Human offspring is formed for
an immortal  duration,  and the  parental vital  bestowments are,
in consequence,  characteristic peculiarities of the spiritual body,
during long  periods after  death,  be the same good, bad, or
indifferent.   For it is very long before a living stream can rise
higher than its vital source.   We say all these things with the
overflowing conviction  that  the people  generally will receive
some adequate  conception of the almost eternal importance to
be attached to the  act of reproduction.
   Reproductive  Diseases.—Of all the hydra-headed forms and
evils o^  syphilitic maladies  we will not now write anything,
reserving the sad and  disgusting subject  for  a more  suitable
opportunity.   But all men may expect a voice from us ere long,
in behalf of the miserable and melancholy multitudes of every
civilized country. 
408
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
    Let us mercifully and sympathetically roll  up the curtain
of feminine misfortunes.   What are they termed ?  Their name
is legion.   The suffering sisters and the modest mothers cannot
hide them from public  observation.  " Female Pills"  are cun-
ningly advertised in every city and country paper.  " Uterine
Tinctures " meet  the eye of every child who  stops to look at
fancy articles  displayed  in drug-store windows, or within the
show-cases against the  wall.   Medical charlatans everywhere
sound  the trumpet of quackery and pretension.  They devote
their entire genius and scientific experience to the treatment of
" Female  Derangements."  They portray  the most distressing
maladies,  the  most aggravating cases  of  " Prolapsus  Uteri,"
vaginal tumefactions, barrenness,  suppressions,  menstrual
hemorrhages,  &c,  &c.  Every disease  of  the female organism,
is marvellously within the power of the mountebank's remarka-
ble pills,  pastes, pessaries, and powders.   Merciful heavens !
Holy angels of Light!  Save and  exalt our good and beautiful
women !   Shield them from the assault's of medical pretenders,
and from the mal-practices of scientific  vampires !  Save them !
When  and by what method ?  Now !  from this moment.   By
what means ?   By  methods and practices hereafter to be speci-
fied. Of course, in these sweeping statements regarding " scien-
tific vampires," we do  not mean  to reflect dishonorably upon
any well-educated and gentlemanly  physician.
   In order to better  appreciate woman's organal sufferings, we
will glance at the many and various  diseases to which, between
the tenth  and  forty-eighth  year, her reproductive constitution
is more or less liable, under the potency and action of existing
causes.  Let us give them the hard names which they deserve :
Leucorrhoza, FluorAlbus, Dysmenorrhoza,Sterility, Menorrhagia,
Uterine Hemorrhage,  Amenorrhcm, Hysteria, Ovarian Dropsy,
Uterine Neuralgia, Metritis,  Ovaritis,  Vaginitis, Hydrometra, 
A  VOICE  TO ALL WOMEN.             409
 Polypus Uteri, Cancer in the Womb, or Scirrhus, Physometra,
 Enlargement,  Catalepsy,  Epilepsy, Emaciation, and prostra-
 tion of the general system.
    These names are employed to convey an idea of most fright-
 ful and formidable maladies.  But the pure English of them all
 is, that a great number  of conditions  and  changes exist and
 occur, at different times, in the reproductive organism.  A true
 philosophy  of disease will classify these several  and distinct
 affections as  the different forms and modifications  of one
 derangement.  The  original and primal  disturbance is confined
 to  the  principal organ—namely,  the  uterus, or womb.  This
 organ is  subject to diverse  misplacements.   One is  called
 " Introversion" or the turning of the womb inside out; another
 " Oliquity," or  a sidewise  falling; another, " Retroversion '
 or  a falling backward; another, "Anteversion," or a forward
 falling; all  which, with still more  particular modifications, are
 referable  to one principal and primary cause—namely, to a
 prostration  of the reproductive organism ; and this effect never
 exists without a predetermining  cause, which  it is the moral
 duty of every mind  to  fully comprehend and  promptly over-
 come.
    Causes of Reproductive Diseases.—It would seem that the
 most of woman's physiological sufferings are unavoidable.  This
 appalling doctrine is inculcated, by our orthodox brethren, both
 from the popular pulpit and in all the literature over which they
 preside.   They teach the theology of ancient India, of Egpytian
 darkness and bondage, that woman's menstruational diseases and
 child-bearing pains are the logical consequence of an " original
 sin."  We read the Book of Nature with a different light beam-
ing through its thought-laden pages.    We  discern that  our
Sisters  need not suffer, and that our  young Mothers are not
called upon to  pass the  ordeal of twenty deaths  in reproducing
    35 
410          THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
their  like; but, otherwise,  that our  despoiled  daughters and
pain-haunted  women  may  perform  their  sacred  missions
unscathed by disease, and unsullied by the animalism of man. ■
   What  mean  these  peace-destroying  symptoms ?   Bearing
down  in the lower parts of the abdomen ; heat, dull pain, burn-
ing weakness in small of the back; sore places on the spine ;
small  of the back tender to the touch ;  dragging achings in the
loins;  indisposition  for  bodily  exertions ;  dread of  walking
either  far or fast; the feeling, now and then, of numbness or
paralysis.   Why are  our married women so capricious of tem-
per ; so childish at times ;  so  irascible ; so given to transitions
from heat to cold, from amiableness to peevishness and frettings ;
and why are so many afflicted with scrofulous  swellings and
 ameness 1
   The causes  cannot  be disguised.  Scientific secrecy is use-
less.  Large words and gracefully turned periods may fulfill the
ends of rhetoric or imposture, but the truth must be told, that
all reproductive diseases are caused originally by excessive and
unrestrained indulgence of the animal inclinations.   Neither
men nor women have comprehended the primal causes  of  their
sufferings.  Their  children  are  born with broken-down blood-
globules floating through their infant  hearts.  The vital  pros-
trations of parents circulate, under the disguise of " scrofula,"
in the blood of their offspring.  Their  young bones  absolutely
ache  with the  voluptuous  fatigue  transmitted  by  ignorant
parents.   Eevry ganglionic  center is a telegraphic station.  It
receives impressions and transmits the  signs of disturbances
from part to part.  Who wonders that our children are scrofu-
lous, and rheumatic, and fond of stimulants ?  Who, that can trace
the relation between one cause and another,  will grope around
yet longer—asking the  learned doctors to explain why women
are sick and unfit for the ordinary duties of  housekeeping ?  Or 
A  VOICE  TO  ALL WOMEN.
411
who, knowing the truth, will further practice the ungodly habits
of intemperate reproduction 1
    Remedies  for  Reproductive Diseases.—The  principal
immediate  cause of  woman's  suffering  is  Prolapsus  Uteri.
From one side to the other of this vast continent—as we know
by clairvoyant perception—the one  great  prevailing  disease
among women is Falling of the  Womb.  The organ is weakened
by a variety of predisposing influences, and then falls  in one
or more of the several directions indicated in preceding sen-
tences.
   Now the treatment we propose is radical and positive.   Of
course you know that the paragon of all remedies, the faultless
curative power within the pharmacy of every immortal mind, is
the WILL.   Let every Sister, whether daughter or mother,
apply the  Pneumogastric principle !   Well or ill, diseased or
healthy, do not fail to  exercise this  immaculate energy.   Of
the super-excellence of this remedy we need not further write.
Suffice it to say that this discovery totally supersedes the unwieldy
and lumbering medicines of the quack and the druggist.
   In  addition to the Will, which remedy many persons seem
incapacitated for exerting  to advantage, we further prescribe
the immediate disuse of coffee among all diseased women.  We
can demonstrate that the action of coffee is directly prostrating
to the reproductive energies.  There are  educated men and
mothers who  think (ignorantly enough !) that  a  young woman
may be suffering with suppression of the menses, with Chlorosis,
or Leucorrhoea, and  yet not be afflicted with any misplacement
of the uterus.   This is  impossible.   The womb is invariably
disturbed before any decided symptoms are developed.   Coffee
is the great enemy of woman, if habitually used as a part of her
diet;  for its positive effects are stamped upon the reproductive
organs a few hours subsequent to each meal.   All young women, 
412
THE HARBINGER  OF  HEALTH.
—whether ignorant or  educated, whether married or not, whe-
ther American,  European, African, bond or free—are hereby
counseled to  drink no more coffee.   Of  tea we  need not here
write, since  the  greater of the  two  evils, among our women, is
the decoction of coffee.   We can promise health to no woman,
unless she immediately comply with this injunction.
   Again : it will be impossible for our women to maintain
healthy  systems  while their husbands insist on the legal rights
of wedlock  during the period of  pregnancy.   The  custom is
devastating to every feminine  sensibility, to say nothing  of  the
crippling  and polluting effect exerted by it upon her  reproduc-
tive functions.   The expanded heavens are begemmed with eyes
that see these matchless sins.   Deadly, indeed, is the detestable
effect on the  sacred soul of  woman.  Let husbands .and  wives,
and the  friends  of children,  see to it ;  no conjugal relation
should exist between the married  during the period of utero-
gestation.  Women can  produce offspring with  impunity, and
without  danger  or  severe  pain, if their companions will but
reverence and shield them.  Let every true  Brother do what is
right.
           " Do what is Right, for the day dawn is breaking,
              Hailing a future of freedom and light;
             Angels above you are silent  notes taking
              Of every action ; then do  what is Right."
   Yes,  do what is  right!  The scientific  quack will pretend
to you that his skill is adequate to the reparation of all damages
occasioned by your disobedience.   Beware  !  His  pretensions
are fatal to your spiritual progress.  We can prove that physi-
cians  do  not—because  they cannot—cure the  distressing dis-
eases of women.  Certain symptoms, indeed, they readily modify,
transpose, invert, and master  at length ; but the fundamental,
functional derangements of the  reproductive system, no College
of physicians can  oontrol.   In fact, the honorable and the best 
A  VOICE  TO ALL WOMEN.             413
educated physicians of  the  age confess themselves powerless
in the  presence of the radical diseases.  Husbands, Brothers,
Wives,  Sisters ! reflect on your sacred missions to each other,
and henceforth honor your nature and its exalted destiny.
   Female  Midwives  a Necessity.—The  majority of married
women are suffering  from the misfortunes of mal-practice during
confinement.  Many  sensitive natures cannot become reconciled
to  the  universal custom of  masculine  assistance.   Heaven
grant that all women will very soon openly remonstrate against
the shocking intervention. Beautiful souls always shrink from
the wretched system  of " doctoring"  a  child into existence.
What are your intelligent wives and daughters doing ?   Able
physicians should have wives, or daughters, or agreeable female
associates, who comprehend the facts of pregnancy, and all the
modus operandi of parturition.  Hundreds of beautiful women,
in every station of life, are suffering from unskillful treatment
at the  hands of man.   The  forcible  disengagement of the
placenta has  disabled many a noble lady for  life.  All  these
evils are preventible, and they should be preached against and
abandoned by every  harmonial soul.
     35* 
414           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
       INTUITIVE  GLIMPSES OF  TRUTH.
   The human  spirit  is framed  for the  perception and enjoy-
ment of heavenly realities.  Its strongest passion is the devel-
opment and possession of the Beautiful.  Thousands  would
prefer physical Beauty to spiritual happiness.   Beauty is more
attractive  and  influential,  in the soul's  juvenile periods, than
intellect or moral  excellence.  The best feelings of the aged
are moved by " the beauty of holiness."
   All young dreams  are mingled with the elements of imper-
ishable beauty.   The pictures of hope and the longings of the
imagination are painted on the canvas of eternity.  The soul
swells  with unutterable yearnings for the speedy fulfillment of
the prayer : " Thy kingdom come—on  earth—as in heaven."
And why ? Because the very  elements of which the spirit  is
constituted are the exclusive property of  the Summer World  to
come.  The next* sphere is imagined as a possible part of this,
the rudimental.   Wherefore men invest this primary existence
with those imperishable characteristics which, in the very con-
stitution of the  universe, are inseparable  from the Spirit Land.
    The soul's inmost fount of intuition is ever and anon touched
by the presence of  an  angel.  It throbs with the impulsions of
immortal hope.   It swells with emotions  of sublime discontent.
The miseries and  materiality of this life become  clogs, evils,
and burdens, too hard and too  unnecessary to be longer borne.
The  impatient  spirit  prays " for the kingdom  of Heaven on
earth." 
INTUITIVE  GLIMPSES OF TRUTH.         415
   Human association is no longer satisfying.  The soul goeth
forth thirsting  and hungering  after righteousness.  From the
invisible Spirit of Creation, the God of Nature, the soul obtains
rest and hope.   The  frowns of Winter  are  exchanged for the
sweet  smiles  of Spring.   The  abundance,  the  dignity, the
beauty and perfections of the Spirit Land, are visible in Nature's
birds and trees, in her landscapes and flowing streams.  Dreams
of deathless enjoyments, visions of universal  happiness, are
revived like flowers in the summer time, and every effortf of the
fancy is toward the Beautiful and the Immortal.
   The human spirit  is longing—through its hopes, its fancies,
its prayers, its reasonings, and its fears—for its native eternity.
The  most vitiated  mind is accessible through some one of its
many beautiful avenues.  The practical voluptuary, the soul that
is wandering through the wilderness of  trespasses  and sins, is
susceptible to the magnetism of good and truth.  Sympathy, or
music, a holy picture, poetry, intellect, or beauty—each soul is
approachable through one or more  of these ; and he who thus
reaches the fallen, or  sorrowing, and continues the labor of ele-
vation all around  the foundations  of the unhappy outcast, will
save the  sufferer with an  everlasting salvation.  Who wants a
richer reward 1
   The power  of the spirit to  imagine and anticipate the reali-
ties of the Spirit Land  is so perfect, that, on its arrival there,
a feeling  of familiarity steals over the  mind, as though it had
many  times before witnessed  the  same scenes.    Poets, and
painters of landscapes,  color all their  best  thoughts with  the
vague tints of  immortal beauty.   When such minds arrive at
the eternal world, and  open  their spiritual senses upon  the
verities and landscapes  of the Summer Laud, they feel instantly
at home and content, having anticipated many of the external
forms of truth  and  beauty which characterize that  existence, 
416           THE HARBINGER OF  HEALTH.
    All love  of the Beautiful, all passion for Music, all attrac-
tions of Sympathy, all dreams of Love, all aspirations for Wis-
dom, all yearning after Purity, all prayers to know and possess
the whole Truth—all these are good, for they attest the immor-
tal existence  in store for the  spirit, to which, by virtue of its
origin  and essence, it is indissolubly allied.
    The most physically wretched, the morally insane and crip-
pled, the  intemperate, and brutal,  and vicious, the  saint and
sinner—»all, as  one man, cry naturally to  Heaven !  The  soul
instinctively dreads death, because it cannot die : but confound-
ing  the physical  fact with the spiritual conception  of it, the
tongue prays for the speedy advent  of the kingdom of Heaven.
The memory gathers the garlands of intuition, revives the vague
realities of past dreams of truths, and impresses  the intellect
with a sense of earthly possibilities.  Wordsworth  gave the
internal workings, thus :
                     -----" On the mind
               They lay like images, and seem almost
               To haunt the bodily senses."
    In  this manner the spirit's intuitions overflow the sensorium,
so to speak, and flash before the  inward faculties with all the
tangibility of a scene of  yesferday ;  so that, in  the lapse of
years, the intellect  can neither discriminate nor  separate the
pictures  or dreams of intuition from  impressions derived by
actual  contact  through  the  senses with the  landscapes  and
objects of this  present world.
   Wherefore thousands of sincere natures, not knowing that the
mind is a  native of eternity, imagine  that God designs super-
naturally to  extemporize  a celestial kingdom of eternal bliss,
displacing the earthliness and perishableness and misery of this
sphere with a  " new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness."  Such pray for the  transformation of earth into 
INTUITIVE  GLIMPSES OF TRUTH.         417
a paradise.  As well might the unfolding flower supplicate its
solar god, the sun, to come down from the dizzy hight and burn
its glory into the earth's cold bosom.  The  soul yearns toward
the remote sphere just as the rose looks lovingly up into the
great, beautiful eyes of the sun.  But like  the yearning rose,
the human soul, while  gathering experiences in the rudimental
sphere, is blest  by enkindling rays descending from  remote
orbs, and would not be benefited by immediate proximity to the
source of every blessing.
    To the perfectly healthy-minded there is, properly speaking,
nothing of what is called  " imagination."   Every vague intui-
tion is  a foreshadowed positive fact;  each  internal conception
is interwoven with truth ;  every dream will work out a fulfill-
ment ; and the reward of merit even goes further, transforming
the commonest pleasures into spiritual happiness.   But the dis-
cordant, the ignorant and diseased, on the other hand, are beset
with penalties  and punishments of every shade and magnitude.
They will turn from the most comfortable  circumstances  into
sufferings  and misfortunes purely imaginative in origin.   Por-
tentous omens and  silly prognostics infest diseased and dis-
cordant minds, while  the  inspirations of peaceful natures are
filled with the golden verities of eternity.

    Bright and beautiful are the countenances of  the pure in
heart.   Surpassingly beautiful and bright  are the eyes  of the
higher angels.   The meditations of harmonious intelligences are
celestial and heavenly.
    But  there  is  a beauty even in  the external form of every
created thing.   There is  an expression  of tender love and
saving wisdom in the  eyes  of guardian spirits.   They bring
beauty and  light in their garments.  How  pure—surpassingly
pUre__are they, in all their deeds of mercy  among  the children 
418
THE HARBINGER  OF HEALTH.
of men!  With what graceful tenderness do they bend over the
fallen in battle!   They ride upon  the bosom of the  rivers of
magnetic fire—from their lovely homes in the Summer Land,
through the star-paved immensity, down to  the  couch of the
sick and dying.  Into the undulating brain of the sick one  they
breathe the breath of celestial love.   They mitigate  his pains
by the aroma of their hearts, and  they impart beautiful dreams
of coming happiness to the departing.
   How incessantly employed in deeds of friendship are all the
noble and pure in  the Summer  Land!   There are no latitudes,
no longitudes, to   the inhabitants of  celestial spheres.  They
leave  their valleys  and plains  for  the mountains  and rough
places of earth.  They depart from their beautiful gardens, and
from the  enjoyment of their luxuriant possessions, to  mingle
their feelings with those on  earth who pray and work for the
reign of  Freedom.  Goodness infinite !  is proclaimed by  the
noblest tongues.   The atmosphere of a deathless divinity fills
all the space in which they dwell.  They would spread  such  a
gospel and exhale such aromas throughout all the habitations of
men.  The fallen woman, the lost child, the  dying soldier, is
covered by the temple of their love.   The sky is full of bright
eyes,  and  the  earth  is peopled with dark objects, and those
eyes and  those objects meet  both  day and night.  Each object
is instinct with claims upon the  heavenly visitors, and each vis-
itor is prompted to perform some kindly office for the sake of
humanity.
   Garments of whiteness are thrown around the fallen spirit,
and a magnetic life steals  into the  heart's darkest chambers.
Whether a human being ascends from the battle-field, or  from
the  retirement  of the bed-room  couch, the heavenly visitors
descend to enfold him in their  exalting love.  There are  hun-
dreds of  philanthropic celestial visitors to every village ; and 
INTUITIVE  GLIMPSES OF TRUTH.         419
there are ten helpers for every man whose  spirit is dislodged
by accident and  misfortune.  Think how many tender-hearted
mothers dwell in the Summer  Land !   Of the benevolent and
unselfish, who  once  lived  on  earth, there are millions in the
adjoining world.   A stream of. constant philanthropy flows from
them earthward ; and, when  possible, they lift the  down-trod-
den, and save the falling from a  lower depth.
    In all this we behold the face of Mother Nature, and feel the
omnipotent hand of our Father God.   The manifestations of God
are goodness, and truth,  and wisdom; but the  love, and purity,
and  philanthropy of  the world,  are  from the heart of Nature.
The attributes  of humanity are more  displayed in the Spirit
Land.   This world is rudimental—is  filled with ignorance, self-
ishness, and strife.
    All  men in this world are  naughty children ; in that sphere
all children are beautiful and good.  The selfishness of earth is not
fostered in the Summer Land.  Philanthropy, not hatred, arches
the door of  every heart.   Lovelier and lovelier beam the coun-
tenances of the guardian hosts ;  and sweeter than the waters of
the  rivers of Paradise, is the breath of  every one  who visits
mankind on missions of mercy.  What  a  Moral Police are the
strong soldiers  of the higher worlds ! What beautiful " Sisters
of Mercy" are  the  lovely nurses of  the heavenly hospitals!
How free from earth's drugs are all their  medicines for the sick
and  earth-worn  traveler !   Bright jewels of  truth adorn the
crown of every  philanthropic  spirit.  And lovelier than the
multiplied flowers of a thousand summers,  are the faces  of
those who still the troubled waters of earth !
   Why do they not lift men's bodies and  minds  above the
sphere of Disease and War ?   Why do they not extinguish the
flame of passion ?  Why not put  forth all their combined powers
to heal physical  and political sores ?  Will they not, having the 
420
THE HARBINGER OF HEALTH.
 power and the wisdom, save mankind  from destroying one
 another ?
    Beautiful questions !  All  answered  by the  fact that this
 would is the rudimental sphere of human existence.   Millions
 of angels,  all obedient to the laws of the infinite Good, cannot
 do impossible things.   Thunder will reverberate in that world
 which is  filled with lightning.  Disease  and War  will disturb
 all men who foster the fires of passion.   Passion is the electri-
 city of the mind, and war is the thunderbolt.  Ignorance is the
 diabolical  monster  of  the human mind, and  selfishness is the
 " roaring lion " that goes up and down the earth, seeking whom
 it may " devour."   Progression is the angel of our deliverance,
 and our heavenly visitors can but hasten the day of its power.
 The race, like the globe, revolves.  Its revolutions are less and
 less eccentric, as the wheels  of time fly swiftly round, but tho
 perfect circle is not yet reached.  We must work out " our own
 salvation"  from the causes  of unhappiness.  The  angels will
help us just in proportion as we help ourselves
THE ENS. 
CONTENTS,
 Automatic Forces,  -
 Animal Food, Uses of,
 Antiquity of the Bath,
 Arsenic Eaters of Styria,
 Aphtha Chronica, Cause and Remedy,
 Abdomen, Swelling of, -
 Asthma, Chronic, Treatment for,
 Air Passages, Irritation of,
 Asthma, the Wheezing or Hay,
 Brain Life and Lung Life,
 Blood, Bile, and Bowels,
 Body or Spirit, Which is First,  -
 Blood, Incorrigibleness of,  -
 Bite of a Rattlesnake,
 Blood, the Wonders of,
 Bad Dreams Every Night,
 Brain Rest Absolutely Necessary,
 Brain Fits, Cause and Remedy, -
 Brain Fits and Incipient Epilepsy,  -
 Brain, Softening of,
 Biliousness, Remedy for,
 Bowels, Looseness of,
 Bowels, Heat and Pain in,  -
 Bilious Vomiting, Remedy for,  -
 Bilious Medicine,   -
 Beware of the Tyrant, Disease,  -
 Bronchial Weakness, and Neuralgia,
 Bronchitis, and Mucous in the Throat,
 Bleeding from the Nose,
 Blood, Wasting of,
 Blisters, Small White, on Children, -
Burns, Rapid Cure for,  -
Burns, Excellent Mixture for,
Boils Cured by Creosote,
Clairvoyance, Medical Value of,
Clairvoyant State,
36 
422
CONTENTS.
                                                                PAOE.
Cause and Cure of Impatience,      ..----      147
Calomel, the Use of,.........200
Change of Clothing in Spring,  -------      202
Cod Liver Oil and Cocoanut Oil, Influence of,                        205
Corn-fields and Magnetism,    -   -  .  -    -    -    -    -      213
Corruption and Groans,     -   -    -    -    -    -    -    -    219
Cotton for Garments,     ---..---      220
Cold Feet, a Cure for,........220
Caging of Birds,.........227
Chewing, the Disgusting Habit of,                    -    -    -    234
Coup de Soleil, or Sun-stroke,      ......      252
Confidence in Mother Nature,   -------    257
Cords of the Leg Deficient, Remedy for,   -----      274
Costiveness, Cure for,  ---------    295
Canker on the Tonsils,    -    -   -    -    -    -    -    -      310
Croup, Parasitical, Cure for,     -                        -    -    32h
Cold-taking, Prevention of,    ------    -      330
Coldness in the Back of the Neck,     ------    331
Cough, and Incipient Consumption,  ------      335
Catarrh and Cough,  Treatment for,    ------    340
Cephalic Pills, the Use of,.......344
Cold in the Head, Cure for,     .......    344
Cultivation of the Sense of Smell,   ------      345
Canker Humor, Medicine for,    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    35]
Chapped Face, Hands, and Lips, Cure for,     -                     357
Cancer Cured by Nitro-muriatic Acid,      -----    3.yj
Cancer Doctor, Confessions of a,   -    -    -    -    -    -      859
Cure for Foul Air,........         373
Cholera Morbus and Cholera Flatulenta,  -    -    -    -    -      381
Catarrh and Difficult Breathing, -------    390
Cancer, Figs as a Cure for,    -------      395
Disordered Liver, Symptoms  of, -    -    -    -    -    -    -    135
Duodenum, Inflammation of,    ------           136
Do Infants Grow in Heaven ?-------    191
Dreams in Disease,  -    -    -   -    -    -    -    -    -      216
Duty of the Skin,.........229
Don't Stand on the Track,     -------      232
Drunkenness, an English Cure for,     ------    2:;S
Dyspepsia and Despair,   -    -   -    -         ...      290
Dyspepsia, Remedy,   ---------    293
Discordant Spirits and Spiritual Afflictions,    -    -    -    -      308
Dysentery, or Bloody Discharge, -------    310
Dysentery, Treatment  and Cure,    ------      311
Dysentery, Chronic, Treatment  for,    --....    312
Dyspeptic Pain about the Heart,    ------      316
Diptheria and Sore Throat,  --------    317
Difficult Breathing, Remedy for,     ------      330
Duodenum and Sore Eyes,  --------    338
Deafness, Sulphuric Ether for,   -------      341
Deafness, Common, Cure for,    -     -     -     -     -     -     .    316
Drink for the Sick,       --------      3(39
Effect of Air on Mind,      --------     68
Exhausted Primates in Mau,    -------      155 
CONTENTS.
423
 Electricity of Immensity,   ----_.    15s
 Early Rising Triumphant,      -                                  1(-,4
 Effects of Tea on the Body, ----._    207
 Electricity in Vital Processes,   -                                  211
 Enlarge your Thoughts and Perceptions,   -      -      -      -    281
 Electricity and  Phosphorus in Animals,      -      -      -       242
 Earth's  Polarities at Night, ---...    255
 Epileptic Fits, Treatment for,    .....       204
 Elixir of Life,       ---....    285
 Evils of Eating for Amusement, -                                  295
 Effect of Disease on Life,   ----..    343
 Ear, Ulceration of,      -      -      ...      _       347
 Erysipelas, Chronic, Treatment for,  -----    350
 Eruption, Intermittent,   --....       351
 Eruption,  and Juvenile  Excitability,       ...      -    353
 Eruption, Prurigo Pruritis, Cure for,    ....       354
 Eruption, Pityriasis, Red and Rough,       ....    356
 Eye, Diseases X)f the,    ------       3152
 Eyes, Chronic Sore and Weak,     -----    3(54
 Eyes, Dimness of Sight of,                                         364
 Eyes, Ophthalmia, or Inflammation of,            -      -      -    365
 Eyes, Paralysis and Total Blindness of,  -      -      -      -       366
 Eyes, Obliquity  of Vision of,       -----    366
 Eyes, Spots,  Webs, &c, before the,      ....       306
 Eyelids, White Spots on,    ---...    357
 Eyes, Sympathetic Sore, Wash for,      -                            367
 Emetic, Results  of,  -      -       -       -      -      -      -    371
 Fable of Vampires, Origin of,    -----       174
 Food as a  Medicine,  -      -       -       -      -      -      -176
 Fashionable  Languor, Remedy for,      ....       198
 Frost-bitten Persons, Treatment of,  -       -      -      -      -    205
 Fits of Indigestion,       ------       265
 Failing "Memory, Remedy for,       -----    283
 Fluor Albus, Cure for,   ------       304
 Fever Sores and  Tumors,   ------    348
 Freckles, Cause and Cure of,    -----       356
 Fevers, Origin and Philosophy of,  -       -      -      -       -    361
 Fever, Continued and Exhaustive,       ....       361
 Fever and Ague, Remedies for,     -----    386
 Female Midwives a Necessity,   -      -      -       -       -        413
 General Instructions to Invalids,   -----    37
 Gastric Methods Explained.    -      -      -       -       -        75
 Gluttony, Evils of,  -       -      -      -      -       -       -178
 Gen. Debility, No Compromise with,    -      -       -       -        ]96
 Grapes, Curative Properties of,     -----     215
 Gall and Spurzheim's Works,   -----        261
 Goitre, or Big Neck, Remedy for,   -----     328
 Hints to the T)ebilitated,       -----        34
 How to do Good,  -      -      -      -      -       -       -115
 How to Balance the Human System,    ...       -        159
 Healthy Food, Preparation of,                                       172
Habits and their Consequences, -      -      -       -       -        195
Hahnemann's Materia Medica,      -----     197 
424
CONTENTS.
                                                                 PAGE.
 How to Live One Hundred Years,      -      -      -       -        199
 How to Keep the Teeth Clean,     -----     201
 How the Roots of Plants Feed,  -      -      -      -       -        218
 How to Quiet Children,    ------     232
 Hemorrhoidal Infirmities, Causes of,           -      -       -        243
 Hydrophobia, Cause and Cure of,          -      -       -       -     249
 How the Will Acts on Nerve-centers,   -      -      -       -        259
 Head Hot and Feverish, Remedy,   .....     275
 Headache—Periostitis,  --..--        279
 How to Cast Out the Devil, ------     289
 Honey and other Sweets,        -----        299
 Heart Disease—Hypertrophy,      -      -      -       -       -813
 Heart Disease, Remedy for,     -       -       -       -       -        314
 Heart, Palpitation of,      -      -      -      -       -       -315
 Heart Disturbances and Nervousness,   -       -       -       -        315
 Hyper-oxygenation, Theory of,     -      -      -       -       -     333
 Hair, Removal of Superfluous,   -----        374
 Hair, Restoration of,       -      -      -      -       -       -     374
 Hair Tonic, Recipe for a,        -       -       -       -      -        375
 How to Retain a'Good Face,       -      -       -       -       -     381
 Individual Responsibility in Overcoming Evils,  -                      109
 It is a Pleasant Thing to Die,      -----     121
 Iron Magnets, How to Make,    .....       208
 Indian Spirits, the Influence of,                                     226
 Infusorial Reproduction, -       -       .       .      .      _       230
 Intemperance, the Madness of,                                      235
 Inferior Desires, Cure for,       -       -       -      .      .       303
 111 Temper in Children, Cure for,   -                               343
 Itch, Use of Sulphur for,       -                                   352
 Itch and Tetter, Cure for,           -      -      .      -      .    356
 Intuitive Glimpses of Truth,     -       -       -      -      .       4] 4
 Joints, Pain in,---.-..    342
 Kidneys, How to Stimulate,     -       -       -      .      .       297
 Kidneys and Bladder, Weakness of, -      -      -      -      -    304
 Leading Pathological Propositions,     -      -      -      -       127
 Longevity, Secret of,        ----..    179
 Lockjaw, Remedy for,   ----..       275
 Liver, Derangement of,      -       -       ...           286
 Liver, Torpid State of,  -       -       -      -      -      .       287
 Lumbago, Treatment for,    ------    307
 Liver, Tuberculation and Adhesion of,   -      -      -      .       3.^5
 Lungs, Negative Condition of,      ....           §04
 Lung Fever, After-effects of,     -       ...              335
 Lungs, Hemorrhage of,     -----           340
 Lungs, Soreness in,     -       -      .      .      .      -       341
 Lightning, Persons Stricken by,     -      -      -      .           373
Leprosy, American, Remedy for,        -                            399
 Man's Recuperative Power, -                                        01
Morality of Pure Air,    -       -      .      .                      »i
Magnetism, Human, Philosophy of,                       .            g7
Magnetism, Source of,                                               aq
Magnetic Polarity,   -       .       .      .      .                   £X
Magnetism,  Practical Experiments  in          -      -               8a 
                            CONTENTS.


Magnetism as a Medicine,
Magnetic Processes,     -      -      .
Magnetism, Cautions for Operators,
Magnetic Treatment of Insanity,
Mind and Matter—their Relations,  -
Man's Telegraphic Power,
Magnetic Disturbances in the Atmosphere, •
Mothers, a Word to,      -      -      -
Milk and Water as Beverages,
Minerals in Vegetation,  ...
Man in the Animal State,   -
Medicine for Every Home,
Magnetizers, a Word to,    -
Man's Voluntary Powers,
Mind in Sleep,      -
Man who can Will,      ...
Multitude of Sins, Remedy for,
Morphia, How to  Overcome,
My Dyspepsia and my God,
Milk, Presence of,       -      -      .
Menstruation, Painful,  Cure for,
Marrow, the Source of,  -
Magnetic Treatment for Intoxication,
Melanclaoly and Meanness, Cure for,
Mouth, How to Wash the,
No Infallible Remedies,  -      -      -
Nature's Progressive Energies,
Natural and  Artistic  Beverages,
Neuralgia, or Nerve-pain, Philosophy of,
Neuralgia, Drug  Treatment tor,
Neuralgia, Sudden, Remedy for,
Nervous Burnings and Pain,
Nervous Debility, Treatment for,
Nervous Trembling at the Stomach,
Nervous Rash,      -
Nutritious Food for the Sick* -
Nervous and  Convulsive Diseases, -
Origin of Disease,       -
Od-Force and the Odoscope,
Orange Before Breakfast,
Overdosing, the Evil of,    -
Opium Eating, Penalties of,
Origin of Physical Beauty,  -
Objections to Deep Breathing,  -
Origin and Use of the  Probang,
Odor from the Nostrils,  -      -      -
Old Sores, Treatment of,    -
Onions and Cider as Medicines, -
Origin of the Human Spine,
Pearly Gates of Science, *
Philosophy of Disease,
Periodicity of Disease,  -      -      -
Pneumogastrical  Discovery,
36* 
426                        CONTENTS.

                                                                PAflE.
Pneumogastric Nerve, Position and Function of,      -      •        49
Physiological Virtue,       .-...-     62
Purifying Ordeal,       -      -'     -       -      -      -        76
Psychological State,       ------     93
Physics and Metaphysics,   "         -       -      -      -       150
Physical Strength and Energy,     -----    168
Power-generating Habits,      ....      -       170
Pseudo Health,.......183
Principle, the Meaning of,       -              -                     188
Positive and Negative, Definition of the Terms,    -                  212
Patience, as a Medicine,       -      -             -      -       217
Pleasures of Home,  -------    224
Pure Alcohol as  a Medicine,     -----       233
Physical Evils are Transient,       -----    239
Piles, Remedy for,              -      -       -      -      -       245
Pneumogastric Remedy, Passive Use of,          -      -           270
Purpose  in  Pain,       -       -      -      -      -      -       271
Pain in the Face and Neck, Remedy for,   -                         271
Pain in the Neck'of  Housekeepers,     -      -      -      -       272
Pain in the Joints, Remedy for,     -      .      -      -      .    272
Pain Between  the Shoulders,    .....       273
Pain in the Right Side,    -..-..    274
Pain in the Breast,       ------      274
Painless Paralysis, Treatment for,   -      -      -      -      -    280
Prepared Female Organism,    -----       301
Pulmonary Weakness  and  Irritation,                    -           322
Poisoned Wounds, Treatment for,      -                            370
Poisoning by Phosphorus,  Remedy  for,    -                         370
Poisoned by Saltpeter,          -      -      -      -      -       372
Poisoned by Ash-leachings,  '-----    373
Prison, Bee or Serpent,  ------       373
Palm Blister as a Remedy for Disease,     -      -      -      -    377
Putrefaction, an Antidote for,   -----       379
Physical and Spiritual Man,       -----    383
Physiology of Courage,  ------       384
Phthisic, or Asthma,      -       -      -  '    -      .      .    390
Pin Worms in Ano,      ------       390
Poisoned by Mineral Acids,        -----    391
Rheumatism and  a Bad State of the  Liver,      -      -      _        gg
Relation of Lungs to Brain, -        -----     73
Rain and Electricity,    ------       214
Red and Black Pepper,    -       -      -      -      .      -220
Remain in your own Climate,   -      -              m              258
Rheumatism, Membranous, Remedy  for,    -                         276
Rheumatism, Periodical, Remedy for,   -                             277
Resignation as a Medicine,  -       -      -      -      -      _    282
Remedial Use of Sugar,  ------       299
Ringworm, Cause and  Cure of,                                      352
Rheumatism and  Sore Eyes,    -----        393
Reproductive Organism,    ----..    395
Reproduction, Human,   ------        405
Reproductive Diseases, Causes of,   -      -      -      .      .    409
Reproductive Diseases, Remedies for,          -                     411 
CONTENTS.
427
Self-healing Energies Better than Medicines,
Sympathetic Ganglia, Pathological Offices of,
Singular Physiological Facts,
Structure of the Stomach,     ' -
Spring Time Diseases,     -      .      .
Spring Beverage,        ...
Skin Diseases, Origin of,   ...
Spiritual Briers and Thorns,
Superior Condition, -
Self-Rectification,       ...
Suicide, the Evil of, -
Sweet Oil  in Relation to Poison,
Surgery, American Improvements in,
Sleep, without Dreaming,
Summer Foods and Drinks, -
Silk Dresses, Effect of  Wearing,
Sympathy with an Amputated Limb,
State of the First Man,  -
Spiritualistic Superstition,  -      -      -
Strong Drink, Substitute for,
Sleep; Proper Amount of,   -
Sleeplessness—its Cause and Cure,
Spasms, Periodical, -      -      -      -
Stiff Ankle, Remedy for, -
Sick Headache, Cure for,   -
Sour Stomach, Cure for,       -
Sweating of the Extremities,
Spina Bifida, Cure for,  -       -       -
Scarlet Fever, Prevention of,
St. Vitus'  Dance, Remedy for.
Scrofula and Erysipelas, Medicine for,
Scar on the Face,       .       -       .
Scarlet Fever, Nature and Cure of, -
Strychnine, Antidote for,
Swallowing Lizards, Frogs, and Toads,
Sweet Oil as a Remedy for Poison,
Stomach, Tenderness at the Pit of, -
Suicide, Proclivity to,   -
Stomach, Sinking at the Pit of,
Sore Eyes, Sympathetic, and Catarrh,   -
Treatment of Disease,      ...
Temperaments, Marriages of,
Tea, Coffee, Alcohol, and Tobacco, -
Temporary Marriages,   -
Thoughts of a few Good Heads,
Twenty-one Systems in toe Human Body,
True  and False Hospitality, -       -      -
Traveling  as a Medicine,    >  -
Temporary Insanity, Forms of,
Tone of the Stomach Destroyed,
Throat, for Lump in,       .      -      -
Throat, Irritation in,    -
Throat, Swelling of, -
PAGE.
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 385
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  22
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 316
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428
CONTENTS.
Throat, Malignant Sore, Remedy for,
Throat, Sore, and Bitter Stomach,  -
Throat, Consumptive Irritation in,
Throat, Sore, and Naked Arms,
Throat, Clergyman's Sore,
Tuberculosis, Remedy for,
Throat, Enlargement of Glands in,
Teeth, Loose, and Decaying Gums, -
Thyroid Gland, Enlargement of, -
Thin Shoes and Wet Feet,  -
Typhoid Fever, Treatment for,  -
Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, and Chocolate, -
Tobacco Tremens, Remedy for, -
Unity of the Universe,
Unhealthy Occupations, -
Unequal Bodily Development,
Urinary Weakness, Remedy for,
Uterus, Displaced,  -
Vital Electricity, Action of,
Vegetarianism among Animals,
Value of Sunlight in Houses,
Vitality, Depression of,
Vaginitis, or Irritation, Cure for,       ...
Voice, Loss of, Remedy for, -      -      -      -
Virus Developed by a Scratch,  -      -      -       -
Will Power—How to Exercise it,  -
Will Power—Additional Instructions,   -      -       -
Why Primary Processes of Formation are Discontinued.
What is Evil?   -      -      -      -
Where goeth the Soul of Things ?   -
Wretchedness at Home, -----
Would you Stop the Flowing River ?
What and Where is Heaven ?   -
Will-energy at Work,      -      -      .      -
What the Will can Do,  -
Weakness and Emaciation, Remedy for,
Weakness and Pain,    -----
Water in the Stomach,     -      -      -      .
Weak Stomach, Medicine for,   -      -      -       -
Worms in Children, Remedy for,   -      -      -
Worms Under  the Skin, -       -      -      -       -
Wounds and Injuries, Poultices for,
Water Dressings for Wounds,   -      -      -       -
Water, the Medical Uses of, -
Women, a Voice to All,                      •
PAGE.
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  52
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