RV 5 
 .S8 
 Copy 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 Mr 
 
 
 m 
 
 A. I 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Chap. Copyright No.. 
 
 Shelf _J^U. 
 J$E 
 
 UNiTED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
I 
 
£S£^2g£ 
 
 Dr. WM 
 
 STARR, 
 
 Aged Eighty Five Years, 
 
 President of Botanical School of Medicine 
 
 of the United States. 
 
 Now in perfectly good health, has taken no 
 
 other medicine except that prepared by 
 
 himself, since he was fourteen 
 
 years of age. 
 
* * * * • 
 
 MEDICAL BOTANY 
 
 OE 
 
 SPECIFIC REMEDIES 
 
 FEOM 
 
 NATURE'S OWN CURES. 
 
 * DEFENDING * 
 
 BOTANIC PRACTICE 
 
 • OF * 
 
 MEDICINE. 
 
 To TJ. S. CONGRESS. 
 
 FOURTH EDITIO/N?^ tftf™IGHT ^ 
 
 ^ifiS^y^ 
 
 • DR. WM. M. STARR, • 
 
 President of the Botanical Association of U. S. A., 
 
 WAS HINGTON, I ) . G. 
 18 9 5. 
 
 * 
 
9^ 
 
 R v 
 
 V 
 
 i 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year of 1895. 
 
 By Dr. Wm. M. ST-A.KJR. 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 

Z3HZZ^HffEEHEZEEEEH^ 
 
 * * ¥ * * 
 
 IN DRFENGR 
 
 OF 
 
 MEDICAL BOTANT, 
 
 BY 
 
 * DR. WM. M. STARR, • 
 
 President of the Botanical Association of the 
 United States of America. 
 
 709 G Street, Northwest, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. G. 
 1 895. ^<r^ 
 
 Price, 25 Cents. 
 
 
 * 
 
 EjgaZEgHSS^.rfi^^ 
 
 BECKERT &. McCURDY, PRS ., 512 E ST., Washington, D. C. 
 
RXPLANATION, 
 
 To prevent any misunderstanding, I wish to 
 state that in writing this book I have no malice or 
 ill-feeling personally against any one of the medi 
 cal profession or any medical school in this or any 
 other country. I am writing this book only for 
 the purpose of claiming fairness and justice, I 
 simply claim what I believe is fair and just bet- 
 ween man and man. I want to do what is best for 
 all the people of my country, and that equal rights 
 oe accorded to the Botanical as well as Allopathic 
 and Homeopathic Doctors, and special privileges 
 to no particular cla$s ©r school whatsoever. 
 
 As I am writing this book in self defense, I claim 
 the right to strike hard in defence of our rights in 
 the practice- of medicine under all laws, and to 
 strike hard to secure and maintain our rights. The 
 practice of medicine in its present form is not a 
 science, far from it, it is only a bad abused bus- 
 iness, if there is any profession in the world which 
 ought to b© carried on carefully and conscienci- 
 
4 
 
 ously, it is that of administering medicine, which 
 is not the case, it is tfie most reckless carried on 
 business in the world, and in its present form it 
 has neither science, philosophy, common sense or 
 success. 
 
 There is another point I wish to mention, the 
 constant complaint to the law making powers that 
 something is wrong in the practice of medicine, 
 without showing where the wrong lies but leaving 
 the impression that the fault lies with us, which is 
 not true, and are asking for protection against us. 
 
 As I stated before I write this book only in self 
 defense, without any illfeeling or malice towards 
 any person on earth, and pray that I may do good 
 to all and harm to none, and I want to show that 
 Botany was first of all medicines and is the only 
 true principle in the Medical kingdom, it com- 
 menced with the beginning of time. 
 
 I request the reader to give this book his un- 
 divided attention. 
 
 Dr. WM. M. STAEE, 
 
 President of Botanical School of U. 8. A. 
 
 • 
 
 *** 
 • 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Restrictive Medical Legislation. 
 
 Medical legislation is a subject but little thought of 
 and little understood by the American people, and 
 hence it is the imperative duty of those who have 
 made a disinterested study of the subject, to explain 
 its origin, its animus and its results to those who have 
 heard only the cunning misrepresentations of interested 
 parties, who, never daring to discuss the subject 
 publicly, have in the clandestine methods of the lob- 
 byist, diffused the not very plausible story that the 
 people need to be protected by the government against 
 the consequences of their own folly, and that the only 
 protection that is efficient is to place them under the 
 guardianship of collegiate corporations, with the ex- 
 clusive privilege of admitting men into the medical 
 profession, and prescribing what they shall do to their 
 patients, and how they may crush their rivals in practice. 
 
 To protect the people from the exercise of their 
 sovereign will by denying them the right of choosing 
 their physicians, is not quite a plausible proposition it 
 itself, but it is reinforced by the suggestion that medi- 
 cine is a profound science — that its best representatives 
 are the college faculties, and that all who attempt to 
 treat the sick without the instruction which colleges 
 only can give, must be prima facie fraudulent pre- 
 tenders whose operations ought to be restrained by 
 
6 
 
 law, like those of any other fraudulent class. They 
 ignore the fact that the fraudulent class are often 
 sheltered by diplomas, and that the'class they denounce 
 often stand high in public opinion. 
 
 As there is not a word of truth in this talk of the 
 lobby, it is never presented in any place where it can 
 be publicly refuted before an audience, or before the 
 readers of an impartial journal. Falsehoods which 
 have manly defenders are entitled to some respect, but 
 those who dare not meet the truth are entitled to none 
 — nor are the lobbyists who use such methods entitled 
 to any courtesy. 
 
 There is not an argument in behalf of the medical 
 legislation of the last ten years that will bear a mo- 
 mentary examination. When a legislature gives a 
 monopoly to one class of colleges and its graduates, 
 it is 
 
 Licensing Quackery. 
 
 Really, this demand for legislation in behalf of 
 medical colleges is a self-confessed fraud at its very 
 origin; for the Medical school, called Allopathic, 
 has done its best to exclude and proscribe the Homeo- 
 pathic and Botanic sects, and they recognize the 
 school domination as a social calamity; and it is this 
 Allopathic school, or rather, its most unsuccessful, 
 but ambitious, hungry and impecunious members, that 
 have been so busy in procuring legislation to protect 
 college graduates from free competition, which . is es- 
 sential to progress. 
 
This school of Allopathists was transplanted 
 bodily and unchanged from the realms of the Old 
 World despotism, never Americanized in the least, 
 and still bending the knee to European authority in 
 preference to American experience. 
 
 It has striven to crush the more liberal parties by 
 refusiug collegiate charters, or by excluding them 
 from all honorable positions. It is not the entire 
 medical profession, hut its intriguing demagogues, who 
 have pursued this course. Unable to crush liberalism 
 the party of medical legislation seeks to devastate all 
 the vast territory of freedom out of which formidable 
 rivals have arisen, and out of which they see uprising 
 the phantom form of the medical science of the future, 
 which is destined to be organized into medical colleges 
 of the entire healing art, Medical Botany. 
 
 Qualified Doctors Come Before Colleges. 
 
 The early physicians of this republic in colonial and 
 post-colonial times were private students, who never 
 attended colleges, but were not inferior on that ac- 
 count, for faithful private study and tuition are often 
 better than collegiate teaching. My own father was 
 one of the private non-collegiate students in the last 
 century, and was chosen to a medical professorship in 
 a school which had a distinguished career. 
 
 Indeed, I believe if we had never had a medical 
 college corporation, nor a diploma conferring pretended 
 legal rights, the condition of the medical profession 
 
8 
 
 under private independent teaching and authorship 
 would have been better than it is to-day, for it would 
 have been advanced by the same free competition 
 which has in all other things made American progress 
 so remarkable. Medical teaching would have been 
 far more efficient, for 
 
 None But The Gifted And Pre-Eminent 
 
 would have had pupils, and the dull, incompetent men 
 who are forced upon medical students by a college cor- 
 poration would have dropped out of sight to their 
 proper level. 
 
 This Suppression of Free Thought is a Social 
 
 Calamity, 
 which their graduates are now trying to inflict upon 
 the entire country by making the college diploma the 
 charter of supreme authority over the people. 
 
 Could the State commit a greater folly than to hand 
 over and surrender the club of legal coercion to such 
 aproscriptive party, to be used for the benefit of pro- 
 scriptive colleges ? 
 
 It was from Austria and Germany that we had the 
 greatest rebellion ever known against medical college 
 authority, and the government did not interfere, but 
 left an open field and a fair fight between native 
 genius and pedantic learning, and native genius 
 triumphed. 
 
 All these bills in every State are nothing more than 
 bills to compel the people to employ men in whom 
 they have no confidence, or men whom they consider 
 
9 
 
 quacks, while the body of skillful and successful 
 physicians do not need any such protection, do not ask 
 for it. 
 
 One may receive an obnoxious clergyman without 
 accepting his theology, but he who accepts an obnox- 
 ious physician must swallow his obnoxious medicine. 
 The soul's welfare is not imperilled by what we hear, 
 but the welfare and life of the body depends upon the 
 physician. A community that submits to dictation in 
 its medical treatment has either very little intelligence 
 on such subjects, or very little of the spirit of liberty. 
 The blow of medical despotism is aimed at the in- 
 dependent physicians, but falls upon the entire com- 
 munity. 
 
 They Use a Language Which Few of them 
 
 Understand, 
 a barbarous, dog Latin, by means of which many 
 dangerous and fatal mistakes have been made, but 
 which mystifies the patient and gratifies the vanity and 
 secretiveness of the doctor. 
 
 Now There May be Some Unprincipled Doc- 
 tors Base Enough 
 to hate the man who has cured the patient they have 
 abandoned to die, but is it not a strange perversion of 
 the functions of government, that the State should 
 help such men to glut their revenge upon others for 
 being more skilful and more benevolent, should 
 actually become the ally of quackery ? Such a law, if 
 properly labelled, would be styled, "An act to pre- 
 
10 
 
 vent competition, to promote quackery, and to protect 
 professional ignorance and imbecility." 
 
 Prolong this freedom, out of which arose those 
 blessings to mankind, the Botanic practice, and we 
 shall see uprising from the ample resources of Ameri- 
 can genius 
 
 A Still Greater Blessing to Mankind Than 
 These, 
 a deeper, broader and higher conception of man and 
 his mysterious life, its order, its disorder and its re- 
 medies. I do not speak from the vague hope of an 
 optimist, but of things that may be demonstrated, and 
 are being demonstrated, to the most advanced minds. 
 When toe face the question of medical legislation, we 
 have on the one hand, equal justice to all, — recognition 
 of the rights of the citizen and unlimited medical pro- 
 gress, — on the other, restriction of progress, oppression 
 of the citizen, and persecution of the men who give life 
 to the dying and cure the so-called incurable, for this 
 malignant law has no reference to right or wrong — to 
 well doing or ill doing. It is made as much a crime 
 to cure a patient as to kill him. 
 
 A Protest Against Medical Monopoly. 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives, in Con- 
 gress Assembled : 
 We, the Botanical Schools of Medicine, desire to 
 enter our protest against Senate bills 2352 and 2396, 
 
11 
 
 Fifty-first Congress, first session, and all similar bills 
 which may be introduced. 
 
 The bills referred to, announce it as their purpose 
 to regulate the practice of medicine in the District of 
 Columbia, by placing in the hands of a board of medi- 
 cal men the power to limit at will the practice of medi- 
 cine to such persons as this board may choose to grant 
 permits or licenses to. They are clearly in the in- 
 terest of certain classes of medical men, granting them 
 special privileges in violation of the Constitutional 
 rights of other physicians and of all other citizens. 
 
 There are quite a number of sects in medicine, as 
 there are in religion. 
 
 The bills named, provide for giving two sects, "the 
 Allopathic and Homeopathic," the power to monopolize 
 the practice of medicine in this District, to the 
 exclusion of all other sects, and to place in their 
 hands the power to enforce their special class privilege 
 by fines and imprisonment against members of the 
 medical profession, who belong to schools not re- 
 presented in the board of examiners. 
 
 The doctrine of the renowned Swiss empyric, Para- 
 celsus who, in 1626, burned the works of Galen, the, 
 Botanist, and founded a new medical sect on the Allo- 
 pathic dogma, "the way to cure one disease is to 
 create another of a different sort" — and therefore, the 
 most powerful poisons are the most potent medicines, 
 is not sound in theroy nor successful in practice, and 
 is therefor false and destructive, being so heretical as 
 to deserve no quarter from good orthodox doctors. If 
 
12 
 
 this sect which founded hundreds of years ago, now 
 assumes by virtue of age and numbers to be regular, 
 i. e., orthodox, could sustain such a claim, then there 
 would be no need of statutes to protect them against 
 the competitions of the physicians of other and older 
 sects. But if such claim could be sustained, it would 
 still be a violation of the genius of our institutions to 
 pass laws giving them a monopoly. 
 
 The people have a perfect right to employ "quacks" 
 if they want to do so, or to take patent medicines, or 
 to rely on nature, refusing to be dosed by anybody. 
 But their claim of perfection is not set up by any in- 
 telligent Allopathic physician, and if it were, it would 
 be not only false but ridiculous. Instead of claiming 
 perfection the leading men of that school are on record 
 as having pronounced its theories false, and its prac- 
 tice empirical and dangerous. 
 
 We quote briefly from some of the most renowned 
 and honored Allopathic physicians of this country and 
 Europe, opinions of their own creed and system of 
 practice. 
 
 Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes says : 
 
 "It would be better for men, but worse for the 
 fishes, if all medicines were poured into the sea." 
 
 Professor Gregory, of Edinburgh College, says : 
 
 ' ' Ninety-nine out of every hundred medical facts 
 are medical lies." 
 Dr. Magendie says : 
 " Medicine is a great humbug." 
 
13 
 
 Dr. Alexander M. Ross, F. R. S., of London, says : 
 "The medical practice of to-day has no more founda- 
 tion in science, in philosophy, or in common sense, 
 than it had one hundred years ago. It is still based 
 
 On conjecture." 
 
 Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, says : 
 
 " As we place more confidence in nature, and less in 
 medicines, mortality diminishes." 
 
 Dr. Alonzo Clark, of New York, says : 
 
 " Physicians hurry thousands to their graves who 
 would have recovered, if left to nature." 
 
 Sir Astley Cooper says : ♦ 
 
 The system of medicine is founded on conjecture, 
 and improved by murder." 
 
 Dr. Evans of London, says : 
 
 " The so-called science of medicine has neither 
 philosophy nor common sense to commend it to con- 
 fidence." 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the De- 
 claration of Independence, said : 
 
 "The physician is like a blind man striking at 
 random. If he hits the disease he kills it, but he is 
 full as likely to hit the patient, and kill it. We 
 (physicians) have multiplied diseases, and increased 
 their mortality." 
 
 He further said: "The conferring of exclusive 
 priviliges upon bodies of physicians, and forbiding 
 men of equal talents under penalities from practicing 
 medicine, are inquistions, however sanctioned by an- 
 
14 
 
 cient charters, and names serving as the Bastiles of 
 our science." 
 
 Mr. Speaker, 
 
 I will refer to one historical fact. Before the Bo- 
 tanical Library was burnt by a " King of Terror" in 
 1626, there was no monopoly in medicine whatsoever, 
 and they were composed of Botanical preparations, 
 gathered by the skillful farmers and their wives fresh 
 from the field where the oats, beans and barley grew. 
 
 Ever since Botanical medicines were forced out of 
 general use by this cruel edict, and the dogma pro- 
 claimed that poisons are the proper medicines to be 
 used, the death rate has increased. Up to that time 
 men were strong and lived long, since that time they 
 have become weaker, and mortality has increased 
 rapidly until the average has fallen to the low rate of 
 about sixteen years and ten months. 
 
 We therefore ask that the American system of free 
 competition in medicine, as in religion, shall be en- 
 forced and that no legislation be had which shall limit 
 the freedom of the people. 
 
 The Bill which we have offered in favor of the 
 Botanical Practice is supported by the farmers and a 
 large majority of our citizens. It is perfectly fair, 
 honest, just, neighborly, constitutional, and in accord 
 with our system of government, and the Patent Laws 
 and common justice. We do not propose to interfere 
 with others at all. We want no new laws passed, in 
 our favor, or any of the old laws repealed or amended. 
 
15 
 
 All we ask is to be placed equally under the laws al- 
 ready passed as our Bill plainly sets forth. 
 
 The Bills which have been passed by the Legisla- 
 tures of certain states and which are now sought to be 
 passed by Congress for the District of Columbia, to 
 give the monopoly to a certain school of physicians to 
 the exclusion of all other schools of medicine, to 
 prevent the people from choosing those physicians of 
 other schools of equal talent whom they may prefer to 
 attend them when sick, is unprofessional, an insult 
 to the common people of the United States, and is 
 without a speck ©f manly or common justice in it. It 
 strikes at the root of our liberties. It is tyranical, 
 monarchical, revolutionary, and unconstitutional. It 
 is irreligious and anti-republican. The people want 
 no such law. 
 
 We have thousands of native geniuses and skillful 
 botanical doctors in the United States, supported by 
 three-fourths of the farmers and common people of the 
 country in this domineering and dangerous issue. For 
 the sake of common justice give equal chance under all 
 laws as substantially set forth in our Bill. Honorable 
 fairness is all we want and all we ask. 
 
 The people are scared and deprived of their liberties 
 and money as well as their manhood and womanhood, 
 by being compelled to secure the attendance of a cer- 
 tain school of doctors to their children when sick, to 
 obtain a certificate of burial when they die under the 
 law now existing in the District of Columbia. There 
 has been a complaint made to Congress by the doctors 
 
16 
 
 in charge of the medical department of the District of 
 Columbia, but they have failed to show to Congress 
 what it is ; we ourselves now propose to show where 
 the wrong is. 
 
 1st. The dangerous, tyrannical and obnoxious law 
 which compels the people to have certain doctors in 
 whom they have no confidence for their children, 
 whether they want them or not, or in other words, 
 doctors who do not claim to have any sure cure for any 
 disease. 
 
 2nd. The above named law is equivalent to placing 
 all the people of the District under the guardianship 
 of a certain class of doctors who have made no im- 
 provement in medicine for the past 267 years, and now 
 want to rule out all those who have made improve- 
 ments' ; but statistics of mortality in Washington and 
 all cities where they have such laws show that their 
 practice is a gigantic and disastrous failure. 
 
 If this does not prove a gigantic failure, what would 
 you call a failure ? 
 
 3rd. They claim that the present law is necessary 
 in 'order for them to make a proper report as soon as 
 their patients are dead. 
 
 Now gentlemen, why were these obnoxious, tyran- 
 nical, inhuman, unjust, uncivilized, unchristian, un- 
 neighborly, unmanly, unprofessional, ungodly, un- 
 constitutional, barbarous laws hatched out anyhow? 
 
17 
 WHAT ALLOPATHIC DOCTORS WANT. 
 
 They want to examine all doctors who do not agree 
 with them. 
 
 They want to rule them out. 
 
 They want to compel the people to employ them, 
 and themselves only. 
 
 They want to domineer over all. 
 
 They want no opposition. 
 
 They want a monarchical rule like that of Mohomet, 
 who threw his country into a revolution which lasted 
 nearly half a century, or like King Cyrus who had 
 his head cut off for less tyrannical ruling than this, or 
 like King Charles I, who was beheaded for forcing 
 obnoxious laws on the people. We allude to these 
 historical facts merely to show that even in those dark 
 days people would not submit to such tyranny. Even 
 in Austria and Germany, the greatest rebellion ever 
 known was brought about by enforcing precisely the 
 same kind of laws upon the people as are now sought 
 to be imposed upon the common people by these Allo- 
 pathic monsters. 
 
 What is the use for Congress to pass a law which is 
 not respected, except by a set of doctors who have 
 made a gigantic failure in the art of curing and heal- 
 ing for hundreds of years; even the humblest justice 
 of the peace in the United States, where any case has 
 been brought before him under this law, has declared 
 it unconstitutional, null and void. In* Indiana only 
 one side was heard, and it became a law, but it soon 
 
18 
 
 cropped out what had been done, and it was taken into 
 court where both sides were heard. The court decided 
 it unconstitutional and void. (In Virginia such a law 
 was passed and also declared unconstitutional.) 
 
 In the District of Columbia, there are hundreds of 
 violations of the tyrannical law now hanging over the 
 city every day, yet the courts refuse to give jurisdic- 
 tion or grant a single warrant under the law, as they 
 know it is unconstitutional. 
 
 A house which cannot stand alone without being 
 propped up is a dangerous house to live in ; in fact, is 
 not fit to live in at all. Neither is a doctor who needs 
 laws to force the people to employ him, fit to be 
 trusted in any way. 
 Mr. Speaker, 
 
 The Senate Bill No. 1236, which is now pending, 
 begs Congress to unite with the Allopathic school of 
 doctors against the Botanical school of doctors, farmers, 
 and common people, which virtually means to establish 
 a monarchy for that purpose. There was once an 
 animal formed that had seven horns ; this animal which 
 is now about to be born, is to have fifteen horns. It 
 is proposed to be eight times as large as any which 
 ever lived before. I suppose an appropriation will 
 have to be made to enlarge the Medical Museum to 
 hold this animal. As this animal means to destroy 
 the Botanical Garden, that will be a good place to 
 build the annex to the Medical Museum to put this 
 animal in. If this bill passes both houses of Congress, 
 I suppose they will remove the Goddess of Liberty 
 
19 
 
 from the Capitol and place it on the annex, as there 
 will be no more use for it at the Capitol. The U. S. 
 Patent Office claims this to be a gross insult against 
 her laws. The Agricultural Department also protests 
 against the coming of this monstrous beast. 
 
 Does not this show that their pretended scheme 
 to regulate the practice of medicine is against the 
 protection and welfare of the life of the people in- 
 stead of being in its favor? For the truth of this, 
 examine the reports of the Board of Health. 
 
 MEDICAL BOTANY WAS FIRST, 
 
 For the truth of which read the mortality list below, 
 which shows that there were 13,625 more deaths than 
 births in 10 years in the District, when there ought 
 to have been about 15,000 more births than deaths in 
 these 10 years. Is not this poiitive proof that the 
 Allopathic doctors have made a disastrous, murderous 
 failure in the practice of medicine ever since they left 
 our school 267 years ago, the oldest school in the 
 world, the Botanical, Nature's own Cure, and yet 
 they use underhanded warfare against us. 
 
 There is but one real, true principle in the medical 
 kingdom, that is Nature's own Cure, Botany, it has 
 been the first in the world, all others are deserters 
 from the truth, ever since they commenced to admin- 
 ister poison remedies in their practice, while God fur- 
 nishes all our medicines fresh every summer. 
 
20 
 
 Mr. Speaker, 
 
 This bill, No. 1236, if it was enforced all over the 
 United States, would disturb the greatest people on 
 earth, the farmers, who support and feed the human 
 family. The wise schemers of this said bill could not 
 go to the Capitol without having their stomachs full 
 of the products of the farmers whose liberties they 
 seek to destroy, under the pretence that there is 
 something wrong, without showing what it is, or where 
 it is, and not giving the farmers and people any chance 
 to say yea or nay on this gigantic, dangerous and 
 underhanded scheme. The Botanic School of Medi- 
 cine claims this to be the greatest and most dangerous 
 issue that ever came before any people on earth. It 
 involves the destiny of the nation. 
 
 What Do They Want To Regulate? 
 
 The whole object of this monstrous bill is to hew 
 down the tree of botany, which gives life and health, 
 and plant the Upas tree instead which means death and 
 destruction, or in other words would at once add 40 
 per cent, to the present mortality by excluding the 
 most successful doctors in the District, who could 
 not and would not, become subject to the rule of this 
 unnatural and illegitimate scheme. 
 
 During the year 1899, we had nine hundred cases of 
 La Grippe -and lost none. The same year we had 
 eight of Scarlet Fever, twenty-one cases of Diphthe- 
 ria, five cases of Typhoid Fever, twelve cases of St. 
 Vitus' Dance, sixty-one cases of Kidney Disease. 
 
21 
 
 forty-three"cases Cholera Infantum, twenty-two cases 
 Chills and Fever and lost none. During the months 
 of January, February, March and April, 1891, we had 
 307 cases of La Grippe and lost none. We also had 
 many other diseases and lost none. No man on earth 
 can beat these botanical cures. They might as well 
 do away with wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley, rice, beans, 
 potatoes, buckwheat, meats, fruits, milk and sugars, 
 which are the necessaries of life and make flesh and 
 blood. 
 
 The four principal diseases now generally prevail- 
 ing over the world are La Grippe, Cholera Infantum, 
 Diphtheria and Kidney Disease, and the Allopathic 
 doctors consider them the most fatal. The Botanic 
 doctors claim that they are four of the easiest diseases 
 to cure known in human life, and they prove it by 
 their success. 
 
 The human body is largely a vegetable body, com- 
 posed of purely vegetable matter. , So we use purely 
 vegetable medicines for vegetable bodies. Botanical 
 doctors are the free thinkers of medicine, with the 
 right to choose the best form of all the best Botanic 
 theories of medicine, liberty uncircumscribed by the 
 teaching of fanatics, freedom to judge for themselves 
 that which is best of all that you can learn of the many 
 ideas of medical men of the world. 
 
 We believe in love to all, hatred toward none; 
 freedom of thought; the right to counsel with all; 
 ungoverned by any disgraceful conduct, ethics, or 
 
22 
 
 force bills. Give us liberty to exercise good common 
 sense, and use that which is best to do good in the 
 case for which it is intended. This is the true prin- 
 ciple of Botanical practice. They are the most suc- 
 cessful doctors on the face of the earth who believe 
 in personal liberty as well as general liberty. That 
 which is right, is right and best for .all. 
 
 This bill No. 1236 died a bornin, and has never 
 had a successor. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Argument from Statistics of Mortality. 
 
 Death-rates in nine American Cities. — Washington 
 
 fourth in list. a city of average healthful- 
 
 ness. — Deaths and births for ten years from 
 1885 to 1894. — Observations on Tables. — 
 " Small-pox scare " of 1894. — Attempted "Dip- 
 htheria Scare." — Antitoxine. — A proposed cure 
 for Consumption. — Confessed Failures by Al- 
 lopathists. — Dr. Starr seeks Registration. — 
 Reply of Health Officer, Dr. Woodward. 
 
23 
 
 RECORD OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN THE 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Many people assert that Washington is an unhealty 
 City. This is not true, as will be seen by the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Table of Death Rates in Nine American Cities for 
 the Year 1893. 
 
 1. Chicago 16.93 
 
 2. Cincinnati 18.74 
 
 3. Sr. Louis 19.81 
 
 4. Washington . . . . 20.47 
 
 5. Brooklyn . . . . . 20.79 
 
 6. Baltimore ' 20.97 
 
 7. Philadelphia .... 21.21 
 
 8. New York ...... 23.34 
 
 9. Boston 23.97 
 
 From this table it will be seen that Washington oc- 
 cupies an average position for healthfulness in the list 
 of American cities. It is gradually improving in the 
 scale; and therefore the argument drawn from its sta- 
 tistics will be applicable to all American cities. 
 
 Attention is now invited to the subjoined statistics 
 taken from the Annual Reports of the Health Officer 
 of the District of Columbia for a period of ten years, 
 commencing with the year ending June 30, 1885 and 
 and closing with the year ending June 30, 1894, mak- 
 ing ten years in all. 
 
24 
 
 Number of Deaths, 5,389 
 
 1885 { " Births, . 3,725 
 
 More Deaths than Births, 1,664 
 
 Number of Deaths, 5,080 
 
 1886 { wt Births, 3,922 
 
 More Deaths than Births, 1,158 
 
 Number of Deaths, 5,071 
 
 1887 ] " Births, 4,134 
 
 More Deaths than Births, ...:... 937 
 
 Number of Deaths, 5,498 
 
 1888 * " .Births, 4,128 
 
 More Deaths than Births, 1,370 
 
 { 
 { 
 
 i 
 
 Number of Deaths, 5,595 
 
 1889 { u Births, 4,444 
 
 More Deaths than Births, ■ 1,151 
 
 .( Number of Deaths, 6,038 
 
 1890 I " Births, 4,544 
 
 ( More Deaths than Births,... 1,494 
 
 Number of Deaths, 6,160 
 
 1891 ct Births, 4,784 
 
 More Deaths than Births, 1,376 
 
 { 
 
 92 | 
 
 Number of Deaths, 6,565 
 
 1892 { " Births...... 5,081 
 
 More Deaths than Births, 1,484 
 
 ( Number of Deaths 6,927 
 
 1893 { " Births, 4,933 
 
 ( More Deaths than Births 1,994 
 
 ( Number of Deaths, 6,599 
 
 1894 \ " Births, 5,602 
 
 ( More Deaths than Births, 997 
 
 [RECAPITULATION. 
 
 Total Deaths in ten years, 58,922 
 
 Total Births u " 45,297 
 
 More Deaths than Births, 13,625 
 
25 
 
 From the above statistical reports it will be seen 
 that the number of deaths in the District of Colum- 
 bia for the period from 1885 to 1894 was greater than 
 the number of births by the surprising amount of 
 13,625, an average of 1352J to the year. At this 
 rate, if Washington were to have no immigration 
 from other places, the city would finally became de- 
 populated. 
 
 2. The records of the same office show, also, that 
 the number of deaths of children under five years of 
 age from January 1, 1885 to June 30, 1893, a period 
 of 8i years was 38 per cent, of the total number of 
 deaths for that time. 
 
 3. They show further that the number of deaths of 
 children under one year of age for the period of ten 
 years commencing July 1, 1884 and ending June 30, 
 1894 was more than 26 per cent, of the total number 
 of deaths. 
 
 What is the meaning of these figures? Simply this: 
 That nearly two-fifths of the deaths in the District of 
 Columbia are those of children under five years of age; 
 and that more than one-fourth of them are of children 
 under one year of age. 
 
 Dr. Starr maintains that his observations show that 
 the death rate is arranged somewhat like the Wash- 
 ington monument, a structure with its base downward 
 and tapering gradually to its apex. The greatest num- 
 ber of deaths occurs the first year; the next greatest 
 the second; the next, the third, and so, until the top 
 
26 
 
 is reached when one lone person is found on the cap, 
 it may be 150 years old. 
 
 4. The records of the Health Office show that the 
 destructive period of human life is childhood, when 
 utter helplessness is the lot of infants. The same re- 
 cords show that the diseases of this period, viz Cholera 
 Infantum, Croup, Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, Measles, 
 Whooping Cough, etc., are the destructive ones, and 
 that the so-called Allopathic physicians have no posi- 
 tive cure for any of them. In fact, children have not 
 only the disease itself to fight, but the destructive re- 
 medies used as well. Let us look at this matter a 
 little more closely. The Health Office Report foi 
 1893 gives the names of 896 of these so called Allo- 
 pathic physicians as being registered in the District 
 of Columbia. One would suppose that so many doc- 
 tors, the embodiment of wisdom, ought to be able to 
 take full control of the health of the people, and pre- 
 vent death and suffering. 
 
 Further, these so-called Allopathes are under the 
 direction of the City Board of Health which is com- 
 posed of wisdom itself. The power bestowed upon 
 this Health Board is, in some respects, greater and 
 more despotic than that possessed by any absolute mon- 
 arch in the world. One of its number, Dr/ C. J. Os- 
 mun, to whom was assigned the special control of the 
 Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever service, in his second an- 
 nual report says, concerning the rules and regulations 
 under which he was acting. " These rules and laws 
 afforded ample scope to enable me to put the system 
 
27 
 
 into practical operation." Rep. Health Off., 1893, p. 8. 
 On page 9, Dr. Osmun says : "The number of cases 
 
 of Diphtheria in the previous year. (1892) was 553, 
 while during the past year (1893) it was 377, thus- 
 showing a reduction of cases of 176. In the same time 
 the deaths fell from 177 to 126, showing a decrease in 
 the mortality of 51 as between the two years." 
 
 Now the 177 deaths of Diphtheria out of553 cases 
 was 32 per cent, or 32 deaths out of every hundred ; and 
 the 126 deaths out of 377 cases was 33.4 per cent, or 
 nearly 34 out of every hundred. According to Dr. 
 Osmun's own statement, mortality among children is 
 on the increase. 
 
 On page 8, Dr. C. M. Hammett, the Health Officer 
 says : "There were 126 deaths from Diphtheria and 2 
 from Diphtheria Croup classed as Diphtheria proper. 
 On account of its dangerous character the progress of 
 this disease was closely observed during the year. 
 Especially was this made obligatory when the disease 
 progressed at a rate of about 1 death out of 3 cases ; 
 assuming in the spring time an aggravated character, 
 when 11 deaths out of 13 cases occurred." 
 
 What do these figures signify? Eleven deaths out 
 of thirteen mean that 84.6 per cent, or 85 children out 
 every 100 having Diphtheria, die under the manage- 
 ment of a class of physicians professing to be guardians 
 of the health of the people, and acting under iron-clad 
 rules made by themselves to protect the people against 
 what they denominate " quacks ! " Whoever heard of 
 such consummate cheek and effrontery ? 
 
♦28 
 
 But this is not all. In October and November, 
 1894, a " Small pox Scare " was started in Washing 
 ton with the view to compel general vaccination. Sup- 
 posed victims were ruthlessly seized by the authorities 
 and rushed away to the pesthouse. Cards containing 
 the ominous words " Small pox within " together with 
 yellow flags were posted upon houses in various parts 
 of the city, special pains being taken to put them in 
 conspicuous places where they could be seen and add 
 to the " scare," Government employes and children in 
 public schools were forced to be vaccinated, and in- 
 occulated with poisonous matter which produced a 
 hundred-fold more suffering and expense than if actual 
 Small-pox had been permitted to rage in the city. 
 Arms were amputated, suffering of the most intense 
 character was produced, and systems were impregnated 
 with disease from which the subjects may never recover. 
 
 Scarcely had this terrible scourge of vaccination, 
 with its suffering and attendant expense, begun to 
 subside when the Washington Times in its editorial 
 column of December 17, 1894 had the following : 
 
 Here's A How-De-Do! 
 
 To this complexion has it come at last that the Dis- 
 trict Commissioners declare they have no authority to 
 pay for five old horses, which are wanted for the pro- 
 duction of anti-toxine, the great Diphtheria cure. It 
 would probably cost about $200 or $250 to buy the 
 ' 'plugs," and any number of human lives might be 
 saved by the use to which they would be put, yet it 
 will require an act of Congress to authorize the pur- 
 
29 
 
 chase. It would be amusing if it were not so intensely 
 tragic. 
 
 What a commentary it all is upon the form of gov- 
 ernment the District is blessed with ! There is not 
 a village in the country where an expenditure of this 
 sort would not be incurred by the mayor, or whoever 
 else the proper official might be, without a moment's 
 hesitation and with absolute confidence that his action 
 would be sanctioned by the council or board of select- 
 men. Yet at the nation's Capital the ruling trium- 
 virate is powerless. It is the little things of life that 
 appeal most powerfully to our comprehension. 
 
 Since the first day of this month twenty-four cases 
 of Diphtheria have been reported to the health au- 
 thorities. Of these 50 per cent, have been fatal. This 
 is a very much larger proportion of mortality than in 
 the case of smallpox. Perhaps every one of these 
 lives might have been saved; perchance even the ill- 
 ness in a majority of cases prevented if this anti-toxine 
 had been available. 
 
 Diphtheria, like the poor, is with us always. Until 
 the discovery of the serum, there was in almost every 
 instance a lack of hope of recovery. Now the remedy 
 has been found with which to combat it. Who will 
 give the five old horses required to manfacture it?" 
 
 Fifty per cent, of the cases of Diphtheria prove 
 fatal ! Is not that a confession that the so-called Al- 
 lopaths have never had a cure for Diphtheria? 
 What confidence can be placed in their alleged new 
 remedy? Is it not just as much of an experiment as 
 all previous ones have been? Does it not show a 
 wonderful case of desperation when old worn-out, 
 ring-boned, diseased horses must be taken to cure dis- 
 ease in human beings ? Preposterous ! 
 
30 
 
 Next, it will be announced that a salve made from 
 the left ear of an ancient jackass will cure consump- 
 tion in all its forms. A proposition will be made to 
 buy up all the aged and diseased jacks to be employed 
 in a new cure of consumption. The scheme will be 
 just as reasonable. 
 
 After all this confessed failure to cure Diphtheria 
 and other diseases, it does seem strange that nature's 
 own cures should not be sought. In this emergency 
 the following proposition was made : 
 
 Washington, January 22, 1895. 
 The City Board of Health, 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Gentlemen : On the 7th inst., I made verbal ap- 
 plication to your Board for registry, but was refused 
 the privilege with the remark that " there is no law 
 permitting it." My reply was : "neither is there 
 a law forbidding it." 
 
 I hereby renew my request in writing to be re. 
 gistered and insist upon it for the following reasons : 
 
 1. In various States of this Union, I have been a 
 practicing physician, on the basis of Medical Botany, 
 Nature's Own Remedy, for sixty-five years, a period 
 equal to, if not greater than, that of the practice of 
 any other physician in the District of Columbia. 
 During all this time, by the use of the potent re- 
 medies which nature so liberally furnishes, I have 
 had a success in the curing of all forms of disease, 
 temporary or chronic, mild or malignant, that would 
 astonish the most credulous. 
 
31 
 
 2. Since the autumn of 1876 I have been practis- 
 ing in this city. My patients have been numbered 
 by thousands. For years I have not lost a case of 
 Diphtheria, La grippe, Whooping Cough, or Scarlet 
 Fever, where I was the first and only physician call- 
 ed. I have taken and thoroughly cured patients, 
 with all sorts of ailments, that were treated in this 
 and other cities and given up as incurable. The 
 greatest and highest of all tests — "by their fruits 
 shall ye know them" — is the one by which I am not 
 only willing but anxious to have my practice tried, 
 in the most rigid but thoroughly honest manner. 
 
 3. I have never sought any advantage by law or 
 otherwise over those whom I may consider medically 
 wrong in both theory and practice. I want a fair 
 chance in honorable competition. I ask no special 
 protection or exclusive privileges. If my work or 
 that of any other practitioner is unable to stand 
 upon its own intrinsic merits, it must fall and should 
 be abandoned. 
 
 4. I make this claim under the constitution of my 
 country which was intended to guarantee equal 
 rights to all with special privileges to none. On 
 this constitutional prerogative I stand, and on it I 
 insist that my petition be granted. 
 
 I renew my request for registration. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 WILLIAM M. STARK, 
 
 709 GSt., N. W. 
 
32 
 
 It would be naturally supposed that the Health De- 
 partment of a sorely afflicted city would cheerfully 
 welcome the aid of any physician or school of physici- 
 ans who not only had 'a harmless, inexpensive and 
 infallible cure for such diseases, and could produce 
 living witnesses by the thousand. Not so, however, 
 that would reflect upon the standing and fate of the 
 so-called Allopaths, however much it might benefit the 
 people. Witness the following : 
 
 Health Department, 
 
 January 30, 1895. 
 Respectfully returned to writer with the informa- 
 tion that the law provides that the registration book 
 be kept for a specific purpose; and to permit the re- 
 gistration asked for would be without legal authority 
 and the registration therefore invalid. 
 
 WM. C. WOODWARD, M. D., 
 
 Health Officer. 
 
 These Medical Pharisees made the law, then made 
 the books to suit the law, and of course any registra- 
 tion must be made to fit the books ! It matters not 
 whether the people are benefited or not. Was ever 
 such a farce enacted among civilized people ? The 
 people, however, are beginning to see that such 
 medical tyranny and phariseeism is in the interests of 
 the doctors only, and against themselves. They are 
 thinking and acting for themselves. They have mo- 
 dified the sentiment of Shakespeare so as to read : 
 " What fools these mortals be." 
 
33 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DEFENCE OF MEDICAL BOTANY. 
 
 Dr. Starr has Discovered the Science of Cure. — 
 Analysis of Herbs. — Different Medicine for 
 each Diseate. -Positive Cure for every Disease. 
 — Doctors should be careful in giving Medi- 
 cine. — No Doctor should give a "Kill or 
 Cure" Remedy. — Illustration of Sewing Ma- 
 chine Agent. — Human Body largely a Vege- 
 table Structure. — Success in Curing La Grip- 
 pe. — Children should live to be old People. 
 How the Author has Lived. — Allopathic Re- 
 medies. — Botanicism. — The Free Thinkers in 
 Medicine. — Medical Boycott. — Advice to the 
 Many Readers. 
 
 DEFENCE OF MEDICAL BOTANY. 
 
 Science in Medical Botany, the greatest Medical 
 desideratum of the world, has at last been discovered 
 by Dr. Wm. M. Starr, after fifty long years of study 
 and practice and at an expense of many thousand dol- 
 lars. He has analyzed nearly every herb in the Ve- 
 getable kingdom, and in forty-two of the leading 
 herbs he has discovered enough Medical substance to 
 make medicine to cure every disease in human life, 
 
34 
 
 and every medicine is separate and distinct for every 
 different disease. No two are alike as no two diseases 
 are alike. He compounds over sixty different medi- 
 cines from forty-two leading herbs, which will, if 
 used correctly, cure any disease of the human family. 
 He believes that he understands every disease of the 
 human frame and has a cure for each. 
 
 He will teach all who may wish to learn the use of 
 his valuable remedies in Medical Botany for any dis- 
 ease of man, woman or child, also will teach what 
 herbs to gather, what time in the year to secure them 
 and manufacture the medicine, and the proportion of 
 the different herbs to make separate and distinct me- 
 dicines for every separate disease in human afflictions. 
 
 He has as many different Botanical medicines as 
 there are diseases in human life. Ever since he 
 perfected these remedies and found out their use in 
 every case whatsoever, he has had no cause to change 
 his medicines in any way from their original use in 
 any disease, and can cure many old chionic cases of 
 all kinds, even where the patient has been poisoned 
 from the use of other medicines. 
 
 He has a positive cure among his list of medicines 
 for any disease of mankind, if it is not past cur- 
 ing. He also cures many chronic cases. When he 
 says sure cure or positive cure, he means that the 
 patient shall use his medicines and no other until he 
 says stop or until the patient is cured. They must 
 remain strictly under his medicines and under his 
 rules first, last and all the time. 
 
35 
 
 During the year of 1890 in Chicago, Pittsburg, 
 New York, Washington and its surroundings, I had 
 over nine hundred cases of La Grippe, and lost none, 
 which were mostly treated through the mail. 
 
 Every doctor ought to be careful what he gives 
 to his patients, so as not to make any mistake at all, 
 or give any medicine that could harm any person, 
 even if it could do no good. If he don't know what is 
 the matter with the patient, he has no business to give 
 any medicine. It should be made a law that no 
 man should be allowed to experiment on any person 
 in any case. He should know what is wrong and what 
 to give and what to do, or quit and give it up. 
 
 I hold that no doctor has any right to give medi- 
 cines to kill or cure under any circumstances what- 
 ever ; because if he don't know what to give first, he 
 is less fit to give the last remedy, as they call it. If 
 he knew what to give, his patient would not come to 
 this last remedy point. It ought not to be allowed 
 at all. They have no moral right to give medicine to 
 any person at guess-work or at random. 
 
 Suppose you had a new sewing machine, all in 
 good order and it became a little out of order and you 
 should send for a machinist to repair it, and he would 
 come every day and work on it and your machine kept 
 getting worse and worse for weeks and weeks and the 
 tinker charging you pay for every day; and at last 
 your machine was entirely destroyed. What would 
 you say of such a mechanic? Would you not say he 
 was a fraud? You would be right in calling him a 
 
36 
 
 fraud and wholly unfit to undertake such a job. But 
 suppose your child was to get a little out of health, 
 and you were to call a workman in the medicine bus- 
 iness and he was to make equally as bad a job, what 
 would you say of him? Would you not say that they 
 were both frauds alike ? You could not say anything 
 else. If he should tell you that your machine had 
 just turned into something else since he began to 
 work at it, and that you can look out for the worst, 
 after two or three weeks working on it; what would 
 you say then ? 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher said, "there was no reason 
 why any person who is once healthy should not live 
 to be a hundred years old." 
 
 Botanical Doctor Wm. M. Starr says, that if all doc- 
 tors were what they ought to be, or what their friends 
 take them to be, no children who were once in good 
 health, would die under a good old age, from eighty 
 to a hundred years or more. 
 
 He further says, that no young person once in good 
 health would die, without a gross violation of the 
 laws of nature, either by those who have them in 
 charge or of themselves. The body best taken care 
 of will last the longest, the same as with a machine or 
 anything else. 
 
 The farmers are the noblest men on earth. Were I 
 to select a board of the greatest men on earth, I would 
 go to the largest farmers to choose them, because they 
 are the greatest. Were I to select doctors I would 
 choose them of those who made their own medicines 
 
37 
 
 from the raw herbs, fresh from the farms and woods. 
 I have analyzed wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley, beans, 
 potatoes, rice, meats and milk, and then the human 
 body, which is all composed largely of vegetable mat- 
 ter. You cannot live without vegetables. This fact 
 being true, then who is right? The doctors who 
 gather their Medical cure from the vegetable king- 
 dom for a vegetable body, or those who gather from 
 the mineral kingdom for a vegetable body? Apply 
 common sense and you have the answer. You must 
 have vegetables to live on, and Botanical cures are 
 right. If the human body can't live without mineral 
 food, then the mineral doctors are right. The idea 
 that the human body must be treated with minerals 
 and other poisons for any of its diseases is an absur- 
 dity and false. 
 
 It is a historical and important fact, that in the 
 Gulf Cities South in Yellow Fever seasons, all the 
 people become alarmed, doctors and all. Why is all 
 this ? It is because the doctors have no cure for it, 
 and have no confidence in themselves ; in fact, the 
 doctors die the same as the common people, so all hopes 
 for cure are lost and all have to wait for the frost. This 
 is positive proof that in a hundred years' experiments 
 these doctors know less what to do with Yellow Fever 
 than they did a hundred years ago. In fact they don't 
 know anything about it at all, except to run from it, 
 quarantine against it, and trust to Providence for an 
 early frost. Yet they say we have no right to make 
 any improvement in medicines or to practice medicine, 
 
38 
 
 even if we have sure cures. They pretend that they 
 know it all and are the only doctors that do. 
 
 It was still a little worse in the city of Washington 
 D. C, during the first four months in the year 1891, 
 there being more deaths from La Grippe than ever died 
 in New Orleans in any four months in history from 
 any disease. Why was this? La Grippe is an easy 
 disease to cure. In Pittsburg, Pa., it was still worse. 
 In Chicago it was worse than Yellow Fever ever was 
 in New Orleans. What is the matter ? These diseases 
 are curable. Is there no Balm of Gilead or is there 
 no man to gather it? I say there is a positive cure 
 and a positive preventative in the vegetable kingdom. 
 Botanical medicines are the only positive and safe cures 
 on earth. 
 
 A little improvement in medicine would harm no 
 one. All doctors can have the benefit of my Botanical 
 medicines, and their patients as well, if they choose 
 to do so. Then why object to have any improvement 
 in medicines? Is it possible that the present medical 
 profession now in charge have come to a halt in science 
 and invention and to a point where there is no sure 
 cure for any disease? It looks very much as if it had 
 come to this point when there are from 160 to 200 
 deaths per week in 1891 in Washington, D. C. Now 
 the people are looking for relief from a change of 
 weather, &c. If the death rates over those of births 
 were to continue as they did during the months of 
 February, March, April and May, 1891, it would 
 take only twenty years to exterminate the entire po- 
 
39 
 
 pulation of Washington, New York, Chicago and 
 Pittsburg. 
 
 Are the doctors who had charge of those cities the 
 same doctors who had those force bills passed in the 
 Cities and States, to prevent any doctors out side from 
 practicing, selling, or making any new improvements 
 whatsoever in medicines ? Must they dictate what the 
 people shall or shall not use ? Shall a class of men 
 monopolize the whole practice of medicine, who have 
 not a single sure cure for any disease in human life ? 
 They lost 800 children in two months of Cholera In- 
 fantum in the year 1890, and still more in 1891 in 
 the District of Columbia. 
 
 " In presenting this work to the public, we do not 
 seek to obtain any of those nattering ecomiums which 
 are often purchased at the expense of truth. We 
 know that the sciene of Medical Botany will, ere long, 
 produce a complete revolution in the medical world, 
 and we shall neither fear the one, nor shrink from 
 the consequences of the other. 
 
 Doubtless the faculty will denounce us in the most 
 ungenerous terms for having dared to arraign their 
 practice before the bar of public opinion ; for this too 
 we are prepared, so as we can summon to our aid such 
 evidence as will not only establish our principles, but 
 silence effectually those who oppose us; yet, in the 
 midst of all these advantages, selfishness steps in and 
 proclaims aloud that none save the Diplomatised, are 
 competent to cure the sick, or administer to the afflic- 
 ted, when every day's history proves the folly of such 
 
40 
 
 a vain and egotistical policy. Why the medical world 
 should arrogate to itself the prescriptive right of kill- 
 ing or curing at pleasure, is a problem we are not 
 learned enough to solve; or why a man should be es- 
 teemed a clever physician because he has been educa- 
 ted in a college, we are at a loss to divine. Education 
 is proper for all men. We would that all men were 
 better educated than they are; but education either 
 means something or nothing. If it be a reality, 
 why should a physician seek his diploma in a college? 
 Certainly not, but in the cottage where human nature 
 lies suffering on its couch of pain. Will a shred of 
 parchment confer ability upon its possessor ? Certainly 
 not; it is a delusion to suppose it. 
 
 The author ridicules, and justly too, the use of the 
 lancet and the dissecting-knife; what sensible man can 
 admire the policy of cutting up a body after death in 
 order to ascertain the nature of the malady of which 
 the patient died ? This absurdity is only equalled by 
 that of the philosopher who cut the bellows open to 
 find out where the wind came from, and there is cer- 
 tainly as much knowledge in one case as in the other. 
 
 Indulgent nature provides a fitting remedy for every 
 ill that flesh is heir to. Man in his ignorance, too 
 frequently rejects the boon that nature offers. What 
 better proof can we ask than that a man who under- 
 takes to cure the sick, should be able to ascertain the 
 cause of sickness, to know where to find a remedy 
 and how it should be applied? Above all things 
 avoid such irregularities as may lead to decay. 
 
41 
 
 After all, even though we succeed in proving more 
 than was ever previously attempted by any other man, 
 we know the faculty will not admit us, neither can we 
 expect any favor at their hands, nor will their practices 
 receive much from us, however we will show that a 
 knowledge of nature is not indigenous to college life, 
 but must be sought for in the woods and forests ; 
 each sun-lit vale or verdant meadow contains some 
 agent of a remedial kind. A green herb is worth 
 more than a Latin phrase. 
 
 Nature has a college of her own — in it we have 
 studied. We reasoned thus with nature, " Is there no 
 oalm of Gilead — no aim to save from death — no res- 
 pite from the grave? " The voice of nature breathed 
 within our soul. We sought the woods, the fields and 
 the forests of our native land; from verdant banks we 
 gathered healing herbs. We sought the sufferer on 
 his bed of pain, we raised his drooping head, we bade 
 him drink and live — nature revived within him, his 
 languid eyes unclosed, his feeble arm again grew 
 strong, his wife and children blessed us with their 
 tears. 
 
 It is not natural nor was it intended by the God of 
 nature for plants to die in mid-summer; if they 'do, 
 something is surely wrong. Neither was it intended 
 by the Great all wise God for any human being to die 
 in middle life or under his normal age. If a child is 
 once healthy and sound in every respect and is then 
 treated strictly, according to the intention of the Crea- 
 tor, it will live to its normal age, three-score and ten 
 
42 
 
 years or more. If a child is once in perfect health, and 
 its parents know just what to give it to eat at all times 
 and how much, and at what hours, and how much to 
 exercise it, and at what hours, just as Nature's Law 
 demands all through life, then such person or persons 
 would live their days out as intended from the begin- 
 ning. 
 
 The premature death of a person is the result of 
 physical violation. To ascribe it to the action of an 
 all wise God is a libel upon his goodness. 
 
 Every human being should go to bed at dark and 
 do all his work by the light of the sun. Do not work 
 by artificial light at all. 
 
 Children should go to bed at dark to become healthy 
 and strong' men and women. 
 
 HOW THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK HAS 
 LIVED ALL THROUGH HIS LIFE. 
 
 He never drank any intoxicating liquors of any kind. 
 He never chewed or smoked tobacco. He never ate as 
 much as he could at any meal. He never drank 
 more than a half tumbler of ice water or more 
 than a tumbler of pump water at a time. He never 
 would eat anything that was not good for his stom- 
 ach or cause any disorder in his digestive organs. 
 This was the great study of his life as to what to eat, 
 how much and at what time, to be healthy and 
 
43 
 
 strong. He never ran as fast as he could. Never 
 went under the water with his head. He goes to 
 bed at eight and gets up at five o'clock. He eats at 
 seven, twelve and five o'clock. These have been his 
 habits since he was fourteen years of age and he is now 
 in his 85th year. He is in perfect health and can en- 
 dure as much as most young men. He has not lost a 
 meal on account of sickness for sixty-five years. He 
 takes regular exercise every day, rain or shine. He 
 has never taken any medicine, only that of herbs, and 
 of his own make since 14 years old. 
 
 REMEDIES. 
 
 This is the way a doctor writes about drugs : — As 
 for treatment. I have just been looking over Lander 
 Brunton, Aitken Hooper and some others of the same 
 class. Certainly I had to study them in the days gone 
 by, but just now, for the sake of my fellow men I have 
 been giving them special attention. Dear me ! How 
 can miserable disease live in front of so terrible an 
 array of terrible remedies ! What canst thou not have, 
 poor man? Dry cupping, Hot poultices, Muriate, Tinc- 
 ture of Iron (Muriatic Acid and Iron filings dis- 
 solved), Carbonate, Chlorate of Ammonia, Aconite, 
 Tartar Emetic, Foxglove, Ipecacuanha, Paregoric, 
 Opium and its preparations, Chloral Hydrate, Bella- 
 donna, Colchicum, Copabia, CrotonOil, Quinine, Tur- 
 pentine, Lead, Jalap, Lobelia, Mercury, Eucalyptus, 
 
44 
 
 Nitric Acid, Alum, Pilocarpine, Calabar Bean, Zinc, 
 Potash, Thorn Apple, Strychnia, Arsenic, Hemlock, 
 Petroleum, Indian Hemp, and other drugs equally 
 glorious — all are ready to woo the serpent of thy life 
 to rest, or to kill thee in the attempt. 
 
 Truly, I would as soon face a regiment of the old 
 guard of France, as the formidable drugs mentioned. 
 Never mind, its an ill wind that blows nobody good, 
 especially registers of births and deaths. — Hall Jour- 
 nal of Health. 
 
 BOTANICISM. 
 
 THE FREE THINKERS OF MEDICINE. 
 
 The right to choose the best from all of the many 
 theories of medicine ; liberty uncircumscribed by 
 the teachings of fanatics ; freedom to judge for 
 yourself that which is best of all that you can learn 
 of the many ideas of medical men of the world ; love 
 for all, hatred toward none ; freedom of thought and 
 the right to counsel with all, ungoverned by a mean 
 disgraceful code of ethics. Liberty to exercise good 
 common sense, and use that which is best calculated 
 to do good in the case in which it is indicated. This 
 is the true definition of the Botanical profession. 
 They are the most prosperous class of doctors on the 
 face of the earth, believing in personal as well as 
 
45 
 
 general liberty, that which is right, and Nature's re- 
 medies only. 
 
 A house which cannot stand alone without being 
 propped up, is a dangerous house to live in, and in 
 fact is not fit to live in at all. Neither is a doctor or 
 any other class of men who need laws to force the 
 people to employ them, fit to be trusted in any way. 
 
 A doctor who claims that he has a license to give 
 poison medicine to "kill or cure" at his will, is in 
 effect to claim that he has a license to murder. 
 
 If the Czar was to issue such a license, his head 
 would not be on his shoulders one week. If the Em- 
 peror of China were to make such a law, the walls 
 around Pekin would not save him a day. Let a doc- 
 tor stand alone on his own merits and his success in 
 making cures. No monopoly. 
 
 The law which demands that an M. D. must be cal- 
 led in to see any sick person, old or young, to secure 
 a certificate of burial in case of death, is an inhuman 
 outrage. It is to compel people to hire a doctor of 
 only one school, whether they want them or not. It 
 means to force and impose these M. D's. on the people 
 without their free will and consent. This is an out- 
 rage, and tyrants have often suffered death for less 
 tyrannical acts than such a law imposes upon the 
 people. Great consolation for the 800 mothers in 
 Washington, in the two months of 1890 to know from 
 the M. D's. that their children died from the use of 
 milk ! Botanic Doctors never give such medicines as 
 will cause a child to die from the use of milk, and 
 
46 
 
 why should they not be allowed to give a certificate 
 of burial in case one of their patients should happen 
 to die? Botanic Doctors are entirely apposed to all 
 force measures or secterian law. Botanic Doctors 
 claim that three quarters of the whole population of 
 the United States are with them on this issue. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 War With Medical Authorities. 
 
 Deeclaration of War by the Allopaths. — Means 
 of Counteracting them. — Petition, Counter- 
 Bill and Arguments. — House Bill No. 11565, 
 to Regulate Practice of Medicine in the 
 District of Columbia. — Bill Withdrawn from 
 the House and introduced in the Senate. — 
 Plea for the Bill. 
 
 DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 
 Scarcely had Dr. Starr commenced the practice of 
 Medicine in Washington, when the Allopathic doctors 
 began their effort to secure a monopoly of medical 
 practice. Under the plea that the public needed pro- 
 tection against quacks and frauds, but failing all the 
 
47 
 
 time to point out who the frauds and quacks were, 
 they groveled before Congressional Committees and 
 strove to have bills passed that would give them en- 
 tire control of such matters in the District of Co- 
 lumbia. 
 
 These measures were counteracted by Dr. Starr in 
 various ways : First by petition signed by thousands 
 of citizens, rich and poor ; then by introduction of a 
 bill, claiming equal rights under laws already made ; 
 and finally by arguments from notes before Senate 
 Committee and now filed as standing arguments be- 
 fore the House Committees. 
 
 The nature and extent of this contest will be un- 
 derstood by carefully reading the documents found in 
 this book. The first bill was the one which follows : 
 
 51st CONGRESS. ) TT TD ^ t ft Ct £Z 
 
 1st SESSION. } 11. li. llOOO. 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 July 28, 1890. 
 
 (Read twice,) referred to the Committee on the District 
 of Columbia, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 Mr. Culberson, of Texas, (by request) intro- 
 duced tlie following bill : 
 
48 
 
 To regulate the practice of medicine in the District of 
 Columbia. 
 
 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Re- 
 
 2 presentatives of the United States of America in 
 
 3 Congress assembled, That the Botanical School 
 
 4 of Medicine shall have all the rights, privileges, 
 
 5 and protection now provided by the law for Al- 
 
 6 lopathic and Homeopathic School of Medicine 
 
 7 within the District of Columbia, and the teach- 
 
 8 ers and professors of said Botanical School of 
 
 9 Medicine shall have the same privileges and 
 
 10 rights respecting the teaching and practice of 
 
 11 their profession as may be accorded by existing 
 
 12 laws to either of said other Schools of Medicine. 
 For good reasons this bill was withdrawn from the 
 
 House, and introduced into the Senate on the 18th 
 of January, 1892, by Senator Peffer. In his plea be- 
 fore the Senate Committee Dr. Starr presented the 
 following points. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Is it not fair ? Is it not just ? Is it not in accordance 
 with our system of government ? Does it not give equal 
 rights to all ? Does it not correspond with the right 
 granted to all other business men in this country to make 
 all improvements they can and use them under all laws; 
 then why should the Botanical Schools of Medicine not 
 have the right to make improvements in medicines as any 
 other school, and to practice and to teach Medical Botany. 
 
 I have been in the study, manufacture and use in my 
 practice of the Botanical remedies for the past 63 years, 
 
49 
 
 with unprecedented success, in every kind of disease of 
 human life. I never have had to experiment or change 
 my medicine for any case. I have been practing in Wash- 
 ington, D. C, since 1876, with perfect success, and have 
 eight assistants here under my instructions who have con- 
 stantly a large number of patients with whom they have 
 equal success. My assistants have instructions to hunt 
 up and report to me all cases they can find given up to die 
 by other physicians, and out of the many they have re- 
 ported to me, we have been successful in curing many of 
 them. We have discovered that the human body is a 
 purely vegetable body composed of the products of the 
 farmer. The Botanical remedies which we use grow to- 
 gether with the products of the farmer, and we know, in 
 the language of scripture, they are "for the healings of 
 the nations." 
 
 For the sake of common justice and humanity, and for 
 the sake of the dear children and the destiny of our nation, 
 we pray that Congress will pass the above bill and give the 
 Botanic schools of medicine an equal chance concerning 
 the teaching and practice of medicine as substantially set 
 forth in the foregoing bill. This would regulate the prac- 
 tice of medicine sure enough. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Argument from a Constitutional 
 Standpoint. 
 
 Laws of Health of Body and Soul Identical. — De- 
 claration of Independence. — Preamble to Fe- 
 
50 
 
 deral Constitution. — Fifth Amendment. — 
 Fourteenth Amendment. — Legitimate Infer- 
 ences. 
 
 The natural laws governing the health of the body 
 and the health of the soul are substantially the same. 
 The scriptures recognize this when they say " They 
 that are whole (healthy) need not a physician, but 
 they that are sick: "Physician, heal thyself." 
 Jesus is called the "Physician of Souls." 
 
 The Declaration of Independence, so sacred and or- 
 ganic in our history says : "We hold these truths to 
 be self-evident; that all men are created equal ; that 
 they are endowed by their creator with certain un- 
 alienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and 
 the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, 
 governments are instituted among men, deriving their 
 just powers from the consent of the governed; that 
 whenever any form of government becomes destruc- 
 tive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter 
 or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying 
 its foundations on such principles and organizing its 
 powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 
 to effect their safety and happiness." 
 
 To guard the interests of the people, Congress passed 
 the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which pro- 
 vides : "No person shall # # be deprived of life, 
 liberty or property, without due process of law." 
 
 But to enlarge still further the rights of the people 
 to the greatest enjoyment of liberty, the Fourteenth 
 
51 
 
 Amendment was made, providing in Section 1 as fol- 
 lows : " All persons born or naturalized in the United 
 States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citi- 
 zens of the United States and^of the State wherein they 
 reside- No State shall make or enforce any law 
 which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citi- 
 zens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive 
 any person of life, liberty, or property, without due pro- 
 cess of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdic- 
 tion the equal protection of its laws." 
 
 Legitimate Inference from the Foregoing: 
 
 1. All men have equal rights and equal protection 
 guaranteed to them under the Constitution of our 
 country. These rights and protection are by virtue 
 of their being citizens of the United States. 
 
 2. Any legislation which confers exclusive rights 
 and advantages to one class of persons but denies 
 them to others of the same class is, of necessity, un- 
 constitutional, unjust and therefore void. 
 
 3. The people have as good right, in fact the same 
 right, to choose who shall administer to the comforts 
 of their body as to the comforts of their spirits; and 
 if no discrimination is permitted, under the constitu- 
 tion, to be made relative to the choice or the exercise 
 of their religious beliefs, neither can there be relative 
 to their selection'of a medical guide. 
 
52 
 
 4. All laws which discriminate against any system 
 or school of medicine and in favor of any system or 
 school are unconstitutional and deserve no considera- 
 tion. They are un-American and unjust, and ought to 
 be wholly disregarded. 
 
 5. Any physician or system of practice which calls 
 in law or force to protect and bolster it up, confesses 
 fraud and is unworthy of either acceptance or respect, 
 according to the intention of the foundamental prin- 
 ciples of the Declaration of Independence and the 
 Constitution of our country. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 Description of Process of Digestion.— Mastica- 
 tion, Gastric Action in Stomach.— Action in 
 Duodeniem. — Hygiene and its Importance. — 
 Eating of Pood.— Ventilation of Sleeping 
 Rooms, — Exercise.— Sunlight.— Body under- 
 going Constant Changes.— Medicine and Pur- 
 pose.— Botanical Materia Medica consists of 
 Herbs. 
 
 To the thinking world it is undoubtedly the inten- 
 tion of the Creator that all things created should live 
 until they are worn out, like a machine; according to 
 
53 
 
 this it is self evident that all people should live as 
 near to the laws of Nature as possible and study their 
 own health and welfare. 
 
 It will not be expected of us that we shall go into 
 minute statements, but we beg to call attention briefly 
 to the process of digestion : 
 
 Mastication. Food taken into the mouth should be 
 carefully dhewed and mixed with the Saliva which is 
 furnished for that purpose. The teeth should be kept 
 clean, and not injured by hot or cold material, and 
 should not be marred by the cold steel of the dentist. 
 A valuable lesson can be learned from the Indians, 
 who never apply forceps to extract teeth. Nor should 
 excessive drinks be used in the digestion of food. The 
 Saliva furnished affords sufficient moisture ; and for 
 that reason it should not be poisoned or wasted by the 
 use of tobacco in any form. 
 
 Digestion. After the food has been swallowed, it 
 finds its lodgment in the stomach where the gastric 
 juices are mixed with it. The process of churning 
 goes on for hours to prepare this food for the nourish- 
 ment of the body. The stomach has some rights. It 
 ought to have good food, properly prepared or cooked, 
 and then it ought not to be compressed by lacings or 
 corsets, nor hindered by being given alcoholic or other 
 dangerous drinks. If it has a fair chance it will do 
 its work successfully. 
 
 After passing from the stomach into what is known 
 as the second stomach, or duodeniem, the food receives 
 other fluids from the pancreas and liver to still further 
 
54 
 
 aid in its digestion and prepare it for the mission it 
 has to accomplish in the support and building up of 
 the body. 
 
 It is important then that people should eat 
 proper food at proper times and in proper manner ; 
 that they should give the stomach ample time and op- 
 portunities to digest it ; that they should breathe 
 pure air at all times; and finally, that they should 
 take the proper kind of exercise to give this blood 
 thus purified, a chance to be distributed. If people 
 will study these matters carefully, and learn their own 
 systems, they can have health without taking the 
 poisonous and expensive medicines dealt out by the 
 Allopothic doctors. 
 
 HYGIENE. 
 
 Hygiene is a body of facts or principles that are es- 
 sential to the preservation of our bodies, health and 
 happiness. I shall abridge my sentences in speaking 
 of this subject. In the first place a man should be re- 
 gular in his habits : that is, have regular hours for 
 meals, three meals per day when laboring, six hours 
 apart, and should never retire to rest until two hours 
 after supper. Should not drink anything while eating, 
 so that the saliva, Nature's fluid, may mingle properly 
 with the food, that it may be digested readily and pro- 
 perly. Persons should chew their food so fine be*fore 
 swallowing that they can feel no lumps in it with the 
 
55 
 
 tongue, in order that the gastric-juice may readily 
 penetrate and digest it. 
 
 The room or place a person sleeps in should be well 
 ventilated, so that the air is pure and refreshing, 
 which gives life and activity to the entire body; and 
 he should bathe twice per week, in order that the skin 
 may be kept pure and clean, that it may not re-absorb 
 the poisons that are thrown out from the pores. The 
 water should only be a few degrees above the tempera- 
 ture of the body. The body should be well rubbed 
 after bathing with a rough towel till the skin is glow- 
 ing. This calls the blood to the surface and promotes 
 a healthy circulation, and makes a person feel better 
 every way. The clothing should be ehanged once 
 every week, because they become saturated with the 
 fumes and odors of the body, which, if reabsorbed, are 
 poisonous to the general system. Cleanliness is next 
 to godliness, and beyond question or doubt, is the key 
 note of man's health. Everyone, when eating, should 
 stop before they realize the sensation that they have 
 got enough. Dr. Starr says: "If you would have 
 an appetite stop with one," and it is true. Knick 
 knacks, if eaten at all, should be eaten before substan- 
 tial food, because when they are left till the last you 
 have already eated all the necessary food that you 
 need, and then come dainties that tickle the appetite 
 and cause you to eat more than is demanded by nature, 
 and the result is indigestion or dyspepsia. Everybody 
 needs exercise in order that they may have proper de- 
 velopment of the bodies they own. No one should 
 
56 
 
 work in a room where it is dark, for darkness is a seda- 
 tive, and light is a stimulant, to the animal organiza- 
 tion as well as the vegetable. Take a man and let 
 him work in a dark cellar, and the result is he soon 
 becomes pale and poor in flesh. Take a plant and set 
 it in the shade, and it becomes pale green, slim, tall, 
 and spindling; hence my readers, you see the impor- 
 tance of good light. In concluding my remarks on 
 Hygiene, I will say that it is strictly important, in 
 order that we may have good health, we should have 
 good light, good air, good food, good water, sufficient 
 clothing, strict cleanliness, and discretion and tem- 
 perance in all things. All persons observing these 
 rules will seldom be obliged to call the physician to 
 administer unto him in a case of sickness, unless -of a 
 contagious character. 
 
 DIGESTION. 
 
 Digestion is one of the most important features or 
 functions that is performed in our physical organiza- 
 tion, from the fact that we receive our support from it, 
 and by it our bodies are entirely renewed every four 
 months. The weight of the body that we now own in 
 four months will be entirely new in every particular. 
 The old theory was, that the body renewed itself every 
 seven years, but that idea is now exploded. If you 
 will mark the finger nail at the root, or where it comes 
 in contact with the skin or flesh, with a file or piece of 
 
57 
 
 caustic, you will find, at the end of four months, that 
 the mark will have grown clear out to the end of the 
 nail, which proves the nail has grown entirely new; 
 and so it is with the entire body. Knowing this to 
 be a fact, we realize the importance of having a knowl- 
 edge of digestion; how long it takes every article of 
 food to digest that we have in every-day life and dur- 
 ing life, for good digestion makes good blood, good 
 blood a good body, and without a good body no man 
 can be happy, for the healthy body is the machinery 
 in which we accomplish success and happiness in life. 
 
 MEDICINE. 
 
 Medicine, in its common acceptation in the minds of 
 the people, is a substance that cures diseases, but the 
 truth of the matter is, medicine never cured anything. 
 It is the natural tendency of a majority of diseases to 
 get well within themselves, free from medical aid. 
 Medicine, properly administered, simply assists nature 
 to remove the cause that obstructs her acting in a 
 normal condition. Medicine is not a humbug. The 
 humbug is in its improper administration. When 
 medicine is properly administered it comes to the suf- 
 ferer as a gift from God. Medicine is unjustly judged. 
 It is not medicine that is at fault, but it is those who 
 give it without the proper knowledge of its effects, 
 and when it is indicated. Medicine, when it is not 
 properly given, proves an actual poison to the system. 
 
58 
 
 Botanic Materia Medica treats of herbs and vegetation 
 which is known by me to have medicinal properties. 
 They will never injure the system when conformed to 
 according to directions given. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Miscellaneous Announcements. 
 
 Every Botonical Physician in the United States is 
 justly indebted to Dr. Starr at least ten dollars ($10.) 
 for legal services in fighting the battles of the profes- 
 sion. Let them show their appreciation by remitting 
 at once. 
 
 Any one, whether a student or a practitioner of 
 medicine in any school, will be trained fully in the 
 science of Botonical practice for the sum of five hun- 
 dred dollars; or in any one of the most prevalent and 
 destructive diseases, as Diphtheria, La Grippe, Scarlet 
 Fever, Cholera Infantum, etc., for one hundred dol- 
 lars. The figures include training from first to last. 
 
 SPECIAL NOTICE. 
 
 When persons ]iving at a distance desire treatment, they 
 can, by writing answers to the following questions, send 
 such a statement of their condition as will enable me to 
 
59 
 
 comprehend the character of their disease, and prescribe 
 the proper remedies for its cure. 
 
 All letters should be addressed to 
 
 Dr. WM, M. STARK, 
 
 Botanical Medicines, 709 G- Street, N. W., 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. 
 
 Your name. 
 
 Age and occupation. 
 
 Post Office address. 
 
 Are you strong or weak ? 
 
 Give a short account of your disease. 
 
 TESTIMONIALS- 
 
 Washington, D. C, July 30, 1890. 
 Dr. W. M. Starr. 
 
 This certifies that twice I was operated upon at Gar- 
 field Hospital at different times and each time was a per- 
 fect failure. J. Ford Thompson was my Surgeon. I 
 grew worse and saw certain death was for me, so I left in 
 a perfect wrecked condition ; utterly unable to lift fixe 
 pounds, or stand one minute, so great was my agony. I 
 had other physicians, all without one jot of help. I con- 
 tinued to grow worse, until at my brothers house I drank 
 some of Dr. Starr's Kidney Tea and at once I saw its 
 Diuretic action and I had some hope. On meeting Dr. 
 Starr I demanded of him if I could be cured (for I had 
 lost the coating of my stomach and I was in the very last 
 stage of Bright 's Disease of the Kidneys, and I also had 
 a very large stone in my bladder). Dr. Starr said that the 
 cause was still in my system which caused me to go to the 
 hospital. I said, Doctor, can you cure me, for I was given 
 up to die by all physicians. He said certainly I can cure 
 you. I at once went under his treatment and to-day 
 nearly one pound and a half of stone has come out of my 
 
60 
 
 bladder. My Blight's Disease is perfectly cure d and the 
 coating of my stomach is sound and new. I thank God 
 when all physicians and friends gave me up to die, Dr. W. 
 M. Starr positively declared in my dying presence that I 
 should live, and I am alive and will gladly answer any in- 
 quiry as to the enormous stone taken from my bladder, 
 which I have in my possession. 
 
 I remain a devoted advocate to Dr. W. M. Starr and 
 all his positive remedies. 
 
 Dr. Nelson Calvin Page, 
 
 406 7th Street, S. W., 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Washington, D. C, February 5, 1878. 
 Dr. W. M. Starr. 
 
 Dear Sir : In justice to you and for the benefit of suf- 
 fering humanity, I make this statement. I have been a 
 sufferer for years with what the physicians term Bright 's 
 Disease of the Kidneys. 
 
 Though I had the most eminent physicians, still I found 
 no relief, until I found your Balm of Gilead which did all 
 it was recommended to do. I was so bad at that time 
 that the doctor said I would have to go through an opera- 
 tion which I dreaded very much. It was at this time I 
 w r as persuaded to try your medicine, of which I found re- 
 lief almost immediately. I have recommended it to others 
 with the same result. Verv respectfully, 
 
 George W. Hill, 
 90 Myrtle St., N. E. 
 
 Washington, D. G., March, 1885. 
 Dr. W. M. Starr. 
 
 Dear Sir : Having suffered at intervals for ten years 
 with Kidney troubles and found scarcely any relief, con- 
 cluded to try your Kidney Tea, at the time I had no 
 rest for three successive weeks, and was also suffering from 
 a cold which affected my back and kidneys, causing intense 
 misery, so much so that no physician gave me any relief 
 until taking about a pint of your tea. In fifteen minutes 
 or less relief came, such a change that it was like unto a 
 perfect health restored, that was indeed relief assured and 
 
61 
 
 since, or to this time, September, I am still enjoying the 
 benefits of such wonderful treatment of such delicate 
 members of the body. You will please ever accept the 
 thanks of Yours respectfully. 
 
 David E. Dutrow, 
 
 Butter Dealer, 
 La. Ave.,N.W. 
 
 Washington, D. C, November 26, 1884. 
 Dear Sir : I take this method of returning my thanks 
 for the great benefit I have derived from the use of your 
 medicine. For a long time I was afflicted with Kidney 
 disease, having tried several remedies without any relief, 
 I was induced to give your Kidney medicine a trial. I did 
 so, and it acted upon me like magic, for it gave instant re- 
 lief, and one box made a permanent cure, and I cheerfully 
 recommend it to any sufferer from the dreadful malady. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 K. C. Gover, 
 317 4i St., ]ST. w. 
 
 This list might be indefinitely increased. Our pa- 
 tients, numbered by thousands in every part of the 
 nation, are our best advertisements. 
 
 Every living thing on earth must have his support 
 from the nutritious juice of the earth; no animal, bird, 
 fish or insect can live without it, it is life itself, what 
 is left back in the earth will not sustain life nor cure 
 it. So if a doctor wishes to be successful, he must 
 gather his medicines from the groth of the earth, as 
 nature has provided for ; the body must be mended 
 with the same material it is originally made of. Let 
 any doctor who denies these facts go to the dessert of 
 Utah and live strictly on what it produces for ten 
 years, then return and report to us. 
 
 DR. WM. M. STARR. 
 
62 
 
 The following is a list of the principal medicines 
 prepared by Dr. Starr : 
 
 * COUGH SYRUP. * 
 
 For Coughs, Colds, Croup, Hoarseness, Catarrh, &c, and 
 is a sure cure for any case of 
 
 THROAT OR LUNG DISEASE. 
 
 If used for first cough or cold, it is a preventive of Con- 
 sumption, and a pleasant relief for Whooping Cough. 
 25 Cents per Bottle. 
 
 * LIVER PILLS. * 
 
 For Bilious Complaints, Colds, Headaches, Pains in the 
 Body or Limbs &c, and are a positive cure for 
 Nervousness or Indigestion. 
 We have also a positive cure for 
 
 ST. VITUS DANCE. 
 
 25 Cents per Box, 
 
 * KIDNEY TEA. * 
 
 A Positive Cure, this Tea has been used by men, women 
 and children with perfect success in many thousand cases 
 of all kinds of Kidney Diseases ; it dissolves Gravel, cures 
 Diabetes, Backache, it drives gases from the Stomach, it 
 is healthy, has a good taste, is often nsed as Table Tea, 
 can use it hot or cold with sugar and milk as you choose, 
 and as much and as often as you want. 
 
 Price, 35 Cents per Box. 
 
63 
 
 * RHEUMATIC BALM, • 
 
 The finest and only perfect Balsam in use ; it is a sure 
 cure for all cases of 
 
 RHEUMATISM, HEADACHE, NEURALGIA, 
 
 TOOTACHE, PAINS, BRUISES, SPRAINS, &C. 
 Price 25 Cents per Bottle. 
 
 CHOLERA INFANTUM POWDER, 
 
 It is a positive cure for Cholera Infantum in men, women 
 
 or children ; the first positive cure ever discovered, it is 
 
 rich and healthy, has a pleasant taste. 
 
 PRICE 25 CENTS PER BOX. 
 
 * BALM OF GILEAD SALVE, * 
 CURES PILES AND OTHER SORES. 
 
 PRICE 25 CENTS PER BOX. 
 
 CHILL AND FEYER TEA. 
 
 Cures any case of 
 
 GhILaIaS and Frvrr. 
 
 Price 25 Cents per Box. 
 
 I have a positive Cure for 
 
 Scarlet Fever, La Grippe, Diphtheria, Kidney 
 
 ^ Disease in any Form, Cholera In- -fc 
 
 * fantum, Whooping Cough, it 
 
 MEASLES AND ANY KIND OP PEVER. 
 
64 
 
 •fa All my preparations are composed of -^f 
 
 HERBS, FRESH FROM THE FIELDS AND WOODS. 
 
 They are gathered by myself and prepared on 
 
 scientific principles and make the best and 
 
 * safest Family Medicines in use. * 
 
 For La Grippe, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, 
 
 Measles, Whooping Cough, or any 
 
 kind of Fever 
 
 Medicine in dry packs, will be sent by mail free to 
 
 any part of the United States, Mexico, or Canada. 
 
 Medicines in bottles will be sent by Express 
 
 at the expense of the party ordering the 
 
 same on receipt of the price of the 
 
 Medicine. 
 
 §y Send money by Express or P. 0. Money order, or 
 
 Draft on New York, but no money in letters. 
 
 will teach, these £ures to any person, 
 Doctors included, in the United States. 
 
 Address all letters to 
 
 DR. WM. M. STARR, 
 No. 709 G Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 
 
65 
 SPECIAL NOTICE, * 
 
 I will send my positive 
 
 Scarlet Fever Cure, 
 
 Diphtheria Cure, and my 
 
 Cholera Infantum Cure 
 
 by mail, postage paid, for one Dollar per 8 ounces box, 
 
 with all directions enclosed, to any address in the United 
 
 States or Canada. 
 
 TO MY MANY READERS. 
 
 I will say to you, use your own judgment, uninfluenced 
 by any prejudice that may have previously existed in 
 your minds. Give my advice a trial if you need it, and 
 judge me and what I say by the effects. I give you my 
 w r ordand honor most solemnly, that all I have told you is 
 safe for the most delicate person to try without the 
 slightest danger of producing any effect detrimental, either 
 temporary or permanent. A wise person will glean knowl- 
 edge from whatever source it may arise. The compass of 
 the Indian is the moss on the north side of the tree, which 
 is knowledge from a natural source gleaned by the wild 
 untutored savage. I will further say, good education is 
 the only reliable means to lasting reforms, and will teach 
 people to think for themselves, and that simple medical 
 facts have been hidden in the past by technical words, 
 but to-day are told in common English. 
 
 Dr. Starr. 
 
 Disease never changes in the body, it only gets 
 worse and worse, all from the first cause. 
 
66 
 
 Important Notice to the Public, and 
 Physicians. 
 
 My object of writing a brief letter to the health 
 officer of Washington, D. C, is, to announce to the 
 health office and others that there is a sure cure in this 
 city for all the diseases above mentioned, and that 
 they all can have access to same, and can have re- 
 ceipts to manufacture it. Any person wishing to 
 study and learn this science can also have these 
 cures, or they can send and get any of these remedies. 
 
 I want to let the people know that there is a sure 
 cure discovered and is in the market, and is very 
 plentiful on the Eastern slope of the Alleghany moun- 
 tains. 
 
 My kidney tea is a better tasting drink than China 
 tea, it is growing wild on the Eastern slope of the 
 Alleghany mountains and can be extensively and 
 successfully cultivated in Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 While I am claiming, and I am satisfied that I 
 have discovered sure cures for all these diseases, 
 would like for the public and the entire medical fra- 
 ternity to take it under consideration. 
 
 I will sell or teach the whole or any part of these 
 discoveries. I make this offer so that any person wish- 
 ing to go into such a practice, can have an opportunity 
 to either of the above offers. 
 
 Dr. Wm. M. Starr, 
 709 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 
 
67 
 
 THE BOTANICAL BY-LAWS. 
 
 Sec. 1. Any man who wants to be a student In this pro- 
 fession, must first prove himself to be a natural genius in 
 every respect. 
 
 Sec. 2. He must be a good chemist in botany. 
 
 Sec. 3. He must be a chemist in earth and water. 
 
 Sec. 4. He must understand how to gather all the raw 
 material for all the medicines he may want to use in the 
 Botanical practice. 
 
 Sec. 5. He must then know how to manufacture them 
 on scientific principles without any mistake. 
 
 Sec. 6. He must manufacture each article separate and 
 distinct for each and every respective disease in human 
 life. 
 
 Sec. 7. He then can practice under instruction and if he 
 finds a case that he don't understand he must at once re- 
 port to the nearest headquarters. 
 
 Sec. 8. Such student or students are not allowed to 
 change their medicines. 
 
 Sec. 9. If they find a case they do not understand per- 
 fectly, they must report at once, without any experiment- 
 ing at all. 
 
 Sec. 10. They must know what is the matter and what 
 to give, and what to do first, last and all the time, or stop 
 at once and report such case or cases to headquarters. 
 
 Sec. 11. Every student must understand Mid-Wifery 
 perfectly. 
 
 Sec. 12. All students must thoroughly understand sur- 
 gery so as to see whether it is necessary for an operation 
 or not, and how, if necessary, without any mistake. 
 
 Sec. 13. No experiments are allowed. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Flashes of Starr-Light. 
 
 1. The present practice of medicine by the Allo- 
 paths and their allies is not a science, but a business 
 based on conjecture. 
 
 2. Herod sent forth a decree to kill all children 
 under two years of age. If he could have used the 
 same methods that our modern doctors do in treating 
 Diphtheria, Scarlet fever, Croup, etc., he would have 
 been saved his cruel edict. 
 
 3. The person who has attained the age of 21 years 
 but does not know what ails him in case of sickness 
 nor how to prescribe for himself and thus remove the 
 cause, is a fit subject for the asylum. 
 
 4. When the Greeks said : Know thyself, they ut- 
 tered a great truth. People know too little of them- 
 selves, and how to preserve themselves from disease. 
 That knowledge is most valuable which enables them 
 to study their own systems, ascertain the causes of 
 their ailments, and decide what will remove the cause 
 and restore health. They need no high-priced, self- 
 inflated Allopathic doctors for this. All he knows con- 
 cerning his patients is what they tell him. If they 
 don't know, he doesn't; but he looks wise, prescribes 
 in Latin, and then makes his victims pay the bill. 
 
69 
 
 5. The physician who gives what is called the ' 'heroic" 
 or " kill or cure" remedy, should, if the case proves 
 fatal as it will in 99 instances out of 100, be arrested 
 and tried for murder in the second degree. It would 
 be better to let the patient die a natural death. The 
 chances are, however, that if the doctor had remained 
 away entirely, the patient would soon have recovered. 
 
 6. The physician who needlessly amputates a limb 
 or performs any surgical operation that unnecessarily 
 mars the patient for life should be criminally pro- 
 secuted. 
 
 7. The physician who uses either tobacco, or opium 
 or any sort of intoxicating drink is unfit to visit a pa- 
 tient or a sick room. His judgment is not to be 
 trusted. His example is bad. 
 
 8. The physician who prescribes medicine which 
 he is unwilling to take in th£ presence of his pa- 
 tient is acting dishonestly and is undeserving of con- 
 fidence. It is prima facia evidence that his medicine 
 is injurious and unfit to be taken by any one, sick or 
 well. 
 
 9. The physician who is suifering from an ailment 
 which he tries to cure in others is a fraud. If he 
 can't cure others. ' 'Physician , heal thyself, " is a lesson 
 he needs to learn. 
 
 10. The most useful class of people in the country 
 are the farmers. They supply wheat and corn and 
 potatoes and meats and fruits for the people to eat. 
 Their material is healthful. The next most useful 
 class of people, so far as health is concerned, are the 
 
70 
 
 faithful housewives and cooks who prepare these ar- 
 ticles of food to be eaten. Their prescriptions can be 
 taken in moderation with perfect safety. 
 
 11. Every person has, under the Constitution of the 
 land, the same inherent right to go to a drug store and 
 buy what he wants in the line of medicine, that he has 
 to go to a grocery and purchase what he wants for food. 
 The prescription of a physician, expressed in Hog 
 Latin, is needed no more in the one case than in the 
 other. 
 
 12. A large part of the human family dig their own 
 graves with their teeth. They eat ichat they ought 
 not ; thefy eat when they ought not; they eat more 
 than they ought; and then expect some doctor with 
 his poisonous medicine to keep them in health. The 
 Lord is not performing such unreasonable miracles. 
 
 13. The Allopathic doctors resemble saloon keepers 
 in this respect : They create diseases, and then try to 
 minister to the diseases they have created. 
 
 14. The Botanical practice of medicine is the oldest 
 in the world. Ever since creation was completed, ve- 
 getables and herbs have grown, and they have been 
 used by man and beast as means of curing or preven- 
 ting disease. Allopaths and their allies are deserters 
 and apostates from this ancient faith. They are the 
 prodigals who have gone away to waste their substance 
 in riotous living. If they are tired of living in want 
 and misery, let them return to their father's house and 
 partake of the fatted calf. They will be welcome if 
 
71 
 
 they come to themselves and return in the proper 
 manner. 
 
 15. Dogs and cats are botanical in their practice of 
 medicine. When they become sick, instead of using 
 potash or mercury as the Allopaths do when they at- 
 tempt to cure diphtheria, they eat the grass adapted 
 to their needs and are made well at once. 
 
 16. Inasmuch as no medicines of a poisonous nature 
 should ever be used by patients, druggists ought to 
 be permitted to sell any goods they keep without pre- 
 scription from any one. They only should be held 
 responsible for their sales. 
 
 17. If drug stores were all destroyed, the Allopathic 
 doctors would be unable to practice medicine. 
 They prescribe simply as they learned from the books, 
 and having no infallible remedies of their own, would 
 be compelled to cease their practice. It might, how- 
 ever, be a great blessing to the people. 
 
 18. A person has, under the Constitution, just as 
 good right to choose the kind of physician and the 
 character of the medicines he will use in his family as 
 he has to select his preacher and church to minister 
 to their spiritual wants. No school of medicine or 
 ring of doctors has more right to a monopoly of privi- 
 leges, under the law, than has any sect or clique of 
 ministers in religion. 
 
 19. Any system of medical practice that must be 
 bolstered up and supported by the law shows on its 
 face that it is a fraud, a damnable fraud upon the com- 
 munity. Truth and justice need no such props. 
 
72 
 
 20. The most truthful and appropriate burial certi- 
 ficate that could be given for the thousands of victims 
 annually sent to premature graves under the practice 
 of the Allopathic doctors is the following : Died 
 for the Want of proper Food, Proper Medicine and 
 Proper Care. 
 
 21. The craze of the Allopathic doctors all over this 
 country in this year of grace, 1895, touching Anti-toxine 
 as a supposed cure for Diphtheria is not founded on 
 reason. The blood of a horse cannot be used success- 
 fully in curing any sort of disease in man. The resort 
 to it now is' a confession that they have had no remedy 
 hitherto. If they fail, as Botanists claim they will, 
 then what will they resort to next ? Will they come 
 to the safe and infallible remedies used by the Bo- 
 tanists ? 
 
 22. Vaccination is another gigantic fraud perpe- 
 trated by the Allopathic doctors. It introduces poison 
 into the system and produces untold suffering and harm 
 to the innocent and healthy, and is, in no sense, a pre- 
 ventive of small-pox. It is false in theory, injurious 
 in its effects, expensive to all and beneficial to none, ex- 
 cept to those who make money out of the practice. Let 
 the people carefully note this. 
 
 23. During the great small-pox "scare" in Wash- 
 ington in the year 1894, greater harm and expense 
 resulted to the people from vaccination than from all 
 the genuine cases of small-pox in the city since it was 
 laid out. We Botanic physicians found no cases of 
 geniune small-pox except such as resulted from vac- 
 
73 
 
 cination. Twenty or thirty of such cases were suc- 
 cessfully cured by us without subjecting them to the 
 unutterable horrors of the pesthouse and without leav- 
 ing any pits or marks of the disease. Many other 
 forms of sickness resulting from such terrible vaccina- 
 tion were cured by us, during the same period, with- 
 out leaving any evil results. The Botanical doctors 
 were then and are always opposed to vaccination, on 
 fundamental principles. 
 
 24. There are but two regular medical armies in 
 existence, the Botanists who are the original, and the 
 Allopaths, who seceded from them. All others are 
 simply allies of Allopaths. 
 
 25. One feature of Dr. Starr's life is that whenever 
 he meets a farmer coming to the city, with his wagon 
 load of produce, he invariably takes off his hat to bid 
 him a cordial welcome. He was never known to tip 
 his hat to any other class of beings except ladies. 
 
 26. The greatest man in the world is the one who 
 raises the most grain to feed mankind. 
 
 The greatest woman in the world is the one who 
 raises the most children. 
 
 The greatest friend to the working man is the man 
 who employs the most of them. 
 
 The wisest man in the world is the man who takes 
 best care of his health every day. 
 
 The wisest man in business is the man who saves 
 what he makes and earns. 
 
 The greatest fool in the world is the man who works 
 the hardest all the week and spends all his money on 
 
74 
 
 Saturday and Sunday and goes to work penniless and 
 sick on Monday. 
 
 Every body ought to go to bed when the sun goes 
 down, and rise with the sun in the morning; this is 
 Nature's Law since the beginning of the world. 
 
 The man who lives nearest to the Laws of Nature 
 will naturally live the longest. 
 
 The man who violates the laws of nature, sins against 
 his own flesh. 
 
 A boy who smokes and chews tobacco before he is 
 sixteen years of age will never grow to his normal size 
 in body or strength, nor will he live his normal days 
 out. 
 
 Every thing you eat, drink, smoke, or chew is either 
 a benefit or an injury to you. Examine this yourself 
 and you will find it only too true. 
 
 27. Every farmer in the world is a botanist, a botanical 
 doctor. They support and feed the whole people and 
 the people can't live a single week without the farmer's 
 products, neither can business of any kind go on with- 
 out these products. In fact the farmer is the supporter 
 of the whole world. 
 
 If the farmers were to fail and stop, all would stop. 
 There would be no use for doctors then to give 
 poison medicines to vegetable bodies and destroy them 
 that way. Is not farmonian and botanian principles 
 the fundamental principles of all medicines? 
 
 28. I say there is nothng on earth to make perfect 
 medicine from outside the vegetable kingdom; nor is 
 there anything to sustain life outside the farmers pro^ 
 
75 
 
 ducts; both of which go together, first, last and all the 
 time. 
 
 29. Poison is good for rats, mice, flies, wolves and 
 sheep killing dogs or something like these, but not for 
 children, men or women. 
 
 30. Never drink more than a wine glass of ice 
 water at a time and not more frequent than once in 
 half an hour, nor more than a glass of any water at a 
 time. 
 
 Never eat as much at a time as you could, always 
 eat a little less. 
 
 Never over work yourself. 
 
 Never stand, sit or lie in a draft when you are over- 
 heated. 
 
 Boys and girls should eat but very little or no pickle 
 and very little lemon. What you eat, often makes 
 you sick, eat healthy food only, protect your stomach 
 and you will protect your health and prolong your life. 
 
 31. I say the people have a right to go to a dry 
 goods house and buy what they want or go to a grocery 
 store and buy what they want or go to a drug store 
 and buy what they want. Use their own judgment as 
 to what they want or what they need. Know ye thy- 
 self, be ye wise. 
 
 32. The Allopathic idea that the way to cure one dis- 
 else is to create another'of a different sort, and that 
 therefore the most powerful poisons are the most po- 
 tent medicines, may claim that its system is sound 
 in theory and successful in practice. This is a gig- 
 antic mistake. 
 
76 
 
 LAW-CASES. 
 
 In Winchester, Va., the Medical Association of 
 Virginia, which is composed of Allopathic and Homeo- 
 pathic doctors made a bitter war against Dr. W. J. 
 Whitlock; some 25 criminal indictments were found 
 against him for violating their laws. The court de- 
 cided against them; they carried the cases to a higher 
 court, which also did give a decision against them. 
 
 So my dear readers you can see that between 25 and 
 30 cases were decided against the Allopathic and 
 Homeopathic doctors in the court at Frederick, a 
 court of superior jurisdiction. 
 
 Dr. W. J. Whitlock is the most successful doctor 
 in Virginia, he uses Nature's remedies only, and that 
 was his crime. 
 
 So you can sec that the Medical Board in that and 
 in other states have a dead elephant on their hands. 
 But like a drowning man, they hang on to these mean, 
 obnoxious, tyrannical, inhuman, unjust, uncivilized, 
 unchristianized, unneighborly, unmanly, unprofes- 
 sional, ungodly, unconstitutional, barbarous laws. 
 
 They want to examine all doctors who do not agree 
 with them. 
 
 They want to rule them out. 
 
 They want to compel the people to employ them, 
 and them only. 
 
 Only 13,525 more deaths than births in the city of 
 Washington, D. C, in 10 years, 28,525 more deaths 
 than should have been in 10 years under their medical 
 charge. 
 
77 
 
 NOTICE. 
 
 We, the Botanical Schools, the first and oldest in 
 the world, are opposed to any epidemic Hospital, as 
 is now proposed to be located in this City. If a doctor 
 cannot cure his patients at home, he cannot euro them 
 in such a filthy place as that is, it is all a fraud and 
 an imposition on the people. In Corea there are man 
 eaters, they live in caves, they go to the towns in 
 gangs, each one taking a human body back to their 
 caves for them to eat. Our doctors also want a cave 
 to drag in their victims, they are worse than the man 
 eaters. We have a dog pen in this City much more 
 liberal than the human pen, you can go and see your 
 dog while he is in that pen, but if they get your child 
 in this human pen, you cannot even go to see it. 
 This is tyranny of the lowest type. 
 
 They Must Practice What They Preach. 
 
 If a doctor finds a case of contageous disease and 
 examines it, Doctor and patient must both go to the 
 epidemic hospital and stay there at least 40 days, if 
 the doctor refuses to go, he must go to jail 40 days 
 for disobeying his own rules. What is sause for the 
 goose is gravy for the gander. 
 
 Diphtheria is not epidemic, it is only a bad cold and 
 is easy cured. Grown people expectorate the phelm, 
 which children cannot do; this is the only difference 
 among old and young from such causes. 
 
78 
 
 TAKE NOTICE. 
 
 I protest against vaccination for small-pox- I pro 
 test against Anti-toxine for Diphtheria. I protest 
 against placing flags on people's houses for any disease, 
 as it is dishonest and destructive to people's business. 
 
 I am opposed to taking children from their homes 
 when sick, as they can be nursed more properly at 
 home, by the mother; all these schemes have been 
 hatched out by the Allopathic doctors since they 
 seceded from our school 267 years ago. 
 
 No Botanical doctor has ever placed a card or flag 
 on a house where they had a patient, and they never 
 will; they were the first doctors in the world, and 
 will be the last, they began when the first grass com- 
 menced to grow. 
 
 Dr. Wm. M. Starr, 
 President of the Botanical School of the U. S. 
 
 Smoking and Chewing against the Laws of 
 Nature. 
 
 Boys and young men who smoke or chew are spitting 
 away the saliva that is placed in their system, to assist 
 in the digestion of the food, which you need to live; every 
 ounce you spit away unnecessary is equal to the loss of 
 an ounce of blood from your system, it is a violation of 
 the very laws, that gives you life. Boys, take this in con- 
 sideration and follow my advise, leave off: smoking and 
 chewing before it is too late; it is not alone unhealthy and 
 against the laws of Nature, it is also a filthy habit, and 
 should not be fostered. 
 
 Dr. W. M. Starr 
 
79 
 
 PUFMTY. 
 
 Any man who claims to be a doctor, a healer of the 
 sick, should be a totaly temperate man in every respect, 
 a teacher of good morals and a good adviser; he should 
 not even smoke or chew tobacco, and not consent it to 
 be used by any person near or in the sick chamber; 
 he should teach to use healthy food and drinks, good 
 hours and morals, teach people how to keep healthy 
 and in every possible way to make it plain for the 
 people to understand, as life is too precious to be 
 tampered with. Every doctor should be a clear 
 minded and scientific man, in every respect, and not 
 undertake any case of sickness, unless he understands 
 it perfectly, and has a cure for it, without guessing at 
 it, or without waiting two or three days to find out 
 what the disease is. 
 
 Tight Lacing is against the Laws of Nature. 
 
 Nature has placed protecting bones around the vital 
 parts of the human body, known as the ribs, these bones 
 are very essential to keep the body from shrinking or cav- 
 ing in against the heart, lungs and liver. By tight lac- 
 ing you press the bones against your vital parts, which 
 bones God placed around them for your own good and 
 health. 80 many young woman have by tight lacing 
 shortened their life to satisfy vanity, it invariably in- 
 jures the health and very often causes death. Mothers 
 should guard against it, if they wish to see their daugh- 
 ters to grow up to be healthy woman. 
 
 Dr. Wm, M. Starr. 
 
80 
 
 A WORD TO 'PARENTS. 
 
 As soon as a child is three or four weeks old feed it 
 with everything that agrees with its mother; what the 
 mother eats makes milk and likewise will agree with 
 the baby. If the mother has no milk for her baby 
 have a milk cow fed on corn-meal, wheat, fodder and 
 timothy hay, and a few potatoes, twice a day; then 
 feed the baby on the cow's milk and you will have 
 fat and healthy children. 
 
 Feed your children with a spoon or cup, not a bottle 
 or tube. Don't toss your baby up and down but when 
 they get tired lying in one position turn them over; 
 they ought to be turned over often. Don't hug your 
 children while their bones are soft and tender. 
 
 Take Notice. 
 
 No charges made for Consultation, Examinations or 
 Prescriptions. The only payment required is cash for me- 
 dicines, which is reasonable. 
 
 Dr. WM. M. STAKE, 
 709 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Any Doctor who inserts horse blood or what they 
 call Anti-toxine in a child's vein under 21 years of age, 
 ought to be sent to the penitentiary for one year; if 
 the patient is over 21 years, he and the doctor should 
 be sent to the Reform school for one year each. ' ' What 
 fools we mortals be." 
 
81 
 IMPORTANT. 
 
 My Medicines for Diphtheria, Measles, Scarlet 
 Fever and Cholera Infantum should always be kept 
 on hand in every family living at a distance from Wash- 
 ington, as they are at all times a sure and never failing 
 cure, and saves calling in an Allopathic doctor and there- 
 by save the life of the patient, and keep your house 
 from being covered with yellow flags and placards. 
 
 Dr. WM. M. STAKE, 
 709 G St., N. W., Washington, D. C. 
 
 Read and Reflect. 
 
 In the greater part of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
 Alabama, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Missouri, 
 West Virginia. Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana 
 and some other States Allopathic doctors cannot make a 
 living from their profession for the reason that the people 
 use Nature's own remedies for their medicine, such as 
 Boneset, Ginseng, Snake roots, Sassafras, Cherry and 
 Haw wood, Golden Rod, Golden Seal, Spice wood, May- 
 Apple, Life everlasting, and many other roots and herbs 
 too numerous to mention, all Nature's Cures and Re- 
 medies. In the above named States where the people use 
 Nature's own Cure the mortality is less, and the births 
 larger by 63 per cent. Now look at the figures in this 
 city and you will see that the people in the above described 
 sections of the country are better doctors, showing a dif- 
 ference of 138 percent, in their favor, compared with this 
 city, and yet they have never asked for any dishonest laws 
 to protect them, as the Allopaths have been doing all over 
 the Union, 
 
82 
 
 FRIDAY HAPPENINGS. 
 
 Washington born on Friday. 
 
 Queen Victoria married on Friday. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte born on Friday 
 
 Battle of Bunker Hill fought on Friday. 
 
 America discovered on Friday. 
 
 Mayflower landed on Friday. 
 
 Joan of Arc burned at the stake on Friday 
 
 Battle of Waterloo fought on Friday. 
 
 Bastille destroyed on Friday. 
 
 Declaration of Independence signed on Friday 
 
 Battle of Marengo fought on Friday. 
 
 Julius Caesar assassinated on Friday. 
 
 Moscow burned on Friday. 
 
 Shakespeare born on Friday. 
 
 King Charles I beheaded on Friday. 
 
 Battle of New Orleans fought on Friday. 
 
 Lincoln assassinated on Friday. . 
 
 Every Allopathic doctor who goes to a patient and 
 finds him affected with Diphtheria must at once be 
 tagged "Danger, I have been exposed to epitemic 
 diseases," and must wear it 40 days for public safety. 
 
 Dr. Starr. 
 
 If a man strike another, inflicting an injury from 
 which he dies in ten or fifteen days, he is indicted for 
 murder in either the first or second degree. What should 
 be done to him if he should give medicine from which the 
 patient dies within the same period V 
 
83 
 
 Death of Secretary W. Q. Gresham, 
 
 To be Carefully read and closely considered. 
 
 Secretary W. Q. Cresham was taken ill May 1st, 1895, 
 and died on the 28th of same month. During the last ten 
 hours of his life the physicians gave him strychnine, 
 nitroglycerine and digitalis, and finally injected a pint 
 and a half of salt-water into his veins.— Washington 
 Times of May 28th, 1895. 
 
 Would not any one of these three remedies be sufficient 
 to destroy the life of a healthy person. What could be 
 expected of them combined in case of a sick man ? 
 
 Queries 1. If an ordinary man should have struck the 
 Secretary with a club and produced a like effect, what 
 would have been done with him ? 
 
 2. If such ordinary man had given the Secretary 
 "Rough on Rats," what would have been done with him V 
 
 3. When will the people learn that poison is just as 
 destructive when given by a so-called "regular" physic- 
 ian, as when given by any ordinary person ? 
 
 4. Will poison that does not sustain life in health sus- 
 tain it in sickness V 
 
 5. What killed Secretary Gresham ? 
 
 6. Are such poisons safe to be trusted in sickness ? 
 
 Address all orders for 
 Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, Measles and Cholera 
 
 Infantum Cures 
 with the price for the medicine enclosed, to 
 
 Dr. WM. M. STARR, 
 709 G st., N". W., Washington, D. C. 
 
84 
 
 Important Questions. 
 
 What is man ? * 
 
 What is Life ? What sustains it ? 
 
 What causes disease ? What will prevent it ? 
 
 How ought we to eat or drink ? 
 
 How ought we to exercise ? 
 
 How ought we to sleep and at what hour ? 
 
 If I get sick, what shall I do ? 
 
 Can't I tell what is wrong? Why not? Don't you 
 know ? 
 
 Why do I eat or drink too much ? 
 
 Why do I not watch myself closer ? 
 
 Why do I not take better care of myself ? 
 
 Why do boys smoke or chew tobacco ? 
 
 Why do men drink whiskey and beer? 
 
 Why do girls lace tight ? 
 
 Were you once in good health ? Did you lose it ? 
 
 How did you lose it ? 
 
 What is gravitation ? 
 
 What is evaporation ? 
 
 Does gravitation ever lose its hold? 
 
 What are Nature's laws? 
 
 Can you avoid them ? 
 
 Will it pay to be careful of how and what we eat or 
 drink ? 
 
 Will a medicine which will not cure by itself, aid an- 
 other medicine which also will not cure a disease ? 
 
 Why does a doctor assume to cure a disease for which 
 he has no sure cure ? 
 
 Why does he continually change his medicines ? 
 
 Why does he not give up the case if he finds he cannot 
 cure it ? 
 
 Would it not be better to let the patient die a natural 
 death than to apply u heroic remedies to kill or cure ?" 
 
85 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 Birth on Historic-battlefield. — Ancestors a Heal- 
 thy, Long-lived Race, Noted for Devotion to 
 Medical Botany. — Removal to Western Reserve. 
 — William a Physician at 12 Years of Age. — 
 Cure of Typhoid Fever. — Names of Herbs in 
 Mahoning County. — Episode with the Wild 
 Hogs. — Killing of the Huge Panther. — Capture 
 of a Cub-bear. — Trip to Wisconsin in 1844. — 
 Cure of Milk Sickness. — Soldier in the Mexican 
 War. — Student in the Medical College of New 
 Orleans. — Scene at the Boarding House. Con- 
 flict with the Faculty. — The Vegetarian Scores 
 a Decided Victory. -Extensive Travels in Search 
 of Botanical Knowledgf. — Location in Washing- 
 ton since 1876. — Extensive Sale of Medicines. 
 Philanthropic Practice. 
 
 On the ground made sacred by the terrific battles of 
 July 21, 1861 and August 29 and 30, 1862, popularly 
 known as the First and the Second Battle of Bull 
 Run, in Prince William County, Virginia, was born, 
 on the 14th of October, 1810, William Martin Starr, 
 second child of Henry and Sarah Wesley Starr. 
 
86 
 
 His ancestors afford an interesting and instructive 
 history. His father, Henry, was born on the James 
 river and was of German-English descent. . He was 
 the son of Adam and Mary (Wagner) Starr, the former 
 coming from England; the latter from Germany. 
 Adam was a Botanic physician and lived to the ad- 
 vanced age of 99 years. His father, Dr. Starr's great 
 grandfather, lived to be 144 years of age, and was 
 likewise a physician in the School of Medical Botany. 
 
 In fact, all the Starrs as far as the records can be 
 traced, were honest, industrious, frugal people noted 
 for their longevity, their devotion to the principles of 
 Medical Botany and their consecration to philanthro- 
 pic and reform principles in the science of health. 
 
 On the maternal side the Doctor traces his an- 
 cestry to the Wesleys, his mother being a great niece 
 of John and Charles Wesley. The English and Ger- 
 man stock commingled when religious persecution in 
 the last Century drove many English people into Ger- 
 many where the resulting friendship gradually ripened 
 into matrimonial bonds. 
 
 It has been stated that the Doctors' ancestors were 
 reared in the medical profession, not in that of the 
 Allopaths, but in that of the ancient order of 
 Medical Botanists. For six generations the heads of 
 families were practicing Botanists, the females being 
 midwives. One of this number, Mary (Wagner) 
 Starr, the doctor's grandmother, followed her vocation 
 for more than seventy-five years. She reared twenty- 
 one children of her own, her death occuring when 
 
85 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 Birth on Historic-battlefield. — Ancestors a Heal- 
 thy, Long-lived Race, Noted for Devotion to 
 Medical Botany. — Removal to Western Reserve. 
 — William a Physician at 12 Years of Age. — 
 Cure of Typhoid Fever. — Names of Herbs in 
 Mahoning County. — Episode with the Wild 
 Hogs. — Killing of the Huge Panther. — Capture 
 of a Cub-bear. — Trip to Wisconsin in 1844. — 
 Cure of Milk Sickness. — Soldier in the Mexican 
 War. — Student in the Medical College of New 
 Orleans. — Scene at the Boarding House. Con- 
 flict with the Faculty. — The Vegetarian Scores 
 a Decided Victory. -Extensive Travels in Search 
 of Botanical Knowledgf. — Location in Washing- 
 ton since 1876. — Extensive Sale of Medicines. 
 Philanthropic Practice. 
 
 On the ground made sacred by the terrific battles of 
 July 21, 1861 and August 29 and 30, 1862, popularly 
 known as the First and the Second Battle of Bull 
 Run, in Prince William County, Virginia, was born, 
 on the 14th of October, 1810, William Martin Starr, 
 second child of Henry and Sarah Wesley Starr. 
 
86 
 
 His ancestors afford an interesting and instructive 
 history. His father, Henry, was born on the James 
 river and was of German-English descent. . He was 
 the son of Adam and Mary (Wagner) Starr, the former 
 coming from England; the latter from Germany. 
 Adam was a Botanic physician and lived to the ad- 
 vanced age of 99 years. His father, Dr. Starr's great 
 grandfather, lived to be 144 years of age, and was 
 likewise a physician in the School of Medical Botany. 
 
 In fact, all the Starrs as far as the records can be 
 traced, were honest, industrious, frugal people noted 
 for their longevity, their devotion to the principles of 
 Medical Botany and their consecration to philanthro- 
 pic and reform principles in the science of health. 
 
 On the maternal side the Doctor traces his an- 
 cestry to the Wesleys, his mother being a great niece 
 of John and Charles Wesley. The English and Ger- 
 man stock commingled when religious persecution in 
 the last Century drove many English people into Ger- 
 many where the resulting friendship gradually ripened 
 into matrimonial bonds. 
 
 It has been stated that the Doctors' ancestors were 
 reared in the medical profession, not in that of the 
 Allopaths, but in that of the ancient order of 
 Medical Botanists. For six generations the heads of 
 families were practicing Botanists, the females being 
 midwives. One of this number, Mary (Wagner) 
 Starr, the doctor's grandmother, followed her vocation 
 for more than seventy-five years. She reared twenty- 
 one children of her own, her death occuring when 
 
89 
 
 eluded to make his fortune farther west. He went 
 with a cousin to Wisconsin. While they were wend- 
 ing their way along the road through praries and 
 dense forests, they were both taken ill of that terrible 
 disorder known as "milk sickness. " There was 
 neither doctor to prescribe nor a modern drug store to 
 furnish the medicine. With characteristic presence of 
 mind, William went into the forest and found the 
 vegetable which served as an infallible cure. Both 
 took the herb he recommended and were soon able to 
 resume their journey, sound and happy. Nature's 
 own remedies then, as now, were sufficient for every 
 emergency. 
 
 We pass, without further notice, his life on the 
 frontier; nor can we halt to speak, in detail, of his 
 part in the Mexican War. That conflict over, we find 
 William Starr in 1847, at the age of 37, in the city of 
 New Orleans, a student in the Medical College of that 
 City. His entrance fee of $300 was cheerfully paid, 
 and he was under the professional instruction of a 
 faculty consisting of Cartright, Stose and Hunt. His 
 object was not to yield the theory of Medical Botany 
 inherited from his ancestors, but to ascertain whether 
 a medical school of recognized standing had a correct 
 theory of disease and a safe and infallible remedy to 
 apply in every case. 
 
 At his boarding house, where some fifteen or more 
 students were located, he made one day this remark : 
 "The practice of medicine is simple guess work, the 
 
90 
 
 doctor neither knowing what ails his patient nor hav- 
 ing a positive remedy to give " 
 
 It was a bomb in the camp, and became the subject 
 of earnest discussion among the future advocates of 
 the healing art. Nor did it stop here. It was re- 
 ported to the Faculty. The bold, defiant sprig of the 
 healing art was summoned to appear forthwith before 
 the Faculty, and receive merited punishment for his 
 irreverent attitude toward that venerable body 
 
 The Faculty was represented by able counsel and 
 the vegetarian was asked whether he was likewise 
 provided. He replied that he would represent his 
 own case. 
 
 The day for trial came. Faculty, students and citi- 
 zens filled every available seat in the hall and gal- 
 leries. The criminal was given his place near the 
 majestic Faculty. When asked whether he was ready 
 for trial. Starr replied : " Yes, gentlemen, after you 
 have fairly answered a few simple questions which I 
 desire to submit to you." 
 
 " Certainly," said the President of the Faculty, we 
 can easily answer any questions you may be able to ask. " 
 
 Starr. — li This is the Medical College of New 
 Orleans?" 
 
 President, — il Yes, sir." 
 
 Starr. — " Are you gentlemen the Faculty of the 
 college? 
 
 President. — "Yes, sir." 
 
 Starr. — "Then of course you practice medicine, 
 and visit the sick ? " 
 
91 
 
 President. — "Certainly, we do." 
 
 Starr. — " Have you ever been called to see ill young 
 patients and had some of them to die while you were 
 attending them ? " 
 
 President. — "Yes, sir." 
 
 Starr. — "Will you swear, then, in the presence of 
 this audience, that you knew without any doubt what- 
 ever, just what ailed the patients and just exactly what 
 medicine to give for the ailments of said patients, and 
 yet many of them died in your hands." 
 
 President. — u That is not a fair question, sir." 
 
 Starr. — "I insist it is a fair question, and want it 
 answered." 
 
 President. — (Looking at his watch) "It is time to 
 attend to other important duties. We will attend to 
 your case some other time." 
 
 Starr. — " Then I am right. In the Allopathic 
 School the Practice of Medicine is all guesswork, 
 based on Conjecture. There is no Science in it. It 
 is only a Business." 
 
 The trial was never resumed. The Botanical phy- 
 sician received the applause of the students and the 
 occupants of the galleries. He was plainly victorious 
 in this ill-advised prosecution, and scored a strong point 
 for his favorite theory that Ordinary Medical Prac- 
 tice is a Hap-hazard, Matter-of-Chance Affair. 
 
 No further questions were propounded to Starr. 
 He had his own way in the future, and at the expira- 
 tion of the second course of lectures was given his 
 
92 
 
 credentials to practice medicine with the sanction of a 
 regular school. 
 
 A volume would be required to record Dr. Starr's 
 subsequent experiences in California during the gold 
 fever of 1849 and later; of his trials during and sub- 
 sequent to the war of the Rebellion; and of his tra- 
 vels and experiments through every State and Terri- 
 tory of this Union, and the divisions of Mexico, Cen- 
 tral America and a portion of South America. A for- 
 tune has been expended by him in studying the med- 
 icinal properties of plants of the American continent. 
 His knowledge has been acquired in Nature's great 
 laboratory, and not from the musty and unreliable 
 books that have come down from the modern school of 
 Medicine, from Nature's own remedies, safe, reliable 
 and nutritious, he has selected those which are for 
 the healing of the nations. 
 
 Since the autumn of 1876 he has been a resident of 
 Washington, D. C. His medicines have been pre- 
 pared by his own skillful hand from herbs collected 
 from the fields and forests of Maryland and Virginia. 
 These medicines have been sold from ocean to ocean, 
 and from the lakes to the gulf. They have injured 
 none. They have cured thousands. 
 
 He has been a student of nature, and from her 
 boundless resources has collected the herbs which 
 are not only nutritious but curative in their character. 
 Helpless infants and feeble old age, brawny laborer 
 and famous statesman, untutored rustic and eloquent 
 divine, toiling working maid and richly clad lady, all, 
 
93 
 
 black and white, have been blessed and cured by him. 
 His labors have been in the interests of oppressed and 
 struggling humanity. His conflicts have all been 
 waged for justice and the rights of the masses. Im- 
 partial history will accord him a rightful place in the 
 list of true medical reformers. 
 
 Several little incidents of his pioneer life are related 
 in the following sketch. 
 
 The Starrs were all employed in the healing art 
 while engaged in pursuing their ordinary callings. 
 Their medicines were the herbs which the new country 
 afforded in rich abundance. Sassafras, Spicewood, 
 Mayapple, Boneset, Spikenard, Indian Turnip, Wahoo, 
 Haw, Ginseng, Bloodroot, Dandelion, Wild Cherry, 
 Dog-wood, Slippery Elm, Tansy, Jimson, and the hun- 
 dreds of other herbs and vegetable forms were safe re- 
 medies when skillfully used. Sickness was not fatal and 
 deaths among children were very rare. Drug stores 
 with their modern supplies were unknown. Nature in 
 her crude state furnished all medicinal wants. 
 
 Game was abundant. Every forest was supplied 
 with bear, deer, wolves, panthers, turkeys, and squir- 
 rels; and the streams were full of excellent fish. 
 
 The woods were filled with hogs which lived upon 
 acorns and nuts. In fact, it was unnecessary then, as 
 now, to put these animals into sties. They lived upon 
 nuts in the woods, and as a result became wild and in 
 some cases dangerous. At the age of fourteen, Wil- 
 liam went with his father and uncle to what was known 
 as " Chestnut Ridge," southeast of the Mahoning 
 
94 
 
 River, in the edge of the [town subsequently called 
 Goshen. The ridge was infested with wild hogs. The 
 eompany went with a two-horse wagon, and a good 
 supply of ammunition. They also took saddles and an 
 ax with them, the former to be used in riding the 
 horses through the woods in quest of deer. When 
 the ridge was reached the two men took the horses and 
 their guns and started in quest of their game, leaving 
 the boy and a little dog, "Penny," to take care of the 
 wagon. 
 
 While the hunters were absent, wild hogs pursued 
 the dog to the wagon and compelled him to seek re- 
 fuge in it with the boy. The infuriated animals were 
 so bold that they endeavored to have access to both 
 by climbing upon the hubs and tongue with their fore- 
 feet. With the same composure that has ever since 
 characterized William, he took his ax, and as the ani- 
 mals reared themselves struck them a heavy blow with 
 the edge across the forehead, resulting in certain death. 
 This operation continued, in rapid succession, until 
 five of the porkers had fallen victims to his unerring 
 blows. Others would have met the same fate had the 
 little dog remained in front instead hiding" behind 
 his youthful master. When the two hunters returned 
 bearing one deer as the result of their faithful search 
 for hours, they were gratified to find five porkers averag- 
 ing quite three hundred pounds each, lying prostrate 
 on the ground. Thrown into the wagon and drawn 
 home, they afforded with the deer a full supply of 
 meat for the winter. 
 
95 
 
 About eight years subsequent to the event just re- 
 lated, William, then a young man, had another quite 
 startling experience. A large animal, the terror of 
 the region round about, infested a tamarack swamp in 
 Atwater township about eighteen miles west of the 
 Starr settlement. For years it lived in the swamp, 
 but would sally forth and devour the sheep for miles 
 around. People were afraid of the beast. 
 
 William finally conceived the idea of killing the 
 creature. He had made for the occasion a gun of his 
 own liking. It was long and heavy and furnished 
 with a trusty flint-lock. Waiting for a good tracking 
 snow to fall, he was confident that he would be able 
 to solve the problem. He determined to go alone. 
 The proper time ultimately arrived, and the modern 
 Nimrod started on his expedition. The first day he 
 simply discovered tracks of the animal. Night com- 
 ing on, he tarried with a farmer named Wolley. The 
 next morning early he resumed his chase along the 
 trail. In due time he found where the animal had 
 slept for the night. He was encouraged. The pur- 
 suit was eagerly continued. Finally sight of the crea- 
 ture was had. The animal was in motion. A shot was 
 aimed at its heart; but from the appearance of hair 
 and blood upon the snow, as well as from the leaps 
 made, it was clear the ball had struck the creature in 
 the flank. No further sight of the animal was had 
 that day, though the chase was continued for many 
 miles. 
 
 William sought shelter at a farmhouse for another 
 
96 
 
 night. The next morning he resumed the spirited 
 chase, this time with a thorough conviction that the 
 first shot would finally prove fatal. Pursuing the 
 
 The Panter Sighted. 
 
 huge animal, William was, at length, rewarded with 
 the opportunity to test his piece again. This shot was 
 more successful. It passed through the heart. As 
 he approached the creatureit gave pitiful moans and 
 seemed to ask protection at the hands of its slayer. The 
 
97 
 
 work was finished. The animal was a panther, three 
 feet high, seven feet two inches long from the end of 
 the tail to the' tip of the nose, and weighed about three 
 hundred pounds. The skin was subsequently sold in 
 Ravenna for $21, that being the aggregate bounty 
 offered for the destructive and greatlj feared beast of 
 the forest. 
 
 William Starr was feted in the community because 
 of his great achievement. During the remainder of 
 his residence in that region, which continued until the 
 autumn of 1844, he was considered a great farmer and 
 skillful marksman. Whenever great skill in shoot- 
 ing was to be exhibited he was selected as the un- 
 doubted champion. 
 
 Another incident of thrilling interest occurred bet- 
 ween those narrated. It was that of William's exper- 
 ience in capturing a two-third grown bear in the dense 
 forest. 
 
 It was the boy's practice to carry either a gun or a 
 strong hickory club when perambulating the wild 
 forests. On the occasion in question he had his trusty 
 club. Going through some dense underbrush he came 
 suddenly upon young bruin. The animal was startled 
 by the sudden appearance of the intruder, and gave 
 an expression of surprise. With the intuition which 
 always enabled him to do the right thing at the right 
 time, and, thoroughly understanding the nature of this 
 animal, which was the keynote of his subsequent suc- 
 cess, he determined to capture the creature and take it 
 home. He seized bruin, and a struggle for supremacy 
 
ensued. The boy conquered. He did not use the 
 club, but instead boxed the cheeks of the bear and 
 1 ' beat it into subjection. " Bruin dropped its head and 
 squealed in token of complete surrender. 
 
 Now came the greater problem. The surrender oc- 
 curred in the dense forest, four miles from home. 
 Seizing the animal's paw, the young hunter compelled 
 the captive to walk on its hind feet; and any hesitancy 
 of tardiness was punished by a cuff with the hand or 
 a stroke with a switch. Sometimes the boy would 
 walk backward and be followed by his captive, thus 
 affording a good opportunity for the cultivation of a 
 closer friendship. Home was finally reached. Imagine 
 the surprise of relatives and friends to see how Wil- 
 liam had captured and brought in unhurt a half-grown 
 black she bear. They were gratified as much as he, 
 and an uncle, John Glass, who furnished animals for 
 an Eastern menagerie, offered the boy ten silver dollars 
 for the animal. The proposition was accepted, and 
 the two friends whose acquaintanceship began in a 
 struggle in the woods for the mastery were separated 
 forever. Bruin was taken to New York, and the boy 
 turned his attention to other and higher fields of con- 
 quest. 
 
 * * * 
 
99 
 
 Babyalogy. 
 
 Mother : Hush, Baby, it's cry, cry. 
 
 Baby : My mouth is so fresh. 
 
 Mother: Hush, baby, hush. 
 
 Baby : I smell something good, I want some of it. 
 
 Mother : Hand me the bottle, put some of one cow's 
 milk and half water in it, just as the doctor directed. 
 
 Baby : I don't want that mixture, I want pure milk, 
 a little bread in it and a little of what I smell, chewed 
 fine. 
 
 Mother : Hush, baby, here is your prepared milk. 
 
 Baby : Potomac water and a little one cow's milk 
 in it. Does not one and one make two? Then Poto- 
 mas water is one, one cow's milk is one, which makes 
 two, give me milk from two cows and leave out the 
 poisonous Potomac water. The Potomac river has 
 thirty-two branches, all have different kind of water, 
 now add one cow's milk to thirty-two kinds of water, 
 baby will soon be too weak to cry, then the doctor 
 will say, baby is better, yes, it lays very quiet to- 
 day. 
 
 Doctor: You can add a little more water in it's 
 milk. 
 
100 
 
 Mother: Hush, baby, you always cry when I am 
 getting dinner, hush, or I smack you. 
 
 Baby: Mother, I smell something good cooking, 
 please give me just a little, I am almost starved for 
 something to eat, my mouth is so fresh, mother I wish 
 you could only understand me when I cry, it is the 
 only way I have to ask for anything. 
 
 0, mother, can't you understand me and give me 
 just a little of them good things I smell on the table, 
 I am nearly starved. 
 
 Mother, when you pay our doctor, pay him half 
 water and half money. I will not die from milk, but 
 for the want of richer milk with bread, meats, pota- 
 toes, chewed fine for me. 
 
 Every young woman from 16 to 26 years ought to 
 take notice of the following questions. 
 Can a baby smell and taste ? 
 Do they know when they are hungry? 
 How do they ask for what they want ? 
 How can they tell what they want? 
 
 Dr. W. M. STAKE. 
 
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 BflR/aeRip. 
 
 Farming in all its Branches. 
 
 Botany in all its Branches. 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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