w ^ ■ jap , « o *^ ■ . a* ^ v O v MEDICAL COMMON SENSE i APPLIED TO THE CAUSES, PREVENTION, AND CURE OF CHRONIC DISEASES; AND Plain Home Talk ABOUT THE SEXUAL ORGANS; THE NATURAL RELATIONS OF THE SEXES; SOCIETY CIVILIZATION; AND MARRIAGE. EDWARD B. EOOTE, M. D., MEDICAL AND ELECTRICAL THEEAPECTIST Third. Revised, and Enla ^ NEW YORK>< ^VyA8tUS PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 120 LEXINGTON AVENUE. 1870. •a 6 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, By EDWAED B. FOOTE, M. D., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of "New York. PREFACE. " Common Sense," I am aware, is quoted at a discount; especially by the medical profession, which proverbially ignores every thing that has not the mixed odor of incomprehensibility and antiquity. Medical works are generally a heterogeneous compound of vague ideas and jaw-breaking words, in which the dead languages are largely employed to treat of living subjects. Orthodoxy in medicine con- sists in walking in the beaten paths of iEsculapian ancestors, and looking with grave contempt on all who essay to cut out new paths for themselves. Progress is supposed to be possible in every thing except medicine ; but in this science, which all admit has room for improvement, the epithet of " Quack" is applied to every medical dis- coverer. I trust I may prove worthy of the denunciations of the bigot- ed. This work is written for the amelioration of human suffering, not for personal popularity. To uproot error, and d^ ^d should be the first and paramount aspiration of every intelligent being. He who labors to promote the physical perfection of his race ; he who strives to make mankind intelligent, healthful, and happy, cannot fail to have reflected on his own soul the benign smiles of those whom he has been the instrument of benefiting. My intention in preparing this work is to supply a desideratum which has long existed, i. e., a medical work, reviewing first causes as well as facts and ultimate effects, written in language strictly mundane, and comprehensible alike to the rustic inmate of a base- ment and the exquisite student of an attic studio ; and if successful in fulfilling the promise of the title-page, I have too much confidenco in the intelligence of the masses and the erudition of the unpreju- diced scholar, to believe that it will be received with unappreciation and indifference. Many of the theories which these pages will ad- vance are certainly new, and antagonistic to those of "old fogyism," Iv PREFACE. but it does not follow that they are incorrect, or unworthy the con- sideration of the philosophical and physiological inquirer. They are founded upon careful observation, experiment, and extensive medical practice, and if the truth of the theories may be judged by the suc- cess of the latter, then do they unmistakably possess soundness as well as originality, for living monuments to the skill and success of the author have been and are being daily raised from beds of sick- ness and debility in every part of the United States. If these re- marks sound boastful, be not less ready to pardon the conceit of a successful physician than that of a victorious soldier. The successful military chieftain is notoriously conceited; is it not as honorable and elevating to save life as to destroy it ? If a man may boast that he has slain hundreds, cannot his egotism be indulged if he has saved the lives of thousands? I shall claim the soldier's prerogative, for when medical charlatans at every street corner are blowing their trumpets, it does not behoove the successful physician to nurse his modesty. What I write, however, shall be written in candor, and with an honest intention of enlightening and benefiting humanity. It was with the foregoing preface that the author, about twelve years ago, issued a medical work bearing the title of Medical Common Sense — a book of about 300 pages, and something less than 100 illus- trations. "When that volume first made its appearance, some of my pru- dent friends shook their grave heads, and predicted for the author pecu- niary failure and professional disgrace. Like those of many other prophets, uheir predictions proved to be only croakings, and the expected martyr soon found himself surrounded by hosts of new friends and swarms of new patients. "While awaiting the popular verdict, after the first issue, one of the oldest and most noted clergy- men of New. York called at my office for the avowed purpose of assuring me how much he was pleased with the publication, and his appreciation possessed greater value to me because he had studied medicine in his youthful days, with the view of fitting himself for practice. He pronounced "Medical Common Sense " a refreshing contribution to medical literature, and expressed a hope that it would obtain a large circulation. I breathed easier, for the splendid phy- PREFACE. v sique, generous countenance, cultivated manner, and commanding presence of the first juror gave to his encouraging words the color and impressiveness of authority, and I almost felt as if the popular verdict had already been rendered; nor was this feeling delusive, for as the book continued to circulate, letters came in daily, like the droppings of the ballots on election days, from intelligent men and g women in all parts of the country, thanking me for the information I had presented in language which could be comprehended by the masses of the people. The appreciation of the latter has been attested by the fact that over two hundred and fifty thousand copies have been sold, a circulation which I venture to affirm has been attained by no other medical work of the same size in this or any other country. While these books have, as I believe, benefited their numerous readers, the latter have in turn greatly enlightened the author. My correspondence with the people has often exceeded one hun- dred letters per day, and the personal experiences and observations which have been confided to me by these numerous correspondents have enabled me to form some idea of the popular needs, and to supply, still further, that physiological instruction which is so greatly wanted to make mankind healthy and happy. In this revision, it has been my aim to present answers to pretty nearly all the ques- tions which have been put to me during the past twelve years, and to recommend such measures for individual and social reform as will prove morally and physically beneficial. To fulfill my duties in these respects, I could not make a volume that would popularly be regarded as suitable for the centre table. Nor yet, is it a work that should find a place on some obscure shelf. It seems to me that the family library is not an inappropriate place for it. How far the heads of families may be willing to allow it to circulate among the younger members, it must be left for them to determine ; but, if in- telligent parents had had my experience, they would place this book in the hands of all children who are capable of being interested in it. In other words, they would take no pains to conceal it from children of any age, because only those who understand it will be- come interested, and all possessing this degree of comprehension are liable to obtain erroneous and injurious information upon the same topics through impure and corrupting channels, though much care be exercised to prevent it. This is a fact which a large correspond- vi PREFACE. ence with young people lias impressed upon the mind of the author, and would command the earnest attention of all parents and guard- ians, if they possessed the means of knowing that the writer does. I have received enough lamentations from the young of both sexes, resulting from their indiscretions, to fill these pages, and many of their letters do not hesitate to charge their parents with cruel neg- lect, in keeping from them knowledge of such vital importance. I am a father, and I have written nothing in this book that I desire to conceal from my children. One of the most gratifying evidences that I have pursued the right course thus far toward them in this one particular, is the fact that they approach me familiarly upon all physiological questions that interest them, and do not hesitate to consult me with reference to the most delicate matters appertaining to their physical organizations. It strikes me that this is as it should be ; and when a parent cannot place himself or herself in this fa- miliar attitude to a child, it becomes even more necessary that some book containing physiological information suited to the comprehen- sion of the child be placed within its reach. If this work is adjudged unsuitable, may be other works can be found that will answer the purpose, although I doubt if there is another book wherein the relations of all the organs of the system to each other, and those of the moral nature to the physical body, are more faithfully traced. For the adult, this work contains information which no man or woman can afford to do without, when it may be obtained at a price comparatively so trifling. If the physiological deductions and social views of the author are dissented from, the valuable facts upon which they are based remain, and the reader is at liberty to use them to sustain opinions and suggestions which he may adjudge more accept- able to the popular mind. Any thing, every thing — that the human family may grow wiser and happier. E. B. F. CONTENTS PART I DISEASE-ITS CAUSES, PREVENTION, AND CURE. OPENING CHAPTER Disease and its Causes. PAGE Opening words. 25 Our planet 25 Its load of human suffering 25 The tyranny of disease 25 The Causes of Disease Are mental, blood, and nervous derange- ments 26 The brain capitol of the nervous system 27 The nerves telegraphic wires 27 How the mind sends its telegrams 27 How quickly it does it 27 The brain a reservoir of electricity 28 The stomach a galvanic battery 29 Other sources of animal electricity. . . . 30 PAGE How mental troubles produce disease. . 31 What the blood is made of 34 The heart the capitol of the circulatory system 35 Also the reservoir of the blood 35 How it pumps the blood out and in.. . 35 The capillary system described 35 How the blood builds up the body 36 What becomes of the waste matters 36 The dumping grounds of the system.. 36 How blood derangements cause disease 36 How the secreted enemy opens the sys- tem to contagion 37 The cau,se of fever and ague 38 What is necessary for good health 39 CHAPTER li. The Causes of Nervous and Blood Derangements. Opening words 40 Ignorance. A vehicle loaded like a city omnibus. . 40 Conveying disease to the human system 40 The world in the character of " blind- man's buff" 41 Tenorance of two kinds 41 Where ignorance begins its work 42 How children arc conceived 42 Life and disease thrust upon them 43 What, next ? 43 Ignorance of young women 41 " Nature's calls " imperative 44 The coyness of young people 44 The ignorance of grown-up children ... 45 Physiological ignorance 45 Its effects upon women 45 Schools must ultimately redeem us 45 Violating the Moral Nature. Sympathy between the moral and phys- ical man 46 Moral strength produces physical strength.. i» Vlll CONTENTS. PAGE Mind your conscience, and not your neighbor 47 Mankind not run in one mould 47 A sense of right makes one invincible. 47 Moral neglect mars the features 48 Muck -wisdom, dirt, and property 48 Its value when disease comes 50 Effects of untruthfulness and injustice on health 50 Nations suffer from wrong doing 50 Individual reformation necessary 52 " Paying off in their own coin " 53 Effects of revenge on health 53 The Food we Eat. How food is converted into bone, mus- cle, etc 54 The curious dishes of some people c5 Caterpillar soup puppy stew, etc 55 Maguey butter made from yellow worms 56 Emperor Maximilian induced to try it 56 Pork bad for the blood 56 Hogs not made to eat 57 The use Christ made of them 57 People leaping down their own throats. 58 Swine are scrofulous 53 Pork is wormy 53 The name of the worm 59 Its effects when lodged in the system.. 59 A proposition to cook it to death 59 A new theory respecting trichinae GO Dr. Adam Clarke's grace at a pig dinner 62 Reasons why hogs are unhealthy 63 Diseases produced by pork eating 64 All animal food condemned by many. . 65 Its moderate use uninjurious 65 Horse meat at Hamburg 66 Meat makes men pugnacious 66 The controversy between meat-eaters and vegetarians 67 The theory" of the writer 63 Mr. Bergh on meat-eating 71 People eat too much grease 72 Conduct depends upon food 72 Bonaparte and his poor dinner 72 Protracted intervals between meals should be avoided 73 Sensible views advanced by a writer . . 73 Preston King's dietetic habits 74 Further advice on diet 74 The Liquids we Drink. "What every person drinks per annum.. 75 The beverages used by different nations 75 Authors and orators often topers 76 Tea and coffee 77 When first introduced . . , 77 What old Eo Yu said of tea 77 Who may drink tea 78 Who may drink coffee 73 How tea and coffee are adulterated 79 How adulterations may be avoided 79 Malt beer 80 Who are benefited by malt liquors 80 The adulterations of beer 81 Vinous and distilled liquors PI Have produced much good and mischief SI PAGE Their popularity accounted for 82 Alcohol a poi son and a preservative 82 Beneficial to scrofulous people 82 Cases in which alcohol is beneficial 83 Distilled liquors injurious to many 84 Why they are so 84 Alcohol disease 84 Physicians should be careful in prescrib- ing alcohol S5 The adulterations of distilled liquors.. S5 Drunkards not properly treated 86 How imprisonment affects the inebriate 87 A plain way for their reformation 87 Milk SS The difference between woman's and cow's milk 88 Valuable hints to mothers 88 Adulterations in milk 89 The milk of diseased animals 90 Pure milk not good for every one 90 Buttermilk and its therapeutic value. . 90 Water 91 Its impurities cause blood diseases 91 The effects of limestone water 92 The waters of the juniper swamps 93 Mineral springs and their value 93 Water poisoned by perspired and re- spired gases 94 The water of leaden pipes 94 The effects of ice-water 94 The best .rule in using Avater 94 The danger in drinking from brooks. . . 95 The Atmosphere we Live in. How much the lungs take in annually. 95 How air promotes vegetable growth. . . 95 Air can make or unmake a man 96 What air is composed of 96 The electricity of the air 97 Electrical condition in dry weather 97 Electrical condition in damp weather.. 97 Evidence sustaining the author's posi- tion 98 Victor Hugo describes an equinoctial storm 98 Philosophy of insensible perspiration. . 99 No book teaches this 100 Dry weather promotes electrical radi- atioa. 101 A popular error refuted 101 The lungs aid 1 he stomach 1 03 Why persons breathe harder in sleep. . 103 Greater proneness to disease in the sleeping than in the waking state. 103 The reason V\ plained 104 Scrofula rendered contagious through the medium of the air 105 Professor Faraday's experience in a crowded room 105 Pure air as necessary as pure water. . . . 106 What Horace Mann said of badly venti- lated school-rooms 107 How nature purifies the air 107 Injurious effects of stove heat 108 Professor Toumans' opinion 108 Dr. Fre"s experiments 10S Experiments of French savants K'8 Heating by steam less objectionable. . . 110 CONTENTS. IX PAGE Xothing like the old fire-place 310 Grates best of modern improvements. 110 Permanency of impure air 110 A hint to mechanics who work in metal 112 Shops should be aired daily 112 Churches after as well as before service 112 Advice for everybody 112 Clothes we Wear. The human being comes into the world rudely 112 Old Dame Nature immodest 113 How the poor baby is treated 113 The effects of certain clothing on health 114 Fashion has knocked out people's brains 111 Flora McFlimsey laughs at women in barbarism 115 "Women in barbarism laugh at Flora McFlimsey 115 The Bloomer costume 115 Men robbed women of the breeches,.. 11G Men in petticoats in the 15th century.. 116 Why long skirts are unhealthful 110 "What Dr. Harriet M. Austin says 117 The experience of another female writer 118 Comments on low-necked dresses 120 Killing children with kindness 120 Dr. Frank Hamilton's fling at the cos- tume of men 122 Knit shirts and drawers unhealthful. .. 123 Eed flannel better than white 123 The number and value of the pores 124 Eubber and skin garments unhealthful 125 Patent leather injurious 125 A lady in the " Home Journal " look- ing at gentlemen's feet 126 Second-hand clothing a medium of disease 126 Clothes made from shoddy 127 "We need rag inspectors 127 Some reformers recommend nudity 127 Experiment being tried in Ireland 128 Spartan customs 129 Eules to be observed in dress 129 Bad Habits of Children and Youth. Seeds of disease sown in childhood 130 "What candies are colored with 131 What they are flavored with 132 Bad posture in sitting 132 Going to school too young 133 Going barefoot 134 Eemarkable case of poisoning by a bone 134 "Wrong to sleep with old people 136 Vital electricity of the child absorbed. 136 King David knew the effects 136 Old men marrying young wives 137 Diseased and "healthy children should not sleep together 137 Prevalence of masturbation 137 The terrible effects 138 Children should be properly instructed 110 Standing on the head. „ 140 Injurious effects of 141 Turning round to become dizzy Ill How to mako healthy men and women 111 Bad Habits of Manhood and Womanhood. PAGE Good and bad habits 141 The use of tobacco 142 Fashionable women getting into the habit 143 The habits of poets, preachers, etc 143 Dipping tobacco 1 43 How it is done 143 Its fatal effects in some cases 143 Tobacco a medicinal plant 144 Injurious when habitually used 144 The testimony of various writers 144 Tobacco causes impotency 147 This proposition illustrated 143 Smoking alters the form of the mouth. 148 Other fashionable poisons 14J Tight lacing— its effects 149 How the power of the lungs mav be tested ",-.-., 150 God's works are perfect 151 The outspoken sentiments of a woman 151 Medicine taking 155 Origin and effects of patent medicines. 155 The law of temperaments in medicating 156 Inscription on an English tombstone.. . 157 Arsenic eating 157 Turning night into day 157 Why man should lie down at night... . 158 Explained on electrical principles 158 Fast eating 160 How a Yankee eats 1 60 Liquid should not be drank with food. 160 Holiday stuffing and midnight dinners. 161 How people abuse their stomachs 162 Fruit and light food for public dinners 162 Habit second nature 163 Eemarkable illustrations 163 Sexual Starvation. A startling essay 164 Who will turn up their noses. ... 1C4 Two classes will comprehend 164 A male and female element in all na- ture 1C5 The universal attraction between the two 1C5 How it finds expression 165 The sexual characteristics of different persons explained 165 Sexual association beneficial 166 The essentials to support life 160 Four essentials to physical and spiritual health 166 One of which is sexual magnetism Ko Effects of sexual isolation 166- Upon the shakers 16u Upon nuns 197 Upon females in factories 168 Upon old maids 1 OS Upon various classes 1 OS Benefits of sexual magnetism in disease 169 The temptations of young men 171 Men and women want something they know not what 1 72 And take to narcotics 17 > A remedy suggested 1 ". 3 CONTEXTS. Prostitution. PAGE Its moral and physical effects 174 How disease is generated 1T5 Is prostitution necessary ? 177 The causes of prostitution. 178 Families supported by it 1S1 How girls are seduced 132 "Where reform should commencs 183 Abandonment of the courtesan unchris- tian 186 The midnight mission . iS6 Unhappy Marriage. Destroys the tone of the nervous and vascular fluids 188 Curious statistics 138 Effects on offspring 1S9 Impure Vaccination. "WTien the practice of vaccination origi- nated .. 190 The country woman's whim 190 The first discovery valuable 190 Use only the vaccine from the cow . . . 193 Adulterated Medicines. The baseness of medicinal adulteration 194 The extent of adulteration 194 Patients make ugly faces at their fam- ily doctors. . - 196 Brutality and Inhumanity. Their effects on the nervous system. . . 197 The impulse to kill and inflict pain 197 How the magnetism of man influences animals below him 193 Human and animal ferocity will die together. 198 Physical effects of inhumanity 199 Evil influence of legal murder 199 The practice of the ancients 201 PAGE Drowning verbis hanging 203 Theatrical tragedy injurious to many. . 204 Health. Its dissipations induce disease 204 Dr. Hall's theory refuted 204 Health begets wealth, instead of wealth begetting health 205 A lesson from Socrates.. . 206 Dr. Channing's view. , 207 Failures in Business. Destroy the harmony of the nervous system 207 The brain compared to a bank 208 Tne organs compared to merchants ... 208 A physiological " panic " 208 Failure after failure follows in the wake of the defaulter 210 His conduct carries thousands to pre- mature graves 210 How to avoid failures 211 Excessive Study. Overloading the mind 211 Literary world full of physical wrecks. 211 Excessive Labor. The system needs rest 212 One day per week set apart for rest by all nations , 212 Advice to sewing- women 213 Melancholy. People keep pet griefs 214 Some feel best when they feel worst.. . 214 Melancholy disturbs the nervous system 214 The value of a laugh 214 Conclusion of Chapter II 214 Causes of disease like insects 215 They drop into every thing. 215 CHAPTER III, Prevention of Disease. A text from Harriet Martineau 216 Fight for good health 216 The gimips who run the physical ma- chine 217 Providence takes away 217 This proposition disproved 217 Our Heavenly Father the author of all good 219 How about the dear baby .'. 219 Its death accounted for 219 How to have Healthy Babies. Infirm people should not have children 220 Few are hopelessly incurable 221 How healthy people have diseased chil- dren 221 | Advice to pregnant women 222 General hints to be observed 224 How to Preserve the Health of Children. What to do after the baby arrives 226 The popular delusion about clothing. . . 226 The baby kicks the clothes off 227 The reason why 227 Valuable hints on baby raising 223 The food of children 230 What a mother shouid be 230 Kev. O. B. Frothingham's idea 230 Advice about nurses 231 Bathing, and amusing children 231 Guarding them from injury 232 CONTENTS. XI PAGE Don't close them 233 The punishment of children 234 Dietetics for Old and Young. Stimulating diet bad for children 235 Self-evident philosophy regarding diet. 235 Simple rule for the baby, the child, the man, the aged 235 Fasting injurious 23T How to regulate the bowels with food. 238 The Physiological Instruction of Children. Eesults of physiological ignorance 239 How it may be overcome . 239 A new plan proposed 239 Mental and Physical Recreation. Necessary to preserve health 241 Idleness not recreation 241 Benefits of horseback riding 242 "Women should ride astride 244 Eernarks on dancing 245 Men and women should commingle in exercise 246 Light gymnastics 247 Swimming 249 Christianity and Paganism should be married 252 Sleep. Its value to health 252 Insanity from want of sleep 254 How to go to bed 254 Cleanliness. PAGE A preventive of disease 255 Nature's sewers should be kept active. 256 Pure Air. The value of the pure breath of heaven 257 A ir baths 25 j How to keep pure the air of the sick- room 259 Sunshine. The instinct of a potato 2c9 A tadpole could not become a frog with- out sunshine 259 Its value to the sick 260 An overdose, sunstroke 261 How to avoid it 261 A Good Temper. Its value to health 262 Chronic grumblers never well 263 Petulance worse than grumbling 2li3 Violent temper worse than petulance . . 264 Don't slop over 264 Keep the Feet Warm. The prevalence of cold feet 265 How this condition affects health 265 How to preserve the warmth of the feet 266 Artificial heat injurious 266 How to cure chronic cold feet 266 Spring Renovation. Habits of mankind make it necessary. . 268 Taking bitters 269 An injurious remedy 269 The proper course to take 270 Concluding suggestions of the chapter. 270 CHAPTER IV. Common Sense Remedies. Introductory words 272 Eedfield describes the natural physician 273 Vegetable Medicines. The trees, herbs, etc., possess all the me- dicinal properties of minerals 273 The bone turned into a flower Vegetation possesses sensorial power.. Its life is like your morning nap Paracelsus the Adam of "the medical world The origin of the term ' ; Quack " Mercury as a remedial agent Its injurious effects exhibited Medical men worshiping the metal calf The allopath owning up " Medicine a humbug " How the animals doctor ihcmselvos. . . Cul.ivatcd herbs worthless Therapeutic Electricity. Its value as an auxiliary agent 285 Dr. Ure's theory refuted 2S6 The philosophy of respiration 287 Electricity must be skillfully applied . 2SS A rap at old fogies 296 What constitutes a good operator 297 The testimony of distinguished writers 300 Animal Magnetism. Is it a humbug ? 802 You say you believe so 802 Evidence that you do not 302 Animal magnetism employed in Japan 808 Its beneficial effects "... 804 " The prayer cure" 805 Bad people cannot employ magnetism successfully 7 807 Names of scientific men who believe in nnimril magnetism 80S Observations of the author 808 Xll CONTENTS. Water. PAGE Held in estimation in all ages 309 Priessnitz made it a one " cure all " 309 Valuable only as an auxiliary 310 Philosophy of the " water cure " 310 Explained on electrical principles 310 The testimony of Faraday 311 "Who are injured by hydropathy 311 People commit suicide with water. .... 312 Medicated Inhalation. PAGE Valuable assistance in treating pul- monary diseases 313 Good for nothing alone 314 Conclusion. Successful doctors don't ride one hobby 314 Different constitutions require different remedies ,,,,,,, 315 CHAPTER V. Doctors. The hard raps they receive 316 What Voltaire thought of the doctors. 316 "What a reverend gentleman said of him 316 The Indian joke on the doctor 317 The non-thinking booby class 318 "Why the people lack confidence 318 Doctors " Jacks at all Trades." There should be three distinct branches in the medical profession 319 "What constitutes a surgeon 319 A physician in acute disease 319 A physician in chronic disease 319 Female Doctors. Fitness of women for the profession.. 321 A prescription for conservatives 321 The natural qualifications of women.. 322 Women who have become noted in medicine 322 A startling proposition 323 Women don't want female doctors 324 Men have little confidence in masculine doctors 324 What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander 325 How the thing can be fixed 325 Rapacious Doctors. Sharks of the profession 326 Your money or your life 326 Wrong to alarm patients 327 A painful illustration given 327 A striking case of humbug 327 How the dishonesty of a physician may be detected 329 Conclusion of Part 1 329 PAET II. CHRONIC DISEASES-THEIR CAUSES AM) SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT. OPENING CHAPTER Chronic Diseases. Opening words 331 Whv the family physician is unsuccess- ful 331 How a surgeon acquires his reputation 332 Why a man of medicine must acquire his reputation slowly 33^ How the invalid becomes discouraged. . 333 What is Chronic Disease ? Vague notions about it 333 What Hahnemann said of it 834 How Webster defines it 334 The true definition ?M How to overcome chronic disease 8^5 CONTENTS. Xlll CHAPTER II. Chronic Diseases of the Breathing Organs. PAGE The importance of these organs 336 The process of breathing explained 337 How it arterializes the blood 338 j 1 Chronic Catarrh of the Head, j How it obstructs breathing 339 I The pre valence of the disease 340 | The profession befogged about it 340 j The curious notions of the ancients. . . 340 j The popular remedies 340 I Easy to account for catarrh 341 When it may be regarded as chronic. . 341 The proper treatment of catarrh 342 | A Chronic Affections of the Throat. A. peep into the throat 343 i Avoid cauterization 344 { The immediate and predisposing causes 344 j G-argles afford only temporary relief. . . 345 j Local treatment not sufficient 345 Chronic Bronchitis. An obstinate, but curable disease 345 Bronchitis mistaken for consumption. . 347 Valuable advice 347 Asthma. Incorrect views concerning it 349 Not such a puzzle after all 350 i PAGE Its nature explained 350 Its successful treatment 351 Consumption. Terror in the name 351 Is it an incurable disease ? 351 The nature of the disease 352 What are tubercles 353 Treatment of chronic diseases of the breathing organs 354 The Dutchman's'dog-liver oil 355 Dyspepsia a common companion of con- sumption 356 hint to cod-liver-oil doctors 356 The atmosphere best for consumptives 357 How traveling improves the patient. . . 358 Eastern and southern slopes of moun- tains beneficial 358 Theodore Parker to Dr. Bowditch 859 The value of Mr. Parker's testimony.. 362 The influence of liquor upon consump- tive patients 362 Hemorrhage of the lungs curable 362 Persons may live with one lung 363 President Day a consumptive in youth 364 Had ulcers and cavities 364 Was cured and lived to ninety-five 364 Cheerfulness essential to a cure 364 How the lungs work 364 How the lungs may become paralyzed. 365 The proper treatment of lung affections 366 Ordinary drugging injurious" 366 CHAPTER III. Chronic Diseases of the Liver, Stomach, and Bowels. Opening words 368 The process of digestion plainly de- scribed 368 Chronic Affections of the Liver. Liver the largest onran in the body. . . 370 The cause of torpidity \ 370 Torpid livers most common in the South and West 371 Why i t is so 371 How to avoid the disease 372 The negro not subject to the disease.*. 373 Why he is not 373 How his nose, lips, and skin* protect kJ I 1 ™--" 373 Advice to Western and Southern friends 374 Hepatalgia ; what it is 375 Gt ub in the liver ...'.'. 376 Consumption of the liver ...'.'. 377 Its cause and detection .'..'.'.'. 377 Inflammation and enlargement of liver 378 Liver derangements cause constipation 37S The correct treatment of liver affections 379 Dyspepsia. The immediate causes 380 The predisposing causes 3S1 Fat dyspeptics 3S2 Nervous dyspepsia 382 Dyspeptic symptoms 383 A dyspeptic cannot be a practical Chris- tian 3S3 Lean dyspeptics 3S3 The management of dyspepsia 3S4 Constipation. The course of food followed from the inlet to the outlet 8S6 How the waste matters are expelled. . . 8S6 The immediate causes of constipation. 8S7 The predisposing causes 887 How constipation injures the procrea- tive system 8SS How it affects both sexes 8SS XIV CONTEXTS. PAGE The formation of fecal plugs 359 How to remove them 389 Disagreeable effluvia of constipated people 390 Advice in regard to food 390 Chronic Diarrhoea, The disease described 392 The causes 393 Indiscreet treatment 394 What should be done 394 Hemorrhoids or Piles. The rectum described 394 "Where piles locate themselves 395 Itching piles 395 Tumorous and varicose piles 395 Bleeding piles 395 Immediate causes of piles 396 Bad habits at the closet 396 Tne predisposing causes of piles 397 Remedial agents". 398 Fistula in Ano. PAGE Its cause 399 Its management „ 400 Stricture of the Rectum. Its cause 400 Its symptoms 401 Its treatment 401 Falling of the Rectum. The disease described 401 Its cause and management 401 Ulceration of the Bowels. Its causes and symptoms. 401 The proper remedy 40i Intestinal Worms. The human family wormy 402 How to get rid of them 403 Heartaches and headaches 404 Acres of aches 404 Bilious Headache. Child born wi thout a head 404 Bilious headache common 405 "What produces it 405 Its effects 406 No person need suffer with it 406 CHAPTER IV. Aches and Pains. Congestive Headache. Who are most liable to it 40S The remedy 409 Neuralgia. As well look into Robinson Crusoe as into medical books for its true pa- thology 409 Its nature — successfu 1 treatment 410 Rheumatism. Nervous Headache. What causes it 407 Its treatment 408 This disease never correctly understood 411 A self-evident explanation given 412 The nature of acute rheumatism 413 Ghronic rheumatism explained 413 Treatment 413 CHAPTER V. The importance of eyes and ears 415 Hard to get through the world without them 415 Old Eyes. How the sight becomes impaired 415 How to preserve the sight 420 How to restore it 421 Near Sight. Valuable hints to near-sighted people. . 422 How near sight may be improved 423 Chronic Sore Eyes. The mechanism of the eye described.. 423 Interesting to the plainest reader 423 llow inflammation affects the eyes. ... 424 Affections of the Eyes and Ears. How sore eyes are induced 425 The treatment of chronic sore eyes 425 Amaurosis. Its nature and cause 426 How its approach is indicated 42 i Hints to those affected , 426 Cross Eyes. Good for schoolmasters 426 Troublesome to other people 427 Their treatment 427 Other diseases of the eye 427 Defective Hearing. How we are made conscious of sound 428 The organs of the ear plainly described 42S Causes of defective hearing 429 How roaring in the ears is produced. . . 432 Advice to deaf people 432 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER VI. Diseases of the Heart. PAGE One of Artemus Ward's jokes 434 How people are liable to be mistaken.. 435 PAGE Causes of palpitation 435 Advice to invalids 436 CHAPTER VII. Chronic Affections of the Urinary Organs. The urinary organs plainly described. . 43T Bridget and the water-pipes 438 Man and his water-pipes 438 Diseases of the Kidneys. Chronic inflammation of the kidneys.. 439 Chronic weakness.. 440 Consumption of the kidneys 440 Bright's disease 441 A remarkable cure 441 Grub in the kidneys 442 Affections of the Ureters. Diseases of the tubes 443 Affections of the Bladder. Chronic inflammation of the bladder. . . 443 How the neck of the bladder may be af- fected 444 Paralysis of the bladder 445 Gravel 446 Gonorrhoea and Stricture. How contracted 446 Gonorrhoea innocently caught 447 The symptoms in men 447 Symptoms in women 447 " Infallible recipes" 448 People strictured by them 448 Stricture of the urethra illustrated 449 What causes stricture 449 Treatment of diseases of the urinary organs ,,,,....,........... 450 CHAPTER VIII. Private Words for Women. Opening words 451 The prevalence of uterine diseases 453 Derangements of the Monthly Flow. Mothers should counsel their daughters 453 The function of menstruation 454 Wnat frightened girls have done 454 When menstruation commences 454 Symptoms preceding menstruation 454 " The turn of life " explained 455 It often takes place prematurely 455 A common fallacy exposed 455 What is the use of menstruation 456 An interesting explanation 456 Relationship between the breasts and uterine organs 456 Irregular and painful menstruation 457 Immoderate flowing or flooding 458 Insufficient or slight menstruation 45S Suppressed menstruation 459 How to distinguish suppressed men- struation from pregnancy 459 Menstrual derangements should not be neglected 460 Advice to sufferers 460 Leucorrhoea. This difficulty described 460 Its debilitating tendency 461 The predisposing causes 461 Drolleries respecting the hymen 464 The hymen a cruel and unreliable test of virginity 4C3 The natural purpose of the hymen .... 467 The treatment of leucorrhoea 469 Falling of the Womb. Co-existent with civilization 470 Local symptoms not always present.. . 471 Valuable hints to sufferers. 472 Ulceration of the womb 474 Polypus of the womb 474 Dropsy of the womb 474 Chronic inflammation of the womb . . . 476 Vaginal Affections. The vagina described 476 The diseases to which it is subject 476 Some plain remedies presented 477 Nymphomania. Excessive amativeness on the part of the female 477 The causes 478 Females thus suffering deserve sympa- thy , 47S My mode of treatment 479 XVI CONTENTS. Amorous Dreams. PAGE Women as well as men subject to them 479 Practically involuntary masturbation. . 4T9 How they injure health 479 How it happens that apathetic married women sometimes have them 4S0 Their treatment 4S1 Anthropophobia and Sexual Apathy. Symptoms 481 Healthy females subject to amative ex- citement 4S1 Sexual Dyspepsia. PAGE A. new name 481 Married women subject to the disease. 4S2 The husband in purgatory 482 Causes and treatment 482 Ovarian Diseases. Might properly find place here 4S3 Deferred for another chapter 483 Treatment of the diseases of this chap- ter 4S3 Curative powers of electricity 484 CHAPTER IX. Hints to the Childless. Barrenness abhorrent to every one . The charm of " our baby , 4S5 Causes of Barrenness. Irremediable causes 4S9 Causes that may be obviated 490 Local Inadaptation. Its prevalence 490 Local inadaptation illustrated 492 Diseased Condition of the Wife. "Womb diseases 493 Ovarian 500 Diseased secretions of the vagina 502 Obstructions of the fallopian tubes 503 Scrofulous causes 503 Excess of flesh 503 Impotency of the wife 504 Tumorous obstructions 504 Menstrual derangements 504 Diseased Condition ofthe Husband. The husband frequently at fault 504 Common causes of male barrenness... 505 Excessive Amativeness. May cause birrenness 507 On the part of the husband 507 On the part of the wife 507 Temperamental Inadaptation. What is it 509 An important essay 509 How to promote Child-bearing. The most susceptible period 511 Plain rules for remedying local inadap- tation 511 How obstacles resulting from disease may be removed 514 Hints to those excessively amative 516 Advice to those temperamentally ina- dapted 516 A word to jealous husbands 518 CHAPTER X. Private Words for Men. How little men know of themselves . . 520 An instance given 520 The Penis and its Diseases. Two views of the organ eriven 521 Its mechanism plainly described 521 Deformities of this organ 522 Can it be enlarged ? . .T 522 Diseases of the penis 522 Chancre described 523 What should be done with this disease. 523 Necessity of personal cleanliness 524 Affections of the urethra 524 Diseases of the foreskin 525 Valuable advice 525 Phimosis plainly described 525 Circumcision explained 525 II ivr easily d'seasi-s are communicated through the penis 520 The Scrotum and its Diseases. The scrotum described 526 Its diseases 526 The Testicles and their Diseases. Their structure plainly described, where they are formed and how they descend 527 The complexity of the procreative ma- chinery of "man 52S Intensely interesting matter 52S Diseases" of the testicles 530 Seminal Weakness. Technically called spermatorrhoea. . . . 532 Are involuntary emissions natural 532 The iflea ridiculous and its fallacy ex- ploded 533 CONTENTS. XVll PAGE The author's experience in treating this affection 534 Two kinds of spermatorrhoea 535 Complicated spermatorrhoea 537 The only rational mode of treatment.. 538 An interesting case presented 539 Avoid clap-traps and catchpennies 540 The disease ol tale-bearer. 540 Satyriasis. PAGE Excessive passion in males 541 A woman's vitriol cure 541 Ever so many manias 541 Satyriasis one of them 542 Rape a terrible offence 542 How the perpetrator should be treated 542 Dietetic and medicinal remedies 543 CHAPTER XI. I m potency. Females as well as males impotent . . . 544 I Impotency causes dissatisfaction 549 The causes 546 An interesting example 549 The mental congress of bumps 547 I The only rational treatment 549 CHAPTER XII. Concluding Essays on Diseases. Opening words 551 | Paralysis. Bobbed of half its terror., -its nature and symptoms. Cancer. Formerly incurable ._,„ Surgical operations discountenanced Salves and plasters objectionable . . . A variety of cancers Incipient cancer easily disposed of. . Salt Rheum. Not in itself a disease What it really is , Spinal Curvatures. Their causes Their treatment 551 552 554 554 555 556 557 557 557 558 5C0 Scrofula. "What is scrofula . , How it is contracted Its effects Valuable information to the scrofulous. How their cases should be treated. . . , Syphilis. Own cousin of scrofula 564 Offspring of scrofula 564 Mother of scrofula 564 How all this is explained 564 How syphilis is generated 565 What is syphilis 566 How constitutional syphilis is con- tracted " 567 Constitutional symptom s 568 Some think syphilis should not be cured 569 Christ healed the lepers 569 When the disease was grappled and named 569 The allopaths treating it on homeo- pathic principles r ... 570 They should be kicked from their school 570 The syphilitic era . . 570 Mercury caused it 570 How syphilis should be treated 571 A Variety of Chronic Diseases, A group of diseases 572 Causes should be removed and a radical cure effected . 572 CHAPTER XIII. Treatment of Disease. People dosed to death . . 574 Everybody his own doctor. 575 Dietetics 580 Clear conscience better than a petted stomach 580 Invalids must not be impatient 583 Questions to invalids 583 Warranting cures 5SS Evidences of the curability of chronic diseases 589 xvm CONTENTS. PART III Plain Talk ABOUT THE SEXUAL ORGANS; THE NATURAL RELATIONS OF THE SEXES; CIVILIZATION, SOCIETY, AND MARRIAGE. OPENING CHAPTER. Introductory Words. Why this matter is presented Individual happiness trampled out. . PAGE .. 605 .. 606 PAGE Our civilization 606 Only the shadow of what is to come . . 607 CHAPTER II. The Sexual Organs. Opening words 608 The Causes of their Disgrace. How came they to he regarded with dis- favor? . 608 The question answered 609 Their deification by the Pagan world.. 609 Nailing horseshoes over the door 609 The origin of the custom 609 Sexual organs still deified in Japan 610 Christianity and Mohammedanism ar- rayed against this worship 611 The result of the conflict : 611 Their Influence on Physical De- velopment. Parable of the acorn and plum-stone. . 612 How the two sexes grow up 612 The point of physical departure. 612 I will tell you a secret 613 "What produces the womanly character- istics 618 "What produces the masculine charac- teristics 613 Interesting philosophy 613 Evidences sustaining the author.. 614 Their Influence on Health. Love platonic before pubescence 616 After pubescence then what ? 616 Women need the magnetism of men.. 617 Man needs woman's magnetism 617 The sexes need the masrnetism of each other " 617 These propositions sustained by facts.. 617 Nature's demands and the fiat of cus- tom at variance 618 The passions an integral part of the in- dividual 61S Henry "Ward Beecher on this subject. . 619 Asceticism at war with nature . . 619 The uses and abuses of the sexual organs 620 Women suffer most from sexual starva- tion 621 Sensible words from Dr. Oliver "Wen- dell Holmes 621 How they are made the Instru- ments of Pleasurable Emotions. Philosophy of sexual intercourse 622 Electricity in three forms the source of sexual enjoyment 623 Individual electricity 623 Chemical electricity 628 Frictional electricity 620 Only the last employed in masturbation 629 The office of the pubes C30 Generative system the perfection of Divine mechanism C30 Ignorance leads to its pervertion 630 How they are made instrumental in Perpetuating the Race. The amative function separate from the procreative , The distinction defined The moral character of sexual inter- course How the male and female germs unite. A new theory 630 631 631 Facts to sustain it 634 Their Influence on the Social Posi- tion of Women. These organs have made man master.. 635 A race of Amazons 635 What Aristotle said of women ... 636 CONTENTS. XIX PAGE How they were treated in Rome and Greece 636 Did women cause the fall of the Re- public 636 The great men of those times 637 Whythey were so 637 Why the Republic collapsed 637 What St. Paul said of woman 63S The views of the Apostles due to the sentiment of the times 638 Position of the church in the 4th cen- tury in regard to woman 639 Results of mixing Roman and German civilizations 639 Strong-minded mothers necessary for strong-minded sons 639 Gallantry mistaken for justice 640 And soft soap for equity 640 Their Influence on Civilization. PAGE The question of man's origin avoided.. 640 The first traditions 641 The beginning of civilization 642 Influence of the sexual organs thereon . . 642 Early polygamy 642 Induced compulsatory monogamy.... 642 How the two systems of marriage in- augurated prostitution , 643 Encouragement of prostitution by the ancients 643 How it is in Japan 644 Our civilization a heterogeneous mix- ture of past social organizations... 644 We have not gathered the cream nor the dregs of the past 644 The concealed wormwood that embit- ters social life 645 CHAPTER III. History of Introductory scraps of history , . First attainable accounts Thirty -eight hundred years B. C. History of Polygamy. Reason why Adam had but one wife. Marriage in Noah's time. Menes founder of Egyptian marriage His system practical polygamy . Fu Hi, originator of Chinese marriage His system polygamic... The polygamy of the ancient Hebrews. How Joseph introduced it into Egypt. The story of Moses An interesting narrative His treatment of women The polygamy of David and Solomon. . Solomon surrounded by 1,000 women How he felt about it. The Jewish tenacity to polygamy Cecrops, inventor of Grecian marriage. The system practical polygamy But a step toward monogamy Prostitution succeeded concubinage . . . The domesticity of the wife and the power of the courtesan Men compelled to marry. Grecian law concerning divorce The blending of Grecian and Roman civilizations The resul ton marriage Polygamy in ancient" Persia Polygamy after the Christian era The story of Mohammed A curious story of this prophet He left only nine widows The spread of Mohammed's polygamy. The ravishing girls of Paradise The women of musk Luther and polygamy Early American polygamy History of Monogamy. Its ancient origin . .. 616 646 659 Marriage. Offspring of masculine poverty and fe- male scarcity 659 The oldest form of Roman marriage. . . 660 Were there divorces in ancient Rome? 661 Woman's position under the republic. 662 The introduction of Grecian customs.. 663 Radical changes 663 Fathers compelled to find husbands for their daughters 6C3 Commencement of the Christian era. 664 How Jesus was annoyed with the mar- riage question 664 Harpings of the Scribes and Pharisees. 664 German marriage previous to the Chris- tian era 665 German appreciation of woman 665 How they regulated family matters . . . 666 Back again to the old empire 666 Marriage in Nero's time 666 The first Christian emperor 666 Pagan and Christian law at variance . . . 667 The early Christians opposed marriage 667 Their opposition in the 4th century ." . 667 Marriage from the 5th to the 15th cen- turies 669 The sexual immorality of those times . 669 The ascetics of that period 669 Marriage in ancient Scandinavia 671 The considerate treatment of women by these people .... 672 Historical Chips. Items of history not previously given. 673 Cicero's idea of the necessity of sexual association 676 Curious usages 676 Promiscuous bathing in Russia G77 Curious marriage usages reported by Captain Cook 679 Selling girls at auction 679 Examination of candidates for matri- mony 6S0 How the Jews regarded marriage GS0 The courtesans of Venice f ?1 Marrying sisters in ancient Peril 6S1 XX CONTEXTS. CHAPTER IV. Marriage as it is in Barbarism and Civilization. PAGE Opening words 6S4 Marriage in the Old World. In Egypt 634 The women of Egypt 684 Their stories and murmurs C35 Marriage in China 685 The ceremony described 686 A baby in the bride's lap 6SS Marriage in Japan 6S8 A wise Japanese that knows his own mother! 688 Japanese civilization 6S9 Sell daughters to pay debts 6S9 Prostitution in Japan respectable 690 The bathing-houses of Japan 690 Position of women in Japan 690 What a girl costs in Japan 690 Marriage in Asiatic Russia 691 Among the Siberians 692 Marriage in Persia 692 Marriages for ninety years 692 Curious customs in various countries. . 094 Marriage in Hindostan 694 Marry at eleven 694 Begin to bear children at twelve 694 "Women with a plurality of husbands. . 694 A woman the wife of several brothers. 695 Free love in Abyssinia 695 Marriage in the Barbary States 695 "Wife carried home in a cage 695 African customs 696 Marriage and divorce in England 699 Undercurren t of English married life. . T02 Marriage in Spain 703 In France 703 What a young woman saw in Paris 704 Unfortunate girls of Paris 706 A queer institution 707 Marriasre in Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy 703 In Greece, Prussia, Russia, and Austria 709 Illegitimate births at Vienna 709 Marriage in Sweden and Norway 710 PAGE Sexual immorality there 710 Marriage in Turkey 711 Marriage in the New World. In South America 711 In North America 713 In the United States and Territories... 715 Marriages of convenience 715 How gold kidnaps women 716 Exchanges and elopements 71S Divorce laws 718 Customs of the Oneida Community 719 Complex marriage 719 History of the Community 720 The costume of the women 721 How their work is done. 721 The condition of their children 722 Interesting statistics 723 The promise of the older ones 725 Bearing off the palm in the medical school 727 What a physician says of the Commu- nity 723 Declaration of principles 730 A social analysis 731 The al ternati 'ves of women 733 Marriage, prostitution, old maidhood. 733 Their condition in the Community. . . . 734 Civilization and communism 734 Civilization and barbarism compared.. 734 The principle of root, hog, or die 738 Historv of Morinonism 739 Smith' the Great 740 How he inaugurated polygamy 740 How he left the planet. . .1 740 Ilepworth Dixon among the Mormons 741 An interesting narrative , 741 Marriage among the Mormons 743 Sealing" the living to the dead 744 Swarms of babies 745 Mormon girls don't like polygamy 746 The religious ideas of the saints 746 Concluding reflections 747 CHAPTER V. «i... What science and art are doing. . Why marriage remains unimprov Is marriage a Divine institution ? If so, which of the systems? How wives were formerly " taken"". . . Pagan priests first solemnized marriage The practice adopted by the Christian clergy Next marriages pei-formed at the church donv. . . . Subsequently performed in the church Defects in Marriage Systems. Demerits of Polygamy. The objections to the system 753 Demerits of Monogamy. The effects ofidolatrous unions. . . . 754 749 749 750 T50 751 751 The results of milk and water attach- ments 755 What incompatible unions lead to 755 How some classes are affected by the mon< 'gamic system 755 CONTENTS. xxi PA(iE A word about widows 756 Selfishness in monogamy 756 Its interference with maternity 757 "Woman's natural desire for children. . . 757 Miss Polly Baker prosecuted for bastardy 75S Her defence 75S She never refused an offer of marriage. 759 PAGE Her charge against bachelors 759 Her subsequent marriage and irre- proachable character 760 Effects of monogamy on children 760 Married people grow apart 761 Change in temperament 762 Illustrations given 762 Further sexual philosophy 763 CHAPTER VI. The R The existence of evil... 765 Our duty to get rid of it 765 A new order of things necessary 765 A work of time 765 k, Jenny June's 11 visit to the Communists 766 Henry Ward Beecher on institutions .. 767 The merits of complex marriage 767 The merits of polygamy 768 Polygamy and the New Testament. ... 770 Necessity for some legal regulations . . . 770 smedy. Hens and jackasses laughing at some- thing 772 Eome had a censor 772 We want a secretary of marriage 772 A commissioner of agriculture 773 A human being of as much consequence as a big potato 773 The heathen of Manhattan Island 774 Social experiments should be en- couraged ,,,,,,.,. 775 CHAPTER VII. Sexual Immorality. Is sexual morality prevalent ? 776 Where is the oasis ? 776 It is not in our cities 776 It is not in our villages 776 It is not in small neighborhoods 776 How the author knows 776 The Causes. Popular preaching based on a false idea 777 Evidence that it is so 778 Origin of the idea that the passions are essentially evil 778 Its adoption by the Romish Church 778 By Calvin and the Puritan Fathers 778 A Pagan and not a Christian idea 779 The Cure. The silver rule of Confucius The golden rule of Jesus The original formation of society The mutual understanding established. A demoralizing spectacle The vow of fidelity The judgment of Antonius Pius Something about free-lovers About libertines Persuading others to do what you would not have done to your own. . The platform of sexual morality com- plete Broad enough for everybody CHAPTER VIII. Conclusion of Part Third. The founders of Eome as austere as our Puritan Fathers 785 The reaction 7S5 Christianity could not control it 7S5 The rise of Protestantism 786 Its influence on marriage 786 Growing agitation upon the marriage question 787 Opposition to the marriage institution.. 787 Let us have facts and experiences 788 Rev. A. P. Stanley on science and reli- gion 788 An alliance between science and reli- gion recommended Opinions guarded like wallets Everybody should think aloud People afraid to express opinions They perish with them Toleration necessaiy Or we must wear the opinions of pre- decessors George William Curtis on public opin- ion Public opinion a serpent 788 789 790 790 790 XX11 CONTENTS. PART IV SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF POPULAR MARRIAGE, ETC. OPENING CHAPTER. Introduction. PAGE Monogamic marriage may be better than it is '. 793 "What its upholders should do 794 What Mrs. Jameson says of it 795 PAGE What the clergy think of it 795 What we want 795 What the disaffected would do 795 How the more fortunate feel , . .. 796 CHAPTER II. Adaptation in Marriage. The importance thereof 797 j Necessity for platonic affection 797 Reciprocity in the sexual relation 79S , The views of O. S. Fowler 799 Advice to the reluctant wife 801 Advice to the husband 801 Provoke your wife to love 802 What is Mental Adaptation? What constitutes it 802 Interesting philosophy 803 How mental adaptation may be attained 804 What is Physical Adaptation ? What constitutes it 805 Magnetic adaptation SOS Temperamental adaptation 806 Dr. William Byrd Powell on the tem- peraments 806 The vital temperaments 807 The sanguine and bilious temperaments described 807 The non-vital temperaments 809 The lymphatic and encephalic tempera- ments described. 809 What induces the non-vital tempera- ments 811 How the lymphatic temperament is in- duced Sll How the encephalic temperament is in- duced 812 Plain rules as to marriage 813 The non-vital temperaments should not intermarry 813 Intermarriage of the vital tempera- ments not advisable 813 What combinations are best 814 The mixture of two temperaments 814 Plain explanations and descriptions 814 The mixture of three temperaments. . . 818 Explained in plain language 81S The mixture of four temperaments 821 An interesting fact 822 Importance of temperamental adapta- tion 823 The difference between vitality and vi- tal tenacity 824 The influence of temperamental adap- tation on vital tenacity 824 The observations of Dr. Powell .... 824 The observations of the author 824 A rule for determining vital tenacity .. 825 The prevalence of incompatible mar- riages 825 The difficulty in preserving compatibil- ity 826 The effect upon offspring 826 Why Mr. Wilkins loses all his little new-born pets 827 How to guard against growing apart. . . 827 How diversity of temperament may be promoted 827 Dr. Powell's rules in selecting a partner in marriasre t 828 The whole matter made plain 829 CONTENTS. XX1U CHAPTER 111. Law should enforce Adaptation in Monogamic Marriage. PAGE How it may be done 830 A new plan suggested. 830 Marriage at present like a rat-trap 830 Easy divorce alone will not answer S31 Science should be brought to bear S31 How it may be done — 833 How they do in Switzerland 834 Marriage now a lottery S35 How men and women deceive each other. S35 The man bribes the tailor S35 Woman takes to cotton and whalebone S35 The results of such devices S36 PAGB Marriage should conform to mental and physical adaptation S3T The plan to effect this 8S7 The new plan as affecting divorce 838 An amusing specimen of legislation 838 How an application for divorce was treated ...... 838 The two mortal sinners remanded to purgatory 839 How a court of divorce should be con- stituted 839 Matrimonial underground railroads 840 Necessity of a change 841 CHAPTER IV. Three Phases of Monogamic Marriage Daguerreotyped. Lucifer Matches. The world full of ill-assorted marriages 842 Three of most prominent phases of mar- riage 842 Mental Marriages. What constitutes them 842 Elopements from this class 843 Physical Marriages. What constitutes them . 844 No social attraction at home 844 Physically pleasurable and prolific 845 How they may be defined 846 The world full of them 846 Whom we find in this division 846 How gold kidnaps women. 847 Marrying for homes or riches 847 Marrying to please relatives 84S Milton's marriage, of the lucifer class.. 849 His experience 850 Why the wives of bad men cling to them 850 CHAPTER V. Philosophy of Elopements. Five hundred elopements in one year . . 852 Ascribed to depravity 852 No such thing 852 The true philosophy S52 CHAPTER VI. The Intermarriage of Relatives. * The Pope cannot make it work well ... 857 I May as well marry a half-sister as a tall The effects of such marriages 857 cousin — the fact demonstrated Why cousins should not marry .... 858 | How intermarriage may be prevented. CHAPTER VII. Necessity of confidence in each other. . 861 Heads and hearts must be open S61 No necromancer's game 8G1 Frankness indispensable SGI Why happiness is impossible without it 862 A peculiarity of the human mind des- cribed 8C2 What mutual distrust leads to S62 How to decide what is a secret 803 Essays for Married People. Fifty cents of every dollar belongs to the wife 863 The fact demonstrated S63 Her labors as valuable as his S64 Black wives at the South unwilling to work for board and clothes S64 Comments on spendthrifts SC5 Injustice to the wife in cases of separa- tion S65 How the apple should be divided S66 The Wife the equal Partner. Men hold the purse-strings 863 Sleeping apart. Why married people should sleep apart. S67 XXIV CONTENTS. PAGE Philosophical reasons given 868 ^Esthetic reasons given 86S Love versus night-caps 869 A peep at sleepers in stages 869 Everybody snores a little 869 Sexual Moderation. Excess exhausts the system 869 The fact philosophically explained 8T1 "What Dr. Dixon says of the evil 8T2 Its effects upon the male 872 Upon the female S72 A good rule to pursue 873 Jealousy. A common visitor at the family hearth. 873 An infallible remedy 873 For the husband S73 For the wife 874 Strange words, but true 875 Prevention of Conception. The plan of the Oneida Communists.. . 876 Mr. Of oyes' discovery 876 PAGE The author consulted by thousands on the subject of prevention. S80 Sexual Indifference. Frequent cause of.matrimonial infelicity 88C Eesults from disease 880 Or an uncongenial marriage 8S0 Females more subject to it than males. 880 The reasons 880 Women become indifferent by absti- nence 881 Men are maddened by abstinence 8S1 Why it is so 882 Want of magnetic adaptation illustra- ted „ 882 How sexual passion maybe destroyed. 8S3 Indifference may be remedied 884 Food for Pregnant Women. Valuable advice 884 How to avoid pain in child-bed 8S4 Card to Married People. Suggestions to the married 886 Barrenness and excessive child-bearing 886 Both may be remedied 886 CHAPTER VIII. Philosophy of Child-Marking. Eules and facts 8S7 The key to the mystery 887 Why offspring resemble both parents.. . 890 Why offspring resemble but one parent. 892 Why offspring often look like good neighbors :• 893 An illegitimate child impossible 894 What Michelet says 894 Why widows often have children by the second husband resembling the first 894 The first coition marks subsequent off- spring 894 Interesting evidence 894 How objects and frights mark or deform the child 895 CHAPTER IX. Essays *«-r Young and Old bearing on Happiness in Marriage. Opening word.*. » S98 Early Marriage. Expediency of early marriage 899 The two passions implanted by God... . 899 Nature indicat.es.when to be gratified.. 899 Tables of nature's commandments bro- ken *. 900 The tendency of celibacy 902 The old bachelor like a Chinese junk 902 Business avocations should be open to Females. Marriage as a refuge from pecuniary want ... 903 What Mrs. Jameson says 903 Women should not be dependent on men.... 905 Poverty or prostitution the result of false education. . ...,. 905 Ladies should be allowed to Pop the Question. Have they not preferences 906 What Southey 6aid 907 The temptation to accept the first offer. . 907 Women should assume the right to choose and propose 909 Card to the Unmarried. Suggestions to those contemplating mar- riage 909 Advice cheerfully given 9C9 Advertisements. The author's address 910 Useful articles supplied by mail or ex- press 911 Pamphlet publications 912 P A. E T I . Disease : Its Causes, Prevention, and Cure. OPENING CHAPTER. DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES UR planet with each revolution car- ries a huge load of human suffering, a large portion of which arises from dis- ease. We see this enemy in the cradle, dis- torting the features and bedimming the eyes of innocent babes. Too often it carries its lit- tle victims to the burial-ground, bathed with the tears of mothers. We see it in youthhood, arresting the physical development of young men and young women ; consigning them to premature graves, or moving them like sickly shadows through years of hapless life. It rudely grasps people in the prime of life, and hurries them away from fields of useful labor to ; 2^S\ wearisome chambers, where the mind, which has been schooled to activity, becomes a dangerous ally to the enemy by chafing and fretting in its imprisonment. It lays violent hands on our gray-haired fathers and mothers, who yesterday greeted us with the smile, animation, and elasticity of youth, but who to-day go groping about with rounded shoulders and trembling steps. At 2 26 DISEASE AXD ITS CAUSES. last, it arrests the physical functions, the outer shell returns to its original dust, and the inner, living body, enters the new life, where — may we hope — this fearful disturber of our comfort and happiness is refused admission. The Causes of Disease. Disease of every character, except that which may be induced by poison or by accident to body or limb, originates in a derangement of the circulation of vital electricity, disturbance of the mind, or an abnormal condition of the blood. "Wherever it begins, unless speedily checked, the whole system is soon convulsed in its grasp, because of the close relationship existing between the various organs of the Pig. i. CAPITOL OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. The above represents a horizontal section of the brain and bones of the skull ; a a, outer layer of ash-colored matter; b b, the \rhite or internal sub- stance of the brain ; c, the corpus callosum. body. Those who have neglected the study of Physiology, as well as all who have merely scanned the pages of ancient and modern THE CAUSES OE DISEASE. 27 superficial writings, will not readily comprehend the truth of these propositions. The most illiterate men of the civilized world are aware that they have a brain (however barren of idea), and that their bodies have nerves, arteries, and veins. But few physicians, especially of the old prejudiced school, know the real offices of them. Doctors who have brandished scalpels in the dissecting-room can point out the exact locality of every nerve, vein, muscle, tendon, etc., but the means by which each performs its appropriate part, seldom awakens curiosity. Turn to a Medical Dictionary for a definition of the brain ; the learned physiological lexicographer says : — " The use of the brain is to give off nine pairs of nerves and the spinal marrow, from wJiich thirty-one pairs more proceed, through whose means the various senses are performed, and muscular motion ex- cited." This is all very well so far as it goes, but it will not satisfy the mind of a thorough inquirer, nor illustrate the truthfulness of my first remark. The sublime powers and superior beauties of the brain are undiscovered in such a superficial definition. The object of this chapter requires a better one. Let us have a name for the brain which will convey a better understanding of its office. I pro- pose to call it the Capitol of the Nervous System. It stands in the same relation to the human body that Washington does to the United States. There are telegraphic wires proceeding from "Wash- ington which connect with other wires leading to every part of the Republic, and there are nerves proceeding from the brain which con- nect with other nerves leading to every part of the human system. These nerves are like telegraphic wires, and convey impressions to and from the brain with the velocity of lightning. They permeate the skin so extensively that a slight change in the atmosphere is quickly telegraphed to the physiological capitol. Experiment has demonstrated the fact, that the intelligence of an impression made upon the ends of the nerves in communication with the skin, is trans- mitted to the brain with a velocity of about one hundred and ninety- five feet per second. Intelligence from the great toe is received through the nervous telegraph at the physiological capitol, called the brain, in only about one-thirtieth of a second later than from the ear or face. The digestion of food, by which process blood is manufactured, depends upon the electric currents sent by the brain through the pneumo-gastric telegraph, or nerve, to the stomach. The correctness 28 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. of this hypothesis has been illustrated by experiments, tried by a celebrated physician in England. In these, a couple of rabbits were selected, which had been fed with the same kind and quality of food. On one of them he performed the operation of cutting the pneumo- gastric nerve leading to the stomach. The latter being deprived of the nervous stimulant, the animal soon died from the effects of a loaded stomach coupled with suspended digestion. The other rabbit, which was not operated on, was killed after an interval of almost twenty-six hours, and on examination it was proved that the food in his stomach was entirely digested, while in that of the former, the food remained almost as crude and undigested as when it left the masticating organs. Another experiment was made upon two more rabbits in the same manner, except that after the nerves leading to the stomach were cut, galvanism was applied in such a way as to send the current through the disconnected nerves to the seat of di- gestion. At the end of twenty-four hours they were both killed, when it was found that the food in the stomach of the one whose nerves had been severed, and put in connection with the galvanic battery, was nearly as well digested as that in the other, which had not been operated on. These experiments show that the stomach depends for the performance of its office on the electrical or nervous stimulus which it receives from the brain. Similar experiments to those just mentioned have been tried with reference to the heart and other organs, in all of which they ceased to perform their func- tions when the nerves were cut, and commenced again as soon as the galvanic fluid was applied. It is not necessary for the purposes of this essay, to demonstrate that galvanism and this nervous element provided by the brain are identical. It is evident that they are not; but they are so closely related that one will perform the office of the other, and this fact is sufficient to show that the two forces or ele- ments are similar in their character, and that one is a modified form of the other. Animal magnetism, electro-magnetism, galvanism, and electricity, all differ a little from each other, and in employing the term electricity, chiefly, in speaking of the nervous forces, I do so because it is a term better understood by the masses. I have said the brain is the capitol of the nervous system. It may also be called the great receiving and distributing reservoir of nervo electricity. It is largely composed of two substances, one an ash- colored matter, which, if spread out, would cover a surface of six THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 29 hundred and seventy square inches ; the other, a fibrous matter, firm in texture, and tubular. The ash-colored matter is the receiving, and the fibrous matter the distributing reservoir. There are in other parts of the system various smaller receiving and distributing res- ervoirs, composed of the same substances, but all these are under the control of the superior one located in the brain. These are called by physiologists nerve centres, and to carry out the analogy between our nervous system, and the telegraphic system of our country, the nerve centres may be compared to our State capitals. The spinal cord is the great nervous trunk, or the main tele- graphic wire leading from the brain, and from the brain and spinal cord proceed the motor nerves, the nerves of sensation, and the nerves of special sense. With the motor nerves the mind telegraphs to the limbs to move, and they instantly obey, for the force they carry contracts one set of muscles and expands another; for elec- tricity, whether animal or mechanical, has the power to contract or expand any substance. By the action of the motor nerves upon the muscular system, the phenomena of animal motion is performed. Through the nerves of sensation the brain is quickly informed by the telegraph, if a wound is being inflicted upon any portion of the body, if disease is intruding itself upon any organ, or if any thing disagreeable or pleasurable is brought in contact with any part of the body. Through the nerves of special sense, the brain is informed by telegraph whether it be light, or dark — whether there be silence, or noise, etc. So we see that our great common Father, and not Professor Morse, was the inventor of telegraphy. To Morse belongs the honor, and it is indeed a great one, of having adapted this same system of intercommunication with the quickness of lightning be- tween villages, states, and nations ; a discovery which will event- ually unite all mankind in common sympathy and brotherhood. Most people know that telegraphic operators supply the electricity which they send over the wires, by galvanic batteries, prepared "according to the usual processes explained in our school books of Philosophy. But whence is this animo-vital electricity we have been speaking of derived ? Well, I will tell you. The principal source is the stomach, that ever-active laboratory. The dissolution of any substance sets free the element commonly called electricity. The food you eat, if digestible, goes through a process of dissolution in your stomach, and as it dissolves, the electricity evolved ascends 30 DISEASE AXD ITS CAUSES. through the nerves made for the purpose, to the ash-colored mat- ter of the brain. The vitalizing property of air is mainly electricity, and, consequently, we receive this element by the lungs and pores, from which it is taken up by the b'.ood, and carried to the great receiving reservoir of the brain, which, I may add, accommodates more blood than the fibrous matter of the brain. The blood on entering the ash-colored mat- ter discharges its cargo of elec- tricity and nerve nutriment, and returns to the body for another load. Large quantities of animal electricity are also generated by the alkalies and acids of the ani- mal organism. The mucous membranes, or linings of the cavities, are continually excret- ing a semi-fluid called alkali, and the serous membranes, or outer coverings of the body, an aque- ous or watery fluid, called acid, and according to the testimony of Dr. Bird, if these fluids are so placed as to be connected by parietes of an animal membrane, or a porous diaphragm, a current of electricity is evolved. Hence, we find that not only are our stomachs generating electricity, but we are inhaling it by our lungs, and our pores, and the external or serous, and internal or mucous surfaces, united as they are by natural parietes and porous diaphragms, are producing it in large quantities. As it is produced, or enters the system, it is so modified as to be made fit for the uses of the body. The brain is as industriously distributing this vital electricity through the system, as the heart is in circulating the blood, and too PROF. BRAIN'S TELEGRAPH. THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 31 much, or too little, given to any particular organ, produces disease therein. The complete withdrawal of nervo -electricity from any part paralyzes it, so that it has neither sense nor motion. If with- drawn from the motor nerves only, sensation remains, while motion is lost ; if from the nerves of sensation only, then motion continues, but sensation is destroyed. If withdrawn from the nerves of special sense, the power of hearing, seeing, smelling, and tasting is lost ; or it may be withdrawn from only one set of the nerves of special sense, producing some of the foregoing difficulties, without affecting the other senses. Too little vital electricity given to the liver, renders that organ torpid — too much, causes nervous congestion and inflammation; too little given to the stomach causes nervous dys- pepsia — too much makes the appetite voracious, and induces other derangements to the digestive machinery ; and hence, we see that to all the organs a proper quantity must be distributed, or disease results. It is unnecessary to pursue this explanation further to show that the nervous system is a complex piece of machinery, as delicate almost as the spider's web which is spread out over the meadow grasses, and that many diseases arise from a defective nervous system. Those which do not, and which may not come under the exceptions mentioned at the opening of this essay, can be traced to disturbances of the mind, or an abnormal condition of the blood. From what has already been said, it is apparent to any logical mind that diseases often result from trouble, or depression of mind. So closely allied are the brain and the nervous or telegraphic sys- tem, it is impossible for one to be disturbed without exciting the sympathy of the other. The brain, beside being the receiving and distributing reservoir of animal electricity, is the residence of the mind, or the spirit, and this immortal principle controls its action. When, then, any thing occurs to disturb the equanimity of the mind, the brain at once telegraphs the melancholy news over the wires, or nerves, to every organ of the body, and, like a well-regulated and affectionate family, all join in sympathy for the afflictions of the one which they regard as the head and provider. In some cases, when great grief or emotion is present, the brain works so actively in pro- ducing intense thought, that it consumes all, or nearly all the vital electricity of its reservoir, and when this bankruptcy takes place, it even withdraws that which it has snpplied to the vital organs. TVhen 32 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. Fig. 3. it reaches this crisis, death results. Emotions of the mind, it is well known, greatly affect the organic secretions, and Dr. Trail does not greatly magnify a fact, when he remarks " that they may be depraved or vitiated as readily by excessive mental emotion, as by a drug- poison taken into the stomach." He continues by saying, that ■' a paroxysm of anger will render the bile as acrid and irritating as a full dose of calomel ; exces- sive fear will relax the bowels equal to a strong infusion of tobacco ; intense grief will ar- rest the secretions of the gas- tric juice as effectually as bel- ladonna ; and violent rage will make the saliva as poisonous as will a mercurial salivation." Says Combe: "The influence of the brain on the digestive or- gans is so direct, that sickness and vomiting are amongthe ear- liest symptoms of many affec- tions of the head, and of wounds and injuries to the brain, while violent emotions, intense grief, or sudden bad news, sometimes arrest at once the process of di- Nerves accompany the gestion, and produce squeam- ry part of The ishness, or loathing of food, al- though an instant before the appetite was keen. The influ- ence of the mind and brain over the action of the heart and lungs is familiar to every one. The sighing, palpitation, and fainting so often witnessed as consequences of emotions of the mind, are evidences which nobody can resist. Death itself is not a rare result of such excitement in delicately- organized persons. "' ARTERIAL CIRCULATION. The arterial system carries out the good vital blood that nourishes the body. THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. A story related by the late English author, Eliot Warburton, is interesting in this connection. "A Howadji, or sacred traveler (more given to lectures than to prayers), met the plague coming out of Cairo, and reproached that demon with his murderous work. ' Nay,' said the fiend, ' I have slain but a few ; it is true that twenty thousand of the faithful have died, but only one-tenth of them fell by my hand, — the rest were slain by my fellow-demon, Feae.' " In times of war, the influence of the mind on the health has been many times strikingly exhibited. During the great Civil War between the North and the South, all news- paper readers knew of the fatality attending the Federal "Army of the Potomac," in the Chickahom- iny swamps. Most people attrib- uted the prevalence of sickness and death among the soldiers, at that time and place, simply to the un- wholesome air of the locality, but this was not all. It was a dark day in our country's history ; many of our bravest men felt disheartened ; and mental depression, if not de- spair, rendered our country's noble defenders susceptible to malarious influences, and they consequently became ready victims to the un- wholesome sapors with which they were enveloped. The awful fatality which attend- ed the allied armies at the Crimea, Was undoubtedly more attributable Wood after it has deposited its good prop- , , erties. to bad management on the part of the commanding officers than to inclement weather. The soldiers, having lost confidence in their commanders, became depressed in VENOUS CIRCULATION. The venous system carries back the 34 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. spirit they were filled with fearful forebodings; the buoyancy of their nervous system was disturbed, and thereby digestion impaired. Through these discouragements they were made susceptible to disease, and would have been liable to its attacks, however favorable the climate ; while a slight unfavorable change in a foreign atmosphere, under such circumstances, would induce fatal results. The English press attributed the sudden death of Lord Raglan to the censures heaped upon him at home. Many politicians in this country ascribe the brief illness which ended the career of America's greatest statesman, to disappointment in not receiving the Presi- dential nomination from a convention of his party. Thus we see the influence of the mind on the body is generally understood and admitted. But few stop to divine the means by which it is effected. It is well, therefore, to understand that every organ is notified on the telegraphic system, if any thing offends the spirit of the human being, and these organs are often taxed or com- pelled to give back part of the nervo-electricity with which they are performing their offices. If, through any accident to the limbs, contact with any powerful poison, or impurity of the blood, the har- monious evolution and circulation of the nervo-electric fluid in any part of the body are disturbed, the brain feels the effect, discovers the cause, and faithfully informs all the members of the family, who contribute vital healing forces with which they endeavor to conciliate the difficulty, and if they fail, the whole system is thrown into discord. Next, I will speak of the blood, for all diseases which do not arise from .the causes already named and explained, have their birth in a deranged condition of that almost as mysterious fluid which circulates through the entire system. In plain language, the blood is fluid bone, fluid cartilage, fluid muscle, fluid nerve, and fluid every thing that goes to make up the human body. Technically, it is mainly composed of corpuscles floating in liquor sanguinis. These corpuscles are minute bodies, resembling, very nearly, in shape, pieces of coin, as represented in the illustration, Fig. 7. They can only be seen by aid of the microscope. There are two kinds of corpuscles, the red and the white, or colorless. In health, the red predominates in the ratio of three or four hundred to one of the white corpuscle. Hoffman estimates that there are twenty-eight pounds of blood in a man of average ske. This fluid is circulated through the system by the heart, THE CAUSES OE DISEASE. 35 rig. 5. arteries, capillaries, and veins. The heart may be said to be the capitol of the vascular system, as the brain is the capitol of the nervous sys- tem. It may also be called the receiving and distributing reservoir of the blood, as the brain is the receiving and distributing reservoir of the nervo-electrical forces. The heart is an incessant worker and a good manager. It pumps vital or arterial blood through the arteries and capillaries to every part of the system, and pumps it back through the veins to itself again, and then pumps it into the lungs, to be- come revitalized by the oxygen of the air we breathe, from which it again receives it to send it on its recuperative mission. The heart undergoes four thousand contractions per hour; each ventricle is reckoned to contain about one ounce, and therefore, we are brought to the astonishing realization that two hundred and fifty pounds of blood pass through it in that brief space of time. The fleshy parts of the body are filled with what are called capil- laries. An Irishman once remarked, that a gun was a hole with iron made around it ; well, a Capillary is a hole the partition between the two ven- With animal fiber built around it, and tricleS ! T, the pulmonary artery ; 8, the point where it separates and en- there are so many of them that the hu- ters the right and left pulmonaiy man System almost resembles a sponge artery for the corresponding lungs; 111 vascularity. People who are COn- 9, the four pulmonary veins bringing ., , . , . . , . , ,, the blood into the left auricle: 10, tinually drinking something when the the lcft auricle . ^ left ventricle . thermometer gets into the nineties, 12; location of mitral valve; 13, loca- must readily comprehend this state- tionof sigmoid valves of the' aorta; m, , , n . , . 14, the position of the sigmoid valves ment. They are constantly drinking, ,\, , . ° J J *=" of the pulmonary artery. and the water is constantly running out of them. Their clothing becomes saturated with their perspiration. Into the capillaries, the heart," through the arterial system, pours the life-giving blood, and after it has deposited its vital atoms, and taken up the worn-out ones, the heart sucks it up through the veins to be renewed. CAPITOL OF THK VASCULAR SYSTEM. 1, The superior vena cava; 2, the inferior vena cava; 3, the right au- ricle; 4, the right ventricle; 5, the situation of the tricuspid valves; 6, 36 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. The blood may be said to carry on a coast-wise trade with the various organs and tissues of the body. It goes out freighted with fresh living atoms, and visits every part of the body, even the bones and muscles, and gives that which will repair each part in re- turn for atoms which are no longer useful. These waste matters Kg. 6. A FEOG 3 FOOT. The Capillaries as seen in the web of a Frog's foot, Tinder the microscope, veins, and 2, 2, 2, the arteries. 1, are the it carries to the dumping grounds, called the lungs, liver, kidneys, and pores, and these organs empty them out through the channels nature has provided. The heart is the shipper. I have thus intruded these illustrations to present the whole matter clearly to the mind of the non-professional reader, and I trust I am fully understood. Nfow then, let us suppose the blood becomes impure, so that the heart lias no good arterial fluid to dis- pense to the various organs. The latter are not only deprived of the nourishing properties of good blood, but are left to counteract, as best they may, its corrupt particles. The vital parts are placed in the position of a man with his hands tied, who is called upon, not only to feed, but defend himself. The result is, the human machinery becomes clogged with poisonous humors. These may THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 37 block up the liver so that it can not perform its functions properly, and thereby cause irritation, or inflammation, or they may produce a tubercular affection of that organ. They may attack the lungs, producing pulmonary disease. They may irritate or inflame the lining of the stomach so as to impair digestion, and ultimately induce obstinate dyspepsia. In short, no organ or fibre of the body is safe when they are present. These impurities are more liable to affect a person internally than externally. Many persons suppose if there are no pimples, blotches, ulcers, or tumors on the surface, the blood may be considered pure, no matter how much pain or suffering may be experienced inside of the outer covering. This is an error ; for many of the most troublesome affections of the hidden portions of the body are caused by blood impurities. Those who have them on the surface are the most fortunate, for, as a general rule, when the blood possesses strength enough to pitch these trouble- some particles out on the surface, it also possesses the ability to protect the internal organs from their corrupting influence. What I have said in the foregoing relative to the blood, relates rather to active, than latent impurities. The latter may be defined as those foreign properties in the blood, which, under favorable circum- stances, may induce disease. Ordinarily, a person having them is unconscious of their presence. They fellowship with the corpuscles of the blood, as masked hypocrites fellowship with Christians. But let some poisonous gases infest the atmosphere, and they at once, like the secreted burglar, open the doors of the system, coalesce with them, and induce fevers, or difficulties of some kind. I think fevers of all kinds, including scarlet fever and measles, may be traced to latent impurities in the blood. A person could hardly contract small-pox when exposed to it, except for these insidious properties which render the system susceptible. As a female germ can not produce a child without the addition of a male germ, so these latent impure particles in the blood can not generate disease without meeting their affinitive poison. Seed cast on ground not suited to it produces nothing, while simply the pollen blown from some dis- tant field on to just the right quality of soil, seems to meet some- thing equivalent to the ovule, from which vegetation starts up, as if by magic. It is a fact known to many scientific men, that in almost any locality, soil taken from a depth of thirty or forty feet is soon covered with white clover. This can only be accounted for by attrib- 38 DISEASE AND ITS CAUSES. uting to this soil germinal qualities, which, brought in contact with the pollen of the clover carried perhaps miles on the wings of the wind, produce this species of vegetation. According to the investigations of a Dr. Salisbury, it is quite prob- able, at least, that fever and ague is produced by some such process as I have endeavored to explain. The following I find in a late num- ber of the American Agriculturalist. " The ague plant has recently been discovered — not the plant that cures ague, but the one that causes it. Here is one plant, at least, that we can notice with- out being overwhelmed with applications for seed. To be sure, it is a little thing, and takes a good eye, aided by a good microscope, to find it, but when found, it can not be said, 'it is no great shakes,' for it is the genuine shaker seedling itself. Dr. Salisbury, of Ohio, an- nounces in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, that fever and ague is caused by a minute plant which is found where stagnant water has just dried away. The spores, or reproductive dust of this microscopic plant, are diffused through the night damps, and being taken into the system by breathing, are the cause of that wide- spread scourge, the ague. The habits of this minute plant com- pletely accord with what was before known of the occurrence of miasm ; and that they are the real cause of it has been shown by taking boxes of earth containing them to places where an ague was never known to occur. In about two weeks after the ague plant was taken there, well-marked cases of the disease appeared. The spores only rise in the night, and then to a height, varying with the locality, of from thirty to one hundred feet. This explains why the night air brings on ague, and why elevated localities are free from it. After the ague-seed is taken into the system, the plant is propa- gated there, and the patient becomes a sort of animated hot-bed." Now, " ague plant, 1 ' as well as every other plant, must have suitable soil, and it is hardly sensible to suppose that any such soil can be found in pure blood. It is doubtful if cholera, or yellow fever, can attack those whose blood possesses purity and richness, whether the seeds of those dis- eases are insects in the air, smaller than any ordinary microscope can discover, as some aver, or simply poisonous gases in the atmosphere. The latent impurities in the blood must be of the right quality to unite with them, and engender those diseases, or a person, however exposed, will escape, THE CAUSES OF DISEASE. 39 There are other abnormal conditions of blood which can hardly be called impurities, active or latent. For instance, a person may have an insufficient quantity of blood, resulting from which he is weak, pale, and cadaverous. There may be an excessive supply of the white corpuscle, or an insufficient supply of the red corpuscle, pro- ducing paleness and lassitude, but not necessarily leanness, as people so affected are often fat. There may be an insufficient supply of the white, or a superabundance of the red, giving undue redness to the skin, and predisposing a person to inflammatory affections and con- gestions. In short, the blood must possess very nearly that propor- tion of red and white corpuscles which nature originally instituted, or disease will present itself. It "now having been shown that a free circulation of vital or nervous electricity, an unruffled mind, and good blood are essential to health, it requires only a moderate exercise of common sense to perceive that &\(F) jg^ all diseases, excepting simply those -Yj) $ ffwA Educed by poison or accident, orig- inate from a disturbance of these indispensable conditions. There && |& may exist hereditary organic weak- nesses, but even those had their origin in conception, or in foetal life, CORPUSCLES OF THE BLOOD. ° L ' 7 from the disturbed mind or vital The corpuscles of the blood as revealed fountaing of the nt thu§ not by the microscope— some separate and r ' others piled together like so many pieces of allowing a single exception to my coin. theory. The attention of the reader will next be directed to the principal causes of nerve and blood derangements, or the primary causes of dis- ease. But, before concluding, let me ask the reader if the foregoing does not lead to the irresistible conclusion, that the first duty of a physician to a patient is to see that his nervous system is set right, his mind emancipated from all depressing influences, and his blood restored to that condition which enables it to impart the tint of health to the skin, strength to the muscle, and rich and abundant juices to all the tissues ? CHAPTER II. THE CAUSES OF NERVOUS DERANGEMENTS AND AFFECTIONS OF THE BLOOD. HE subject of this chapter opens a boundless field for the investigation of physiologists. Indeed, should an attempt be made to trace out all the influences, immediate and remote, which tend to destroy the mental and nervous equilibrium, and render the blood a fountain of death rather than life, many volumes like this would be filled, and then the task would be unfinished. I shall, therefore, limit myself to an explanation of the principal causes ; those over which we have the easiest control. Each shall be treated under its appropriate head, with such variety of matter as may be necessary to make it entertain- ing, as well as instructive. Ignorance! This is the vehicle, loaded down like a city omnibus, or an excur- sion steamboat, that conveys into the sys- tem nearly all the nervous derangements and affections of the blood which afflict the human family. A large proportion of all the evils the essays in this chapter will complain of, really spring from one com- mon root — ignorance. Errors in eating, drinking, sleeping, dressing, ventilation, sexual isolation, sexual association, medi- cating, «&c, the bad habits of childhood, and of adult age, may be traced directly to ignorance. It casts a black shadow over every hearth-stone — it makes a dark corner in every institution of learning — it Fig. 8. Trying to lift himself over the fence by the straps of his boots. IGNORANCE. 41 clothes with bigotry and intolerance thousands who claim to be the apostles of the Christian religion — and it even revels in the halls of science, putting smoked glasses over the eyes of those we are taught to revere as philosophers and sages — it makes the peoples of all our planet play " blind-man's buff," where, on every side, there are moral and physical pit-holes ready to ingulf them. No one sees his neighbor in his true character, and if he grasps for him, only catches costumes or professions. We are like moles, with only the rudiments of eyes, groping above the ground inhabited by those burrowing beneath. Thank God, we have powers which those little quadrupeds have not, and if we will but place ourselves openly to the light which is ready to shine upon us, if we will be tolerant of each other's opinions, weigh all things, and hold fast that which is good, our posterity, if not we, may behold the brightness of the "good time coming." There are two kinds of ignorance — real and wilful. The latter is the outgrowth of the former. No sane person will voluntarily sacrifice health through wilful ignorance, unless that wilful igno- rance is plumply backed by some of the genuine article. Like the "Jacobs," "Original Jacobs," and "Real Original Jacobs," they are all Jacobs after all. A person may .shut his eyes to a disagree- able truth — resolve within himself that he will not see it, and impa- tiently trample it under his feet, and yet, did he fully comprehend the consequences, he would desist from his folly. A glutton may overload his stomach, with a full knowledge that he is violating a physical law — knowing that this violation will certainly render him physically uncomfortable. But were he sufficiently informed to have presented clearly to his mind the latent as well as active derangements one such violation engenders ; could he but see the in- numerable ills which will remotely spring from a cause apparently so slight, is it to be supposed he would sacrifice years of physical comfort for a momentary gratification of a morbid appetite ? A thoughtless young woman may dress imprudently to attend a fashion- able ball, covering but partially, or leaving completely exposed, portions of her person which she habitually wraps in flannels or furs. She is told of the danger, but laughingly retorts, " I know it, but I am bound to have a good time." This may be attributed to wilful ignorance, but a stratum of real ignorance lies at the bottom of it. She has an imperfect knowledge of how fearfully and wonderfully 42 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. she is made, and how one slight physical derangement may lay the foundation for many diseases ; to future years of mental and bodily wretchedness ; and finally, a premature grave. "A short life, and a merry one!" she gayly ejaculates, without knowing that such a thing is a physical impossibility ; but it is, unless she ends her brief hours of frivolity by cutting her throat, or otherwise abruptly terminating her existence in one short moment, for all recklessness leads to mental and physical suffering ; and though life may be short under such cir- cumstances, it is al ways long enough for nature to inflict her penalties ; for a person cannot die without disease, or physical infirmity, except by accident or suicide, and when a few days or weeks of reckless hilar- ity are followed by months of mental and physical distress, even if death does come to the rescue, what becomes of the theory, of " a short life, and a merry one" ? Let the foregoing two instances suffice for an illustration of what is generally called wilful ignorance. We see that this species has its origin in real ignorance, and that a better understand- ing of the laws of life and health would speedily put an end to recklessness entered upon with but a partial knowledge of the con- sequences. Eeal ignorance is the fearful enemy of mankind. Let us commence at the very beginning of the human being. How many know the essential conditions to bring into the world a healthy child ? A man and woman love each other, or think they do, or they do not, but it is expedient to marry, and they do marry. The next thing you hear is, that the wife is pregnant. How did she become so ? Accidentally, probably, for nearly all children are the accidents of gratified passion, instead of the products of willing parents who premeditated and prepared themselves for so important a work. Most married people are ignorant of the fact that their own physical conditions at the moment each yields the germ, which is to start into existence a human being, has an everlasting influence upon that being. Many a child has been conceived when its father was lounging about home on account of sickness, and to-day suffers physically, and perhaps mentally, from the effects of that paternal illness. There are thousands of children to-day with disordered nervous and vascular systems, who are so because they were con- ceived at the "making up" of quarrelsome progenitors. Many a child is the offspring of a rape, perpetrated by a brutal husband IGNORANCE. 43 upon an unwilling wife, and this offspring goes through life with a weakly nervous system as a consequence. Men and women marry, ignorant of the laws of mental and physi- cal adaptation. This botchery of human procreating machinery goes blindly at work turning out babies. The babies do not ask to be born. Life and disease are both thrust upon them. Poor things ! The doctors will earn half their bread and butter from these wretched specimens of humanity, if the unfortunates manage to live long enough to earn any thing. The ignorance of parents prior to, or at the moment the embryo of a new being is created, brings forth only the first instalment of disease with which it will have to con- tend. Here and there a prudent woman may be found who knows to what extent the offspring within her womb is physically influenced by her habits of thought and action. The majority do not. Few men, when treating pregnant women with unkindness, are conscious of the injury they are inflicting upon the miniature human being. The period of utero-life is one fraught with danger to the health of the defenceless little creature, which nestles as shrinkingly within the walls of the uterus before, as it does timidly to its mother's bosom after its birth. The babe is born ! What next ? Not one mother of a thousand knows how to rear a child in a way to promote health of nerve and blood. She feeds and clothes it improperly during infancy and childhood ; she drugs it almost to death, or lets some doctor do it, for ills proceeding from one or more of the causes already alluded to. Then the child must be vaccinated. How few know the fact that scrofulous, syphilitic, and other impurities are taken from the arms of diseased children, and inoculated into the blood of those who are free from such impurities ! The knife of the father, or the needle of the mother, or the aid of a physician with whom the parents are entirely unacquainted, is employed to perform this im- portant operation, when only those combining skill with the great- est integrity, should be trusted. So that, from this source, a new element to corrupt the blood is imparted to the infant. As the child advances in years, a new and strange passion seizes it, often before the proper age of puberty. Ignorant of the complexity and offices of the procreative organs, it falls into bad habits in efforts to gratify the passion, and further nervous and blood derangements ensue. If it be a female, she arrives at the age when menstruation begins, un- 44 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. taught regarding this function. She observes the blood issuing from her body, and frightened at its appearance, attempts to stay the flow. I have many times been consulted by pale women suffering from menstrual irregularities, which were induced in childhood, by attempting to arrest the menstrual discharge, by applying cold water, ice, or snow to the parts. Those who do know enough of the func- tion to avoid this error, do not know how necessary prudence is during its performance. In rural districts, the out-houses are often built to project over streams, or they stand on hill-sides, so that draughts of air are continually passing up through them. The best of them in the country are poorly built for the protection of the health, and especially the health of women. Many cases of menstrual irreg- ularities, particularly in those who have but just commenced the per- formance of the function, may be traced to exposures in badly con- structed places of this kind. Keeping the feet dry, and the bosoms from sudden changes of temperature, when they have been made sen- sitive, and susceptible to disease by excessive dress, are precautions too often neglected. In some cases too little, and in others, too much, exercise is indulged in during the menstrual flow. The coyness of young people of both sexes, but especially of young women, in attending to the "calls of nature," are also fruitful sources of nervous and blood derangements. Children are brought up to regard the necessary attentions to the bladder and bowels as something so indelicate as to require the greatest privacy, so much so, that if places constructed for such purposes are not entirely shielded from observation, a young man, or a young woman, will go all day, or possibly for several days, without attending to two very important functions. The results are, the blood becomes poisoned by the retention and absorption of waste matters, the nervous energies of the liver, bowels, kidneys, and bladder, become paralyzed, and if the victim be a female, the pressure of water in the bladder in front, of the excrementitious matters of the bowels above and be- hind, displaces that sensitive organ, the womb, and then follow all sorts of ills to make life wretched. What kind of etiquette is this which teaches people to be ashamed of the functions an All- wise Creator has instituted to preserve and keep active the most complex machin- ery ever made by His hand ? Is it indeed a disagreeable task, one we are to be ashamed of, to dispose of the useless portions of the liquids and solids we have put into our mouths ? May we not better IGNORANCE. 45 teacli our children to be ashamed of gluttony — of besmearing their mouths with vile tobacco, and loading their breath with the vapors of unwholesome drinks ? May we not better place a gate at the door wherein so much that is injurious enters, than to stop up the outlets from which many things purer depart! Especially when absent from home, among people they have never seen before, and may never see again, are coyish young people — and some old ones — foolish in this particular ; and because appropriate places for physical relief cannot be entered without observation, irregularities are inau- gurated which finally bring them to their beds, and their doctors. People in advanced life, unless sorely afflicted with mock modesty, are usually more sensible in regard to this matter, and still, they are not sensible enough for their own good, nor have they a particle of sense, in many instances, in giving right impressions to their children. Grown-up children know too little of themselves to instruct those who come after them. Mothers, who have the care of children, and who should, consequently, possess all attainable information regard- ing the human system and its wants, often know the least. Picture to your imagination women, well-informed on most subjects, bear- ing in educated circles the reputation of being intelligent, calling on a physician, and trembling with anxiety on account of a tumor they had discovered, from which they apprehended the most painful con- sequences. An examination is made, and what they regard as a tumor, is found to be simply the neck of the womb, in a perfectly healthy condition, and in the place our Maker assigned for it ! Such instances have occurred in my practice. One young married woman, of unquestionable popular intelligence, consulted me con- cerning a supposed cancer. Her mind was terribly exercised about it, and she hoped her case was not incurable. On examination, the cancer proved to be simply the clitoris, although somewhat in- flamed by her frequent manipulations after she first discovered it. At the outset, it was only the natural organ such as is found in all healthy women ; but she could not let it alone when she discovered it, thinking she "must do something for it," and the growing irri- tation resulting from her attentions to the supposed, cancer, she at- tributed to the progress of the disease. Women have consulted me who supposed leucorrhcea was simply a natural and healthy dis- charge. With such ignorance on the part of mothers, especially when they are so thoroughly saturated with fashionable social non- 46 CAUSES OF NERYOUS AND ELOOD DERANGEMENTS. sense, we can hope for little improvement in children. "We must look to schools, ultimately, for our physical redemption, and if prop- er means will be adopted by those having charge of our institutions of learning, great things may be effected in one generation. In the chapter headed " The Prevention of Disease," I shall make some suggestions which should be pursued in all places where young people are taught. In a country like ours, so full of school-houses, ignorance in reference to vital matters pertaining to physical life, would be utterly inexcusable, if the right course were adopted by our boards of education, and school committees. I will now conclude this essay with the remark that much that will appear in subsequent pages might be embodied under this head, for ignorance lies at the bottom of all bad habits and usages. But under separate heads can be given greater prominence to many things to which I wish to call especial attention. Violating the Moral Nature. Many people have an idea that if they pay fair respect to what are usually understood as physical laws, all will go well with them so far as bodily health is concerned. But Fi =- 9 - few seem to understand the sympathy ex- isting between the moral and physical man. If an individual, to-day, has sufficient phys- ical strength and endurance to suppress the voice of the inward monitor — the conscience — and retire at night with a relish for sleep, after he has perpetrated some great moral wrong, he imagines he will always be equally successful in crushing out his better nature. But if no other cause inter- venes to render his nervous system, and hence his mind, wretchedly sensitive to all A man who has nearly worn guch violations, the effort required to put himself out in the service of n .,, ... -, ^ the devil ' down conscience will, in time, do it, and all at once he will find himself plunged into a mental hell, from which and into the sulphurous one pic- tured by ancient theologians, would be a grateful deliverance. We cannot persistently do those things which we feel to be wrong, YIOLATING THE MORAL NATURE. 47 without wearing away (by slow degrees, perhaps, in some cases), the nervous strength which, to-day, sustains us in violations of our moral sense. If, by a dishonorable course of life, a man may have attained wealth, and that wealth has given him position, and during all this time he has managed to preserve a fair degree of health — possibly excellent health — the loss of property, and of position at- tained through it, brings him to his reflections, and the doctors have no easy task to cure him of ills which almost surely overtake him. Then, if not before, the voice of conscience, which has been contu- maciously suppressed, keeps him awake at night-time, for the lessons which should have been received from day to day for years, are crowded upon him in one moment, and hypnotics and anodynes are of no avail in bringing sleep to his eyelids, and repose to his agitated nervous system. Nor is it sufficient that the moral nature be simply preserved, in order to make a man strong and noble. It must be built up. As physical exercise develops the muscle, so exercise of the moral faculties develops the moral strength of the man, and this moral strength makes him mentally buoyant, courageous, and happy ; and this condition of mind promotes digestion, gives regular pulsa- tion to the heart, action to the liver and kidneys, full and deep res- piration, and muscular life and elasticity. It is not necessary that a man should do as his conscientious neighbor, or as society dictates. So long as mankind are not run in one mould, there will be diversity of opinion, and each man will form, from investigation and reflection, a moral standard, consider- ably his own, or at least modified by his individuality. It is not what others say of us individually, or what people of other nation- alities say of our nation, that will make us great, powerful, and happy. It is what we can feel regarding ourselves ; it is the self- respect which a noble life creates ; if our consciences can unequivo- cally pronounce the verdict — Right — Ave are at once invincible — we are happy — we are healthy. The applause of others may tickle our vanity, at the moment we think it misapplied; but the applause of conscience sinks a shaft of moral strength, an unfathomable pleasure, down into the very soul's centre. It does not simply dwarf a man morally to devote his entire ener- gies to the accumulation of wealth, or the attainment of some other selfish object. It changes his physiognomy, or at least prevents it from acquiring a look of nobleness. An individual may not be 43 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. legally dishonorable, while straining every nerve for the accomplish- ment of a selfish purpose, but the simple neglect of his moral nature makes him less a man, not only in a -moral but in a physical sense. The nervous stimulus, . or life force, has been consumed for the realization of the one object of his ambition, and the various organs of the body have been cheated of that which belonged, in part, to them, so that a dwarfed soul looks out of a body which has not been healthfully developed. He may not be a shrunken man physic- ally, he may be fat — plump as an alderman ; if so, much of the vital forces he wastes in his aggrandizement, are needed to spiritual- ize this gross corporeity. Have you never noticed how much differ- ence there is in the physical appearance of a good fat man, and a fat man who has neglected his moral development? From the former, the soul shines out like a light from a window; the latter has no more spiritual radiancy than the wax figure of a sixpenny showman. So that sins of omission, as well as of commission, against the moral nature, affect the physical well-being. There is no one way, perhaps, in which the moral man is more tor- tured than in the pursuit of wealth and position. In fact, this part of man's nature is often sacrificed entirely for the realization of these objects in our competitive world. Henry Ward Beecher, in one of his sermons, presented something interesting in this connection. "Did you ever," he asks, " see men made in this world ? They had no great wisdom ; they had no great honor ; they had no great heroism ; they had no great patience ; they had no great meekness ; they had no great wealth of love ; but they had a certain muck wisdom ; they knew how to thrust their hands in where dirt was to be moulded ; they knew how to amass property ; they knew how to construct ships and houses; they had a kind of ferreting eye, a sort of weasel saga- city ; they were keen and sharp ; they were said to be prosperous, thriving men ; they were being built up according to the estimation of men. Give a man five thousand dollars, and you have laid the foundation on which to build him — you have got his feet built ; give him ten thousand, and you have built him up to the knees; give him twenty-five thousand, and you have built him to the loins; give him a hundred thousand, and you have built him above the heart; give him two hundred thousand, and he is made all over. Two hundred thousand dollars will build a man in this world; two hundred and. fifty thousand will make a good deal of a man ; five hundred thou- VIOLATING THE MORAL NATURE. 49 sand makes a splendid fellow, as the world goes. The great trouble, however, is that although the materials may not he very costly, as God looks upon them, men find it difficult to build themselves in this way. Besides, they are very easily unbuilt. Where a man is merely what he owns, it does not take long to annihilate him. You can take a man's head off with a hundred thousand dollars ; you can cut him in two with two hundred and fifty thousand ; you can annihilate him with a kick of five hundred thousand, so that there would be nothing left of him but smoke ! " There are thousands of thousands of men, of whom, if you take away their houses, and ships, and lands, and fiscal skill, and such other qualities belonging to them as they will not want in Heaven, and cannot carry to Heaven, there will not be enough left to repre- sent them there of righteousness, and godliness, and faith, and love, and patience, and meekness, and such like qualities. They have used all these qualities up for fuel for their machine. It has been their business in life to sacrifice probity that they might be rich; that they might gain power and influence ; that they might make their hold on the world broader and stronger; and if they cannot carry forth these things which have been the objects to the attainment of which they had devoted all their energies, what is left for them to go out of life with? You see not only single specimens, but whole ranks of the dwarfed, insect class of men, patting each other on the shoulder, registering each other, and speaking of each other as 'our first men,' 'our largest men,' 'our influential men,' ' our strong men ;' and yet, if you were to take away from them that of which the grave will divest them, you could not find them even with a microscope! " Do you not know just such men? If you were to think of those belonging to your own circle of acquaintance, and ask, not what this and that man are worth as factors in material things, but what they are worth as God looks upon them, what they are worth when measured by their righteousness, and faith, and love, and patience, and meekness, those things which are to make up our manhood in the eternal world, would you not find among them those of whom, if their selfishness, their heartlessness, their grasping skill, their worldly wisdom were taken from them, there would be scarcely any thing left?" It often happens that such men— men who, instead of making great names by pursuing some moral or beneficent object, simply 3 50 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. write their names on checks, business receipts, carve them out on trees, pencil them out on barns, on walls, and on the rude partitions of summer resorts — awaken to a consciousness of their moral im- poverishment after they become somewhat sated with wealth and petty enjoyments ; and then there is a summary precipitation ; a break- down of energy, of pride, of ambition, of appreciation of what they have attained, and so much disappointment and mental wretchedness, that health fails, and oh, how hard it is with hygiene, with tonics, with therapeutical electricity, with every means science and skill has discovered, to build up such men! They are the worst physical wrecks that enter a doctor's office ; and although they say they would give all they possess for physical health and mental quietude, they cling tenaciously to the gold they have so long worshipped. How can they afford to part with it? All their generosity, all their love of humanity, all their love of God, and every good quality they brought into the world with them, have been melted into the glitter- ing lump. Although, as before remarked, there is a greater tendency to sacri- fice the moral nature in the pursuit of wealth and position in this world of pride and competition than in any other way, there is a manifest carelessness in regard to the preservation and development of the spark of the divinity within us in every department of life. Few men and women, comparatively, are fully truthful. Few treat their neighbors with exact justice; too many sacrifice peace of mind for momentary pleasure ; thousands are daily and hourly doing what they know to be wrong. After all this violation of the moral sense come self-accusation, remorse, wretchedness, loss of sleep, loss of ner- vous vivacity and strength, and finally the whole system becomes more or less affected by the committal of sins for which punishment is only looked for beyond the present life, when it is hoped an escape may be effected through atonement and the grace of God. Present chas- tisements are overlooked, or attributed to other causes. People are often ill without knowing the cause, when, if they would turn their eyes inward and examine themselves searchingly, they would find that their physical discomforts arose from discords and inharmonies resulting from doing injustice to a neighbor, for wantonly letting slip a glorious opportunity to make some one happy. Nations, as well as individuals, suffer from wrong-doing. Govern- ments convulse and cripple their power, and shatter their comtitu- VIOLATING- THE MORAL NATURE. 51 tions by acts of injustice. It seems to me that nothing can be surer to end in discord, war, and bloodshed than despotism. Let any body of organized men prevent some other men from enjoying the privi- leges they arrogate to themselves, what more natural than for those oppressed men to conspire for the assassination, or, at least, over- throw of their oppressors? "What can be a more dangerous element in one people than the existence among them of another people, who, for some reason not founded upon justice, are denounced as not so good, not so intelligent, not so capable in any sense, and for which they are denied privileges in the pursuit of happiness which their more powerful neighbors maintain for themselves ? Can we reason- ably hope to outlive conspiracy, war, and bloodshed, till we take our neighbor by the hand rather than by the throat? Considering the prevalence of conceit in this world, are any of you quite sure you are any better or more intelligent than the man you are holding your foot upon ? and if so, is it not clearly your duty to take your foot off, give him a helping hand, and the widest opportunities and incen- tives for culture ? Would it not be better to devote the money you are paying the soldier or policeman to keep him in vassalage, to his education and elevation ? If, to-day, every ruler on our planet were making it the one great aim of his life to give equal religious, politi- cal, and social rights to all people ; if oppressions were lifted from the hearts and shoulders of all God's children, if every individual would see his neighbor's rights as clearly as he discerns his own, the clash of arms on the battle-field between contending nationalities, the voice of intolerance between differing religionists, disputes in questions of law, the mutterings of men in petty strife, would all be swallowed up in one grand millennium of happiness and kindly feeling, which would go far toward promoting individual health and national greatness. This, you may say, is an ideal picture, and cannot be realized, but self-improvement will do it. If each one of us will be- stow a portion of that labor and criticism upon ourselves which we put forth professedly to improve our neighbors, the object aimed at in time will be accomplished. Nations are made up of individuals, and consequently, it is only necessary that every person know how much his own health and happiness depends upon that of his neigh- bor, and set himself about making himself more just, more truthful, more tolerant, to make society, nation, and government what each should be. We are too apt to say, our neighbor will not adopt the 52 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Fig. 10. Golden Rule, and that, therefore, we will not. This is mainly the reason why a better condition of things is not attained. Every one is waiting for another. Let every one who feels the first impulse toward self-reformation, inaugurate the work at once. If none of his neighbors do, he will find a full compensation in the spiritual and physical benefitsthat accrue to himself, and if he suffers from injustice from others, he certainly does not suffer from injustice to himself. One thousand such men scattered over the world in one genera- tion, would become ten thousand in the next, and might in a few generations be counted by millions? Why hesitate because such a work cannot be accomplished in our life- time ? Because of the disposition of men to wait for each other in undertaking the work of self-improvement, the world is now filled with dishonorable retaliation. I will relate an instance in point. Standing at the counter of a tradesman, while the latter was telling a customer what a smart trick he had perpetrated upon some one who had cheated him, I was witness to the narration of the dishonorable feat, during which narration his eyes sparkled with revengeful delight. He concluded with the triumphant interroga- tory, "Didn't I serve him right?" This seemed as much directed to me as to my fellow-customer, and I felt morally bound to respond, when the fol- lowing colloquy ensued. " I don't think you did." Tradesman. — " Well, I do, for he is the biggest scoundrel in the city ; and I always like to get the start of such men. He is always looking out for a smart game of grab." M But of whom are dishonorable people to learn lessons of honesty, if every one who is defrauded by them, retaliates when opportunity offers?" Tradesman. — " That is all very nice, but I am not the man to let a good chance slip to get even with the fellow who comes a big thing on me." GODDESS OF JUSTICE. VIOLATING THE MORAL NATURE. 53 " Well, then, you are only confirming the usual opinion of dis- honorable men, that ; all men are dishonest,' and your retaliation on him will lead him, when opportunity presents, to again retaliate on you, and so on indefinitely, till death ends the warfare. Perhaps if you had reminded him of the chance presented to ' get even with him,' and spurned it as something you could not stoop to, it would have aroused the sleeping sense of honor within him ; but, if not, he could not justify his course of rascality with the reflection that he was as good as other men, for he would have, for once, at least, met, in a business way, one man who was above both petty re- venge and dishonesty. In my opinion, sir, you missed a golden op- portunity to do a neighbor good." The colloquy ended with a muttering response, which was not quite audible, but the tradesman, after all, was only practising a pretty well-established commercial code. Even when money is not an object, so dominant is the passion for revenge, business men often play financial tricks on their fellows, simply to " pay them off in their own coin," for some previous transaction of a similar kind, in which they were the victims. With this spirit of retaliation in the commercial world, where is fraud to end? There is no one passion so dwarfing to man's moral growth, and, consequently, to his perfect physical development, as revenge. It whittles his soul right down to a pointed poisoned arrow, with which he is ever ready to pierce his offending neighbor. It plants in his eye an expression as fierce as the serpent's tongue ; . it shrinks the muscles of his face, and gives his lower jaw an unseemly protrusion ; it makes him a stockholder in " hell upon earth," and his neighbors unwilling sharers in the dividends. A revengeful man has that within him which destroys all capability of self-happiness,, and all comfort to those who are compelled to come in contact with him. Perhaps it is something that many have not thought of, but it will be found, on experiment, that nothing pays better, physically, as well as morally, than the cultivation of the moral nature. One gets his pay as he goes along. As remarked before, he is recompensed in a happier mind, and better physical health, and there are those coming after him whose happiness should be considered as im- portant as his own, and the labor to promote which will make his soul larger, his nervous system more harmonious, his blood richer, and his muscles stronger,. for is it not apparent in the light 54 CAUSES OP NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. of this essay, that a peaceful, just, generous mind, and a clear con- science, strengthen the whole animal organism? The Food we Eat. Considering the fact that man by habit is omnivorous, and almost as much so as the pig, and that he eats about eight hundred pounds of food, exclusive of fluids, annually, it ought to surprise no one FV n when I say that many derangements of the blood arise from the use of improper food. Look how directly the food goes to the stomach. It is taken into the mouth and masticated, into the stomach and digested, and then passes down into the lower stom- ach, where it meets the pancreatic fluids, and is sucked up into a duct, and carried directly into the blood at the angle formed by the great jugular vein on the left side of the neck, and the principal vein of the left arm. Then see how directly it goes to the manufacture of bone, muscle, nerve, &c. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the North American Review, has presented this change very happily. " If," he says, " the reader of this paper live another year, his self-conscious principle will have migrated from its present tenement to another, the raw materials even of which are not yet put together. A portion of that body of his which is to be, will ripen in the corn of his next harvest. Another portion of his future person he will purchase, or others will purchase for him, headed up in the form of certain barrels of potatoes. A third fraction is yet to be gathered in the Southern rice-field. The limbs with which he is then to walk will be clad with flesh borrowed from the tenants of many stalls and pas- tures, now unconscious of their doom. The very organ of speech, with which he is to talk so wisely, pleod so eloquently, or speak so effectively, must first serve his humble brethren to bleat, to bellow, and for all the varied utterance of bristled or feathered barn -yard life. His bones themselves are, to a great extent, in posse, and not in esse. A bag of phosphate of lime which he has ordered from Professor Mapes for his grounds, contains a large part of that which is to be THE FOOD WE EAT. 55 his skeleton, and more than all this, by far the greater part of his body is nothing after all but water, and the main substance of his scattered members is to be looked for in the reservoir, in the run- ning streams, at the bottom of the well, in the clouds that float over his head, or diffused among them all." The rapidity with which the food of to-day is incorporated into the body of to-morrow, should make us prudent in what we eat, if we would preserve our blood from impurity, and the atoms com- posing our bodies from disease. How prudent the human family is, may be seen by sitting at the tables of various peoples, civilized and barbarous. At home we are treated to all sorts of mixed dishes, seasoned with condiments, and saturated with the oleaginous juices of swine. Few of us stop to reflect that there may be as much an- tagonism in the stomach between the various kinds of flesh taken into it, as exists in the living world between the living bodies whose flesh we eat. A fashionable dinner comprises about three courses of different animal food ; in some cases turtle soup, then fish of some kind, then roast beef or turkey, with side dishes of mutton or lamb, veal or pork, etc. It cannot, perhaps, be demonstrated, but is it not reasonable to suppose, that each one of these meats pos- sess a latent magnetism, as individual in its character as when ani- mated by life. If so, the stomachs of some people have, every day, to conciliate and make up a happy family of a great diversity of mag- netic elements. To live fashionably is to live improperly. Now let us step intrusively into the kitchens of our neighbors. John Chinaman feasts his stomach on cats, dogs, wharf-rats, sea- slugs, sharks, bats, and caterpillar soup. Australians, and many other people, eat snakes, kangaroo-rats, mice, maggots, etc. The Japanese prefer green peaches, apricots, and plums, to ripe ones, as an offset, I suppose, to our eating green cucumbers. A traveler among the Indians of the Eocky Mountains, or a guest of the people of Zanzibar, will smack his astonished lips over puppy stew, with- out knowing what it is made of. One who visits Africa, may have a plate of tender young monkey ; while the people of the Arctics treat their visitors to a diet of putrid seal's flesh, putrid whale's tail, reindeer's chyle, train oil, whale's skin, and partially hatched eggs. The native of Surinam eats toads, and the Hottentot considers roasted caterpillars to be savory as sugared cream. Frogs are eaten by the French, by the Chinese, and by many people in both 56 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Europe and America. The French have lately taken to eating snails, having found their flavor superior to that of frogs. One hundred thousand are daily supplied to Paris by Burgundy and Champagne alone. On the Maguey plant in Mexico, a large yellow worm thrives, which the native Indian eats, and calls the dish Maguey butter. A Tribune correspondent is responsible for the statement that Emperor Maximilian was induced to try it. In brief, among the many strange things used as food, not already mentioned, may be named : elephant, hippopotamus, giraffe, zebra, antelope, wild ants, leopard, lion, alligator, crocodile, eggs of reptiles, lizard, wild-cat, panther, wolf, opossum, musk-rat, rat's brains, porcupine, bird's nest, locust, grasshopper, spider, and nearly every insect; and the Chinamen are so given to domestic economy as to eat the chrys- alis of the silk-worm after the cocoon has been wound off. In New York, the testicles of young animals are considered a dish for an epicure by many citizens. Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat, son of the great French general, who spent the closing years of his life in Florida, and who had tried all sorts of eating, declared as follows: — " Horse-flesh, good — dog, fox, and cat, only middling — skunk, tolerably good — hawk, first-rate — crow, second-rate — pigeon, jay- bird, and blackbird, tolerable, and " he added, " though I have no prepossession, buzzard is not good." Now, nearly all the foregoing animals, insects, etc., contain the true constituents of food, and many of them are not unwholesome. Some indeed which seem revolting to an educated taste, are better and purer for aliment than others which we regard as above criticism. To sustain life, we simply need food which possesses saccharine, oleaginous, albuminous, and gelatinous properties, combined with a proper admixture of salt, sulphur, iron, lime, and phosphorus. But what we should do is to avoid food which, possessing all the neces- sary alimentary elements, is also tainted by disease. One of the most common causes of blood impurities is the use of pork. It has been said that all things were created for some wise purpose. This is undoubtedly true, but hogs were never made to eat. We read that Christ used them to drown devils; they can never be appropriated to a more beneficent use. As an article of diet, pork exerts a most pernicious influence on the blood, overloading it with carbonic acid gas, and filling it with scrofula. The hog is not a THE FOOD WE EAT. 57 healthy animal. From its birth it is an inveterate gormandizer, and to satisfy its eternal cravings for food, every thing in field or gutter, however filthy, finds lodgment m its capacious stomach. It eats filth and wallows in its filth, and is itself hut a living mass of filth. "When, therefore, it is remembered that all our limbs and organs Fig. 12. ^f THE USE OF SWINE. "And when they were come out, they [the devils] went into the herd of swine : and, be hold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters."— ££ Matthew, Sth chap., 32d verse. have been picked up from our plates— that our bodies are made up of the things we have eaten — what pork-eater will felicitate himself with the reflection, that, according to physiological teachings, he is physically parA hog. " We have been served up at the table many times over. Every individual is literally a mass of vivified viands; ho is an epitome of innumerable meals; he has dined upon himself, 3* 58 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. supped upon himself, and in fact — paradoxical as it may appear — has again and again leaped down his own throat." From the earliest history of swine, they have been regarded as more subject to scrofula than any other animal. This disease, so peculiar to the hog, before it received a name, so far ante-dated the same disease in the human family, that when it did make its appear- ance in the latter, it was named after the Greek name of swine, as best expressing its character. There are various diseases peculiar to certain animals. Cats are subject to fits ; dogs more than other animals, to hydrophobia ; horses to glanders and heaves ; the cow to consumption and hollow-horn ; sheep to the rot ; fowls to the gapes, swelled head, and blindness ; and scrofula is the prevailing disease among swine. The diseases affecting other animals than swine, are usually such as to condemn them before they reach the shambles of the butcher; and the law treats with severity all venders of diseased meats, with the exception of pork dealers. This is partly because the scrofula of the hog cannot always be readily detected, and in a measure owing to the indifference of pork-eaters to the known pres- ence of tubercles, tumors, etc., in pork. When man comes to be affected with hollow-horn and rot, beef and mutton must be more closely looked to! To what extent the flesh of various animals may be affected by the diseases to which they are subject can hardly be determined, but Professor Garagee affirms " that one-fifth of the common meat of Great Britain — beef, veal, mutton and lamb — is diseased ; while Professor Gerlach states that in Berlin at least as much diseased as healthy meat is consumed." It is apparent, how- ever, that when scrofula may be communicated simply by habitual contact with a scrofulous person, the contact of scrofulous food with the mouth and stomach must inevitably inoculate the system of the imprudent eater. One fact regarding pork is well known to all physiologists. It is, with few exceptions, the most indigestible food that can be taken into the stomach. Again, pork is charged with being wormy. It killed a great many persons in Germany, and not a few in other countries, including our own. Our consul, at Elsinore, wrote our Secretary of State nil about it, and scientists, on both sides of the Atlantic, got out their micro- scopes, rubbed up their spectacles, and after examining the flesh of the arraigned porker, found he possessed imps of probably the same devils which were cast into his progenitors on the hill-side. The THE FOOD WE EAT. 59 illustrations in Figs. 13 and 14, show how these fellows appear under the microscope. They are called Trichinae, and the disease they produce in man is denominated Trichiniasis. The parasites are so minute that they can make their way to any part of the system, and a writer who has witnessed their effects thus describes them : — " This perforation of parts by millions of microscopic worms, is attended with symptoms more or less violent, depending upon their numbers, and the strength and health of the victim. While passing the coats of the bowels, violent purging often arises, simulating ar- senical poisoning, and many persons have been unjustly suspected of this crime, when persons eating food prepared for them have been thus alarmingly seized. As the worms make their way into the muscle, pains like those of rheumatism, cramp, weakness, or entire loss of power, resembling paralysis ensue ; and when the numbers of Trichinee are large, wasting, exhaustion, and death follow. Persons escaping with a few of these disagreeable tenants, suffer in a smaller degree from similar symptoms, but gradually recover, and a small portion of their muscles, removed and magnified, reveal the Trichi- na arrived at their destination, and undergoing the various stages of calcareous encystment. 1 ' Trichiniasis took the form of an epidemic in some parts of Ger- many, in 1865, and handled a great many people on this side of the Atlantic very roughly. Cases occurred in this city, in portions of Pennsylvania, and extensively in the West, where the hog enters so largely into the diet of the people. A scientific investigating com- mittee in Chicago, reported having found in twelve hundred hogs slaughtered, one in fifty-eight affected with a parasite ; and the ad- vice of that committee was, that in cooking pork the Trichinae be thoroughly cooked to death ! 160° Fahrenheit was thought sufficient to do this. (Cooked Trichinae ought to be as good as the Hottentot's toasted caterpillar !) Other investigators contend that pork- eaters consume eighteen thousand of these microscopic parasites to every cubic inch of affected pork taken into the stomach, and that ten out of every fifty hogs are so affected, to which a newspaper facetiously responds : — " If it be true that ten out of every fifty Western hogs are Trichinous when only four out of one hundred are so in Germany, where people are dying with Trichiniasis as with a pestilence, the cholera is nothing to apprehend beside this pork evil. To be eating microscopic worms by the million is no joking matter, even to the 60 CAUSES OF XERYOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. million who have to pay a big price for such food ; but if a million of worms are, in turn, to eat us — if they are to eat us into the grave, beside leaving others to eat us in it — the joke becomes entirely too opaque for satisfactory appreciation." The discovery of the Trichinae and the fatality attending its trans- mission to the human system in many cases resulted in an excited Fig. 13. controversy between pork lovers and pork haters. At a meeting of the Berlin Butchers' Association, a male trichina. medical professor set forth the best means to avoid the spread of Trichiniasis, and was followed by a veterinary surgeon, Dr. Urban, who denounced the whole excitement as unfounded, and oifered to eat any amount of Trichinized pork ; Fig. 14. but when a slice of pork affected with the parasite was f offered him, he was taken aback. female trichina and heb young. It i s reported that he declined, "but the jeers of the meeting having touched him, he took a little nibble at the proffered slice, and hurriedly left the room. He proceeded to a neighboring chemist, and administered to himself so violent an emetic that the learned doctor's friends need labor under no apprehensions as to his safety." Still there seemed to be those who, while admitting the existence of the parasite in pork, claim that it is entirely harmless if the pork be thoroughly cooked. It is undoubtedly true that the epidemic character of Tri- chiniasis in Germany, proceeded from the habit of the people of eat- ing raw pork, ham, and sausage. My own opinion is that Trichinae are not liable to revive in the human system after a cooking, unless there are impurities to nourish them, and favor their resuscitation and repro- duction. The reason they affect the hog so extensively, is because he is an unclean beast. The same parasite has been found to some extent in other animals, such as the rabbit and c,at. Fisr. 15. FREE TRICHINAE. THE FOOD WE EAT. 61 INFECTED MUSCLE. If a man be scrofulous, or have other impure affections of the blood, the Trichinge are liable to be resuscitated and reproduced in the system, no matter how much they may be toasted, short of absolute scorching. Maggots only thrive in corrup- Fig. 16. tion, and when they get into a wound, confine their operations to the diseased tissue. So I con- fidently believe it is with the Tri- chinae ; they only have an affin- ity for such people as contain inflamed or corrupt blood, in which the health of the muscular fibre is involved, and, perhaps, such are the bad habits of the human family, and so prevalent the disease of the fluids, any person, however healthy apparently, may be likely to be attacked with Trichiniasis if pork, or ham, containing the parasite, be eaten raw. If it be urged that there are animalcule in water, vegetables, and every thing we eat, when viewed through the microscope, then I reply that those contained in water and vegetable matter are readily destroyed as soon as they come in contact with the gastric juices of the stomach, while parasites existing in the flesh of animals are not thus destroyed. Experiments have demonstrated that the eggs of the latter may be even dried and cooked without destroying their life, and that taken into the stomach in this condition, they go through the process of incubation almost as readily as if they had not been cooked or dried. The animalcuhe of water and of vegeta- bles have no such tenacity to life. The mildest of acid or alkaline solutions will destroy them. It is not improbable that Trichinae, after entering the stomach, are sometimes transformed into other worms. It has been contended that the tape- worm only troubles those who eat pork ; and further, that the Hebrews, who do not eat the flesh of swine, are never troubled with this parasite ; that dogs, fed to any extent on pork, are subject to it; and that experiments on a condemned criminal, made by M. Kuchenmeister, of Zittoria, " with great professional care and minuteness of detail, have established the fact beyond con- tradiction, that an exclusively pork diet will produce tape-worm." The foregoing remarks have been made with reference to the best 62 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. class of swine ; but what shall I say, when I come to speak of those fattened in distilleries! I have seen droves of these inflated crea- tures driven to the slaughter-houses in Cincinnati. A herd of dis- eased, bloated, besotted men would not be more sickening to the refined spectator. The hair of these creatures is invariably thin and scattered, and the skin looks like that of a confirmed inebriate. Some have tumors varying in size from a small apple to a good-sized cabbage. I have been told by Cincinnati butchers that tumors are not unfrequently found inside the meat, and that, when laid open by the knife, purulent matter is emitted ; but these diseased and bloated carcasses are raised to sell, and, for shame be it said, form one of the most common articles of food in our large cities. Many a pork-eater has been cured of his partiality for "spare-rib," "pigs' feet," "head- cheese," and "souse," by visiting the slaughter-houses of the great "Porkopolis" of America. Some years ago, a gentleman living near the town of Eockingham, Virginia, lost five head of young cattle and several milch cows, by permitting them to run in the same lot where his hogs were feeding. The hogs ate the stalks of corn, or rather chewed them, and left them on the ground. These were taken up by the cattle, eaten and swal- lowed. Soon they were taken with an itching all over, and com- menced rubbing their heads; their throats swelled, and in a short time death ensued! Their disease might be termed an acute attack of scrofula, with which they became infected from the virus commu- nicated to the stalks by the dirty swine. Still, the flesh of these ani- mals is regarded as a healthy and relishable article of food by a large majority of civilized mankind! Ugh! Let us not upbraid the barba- rian who eats snails and lizards, or the Mexican Indian who eats butter made from the maguey worms, for their disgusting epicurean eccen- tricities, while civilization tolerates hog-eating. It is related of Dr. Adam Clark, that he had a strong aversion to pork, and that on an occasion, when called upon to say grace at dinner, where the princi- pal dish was roast pig, he said : " O Lord ! if Thou canst bless under the Gospel what Thou didst curse under the law, bless this pig." It has been said that no animal was ever created which had an inherent proclivity to disease. This may be true; but some animals, from their earliest history, have been diseased; and none in the ani- mal kingdom better illustrate this proposition than man and hog. And while I am firmly convinced that mankind are injured by eating THE FOOD WE EAT. 63 hog, I am equally disposed to believe the hog, if a healthy animal to-day, would in time become diseased by eating man. Both man and hog are intemperate eaters, and addicted to filthy habits. As for the latter, he is such a proverbial gormand, that no word in the THE UNHEALTHY PAIR. English language so strongly portrays a voracious appetite as the term hoggish. Then his eating propensities are ever encouraged by the pork-raiser, who wishes to make every carcass as heavy as pos- sible. Many farmers and other pork producers put their pigs in close pens, to prevent their exercising and running off their fat, and in these close, filthy quarters, the grunters are systematically stuffed till they can hardly open their eyes. What would become of a human being so treated ? Could a man be so confined and fed, and not become a diseased and bloated carcass? It is equal to a fashion they have in Germany, of putting geese singly in coops so small that they cannot stand up or turn around, and there stuff them with a kind of meal mixture every day, until they become loaded with fat. Then they are considered in good condition to kill and eat. Can any creature in creation be treated in this way, or as swine are fat- tened, and not become diseased? What, then, may we expect of an animal which, from our earliest knowledge of him, has been scrofu- lous? A good-natured farmer writes me that he and all his neigh- bors are pork-eaters, and that the people of "Old Kentuck " have always been fed on u hog and hominy," and yet are perfectly healthy and blessed with longevity. I reply, blessed with longevity, perhaps, but not entirely free from disease. I am often consulted by these 64 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. very farmers, who open by saying, " I am not sick, Doctor, but I am plagued with salt-rheum.' 1 Another writes, U I am the picture of health, and my neighbors would laugh at me if they knew I was applying to a physician ; but I am troubled with catarrh." Another has piles, another worms, another rheumatism, another predispo- sition to sore throat, and so on ; but all claim to be in the enjoyment of the best of health ! But there are unquestionably pork-eaters who have no apparent disease whatever. Although the scrofulous im- purities of their diet find lodgment, they remain latent in their sys- tems, and are even transmitted to their children, without manifest- ing themselves in the parent stock. Those especially who till the Fig. IS. SHEEP — -WHOLESOME TO THE EYE AND WHOLESOME TO THE STOMACH. soil, toughened by exercise, strengthened by pure air, and relieved of much diseased matter by active perspiration, may carry with them to a gray old age a scrofulous impurity without suffering from THE FOOD WE EAT. (J5 its presence. But how is it with their boys who enter counting-rooms in large cities, or adopt professions of a sedentary character? Have you never noticed how apt these scions of athletic sires are to break down before reaching the meridian of life ? Other causes than these inherited impurities may often contribute to this result; but if im- purities do exist to any extent, will they not be more likely to be active, and obtrusively present themselves in the form of disease, internal or external, in the confined atmosphere of the store or office, than on the broad acres of the parental homestead ? It may be a question of no little importance, how much the diseases of young men in villages and cities are derived from pork-eating progenitors, who pursued the healthful occupation of tilling the soil and feeding the pig. Mutton ought universally to be substituted for pork. It is more easily digested, and may be regarded as a healthful meat. Besides, it can be produced at much less expense than pork among the far- mers, and yields more nourishment. Sheep need no corn, and can be kept during the winter on hay, turnips, beets, etc. True, pigs will eat what nothing else will, and consume all the slops in the kitch- en ; but a great deal of corn, or other solid food is required to fatten them for the butcher. Besides, sheep will eat all that is fit for food from the kitchen slops, and their preparation for the slaughter-house is attended with trifling expense. As a rule, the flesh of herbivorous is more wholesome than that of carnivorous or omnivorous animals. The use of animal food of every kind has been pronounced injurious by many. That it is not necessary for the sustenance of man, in a normal state, I am fully convinced ; equally satisfied am I that its moderate use is attended with no physical injury, but almost everywhere it is used to excess. Too much animal food inflames the system, and overloads the blood with the red corpuscle. In our climate, and in Southern latitudes, little or none should be used in summer, and in winter, there is enough heat-producing food, of a vegetable character, to impart sufficient warmth to those preferring vegetable diet. Still, beef, mutton, lamb, poultry, and even horse-flesh may be regarded as wholesome for food, if not eaten to excess. Professor St. Hiiaire, of Paris, strongly urges the introduction of the latter as an aliment. He says that during the great French wars, the celebrated surgeon, Larry, was accustomed to give horse-flesh to the wounded soldiers, 66 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. and that he attributed their cure in many instances to this nourish- ment. The ancient Germans were in the habit of eating horse-flesh, and to this day, shops for the sale of this meat, under the superin- tendence of a veterinary college, exist by authority in Copenhagen. It is also resorted to by the poor of Vienna, while in Hamburg it commands a high price. The horse is considered a great delicacy in some of the Southern portions of South America, where it is intro- duced at the festive board as a luxury, equal to a sirloin of beef. There can be no doubt of its utility and cheapness on the battle-ground, where the majestic steed is hourly falling before the destructive cannon-ball. Those who turn up their noses at the idea of eating horse-flesh, are requested to lead a horse from the stable, and a pig from the gutter, and ask themselves which is the more respectable looking candidate for the carver. If I may be allowed a brief paragraph, to deviate from the legiti- mate purpose of this chapter, I will remark that the excessive use of animal food is a great social evil. It is a proverbial fact, that man- kind are too much given to the brute diversion of fighting. Our halls of legislation are disgraced with personal encounters between gentlemen who are supposed to be far elevated above the brute creation, by their distinguished intellectual endowments. Now, we have as good authority as Professor Liebig, that meat makes men more pugnacious. He says: "It is certain that three men, one of whom has had a full meal of beef and bread, the second, cheese, or salt fish, and the third, potatoes, regard a difficulty, which presents itself, from entirely different points of view. The effect of the differ- ent articles of food on the brain and nervous system, is different, ac- cording to certain constituents, peculiar to each of these forms of food. A bear kept in the anatomical department of this university, exhibited a very gentle character so long as he was fed exclusively on bread. A few days' feeding with flesh, rendered him savage, prone to bite, and even dangerous to his keeper. The carnivorous are in general stronger, bolder, and more pugnacious than the herbivo- rous animals on which they prey. In like manner, those nations which live on vegetable food, differ in disposition from those which live chiefly on flesh." Forbearance is a great Christian virtue, and should be cultivated by every enlightened man. Had human beings been intended for fighting animals, their finger-ends would have been decorated with huge unbending nails, and their jaws distend- THE FOOD WE EAT. 67 ed with savage tusks, like the boar. The excessive use of flesh is, therefore, sinful, and leads man to forget his present duty, and his heavenly destiny, because it excites those emotional faculties which are so prone to dethrone reason. Much has been written, pro and con, as to the necessity of resorting to the animal kingdom for sustenance. It seems to me the vegetarians have the best of the argument. Vegetables possess all the necessary elements of food, and by combination, or eaten in variety, impart more nutrition than animal diet. According to the investigations of Liebig, and other celebrated chemists, peas, beans, and lentils con- tain more of the blood-forming principle to the pound, than meat; wheat meal contains about as much, and oat meal, barley meal, stale bread, and maize meal, about half as much ; and when you seek the heat-forming principle, potatoes contain more than meat, while bread, peas, lentils, barley meal, beans, sago, maize, oatmeal, and rice, yield double and treble the supply to the pound that animal food does. Nearly all vegetables provided for the table contain more solid matter to the pound than meat possesses. Facts sustain the vegetarian. A large portion of the people of Ireland, in their island home, hardly taste meat. They subsist upon potatoes, oatmeal, and cabbage. Many of the Asiatics mainly sub- sist on rice and vegetable oils. The Lazzaroni of Naples, with all their uncleanliness, idleness, and vice, maintain a good physical ap- pearance on a diet of bread and potatoes. The Turks live mostly on vegetables, fruits, and nuts. A traveller remarks : — " Chops, sub- stantial soups, joints, any thing on which a Westerner could support nature, are never seen in a Turkish bazaar." We have people living in various parts of the United States who are practical vegetarians, and eschew animal food of every description, excepting it may be eggs, milk, and butter, and some of these people do not use the latter. I once met a hard-meated, healthy young Jew, who subsisted on Gra- ham bread, fruits, and nuts ; and to carry out his dietetic rules he hired a room and boarded himself, which he could easily do without cook or housekeeper. D. U. Martin, the vegetable wherryman, gymnast, and phrenologist, tested his strength and endurance by subjecting himself to all sorts of hardships and exposures while pursuing strictly a vegetable diet. He subsequently adopted an ex- clusively fruit diet, mainly apples, with what results I am unable to state. It sometimes seems as if we only used meats as vehicles fiR CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. for conveying salt, sauces, and condiments to the stomach. People think they love the flavor of animal food itself. Just try it without salt, pepper, mustard, hutter, or other seasoning, and see. Advocates of animal diet generally refer to the teeth, and some to the anatomical formation of the stomach, for evidences that our Crea- tor intended that we should eat meat ; but the teeth and stomach of the orang-outang resemble those of man, and yet he does not be- long to the carnivorous or omnivorous species. Du Chaillu says, that notwithstanding his large canine teeth, the gorilla of Africa is a strict vegetarian. According to Cuvier, " man's teeth are frugivorous — the cows, herbivorous — the lion's, carnivorous — and the hog's, omnivo- rous," so that both sides claim that the indications of the dental organs favor their distinctive views of diet. In eating the flesh of animals, as I look at it, we get vegetables second-hand, and contam- inated more or less by the diseases with which they are afFected. There is, however, in animal food, a stimulating property which vegetables do not possess. Having heard of vegetarians being made slightly intoxicated by beef-steak, I once induced a vegetarian friend to try the experiment on himself, and he assured me it produced in his brain a sensation similar to that induced by a slight potation of alcoholic liquor. It is said that Irishmen who live exclusively on vegetables at home, on enlisting in the British army are sometimes attacked with what is called "meat fever," in consequence of their new diet being so much more stimulating than that to which they had been accustomed. There is a supposed necessity, and possibly a real necessity in some cases, for the use, to some extent, of animal food. This undoubtedly results from the habits of our ancestry. The child of an inebriate father often inherits his appetite, and cannot resist the temptation to drink intemperately of intoxicating beverages, and it may be easily supposed that the child of meat-eating parents may at least imagine he cannot live without meat. When, during a long line of ancestry, animal food has been the principal article of diet, the necessity may be actual instead of imaginary. He is like a patient who told me disease was his normal condition, and that medicine was his natural food ! Opium-eating sometimes becomes a necessity by the perversion of the system by narcotism. Whatever may have been the original design of our Creator, to allow mankind in the infancy of its development to live upon the flesh of other animals, I am confident the time will come THE FOOD WE EAT. 69 when a more beautifully developed and Christianized humanity will look back upon us of this century as a race of cannibals. No man or woman to-day, of noble sentiment and sympathetic nature, unless the habitue of the market, and thus hardened by familiarity with such sights, can pass the stall of the butcher with its display of trunk- less heads of calves, pigs, and cattle, and the bleeding and partly flayed carcasses of lambs and sheep, or look upon the white, but blood-stained apron of the meat-man, holding his monstrous knife, without a shudder, and a feeling of self-condemnation that he and she are accessory to this wholesale slaughter of innocent animals. " The dog delights to bark and bite;" it is the instinct of the cat to sneakingly assail and devour animals too weak to resist her prowess ; it is in the nature of the huge boa-constrictor to swallow pigeons, rab- bits, and other small game by the bushel ; it is the habit of the large fish to live upon the smaller ones, etc. But when we ascend from these lower species of the animal kingdom to the noblest work of God, may we not reasonably look for an end to this mutual carnage for the wherewithal to keep the vital machinery in action ? What excuse for man, who can shake from the tree above his head the juicy fruit which is rea- * Fig. 19. dy to fall ripe into his hand; who can pluck from the vine clusters of delicious grapes containing all the elements of food, prepared only as Old Dame Nature can pre- pare them ; who can plough up the rich sod, and produce by, the planting succulent vegetables and fields of golden grain, and beneath the surface of the grim soil, esculent roots capable of imparting warmth and nourishment to the body; who can find in the rich meats of abundant nuts, and other oily products of plants and trees, all the oleaginous properties which animal fat supplies; what excuse, I ask, for man, with all these luxuries at hand, loaded with the necessary alimentary constituents, to imitate the murderous instincts of the lower animals, and cannibally live upon animals less powerful than himself! There is one excuse, and only one, that can be presented for a man of this century, namely : YEGETABLE FOOD. 70 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. a meat-eating ancestry, and in some cases an ancestry of meat gor- mands. As before remarked, with some persons it seems to be an inherited necessity. But I have faith that man will some time out- grow this brutal appetite — this cruel physical necessity. The dawn of the millennium cannot light up human hands and arms red with the blood of slaughtered animals, or overtake the athletic man pick- ing the bones of tiny birds! The ingenious Yankee will invent a substitute for leather, and we already have enough substitutes for ivory and bone. There are millions of men and women to-day, who would give up a meat diet if they were compelled to slay the animals they eat. Stop for a moment, and read how the killing is done. I clip the following from a daily paper; it is headed "How Cattle are Slaughtered — Sunday Scenes at the Abattoir." The writer then proceeds : " On the arrival of cattle, they are transferred from the cars to yards, where usually they remain until sold or slaughtered. Before they are killed, eight or ten are driven up an inclined plane into the abattoir, where they are confined in pens about ten feet square. A row of these pens extends across the building, directly back of the dressing racks. "When an animal is needed, he is either drawn up with a rope attached to his hind leg, or he is speared. If the cattle are wild, the executioner mounts the stall, and takes his stand immediately over his victim. His spear is a rod of iron, six feet long, an inch in diameter, sharpened at the end like an oyster- knife. The 'killing spot' is just behind the horns, on the neck, which the spearsman frequently does not hit. To see a person throwing one of these spears into a pen of cattle is sickening. Often several bullocks are pierced in the forehead or eyes, and their faces are streaming with blood long before the death of a single one ! The wounded, after waiting from ten minutes to an hour for their turn, are again attacked, and killed one by one, the survivors receiving fresh wounds on every attack! A Western expert," continues this writer, "styles this treatment the devilish torture of a bungling butcher." (If it only were, I should say Amen; but it seems to be the devilish torture of innocent animals.) "Cattle are not the only sufferers, but the swine are also pierced, and often plunged into scalding water before they are dead! The butchers say that the spear is used for killing wild cattle only; but one who frequents the abattoir says that the contrary is the fact. Even the windlass is a barbarous instrument. With this a noose is fastened to the animal's THE FOOD WE EAT. 71 hind leg ; the machinery is then started, the bullock tumbles over, and after being swung up alive, his throat is cut. In Cincinnati the butchers knock their hogs in the head with a long-handled hammer; but in Chicago," the writer thinks, "dumb brutes are killed humanely. A rope communicating with a windlass passes through a ring in the floor, and is made fast to the bullock's horn. Then a man turns a crank, and the animal is gently led into the slaughter-house, where, at one blow, he falls to the floor. The executioner never misses his mark, because the bullock's head is held immovable by the ring." Fig. 20. THE ANIMALS WE 8LAUGHTEK. Farmers who do the slaughtering upon their own premises, for their family use, generally treat their animals with greater gentleness; but under the best of circumstances, cutting the throats of lambs, knocking cattle on the head, piercing the jugular of the hog, guillotining poultry with an axe, cannot be done in any way to avoid shocking the sensibilities of people who have kind hearts and educated heads. It is in vain to talk of this murderous work being done humanely, and such are its effects upon those styled butchers, that they are not allowed, in some States, to sit upon a jury in cases involving the life of the criminal ! Our humane Mr. Bergh, who has effected so much in mitigating 72 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. the cruelties practised on animals, writing to Dr. Holmes, remarked as follows : — " I believe as you do, that the abolition of the use of the flesh of all animals would result in physical and moral improve- ment to our race. Having been in countries where meat is rarely, if ever eaten, and having observed the superior endurance of fatigue, as well as gentleness of character, of the inhabitants, I feel convinced that the slaughter of dumb animals, and the devouring of their flesh, account for the largest share of the moral and physical diseases which affect mankind. I have had an Arab of the desert run behind my horse a distance of twelve miles without betraying the least sign of fatigue, and the cheerful fellow had never tasted meat. For my own part," continues Mr. Bergh, " I can eat meat because of habit. But then the least appearance of blood, by reason of insufficient cooking, shocks my sensibilities, and causes my stomach to revolt." God grant that every generation of man may consume less animal flesh, and feed his children with still less, until the human race shall outgrow a habit which makes him little better than a cannibal. Grease is supplied quite too abundantly for the table to preserve the purity of the blood. Weak stomachs call loudly for reform in this particular, while strong ones faithfully perform their work of sending the offending substance to the vascular system, to feed or create hu- mors. Fat is not digested in the stomach, but simply melted and absorbed into the blood. A certain amount is necessary to nourish the brain, and save the wear and tear of the nervous system ; but fatty meats and rich gravies are positively injurious. Dead animal fats are non-conductors of electricity, and their presence in large quantities in the stomach tends to resist the action of the nervous fluids furnished by the brain through the pneumo-gastric nerve, and to impair digestion. Eggs, milk, butter, and vegetables yielding oil, furnish all the oleaginous substance necessary to carry on the pro- cesses of nature. Diet exercises such an influence upon us all, physically and moral- ly, too much care cannot be observed as to the quality of the food we eat, and the regularity with which it is taken. A newspaper writer, I don't know whom, remarks, " that much of our conduct depends upon the character of the food we eat. Bonaparte used to attribute the loss of one of his battles to a poor dinner, which at the time disturbed his digestion. How many of our mis-judgments, how many of our deliberate errors, how many of our unkindnesses, our THE FOOD WE EAT. 73 cruelties, our acts of thoughtlessness and recklessness, may he actually owing to a cause of the same character. We eat something that deranges the condition of the stomach. Through the stomach nerve, that derangement immediately affects the brain. Morose- ness succeeds amiability, and under its influence we do that which would shock our sensibility at any other moment. The disturbance of the digestion may involve the liver. In this affliction the brain profoundly sympathizes. The temper is soured, the understanding is narrowed, prejudices are strengthened, generous impulses are sub^ dued, selfishness, originated by physical disturbances which perpetu- ally attract the mind's attention, becomes a chronic mental disorder. The feeling of charity dies out; we live for ourselves alone ; we have no care for others, and all this change of nature is the conse- quence of an injudicious diet. 1 ' Protracted intervals between meals should always be avoided, if possible. In large cities, it is the cus- tom of many business men to go from 8 or 9 a. m. to 4 or 5 p. Mi without eating. Three-fourths of the merchants of New York do not dine till 5 o'clock, and a large number of these take no luncheon. A writer, quoting from Dr. Combe, and '' Household Science," advances some sensible views, which may be appropriately intro- duced here. He says: — ''The grand rule in fixing the number and periods of our meals is to proportion them to the real wants of the system as modified by age, sex, health, and manner of life, as indi- cated by the true returns of appetite. As the blood is usually most impoverished after the eight or ten hours 1 fast of the "night, break- fast should be early. The stomach is usually vacated of its nutritive contents in about four hours after eating, but it may be an hour or two later before the blood begins to call upon it for a renewed sup- ply. Persons engaged in active labor, in which bodily expenditure is rapid, of course require to eat more often than the indolent and sedentary, and children need nourishment oftener than adults. But too long abstinence, especially if the digestive power be not strong, sharpens the appetite, so that there arises danger of excessive eating. Some avoid luncheon, for fear of spoiling the dinner, whereas the thing they most need is to have it - spoiled. When the intervals be- tween the meals are so long as to produce pressing hunger, some- thing should be taken between them to stay the appetite, and pre- vent over-eating. Late and hearty suppers are to be reprobated ; active digestion and sleep mutually disturb each other, as at night 4 74 CAUSES OP NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. the exhalation of carbonic gas is lowest, and tissue changes most re- tarded. The overloaded blood is not relieved, and invades the repose of the brain, producing heavy, disordered dreams, and night- mare, followed by headache and ill-humor in the morning. Still, there is the opposite extreme, of sitting up late, and going to bed wearied, hungry, and with an indefinable sense of sinking, followed by restless, unrefreshing sleep. A little light nourishment in such cases, a couple of hours before retiring, may prevent these un- pleasant effects." The Hon. Preston King, who destroyed himself under a sudden fit of mental aberration, had exceedingly eccentric and injurious dietetic habits, and these undoubtedly had something to do with the insanity which led him to jump from a ferry-boat to the bottom of the Hudson Kiver. He breakfasted at nine or ten o'clock in the fore- noon, and remained without further food until five o'clock in the after- noon, when he would repair to the Astor House and partake of a hearty dinner. Next came cigars and visitors till ten or eleven o'clock in the evening, and then a hearty supper. Some one has remarked, "that the idle man is the devil's man, and it may also be said of the stomach, that if it has nothing to do, it will be doing mischief." The gastric fluids require something to act npon, and if there is no food in the stomach they take to the membranes and coatings, causing irritation, if not inflammation. It is true, that they are not secreted by the stomach to any great extent, except when food is present, but sufficiently bathe the lining of the stomach at all times, to produce disturbance, if the stomach is allowed to go long empty. These fluids act upon the food the same as the acid in the battery upon the galvanized zinc. If the latter is not frequently replenished with a coating of quicksilver, the zinc will soon be destroyed. So with the stomach ; if it is not supplied with food, the gastric fluids will do mischief to its delicate membranes. Better take four light meals a day, than to allow the stomach to become empty, or overloaded once in three. The breakfast should be takeu very soon after rising. In malarious regions,, especially, the system is more susceptible to the influence of cold, noxious gases, etc., before breakfast. Food should not be taken after severe exercise, nor should exercise of very active character be taken immediately after eating. Too much food overpowers the nervous system as much as excessive muscular exercise. To sum up all under THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 75 this head, people must be more careful what they eat, at what times they eat, how much they eat, if they would preserve the healthy con- dition of the vascular and nervous systems. There can be no precise rule laid down for the governance of all. A little careful observa- tion, however, would teach every one of mature age what is best adapted to his particular organization. If men would watch with half as much anxiety the influences of different articles of food on their systems, as they do the effects of growing crops, and financial failures on the money market, longevity would oftener be obtained than large fortunes. Fig. 21. The Liquids we Drink. A correct understanding of the effects of various liquids com- monly used as beverages, will enable the reader to understand how much they have to do in the production of nervous derangements, and blood impuri- ties. It is estimated that every person drinks about 1500 pounds of liquids per annum. All these are filtered through the human system, leaving whatever nutritious or poisonous properties they possess. The Chinese tea forms the principal beverage of all the Northern States, and British Provinces of America. In Central Amer- ica, the heterogeneous population resort to chocolate, while in South America, the tea of Paraguay is freely indulged in. In the THE liquids we drink. Southern States, and West India Islands, coffee seems to be the greater favorite, particularly with adopted citizens, and perhaps this remark is equally true of this class in the Northern States. In France, Germany, Sweden, and Turkey, coffee is principally used ; in Eng- land, Russia, and Holland, tea; in Spain and Italy, chocolate; in Ireland, the husks of cocoa. The Chinese tea has found its way to the Himalayas and the plains of Siberia, and is probably drank by more people than -any other beverage. Coffee-leaf tea is sipped in Sumatra, while the Ethiopians of Central Africa quaff the Abyssinian chaat. In portions of Africa, the natives make a beverage of the juice of the plantain, called pombe. The plantain is said to be vt the food, and its juice the drink of the people. " Pombe is intoxicating, 76 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. and a traveler relates that "no man" of any starrding thinks himself to have got fairly through the day, until he has sat upon pombe, which simply means become drunk." "The Mexicans make several liquors from a plant that grows very extensively there, called the maguey, the most common of which liquor is oalled pulque. It is as common in that country, and as much prized, as beer is in Germany. The Indians along the borders of the Rio Grande, slice and dry what they call pieoke, and what the whites denominate " whiskey root," which they chew until its intoxicating effects are experienced. In all civilized countries, malt and vinous liquors, rum, whiskey, brandy, gin, and other distilled liquors are drank in enormous quantities. It may be truly said, that whiskey leads the march of civilization. Wherever the missionary or the agent of commerce penetrates, civilization creeps along with rum in the advance. Authors and orators are often excessive topers. The author of " The Raven" died of the effects of a drunken frolic. One of the most eloquent men that ever graced the Senate of the United States, and to whom on one occasion when he was speaking, a celebrated English authoress threw her glove, as a demonstration of her appre- ciation of his eloquence, dropped from the eminence he had gained, before the world fairly knew him, overpowered with excessive indul- gence in strong drink. Gluck, the musical composer, drew his inspiration from champagne; Southey drank hot rum at bed-time; Coleridge absorbed rum excessively; Byron's poems were the pro- ducts of poet's brains macerated in gin. Rabelais said, " eating and drinking are my two sources of inspiration. See this bottle ? It is my true and only Helicon, my cabalistic fountain, my sole enthusiasfri-. Drinking, I deliberate, and deliberating, I drink." " Ennius, iEschylus, and Cato," remarks a writer, "all' got their inspiration while drink- ing; Mezzerai had always a large bottle of wine beside him among his books ; he drank of it at eacli page he wrote." It is not sur- prising that some one discovered that "genius to madness is close allied," and since that discovery, we see many who seem to think that madness to genius is close allied, so that all they have to do to exhibit great genius, is to get drunk. We will not, however, dwell longer on the drinking proclivities of nationalities and individuals, but proceed to look into the qualities and effects of our most common beverages. THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 77 Tea and Coffee. — Tea was first brought to the notice of Europe- ans by the Portuguese in the 16th century, although previously to that period warm drinks were extensively made from sage and other herbs. Coffee was first introduced into southern Europe in the same century, but the Persians received it from Ethiopia as early as the 8th century. Unadulterated tea, as it comes upon the table, contains gum, grape sugar, tannin, and theine; and coffee ready for use possesses fat and volatile oil, sugar (such as may be obtained from grape, honey, and most acid fruits), dextrine, and caffeine. Both the theine of tea and caffeine of coffee furnish the elements of bile. The enthusiasm which these beverages have awakened, respecting their agreeable qualities, may be interesting here. An astute China- man^ with the funny cognomen of Lo Yu, who sipped piping-hot tea over one thousand years ago, said, "it tempers the spirits and harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude, and relieves fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drow- Fig. 22. siness, lightens or refreshes the body and clears the per- ceptive faculties." A Eu- ropean of the 16th century spoke of coffee "as a bever- age which helpeth digestion and procureth alacrity." Whether Chinaman and Eu- ropean were entirely right or not, in their estimate of the good qualities of tea and coffee, the fact presents it- self to-day, that no bever- ages are so extensively used ; and I think modem writers may say with truth, that if used moderately, and with due reference to temper- ament and individual idiosyncrasy, none are more harmless. The fact that tea does not agree with one person, does not prove it dangerous or injurious for another. Some people cannot eat straw- berries without an attack of colic; others enjoy strawberries, but a sweet apple will create constipation. The effects of tea and coffee depend entirely on the physical peculiarities of the drinkers, and the same as in the use of food, no definite rule can be laid down. Gen- eral directions may be given, which, if observed, will enable most CHINESE TEA-TRADER. 78 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. intelligent persons to judge of what is positively hurtful in their individual cases, Few nervous people can drink tea, while those of a bilious and lymphatic temperament, can indulge with impunity. The effects on the former are usually weakness, tremor, hysteria, hypochondria, and paralysis; while on the latter, they are mental and corporeal exhilaration. Tea acts at once on the nervous system, quickening the circulation of the electrical elements, and imparting to the man of sluggish nerve activity and vivacity, and its use often allays headache induced by bilious disturbances. "With its narcotic properties, it possesses peculiar exhilarating powers, which may result in a measure from the speedy re-actory effects of the former. Coffee, on the other hand, is generally suitable to lean, nervous persons. It acts upon the blood, and is bracing to the muscular system. Persons who are not bilious may often allay a severe headache, if not caused by indigestion, or a weakness of the stomach, by a moderate potation of this luxury. It is a palliative in spasmodic diseases, hysterical affections, and chronic diarrhoea, and asthmatic persons find relief in its use, provided other peculiarities of their systems do not reject it. Coffee should not be used by fleshy and bilious people. It thickens the blood, and apoplexy is sometimes the result of its excessive use. For the same reason, chocolate and cocoa may be drank by lean, nervous people, white they are injurious to those of corpulent ten- dency. Many nervous individuals, however, cannot drink coffee, chocolate, or cocoa, for the same reason they cannot drink any hot beverages, i. e., they stimulate in too great a degree the action of the stomach battery, by which means the system becomes overpowered, not exactly with the quantity, but velocity of the animal electrical currents, and the vital organs rendered too active. Pour hot water into the acid of a galvanic battery, and the generation of electricity is greatly accelerated. As in eating, therefore, effects should be watched and heeded. Tea and coffee, like many other things, are abused. They are universally used to excess, and by many who should not use them at all. They are also often badly adulterated. The producers of both of these staples have among them people who are quite as unscrupulous as are those farmers who sell apples and po- tatoes, with large ones only at the top of the barrel ; or, as those who riot knowing which end of the barrel will be opened, put the small ones in the middle and the large ones at either end. John Chinaman is even worse, for he puts poison in tea to improve its appearance. : THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 79 Sir John Davis caught him adding Prussian hlue, indigo, and porce- lain clay, to give inferior tea a good salable color. According to Hassell, all green teas are colored ; naturally, they look like black teas, with the exception of having a tint of olive. Black teas having a very smooth and glossy appearance, are made so by rolling the leaves with pulverized black lead, a powerful poison. The English merchants* sometimes play a scaly trick on tea drinkers, by pur- chasing from hotels, cheap boarding-houses, and other public eating places, tea leaves which have been used, and dried, and mixing them with genuine teas. This bit of cheatery enables them to undersell their more honorable competitors. Traders who can do this are fit companions for tobacco manufacturers, who have collected from the streets and sidewalks cigar stumps which they manufacture into smoking tobacco. The adulterations of tea are much more deleterious to health than those commonly practised in coffee. English chiccory, which is similar to our dandelion, is extensively employed in supplying the market with cheap coffee. It possesses little of the nutritive proper- ties of genuine coffee, and is entirely unlike it medicinally. For instance, coffee does not act well on systems affected with bilious disorders, and usually benefits rather than injures persons having nervous affections without any hepatic or digestive disturbances. It is just the reverse with chiccory. This is often applied in bilious affections, and its protracted use injures the nervous system. Not content with adulterating coffee with chiccory, the grasping dealer often adulterates chiccory with scorched wheat, peas, acorns, rye, beans, corn, carrots, etc., and to such an extent, that those who pur- chase packages ready burned and ground, labelled "coffee," do not know what they drink. The only safe plan for the consumer is to purchase the berry before it is ground. If it costs more, it is simply because it is not adulterated, while the ground article is cheaper for no other reason than because it is composed of something cheaper than the coffee berry. These coffee adulterations may be easily avoided ; it would be a comfort if those of tea could be as compe- tently set aside. It would be, however, a prudent measure for every- body to give up the use of green teas altogether, and not use the black when the leaves have a very smooth and glossy appearance, or when they will not unfold in boiling water. 80 CAUSES OF XKRVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Malt Beer has become a very popular beverage, and may be con^- sidered wholesome, if used in moderation by lean, nervous, cold, and bloodless persons, for which reason it is not a proper beverage for corpulent and bilious men. Its excessive use generates too much heat and density in the blood, causing a predisposition to palsy and apoplexy. . The. ingredients of unadulterated malt liquors are, malt, hops,, yeast, and water, and hard water is said to make very much better beer than soft. In this country, wheat is used in making malt; in England, barley is employed, and in India, rice. Both ale, and what is popularly known as u lager bier "possess pretty much the same constituents, but not in the same proportion, nor are the processes of manufacture similar. Ale is a heavier drink, and is less wholesome than lager bier, for persons at all predisposed to bilious affections ; but lean, cadaverous persons, not so disposed, may build up faster by using ale or porter, if these beverages do not prove too greatly tonic in their effects. According to Liebig, good beer gives warmth and stimulus not unlike that imparted by the use of bread, and meat. ItLoldsin solution sugar, gum, and starch, and with the tonic and hypnotic properties of the hop, it becomes a nourishing and nerve- quieting drink for all fee- ble and nervous persons, whose constitutions will admit of its use. As might be inferred from the pres- ent beer- drinking propen- sities of the Germans, it is no new beverage to them. The ancient Latin historian, Tacitus, speaks of its useamong this peo- ple over a thousand years ago. It is well that the ava- the man -who dkinks iioDEEN liqvoks. ricious, scheming Yankee did not live then, or it may reasonably be questioned whether the fat representative of '" fader-land " would have been in existence to-day. THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK, 81 His tombstone would have been engraved in German text, " died of adulterated beer." The reader is not probably aware that a large proportion of the beer sold nowadays under the various names of lager, porter, ale, etc., are base adulterations ; but it is so, particular- ly in the "corner groceries" of large towns. Wormwood and aloes are even substituted as a bitter for the invigorating and nerve- soothing hop;, sulphate of iron, alum, and salt, are sometimes used to give it a frothy or effervescent property. Bad or weak beer is made palatable by the addition of coriander seed, hartshorn, liquorice, copperas, Spanish juice, quassia, orange-peel, capsicum, ginger root, and so forth. New beer is made to taste like that two years old by Fig. 24 Fig. 25. THE MAN WHO DON'T. THE AUTUMN OF A TEMPERATE LIFE. the addition of sulphuric acid. I have had this article imposed on me in New York, so bunglingly prepared as to betray its poisonous, artificial maturity as soon as tasted. Great care, therefore, should be taken by those who wish to derive benefit from beer, to obtain a good article. Do not buy unless you know the retailer and brewer, at least by reputation. The patrons of promiscuous beer cellars, are filling their blood with inflammable impurities, which render their systems ready victims to rheumatism, fevers, and epidemics. . Vinous and Distilled Liquors have accomplished a great deal of good and misery for mankind. The useful medical properties of unadulterated wine, brandy, gin, rum, and whiskey, have never been disputed by any large number of intelligent people, while as beverages they have been held in much favor by not a few of the intelligent as well as illiterate men of all civilized nations. A* £2 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. This irrepressible popularity is unquestionably due to the fact that all the races of mankind are so imperfect in their physical develop- ments. The whole human family is sick, and alcohol is the great drug, the popular panacea. The time "will undoubtedly come when distilled liquors will find their appropriate place on the shelves of the apothecary. Extreme teetotallers, who denounce distilled liquors without qualification, condemn alcohol as a poison. They are correct ; it is a poison, or at least acts very much like one when taken in large doses. It is, however, the product of the most nutritive substances, and of so much value to them, that they decay as soon as the alcohol is taken from them, either by distillation or evaporation. A little of this poison added to a mash of decaying vegetables, or to fermenting syrups, arrests the chemical change they are undergoing. Brandy peaches are rated as a delectable dish by epicures, but the peaches so pre- served are saved from decay by the alcohol which the brandy contains. Leave the jar open, so that the alcohol may evapo- rate, and the fruit will in time decay. Canned fruits, which are nowadays so popular in every household, are preserved by sealing them so closely that the air cannot take away by evaporation the alcohol possessed by the fruits, or the syrups added to them. The flesh of animals may be preserved by being bottled and corked in alcohol ; and therefore, we are compelled to recognize in that poison, alcohol, a preservative principle which may be judiciously used, if not abused. Taken into the human system, alcohol retards the too rapid waste which is going on in the physical constituents of one who is diseased. In people of a scrofulous diathesis, the corpuscles of the blood exhib- it a kind of decomposed or rotten appearance, and this disposition to rot may be arrested by the judicious use of liquors. The correctness of both of these propositions rests in the well-known fact that alcohol has the power to prevent decomposition and decay of animal matter. Cases have no doubt come to the observation of many readers, wherein the strictly temperate children of scrofulous parent- age have died young, while the wilder ones, or the " black sheep" of the family, who have been given to habits of drinking, have lived to a gray old age. The thin and watery blood of colorless invalids may, in many cases, be changed to a healthy condition by a moderate use of alco- THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 83 holic drinks, the tonic and stimulating properties of which seem to concentrate and congeal the unorganized solid substances of the blood, and by the assistance of nature form them into healthy cor- puscles. They also diminish the bulk of the watery constituents. This last proposition is entirely consistent with the well-known chemical properties of alcohol. The proof of the other lies in the fact that a little alcohol added to fresh blood, imparts to it greater density and redness. It is an interesting experiment to place a shal- low glass vessel in a position between yourself below, and a bright gas- light above ; then have some one pour into the vessel a little fresh blood followed with a small quantity of alcohol. At once there is great perturbation among the fluids ending in a considerable conden- sation of them ; also a concentration and reddening of the solid constit- uents. Fresh milk contains butter in solution, but it requires a strong arm to separate the substance from the liquid. "When this is done, a weak hand may roll it into balls, and impress the faces of them with an embellishing stamp. However deficient the blood may be, in any case, of corpuscles and globules, it most unquestionably possesses all these, at least in solution, and though nature may need some assistance in separating the solids from the fluids, her strength may be equal to the task, after this is done, to form them into the globules and corpuscles. This assistance alcohol seems able to give, if it does not in some way disagree with the constitutional peculiari- ties of the patient. Cases illustrative of this fact have not only occurred a thousand times under the eye of the physician, but are well known to the public generally. Alcohol, in a measure, supplies a substitute for animal caloric, in persons lacking vascular vitality. In these cases, the blood is always innutritious and watery. The alcohol combining with these excess- ive watery properties, generates heat. The proof of this we have in the well-known chemical law, that when alcohol is added to fluid, heat is evolved. The effect of alcohol upon the blood is quite direct, because it is not digested in the stomach at all, but is absorbed into the blood in precisely the same condition that it enters the stomach, and the system disposes of it afterward by evaporation. It passes off with the insensible perspiration, with the exhalations from the lungs, etc. In persons of greatly reduced strength, and having an insufficient supply of nervous vitality, alcohol, seem*, to furnish, temporarily, at 84 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. least, a substitute for nerve force, which carries them over an un- bridged chasm, and sustains them until the recuperative powers of nature can rally to their assistance. Facts sustaining this statement have come under the observation of every physician, or nurse, in either acute or chronic practice. At moments when a patient seems to be in a sinking condition, the administration of an alcoholic stimulant in the form of brandy, or of vinous liquors, will revive him.-. Alcohol is an almost indispensable agent in the laboratory, in the preparation of tinctures and extracts. The virtues of many plants would be lost without the aid of alcohol to extract them. After this extraction, however, the alcohol may be "turned out of doors," by evaporation, so that it is not an indispensable part of a treat- ment to administer this poison to the patient whose physical condi- tion would not require it. For the same reason that vinous and distilled liquors are beneficial to some people, they, are dangerous and injurious to others. Those having healthy blood, and plenty of nervous vitality, may carry the thickening of the one, and the stimulation of the other, too far, so that the former be made too sluggish in its circulation, and the latter excessive in its action. The blood, becoming too thick, congests the minute and sensitive arteries and veins of the brain, and causes apo- plexy, congestion of the brain, etc. The nervous system, maddened by excitement, renders the brain a victim to all sorts of mental vagaries, ending, if carried beyond a certain limit, in delirium tremens. The evil of alcohol is its power to dethrone reason, and lead its victim a drivelling captive to poverty, vice, "and crime. It enables people to overwork mind and body ; to revive spirits, depressed by social dissipation ; to put to rest a stomach loaded with unwholesome viands; to silence the voice of an outraged conscience; to drown the woes which a reckless life has engendered. Alcohol disease is a terrible malady. It is attended with constant and insatiable thirst, and the victim seems powerless to reform. Dr. Day, of the Binghampton Inebriate Asylum, says, that dissections of dead drunkards betray enlargements of the u globules of which the brain, blood, and other organs are composed, so that those globules stand open-mouthed, as it were, empty, athirst, inflamed, and eager to be filled." To people thus affected, who have reform- THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 85 ed, and seemingly got the better of the disease, alcohol, in any form, is a dangerous medicine ; and physicians should exercise great cau- tion when such cases come under their care. There are, undoubtedly, quite as many affected with alcohol disease, as with dyspepsia — pos- sibly more — facts which exhibit the evils of excessive drinking, as well as those of excessive and ill-timed eating. All intemperance has its physical as well as moral penalties, which sometimes fall with crushing weight on those who do not study their constitutional peculiarities, and confine themselves to such habits in life. as in their best judgment promote strength of nerve, and purity of blood. A most shocking evil which topers have to encounter, is the poisonous adulteration of liquors. There is reason to doubt if the strenuous, but well-intended efforts of temperance philanthropists to check the use of spirituous liquors, have not augmented the evils of intemperance, by driving almost all respectable men, from the traffic, in consequence of which, it has been left open to the piratical speculations of unprincipled vagabonds, who do not scruple to sell their customers a destructive compound of Spanish juice, spirits, sul- phuric acid, burnt sugar, etc., for brandy ; alum, acetate of lead, carbonate of potash, tincture of capsicum, juniper oil, coriander seed, calamus root, and sulphuric acid, added to. a small portion of some of the diluted genuine article, for gin ; strychnine, lye of ashes, etc., compounded with water and spirits, for whiskey ; and damaged cider, poor wines, sugar, brandy, and tartaric acid, ingeniously com- pounded, for champagne. Coercive laws, for the suppression of the sale of ardent spirits, seem to have proved utterly futile in effecting their object, while the adulterations just alluded to, have been in- creased by the disreputable hands which manipulate modern liquors. Many honest-minded teetotallers admit this .fact. Enough whiskey is manufactured in this country, annually, to allow from three to five gallons for every man, woman, and child. More than one-half of all this whiskey is a slaughtering compound, whose pernicious proper- ties are sowing the seeds of death in the blood and .nerve of millions of people. It has been said by physicians, having charge of public institutions, that it is almost impossible to treat delirium tremens successfully now, in consequence of the utter prostration of the nervous system of drunkards by the strychnine so generally used in the manufacture of liquors. The readers of the daily press must have noticed too, how frequently nowadays, we hear of cases of 86 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. spontaneous combustion in those who have saturated their bodies with modern rum. What in the world can the infernal inventions of modern liquor manufacturers be composed of, to have the power to make the human system so inflammable as to cause a living body to become a victim to flame, and perish by burning without the aid of fagot ! A chemical inspector of liquors has announced that he made two hundred and forty-nine inspections of the various varieties of spirits, and that he found more than one-tenth of them imitation, and a great portion of them poisonous concoctions. As the result of his investi- gations, he remarks, that of brandy he does not believe there is one gallon of pure in a hundred, the imitations having corn-whiskey for a basis, and various poisonous acids for the condiments. Of wine, not a gallon in a thousand purporting to be sherry, port, sweet Malaga, is pure; but they are composed of water, sulphuric acid, alum, cayenne pepper, horse-radish, and many of them without a drop of alcoholic spirit. Speaking of whiskey, he adds, that in his inspection, he has found only 17 to 29 per cent, of alcoholic spirit, when it should have had 45 to 50, and some of it contained sulphuric acid enough in a quart to eat a hole through a man's stomach. A few years ago, several hundred hogs died at a distillery from the effects of strych- nine used in the preparation of whiskey, they having feasted their ravenous stomachs on the slops. There was a time when whiskey drunkards frequently attained a remarkable longevity. How many whiskey-drinking octogenarians can be found to-day? Strychnine destroys the equipoise of Nature — augments the alkalies of the mu- cous membranes, and thereby destroys the harmonious evolutions of vital electricity, carried on by the combined action of the internal and external fluids. Considering all these circumstances, it is, to make use of a common paraphrase, "dangerous to be safe " to indulge in intoxicating liquors at all. Drunkards are not properly treated to effect their reformation. Men of unfortunate habits are daily arrested in our large cities, dragged to dark and dismal cells, locked up for the night, and in the morning taken before the police magistrate, charged with gross in- toxication, when they are either "sent up " for thirty days, or fined ten dollars, or perhaps, in some cases, both penalties are inflicted. A man who is in the habit of getting drunk will not think much often dollars -after he has taken -the third horn, and by the time tie has THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 87 taken his tenth, he becomes too oblivions to care whether he sleeps in his own bed at home, or upon the floor of a cell at the station- house. But he awakens the next morning, to find that he has taken one more step in disgracing himself, and with his self-respect consid- erably lowered, he emerges from his cell to receive his examination and sentence. As many times as he gets drunk, so many times is he put through this process of degradation, until every particle of his manhood is thoroughly worked out of him. The proper way to treat these slaves to appetite would be to sentence them to ten days of instruction on the injurious effects of intemperance, and the fatal effects of adulterated liquors. It would be public economy to employ good lecturers, who could portray in stirring words, such as Gough utters, the misery entailed, morally, socially, and physically, by intem- perance, and at the same time exhibit by anatomical plates, prepared expressly for 'the purpose, the serious injuries the stomach and other organs suffer through the effects of inebriety, and the villanous con- coctions sold as vinous and distilled liquors. Every large city could well afford an institution of this kind, with every necessary facility for improving the minds and morals of those who are picked up Fig. 26. THE FARM-YARD, THE ONLY PLACE TO FIND PURE COW'S MILK. drunk in the streets. In the rural districts, every county could eco- nomically make such an investment, and in this way a multitude of in- ebriate homes could be sustained at no greater expense than is now in- curred in punishing the offenders of law and good order, who are made so through intemperance in the use of ardent spirits. Many young men go on a spree without thinking they receive more than temporary 88 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. injury, which a little attention to diet, etc., for a few days, will over- come ; and many a hardened toper thinks when he takes a notion to stop the use of intoxicating drinks, that will be the end of it. Such uninformed persons should be taught better. There is no prospect of their receiving the necessary tuition, so long as they are simply fined and imprisoned for becoming intoxicated. Having hastily reviewed the constituents and physical effects of the most common beverages concocted by man, and passed some strictures upon them and their consumers, I will now calLthe atten- tion of the reader to those .fluids which Nature has so abundantly furnished for the use of mankind. Many may be surprised to find that these are not entirely above criticism. Milk is the first fluid which is permitted to enter the human sys- tem ; and perhaps, considering the ignorance, indiscrimination, and reckless folly of the mass of human animals, it were better if others had never been provided. Milk contains all the elements of whole- some food, and all that is necessary to the sustenance and growth of the animal organism. Its constituents are water, sugar, butter, caseine, or curd, and the various salts necessary for the support of the system. The sugar of milk is less apt to produce acidity of the stomach than the sugar of vegetables, and it is prepared in Switzer- land for food, and exported for the Homceopathists, who use it in making their little medicated pellets. No milk contains so much of this sugar as that from the breasts of woman. Indeed, all the con- stituents of milk vary considerably in their proportions in different animals. Compared with that from the cow, woman's milk contains not only more sugar but more water, and usually more salts, while it contains less butter and caseine. This difference renders it impossi- ble to make cow's milk a perfect substitute for that from the breast of the mother for infants. If common sugar be added to the milk of the cow to make up a deficiency in this property, and water to lessen the excessive supply of butter and caseine, the babe becomes affected with sour stomach and indigestion. If the cow be fed on improper food, such as still slops, its milk becomes a still poorer substitute for the. mother's milk for the child, because it contains a still less supply of sugar .of milk and. natural salts,. and an excessive quantity of caseine. The deficiencies and inequalities are sometimes regulated by shrewd dealers, but the milk cannot be made to possess THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 89 the properties of that from a healthy, grazing cow. Milk is extern sively adulterated in large villages and cities. A man living in the suburbs of this city was reported to the President of the Sanitary Fi2. 27. TEETH OF A STALL-FED COW. Commission as a fabricator of milk by chemical composition, as follows: sugar, roasted, imparted the yellow color; oil produced the fat; eggs gave an appearance of richness; starch was added to repre- Fig. 2& TEETII OF A GRAZING COW. sent the caseine or curd ; all that was necessary in addition was water. Other equally deceptive imitations are made by diluting good, or swill milk, and adding yolks of eggs, sheep's brains, flour, 90 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. subcarbonate of potash, and chalk. Although killing to small chil- dren, so much is not to be feared from these adulterations as from milk obtained from diseased animals. Cows are kept the year round in stables by many dairymen in cities, or adjacent thereto. By con- finement, if not by bad food, they become diseased, just as men and women do when shut in from open air and exercise. Their diseases, as a matter of course, render their milk unwholesome and innutri- tious. When, together with confinement, cows are fed on still slops, their milk becomes actually poisonous. Some hard stories are re- lated of New York dairymen, who, it is said, keep their cows closely tied up in sheds, and fed on still slops till they actually drop dead in their stalls. From the specimens of milk that I have seen in this city, and the dishonest character of many of those engaged in the milk traffic, I am not disposed to doubt their entire truthfulness. The shocking consequences of such speculative recklessness falls with particular severity on the juvenile portion of a metropolitan population, and it is sad to contemplate that the perversity of man can lead him to the perpetration of such wholesale slaughter of inno- cent babes, who, by reason of maternal disability, are denied the nourishment of a mother's breast. But the cupidity of the unprin- cipled money-seeker knows no limit, and the fact that such imposi- tions are practised, should lead the consumer to guard himself against them. Pure milk is not congenial to every one. In some, by its dilution of the gastric fluids of the stomach, together with the resistant action of its oily property, the generation of vital electricity is impeded and drowsiness induced. This is especially so in a case of bilious pre- disposition. In others, who are predisposed to catarrhal difficulties, the caseine of milk increases slime, and tends to aggravate the com- plaint. But with the majority of people, milk is a highly nutritious drink, and when copiously added to tea and coffee, often renders these beverages harmless to those who otherwise could not use them. Buttermilk may be used by many who cannot drink sweet milk". Most of its fatty matter has been removed by the churning process, and it possesses a great deal of lactic acid. In consequence of the presence of this acid, M. Robin, an eminent French chemist, recom- mends its use to keep the system free from clinkers. He says, ''that the mineral matter which constitutes an ingredient in most of our THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 91 food after the combustion, is left in our systems to incrust and stiffen the different parts of our body, and to render imperfect many of the vital processes. He compares human beings to furnaces which are always kindled; life exists only in combustion, but the combustion which occurs in our bodies, like that which takes place in our chim- neys, leaves a detritus or residuum which is fatal to life." This, he claims, the free use of buttermilk will remove; but as everybody cannot get buttermilk, I will add that good ripe fruit, with no taint of decomposition, will effect the same result, and make a better sub- stitute for buttermilk for this purpose, than is usually concocted to represent sweet milk, for the purposes for which it is used. Water is sometimes the cause of blood diseases. Not only does a considerable quantity pass through the system in some form, but much is retained temporarily, and its bulk fully replaced by the newly taken liquids when the old pass off. Nearly three-fourths of the weight of the living body consists of water. If good, pure spring water could be obtained in all parts of the world, it would be the healthiest drink for man. And so would it be, if nature were more bountiful in the distribution of such streams as the Oroton, Cochituate, and Schuylkill of America ; and the dashing rivulets which play in the mountains of Switzerland. But when the thirst can only be quenched by the muddy and sewerage waters of the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Thames, and Seine, pregnant as they are with the filth of cities, the soap-suds of washerwomen, and the decom- posed matter of vegetables and dead animals, it is not strange that the vitality of the blood is impaired by their vegetable and animal exuviaa. Many of the denizens of Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, New Orleans, London, and Paris, flatter themselves that their river waters, are wholesome ! But it is a proverbial fact that every traveller must have a dysentery, or something approaching thereto, on initia- ting his stomach into the use of them. Like an unwilling slave, the system can after awhile be whipped into submission, but it reposes only long enough to collect in the blood sufficient impurities to re- venge on the individual in the form of diarrhoea, or bilious, typhoid, intermittent, or yellow fever. Hence, together with bad diet, the frequency of these forms of disease in the cities mentioned. Some of the residents along the shores of these rivers are aware of the injurious properties of their waters, and resort to rain water. 92 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Unfortunately,, they only " jump from the frying-pan into the fire." In the large cities designated, the air above is no cleaner than the streets beneath. It is .the reservoir of the animal effluvia of crowded populations. The breath of thousands of diseased men . and animals mingles with the rains as they descend, infecting them with their poisonous gases. I have no doubt that, in seasons of epidemics, the seeds of the prevailing diseases are often drank with water.. Conse- quently, those who drink rain-water should first expose it for several days to light and -air, and then to filtration. By these means it may be rendered wholesome, and better by far than the heterogeneous Fig. 29. NATURE'S BEVERAGE ON A FROLIC THROUGH THE HILLS. compound of decayed vegetation, solution of dead horses and dogs, and the city slops, which flow in the channels of many rivers. The well-water of limestone countries is productive of gravel and kidney difficulties, and causes the hair to become prematurely gray,' THE LIQUIDS WE DRINK. 93 while in all new countries it is often rendered unwholesome from the drainage of decayed vegetation. The former is known by its hard- ness, and the latter by its peculiar odor, and frequent discoloration. In Virginia, not far from Fortress Monroe, are " Juniper swamps,' 1 and from these swamps the water is extensively taken for drinking purposes. The color is nearly that of pale brandy, and the odor strong of juniper. If the reader should sail up the James River some day, he may be offered a goblet of it, and if so, do not refuse it, as it is regarded as wholesome not only by those who have been long in the habit of using it, but by medical men who have given its qualities some investigation. If not impregnated with any thing more deleterious than the leaves and berries of the juniper, the water may be regarded as a good diuretic, and would materially benefit tourists from lime- stone regions, or those from any part of our country affected with urinary affections, or uterine obstructions. The United States are becoming noted for their mineral waters. The sulphur and other springs of Virginia, have been the resorts of the sick for many generations. The springs of Saratoga enjoy an enviable reputation not only in this country, but in Europe. New springs have been discovered in Vermont, also at Gettysburg, Pennsyl- vania. The springs of Avon are favorites with many, and there are other springs of more or less note in various parts of our country, all Of which possess some merits as remedies for disease. The fact that they are medicinal, should lead to reasonable caution in their use. The visitors of these springs, generally seem to imagine that the more of these Waters they can a worry down 1 ' in the course of a day, the more rapidly will they recover from some difficulty with which they are affected. With this excess, and in many cases the possible in- adaptation of a certain water to the constitutional peculiarities of the patient, injuries instead of benefits are experienced. The advice of resident physicians should in all cases be obtained, as their obser- vation in the use of these waters enables them to give directions which will the more likely insure success in their employment. It may be thought thatlam inconsistent in thus speaking favorably of mineral waters, by those who have read my essay on vegetable medicines. In that place I denounce mineral medication, but every rule has its exceptions, and I cannot but make an exception in favor of these remedies, " distilled as they are from the bowels of the earth by the hand of Omnipotence." They are the preparation of 94 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. 30 no human chemist, nor can the most astute pharmaceutist imitate them exactly. Mineral waters are manufactured, and some of them pretty good imitations, but as well might the artificial -flower maker essay to manufacture a natural rose-bud, with its rich colors and delightful fragrance, as for the chemist to attempt to prepare a per- fect imitation of any of our mineral springs. Water which has been standing long in one's room is unfit to drink. It has absorbed the perspired and respired gases, and the colder the water, the more completely has it effected this. The disinfectant qualities of water by the absorption of deleterious gases, are so well known to intelligent people, that many keep vessels of water stand- ing in their sitting or lodging rooms. "Water which has remained all night in leaden pipes, becomes affected with the properties of the lead, and that which remains for a long time in a pump, with the impure gases of the atmosphere ; and in both cases should be drawn off before any is taken for drinking purposes. Leaden pipes are chiefly used in cities, for conveying aqueduct water into the houses, and too much care cannot be taken, when no water has been drawn through the night, to avoid taking any that may have stood in the pipes during the interval. In summer, ice-water should be used with great caution, for if drank exces- sively, it causes irritations, and some- times fatal inflammations of the stom- ach and bowels. I am satisfied that would require the use of warm drinks in It is undoubtedly owing to our THE OLD OAKEN lit correct habits in drinking, summer, and cold drinks in winter, tendency to invert almost every hygienic rule, that it has become the custom everywhere to resort to cool drinks during hot weather, and to hot drinks in cold weather. The temperature of the water taken inside, as well as that applied outside, should, as a rule having of course its exceptions, be made to correspond with the temperature of the atmosphere. Cold water should not be taken with the meals THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE IN. 95 at all, for it chills the stomach, and retards, and sometimes arrests digestion. The colder the water, the more likely it is to do this. Brook streams which have the appearance of purity, are not always safe to drink from, in consequence of the possible presence of danger- ous animalculse ; many instances of frogs, evets, and worms, in the stomach have occurred in consequence of want of care in this partic- ular. Those having their sources or channels near marshes, frog- ponds, hog-pastures, sess-pools, distilleries, poultry-yards, slaughter- houses, and saw-mills, may with good reason be avoided. Pedes- trians, travellers, and sportsmen, when overtaken with thirst, should look for some farm-house, and regale themselves with a bowl of milk rather than suck in the waters of an unknown brook. Everywhere that good milk can be obtained, it may safely be regarded as the most wholesome and nutritious drink. Pig. 31. The Atmosphere we Live in. It is estimated that each individual takes into his lungs annually aoout 800 pounds of air, and if the reader has observed in the preced- ing essays the amount of food and drink consumed every year by one person, it will be discovered that the aggregate amount of air, liquid, and substantial food received per year, by only one member of the human family, amounts in the aggregate to about one and one-half tons. The value of the air in nourishing the human system may be in a measure appre- ciated, when we consider what it may do in promoting the growth of a tree. Read the following narrative of an experiment, and the comments of the narrator : " Two hundred pounds of earth were dried in an oven, and afterward put into a large earthen vessel ; the earth was then moistened with rain-water, and a willow-tree, weighing five pounds, was placed therein. During the space of five years, the earth was carefully watered with rain-water or pure water. The willow grew and flourished, and to prevent the earth from being mixed with fresh earth, or being blown upon it by the winds, it was covered with a metal plate full of minute holes, OUR PLANET, AND ITS SUR- ROUNDING ATMOSPHERE. 96 CAUSES OP NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. which would exclude all but air from getting access to the earth below it. After growing in the earth for five years, the tree was removed, and on being weighed, was found to have gained 165 pounds, as it now weighed 170 pounds, and this estimate did not include the weight of the leaves, or dead branches, which in five years fell from the tree. Now came the application of a test. Was this all obtained from the earth ? It had not sensibly diminished, but in order to make the experiment conclusive, it was again dried in an oven and put in the balance. Astounding was the result; the earth weighed only two ounces less than it did when the willow was planted in it! Yet, the tree had gained 165 pounds. Manifestly then, the wood thus gained in this space of time, was not obtained from the earth; we are, therefore, compelled to repeat our question, 'where did the wood come from?' "We are left with only two alternatives — the water with which it was refreshed, or the air in which it lived. It can be clearly shown that it was not due to tho water; we are consequently unable to resist the wonderful conclu- sion — it was derived from the air." If air can make a tree, it can make or unmake man, according to its quality, for the lungs of the former (its leaves) are not so per- fectly constructed for respiration as those of the latter ; nor is its bark so pervious to the air as the skin which envelops the human body ; and before the conclusion of this essay, I shall show to the reader that many derangements of the blood and nervous system arise from impure and unwholesome air. As my views with regard to the influence of air upon the human system are somewhat peculiar, and a proper understanding of them necessary to aid the reader in readily comprehending many important points in subsequent pages of this work, I shall subserve both the purposes of this chapter, and many which are to follow, by a general treatise on the nature and effects of this wonderful element. Air is composed of 78 per cent, nitrogen, 21 per cent, oxygen, or electrici- ty, nearly 1 per cent, of carbonic acid gas, and more or less vapor of water, according to its temperature. " I am not alone in believing that oxygen is identical, or nearly so, with electricity ; but if I were; my opinion would remain unchanged until some philosophical argUr ment could be adduced to show the contrary. The origin and real nature of both are unknown, but certain it is, their effects are similar, and whatever difference is observable, may be occasioned byits com- THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE M. 97 bination with other substances, for, according to generally received opinion, "Nature never presents it solitary." Still this view of the subject is not vital to the theory I am about to advance, for it is now universally admitted by scientific men, that electricity permeates every thing — the air around and above us, as well as the earth beneath our feet. The quantity of electricity diffused in the air, exerts a potential influence on the health of man, and an excess of the element in the atmosphere is as injurious as a moiety. In dry and pleasant weather, the atmosphere usually possesses its normal share of elec- tricity, but in rainy weather, it contains too much, and this remark is made with a full knowledge of the views to the contrary of some modern scientists. A popular writer and lecturer has undertaken to prove that the atmosphere is usually more negative in damp, or wet weather, than when it is dry or pleasant, and that the reason smoke so often descends when the air is filled with mists and rain, is be- cause the smoke is positively charged with electricity, and the atmosphere, more negative than usual, attracts it, whereas usually, in dry weather, the air is positive, and repels it upon the well-known principle that two positives, or two negatives repel each other. Now, the generally accepted theory concerning the ascension and descension of smoke is, that it depends upon the density or rarity of the atmosphere. Smoke is composed of light carbonaceous particles and when the air is dry and dense, it naturally rises above it. When it is wet and rainy, the presence of so much hydrogen (the lightest of any known substance) renders the air lighter, and often so light as to cause the smoke to descend because of its greater weight. It is said in attempting to controvert this established theory, that smoke has been seen to fall when the barometer indicated more than half a degree above mean density ; but this may have been owing to some local influence upon the barometer which did not affect the atmos- phere when the smoke was observed to descend; or, it may have resulted from a defect in the instrument, or, still further, the smoke may have been influenced by local currents of air. But how is it proved that smoke is positively charged with electricity ? The writer referred to says it is so "charged by combustion." How can this be, when smoke is only produced by fire in which combustion is in- complete? Let this question of smoke, however, "end in smoke," for it is not material, only in so far as its upward or downward 98 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. movement is instanced to show the electrical condition of the atmos- phere. I believe it is not questioned that the air is more dense in dry than in wet weather, and it only remains for me to show that the atmosphere is more electrical on a wet day than it is on a dry one. To do this, it simply seems, necessary to point to the effects observed upon telegraphic wires. It is only on cloud}-, wet, or rainy days that telegraphic operators suffer much inconvenience from atmospheric Fig. 32. THE ELECTRICITY OF THE TIIUXDEr.-STOEJI electricity, and when such weather prevails, they are sometimes knocked down by currents gathered from the atmosphere. Fre- quently they are compelled to suspend operations during a thunder- storm. Then, too, does not the lurid lightning, with its voice of thunder, often tell us of the greater presence of electricity when the sky is cloudy and the air loaded with vapor ? Victor Hugo, in describing an equinoctial storm, says : — " The magnetic intensity THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE IN. 99 manifests itself by what might be called a fiery humor in the sea. Fire issues from the waves ; electric air — phosphoric water. The sailors feel a strange lassitude. This time is particularly perilous for iron vessels; their hulls are then liable to produce variations of the compass, leading them to destruction. The steamer Iowa perished from this cause." When this undue presence of positive electricity exists, there are, undoubtedly, currents of negative electricity mov- ing about to some extent, and it is the approach of positive and nega- tive currents toward each other which causes the lightning flash, and the atmospheric concussion which conveys to the air the sound of thunder. But if the atmosphere, as a whole, were more negative, positive currents would not traverse the telegraphic wires, but would be absorbed or taken up instead of moving in accumulated bodies toward the operator's instruments; ano. if the air near the earth's surface were all negative, and that far above it all positive, then would occur a constant equalization, or blending of the two opposite forces without the violent hurling of lightning balls, whose movements are observed and mutterings heard during a thunder- storm. I, therefore, repeat the proposition, that the air in dry and pleas- ant weather usually possesses the electrical element to a wholesome extent, while during wet and rainy weather, it contains an excess. When the weather is fair, the human system is relatively in a posi- tive, and the air in a negative condition ; that is, the former pos- sesses more electricity than the latter. The result produced by this disparity between the body and the element which surrounds it, is a constant radiation from the former, or, in other words, a contin- ual flowing off of the electrical element into the atmosphere, as represented in Figure 33. It is well known to physiologists, that when the pores of the skin are in a healthy condition, there is an incessant discharge from the skin of what is termed insensible perspiration ; but nothing is said of the motive power by which the effete particles of the system are thus so wonderfully carried off. Now, if a doctor should retire at night with his garden strewn with filth and rubbish, and on arising in the morning should find the whole mass emptied into the street, he would naturally enough in- quire who or what had removed it. Surely dead and waste matter could not remove itself. Strange it is, then, that the astute profes- sors of anatomy and physiology have never thought to ask them- 100 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. selves how the corrupt particles of the system, day by day and year by year, during the natural life of man, are emptied into the great thoroughfare of life — Fi ?- m - atmospheric air. The pores _ = . possess no power in themselves to throw them off, and if, by the act of contraction, they should succeed in expelling these impurities, with no mo- tive power to carry them away from the skin, the latter would daily become coated with the diseased exudations of the body. There are about seven millions of pores in the human body, and the quantity of use- less matter that is daily dis- charged from them amounts to from twenty to forty ounces. The reader can see, therefore, how soon the avenues of the skin would close up, were the discharge of effete matter pro- duced by merely a contracting process of the pores. Nature has manifestly employed a motive power, and this agent is the same which the mind of man uses in controlling his muscular organization, and the same, too, that the Almighty employs in moving and sustaining the planetary systems of innumerable worlds. It is found in cases of fever that the blood is overcharged with acid, and the fever is undoubtedly, in a measure, due to the presence of this. This excess may be easily explained. The excretions from the skin are acidulous, showing that electrical radiation, when active, relieves the blood and system generally, of all excessive acidulous accumulations, as well as waste matters. But when the pores of the skin are closed up by sudden exposure to cold, or taking cold, or the radiation is more sluggish by protracted wet weather, or a residence in a damp location, the acidulous and effete properties of the blood ELECT1UCAL EADIATIOX. THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE IN. IQl and tissues do not pass off sufficiently, and the system becomes loaded with them, inducing fever or other inflammatory difficulties. Here we have physiological evidence of a too positive condition of the atmosphere in wet weather. The system, no longer electrically positive in its relation to the surrounding air, active, healthful radia- tion of electricity, with its loads of impurities, is partially or wholly suspended. It is under the influence of these conditions, that rheu- matic and neuralgic invalids complain of increased pain, because the damming up of the impurities of the system promotes the accretions of acrimonious particles of matter which attach themselves to the living tissue and inflame it. The application of galvanism, or elec- tricity, while this state of things exists, not only tends to detach the irritating particles from the parts to which they have adhered, but also has a tendency to throw the body into a positive condition, or in other words, to render it more electrified than the atmosphere, so that radiation of the impurities is partially resumed. No one feels as well on a rainy day, or living in a damp location, excepting those whose electrical conditions are abnormal, or whose fluids radiate too much to the surface, leaving the mucous membranes dry. Such, of course, feel better when the air is moist, and more strongly electrical, while catarrhal invalids, or those having excessive mucous secretions of any kind, are made worse thereby. As a rule, having few exceptions, then, pleasant weather and dry locations are most conducive to health, because these conditions and circumstances promote the relative electrical condition between the body and its surrounding element, and are best calculated to keep healthfully active the electrical radiation which carries off the rubbish of those portions of the system not easily relieved by other depurating organs. For other reasons, the air is not as wholesome in wet as in dry weather. When the latter prevails, the density of the air causes a rapid passing off of earthy, vegetable, and animal impurities, which, owing to their vapory form, rise with such rapidity, as to scarcely affect the air we breathe. But when it rains, the air being lighter, the gases of decaying vegetation and animal effluvia (which are also light) mingle with the air we breathe. A popular writer, who has said a great many good things, erroneously remarks as fol- lows : — k 'The amount of exhalation and effluvia which rises from the ground, 102 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. depends much upon the atmospheric pressure. When the air is heavy, these substances are, as it were, confined to their sources, that is, they are liberated at the slowest rate ; but as the barometer falls, the pressure is taken off, and the miasmatic emanations rise much more rapidly." A more palpable error was never uttered. It is contrary to the laws of gravitation. Investigate it in any way you choose, and you will find it wrong. If you suppose the miasmatic emanations heavier than air, they remain near the ground in consequence of their own weight. Suppose them lighter, and it is impossible for them to be held down by the pressure of the air, for the latter will then settle down under them, and raise them up. Whoever heard of putting a flat stone on water to hold it down ? No, the quotation is absurd, and contrary to fact. Miasmatic emanations are lighter than air on a clear clay, and rapidly rise above the strata of air we breathe ; but on damp and wet days, when the air is also light, miasmatic emana- tions rise sluggishly, and mix with the air we breathe. From this it appears that nature sometimes disturbs one of the chief elements of life, a fact which rather disproves the writings of some people who assert that there is no reason why a person may not live on earth forever, if he strictly observes the laws of life and health. It is well enough to say that few people live as long as they might, for that is true ; and I shall now proceed to treat upon matters relevant to this subject, which go to prove the fact. The atmospheric changes and conditions which we have thus far been contemplating, are not within the control of man. If pains were taken to preserve the purity of the air we breathe, so far as it is within our power, health would be promoted and lon- gevity increased. The venous blood which enters the lungs is in a negative state, and depends upon the oxygen or electricity of air to electrify it, remove its carbon, and perfect its arterialization. Hence, the air we inhale may contain its natural constituents in their due proportions, but that which we exhale contains almost the usual quantity of nitrogen, with eight or nine per cent, of its oxygen re- placed with an equal amount of carbonic acid. The stomach, in the digestion of food, cannot produce all the electricity which is neces- sary to move the animal machinery, and therefore the lungs, with their curious mechanism, receive the blood from the venous system, and expose it to the electrifying influence of the atmosphere. I may THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE IN. 103 be asked why the blood is not like the body, electrically positive in relation to the air. I reply, that it is when it leaves the lungs chem- ically changed by its contact with oxygen ; but in passing through the arterial and capillary systems, it distributes its electrical proper- ties and returns through the venous system destitute of that element. Respiration is really governed by electrical laws in a measure, although mostly produced by, the movements of the diaphragm, and contractions and relaxations of the walls of the air vesicles. Infla- tion is aided by the attraction the negative venous blood has for the electrical elements of the atmosphere, and exhalation, after the vesi- cles have expelled the air which has been used into the bronchial tubes, is aided by the attraction existing between the negative prop- erties of the latter and the more positive properties of the former. The lungs are very generous to the stomach. They keep up a necessary supply of electricity during the hours of sleep, when the digestive organs are permitted to take partial repose. Did ever the reader notice what long, deep inhalations a person takes while sleep- ing ? While the stomach is. enjoying rest, the lungs work their utmost to keep up a supply of vital electricity, and although they exhale the useless gases with the same rapidity that they do when the individual is awake, they draw in deeper and more copious draughts of the electrifying element. The stomach being on such amicable terms with the respiratory apparatus, and having made such excellent arrangements with it to aid in doing its work during the hours of partial repose (for the stomach never sleeps soundly), the reader can see how wrong it is for him to give his stomach a job of work to do on going to bed by eating a late supper, and that he has no right to complain if the digestive organs refuse to do the work, but allow the food to ferment, and fill his blood and brain with inflammation. When the stomach has such perfect confidence in the integrity and industry of the lungs, it is also wrong to oblige the latter to cheat the former by going to sleep in badly ventilated rooms, or where malaria exists, by which the blood becomes poisoned instead of arterialized, and the stomach finds its work not only undone, but itself disqualified in a measure to resume its labors. Facts go to prove that there is a greater proneness to disease during sleep than in the waking state. In Turkey and Ilindostan, if a per- son falls asleep in the neighborhood of a poppy field, over which the wind is blowing toward him, ho is liable to "sleep the sleep which 104 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. knows no waking." The peasants of Italy, who fall asleep in the neighborhood of the Pontine marshes, are invariably smitten with fever. Even travellers who pass the night in the Campagna du Roma invariably become more or less affected with the noxious air. Com- mercial men often conduct their business affairs in unwholesome locations in cities, but maintain a fair degree of health by having their residences, and sleeping, in healthful neighborhoods. The man whose business calls him into marshes and swamps during portions of the day, and sleeps upon the hill-top, may avoid chills and fever with which the inhabitants who lodge in proximity to those marshes are affected. The reason of this, after what has been said, must be obvious. The stomach battery having partially suspended operations in sleep, the lungs redouble their efforts to inhale the life-giving properties of the atmosphere. In malarious or unwholesome localities they unfortunately receive them most poisonously adulterated, and the various organs of the system, if not murdered in their slumbers, awaken to find themselves invaded by a destructive foe. An English traveller in Abyssinia has asserted that he could live in health in that sickly climate, by a proper selection of the situation where he slept every night. All this argues the deleterious effects of late suppers, as well as the necessity of well-ventilated and healthful sleeping apartments, and people who complain of ill health while they persist in the former, and take no pains to secure the latter, are as foolish as the boy who thrust his hand into hot embers and then cried because it was burned. Let those who sleep in small rooms, with windows and doors closed, remember that every individual breathes, on an average, from 13 to 20 times per minute, and inhales from 13 to 40 cubic inches of air at each inspiration. Now take, as a low estimate, the consumption of air at 20 inches, and the number of inspirations at 15, and we find that in the space of one minute, 300 cubic inches of air are required for the respiration of one person, during which 24 cubic inches of oxygen are absorbed by the blood, and the same amount of carbonic acid given out. Proceed with this estimate, and we find that in one hour, one pair of lungs have consumed 1,440 cubic inches of oxygen, and in seven hours, the time usually allotted to sleep, 10,080 cubic inches of oxygen have been replaced with an equal quantity of carbonic acid. The deadly effects of the latter are THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE IK 1Q5 illustrated by the fact that a canary bird, suspended near the top of a curtain bedstead where persons are sleeping, will almost inva- riably be found dead in the morning. It has further been demon- strated that when there is six per cent, of carbonic acid in the air, it is rendered unfit for the support of animal life, and half this propor- tion would put out the light of a candle. In view of these facts, how many churches, school-houses, places of amusement, factories, workshops, and dwelling-houses are but the nurseries of disease. Nor is it surprising that such a great majority of tombstones in our cemeteries are inscribed with ages below two score. Some physiological writers have said that scrofula is often produced by bad air. That it is rendered contagious through the medium of the air is certain, but I am hardly inclined to believe that the disease would directly arise from breathing the atmosphere of a crowded room unless there were persons in the apartment affected with it. Scrofula and all diseases are rendered, in a measure, contagious by the diseased animal vapors from the lungs and pores of persons affected with them. These vapors mingle with the natural ingredients of air in a confined room, and are conveyed to the blood of others through the respiratory apparatus, and hence, impure air may, in one sense, be said to produce Scrofula. Certain it is, that it will convey the disease to those not affected with it, if it is rendered impure by the presence of scrofulous persons. Every man and woman is constantly perspiring or radiating from the skin, and exhaling from the lungs, waste animal matter, and if a person is diseased, these vapors par- take of the nature of that disease. Inasmuch, then, as there are at least five diseased persons to every ten sound ones, in every community, the reader can see how liable he is to contract disease in a crowded lecture or show room. The best ventilation does not render us entirely safe, but improper ven- tilation makes the spread of disease positively certain. Prof. Fara- day gives his experience regarding the atmosphere of crowded rooms, as follows : — a Air feels unpleasant in the breathing cavities, including the mouth and nostrils, not merely from the absence of oxygen, the presence of carbonic acid, or the elevation of the temperature, hut from other causes depending on matters communicated to it from the human.ocing. I think an individual may find a decided difference in his feelings when making part of a large company, from what he does when one 5* ■ "• 106 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. of a small number of persons, and yet the thermometer give the same indication. When I am one of a large number of persons, I feel an oppressive sensation of closeness, notwithstanding the tem- perature may be about 60° or 65°, which I do not feel in a small com- pany at the same temperature, and which I cannot refer altogether to the absorption of oxygen, or the exhalation of carbonic acid, and probably emends upon the effluvia from the many present; but with me it is much diminished by a lowering of the temperature and the sensations become more like those occurring in a small com- pany. 1 ' If mankind were generally aware* of the effects of the diseased radiations and exhalations of invalids, popular lecturers and preach- ers, and favorite dramatists, and negro dancers, could hardly induce the convocation of the crowded audiences that they now do, and people would be as particular in the air they breathe, as in the water they drink. The use of stagnant waters could not be more deleteri- ous to the nervous and vascular systems than the inhalation and absorption of vitiated air. Still, most people are regardless of the latter, while they throw out with disgust a glass of water which has odor, sediment, or color. And how many fastidious men and women, would suffer almost any punishment rather than go in bathing in a bathing-house, crowded with all sorts of people as thick as they can stand or swim. They would consider the water unfit to enter, and so Avith reason they might think, but these same persons do not seem to imagine when in a crowded, and even odorous car, omnibus, or lecture-room, that they are in fact bathing in the same air with all the individuals they are crowded with, and not only that, but breathing it, too. Your clothing does not protect your skin from the effluvia passing off from the besotted and tobacco-saturated man who sits against you on one side, nor your veil from breathing the same air which has been inhaled and exhaled by the woman with decayed teeth, catarrh, and bad breath on 'the other side. Men returning from their business, and women from shopping, do not seem to realize that they bring home with them in their parlors some of the essential parts of men and women whom they would not allow to enter their back doors. This is no fling at poor people, but at those whose habits and dissipations have rendered them not only filthy, but dis- eased. It is, indeed, amusing sometimes to see how an aristocratic individual will turn his or her back upon, or leave a seat contiguous THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE IN. 107 to some plainly dressed person, though the latter be glowing with health, and seek contiguity with quite an opposite character, whose countenance bears every evidence of disease, but whose physical infirmities are almost concealed by the tailor, or dress-maker, and the perfumer. Better at any time seat yourself in public vehicles be- side men whose clothes are soiled with honest labor, but whose skins are red with the glow of health, or next to women in plain, cheap calico, with vivacity in their eyes, and sweetness in their breath, than to haughtily squeeze yourself between two well-dressed invalids. The former impart to you the magnetism of health, while the latter absorb your vital magnetism, and corrupt the air about you. By one, your stock in health is enriched ; by the other, it is impover- ished. Fish swim in water — you swim in air; look out for its purity. And parents, have an eye to your children who rely upon your judgment and care. Horace Mann, alluding to ill- ventilated school- rooms, said — "To put children on a limited supply of fresh air is a3 foolish as it would have been for Noah during the deluge to put his family on a short allowance of water. Since God has poured out an atmosphere of fifty miles deep, it is enough to make a miser weep to see our children stinted in breathing." As for the great body of animal effluvia poured into the atmosphere by our numerous and sickly human family, nature has provided a neutralizer. The electrical scintillations which are often observed on warm evenings, and the more powerful currents which rend the atmosphere during a thunder-storm, produce an element called ozone, and this neutralizes those properties in the atmosphere, the accumu- lation of which in time would destroy animal life. All have observed how refreshing the air is after a thunder-storm. Not only has the air returned to a healthful electrical condition, but it has become per- meated with vitalizing ozone. A few hours before it was stagnant and debilitating ; your skin was relaxed and gluey to the touch ; you felt languid and spiritless, but now you feel as refreshed as a child from a bath. This change has been produced by ozone. If the air be deprived of it for a great length of time, sickness becomes prev- alent, particularly that which is characterized by fevers ; and epi- demics, if present, rage with fearful fatality. Thus when nature has provided an element for disinfecting the great body of the atmos- phere which surrounds our planet, and arresting the spread of pesti- lence, each individual should put forth some personal effort to pre- 108 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. serve the pnrity of the air which immediately surrounds himself, and to protect the helpless and inexperienced from unnecessary exposure to diseased effluvia and poisonous miasma. The introduction of stoves for heat has heen as injurious to health as it has been universal. Air to be healthful must possess a certain amount of moisture (which is more electrical than dry air), to pre- vent a too copious radiation of the electrical elements and fluids of the body. The effect of stove heat, as every one knows, is to render the atmosphere dry. But if this were the only objection to the use of stoves, some means might be devised to overcome it. Says Pro- fe'ssor Youraans : " While in point of economy stoves are most advan- tageous sources of heat, yet in their effects upon the air they are perhaps the worst. We saw that in the stoves called air-tight, the burning is carried on in such a way that peculiar gaseous products are generated. These are liable to leak through the crevices and joinings into the room. Carbonic oxide gas is formed under these circumstances, and recent experiments have shown that it is a much more deadly poison than carbonic acid. A slow, half-smothered burning of these stoves requires a feeble draught which does not favor the rapid removal of injurious fumes. Besides, carbonic acid be- ing about half as heavy again as common air, must be heated 250 de- grees above the surrounding medium to become equally light, and still higher before it will ascend the pipe or flue. If the combustion of the fuel is not vivid, and the draught brisk, there will be regurgitation of this gaseous poison into the apartments." The same writer continues:' 11 Probably all stoves, from their improper fittings, are liable to this Imd result. Hot-air furnaces also have the same defect. They are cast in many pieces, and however perfect the joinings may be at first, they cannot long be kept air tight in consequence of the unequal contraction and expansion of the different parts under great alterna- tions of heat. Combustion products are hence liable to mingle with the stream of air sent into the room." Dr. Ure also remarks: "I have recently performed some careful experiments upon this subject, and find that when the fuel is burning so slowly as not to heat the iron surface above 250 Q , or 300°, there is a constant cleflux of carbonic acid into the roomy From recent experiments of French savants, it appears that cast-iron stoves are more injurious to the health than those made of sheet or wrought iron. They say that under a certain degree of heat, cast-iron is rendered porous, or at least per- THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE IN. 109 vious to the passage and absorption of gases. They think they have been able to state the quantity of oxide of carbon which may tran- sude from a given surface of metal, and have shown that the air which surrounds a stove of cast-iron is greatly impregnated with hydrogen and oxide of carbon. They also say that these cast-iron stoves absorb oxygen, thereby taking up the vital elements of the air at the same moment they are poisoning it by exhaling deleterious gases. M. Deville, at one of the sittings of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, warmly supported this view. In his lecture-room at the Fig. 34 YE OLD-FASHIONED FIRE-PLACE IN YE OLDEN TIME. Sorbonne, he had placed two electric bells, which were set in motion as soon as hydrogen, or oxide of carbon was diffused in the room. During his last lecture, the two cast-iron stoves had scarcely been lighted when the bells began to ring. The credit is due to M. Caret, HO CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. one of the physicians of the Hotel Dieu of Chambery, for first calling attention to this matter. The more lately introduced arrangements for heating houses by steam are open to less objection than any other modern improvement. They produce a less dry warmth, and the pipes conveying the steam through the various rooms of the building, are not the conductors of unwholesome gases. To warm an apartment, there is nothing really like the old- fashioned fire-place, and all who have ever had the felicity of warm- ing themselves before it, will join with me in this assertion. The author of this work spent his juvenile winter evenings before the light and heat of this ancient device for keeping the shins warm. A fire on the hearth does not heat the air, but as a writer truly re- marks, " the heat rays dart through it to warm any object upon which they may fall." The same writer continues : " The sun passes his floods of light through the atmosphere, without warming it a particle. Air is made to be breathed, and we again discover Provi- dential wisdom in the arrangement by which the sun warms us, without disturbing in the slightest degree the respiratory medium. But if we heat the air itself, we at once destroy the natural equilib- rium of its composition, and so change its properties, that it becomes more or less unpleasant and prejudicial to health." Large, open grates for burning coal, are a very good substitute for fire-places, and should take the place of stoves, not only in dwell- ings, but in churches, theatres, and show-rooms, where the animal effluvia of a crowded assembly are sufficient to render the air vitiat- ed, without the further addition of stove or furnace heat ; but if economy will not sanction this, then let steam be introduced through iron pipes, so arranged as to distribute heat equally in every part of the building, and not make a volcano of fire in the basement to emit ashes and gases as well as scorched air in the apartments above. Too much care cannot be taken for the maintenance of the natural purity of air. School-houses, churches, theatres, dwellings, and fac- tories, should he daily aired, in cold as well as hot weather. The permanency of impure air in a close building, is forcibly illustrated in a recent account given in the American Medical Gazette, of the vault of the old cathedral church of Bremen. Hundreds of years ago, when the old church was built, the plumbers occupied the vault for melting and preparing materials for the roof, and since that time THE ATMOSPHERE WE LIVE IN. m its atmosphere has possessed the peculiar property of preserving from decay all bodies placed therein. That paper remarks : — ■ " Visitors are shown eight human bodies, besides a number of cats, dogs, monkeys, birds, &c, all of which, by mere exposure to this atmosphere, have become dried and free from all offensive effluvia; resembling in appearance coarse parchment. " The body nearest the door is that of an English major, said to have lain there one hundred and eighteen years. " The second, that of a German student, who lost his life in a duel. The hard, dry flesh, still shows the sabre wounds on his throat and arm. His body has been here one hundred and seventy years. "The third, that of a Swedish countess, whose body has re- mained free from the lot of common mortals for one hundred and forty years. " The fourth, that of a Swedish general, who was killed in the "Thirty Years' War," and whose throat still exhibits the mark of the wound of which he died. " The fifth is that of his aid-de-camp, who lost his life at the same time, by a cannon-ball striking him in the side. The destruction of the parts is plainly visible. " The sixth is that of a workingman, who fell from the steeple of the church when near its completion — four hundred years ago — and broke his neck. Owing to this accident, the peculiar properties of the vault became known ; for the body of the deceased workman was laid in this vault for a few days, and, having evinced no signs of decomposition, the singularities of the fact induced the authorities to permit it to remain, and here it has remained during all that time. " The seventh is the body of an English lady, who died one hundred and thirty years since of a cancer on the lower jaw ; the ravages of disease are still perceptible in the ulcerated flesh. "The eighth is the body of a working-man, who has lain here for sixty years. "In a marble sarcophagus, standing in the middle of the vault, are said to repose the mortal remains of the Swedish Chancellor, Van Englebrechten ; but they are not permitted to be exposed to public view, on account of some still surviving relative of the family. "Each of these bodies retains to a great degree the appearance 112 CAUSES OF NERYOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. peculiar to itself in life. Thus, the Swedish general was a short, round-faced man, inclined to corpulency ; his aid-de-camp was a slen- der, well-proportioned man, in the prime of life. As in general appearance, so also in facial expression, do these bodies differ ; the parchment-like skin, though drawn tightly over the bones, still shows something of the manner in which the muscles beneath once worked. " No other part of the church possesses this peculiar atmosphere, and we can only suppose that the entire chamber became so sur- charged with lead, that it has continued ever since to give forth vapors, which, forming an antiseptic chemical compound of lead, have operated upon the cadavera exposed to its influence." Now this condition of the air is well enough for dead bodies, but baneful enough to live ones. Mechanics who work in metal can see from this, how prolific of diseases their workshops may become by being daily and nightly closed, as they frequently are in winter. There can be no doubt, too, that churches, closed up as they gener- ally are, at the end of every Sabbath, retain a great deal of the dis- eased emanations of unhealthy visitors, which cannot be removed by a day's airing toward the end of the week when the sextons usually sweep and ventilate the buildings. Churches should, there- fore, be aired immediately after, as well as just before the day for services, and an airing every day would be still better. Those who are struck down by the hand of disease and marvel at the cause of their afflictions, because, perhaps, they have been regu- lar in their habits of eating, drinking, and sleeping, may find in this essay a solution of the secret. That it may have a happy effect upon mechanics who build houses; upholsterers who furnish them; ser- vants and housewives who have the care of them : the artisan in the workshop ; the pale-faced woman in the cotton factory ; the hotel keeper who entertains lodgers ; the conductors of railways ; the par- son ; the sexton; the dancer; street commissioners; the frequent visitors of cemeteries; and the mothers of young families, is the hope of the author. The Clothes we Wear. The human being comes into the world very rudely. He not only disregards the prevailing styles of dress, but unblushingly presents THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 113 THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. himself with no drapery whatever. Nature persistently adheres to her vanity, and believes that "Nature unadorned is adorned the most," and consistently therewith thrusts Fig. 35. both male and female babies into the world without clothing. This is very im- modest on the part of old dame Nature, but as she is a very old-fashioned jade, and has more good sense than popular refinement, everybody puts up with her pranks in this respect, and the young mother who would run from a stranger, well enveloped in a clean night-gown, does not attempt to run away from the little stranger who comes to her without even a fig-leaf. There is, however, quite a display of haste to wash the baby and dress it. If the poor little thing could be dressed comfortably, there would be no reason to complain of the proceeding, but mamma or the nurse has some extravagant notions as to beauty of figure, and instead of baby-clothes being put on to conform to the anatomical developments of the infant, it is expected that these will be made to conform to the notions of proud mamma, who calculates her baby shall be as pretty as anybody's. If the baby happens to be of the feminine gender, it is especially unfortunate in this respect, as well as in all others through life. It must have a small waist, whether made so or not, and its baby-clothes must be so pinned as to favor this conformation of figure. So, too, when the infant has grown to girlhood, her dresses must be made fashionably, and her body, by means of lacing, and other inventions, crowded into them, and she becomes so gradually accustomed to tight-fitting garments about the waist, that when she arrives at womanhood, nobody can make her believe she dresses too tightly. One obstacle which every sensible physician has to contend with, is to convince his female patients that they dress too closely about the waist. If he have the bold- ness to thrust his fingers under the belt or waistband, she has the presence of mind to suddenly exhaust the air from her lungs, and then insist that " it is not too tight, Doctor. 1 ' Many women are honest in believing that they do not dress too closely, simply be- cause thev have become so thoronghlv used to it. Had thev never 114 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. been dressed un wholesomely in babyhood, and through succeeding years to adult age, and then the same dresses they are now wearing be put upon them, they would beg as piteously to be released, as if crushed beneath the ruins of a fallen building. A fractious husband could not be more inhumanly punished, than to be sentenced to wear for one week his waistcoat as closely fitted to his body as his wife habitually wears the waists of her dresses. Tt is something it seems almost superfluous to assure the reader, that tight clothes of every description are injurious. Knit shirts, knit drawers, tight stockings, tight garters, tight boots, close-fitting vests and waists, tight night-dresses, tight shoes, tight hats and caps, all tend to ob- struct the circulation of the blood, and also the electrical radiation which carries off the impurities of the system; and females suffer other injuries from compressing the waist, which will be pre- sented in another essay, where the evils of tight lacing will be referred to. So long have the habits of close dressing been pursued, a very large proportion of the men and women of civilized countries may be said to be "hide-bound; 1 ' that is, the pores of the skin have be- come closed and gummed up by the exhalations of the skin, which have not been permitted to pass off freely and naturally. It is perfectly astounding how fashion has knocked out the brains of people in regard to dress. When we consider that there is not any thing in the world so comfortable as comfort, is it not surprising that men and women will attire themselves with little or no regard to comfort during their conscious hours? Only when about to get into bed, and enter upon a season of obliviousness to all earthly woes, do they put on garments that admit of a fair degree of physical hap- piness; and how many fashionable women rush frantically to their chambers when they escape from society at the close of day, to relieve themselves of their uncomfortable costumes. If the "man in the moon " should be permitted to descend to this planet, entirely ignorant of the follies of the people of earth, it would be hard to make him believe that these discomforts were self-inflicted. Except for the fact the Divine mandates are seldom so religiously obeyed, he would imagine this self-torture to be decreed by Jehovah. Then the amount of fabric required for clothing a fashionable woman of civil- ization is truly appalling to herself if she is self-supporting, or other- wise to a husband, or father, of slender means. Some one has THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 115 suggested that the quickest way to make a fortune is to marry a fashionable young lady, and sell her clothes! Look for a moment, too, at the bigotry of Fashion. Here sits an intelligent lady reading with surprise of the Chinese. The traveller in the narrative tells her that they wear tightly fitting wooden shoes to make their feet small and pretty ! If she be of a sympathetic turn of mind, she is horrified, and "pities the poor things," and if she be mirthful, she laughs outright at the ridiculousness of the thing. But how about the Chinawoman ; may she not be equally surprised, hor- rified, or amused, when she reads of this very same lady who has been dressed tightly about the waist from infancy, to give her what is called, a pretty figure ? May be ! Flora McFlimsy laughs at the idea that some women in barbarism wear rings in their noses, but in the very act of doing so shakes the glittering jewelry which hangs pend- ant from her own ears! It is said that, "a letter written more than thirty years ago, by Rev. Dr. Jackson, on the Vanity of Heathen Women, cited the fact as proof of their heathenish customs that the Karen women wore fancifully constructed bags, inclosing the hair, which they suspended from the back of their heads." Yet, this iden- tical fashion, regarded by Dr. Jackson as one of the peculiarities of heathenism, was subsequently adopted by a majority of the women in civilized countries, and poetically called " The Waterfall ! " Our aristocratic lady thinks the Indian squaw acts absurdly when she tattooes her skin to gratify the rude tastes of her warrior lover ; but she does not hesitate to use paint and powder on her own face, and sometimes lavishly. The Hindoo women used to (and perhaps now do) paint their eyelids, and the cuticle around the eyes within a given boundary, with lampblack, much to the disgust of travellers in their country ; but you may often see in Central Park, fashionable women with pencilled eyebrows, blackened eyelashes, and dark lines drawn under their eyes, to impart (as they think) brilliancy to the eyes! Much of this criticism I admit, does not apply to dress, but it does to the toilet, and it is presented here for the purpose of making the fair reader more tolerant of other, and perhaps more sensible people's tastes. Thousands of sensible women would adopt what is called the " American," or "Bloomer Costume," Avere it not for the bigotry of fashion. They do not feel strong enough to face the ridicule of those who make themselves more ridiculous by trailing long dresses. 116 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. It is a pity that women who are conscious of the comfort, and greater healthfulness of the reformed costume, cannot be more independent, and those who are not, more tolerant. It is a pity that men who originally practised an act of robbery on women by usurping a com- fortable style of dress, should not encourage the latter in reforming their costume. Perhaps the reader does not know that the women formerly " wore the breeches." A young Belgian writer — Miss Webber, has demonstrated that "the nether garment was first worn in a bifurcated form by the women of ancient Judah, — that the claim which man so pertinaciously maintains to the use of this garment, is purely arbitrary, without a solitary argument to support it — not even that of prior possession. 1 ' As late ns the 15th century, the petticoat was worn by both sexes. A gallant piece of strategy indeed for man to have caused the women of ancient times to allow them to adopt their comfortable costume, and then pass and enforce laws to arrest every woman caught in the street dressed in what they fraudulently call " male attire ! " After having thus usurped the breeches, men (too many of them) are not willing to compromise with the origi- nators of this most comfortable style of dress, and allow them to wear short skirts and loose pantaloons of a pattern by.no means unbecoming. Think of it, that in the year 1866, a lady who had distinguished herself as a medical practitioner in the care of the sick and wounded in the Federal Army, during the terrible civil war which had but just ended, was arrested in the city of New York, because the senseless men and boys in the streets were noisily ridi- culing her bloomer style of dress, which she had adopted and worn while acting the part of a humane physician in the hospitals and on the battle-field ! The health of women, too, demands reform in dress. The close-fit- ting waist and long skirt should give way to loose tunics, short skirts, and what are sometimes called Turkish pantaloons. I have already presented some objections to the close-fitting waist, and shall present others in another place. The physiological objections to long skirts may be briefly stated as follows: — they interfere with the free mo- tion of the limbs, and make the exercise of walking exhaustive. Nervous force is absolutely wasted in the effort, and weakly or sickly women are thereby discouraged from attempting to move about to any extent, or sufficiently to preserve what little muscular strength they possess. Long skirts hang too heavily from the waist, THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 117 and generally with no support from the shoulders. They encourage women in dressing the limbs too scantily, rendering them more subject to cold extremities, and to attacks of cold. Dr. Harriet M. Fis 3fi. AMERICAN COSTUME. Austin, speaking on this point, very truly remarks, that, "one of the great physiological sins of women is, that they cover the extremi- ties of the body so poorly, that the circulation has to be maintained 113 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. at an immense waste of life. If the body is well clad over the whole surface, the limbs being dressed as warmly as the other parts, the external circulation is kept up with comparative ease, the blood passing through the capillary vessels readily ; but when any part of the surface is inadequately covered, the blood has to be forced along at a disadvantage, and there is an unnecessary strain upon the vital energies. Neither men nor women, as a general thing, have any concepti'on of the ill health which accrues to women from lack of sufficient clothing. Thousands and thousands of women go through life without ever being comfortably warm in the winter." A female contributor to the "Herald of Health," gives her expe- rience in regard to dress, in the following forcible language : — " In the customary dress of skirts and hoops, I am at once transferred to a state of the most thorough incapacity for all practical or sensible purposes ; my spirit and ambition become as effectually snuffed out as a candle with a pair of snuffers ; I have no power, either aggress- ive or defensive ; am unable to resist the cold weather even, and feel like curling myself down by the parlor register in a state of the most approved* flexible vapidity. But in the other dress, ambition, health, and spirits, are in the ascendant. Impossibilities become pos- sibilities. I feel capable of meeting and conquering every difficulty that presents itself. Could face a northeast storm if necessary, and run ten miles — in fact, rather feel inclined to do it without the neces- sity. In short, inactivity in this dress is as impossible as activity in the other. There are, no doubt, hundreds of women in every city, who would send forth the most grateful thanksgiving ever uttered, could this dress be the prevailing one. But the great obstacle in the way is the fear of being conspicuous, of being the target of all eyes and all remarks, of being alone in it. Could these hundreds be united, and adopt the dress at the same time, it would remove the difficulty. Of all reform dresses, I think the poorest is the one with full skirt, reaching nearly to the ankle. It has neither the merit of good taste nor convenience. Skirts and pants do not harmonize. It will be found, in time, that every thing that does not meet the wants of the proprieties and conveniencies of life, violates the laws of good taste. Dangling skirts always do this, although partially abbreviated in length. The partially abbreviated one is more out of taste than the full length ! Pants and skirts can never be made to chime. A sack, reaching only to the knees, and pants d THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 119 la Turc, or a V Americaine, according to the taste, will be found the better dress, both as to good looks and convenience." This form of dress is illustrated in Fig. 36. Not only do most females, who are smart enough to do their own thinking, advocate radical reform in dress, but in nearly all cases, women associated in numbers, where they are comparatively con- cealed from the gaze of the vulgar, carry it into practice. The ladies of the Oneida (1ST. Y.) and Wallingford (Ot.) communities, have permanently adopted the reform dress. In many water-cures, the female patients, either by the advice of the physician, or from choice, wear it. In gymnasiums, conducted on the system introduced into this country by Dr. Dio Lewis, and more largely patronized by ladies than by gentlemen, the skirts only reach to, or fall a little below the knees. In many a farm-house, hidden from the traveller by trees or growing crops, the sensible female inmates pursue their domestic avocations in a similar costume. It seems to me not a little unac- countable that every farmer's family, living secluded from observa- tion, do not adopt the style of dress which will the best enable them to attend with ease to their avocations. The masculine portion usually do ; but how is it with the wife and daughters? It is a great pity that we go to Paris for our fashions. It were better for the health of women if we imported them from China, where the celestial women wear trousers and dressing-gowns ; or from Japan, where they put on only silk or woollen coats and san- dals ; or from Persia, where they wear an open muslin chemise, over trousers, having the amplitude of a petticoat. The women of the village of Seroda, East Indies, remarkable for their physical beauty and fine complexions, dress with only a flowing robe ■' confined around the waist by a simple zone, and looped up on one side, so as to expose the leg a little above the knee." Europeans, and their American imitators, have ever been less sensible than what they regard as their semi-barbaric neighbors, in adapting costume to the physical requirements of the body, and the comfort of the individual. To reform, however, we need not copy them. Some of their styles of dress would not answer for our climate. We ought to be able to devise fashions ourselves, suited to our physical wants, and not go to Paris. Let our American women set the Parisians an example, which, when physiological knowledge becomes more general, their better sense may compel them to adopt. JOG CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Much has been said for and against low-necked dresses. In the early days of Pennsylvania, the law-makers took the subject in hand, and enacted — " that if any white female, of ten years or upward, should appear in any public street, lane, highway, church, court- house, tavern, ball-room, theatre, or any other place of public resort, with naked shoulders (i. e. low-necked dresses), being able to purchase necessary clothing, shall forfeit and pay a fine of not less than one^ or more than two hundred dollars." It was, however, gracious- ly provided, that women of questionable character, might go with bare shoulders, as a badge of distinction between the chaste and un- chaste. It is astonishing how men are always interfering with women's attire by legislative enactment. Will the women retaliate when they have the ballot, and the law-making power ? The style of dress prohibited by the early "Pennamites," is now fashionable at balls and parties even in Pennsylvania. If both men and women could be induced to let the neck go un- dressed at all times, there would be less throat and pulmonary dis- ease. The evil lies in sometimes dressing the neck warmly, and at others not at all. For instance, during the winter our fashionable women not only commonly wear high-necked dresses, but in addition thereto, fur capes and tippets. But you will meet the less sensible of them at some social gathering, with either no neck-dress at all, or with one made of some fabric of transparent texture. If they escape a cold after such exposure, it is altogether a miracle. It would be greatly to the advantage of people of both sexes, if they would toughen the neck like the face by exposure. But this can only be done by throwing aside all neck-dress at all times, both out as well as in doors. The fur capes of the women, and the fur and woollen tippets of the men, are a fruitful source of bronchial and throat diffi- culties. Many a disease of this kind may be cured by simply leaving off neck dresses. When considerable care is exercised, colds are contracted by tender throats and necks, made so by fur and woollen. When a lady or gentlemen enters the house, furs and tippets are laid aside, often when the temperature is colder in-doors with them off, than out of doors with them on. It is next to an impossibility to so manage such neck-dresses as to escape injury in consequence of this fact. Especially imprudent is it to put furs and woollens on the necks of children. It is actually "killing them with kindness." They are not, and cannot always be under the eye of an attendant, THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 121 and their little necks, made sensitive by such warm dressing, are affected in a moment by some unexpected exposure. They may Fig. 37. THE COSTUME OF A TURKISH FRUIT-VENDER. even go out at times without their tippets, though carefully watch- ed, and then mamma has no idea how Charley or Ida contracted those horrid colds. Would it not be well for those having the care 6 122 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. of children, and who are so careful to muffle them up when they go out, to give this matter a little serious reflection, and ask themselves when they have done the little folks all up so securely, whether they have any guaranty that they will return in the same condition. If not, are you not prepared to acknowledge with me that all this muffling is attended with injury, rather than benefit? You often wonder why the children of the poor do not more often die in winter from their exposure to the cold ; but the cold seldom kills indigent children. Badly ventilated rooms in winter, and bad, food in sum- mer, make the mortality of this class greater; but they do not sntfer with those coughs and colds, bronchial difficulties and snuffles, which affect the children of the rich. The dress of men, since they drove the women out of trousers, and selfishly intrenched themselves in these convenient garments, is open to comparatively few objections. We might, however, learn some- thing of semi-barbaric people in the way of dressing loosely. On page 121, we have a picture of a Turkish fruit-vender. At least two more pairs of brawny legs, with their haunches, could be easily stowed away in his loose breeches, and his sleeves, etc., correspond with the extensiveness of his nether habiliments. There is some chance here for electrical radiation to go on unobstructedly. Dr. Frank Hamilton has made a fling at the costume of the men of America, which I shall quote here, for the criticism is worthy of consideration. He says: " We have adopted as a national costume, broadcloth — a thin, tight-fitting, black suit of broadcloth. To foreigners, we seem always to be in mourning; we travel in black, write in black, and we work in black. The priest, the lawyer, the doctor, the literary man, the mechanic, and even the city laborer, chooses always the same unvarying, monotonous, black broadcloth ; a style d|»d material which ought not to have been adopted out of the drawing-room, or the pulpit; because it is a feeble and expen- sive fabric ; because it is, at the North, no suitable protection against the cold, nor is it any more suitable at the South. It is too thin to be warm in the winter, and too black to be cool in the sum- mer ; but especially we object to it because the wearer is always afraid of soiling it by exposure. Young men will not play ball, or pitch quoits, or wrestle, or tumble, or do any other similar thing, lest their broadcloth should be offended. They will not go out into the storm, because the broadcloth will lose its lustre if rain falls upon it. They THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 123 will not run, because they have no confidence in the strength of the broadcloth ; they dare not mount a horse, or leap a fence, because broadcloth, as everybody knows, is so faithless. So these young men, and these older merchants, mechanics, and all, learn to walk, talk, and think soberly and carefully; they seldom venture to laugh to the full extent of their sides." The invention and adoption of knit shirts and drawers have done much to destroy the purity of the blood, and the harmonious action of vital electricity. The use of flannel as an article of under dress, in changeable climates, is certainly commendable. But to obtain the benefit which wearers usually seek, i. e., health and comfort, such garments must be made loose, and changed often. Red flannel, too, is better than white. There is something in the chemical quali- ties of the red coloring matter that seems to act healthfully, when worn next to the skin. People of a rheumatic tendency are greatly protected from attacks of rheumatic pains by the wearing of red flannel. Those who are susceptible to colds, are less liable to take one when red flannel is worn. Knit shirts of whatever color usually set closely to the skin, and often draw so tightly around the chest as to prevent a free action of the lungs. I have had occasion to examine consumptive invalids who were hastening decline by wearing flannel shirts so closely fitted to them, that india rubber could not have been much more objection- able. When worn so closely to the skin, these garments tend to gum up the pores by pressing back upon them their effete exhalations. Flannel shirts should therefore be made up from the cloth, and loose enough to admit a free circulation of air between them and the skin. It is well to wear two, each twenty-four hours, laying off at night the one worn through the day, and laying off in the morning the one which has been worn during the night, so that the exhalations and impurities which may have been absorbed by the flannel, can have an opportunity to pass off. In this connection I would not omit to warn invalids against the use of plasters. Almost daily am I consulted by those who have been in the habit of wearing them more or less for years. ''But, 1 ' says one, "they are recommended by my physician." Shame on your physician ! If he knows the offices of the pores of the skin, he is guilty of willful malpractice; if he does not, he ought not to be your physician. I know that by thus speaking I shall incur the 124 CAUSES OF NERYOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. maledictions of the " regulars," and not a few of those who call themselves "reformers," hut what do I care — I have them already. There are said to he nearly three thousand pores in every square inch of the human hody, and there are from seven to. ten square inches in an ordinary sized plaster. Now think, for one moment, of the effects which must ultimately ensue from plastering up twenty to thirty thousand of those useful little orifices through which the electrical radiations of the system carry off the noxious and waste matter of the hlood. True, you feel a temporary suspension of pain, but do you not know that skillfully prepared embrocations will produce this happy result as well, while they allow the machinery of nature to go on uninterruptedly? "When an invalid comes to me plastered up from the top of his neck to the extremity of his spine, I am inva- riably reminded of the way in which some South Americans kill prisoners. It is at Monte Video, I believe, that they sew them up in a wet hide, leaving only the head and neck exposed to the vital- izing influences of the atmosphere. When the hide becomes dry it sticks just about as close as a "pitch plaster," and the unfortunate victim dies a slow, but excruciating death. Why, u Mr. Doctors" (as the Germans sometimes call the members of our profession), do you not know that the pores are of as much importance to the human system as the safety-valves to the steam-engine? The pores are actually safety-valves to the animal machinery, and the Divine archi- tect has not made one more than is necessary. Do not, then, delude the suffering victim to disease, who has already more noxious and health-destroying matter in his system than he can carry, with the hope that a plaster can be of any possible benefit to him. If he has pains and you cannot cure them with unexceptionable remedies, pass him over to some of your brethren who can. tV There is a balm in Gilead, and a physician there." In speaking of the office of the pores, a writer remarks that the u Infinite care of the Creator is seen nowhere more conspicuously than in the admirable provision made for the removal of the waste matters from the system, the form in which they are expelled, and the prompt and certain means by which nature is ready to make them inoffensive and innoxious. The skin is not only, as Bichat eloquently observes, a sensitive limit placed on the boundaries of man's soul with which external forms constantly come in contact to establish the connections of his animal life, and thus bind his existence to all that surrounds THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 125 him ; it is at the same time, throughout its whole extent, densely crowded with pores through which the waste substances of the sys- tem momentarily escape in an insensible and inoffensive form, to be at once dissolved, and lost in the air, if this result be allowed. It is not by the natural and necessary working of the vital machinery that the air is poisoned, but by its artificial confinement, and the accumulation of deleterious substances. If evil results, man alone is responsible." Overcoats made of the skins of buffaloes are extremely warm in cold climates in winter, and rubber coats are protective in all climates in rainy weather, but garments of both descriptions are unhealth- ful, because their texture is of such a nature as to prevent the escape of the insensible perspiration. They are most undoubtedly comforta- ble for a day, but their injurious effects may last for a lifetime. For the same reason, india rubber, and patent-leather boots and shoes are objectionable. Those who wear either are not unaware of the excessive moisture of the feet when dressed with rubber or patent- leather, and that moisture is simply the dammed up waste fluids which have not been permitted to escape unobstructedly as nature intended. There are times and seasons when it may be the least of two evils to put on rubber sandals or boots in stepping out, but when such emergencies do arise the feet should be relieved of them as soon as possible after re-entering the house. Thick-soled leather boots and shoes are usually sufficient for any weather. The addition of a coating of oily blacking does not prevent the feet within them from perspiring naturally, or the ex- halations from passing off freely, and at the same time does most effectually keep out water. Pat- ent-leather is altogether worn for ornamentation, and not from any seeming necessity. The physi- ologist should, therefore, unqualifiedly denounce it as possessing no merit of utility, while it does possess the demerit of doing injury to the feet of the wearer. Rubber, patent-leather, close-fitting and insufficient dressings for the feet are in many instances the causes of colds, paralytic affections ™* J ko^the 53?" of the extremities, corns, bunions, etc. Men usually dress their fGet more sensibly than women do. A lady, writing for the Home Journal, presents a criticism upon 126 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. this fact, and exclaims : " Look at their feet ! You don't see one in a hundred venture forth in damp, chilly weather with a thin- soled cloth boot. No ! They wear boots with thick soles and high heels : while, on the other hand, you will not see one woman in a thousand who, when the rain is not pouring, but when the pavement is' only damp and cold, wears any thing thicker than a single-soled prunella gaiter ! If you doubt my assertion, go look for yourself at thousands who walk in our crowded cities. Why is there such a difference? Is it that women are inferior to men in possession of good common sense ; or is it they dress in this absurd manner to please the eye of man ? If so, he must bear some of the blame, if, instead of boldly condemning their folly, he encourages them by admiring the beauty of feet dressed in this manner. Let fair women dress as they please in their warm houses, or in warm, dry weather, but for pity's sake, in cold weather, let them find something warm- er than a boot which a strong, healthy man would not consider suf- ficient protection for himself from the dews of summer." There is a healthy reform in progress among women, having reference to the clothing of the feet, and the writer quoted is a little too sweeping in her assertion, Avhen she says that not one woman in a thousand exhibits good sense in dressing her feet for damp and cold weather. But her complaint is well put, barring the extravagance of the state- ment. It is to be hoped that it will every year grow less applicable to women everywhere. When the public becomes sufficiently awak- ened upon subjects relating to physical health, no covering for a lady's foot will look so beautiful as a thick-soled shoe or boot. Second-hand clothing is a medium through which many an aristo- cratic disease is conveyed to poor people. A wealthy invalid who gives his coat to a poor man bestows no blessing. No man can wear a garment for one week without imparting to it a portion of himself, and if he be diseased his garment is also diseased. A dog will recog- nize his master's clothes by the smell, and I have seen those whose clothes anybody with less acute olfactories could recognize by their odor. There is a perfectly simple and philosophical solution of this phenomenon. The electrical radiation of the impurities of the sys- tem, commonly known as insensible perspiration, enters the minutest threads of the cloth, and an old coat and pair of pants contain many ounces of waste animal-matter from the body of the wearer. Bring these in contact with the absorbing pores, and a person is at once THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 127 inoculated to a certain degree with the noxious matter contained in them. Syphilitic and other venereal diseases are frequently trans- mitted in this way, and other complaints, probably quite as often, only the latter are not as immediately detected as the former. Persons should never wear their deceased relatives' clothes, unless they consist of articles which can be thoroughly washed, and then it is doubtful if they can be entirely cleansed of the diseased radiations which must have taken place weeks and perhaps months prior to the last sickness of the wearer. Although individuals of robust consti- tution often appear well till thrown at once on a bed of sickness, there are unhealthy conditions of the system which always precede acute attacks, and render the clothing unfit for the use of others. Those, however, who are not disposed to be influenced by the objections herein presented, should have such clothing thoroughly scoured by the clothes-cleaner. Shoddy clothes which are manufactured of people's old clothes, cast-off blankets, old carpets, worn-out stockings, flannels, tailors' scraps, etc., are liable to impart disease to the wearer. The process they pass through in the factory undoubtedly disinfects them to some extent, but there are some rags that no chemical agents can disinfect, and these may get upon the backs of the wearers of shoddy. Both in England, and in this country, shoddy is extensively manufactured. In this State alone there are six shoddy factories. Over fifty million pounds of woollen rags are annually made into shoddy in England. Now who supposes when there is such a demand for woollen rags, that small-pox, ship-fever, cholera, yellow fever, syphilis, and scrofula, can be kept out of shoddy? The great trouble is to detect this kind of cloth before it is worn ; after it is worn awhile, the collection of short woollen rolls between it and the lining, betrays the character of the fabric. We need inspectors of rags. Will not our humane legislators protect us? If we must wear shoddy without knowing it, let us have its manufacture so looked after that we shall not wear on our backs any thing worse than the old stockings, under-garments, and blankets of invalids who have died of ordinary, non-contagious diseases, and of the old coats and trousers of decent living people. Some philosophers and reformers have recommended a return to the fashion which the God of nature introduced before the fall of Adam, i. e. nudity. According to an account given in the Dublin Evening Mail, the experiment of ascertaining whether clothing can 128 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. be dispensed with, is actually being tried on a child in Ireland. That paper remarks as follows: — " The subject of the costume of the ancient Britons has often been discussed ; it has been asserted that they were naked. Those who opposed that view, adduced as reasons the coldness and variable nature of the climate. The question has been set at rest by an ex- periment which has recently been made on a child at St. Anne's, Blarney, near Cork. The child is 14 months old, and is the son of Mr. , who determined to ascertain what the human frame would bear. The child is perfectly naked night and day; he sleeps without any covering, in a room with the thermometer at 38 degrees ; from this he goes into a bath 118 degrees; he sometimes goes to sleep in the bath ; he is perfectly indifferent to heat or cold, is lively, active, cheerful, and intelligent; his appearance constantly reminds the observer of the best efforts of our best painters and sculptors. Therein is the heau ideal; he is the reality. His simple, natural, easy, graceful, and ever- varying postures are charming. He arrests the attention and commands the admiration of all who see him. The peculiar character of his skin is very striking; it is exquisitely healthy and beautiful. It may be compared to the rays of the sun streaming through a painted window. " During the progress of the experiment he has cut three teeth without manifesting any of the disagreeable symptoms usual to children in that condition. He appears to be quite insensible to pain. Occasionally he has an ugly fall, but not a sound escapes from his lips. His manners, demeanor, and general behavior are equally striking. His mode of saluting a person is to take the hand in a graceful manner and kiss it. He is under the complete control of his father, and is perfectly quiet during meals, and also whenever he is told to be so. He goes about all day amusing and occupying himself in a quiet way. No one accustomed to children would know there was a child in the house. So incredible are these results that some of the residents of St. Anne's regard the whole matter with mingled feelings of horror, amazement, and wonder. He has two meals— generally boiled rice, which is put on a napkin on the ground, and he picks it up to the last grain. After that, wheaten flour cake with butter, and a cup of milk which he drinks. While eating his rice he looks a different being ; there is at once a pride and an enjoyment of performance. He has the air of an orator addressing an audience. THE CLOTHES WE WEAR. 129 "During the day he goes to sleep when he likes, merely lying down on the floor. The attitude he assumes in sleeping is that of a Mussulman making prostrations — on his knees with his hands spread out before him, which could not be if he suffered from fatigue ; but his muscles are too hard for that. By this means he concentrates the caloric in his stomach, and so it is indifferent to cold ; however cold, the limbs (and they get frightfully cold to the touch) are never numb, being, on the contrary, mottled red ; the loins are always warm. The problem he presents physiologically is this ; a develop- ment of the nerves producing pleasurable sensations, and a corre- sponding deadening of those of the contrary. The intensity of the enjoyment which he derives from contact with the skin, is only equalled by the insensibility of the flesh. We have never known him since his exposure to extreme cold to cry from pain." This appears like a cruel experiment, but I question whether that parent inflicts as much suffering on his child as the majority of parents do on their children by loading their little bodies with unnecessary, and too close-fitting raiment; and, I further question, whether this child in a state of nudity may not grow up with a far better and healthier physical organization than will any of his little mates in clothes. The experiment, so far, is really a triumph, and after all, only proves what physiology, deeply studied, teaches. It is quite a mistaken notion that a great amount of clothing is necessary for comfort and health in cold weather. The ancient Spartans, who were distinguished for their physical power and beauty, were allowed but scanty clothing in childhood, even in the depths of win- ter. Our extreme sensitiveness to changes from heat to cold, is merely the result of tenderness induced by long habits of pernicious dress. In conclusion, I would say, that if costume is indispensable, there are three rules to be observed to secure that which is healthful, viz. : First, cover no more of the body than the dictates of common mod- esty require, and let the covering be equally distributed. Second, let the clothes be made of entirely new material, and of such as will allow the uninterrupted egress of the bodily impurities, and the ingress of the vitalizing properties of the air. Third, mantua-makers and tailors must make clothing to hang loosely about the body, and shoemakers must be instructed to make the outer dressings of the feet with thick soles and easy uppers. When men and women become 6* 130 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. wise enough to observe these, the adoption of the more primitive style of our first parents will appear less called for. Bad Habits of Children and Youth. Many of the blood and nervous derangements of adult age are but harvests of seed sown in childhood and youth. To begin with, the f . ct g9 dietetic habits of children are entirely wrong. Indulgent mothers are mainly to blame for this. Many mothers imagine that they are greatly strengthening the lit- tle bodies of their babies by giving them the juices of animal flesh in the form of soup or broth, before they have teeth to masticate the flesh itself, and as soon as the masticating organs are developed, they are allowed the diet of an adult. Often, too, they are allowed stimulating drinks, such as tea and coffee, and in some cases little barefooted even wine. Then, what lots of candy the candy- eater. little ones make way with from one Christ- mas-day to another. Colored candy eating is a habit in which many parents indulge children to an extent calling loudly for the warning of the faithful physician. The innocent darlings are almost ready to bound out of their shoes, when papa or mamma brings home from the confectioner a sweet little package of beautifully striped, red, blue, green, and yellow sugar-plums ; of course they are, for they have the most implicit confidence in their dear parents, and know they will not give them any thing which will injure them. ! But parents may not know that there are fatal poisons concealed in the pretty spiral streaks which ornament the confectionery ; papas are so absorbed in business and mammas in fictitious literature, it is a chance if either of them ever find it out. So long as no immediate fatalities occur to the little creatures, it is supposed that such indul- gences are harmless. As in excessive meat-eating, and other bad habits, nature does not cry out at once, and as a consequence physi- cal injury therefrom is not dreamed of. But ignorance does not shield the juvenile or adult from the deadly consequences of per- nicious habits, which gradually undermine the constitution and in- duce premature decay. BAD HABITS OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH. 131 A brief specification of some of the drugs used for coloring can- dies, I trust, will suffice to show parents who peruse these pages, that however pretty sugar-sticks and toys are to look at, they are entirely unfit to enter the susceptible little stomachs of children. Reds are often obtained from red lead, vermilion or bisulphuret of mercury, bisulphuret of arsenic, iodide of mercury, and Venetian red. Greens, from false verditer or subsulphate of copper and chalk, emerald green or arsenite of copper, Brunswick greeu or oxychlo- ride of copper, verdigris or diacetate of copper, mineral green, green verditer or subcarbonate of copper, and mixtures of the chromates of lead and indigo. Yellows, from gamboge, massicot, or protoxide of lead, the three chrome yellows or chromates of lead, yellow orpi- ment or sulphuret of arseuicum, King's yellow or sulphuret of arsen - icum, with lime and sulphur, iodide of lead, sulphuret of antimony or Naples yellow, and yellow ochre. Blues, from indigo, cobalt, Ant- werp blue, a preparation of Prussian blue, Prussian blue or ferrocy- anid smalt and blue verditer or sesquicarbonate of copper. Lit- mus is also used in coloring blue, which, if unadulterated, is harm- less ; but it is frequently adulterated with common arsenic and peroxide of mercury. Browns are often obtained from umber and Vandyke brown, while purples are generally made by mixing some of the objectionable minerals used to produce other colors. ' : It may be alleged by some," says Hassell, " that these substances are employed in quantities too inconsiderable to prove injurious; but this is certainly not so, for the quantity used, as is amply indicated in many cases, by the eye alone, is very large, and sufficient, as is proved by the numberless recorded and continually occurring instan- ces, to occasion disease and even death. It should be remembered, too, that the preparations of lead, mercury, copper, and arsenic, are what are termed cumulative, that is, they are liable to accumulate in the system, little by little, until at length the full effects of the poisons become manifested." Continues Hassell: — " That deadly poisons should be daily used for the sake of imparting color to arti- cles of such general consumption as sugar confectionery — articles consumed chiefly by children, who, from their delicate organization, are much more susceptible than adults — is both surprising and la- mentable. It is surprising on the one hand, that the manufacturers of these articles should be so reckless as to employ them, and, on the other, that the authorities should tolerate their use." 132 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Many confectioners do not sufficiently understand the chemical properties of the colorings they use, to know their poisonous effects. They have learned the trade of candy-making, but have never stopped to inquire into the nature of the articles used for ornamenting their pretty drops, sticks, and toys. For this reason, if no other, parents should not feed their children with colored candies. Those which are not colored will please the little folks quite as well, if they do not see the others. Candies flavored with the ordinary essences, such as peppermint, wintergreen, lemon, sassafras, and rose, are also less hurtful than those which are flavored with almond, pineapple, and peach. The latter often contain fusel-oil and prussic acid. From the foregoing remarks, the reader will see that cake orna- ments, composed as they are, of colored confectionery, are equally objectionable, and should not be eaten by child or adult. If they are necessary as ornaments, no one is obliged to eat them. I have perhaps said all that is necessary about candy-eating ; but the evils of meat-eating and coffee-drinking by children have been but Fig:. 40. briefly alluded to in this place. These habits are such a prolific cause of sickness among the infantile portion of our community, I would urgently direct the attention of mothers to what I have to say on this subject in the chap- ter on the Prevention of Disease, where I speak of dietetics for young and old. At school children acquire many injurious habits, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 40. The effect of this posture is to cramp the lungs, thereby preventing the usual quantity of elec- trifying air from coming in contact with and arterializing the venous blood. It also curves the spine, the great nervous trunk, and in a measure interrupts the harmonious distribu- tion of the nervo-electric fluid. Hence, both blood and nervous derangements are induced thereby. Parents and teachers are not partic- ular enough in observing and criticising the posture of the school- boy, Many a case of spinal disease and pulmonary consumption had BAD POSITION IN SITTING, BAD HABITS OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH. 133 its origin on the bench of the school-room. Seats should always be provided with suitable backs for the support of the spine, and chil- dren should be required to maintain a correct posture. A great error is generally committed by parents in sending their children to school at an age so tender that the development of the mental faculties seriously interferes with the vigorous formation of their physical parts. A child of three or four years of age, seated on a bench in school, is no more in his place than a twelve years' old boy would be on the judge's bench in a court of chancery. What does he care about letters or syllables? What he learns is not the result of a gratification of a thirst for knowledge, but of a severe and health-destroying discipline, which effects a forced growth of the mind at the expense of the body. The vital nervo-electric forces, withheld from the generous development of the chest, the vital organs, and the muscles, are consumed in nourishing and enlarging the brain. In art, mankind exhibit common sense. The. master builder, who is about to decorate his grounds with a superb edifice, first lays a strong and perhaps inelegant foundation, upon which to raise the monument of his superior skill in architecture. So the parent, who wishes his child to occupy a commanding and useful position in society, when he shall have arrived at the stature of manhood, should take pains to secure for him a physical foundation which can firmly sustain the mental superstructure. To this end children should be kept out of school, and allowed to dig play-houses in the sand, play horse with strings, jump ropes, and roll hoops, until their little limbs become hard and chests broad, and, too, until they evince some desire for study. If this desire is manifested before the age of five or six, it should not be encouraged. The first six, and even ten, years of boyhood are none too long to prepare the physical trunk for the nourishment of mental growth. We once had in the United States Senate a man who was taught his alphabet by his wife after marriage. We have had, at least, two Presidents of the United States who hardly saw the inside of a school-room before they be- came old enough to work and pay for their own education. Nor are these isolated instances of final rapid mental progress of early neg- lected minds, after the bodies which nourished them had gained both strength and maturity. History is embellished with them. The great Patrick Henry was, mentally, a dull boy, and hated books, but when the flowers of his mental garden, enriched by the nutriment 134 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. of a strong and matured physical organization, did bloom, the whole country was intoxicated by their fragrance, inspiring the American patriots with an enthusiasm which naught but success could satiate. In the face of such facts, let not parents make intellectual prodigies and physical wrecks of their chtldren. If they have the germ of greatness in them, there is no danger but it will become developed by the time society, the state, and the nation have need of them. Going " barefoot, 1 ' a very common practice among the children of the indigent in cities, and those of all classes in the country, is a common cause of blood diseases. In large towns the streets and gut- ters are the receptacles of filth of every description, a partial speci- fication of which would embrace the diseased expectorations of men and animals, dead carcasses of flies, cockroaches, rats, and mice, killed by poison, poisonous chemicals and acids swept from drugstores and medical laboratories, filthy rags which have been used in dressing foul ulcers, mucus from syphilitic sores, etc., the bare touch of which is polluting. But when, as is almost daily the case, the barefooted urchin " stubs his toes " against a projecting stone, rupturing the skin, and then brings his bleeding feet in contact with this hetero- geneous compound of mineral, vegetable, and animal poisons, the blood is sure to receive an impure inoculation which, unless eradi- cated by vegetable medication, clings to the individual through life, rendering him ever a susceptible subject for epidemics, colds, and chronic diseases. In villages, although less exposed to corrupt ani- mal inoculations, barefooted children are liable to have the purity of their blood contaminated by contact with poisonous plants, which abound in country places. And merely a thoughtless gallop through stubble fields, where wheat or oats have been harvested, may impart to the blood of the barefooted child a humor which is sooner or later to cause his death. Because serious effects do not manifest them- selves immediately, many parents flatter themselves that the practice is not attended with bad results. But blood impurities are generally insidious, and produce disease when it is least expected. The following remarkable case of poisoning, by a bone, will serve to illustrate the danger of going barefoot. I will quote from a lady who wrote me upon the subject of her ill health. This is her narra- tive: "Up to my ninth year I was in perfect health, with the free use of every sense and faculty. At that time I stepped on a bone BAD HABITS OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH. 135 while playing in the door-yard. It pierced the foot, but so slightly as to cause but little blood to flow. The hollow of the foot was the place injured, but no swelling or soreness ensued, excepting that it hurt me inwardly to walk on it. The third or fourth day a high fever made its appearance, and the tongue and lips commenced swell- ing rapidly. The throat swelled outwardly until nearly even with my chin, attended also with soreness inside. The poison went through my entire system, breaking out on my legs in large sores, which discharged freely. Disease seemed to affect alarmingly the whole inside of my mouth, physicians taking from my nose with instruments two large pieces which seemed like softened bone. Discharges from nose and ears were very free for months, and I became almost deaf for a year, mind almost destroyed, memory entirely gone, playmates, playthings, prayers, and every thing, all to be learned anew. Seemed to be nearly idiotic, laughing so long and loudly at the striking of the clock that the striking had to be stopped. During this sickness, which lasted nine weeks, I received no medi- cine, being unable to swallow any thing, only that which was forced down my mouth and throat with a feather. Death was hourly ex- pected, often thought to be very near. My teeth all hung loose, my hands being tied to prevent me from taking them out. My tongue hung far out of my mouth, and that which remained in was so swollen as to nearly fill my whole mouth. You don't know how much I suffer in writing this terrible experience, and I w 7 ill say no more." This bone was undoubtedly from some animal most thoroughly diseased, and this case may be presented as an extraordinary one. But milder poisons are received into the system by this same contact of bare feet with poisonous substances without producing such marked effects, and the sufferer does not think to attribute the diffi- culties with which he is contending to such a cause. I do not believe God ever intended that every child should pass through the retinue of diseases which is considered the lot of child- hood. All tender mothers appear to think that their children must have the mumps, hooping-cough, measles, and scarlet fever, and the sooner the " darlings " have them the better. Now is it reasonable to suppose that human nature requires these diseases as settlers, the same as coffee requires eggs or cod-fish skin ? If children are brought up properly, they may escape all these diseases. What, with stimu- lating animal diet, poisoned confectionery, bare feet, and so forth, by 136 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. which the vital fluids of the system become rivers of death, can be expected but nursery diseases ! Corrupt Mood is that which renders the child a ready victim to a whole train of juvenile ills. A habit which is considerably prevalent in almost every family, of allowing children to sleep with elder persons has ruined the nervous vivacity and physical energy of many a promising child. Those having dear old friends, whose lives they would like to perpetuate at the sacrifice of their innocent offspring, alone should encourage this evil; but every parent who loves his child, and wishes to preserve to him a sound nervous system, with which to buffet successfully the cares, sorrows, and labors of life, must see to it, that his nervous vitality is not absorbed by some diseased or aged relative. Children, compared with adults, are electrically in a positive con- dition. The rapid changes which are going on in their little bodies abundantly generate, and as extensively work up, vital nervo-electric forces. But when, by contact for long nights with elder and negative persons, the vitalizing electricity of their tender organization is given ofi°, they soon pine, grow pale, languid, and dull, while their bed companions feel a corresponding invigoration. King David, the Psalmist, knew the effects of this practice, and when he became old got young women to sleep with hirn that his days might be lengthened. Dr. Hufeland, the German physiologist, attributes the frequent longev- ity of schoolmasters to their daily association with young persons. Invalid mothers often prolong their existence by daily contact with their children. I once knew a woman who, by weak lungs and mineral doctors, had been prostrated with incurable consumption. Her infant occupied the same bed with her almost constantly day and night. The mother lingered for months on the verge of the grave, her demise being hourly expected. Still she lingered on, daily disproving the predictions of her medical attendants. The child, meanwhile, pined without any apparent disease. Its once fat little cheeks fell away with singular rapidity, till every bone in its face was visible. Finally, it had imparted to the mother its last spark of vitality, and simultaneously both died. I saw it recently stated in a newspaper that a man in Massachusetts had lived forty- one days without eating any thing, during which period he had been nourished idtogether by a little cold water, and " by the influ- ences absorbed by him while daily holding the hand of his wife." BAD HABITS OP CHILDREN AND YOUTH. 137 Many old men who marry young' wives are aware of the nourish- ing effects of such unequal unions, and are not such "old fools" as many pronounce them, while the young women who "become their wives are bigger "young fools" than they are ever reputed to be. Some old ladies, tenacious of life, and: wickedly regardless of the welfare of others, often coax children or compel their servants to sleep with them. Parents, therefore, who feel that affectional devo- tion to their children which is usually instinctive, should exercise vigilance and protect their offspring from a robbery which can never be repaired. Great care should also be taken to have diseased and healthy children sleep in separate beds. Although the effect of put- ting them together is favorable to the former, it is attended some- times with fatal and, nearly always, injurious results to the latter. It is better in raising a family of children to preserve in health a rugged child, even if its puny brothers and sisters die, than to distribute his full measure of vitality among half a dozen, and thus place him on a debilitated level with the whole. If, however, there be only one or two sickly ones in a large family of children, it may be an act of mercy to put them with the healthy group, for if the stock of health held by the rugged young members is fully average, they may bring the weakly ones up to their standard of health without perceptibly lowering their own. A group of vigorous children may also bring in from their out of door plays a surplus of vitality, which they may beneficially impart to a brother or sister confined to the sick-room. But in any family, unless a stock of health predominates among the children, the sickly ones will bring the more rugged ones down to their physical level unless parents exercise great care. Masturbation, or self-pollution, is a prevalent vice among both children and youth. The amative passions prematurely developed by stimulating diet, importune gratification which cannot be granted in the manner prescribed by nature, because marriage is an institu- tion fitted only for adults. Ignorant of the physiological effects of resorting to artificial means, and goaded to desperation by the peru- sal of popular romances, the Unsophisticated youth falls an easy victim to a habit which taps the very fountains of nervo-vitality, and drains from the blood all its purest and most strengthening qualities. It has always seemed surprising to me how many parents allow their tables and book-shelves to become loaded with vellow- 138 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. covered, or equally pernicious literature, while they carefully ex- clude everj r book which treats on physiological matters. If Mr. Beelzebub should write out a prescription for the destruction of young men and women, and in its punctuation use a grave for a period, its adoption could prove no more fatal than has the prescrip- tion of civilization. Am I asked what this is ? Then I will tell you. In utero-life, before the child has breathed the atmosphere of this world, the treatment begins. Excessive venery between the parents imparts to the unborn child a too great preponderance of the animal organs. After its birth, this excess continues, and, through the milk which it sucks from its mother's breast, these organs derive immoderate nourishment. Before the natural fount- ains are dried up, animal broths are introduced into its active little stomach, and ere it reaches the age of three years, it daily gluts itself with the diet of a full-grown man. Coffee and steak for a three years old child ! Next, it is taught to read, and at the age of ten or fourteen years, while it feeds its stomach with highly seasoned meats and drinks, it quenches its mental appetite with fictitious romances. Is it strange then, that masturbation is a prevalent vice ? Some may think it is not. This only proves lack of opportunities for observation, and want of ability to detect its effects upon those given to it. Five children in every ten over twelve years of age bear the marks which this disgusting vice stamps on the countenances of its victims. Chil- dren of both sexes are included in this estimate, although the evil is not so prevalent with girls as with boys. Should I speak of boys only, I would say seven of every ten were addicted more or less to it. The fatal consequences of masturbation are painfully apparent to every physician having a large professional correspondence, or an extensive practice in those diseases termed chronic. The habit acts slowly, but powerfully, in destroying the harmony of the nervous system, vitiating the blood, producing, ultimately, a great variety of diseases, according to the idiosyncracies of its slaves, but more com- monly, consumption, mental depression, and insanity. I am daily written to by invalids in all parts of the country, who freely con- fess the cause which led to their ill health. I am also often called upon by persons of both sexes affected with diseases which I see, at a glance, are the direct or indirect products of the habit of self-pollu- tion. Some candidly confess it at the outset ; others stoutly deny it at first, but generally, the truth finally comes out by confession or BAD HABITS OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH. 139 detection. Parents always (and very naturally) dislike to believe their children addicted to the vice. I was once called upon by a clergyman desiring to consult me about the illness of his daughter. I will not state when or where, or the nature of the difficulty with which his daughter was afflicted, as all consultations must be treated confidentially, and nothing be said by the physician to identify a patient alluded to by way of illustration. Suffice it to say, she was a pretty, blooming girl of education and refinement, with no mark of disease excepting one, and that was the result of nervous derange- ments, induced, as I readily perceived, by the unfortunate habit under consideration. My first thought was to communicate with her mother, but on inquiry, I found that she was deceased. On com- municating my convictions to the father, he exhibited considerable indignation, and said that he knew better. I finally prevailed on him to present the matter to his daughter, and she became overwhelmed with mortification, and solemnly protested her innocence. The father censured me for my alleged erroneous and hasty diagnosis, and left my office, feeling himself aggrieved, and his daughter's sen- sibility outraged. But what better could I have done ? Here was a disease produced and perpetuated by the habit of masturbation. All the medical skill in the world could not cure her, if she were not in- formed of the fact, and the habit discontinued. Not many weeks passed before my course was vindicated. The father called again, made humble apology, said the daughter's remorse for having told a falsehood had rendered her sleepless. She had confessed that I was right, and admitted that her indulgence was frequent. The result rewarded me for the course I pursued, for she gave up the habit, and recovered her health completely. The object of this illustration is to show how parents may be deceived, and. how the protestations of a child in these matters cannot always be relied upon. To show how enslaved a child may sometimes become to the habit, and how unable to relinquish it after its health-destroying consequences are discovered, a more appalling story may be related of a young man who fell into the vice. He consulted me at about the age of nineteen years, after he had become entirely impotent. At a very early age he commenced the habit of masturbation, and at fourteen, by some means, became aware of its injurious effects. He tried repeatedly to abandon the habit, but resolution was weak- ened by the effects the vice had produced upon his mind, and after 140 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. many attempts, and as many failures, he actually tried to castrate himself with a jack-knife. He succeeded in removing one of the testicles, but nearly bleeding to death, and fearing to make a confi- dant of any one, he desisted from completing the operation, and his habit continued to enslave hini till he became impotent physically, and wretched mentally. In this condition, after having read some of my publications, he sought my advice, and confided to me what, if his parents had discharged their duty, would have been confided to them before he became such a wreck, if, indeed, under such cir- cumstances, he would have contracted the destructive habit. If it were necessary, I could fill this volume with harrowing narrations of those who have consulted me in relation to diseases induced by solitary vice, but I trust what has been already related will suffice to make parents watchful. And let me advise young people of both sexes, struggling to overcome the habit, and suffering physically and mentally from its effects, to make confidants of their parents, if the latter have not made themselves unapproachable by their children, or, failing in courage to do this, to present their cases to some reliable physician. Although physiological works generally fail to explain the reason why masturbation is worse in its consequences than sexual indul- gence, most of them are good for something, because they serve as a warning to thoughtless youth. I have never, as yet, read a physio- logical or medical work, which exhibited the real difference between the effects of self-pollution and those of sexual intercourse. In fact, many young people, who have studied the writings of medical men considerably, have asked me why masturbation moderately indulged in is any more injurious than a natural gratification of the passions. This work shall not be incomplete in this particular ; it shall not only sound in the young ear the tocsin of alarm, but give philo- sophical reasons why the former is positively deleterious, and the latter, in a measure, beneficial. Such an explanation, however, is reserved for Part Third, in which all matters pertaining to the ama- tive passion and sexuality will be thoroughly discussed. Let all of both sexes, old and young, read it, for no one should hesitate to obey the injunction — " know thyself." The juvenile feat of standing on the head, is quite extensively practised by school-boys without a knowledge of the injurious effects. I have seen urchins remain in an inverted position till the BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD 14J blood appeared as if ready to gush out of their eyes and cheeks. One case of immediate death from this cause was lately given in an Illinois paper. The effect of the exploit is to impair the circulation of both the blood and nervous fluids, and congest the brain. On a par with this exercise, is that of turning around sufficient to become dizzy and fall down. Little girls are most addicted to this practice. It is injurious to the optic nerve, which is irritated by the sudden changes of objects passing before it, and also to the brain, whose function of distributing nervo-electricity to the system is partially suspended. A rapid spiral motion, in brief, tends to destroy the general harmony of the animal functions. School-teachers should have an eye to their pupils out of as well as in school, and discourage all practices so obviously injurious. To make healthy men and women, an entire revolution is neces- sary in the training of children. Very few girls and boys, now-a- days, bloom into womanhood and manhood with healthy physical organizations. Some of. the causes are indicated in what has been said in this essay. The principal errors in their training have been briefly alluded to, and a thousand minor ones cannot fail to suggest themselves to the experienced mother. Fig. 41. Bad Habits of Manhood and Womanhood. It is a trite adage that " man is a creature of habit." Indeed, every man, woman, and child has habits of some kind, and nearly every person is addicted to what are called bad habits to some extent. It is a good habit to speak well of your neighbor, instead of saying hard things about him, even when he provokes you. It is a good habit to 41 do unto others, as you would have others do to you." It is a good habit to preserve personal cleanliness inside and out, by keep- ing the outer skin or cuticle free from all obstructing accumulations and excretions, and the inside skin, or mucous membrane, uncontaminated by noxious vapors, poison- ous drinks, unwholesome food, excrementi- tiuus engorgements, and vitiated secretions. SMOHING AND SNUFFING. 142 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Every practice, indeed, which makes the conscience clearer, the mind happier, and the functions of the whole system more regular and thorough in their performance, may he put down as a good habit, and every practice producing an opposite effect maybe denounced as a bad habit. It should also be borne in mind that what we may indulge in, or pursue occasionally with benefit, may injure us if it become a habit, and that self-deception is easy if wilful ignorance is encour- aged. Fi-r. 42. A EUROPEAN TAKING HIS FIEST LESSON IN SMOKING. One of the most prevalent of bad habits is the use of tobacco. This poisonous weed is extensively used by nearly every community of people under the sun. In New York City alone there are about two hundred thousand smokers, and nearly as many chewers of tobacco, to say nothing of snuff-takers. It is estimated that its citizens spend daily over ten thousand dollars for cigars, and less than nine thousand dollars for bread. The Europeans, and the present white inhabitants of this continent, borrowed the habit of BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 143 smoking of the aborigines of America, and the Asiatics somehow or other got hold of the trick themselves. Many fashionable ladies on both sides of the Atlantic smoke their cigarettoes, and a cigar dealer in Boston makes the astounding announcement that he sells an average of three hundred cigars daily for the use of the fair ones of New England. According to Johnson, every female in the big empire of China, "from the age of eight or nine, wears as an append- age in her dress a small silken pocket, to hold tobacco and a pipe." The Japanese also smoke, women as well as men. A majority of men all over the world smoke, or chew, and not a few boys follow their illustrious example. The poet, Milton, was a moderate smoker, and Lamb, at one time, carried smoking to a great excess. The latter in a letter to Wordsworth, said: "Tobacco has been my evening comfort and morning curse for these five years." The great preacher Kobert Hall claimed to have adopted the habit of smoking to qualify himself for the society of a certain Doctor of Divinity (!) and finally he became so much of a slave to it, he found himself unable to over- come it. He thanked somebody who was trying to reform him for Adam Clark's pamphlet on "The Use and Abuse of Tobacco," followed with the exclamation — " I cannot refute his argument, and I cannot give up smoking!" A friend one day accosted him with — " Ah ! I find you again at your idol !" Whereupon Hall responded — "Yes! burning it!" Sir Walter Baleigh who first appeared in England with a pipe of tobacco in his mouth, was said to have had a bucket of water thrown on him by his servant, who, seeing the smoke issuing from his mouth, supposed him to be on fire. In portions of the Southern States, a practice called " dipping " is indulged in to a disgusting extent among women. A little mop is made, by mashing the end of a stick of pine, or some other soft wood, and with this instrument snuff is rubbed sometimes for hours at a time on the lips, teeth, and gums. A young miss in Arkansas died from the effects of snuff-dipping, she having fallen asleep with a mop in her mouth. "A post-mortem examination," remarked the news- paper, " revealed the fact that she had swallowed the juice contain- ing a large quantity of nicotin, which is a deadly poison. Her lips, cheeks, and breast, were smeared with the foul stuff in her dying struggles alone in her room." This is shocking, to be sure ; but many ladies and some gentlemen, who would be shocked to hear of a friend having contracted the habit of snuff-dipping, may be 144 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. caught snuffing powdered tobacco into their noses, if you watch them closely. By some microscopic distinction, not perceptible from a physiological stand-point, snuff-taking is considered more respectable than snuff-dipping, and yet, many American ladies, moving in fashion- able society, are confirmed snuff-dippers. The gentleman who solaces himself with a fine Havana cigar, considers snuff-dipping and snuff-taking detestable — cannot imagine what makes women do such disgusting things! Meanwhile, another individual with a streak of tobacco juice in the corners of his lips, intrudes his presence, and argues (really with truth) that his habit is not so injurious as that of the smoker! Now, the long and short of the whole matter is this : tobacco is a medicinal plant, just as much as belladonna, stramonium, hyoscyamus, etc., all of which belong to the same order, and should not be indulged in by healthy persons any more than cathartics and emetics. It is a very active narcotic and sternutatory, and should only be used by neuralgic and catarrhal invalids, or those troubled with constipation, and then only for a limited time, and by the direction of a physician. Its habitual use by healthy people, is attended with injury to the nerves and blood. The poisonous properties of tobacco are forcibly exhibited in the following extracts from a little work by Dr. Alcott, and from other publications. "By the ordinary process of distillation, an alkaline principle in small quantity is obtained, called by chemists 'nicotin,' as well as an oily substance called ' nicotianine.' A drop of either of these, but especially of the former, is found sufficient to destroy life in a dog of moderate size; and two drops destroy the largest and most fierce. Small birds perish at the bare approach of a small tube holding it. "There is another oil procured from tobacco, by distilling it, at a temperature above that of boiling water, called empyreumatic oil. It is of a dark brown color and has a smell exactly like that of old and strong tobacco pipes. A drop of it forced into the lower portion of the intestine of a cat, causes death, in most instances, in about five minutes ; and two drops, applied in the same way to a dog, are often followed by a similar result. " The experiments on which these conclusions are based, have been repeated and verified, in this country, by Dr. Mussey. His sub- jects were dogs, squirrels, cats, and mice. The following are among the most important of his experiments : — " Two drops of oil of tobacco, placed on the tongue, were sufficient BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 145 to destroy life in cats which had been brought up, as it were, in the midst of tobacco smoke, in three or four minutes. Three drops rub- bed on the tongue of a full-sized young cat, killed it in less than three minutes. One drop destroyed a half-grown cat in five minutes. Two drops on the tongue of a red squirrel, destroyed it in one minute. A small puncture made in the tip of the nose with a surgeon's needle, bedewed with the oil of tobacco, caused death in six minutes." " Life Illustrated " says, — " There is infinitely more poison in one package of tobacco than in the tin foil that surrounds hundreds. If anybody doubts it, let him but hold a sheet of white paper in the smoke that curls up from burning tobacco, and after a pipeful, or a cigar has been devoured, scrape the condensed smoke from the paper, and put a very small amount on the tongue of a cat, and he will see her die by strokes of paralysis in fifteen minutes." Mr. Barrow, the African traveller, assures us that the Hottentots use this plant for destroying snakes. " A Hottentot," says he, " applied some t)f it from the short end of his wooden pipe, to the mouth of the snake. while darting out his tongue. The effect was as instanta- neous as that of an electric shock. With a momentary convulsive motion, the snake half twisted itself, and never stirred more ; and its muscles were so contracted that the whole animal felt as hard and rigid as if dried in the sun." " The tea of twenty or thirty grains of tobacco," says Dr. Mussey, "introduced into the human body for the purpose of relieving spasm, has been known repeatedly to destroy life." Dr. Rush says, that even when used in moderation, "tobacco causes dyspepsia, headache, tremors, vertigo, and epilepsy." " It produces," he again says, " many of those diseases which are supposed to be seated in the nerves." "I once lost a young man," he adds, " seventeen years of age, of pulmonary consumption, whose disorder was brought oh by intemperate use of cigars." All empyreumatic substances impair digestion by interfering with the action of the animal matter, the pepsin, which is the principal solvent agent of the gastric juice. Bishop Ames, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, recently ex- pressed to the New England Conference his opinion that a large portion of the funds for superannuated preachers is paid to men mentally and physically disqualified by the use of tobacco. Dr. Woodward, after presenting a long array of facts showing the 7 146 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. tendency of tobacco to produce disease — apoplexy, aphony, hypo- chondria, consumption, epilepsy, headache, tremors, vertigo, dyspep- sia, cancer, and insanity — concludes with the following inquiry : — "'Who can doubt that tobacco, in eacli of the various ways in which it has been customarily used, has destroyed more lives, and broken down the health of more useful members of society, than have been sufferers from the complaint in question (bronchitis), up to the pres- ent time, or than ever will be hereafter?" Prof. Silliman mentions an affecting case of a young student in Yale College, who fell a victim to tobacco. "He entered," says he, " with an athletic frame ; but he acquired the habit of using tobacco, and would sit and smoke whole hours together. His friends tried to persuade him to quit the practice, but he loved his lust, and would have it, live or die, — the consequence of which was, he went down to the grave a suicide." Prof. S. mentions also the case of another young man, in the same institution, who was sacrificed by the same poisonous weed. Prof. Pond, of the Bangor Theological Seminary, relates one or two similar cases of students whom he knew at Ando- ver and elsewhere. A distinguished medical man at Brighton, England, has given a list of sixteen cases of paralysis produced by smoking, which came to his own knowledge within the brief period of six months. Our " Home Jour- nal " has gathered and contributes the following facts in regard to tobacco. " One of the mem- bers of the French Academy of Medi- cine, in a very elab- orate paper, drawn up with great care, asserts that ' statis- tics show that in ex- act proportion with the increased con- sumption of tobacco ax old tube smoklug his TOBAcco asp opium. is the increase of dis- Fig. 43. BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 147 ease in the nervous centres (insanity, general paralysis, paraplegia), and certain cancerous affections.' It may be said in reply, that the Turks, Greeks, and Hungarians are inveterate smokers, and yet are little affected by these nervous diseases. But M. Jolly accounts for their exemption by the fact that the tobacco used by them is of a much milder form, containing slight proportions of nicotin, and sometimes none at all. Excessive indulgence, therefore, does no harm in this direction ; and no case of general or progressive paralysis has been discovered in the East, where this mild tobacco is in use. »M. Mos- can says : ' The cause is plain enough, and evidently physiological. In all the regions of the Levant they do not intoxicate themselves with nicotin or alcohol : but saturate themselves with opium and perfumes, sleeping away their time in torpor, indolence, and sensual- ity. They narcotize, but do not nicotize themselves, and if opium, as has been said, is the poison of the intellect of the East, tobacco may one day in the West prove the poison of life itself. It is the nicotin, in the stronger tobacco used in England, France, and the United States, which proves so pernicious, and the French physicans hold that pa- ralysis is making rapid advance under the abuse of alcohol and to- bacco.' 1 ' The German physicians state in their periodicals, that, of the deaths occurring among men in that country, between eighteen and thirty-five years of age, one-half die from the effects of smoking. They unequivocally assert, that " tobacco burns out the blood, the teeth, the eyes, and the brain." It has been observed, that the manu- facturers of this article carry pale, ghastly countenances ; and it is also said that few of them live to old age. Agriculturists say that it soon poisons the soil on which it grows, or rather, that it impover- ishes the soil more than any other plant in the vegetable kingdom. All the foregoing facts have been gathered up from various sour- ces, and enough more might be presented to fill a volume like this. But there is one difficulty induced by tobacco which I have not seen other medical writers advert to. Tobacco is the cause of impo- tency among men. All violations of the laws of health exhibit their effects first upon the weakest parts of the system. Every individual has some part less able to resist disease than another, and as the procreative system, from childhood to age, is usually more abused than any other, not excepting that ever-to-be-pitied organ, the poor stomach, it is more liable than any other portion of the human ma- 148 CAUSES OP NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. DEFECTIVE STICKS. chinery to suffer from the nerve-destroying effects of tobacco. To illustrate this proposition, let me give you in Fig. 44 a picture of __ .. three sticks of wood hav- Fig. 44. ing weak points. The one marked a has a knot in its centre. A strain coming upon the stick will mani- festly break it in two in the middle ; h has a worm-hole near the right end, and any child would say that in bending it, if it breaks, it will give way where the worm has punctured it ; c has been whittled down pretty small to the left, and here it will break when any pressure is placed upon it. Now we will call a a man with weakened procrea- tive organs, b a person with a weak stomach, c an individual with contracted chest and weak lungs. The gradual use of tobacco will make a impotent, & a melancholy dyspeptic, c a victim to consump- tion. But, as before remarked, more have abused or neglected the organs of generation than have even injured the stomach, or lungs, and consequently, it is no uncommon thing for the physician to be called upon by athletic-looking smokers, chewers, or snuffers, who com- plain that they have lost all power in the genital organs. The effect tobacco had produced in these cases is made still more apparent when the reader remembers the paralyzing properties of the plant. Then again, let young men remember that in addition to impotency often resulting from the habitual use of tobacco, the beau- ty of the face is impaired by it. The " Scalpel" has presented this fact in language which I cannot do better than quote here: "Both smoking and chewing, 1 ' remarks the editor, "produce marked alterations in the most expressive features of the face. The lips are closed by a circular muscle which completely surrounds them, and forms their plumpy fulness. Now every muscle of the body is developed in precise ratio with its use, as most young men know — they endeavor to develop their muscle in the gymnasium. In spit- ting, and holding the cigar in the mouth, the muscle is in constant use ; hence the coarse appearance and irregular development of the BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 149 lips, when compared to the rest of the features, in chewers and smokers." It is not pleasant to think of becoming impotent and ugly, and still it is a more alarming reflection that so many people are poisoning themselves. In some countries Indian hemp is the fashionable poison, in others the betel nut, and to sum up all, there are about three hundred mil- lions of opium-eaters! Verily, it seems as if mankind were univer- sally bent on self-destruction, and that those who put the razor to the throat are the impatient few who cannot await the gradual results of the popular methods of suicide. The prevalence and fatal consequences of intemperance in the use of ardent spirits have been fully considered under the head of " The Liquids we Drink ;" likewise the injurious results of excessive meat- eating under the caption of "The Food we Eat." It is only neces- sary to advert .to them in this place, in order to remind the reader that there are other popular habits, equally as destructive to health as the use of tobacco. It is a peculiarity of human nature "not to see ourselves as others see us," and frequently the tobacco-chewer will upbraid his brother for drinking, and vice versa, and the exces- sive meat-eater moralize on both of these practices, while the pork- eater considers himself the very paragon of sobriety and Christianity. Probably two-thirds of the temperance philanthropists who are mak- ing such strenuous efforts to put down the rumsellers, are themselves constant patrons of the hog-butcher, and do not dream that they are inconsistent. By eating distillery-fed pork, they actually consume second-hand liquor, or in other words, eat it after the hogs have drank it, and still they would religiously refuse a piece of mince pie which was known to contain brandy. Now, my object in writing thus, is not to throw ridicule upon the philanthropic movements of the day, but rather to suggest for them a wider scope. Bad habits in dress have been investigated under the head of "The Clothes we Wear," but as I declined in that place to treat of the evils of tight lacing, I will devote a little space to them here, inasmuch as it is a practice more destructive to health and longevity in fashionable circles than tobacco-chewing, liquor -drinking, or pork-eating. The ladies who " will not put their arms through rum-jugs" (as some have appropriately termed the elbows of liquor topers), must not 150 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Fig. 45. consider themselves immaculate, which they may be inclined to do, if one of their iniquitous habits is not exposed in this connection. One of the most injuri- ous effects of tight lacing can be seen in noticing the peculiar office of the diaphragm as represent- ed in Fig. 45 ; d d exhibit the diaphragm, and m m M the abdominal mus- cles. The first view rep- resents the diaphragm as it appears when air is inhaled, the other as when the air is expelled. The diaphragm rises and falls to aid the lungs in inhaling vital air, and exhaling that which has been deprived of its elec- tric property and loaded POSITIONS OF THE DIAPHRAGM. w J t J 1 an i ma l effluvia. How common it is for women to complain of shortness of breath ! Strange it is that they do not know the cause, when they compress the chest so tight that the free action of the diaphragm is interrupted. Of over twenty thousand ladies whose lungs I have examined, at least seventy-five per cent, of them could expand the upper parts of their chest from one to three inches, by tape measurement, while the expansive powers of the lower portions were often less than half an inch, and seldom exceeded one. In those persons who have not habituated themselves to the wearing of tight clothes, the expansive power of the upper and lower portions of their lungs varies only about a quarter to half an inch, whereas, in fashionable ladies, it almost invariably varies from one to three inches. Any woman can try this experiment and convince herself, with a tape measure, placing it first around the chest immediately under the arms, and then to the lower extremity of the lungs. The experimenter, after adjusting the tape, should exhaust the air from the lungs and then draw the tape as closely as possible ; then inhale, gradually allowing the tape to slip BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 151 through the fingers until the lungs are swelled out to their utmost capacity. The figures on the tape generally give a result which will convince the fair experimenter that she has been from childhood a constant violator of nature's laws. The disturbance of the functions of the diaphragm is by no means the only evil of tight lacing. The circulation of the blood and the electrical radiations are impeded thereby, in addition to which there is a still greater and more alarming evil. I allude to the pressure which is thrown upon the bowels, and from the bowels upon the womb. The peculiar organization of woman renders the practice tenfold more injurious to her than it would be to the male. The shocking prevalence of prolapsus uteri, commonly termed falling of the womb, is greatly owing to the pernicious practice of tight lacing. The greatest mystery to me is that women lace at all. A majority of them who do are members of Christian churches, and are instructed weekly from the pulpit that the works of God are perfect; do they then mean to willfully insult the wisdom of their Creator by attempt- ing to improve upon them? Now this question is a poser to those who belong to the Church of Christ, but as a faithful physiologist I am in duty bound to ask it. The fact is, it is a mistaken notion that wasp waists are pretty. They look perfectly horrible/ I would rather see a woman's waist as big round as a bushel basket than to see it contracted to a size a trifle larger than the neck. I am glad to see that many of the ladies themselves are beginning to regard small waists as physical deformities. One of them, a Mrs. Merrifield, speaks right out as follows : — "The very expression 'a small waist' implies a disproportion. A small waist is too small for the general size of the figure to which it belongs, just as a low-pitched room or a narrow room is too low or too narrow in proportion to its height. A well-proportioned room has none of these defects, and the waist of a well-proportioned per- son should be in harmony with the other parts of the figure. " The ancients do not appear to have recognized the virtue of small waists; and a modern lady would be in agony if her waist were of the proportional dimensions of those of some antique statues. The celebrated Venus de Medicis — 'the bending statue that enchants the world 1 — has what would, at the present time, be called a large waist; yet modern connoisseurs and artists have unanimously de- 152 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. clared that this is the most perfect female form which the art of ancient or modern times has transmitted to us. They commend, not only the faultless shape of each part, but the admirable proportion of one part to another. Let us devote a short space to a few observa- tions relative to the dimensions of the waist of this figure. Pig. 47. A CONTRACTED WAIST. A NATTTRAL WAIST. "The Venus has been frequently measured, and with great accu- racy, by artists; but the view taken is a painter's view of a flat instead of a round surface ; consequently, instead of the whole cir- cumference of the waist, we have only its breadth from side to side, and from back to front. " The whole figure is divided into seven heads and three-quarter parts; eacli head into four parts, and each part into twelve minims. The diameter of the waist from side to side is one head (or four parts) and eight minims, or nearly one-seventh of the entire height ; the diameter from front to back is only three parts and seven minims: it is, therefore, nearly one- fourth longer in one direction than the other. This is the first point in which fashion is at variance with the finest forms of nature and art. Fashion requires that the waist shall be round instead of oval, and she attains her object by compressing the lower ribs, which are forced closer together. To such an extent is BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 153 this construction sometimes carried, that the impression of the ribs is left permanently upon the liver. Fig. 4S A PERFECT FEMALE FIGURE, AS DESCRIBED BY SIRS. XIERR1FIELD. ''But it is not sufficient that the waist should bear a due propor- tion to the height, it must also be proportioned to the breadth of the shoulders. Now, the Yenus is just two heads, three parts, and eight 7* 154 CAUSES OP NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. minims across the shoulders — exactly half a head more than the diameter of her waist from side to side. When, therefore, there is more or less than half a head proportionate diiference between the breadth across the shoulders and the waist, the figure is deficient in just proportion. It is to be observed that some individuals are tall and slight, others short and broad ; in all cases, however, there must be a corresponding agreement between the breadth of the shoulders and that of the waist. " x\s we know the two diameters of the waist, we are able to cal- culate the circumference, which is equal to three heads and four min- ims, or somewhat more than two-fifths of the entire height. We shall assume this approximation to be correct. Now, the real height of the Venus de Medicis being four feet, eleven inches, and two lines, and her proportionate height seven and three-quarter heads, the pro- portionate circumference of her waist, being three heads and four minims, is equal to twenty-four inches, eight minims, more than two-fifths. It may be considered, then, that a well-proportioned waist should be at least two-fifths of the height of the figure : what- ever is smaller than this, is disproportioned. According to this scale, therefore, the waist of a person five feet three inches high should not be less than twenty-five and a quarter inches; of five feet five inches, twenty-six inches ; of five feet seven inches, twenty-six and three- quarter inches; of five feet eight inches, twenty-seven and a quarter inches. " We have heard of a young lady of the middle height, or perhaps somewhat under that standard, who found fault with her stay-maker for having made her stays nineteen inches round the waist, when she knew that the young lady's measure was eighteen inches! Eighteen inches ! According to scale of two-fifths of the entire stature, which, as we have seen, is under the mark, the height of a young lady whose waist did not exceed eighteen inches, should have been three feet nine inches! — the height of a child, with the proportionate of a woman. ''Enough has been said,' 1 concludes Mrs. H., "to convince our readers that a very small waist is a defect rather than a beauty, and nothing can be truly beautiful which is out of proportion. Would that we could also convince them that they cannot possess an excessively small waist without the certain sacrifice of their health!" BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 155 Would that the female portions of civilized society were made up of Mrs. Merrifields, and my word for it, men would have merrier and more beautiful wives, and healthier children. I have never had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Merrifield, and know not if she is pretty or ugly, but if, by any possibility, she be the latter, her offspring cannot fail to be both handsome and healthy, as a reward to the mother for her obedience to nature's laws. In the next place I should treat of some of the pernicious habits of married people, in their private relations, were it not for the fact that extended remarks on these will be given in Part Third. They might with propriety be introduced here, for they are common causes of nervous and blood derangements. But the consideration of all matters relating to marriage, its excesses, etc., will be deferred for the place specified. There is one habit growing with fatal rapidity in the United States, which demands the criticism of the physiologist, and that is medicine- taking. The country is flooded with patent medicines, and every village store has shelves appropriated to the display of this kind of semi-apothecary merchandise. If they would remain shelved no injury could ensue from their preparation ; but, unfortunately, there is a ready market for them, as is evinced by the rapid accumu- lation of wealth by those who manufacture them. The origin of each one of these medicines is something like this : Mr. Unfortunate has a wife or other relative sick with consumption ; he tries every thing and everybody with little or no success ; finally he resorts to something which his own fertile brain suggests, and, astonishing to say, the invalid actually recovers. The surprised discoverer at once thinks he has found an infallible remedy for consumption, and the bottle-maker and the printer at once receive stupendous jobs — the former to make some quart bottles with a jaw-breaking name blown in one or all sides, the latter to get up labels and flaming posters. He is received at once by credulous invalids as a great benefactor, and by the old-school doctors and "knowing ones, 1 ' as a huge hum- bug. But, reader, he is neither of these two — only a mistaken man. He does not understand the law of temperaments. Many physicians do not. I might say further : the majority of the medical profession do not. 156 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Notwithstanding the adage " what is cure for one is poison for another," has become trite from daily repetition, its true import is not comprehended. It should be understood, that every variety of temperament denotes as many varieties of human beings, the same as the leaves and bark of trees indicate different varieties of trees. For this reason a medical man or a discoverer of patent medicine should not give to a black-haired, brown-complexioned man the same medicine which has cured a light-haired and fair-complexioned indi- vidual, even if his disease is the same. It is plain that patent medicines must act upon the principle of "kill or cure.' 1 They are absolutely dangerous, and the amount of mischief they are doing is incalculable. Many an invalid is rendered hopelessly incurable by experimenting with these nostrums before consulting a skillful physician. I have frequently been called upon by poor emaciated creatures who have swallowed forty or fifty bottles of different panaceas. If their cases are at all curable, a great deal has to be undone before any relief can be administered. If people would exercise half as much discrimination in dosing as they do in many other things of less importance, patent medicines would be robbed of half their power to harm. They understand why Parson A's coat will not fit Capt. B's back — why the pretty dark dress of blue-eyed Mary does not become "black-eyed Susan," and why a hymn in long metre does not sound well to a tune of short metre, but it does not occur to them that the rule of adaptation extends equally to medicine. Let it be understood, then, that differ- ence in form, size, and complexion, indicates difference in tempera- ment, and that difference in temperament indicates difference in con- stitutional peculiarity. Next we arrive at the irresistible inference that what is beneficial to a man of a nervous temperament may be in- jurious to one of a bilious temperament, etc. The intelligent farmer understands the temperaments of soils, and throws on such manure as they require. On soil deficient of alkali he strews ashes of lime ; on that deficient of ammonia, the gleanings of the stable, etc. A ma- jority of intelligent physicians do not understand the laws of tempera- ment, and such not unfrequently have to bear the name of "kill or cure doctors," and such they manifestly are. In medicating, however, not only temperaments, but complications must be considered. The organ has many stops, as they are called by the musician, and one drawn out, or another pressed in, modifies BAD HABITS OP MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 157 or changes the whole tone of the instrument. By changing the posi- tion of these numerous stops, all sorts of variations in tone may be produced. Now the human system is likewise full of its little stops. Every organ of the body has its stops, and all these must be consid- ered by the intelligent physician before he administers medicine, and the medicine must be prepared to suit the complications. If it is not, it will, while benefiting one difficulty, aggravate another, and the unlucky invalid finds relief in one organ, or one organ stop, at the expense of one, or may be all, of the rest. It is for the purpose of thoroughly understanding any case presented by letter, that the " Questions to Invalids " presented in another place in this book, are so impertinently inquisitive. It will be seen by the preceding that while those who buy and take patent medicines are often ingloriously humbugged, the manu- facturers are by no means in all instances humbugs. Many honest men and women think they are doing a great amount of good in the world by compounding and selling "one-cure-alls." Their error lies in the head, and not in the heart. Patent-medicine eaters and drinkers should, therefore, be careful what they put down, and take nothing in the form of medicine unless necessary. It is said that there is a tombstone in one of the English cemeteries, on Avhich are inscribed the following words : — "I was well, took medicine to feel better, and here am I." There are thousands of tombstones in America which might truthfully bear this same inscription. Arsenic-eating is a habit to which many ladies are addicted for the improvement of their complexions, and the obliteration of the marks of age. So long as our fashionable women are ashamed of old age, and insist on being considered thirty when in fact they are on the shady side of fifty, such desperate remedies for the marks of time will be resorted to by many. Young girls, too, who are willing to sacrifice life itself to look pretty, and especially those who admire "languishing beauties," will continue to eat arsenic, or any other powerful drug, if by the means the complexion may be improved. Until common sense, and the laws of health and life are taught in the family and common schools, it is almost useless for the physician to " croak," as his voice of warning is often called. Turning night into day is an injurious and prevalent custom, par- 158 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AXD BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. ticularly in fashionable life. Observation and experience have taught almost every one of adult age, that the habit is destructive to the nervous system, but these teachers often fail to improve any one in the absence of testimony founded on philosophy. I have looked in vain in the writings of medical men and physiologists for any rational reason why man should lie down at night and rise with the sun. The effects of the non-observance of this hygienic rule are plainly exhibited by many popular medical authors, but frequently not so forcibly in their literary productions on the subject as in their own faces, which betray the secret that the physiological teacher does not always practise what he preaches. Such is the happy predominance of the social faculties in the best classes of human beings, the social circle is more attractive than the embrace of Morpheus, and most persons are ready to attribute the injurious physical effects of unseasonable hours for rest, to any other cause than the true one. There is, therefore, great need of new light on this subject — something which will appeal to the reason of men, and demonstrate the fact that one hour of sleep at night is worth more than three after the sun has risen. From the investiga- tions I have made, I have come to the conclusion that during the day the magnetic or electric currents from the sun predominate, and descending 'perpendicularly or obliquely the upright body is Drought in harmony with the descending currents ; while at night the magnetic or electric currents of the earth predominate, and flow from north to south horizontally, in consequence of which the human tody should he in a recumbent position, with head to the north, in order to pre- serve the harmonious circulation of the nerxo-electric fluids. That this hypothesis will be favorably received by those who have had much experience as electrical therapeutists, I am confident ; for all who understand the proper application of electricity, know that, with few exceptions, the electrical currents from the machine must be passed from the positive to the negative in the directions which the nerves ramify. This being the case, ought not the electrical currents from the sun during the day, and those of the earth from north to south during the night, be made to observe the same rule by a conformity of the position of the body to them ? In applying the galvanic battery, if the electrical currents are passed contrary to the nervous ramifications, or from their termini to their source — the brain — nervous irritation ensues, and the patient is rendered more BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 159 nervous. Such it seems to me, must also be the result of a non- conformity to the directions of the currents of the earth and sun. In fact, we see it exhibited in a majority of those who turn night into day. True, there are a few whose strong nervous organizations appear to resist all such influences, but the continual dropping of water wears away a stone, and these exceptions finally favor the truth of this philosophy. The sun exerts a powerful magnetic influence on the earth, arous- ing all animal life to activity, from the merest insect to the noblest work of God. The fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and all human beings who obey the laws of nature, feel inspired with new life when the golden rays of the rising sun radiate from the east. The activity of the animal fluids increases till he reaches his merid- ian, and then gradually decreases until he sinks to rest in the west. When " old Sol " retires, the colder magnetic currents of the earth prevail with greater power ; animal life becomes more sluggish ; the wearied body seeks repose ; and the most perfect repose is obtained by reclining in a position consonant with the earth's currents. Fast eating, a universal habit with Anglo-Americans, is highly injurious to the nervous and vascular systems, and induces those conditions in the stomach which usually ultimate in dyspepsia. It is eminently characteristic of the Yankee to do every thing in a hurry. Not satisfied with praying fast, walking fast, working fast, and trav- elling fast, he generally, and that, too, unconsciously, eats fast. His jaws keep time with the locomotive's wheels, and his arms and elbows with the rapid alternate movements of the piston rods. I was once much amused with an illustration an Italian gave of a Yan- kee at a steamboat table. Just previous to the sounding of the din- ner gong, he was descanting most wittily in broken English on the customs of the Americans, and, when dinner was announced, he pro- posed to show how a Yankee enjoyed (?) a good meal. With true Yankee impetuosity he rushed to his seat at the table ; knives and forks flew in every direction ; one arm shot to the right for one thing, and the other to the left for another; while the fork was per- forming a rapid trip to the mouth, the knife, which had just dis- charged its load, was nervously returning to the plate. A few such spasmodic motions, and impulsive calls to the waiters, ended the repast, and with a whirl of his chair, he turned almost breathless; 160 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. from the table. Nor was his delineation overwrought. I have my- self seen just such spectacles hundreds of times at public tables. At home, at his own table, the Anglo-American is not much more moderate in eating. The mouth is crowded with food, and success- ively washed down with tea, coffee, or some other liquid. Now it is the duty of the physiological writer to admonish the reader of the effects of this habit, and if, after knowing the consequences, it is still persisted in, no one will be in fault but the sufferer, if the worst form of dyspepsia is the result. Fig. 49. T1!E 6.VLIYAKY GLANDS. 1, Parotid gland; 2, its ducts; 3, Submaxillary gland ; 4, its ducts; 5, Sublingual gland. The thorough lubrication of the food with saliva is necessary to promote good digestion. Saliva is an alkali, and electrically speak- ing, a negative, while the gastric fluid in the stomach is an acid and a positive. When, therefore, food descends into the stomach, only half masticated, and lubricated with some other fluid than saliva, digestion for some time is almost suspended, because the negative fluid is wanting to attract the immediate action of the positive fluid, and the presence of other liquids tends to dilute and destroy the power of the latter. In addition to this, the labor of the jaws and BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 161 teeth is thrown upon the disabled stomach. How surely, then, must the electrical or nervous machinery of the digestive apparatus be disturbed. Then, again, food in the stomach, unless at once acted upon by the gastric fluid, commences a process of decomposition and fermentation, by which means the blood also becomes involved in the pernicious results which follow. Tf a person eats slowly, mas- ticates thoroughly, and omits all drinks, nature furnishes three or four ounces of salival fluid with which to moisten his food, prepara- tory to its entrance into the stomach. No one requires liquids to drink at the table. This habit is the result of fast eating. The salivary glands cannot furnish lubricating fluids fast enough for the rapid eater, so he depends on artificial liquids, which dilute what little saliva is used as well as the gastric juices. Liquids should never be swallowed till after eating, and then not to the extent that they are usually. Eat slowly, and depend only on the fluid nature furnishes to moisten your food. Still another habit — not, however, peculiar to our fast-living Americans — is that of stuffing the stomach with hearty food on va- rious holiday occasions, when the system does not at all require it. A grand reception is to be given to a live prince, a president, a diplo- mat, a governor, a general, a congressman, or to one of our ever over- fed aldermen. A " big dinner " is gotten up, regardless of expense, and at about twelve o'clock, midnight, all sorts of game, turtle soup, turkey, roast beef, roast pig, lobster salad, and a thousand other things dignified with French names, and well wet down with cham- pagne, etc., etc., are served to a crowd of red-faced gentlemen, whose vascular fluids are already engorged with red corpuscles and with inflammatory properties by over-eating, done on many a previ- ous occasion. And these big dinners are carried home to the bed- chamber to fill the mangers of night-mares, and feast the hobgob- lins of the night which perch upon the bed-posts, and make the sleeper jump from his disturbed rest whenever the sensitive nerves of the brain are pressed and fired by the inflammatory blood. It is surprising that this gluttony — this making a sewer of the mouth and the oesophagus — this midnight bedaubing of besotted lips, has not made mankind ashamed of the mouth and digestive apparatus, as masturbation and sexual pollution have made them ashamed of the sexual organs, which were created by God mainly for reproduction, 162 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. as eating was instituted chiefly for the purpose of supporting life. I have read of a people, somewhere, who are ashamed to eat in public ; every one seeks solitude while partaking of food ; and it may be a debauched ancestry led to this peculiar custom. On thanksgiving day, Christmas, and various other holidays, fami- lies get together and abuse their stomachs. Nearly everybody, at such times, eats too much, and does it wilfully; and some eat and drink things on such occasions that are so hurtful to them, that they do not think of touching them at any other time. Now, why eat any more on these days than on any other ? Associate together if you Yi g , 50. choose — have a good dinner — have some dishes you cannot afford to have every day — let your table literally groan under the load of good things ; but why so com- pletel y shift the burden as to groan yourselves? Let the table continue to bear the burden, while you bear away from it no more than you can comfortably carry. As to public dinners, and all meals prepared simply for entertain- ment, why would it not be better to cover the tables with light, delicious food? How beautifully they would look on such occasions, provided with rustic arbors, entwined by artificial vines, and loaded with real grapes ; with baskets of apples here, and oranges there, interpersed with bouquets of natural flowers, filling the room with their delicious fragrance ; gotten up, in brief, with a material and taste one meets with at a horticultural fair? How do you suppose the atmosphere of such a feast would seem to a well-fed man, com- pared with that which is loaded with the fumes of onions, and the odor of scorched animal fats? And, if people are not hungry, but eat simply to be sociable, why not nibble grapes, apples, and other wholesome fruits which are light, and easy to digest, whilst toasting and chatting, instead of cramming the stomach at midnight with THESE ARE FIT FOR A FEAST. BAD HABITS OF MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD. 163 food only suitable at seasonable hours for that of a man who follows the plough, or bends over the anvil ? The prevalent practices of ban- queting, not only iDJure the stomach, induce disease, and abbreviate - life, but they make wise men talk silly. This nation had a President who filled every office of honor, from that of a mayor of a small city, to the highest place in the gift of the people; but banquets and feasts made this great man talk like the habitue of a common oyster- cellar ! A man of distinction certainly requires a peculiarly organ- ized brain, an enormous stomach, and a discreet tongue, to accept and endure proffered honors. Would it not be better — incomparably better — to never partake of solid, hearty food to a greater extent than is necessary to support life and health, and on all public and festive occasions, when it is proposed to have a " feast of reason and flow of soul," to cover the tables with fruits rather than cooked animals? The demands of the social circle are very different from those of hunger. " Habit is second nature." So says the proverbialist. How important then it is that we should form such habits as will tend to develop physical health and mental vigor, instead of physical decay and mental imbecility. Habit is not acquired in a day — seldom in a year. It creeps upon an individual gradually, and if its effects are disastrous to health and longevity, so imperceptible are the changes it produces in the system from day to day, the victim is seldom aware of the cause of a disease which is developed by it. Experiment has demonstrated that a man may endure, without pain, the heat of an oven hot enough for baking purposes, if he be placed there while the oven is cool, and the heat is slowly raised to the baking point. But does any one believe that a person kept in such a temperature, however comfortable it may become to him, will live as long as if he were surrounded with a temperate atmospheric element ? Dr. Kane, and his gallant band of Arctic navigators, became so habituated to a cold temperature, that they could walk themselves into a comfortable perspiration with the thermometer at forty-two degrees below zero, or seventy -four degrees below tlie freez- ing point! But their enterprising adventure made sad inroads upon their physical organizations, and the brave commander of the Ameri- can Polar Expedition, with several of his heroic companions, have since paid the forfeit with their lives. Thus we see the flexibility of 164 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. the human body to conform to whatever conditions we force apon it, and we also perceive how fatal to longevity are all deviations from the injunctions of first nature. We may change our natural habits of eating, drinking, sleeping, etc., to some others acquired, as easily as we can accustom our systems to extreme temperatures, and expe- rience no immediate discomfort; but first nature will some time demand a settlement, and second nature will turn bankrupt, throwing the loss upon his superior. Those who strive to save the souls of men counsel all to take a daily retrospect of their conduct, to see if they have violated any moral law. I would also advise a daily retrospect to ascertain if any physical law has been disregarded; for how can the immortal spirit maintain purity and complacency in a corrupt tabernacle? It is also the duty of the Christian mother to watch over the physical as well as moral tendencies of her children, and to train them into habits which will conduce to a healthy corporeal and mental development. Sexual Starvation. Some of my readers who have given little or no attention to the sub- ject of animal magnetism, personal magnetism, individual electricity, etc., as it is variously denominated, will be y\s. 51. startled at the above heading, in the chapter giving some of the principal causes of blood and nervous derangements. Especially, will coarsely made, blustering men, who never deny themselves any indulgence of appetite or passion, and frigid, unsympathetic women, who could live in the Arctic seas on an iso- lated cake of floating ice, turn up their noses at this new bubble of sickly sentimentality. There are two classes, however, of both sexes, who will instinctively comprehend the subject under consideration before reading the isolated GiEL. any thing more than the caption. One is composed of girls and boys, and women and men, who possess fine sympathetic organizations, easily affected by atmospheric changes, or by social or domestic discord, and whose condition in life has been such as to cause them to live more or less SEXUAL STARVATION. 165 isolated from those of their opposite sex. The other embraces warm- blooded, affectionate, impulsive people of both sexes, who have been compelled by various circumstances to live in sexual isolation. Both of these classes will understand me, and say amen, when I place sexual starvation among the principal causes of derangements of the nervous and vascular systems. There is, throughout all nature, a male and female element, be- tween which there is an irresistible attraction. The observer at once recognizes it so soon as he leaves the mineral kingdom, and the higher he ascends in the vegetable and animal world, the more prominently sexual distinction and attraction present themselves. In the vegetable kingdom, and among the lower orders of animal life, sexual attraction and magnetic interchange find expression only in physical contact for reproduction. Among the higher types of ani- mal life, before reaching the human being, they find expression chiefly in sexual contact, in performing the function of reproduction, but to a moderate degree in physical contact in unimpassioned asso- ciation. When we ascend to the family of mankind, we find speci- mens of low spiritual and mental development, but one remove from the brute creation, who are governed hy the instincts of the latter. Above them, we meet men and women with considerable mental and spiritual development, hut with a preponderance of the animal organization and impulse, whose sexual attraction leads to considera- ble interchange, socially, but more to the impetuous interchange which characterizes sexual contact. Looking still higher in the family whose members were created in God's image, we find individ- uals of greater moral, mental, and physical perfection, in whom spirituality and mentality predominate over the animal instinct, and among whom sexual attraction leads chiefly to magnetic interchange by social proximity, while direct sexual contact occurs only incident- ally and occasionally, and is in no instance premeditated. In other words, the reservoirs of sexual magnetism in these people are located in the superior brain at the head of the spinal column, among the intellectual and affectional faculties, from which the element radiates diffusively, and envelops the object of attraction, and occasionally extends to, and ignites the magnetic combustible elements below ; and not in the inferior brain, seated between the hips, near the extrem- ity of the spinal column, from which, when so located, the element radiates more intensely, but seldom so diffusively, as to light the 166 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. fires of the affectional nature above. It should be understood in this connection, that the plexus of nerves located near the extremity of the spine is sometimes known by the name of the inferior brain. Looking neither higher nor lower in the mass of humanity, we find a few who possess apparently no susceptibility to the influence of sexual magnetism. If absolutely none, they are not a whit moie celestial than their more susceptible neighbors, and are invariably found, on examination, to be diseased specimens, and not a distinct type having healthy physical organizations. If now, reader, you are prepared to dismiss all question as to sexu- al attraction being natural, and to admit that interchange of sexual magnetism is instinctively demanded, you are also prepared for the logical conclusion that sexual association is beneficial, and sexual iso- lation injurious, for nature's laws are imperious. There are two essentials to the immediate support of animal life which are known to all, viz. : air and food. Without the first an individual must perish in a few moments ; without the latter, in a limited number of hours. There are four essentials to physical and spiritual health which are too seldom recognized, viz. ; vital electrical air; food possessing not one, nor two, nor three, of the elements of nutrition, but all the heat-producing and blood-making properties of true aliment; sunlight; sexual magnetism. Especially are the two latter more instinctively and impulsively than intelligently sought after, and a house-builder strains his inventive genius to shut us out from the sunlight, while the conservative tinker of our social insti- tutions labors to isolate the sexes, suppress sexual attraction, and ignore the existence of sexual magnetism. Do some readers inquire why the nervous system requires sexual magnetism to preserve it in health? If so, and you will enter into the mysterious science of life sufficiently to tell me why the nervous system requires sunlight, I will undertake to answer the question propounded. I have no doubt that plausible reasons could be given for both of these necessities with a little reflection, but it is not necessary for the purposes of this essay to enter upon any long-winded theory to account for them. Enough is contained in this essay to lead ir- resistibly to the conclusion, that the sexes cannot maintain perfect health in isolation. Where the isolation is only partially maintained, as in Shaker communities, the effects of sexual starvation are indi- cated. As a body, they look physically dried up. The health of the SEXUAL STARVATION. 167 women, who the more rigidly and conscientiously carry out the princi- ples of Ann Lee, is, according to the testimony of a seceder, not up to the standard of women outside of their communities ; insanity is com- mon among them ; and yet among these people, under certain restric- tions, the sexes have times of meeting. In nunneries we meet with the most marked cases of sexual starvation. Nuns are seldom if ever vigorous looking. Even if they are apparently healthy, there is a paleness about them which indicates a deficiency of that magnetic vitality and red corpuscle which give the true indications of health. They may protest that they are healthy, but their countenances tell a different story, especially to the practised eye of a medical man. Only lately, I was called upon by a well : dressed, intelligent-looking woman, having in charge a delicate, bloodless, cadaverous appearing young woman, of about twenty years of age. On examining her case, I found no indications of organic disease. She seemed to be simply bloodless, and completely wanting in electrical or magnetic vitality. I instinctively diagnosed her case as one of sexual starva- tion, and, turning to the elderly lady, remarked that I should sup- pose this young woman had been carefully restricted to the society of her own sex. What visible effect this announcement had upon the young invalid, I know not, as I was addressing and looking directly at the one who accompanied her, and who appeared for a moment surprised and confused, but finally sufficiently recovered her self-pos- session to remark that her niece had been till very lately for several years in a convent ! Now this young woman had on nothing of the dress peculiar to a nun, and I had not even suspected the aunt and niece of being Catholic in their religious proclivities. I simply diag- nosed the case according to its physical aspects, with no word, hint, or suspicion to aid me in forming an opinion. But observation had taught me that such physical prostration is often produced by sexual starvation, and I was convinced it was the cause in this instance, without mistrusting the verdict would receive instant confirmation. My advice was — " Take no medicine — let doctors alone. Go at once into the society of both sexes, encourage the attentions of honorable men, and by social contact draw out of them all the masculine mag- netism you can." The case cited is not the only one I have examined, coming from convents, giving indications of sexual starvation. I have had also from young ladies' seminaries similar cases. Institutions for young 168 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. ladies where the exclusion of gentlemen's society is too rigidly en- forced, are quite as bad for the pupils as convents. Large factories and cotton mills where females are almost exclusively employed, generally' contain hundreds of pale, emaciated women who are slowly dying of sexual starvation, their physical exhaustion being aggravat- ed, of course, by the sedentary character of their labor. The Christian world is full of women contemptuously called " old maids 1 ' who are drying up, and daily growing more fretful and nervous in consequence of sexual isolation ; for men, as a rule, cruelly avoid women of a certain age, when Mrs. Grundy brands them with the common distinguishing epithet by which they are known. It is one of the great evils of the marriage institution that a woman may not remain single, enjoying the social consideration of the married, and the social attentions of men, especially when marriage is such a " leap in the dark," and often proves so disastrous to the happiness of her sex. Large cities and villages have swarms of women, young and old, belonging to what are denominated the "working classes," a large number of whom are excluded from good society while possessing native refinement, which renders it impossible for them to associate with uncouth and often unprincipled men, who ever stand ready to extend the hand of pretended sympathy and affection to females in their position. Men morally and mentally suited to the best of this class of women, have so many better advantages in a business way to rise above indigency and humble social position than their female equals, there are never enough of the former in the social circle of the latter to keep up any thing like an equilibrium between the male and female magnetic elements, and woman of course is the sufferer. Wealth, however, does not always place woman in a position to receive a healthful supply of masculine magnetism. The pride of aristocracy often steps in between the young women of wealth and those young men of little money, but much virtue, who would gladly associate with them; while the young men pecuniarily able to move in the social sphere of the former, are, in a great majority of instances, at- tracted to association with those with whom their money will pur- chase the most unlimited privileges. As a rule, having quite too few exceptions, young men of wealth are given to habits of dissipation and licentiousness which disqualify them for association with the respectable daughters of affluent parents, and consequently, if the SEXUAL STARVATION. 169 latter have the pride of caste common to people of this class, their daughters are deprived of the society of men, and, with all their advantage of position and material comfort, must suffer from sexual starvation. Occasionally, we hear of men effecting great cures by the "lay- ing on of hands," and the response is often playfully made, " Pshaw ! Fig. 51 SOCIAL MAGNETISM. He only cures women!" "While this is not strictly true, and while the male magnopath sometimes effects cures by imparting his healthy magnetism to a debilitated person of his own sex, it is neverthe- less a fact that a majority of his cures are effected in cases of women ; the simple reason for which is, that the want of masculine magnetism led to the nervous derangements, which, in turn, produced the diseases 8 170 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. from which they seek relief. In any given case we may not always find the invalid to be a single woman. She may be the wife of a sickly man, who generates scarcely enough magnetism to keep his own vital machinery in motion, and if he give off any, it is of an nnvitalized quality ; she may be the wife of a husband who is mag- netically repulsive to her ; the husband and wife may be so much alike in temperament, that the forces each generates have, by years of contact, become similar in character or quality. In any such case, if the wife goes to the magnopath, and he manipulates with his mag- netic hand some part of her body which has become the seat of dis- ease, she receives benefit and possibly experiences an entire cure. She receives what her system required, for the time being at least, and she revives. Women often cure male invalids by the " laying on of hands," " magnetic manipulation," etc. I recently saw a letter from one conservative gentleman to his equally conservative brother, in which, after telling how much he had suffered from nervous prostra- tion, he said : " I have experienced marked relief from Mrs. 's rub- bings, which put the animal magnetism into me, and they are more powerful and reviving than any electrical battery. You," he contin- ued, "may laugh at this, but I as one who has suffered so much, and received such decided relief, and in so short a time, could not doubt her wonderful power." This letter was shown, to me with quite an expression of surprise by the party to whom it was written, but its contents to me were not at all surprising, for the philosophy of the whole thing was entirely familiar to my mind, for I had been cogni- zant of many cures of male invalids by the hands of female magno- paths. Cases of disease produced by sexual starvation are not so common with the masculine as with the feminine sex. " Men are privileged." vWhy, the God of nature cannot tell, but undoubtedly Mrs. Grundy can. Men only are allowed to make advances — they do all the courting — often shabbily — but they do it all ; they even allure young and thoughtless girls into trouble ; get drunk; swear; chew tobacco, etc., without greatly affecting their personal or family respectability. They may become the fathers of illegitimate children, with the ap- plause of the vulgar, the harmless jests of their associates, and the mild censure of staid people; while the mothers of illegitimate children are turned out of good society, and frequently from their mother's door, without shelter for themselves, or the innocent victim SEXUAL STARVATION. 171 of their thoughtlessness. With all their privileges and opportunities, however, I have met with some men, old as well as young, of consci- entious or bashful traits of character, or without social opportuni- ties, who were really suffering from physical derangements caused by sexual starvation. There are those who think they should bestow no attention upon a young woman unless with the intention of mar- riage, and their moral nature revolts at association with disreputable women. There are conscientious young men in large villages and cities, who, not having opportunity for introduction into good soci- ety, live as isolated from women as hermits, having no other society than that of men with whom they are employed. Many of these, however, are finally conquered by their instinctive longing for the society and magnetism of the opposite sex, and, denied the society of the good and respectable, they lay their conscientious scruples a sacrifice at the feet of harlots. In speaking of the social life of young men, the New York Tribune made some comments which may appropriately find place here : — " By the census of I860," it remarks, " our male population between the ages of fifteen and thirty, amounted to 111,091. Estimating its increase during, and since the war, there are now among us at least 150,000 young men — an active portion of the laborious, exciting life of this great, unmindful city. Two-thirds are without resident friends or kindred, striving to conquer a foothold — and how hard the contest! .What daily widening gaps between those who have succeeded, and those just entering the field ! Neither the religion, nor the social enjoyment of our prosperous men seems broad enough to include their employees. Look at the growth of aristocracy and exclusiveness ; the world of folly, luxury, and fashion; the enormous cost of subsistence; the meagre salaries in vogue, and see what chance of comfort or sympathetic ease the town has to proffer her 150,000 clerks, apprentices, and students. Herded together in the beds and attics of boarding-houses, shut out from the happy homes established by long residence and success, they are almost driven to the public saloons for light and warmth, and for that friendly com2)anionship " (and I will add magnetism), "which either for good or evil, youth instinctively craves and will obtain. " The employers are surrounded with all the appurtenances which make virtue attractive, and easy to pursue. The employees are not only urged into vice by their discomforts, but it is vice alone who 172 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. tenders them an alluring hospitality. She sets forth her 7,786 con- venient bar-rooms, her 653 billiard-tables, her 100 gambling hells, her 235 concert saloons, and her 730 registered houses of pros- titution — in all of whieh, every young man will meet a merry welcome." Young men crowd the beer saloons where " pretty waiter girls " are employed, and really simply for magnetic association with women. Lager, wine, or some other beverage is called for, and often drank reluctantly, for they wish it to appear that the drink is what they are after, at least to those who observe them descending or ascending the steps of the saloon. Sometimes the contents of the glasses are left undisturbed. Many of these young men enter with no libidinous intentions. They feel thirsty or hungry for something, they hardly know what; it is not whiskey — it is not beer — it is not tobacco — all these they may purchase at almost any corner, and the tobacco may be chewed or smoked in the streets. No, nothing will satisfy the physical and soul yearnings but the magnetism of women. They may not have thought of this element — they may never have asked themselves, or anybody else, what animal and sexual magnet- ism is ; they may never have thought of any such thing ; but here they get what they hanker for without asking the name or quality of the article. People of both sexes generally recognize the fact of sexual attrac- tion ; few have given the least attention to the subtle element which constitutes it. This element, if investigated, is found not only to be a nutrient, but a stimulant more potent than alcohol, and natu- rally possessing none of the injurious properties of the latter. It gives vigor, and, in reality, it imparts erectile power to all the tissues of the body, -and aids in producing and preserving plumpness of form. It stimulates ambition, imparts elasticity to the muscles, and brilliancy to the eye, of those who are favored with its influence. Both sexes have an appetite for it, and frequently without knowing it. They long for something, they know not what, and seek to ap- pease an indefinable desire by resorting to narcotics, stimulants, and nervines. Herein, drunkenness has an incentive, which has perhaps never before been thought of; but it is a fact that, with the imperfect social arrangements which characterize our so-called civilization, and which attempt to regulate the social intercourse of the sexes, men and women go up and down the earth famishing for something, SEXUAL STARVATION. 173 they cannot, or will not, tell you what — unhappy, unsatisfied, hungry, starving — in some cases stark mad — and finally, in their blind search for what their systems crave, take to liquor, tobacco, or opium. There are, in fact, to cover the whole ground, two kinds of invisi- ble sustenance, for which nearly all men and women are starving, viz. : the spirit of good, and sexual magnetism. One nourishes the moral nature, and by its elevating effects upon the corporeal system, imparts physical health. The other nourishes the physical structure, and by its exhilarating effect upon the nervous system, makes the spiritual nature buoyant and receptive. Both may be made attain- able. To invoke, and receive the spirit of good, one has only to sin- cerely and heartily resolve to make moral improvement the chief aim and most important work of his life, and he finds at once a steady influx of the elevating influence. To obtain sexual magnetism, nothing is necessary but association of the sexes, and Society and State should institute such regulations as will not unnecessarily restrict this. Many suggestions bearing directly or indirectly on this subject will be found in Part Third. But I will here present one way in which sexual starvation might to some extent be remedied, without weakening, but rather strengthening, the props of our social system. I would advise the establishment in every community, large or small, at public expense, reading and conversation rooms, numerously in cities, where the sexes may socially intermingle, whether acquainted' or not. They should be under the supervision of a certain number of eminently respectable ladies and gentlemen, appointed as trustees, whose duty it should be to enforce order and decorum, and to exclude only persons of dangerous character. Such rules and regulations could be easily devised and enforced as would effectually prevent those who would contaminate the moral atmos- phere of the place from being admitted ; but with these precautions not too strictly instituted, all who are allowed to enter should be admitted without fee, and allowed free social intercourse, without the formality of introduction, unless a committee, with badges to designate it, be organized for the purpose of conducting personal introductions, a practice already in vogue to some extent at balls and sociables. These reading and conversation rooms should be well supplied with books and papers of interest, and open alike to rich and poor of both sexes, and all conventional reserve should be thrown off while at these places, even if put on again when outside 174 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Fig- 53. of them. Would not such places of resort be full of entertainment for women, and also full of attraction for men ? "Would they not, if properly managed, successfully compete with the drinking saloons, gambling hells, and houses of prostitution, in arresting the interest, and securing the presence of young men who are now the patrons of demoralizing attractions ? If we create free public schools for the education of our children, may we not with equal benefit to the com- munity, create institutions which shall encourage moral, intellectual, and physical development of men and women ? At what fixed age should the State abandon the intellectual and physical culture of its people ? Prostitution. It is sickening to reflect that in Christian countries there exists, to an extent even greater than in the vast domain where the Christian religion is not taught, a class of women who, for a sum of money varying from 25 cents to $100, will put themselves in sexual contact with men for whom they entertain no sentiment of love, no sense of physical attraction, and toward whom they, in many cases, feel an aversion if not disgust. It is also humiliating to all who are working for, and have faith in, the ultimate moral and physical regeneration of the human race, that the amative pas- sions of men can be so morbid as to lead them for one moment to value an indul- gence of this nature which can be pur- chased like a paper of tobacco or a glass of rum ; but look whichever way we will, we are confronted by a mascu- line element wherein the sentiment of love is so perverted that there is a perpetual demand for demoralizing indulgence ; and a female ele- ment wherein perverted love, pride of dress, and destitution, stand ready to supply it. Hence, sexual gratification becomes an article of commerce, purchased by the male and sold by the female, greatly to the moral and physical degradation of both. The first effect upon the female is moral debasement. Her countenance may have exhibited all the marks of trouble, disappointment, and want; but now she THE INNOCENT GIRL CHANGED BY HARDSHIP AND VICE. PROSTITUTION. 175 has the additional mark of shame. She has lost her self-respect, and painfully suspects that she lias forfeited the respect of others. When this suspicion is confirmed, she becomes bold and reckless. An ex- pression of hardness creeps over her features, and all the artlessness and sweetness of her former face have given way to a look of dis- grace, defiance, and self-abandonment. In a little while the violation of her moral nature exhibits its effects in her nervous system, and she is obliged to live under constant excitement of some kind in order to feel at all comfortable in mind or body. If the social sur- roundings are not sufficient to furnish this, liquors, drugs, and nar- cotics are excessively resorted to for this purpose. Finally, physical corruption, by venereal distemper, is inaugurated. How could this be otherwise? Suppose a person should post himself in a conspicuous corner of the street, or in some building accessible to everybody, and should propose to eat every thing that the crowd chose to give him, provided he were paid for it. Then picture to yourself any number of wanton men and boys patronizing his folly — one giving him something he possibly likes; a dozen, something he perfectly loathes, and twenty more, something he is entirely indifferent to, but which he knows he does not physically need. Let this abuse of his stomach go on day after day, and night after night, for months, and years. What person is there whose stomach, under such treatment, would not become frightfully diseased? Even voluntary excesses in eating bring on the various derangements of the stomach, known by the one common name of dyspepsia ; but what sort of a malady do you suppose the person would have that I have just instanced? Heaven only knows ! Well, now, it is unnecessary for me to assure any one that the procreative system of the female is just as sensitive as the stomach, and that with abuse it is even more liable to disease. With voluntary, unpaid for, excesses, various difficulties, such as leucorrhcea, prolapsus of the womb, etc., ensue; but when a female gives herself up to sexual pollution to every one who will pay her for it — often entertaining several in one day or night, for whom she cares little or nothing, or cordially dislikes, what may we more naturally look for than the vitiation of the vaginal secretions, and the generation of poison capable of inoculating the blood of both sexes, and producing local affections of a most frightful character? There is, consequently, in addition to the original stock of venereal disease, about which there is so much dispute as to its origin, a new 176 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. supply constantly being manufactured in the dens of harlotry, and of a quantity and quality not in the least inferior to any which has been imported. With such inevitable results attending marketable promiscuity, prostitution may be compared to a vast sea of physical corruption, in whose waters the licentious lave and come out lepers. "Where the beautiful river, lake, or ocean, contributes to the commercial prosperity of any city, there also this great sea of corruption rolls most unobstructedly, and thousands -of peaceful villagers who daily or nightly frequent the metropolis, in an unguarded moment, become submerged in its dirty waters, and then carry home to their faithful wives a disease more loathsome than a suppurating cancer. The blood of the whole human race is becoming contaminated with venereal poison. Do you question this? Look at the fact, that in the United States there are not less than 100,000 harlots, and in London alone nearly an equal number, nightly dealing out sexual pleasure and physical death to a still greater number of inconsiderate men. It is computed that in the ten chief cities of England, there are about 300,000 prostitutes! Cincinnati is one of the smaller cities on this side of the Atlantic, but a paper published there remarks that the amount of property, personal and real, invested in the traffic of pros- titution in that city, as revealed by late police investigations, is one million of dollars, and it places the annual expenditure in this direc- tion at one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In the city of New York, there are altogether ten or twelve thousand courtesans, and probably 100,000 is an under-estimate of all in the United States. " Bat they are not all diseased ! " says one. Admit that ; but it is safe to infer that one-third of the whole number are, and a little exercise in simple division shows to us that the seeds of vene- real poison are communicated nightly to over thirty thousand persons in our country alone, many of whom have wives or bed-eompanions to whom they are liable to impart the disease. Next, perhaps, offspring are infected, and they with their ulcerated little gums communicate it to the nipples of nurses, who have been called to supply the places of diseased mothers in nurseries; and they in turn impart it to other innocent babes, and so the infection spreads, like fire on the prairie, through the whole human family. The male, however, is not simply liable to venereal affection. Ner- vous derangements and spermatorrhoea are almost sure to afBiet him PROSTITUTION. 177 in time, if the female simply submits to the act, and does not partici- pate in its pleasures; and it is a well-known fact that the courtesan nearly always has her paramour, upon whom she exclusively lavishes the intensity of her passion, while all manifestations of enjoyment with her patrons are merely pretence. The physical injury which the patrons of the houses of ill-fame suffer in this respect, is more extensive than many who have given attention to the evils of prosti- tution dream of; but the effects of venereal poison are more indisput- able and immediately apparent, and these are sufficient to occasion wide-spread alarm. It has been argued, and with a show of plausibility, that prostitu- tion is a necessary evil. That did it not exist, our wives and daugh- ters would be unprotected from the insidious advances of libertines, and the forcible outrages of men of reckless passion. My own ob- servation has convinced me that libertines in towns of moderate size, where prostitution is not tolerated, are more given to the seduc- tion of thoughtless wives and unsophisticated young girls than the same class in large cities. But the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw asks, and with propriety, — "What special title have the wives and daughters of those who employ this plea to the protection of their virtue, more than other wives and daughters? Why are theirs to be protected at the expense of others, and not the others at the expense of theirs ? Who, in the community, are to be the victims — the vice-doomed safe- guards of the virtue of the rest — the wretched safety-valves of un- principled and unbridled passions? Are we to have a decimation, by lot, of the virginity of the country? — or is some inferior class to be sacrificed to the demon of lust for the benefit of those above them? Is vice essential to the preservation of virtue? That were indeed a hard necessity. Where is the individual, male or female, and in what rank soever of society — whom I am not to dissuade from vice ? — whom it would be wrong so to dissuade? — the successful dissuasion of whom would be an injury to the public? — by prevailing with whom to give up the evil course, I should incur the responsibility of one who shuts a high pressure safety-valve? — where the individual whose body and soul I am bound to leave to death and perdition, lest per- chance some others should come to be exposed to temptation?" These questions are suggestive, and cannot fail to awaken reflec- tion on the part of those who claim that prostitution is a necessary evil. Perhaps a little inquiry into the causes of prostitution will set- 8*- 178 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. tie this difficult question. One of the primitive causes, I maintain, is the premature development of the amative passions of youth by a too stimulating diet. Most parents allow their children in swaddling clothes to indulge in a diet only suitable for adult age. Do they not know that condiments, animal food, and coffee, early arouse the slumbering sexual passions of the young ? These articles of diet at once impart undue warmth to the blood, and awaken early sexual de- Fig. 54. WHEX SUCH REWARD IS OFFERED FOR VICE. sires in their children, leading boys to early acquire the arts of the libertine, and rendering girls susceptible to the amorous advances of the opposite sex. Thus, from one parental error, spring up on one side a host of amative libertines, and on the other, scores of voluptu- ous women who have not the power to resist temptation, all of whom are required by custom to abstain from legal marriage until PROSTITUTION". 179 The remedy for this they have nearly or quite passed their teens, evil suggests itself. Another cause is unhappy marriage. This creates thousands of bad men and bad women. The indissolubility of the marriage contract drives both parties to desperation; makes the husband a willing pa- tron of the harlot, and the wife an easy victim to the libertine. Ig- norant of the laws that should govern marriage, men and women are Fiecause of im- portant errors in the training of children ; unsuitable civil laws regulating marriage ; despotic customs circumscribing the indus- trial sphere of woman ; ignorance of the electrical power of every individual for good or evil ; and of the social despotism which separates the sexes ? Reformation in the training of children is the first place to begin to extinguish prostitution. So long as the sexual passions of children are stimulated to precocity by an exciting regimen, and goaded to illicit gratification by all sorts of fictitious and exciting literature ; so long will there be men who will violate the marriage bed, and destroy virgin purity where the institution of prostitution is not tolerated ; and so long will houses of ill-fame be annually furnished with voluptuous young females from all ranks of society. . Were it universally known to what an alarming extent the perni- cious physical effects of prostitution are felt throughout all commu- nities, more decided measures would be adopted under the paternal roof to cut off one of the main tributaries to this gigantic evil. The word of the mother is the law of the household, and she seldom dreams, even if suffering with disease induced by venereal poison, that prostitution can ever inflict a pang in her sheltered home. Why, I have cured hundreds of ladies from nearly every State in the Union, whose diseases arose directly or indirectly from syphilis, and who would have died of grief had I divulged to them the real nature of 1S4 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. their complaints. I "will not venture to compute Low many have been my patients for the cure of venereal disorders, or diseases arising therefrom. Fowler, in a little work on Amativeness, remarks, "Many do not know how prevalent this disease is in its various forms. Its victims keep their own secret as long as possible, and doctor themselves, except when their case becomes desperate ; and then confide it only to their medical adviser, whose very profession forswears him to keep the secret. Oh! how many of our young men have ruined their constitutions, and become invalids for life, solely by means of this disease or attempts to cure it. Indeed, its prevalence at the Sandwich Islands actually threatens the extinction of that nation, which, at its present rate of mortality, it is computed to effect in about sixty years ! And if it goes on to increase in the ratio of its past progression, it will ultimately cut off our race itself! u The fact that several thousand copies of a little work of less than twenty pages, on the cure of venereal diseases, are sold every month, at one dollar per copy, and that other works of this class sell in proportion, shows conclusively that there are several thousand new victims every month! No patient wants more than a single work, yet twenty thousand per month does not equal the sales of these works, and of course falls short of the number of victims, for none but venereal patients will pay thus dear for so small a book, of no manner of interest to those not thus afflicted. All this, besides all those who indulge with other than harlots by profession ! Almost incredible, but nevertheless true!" I have not the least doubt — and my estimate is based on authorita- tive "figures which cannot lie" — that thirty thousand males are daily infected with venereal poison in the large cities of the United States, a majority of whom are residents of inland towns, whither they return to spread the seeds of the loathsome disorder ! Men of vicious habits in cities are generally too well acquainted with the different grades of courtesans to contract disease. They know who are "sound," as they express themselves. Their acquaintance with lewd women is not so limited but that they can exercise the privilege of choice. Still, the boasted smartness of these men does not always avail. When the medical seine is drawn, this class is numerously represented. In the public institutions of New York city, about 10,000 cases of venereal disease are annually treated, to say nothing of those who seek the advice of their own physicians. PROSTITUTION. 185 The reader cannot fail to see from the foregoing that prostitution is a prolific source of blood disease, and that it is rapidly converting the great fountain of life, as originally imparted to man by his Crea- tor, into a slough of death. Of all blood impurities, there are none which lead to such endless varieties of disease as those induced by the virus with which whoredom is inoculating the whole human race. Then, too, the nervous disorders resulting from marketable promiscuity should not be lost sight of in the summing up. On opening this essay I spoke of the depressing effect which a sense of disgrace inflicts upon a young woman who takes to her embrace a man for whom she has no affection, solely for the money he pays her. Her innate, womanly delicacy is affected from centre to circumference, and if she possesses a particle of natural religion, her moral nature is no less agitated. How, under such disturbing influences, can the nervous system maintain its normal vivacity and strength ? I have also alluded to the injury visited upon the nervous system of the patron of the harlot when no venereal affection is contracted. Unless the female is magnetically responsive to the amative delirium of her companion, the latter has simply practised the act of mastur- bation, and the effects upon his nervous system are no less injurious than when this outrage upon the genital organs is self-inflicted. There is, too, such a thing as diseased magnetism, which the courte- san may impart when she has no local difficulty with which to infect her patron. If she has repeatedly had venereal disorders, her nervous or electrical fountains, as well as her blood, have been vitiated, in consequence of which her very atmosphere is physically, as well as morally deteriorating. In full view of the moral and physical degeneracy of the condemn^ ed courtesan, however, it is wrong and unchristian for her sex to abandon and leave her in her unhappy situation without persistent effort for her reformation. Popular opinion and action are all wrong here. Let a woman — no matter how destitute — no matter what palliating circumstances may be urged in her behalf, once become the inmate of a brothel, she is condemned to stay there until she comes to moral and physical rottenness, unless she have force of character sufficient to rise unaided from her degradation ; and even then she must buffet, perhaps during the remainder of her natural life, social isolation, and the chilling contempt of her more fortunate 186 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. sisters ! What wonder the poor prostitute considers herself an abandoned woman ! Even when death rescues her soul from social and physical wretchedness, her body is denied a Christian burial ! Think of it, men and women, and then call to mind the words of Christ: — "The publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." There are thousands of women to-day whose naturally pure spirits are chafing, and their divine forms wasting in the atmosphere of prostitution, who are better educated and possess better qualities to make good wives, mothers, and thorough workers in the cause of humanity, than many daughters of affluent parents. All they need is a. sympathetic, encouraging, and loving hand extended to them across the almost impassable gulf which a false society has too rigidly fixed between the condemned ground upon which they stand, and the fields of usefulness and respectability. A little moral and material assistance, extended by women, and encouraged by men, would deliver thousands of females — naturally good — circumstan- tially bad, from brothel hells. Shall they receive it, or will women continue to be cruel, unchristian, and unjust, to the more unfortunate of her sex, who are perishing morally, and whose gradually dying bodies are inoculating the whole human family with putrefactive disease. There exists in our city, a society called " The Midnight Mission," which is making some effort in the way of reclaiming those who are pursuing vice as a vocation, but it is said that it receives more sup- port from men than from women. Women seem to persistently hold back from bestowing any united effort for the reclamation of the un- fortunate of their own sex. The Rev. O. H. Dutton, in a discourse delivered at Trinity Church, some time since, presented the design and plan of the organization, according to the reporter, as follows: ■"It is, in brief, a scheme for the rescue and redemption of the class known as ' fallen women.' To them " he said, u it appealed in a two- fold manner: first, by affording a temporary refuge, and striving to obtain a permanent home for those who, of themselves, desire to abandon a reckless life ; and second, by endeavoring to awaken those who seem careless to the real dangers of their position. For this purpose a place is provided where, at stated periods, meetings are held under the conduct of the men and women connected with the mission, where religious instruction, advice, sympathy, and material UNHAPPY MARRIAGE. 187 assistance are given to those who need it ; and on the occasion of these meetings, the male members connected with it, go forth to the h aunts of those whom they wish to reach, and invite them to come in. During the day-time, also, kind and Christian women attend at the rooms and offer advice, sympathy, and assistance to such as seek it. Of course " he remarked, " when aid was sought to advance the scheme, it was met Avith many objections. ' It was hopeless ; these women cannot be reclaimed;' 'they do not wish it;' 'it is danger- ous to the morals of those who attempt it ;' ' the work is too great;' 'the subject is too delicate a one to meddle with;' etc., etc. But" said he, "such objections were controverted and overthrown by irrefutable facts. Scores and hundreds of these women had a desire to reform, if only the way is open. The task of reformation is diffi- cult, but not impossible. Not only the experience of the members of the society, but the records of similar institutions prove this." The speaker gave some statistics of the results of six years' opera- tions of "The Midnight Mission" in London, by whose influence and aid nearly 3,000 women had been rescued from a life of crime. He spoke of the many good qualities which these women, as a class, are known to possess; showed the magnitude of the good which might be wrought ; and closed with a thrilling appeal to the men and women present, to give what aid was in their power for the further- ance of so great a work. Such associations ought to be cordially promoted by every woman, and by multiplying them they would do a vast amount of good ; but when it is considered how many in London alone, maintain them- selves by prostitution, and that in six years, but 3,000 have been res- cued, it is readily seen how primarily essential it is to eradicate the causes which drive women to a life of degradation. The cure is im- portant, and should not be neglected ; but prevention is' the main thing, and our system of society must prove itself a failure if it can- not ultimately succeed in supplying a prevention which will prove radically effectual. Unhappy Marriage. This contributes to destroy the tone and vigor of both the ner- vous and vascular fluids. The mind, chafing in the galling fet- ters which bind it to an uncongenial companionship, almost forgets its corporeal dependency, and consumes within itself the nervo- 1S8 CAUSES OP NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. Fig, 56. UNHAPPY MAEEIAGH. electricity which should be dispensed through the nervous system, to impart healthy action to the blood and the organic machinery. Unhappy marriages are unlike any other troubles, because society is so constituted that a majority of their victims prefer rather to fall suicides to their self-inflic- tions, than to encounter the frowns of their friends and acquaintances by practi- cally severing a contract which yields little but mental disquietude, affectional suffoca- tion, and nervous and vascular debility. The world little knows the extent of matrimonial inharmony. Each pair who find themselves unhappily mated, imagine that they belong to the unfortunate few who have made the great " mistake of a life-time; 1 ' but the physician, in whom is generally confided the secrets of the broken heart, after the con- stitution has also become broken, knows, frpm the frequency of such confessions, that they form a part of the great majority instead of the minority. An English paper several years ago stated that in the year 1854, there were in London 1,132 runaway wives ; 2,348 runaway husbands; 4,175 married people legally divorced ; 17,345 living in open warfare ; 13,279 living in private misunderstandings; 55,340 living in mutual indifference; while only 3,175 were regarded as happy; 127 nearly happy; and 13 perfectly happy. In what way the English statistician obtained these facts, if they are facts, I am unable to say. In this country it would be impossible to gain correct information of the amount of connubial infelicity as compared with the real happiness in the domestic relation, unless every physician of extensive practice should contribute the results of his observations. Seldom are the most gossiping neighborhoods of the United States acquainted with the actual state of feeling exist- ing between the husbands and wives which live therein, and it is not uncommon for husbands and wives to deceive each other, with regard to their real sentiments when they find that they have mistakenly entered into a companionship distasteful, and perhaps disgusting, to one or both. IMPURE VACCINATION. 189 I was once called upon by a lady, in one of the New England States, whose mind was distracted and nervous system nearly ex- hausted, because she had formed an unhappy alliance with a man whom she found she could neither respect nor love. But she had great benevolence, and rather than make him unhappy by a disclosure of her feelings, she had concealed them from him, and they were secretly gnawing away the nervous threads that connected her spirit with her body. Ah ! how many wives whose eyes fall upon this story, will see in it the mirror which reflects their own miserable situation. Rest assured, that lady is not the only one whose benevolence and pride bind her to an unnatural union, and a concealment of her wretchedness. Unhappily, the victims to uncongenial marriages, are not alone sufferers thereby. The nervous, puny offspring, which is the issue of such adulterous alliances, opens his eyes on a world of physical and moral wretchedness, and hence the sin of the parents is visited upon their children of the first and every succeeding generation. So marked are the physical influences of unhappy marriage on the off- spring, I can generally tell at once, when I see a family of children, whether the father and mother are happily or unhappily mated. Both mental and physical suffering is the inevitable inheritance of the unfortunate child who is born of ill-mated parents; and if he survives the fatal tendencies of a poor constitution till he himself becomes a father, his child, in turn, will possess at least a trace of his progenitor's infirmities, and so on through the whole line of his posterity. For further remarks on this subject, embracing a treatise on the causes, effects, and partial remedies for unhappy marriages, the reader is referred to Part Fourth of this work, where it will receive the attention its importance demands. Impure Vaccination. In the seventeenth century, a country-woman astonished her sur- geon by telling him that she could not have the small-pox, because she had already been affected by the cow-pox. The woman was fresh from the cow-yard and the country, and the surgeon was Dr. Edward Jenner, a physician at that time of no very great prom- inence. Dr. Jenner at once set himself to the work of investigat- ing the country-woman's whim when he found that the dairy- 190 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. maids frequently contracted a disease from an eruption on the bag of the cow, which affection they denominated cow-pox. He further found that among these people, the belief was prevalent, that having had an infection from this eruption they could not have the small-pox. Physicians unanimously ridi- culed it, and the clergy denounced it out- right ; but Jenner took it upon himself to pursue the investigation, and finally suc- ceeded in demonstrating that what was sup- posed to be the milk-maid's superstition was a scientific fact. If Jenner had stopped here, his discovery would have been a much more valuable VACCINATING THE BABY. Qne Jj^,, j t ^^ tnug f ar prOV en tO DC He continued his investigations until he also discovered that the virus taken from the arm of a person vaccinated with the cow-pox, could be successfully transferred to the arm of another person, so as to render him also proof against the approach of small-pox. This was very convenient, because sometimes the disease would disappear from the cattle for years ; but I am compelled to believe that this portion of his discovery has proved an immense injury to mankind, and the evil is increasing rather than diminishing. Hardly a mother, now a days, thinks of allowing her child to reach the age of ten years without having him vaccinated. Her in- quiry is not " How may I in some way obtain the virus direct from the cow?" but is, simply, "Where can I find a doctor or some one who has some vaccine?" Perhaps a neighbor's child has a sore arm, or "scab," as it is called. If so, the inevitable needle comes into requisition, and the child is vaccinated ; or perhaps the doctor is called, because the neighbors have none of the necessary virus ; but m some way or other, the baby is made to have a sore arm, and the sorer the better, the unwise mother often thinks. Here and there, however, baby breaks out all over with pustules and ulcers, when the good mother awakens to the fact that the matter taken from the arm of that child over the way, or that brought to the house by the doctor, must have been scrofulous in its properties! Here is the evil. Many a fair, fat, and bouncing baby is not so healthy as its plump infancy indicates. Scrofula often imparts that IMPURE VACCINATION. 191 \ery clearness of skin so much admired in babyhood; but in adult age, if not before, this insidious impurity exhibits itself in some more disagreeable way. From some just such child the vaccine has been taken. Some wiser mother asks her neighbor, or her doctor, as the case may be, " whether the child, from which this virus was taken, is healthy?" To which the ready response is, "Perfectly healthy — beautiful child! one of the sweetest little things you ever saw!" The parents feel almost insulted that such a question should be raised. Not only has scrofula, but that dreaded impurity, syphilis, been conveyed to the blood of healthy people by means of vaccination. Suppose for a moment the child of a syphilitic parent be vaccinated. By the time the sore is sufficiently developed to be valuable to vacci- nate another, it is as much a syphilitic ulcer as it is a cow-pox pus- tule. It is not necessary that syphilis should have already mani- fested itself in the child. His blood contains it, and a sore made by any means, attended by suppuration, would attract to it the syphilitic impurities. When in my practice I find scrofulous or syphilitic blood which cannot otherwise be accounted for, I invariably ask : " Have you been vaccinated, and if so, was the vaccination attended with any unusual inflammation or soreness ?" This question has often caused a lengthy pause and a " brown study " on the part of the patient, who finally breaks the silence with some such reply as this: "Doc- tor, I never had any of these difficulties before I was vaccinated, and now I remember, I had an awful arm." Well, this does not prove that they became infected by this means — not at all. But I have another class of patients, who tell me at the outset, that they were poisoned by vaccination. They know all about it ; either their mothers were conscious of it at the time, and so informed them, or they were old enough when vaccinated, to remember just how they Avere affected, and they had unmistakably traced years of physical suffering to this one cause. Now, as for the first class mentioned, is it not plausible, at least, to ascribe their blood-impurity to impure vaccination? No one who has given the subject the least consider- ation, doubts that impurities may be inoculated in this manner. Every physician knows that a long and painful affection of the arm, exhibiting an extended inflammation and ulceration, are not the 192 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. true characteristics of cow-pox. There is no evidence of any scrofu- lous, or syphilitic, inherited impurity. In some of these cases the patient is one of a large family of children, all in excellent health except himself, while his progenitors are living at a ripe and healthy old age. Shall we not, then, ascribe the disease affecting their blood to impure vaccination, if their own habits are such as to set aside the question of their having acquired it by any other means ? Many people are exposed to this inoculation peril several times. It is said that the effects of vaccination run out in seven years. So whenever small-pox is prevalent, all who have passed over seven years without repeating the operation, abrade the cuticle and put in some more virus. This is worse than nonsense, because it is dan- gerous. If a person has been vaccinated once from another's arm, without contracting acrimonious humors of the blood, he should be thankful. Besides, it does not u run out" once in seven years. The best virus from a cow is a poison which changes chemically the na- ture of the blood. As well might you tell a scrofulous patient that his scrofula will run out in seven years without treatment ; or that syphilitic poison will work itself out unaided in a specified time. If some cases of small-pox occur seven or twenty years after vaccina- tion, it is either because it did not take well at the outset, or in consequence of the utter failure of Jenner's discovery in these ex- ceptional cases. During the change going on in our bodies, every particle of matter is replaced by an exactly similar particle. There may be a complete change of old for new once in about seven years (in some cases it may be five, and in others ten); but the qualities of those new particles are precisely the same as those of the parti- cles displaced. It would be highly proper for a person who has been medicating for scrofula or syphilis, to be revaccinated. Remedies employed for such purposes act chemically upon the blood, and would be as liable to, eradicate cow-pox as any other blood-poison. After a patient has been through a course of medication for his blood, the treatment, if efficacious, leaves his blood as pure as nature makes it ; and the properties imparted to it by vaccination, will have been swept away with the other unnatural humors, or animal poisons; but a person so physically regenerated, should exercise great caution in again giving his blood the cow-poison. To him, and to all, I would say : — To prevent disease in vaccination, use only the vaccine from ADULTERATED MEDICINES. 193 the cow. The further removed the patient is from the original virus, the less a preventive of small-pox is the vaccination, and the more he receives of an accumulation of impurities through the virus of various persons from whom the matter has been taken. To-day, a person has been vaccinated with cow-pox. In a few days the matter is taken from his arm, and with it, some constitutional or contracted blood-impurity ; and it is put into the arm of another. Again, the matter containing the impurity of the first and the further bad quali- ties of the second, is conveyed to a third party. During all this time, its qualities to prevent small-pox are being modified, and its characteristics changed by the addition of diseased humors with which the various persons inoculated are affected, until finally the eighth or tenth person vaccinated, receives little but the accumulated impuri- ties of those through whom the matter has been conveyed. In conclusion I will say, that with proper caution, vaccination is a blessing; without it, a curse. In our large hospitals, supported at the expense of the public, means might be employed for keeping the genuine cow-pox within reach, and by inoculating several cows with it when there are seasons of great demand, a supply could be fur- nished, sufficient to meet the wants of the people. A statute should then be enacted to secure the safety of all undergoing vaccination. Adulterated Medicines. That man's cupidity should so far transcend his native humanity as to lead him to imperil the lives of thousands of his fellow-beings by the base adulteration of those things to Fi g . 53. which the sick resort for relief from their physical sufferings, thus depleting their pockets simultaneously with corrupting the vascular and nervous fluids of their already enervated systems, is a fact almost suf- ficient, one would suppose, to destroy what little confidence men do entertain in the integrity of each other. The extent to which the adulteration of medicines is carried, is truly surprising. Says Normandy, " adulteration is a wide- spread evil, which has invaded every the hand that does it. branch of commerce : every thing which can be mixed, or adulterated, 9 194 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. or debased in any way, is debased." The report of the examiner of New York for ten months, ending April, 1849, made it appear that "about 90,000 lbs. of various kinds of drngs were rejected and re- fused admittance at this port alone. Among these were 3,000 lbs. of opium, 5,000 ounces of iodine, 16,000 lbs. of rhubarb, 34,000 lbs. of spurious yellow bark, and 12,000 lbs. of jalap." I have not taken pains to obtain later reports, but I am satisfied the evil of adultera- tion is rather increasing than abating. A writer remarks that "more than half of many of the most im- portant chemical and medicinal preparations, together with a large quantity of crude drugs, come to us so much adulterated, or other- wise deteriorated, as to render them not only worthless as medicines, but often dangerous." Nearly all kinds of vegetable medicines, such as sarsaparilla, yellow dock, elder flowers, uva ursi, rhubarb, Iceland moss, and other use- ful roots and herbs which are thrown into the medicine market, are either adulterated in such a way as to elude the detection of those unacquainted with the botanical description, fragrance, and flavor- of the pure articles, or have been rendered inefficient by being gath- ered at the wrong season of the year. Many herbs and roots used in my practice, I have been compelled to have gathered by my own agents, in order to have them possess that genuineness and efficiency necessary to produce a successful result in obstinate cases. It is impossible for a physician to predict, with any certainty, the effects of a prescription upon a disease, if it be prepared from the in- gredients furnished by most medicine dealers, however honorable, for if they do not themselves practise adulteration, those of whom they purchased may have done so, and the worthlessne^s of any root or herb cured in the wrong season, can only be determined by a trial of its strength. Those who reside in the country, surrounded with the numerous antidotes which nature furnishes for the diseases of mankind, might easily avoid this species of imposition, and do much to preserve and restore their own health, by acquiring a little knowledge of the medicinal properties of the numerous plants springing up about them, and preserving, in their season, such as are valuable in sick- ness. It is true that adulterations in roots and herbs are not so positively injurious as those of mineral medicines, which I shall soon consider, but time is too valuable in sickness to be ADULTERATED MEDICINES. 195 trifled with by the administration of medicines of an uncertain efficacy. The Botanic System of practice has not gained that high reputa- tion for success which it would have gained, had its practitioners been their own botanists, and gathered by their own hands, or by those of agents of integrity and ability, in their season, the many health- restoring plants which they rely upon in the treatment of the sick. The industrious farmer knows how difficult it is for him to buy as good corn, potatoes, eggs, and butter in the city markets, as he can raise himself. Now, it is just as difficult for the botanic physician to purchase at random, at the medicine stores, as efficient medicines as he can collect through private sources with a little extra trouble and expense. I have cured hundreds of cases of difficult chronic diseases with botanical medicines bearing the same name as those the invalids had been using for weeks and months without benefit, under the direction of other physicians, which fact can only be explained by the sup- position that adulteration, or carelessness in curing, had been practised upon those administered by my medical contemporaries. There are, of course, some medicinal vegetable productions of foreign countries, which we can only get by importation. Nearly all are generally more or less adulterated, which fact should lead the careful physician to double diligence. Indian opium, for instance, is often adulterated with mud, sand, powdered charcoal, soot, cow-dung (hold your stomach, opium eater) ! powdered poppy-petals, and pow- dered seeds of various descriptions. Smyrna scammony frequently contains chalk, guaiacum, jalap, sulphate of lime, gum tragacanth, bassorin, etc., and some samples are met with which do not possess a particle of that drug which it is pretended to represent. The Mexican jalap is of two varieties, one of which is almost worthless. The latter is called male jalap, and often comes mixed with the better article, and sometimes unmixed. The Spanish liquorice is also much adulterated. Hassal found in twenty-eight samples of the powdered, eleven which were adulterated, and the extract can sel- dom be obtained pure. When so much injury results from the adulteration of vegetable medicines, what shall be said of those arising from the adulteration of mineral medicines, whose counterfeits are often more pernicious in their effects than the genuine? According to Normandy, Binglcy, 196 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. and Wakley, calomel is adulterated with chalk, sulphate of barytes, white lead, clay, sulphate of lime ; mercury, with lead, tin, bismuth ; mercurial ointments with Prussian blue, clay, etc. ; nitrate of silver with nitrate of potash, and so on through the whole catalogue of mineral remedies. Why, the disclosure of this wholesale deception in drugs and medi- cines is enough to make a man see red and blue lights in the apothe- caries' windows, if all the "big bottles" of colored fluid were taken out. It is no wonder that the patients of old-school physicians make up ugly faces at their family doctors, and call them hard names. Mineral doctors, under the most favorable circumstances, are unsuc- cessful enough, without having their already uncertain remedies per- verted. As a general rule all internal medicines, whether vegetable or mineral, are potent for good or evil. They seldom have a passive effect, but a positive, or negative. It is all important, therefore, that they should be just what the prescriber supposes them to be, or serious mischief must necessarily occur. It is always advisable, when possible, for the medical practitioner to prepare with his own hands the prescriptions he would give to his patients. And if he aims to know precisely the effect any medicine will have on a disease, he him- self must also collect, or have carefully collected, through trusty agents, the ingredients which enter into its composition. Any thing like an approach to unerring success is impossible without these precautions. Although the records of crime indicate that mankind places a trifling estimate on human life, its most depreciated value is quite too great to warrant the carelessness which is often manifested in the prepa- ration and administration of drugs, particularly when the extent to which adulteration is practiced is so widely known among the intel- ligent members of the medical profession. I most candidly confess that one of the secrets of my success lies in the fact, that I spare neither labor nor expense in obtaining the best things from the vege- table kingdom that mother earth furnishes for the ills of mankind. Brutality and Inhumanity. Shocking instances of brutality and inhumanity are constantly straining the nerves of all good people, and affecting to a frightful degree those who are finely organized physically. Some people delight in whipping horses ; others in kicking dogs ; and there are BRUTALITY AND INHUMANITY. 197 Fisr. 59. LUSTRATION. those who cannot pass an animal of any kind without hitting it with stick or stone. Almost everybody seems to enjoy to some extent the destroying of life. Boys, for the mere fun of the thing, catch flies in order to kill them. Very bad boys delight in putting pins through insects, and fastening them to boards to watch their painful writhings and flutterings. Older boys and men find pleasure in shooting little birds, rabbits, squirrels, and other pretty animals the Creator made to beautify and enliven the landscape. Very bad men enjoy pummel- ling and killing each other. In brief, nearly all men possess the impulse, to some extent, to destroy life. It is small in those who simply like to step on worms, pull the wings from flies, and catch and torture the busy honey-bee ; but at the same time this is one of the worst and most inexcusable exhibi- tions of the impulse. It is larger in those who can entertain them- selves for days and weeks with guns on their shoulders, searching the wood and stream for something to destroy, merely for the pleasure of taking life. It is tragically enormous in men who delight in the carnage of war; who boast how much they like to fight; and who can look with fiendish complacency upon the bleeding form of a brother slain; but it presents the dimensions of a fiend incarnate, and a power incomprehensible even to those we commonly esteem as bad, when it compels a man in the absence of any serious provoca- tion, to murder a large family, as illustrated in the case of Probst. As I see the wasp, ever ready to inflict his sting ; as I read of the serpent, ever alert for an object into which he may fasten his poison- ous fang ; when I am told by the traveller of the blood-thirsty habits of the tiger, the panther, and other animals of this class, I some- times think that this disposition to inflict pain and destroy life, is, in a measure, derived from man. Man fills the whole animal world with magnetism bearing more or less of his qualities of mind and disposition. Place a good man for a while in the magnetic atmos- phere of those who are bad, even if the latter be mute or asleep, the good qualities of the former will be, in a measure, modified. No one can habitually live in the atmosphere of wicked people without 198 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. being to some degree contaminated. There are places which good men cannot enter without having their moral nature somewhat injured. Now, if men are so under the influence of their fellow- men, may not the inferior animals also be affected by the moral atmosphere of mankind. We find where men are the most savage, most brutal, and most given to the pastimes of torturing and killing; that there, too, animals of all kinds exhibit the most blood-thirsty instincts. The same animals removed to regions of civilization, and among men of greater kindliness of feeling, lose very much of their savage disposition; and, too, these ferocious animals are often sub- dued by the presence of one noble, generous man. Look at the story of Daniel in the lions' den — thrown there by his persecutors. How confident the haters of Daniel were that those lions would fall upon, and destroy him. This has often been counted a miracle, and indeed it must have been, if it was not the overpowering magnetism of good radiating from Daniel's noble nature which overcame the ferocity of the beasts. All successful tamers of ferocious animals, as well as our best horse trainers, are men of kind hearts. It is impossible to subdue the tiger with a club, or a vicious horse with -a whip ; and may it not be that the promised millennial era, " When the lion and the lamb shall lie down together," will make its advent on earth so soon as man shall have subdued all his cruel passions — so soon as he shall recognize the rights of animals of every grade, to exist and enjoy life — shall love his neighbor as himself — and shall love every thing that creeps upon the earth, because his Father made it. The health of the nervous system of many good people is, as it were, sacrificed by their being compelled to witness cruelty to ani- mals. The more sensitive are shocked at cruelty to insect life ; but all noble souls tremble in their nervous centres when they see horses lashed ; dogs kicked ; and other animals rudely treated. No really generous, kind-hearted man can see the songsters of the forest, and the quadrupeds which enliven wild and uninhabited resorts, shot down from pure wautonness, without experiencing a feeling detri- mental to the nervous harmony. Inhuman conduct between man and man, however, produces the greatest discord in the nervous system. It not only affects injurious- ly the perpetrator and victim of the cruel act, but it convulses the nervous systems of those who witness it, and those in the radius BRUTALITY AND INHUMANITY. 199 of thousands of miles, who may read, or be told the affecting tale. Burns, ever glowing with sympathy, never uttered truer poetic words than those in which he said : — "Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn." It is shamefully the rule, instead of the exception, that men, created, as we are told, in the image of God, do not treat each other more kindly. Selfishness abounds everywhere, and constantly generates a spirit of inhumanity. This, in turn, leads to acts of cruelty, and when these culminate in murder, then again we witness the in- humanity of scores of people gathering in mobs to be revenged upon the unfortunate murderer ; and the law, through its officers, jealous of its inhuman prerogatives, protects its victim, not only from the ferocity of the mob, but with stomach-pump takes from the wretched man the poison he has swallowed, in order that it may have the sat- isfaction of putting out his poor life ; and when he has sufficiently recovered from this fearful attempt upon his life, he is conducted, tremblingly, to the guillotine, the garrote, or the hangman's scaffold ! Readers, not one in ten of you have stopped to consider the moral and physical injury the human family suffers from the inhuman practices of beheading, choking to death, and hanging those who, through unfortunate mental organization, or more unfortunate cir- cumstances, commit murder or other crime. The effect upon the child, and in fact upon all, is to create the impression that murder is justifiable, if the provocation is what the law regards a capital offence ; and the result is that many people, impatient of the law's delay, take, as they say, the law into their own hands, making them- selves judge as well as executioner: This is true, not only of mobs organized to lynch and kill some offender, but often of individual action. A man feels himself aggrieved by the supposed or real injustice of another ; thinks he ought to be killed ; and fearing or knowing that it cannot be effected by due course of law, he does the bloody work himself, after arraigning the accused before his own excited im- agination, and pronouncing sentence of death upon him. Now, if law will not countenance killing for any cause whatever, will it not have a healthful effect upon the passions of men who are now taught by its example that killing is right under certain circumstances, and by methods prescribed by law, and who, consequently, convinced in 200 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. their heated judgment that some enemy of their happiness should be killed, proceed at once to do the murderous work. Would it not he far better to teach our children, as they are growing up, impress- ible and easily moulded, that no one, ruffian or sheriff, has a right to slay his fellow-man ; that the life of every human being is in the hands of God, and that He shall determine when any disturber of the peace shall die ? Is it, indeed, reasonable to suppose that the Almighty, when the instrumentalities within His reach are so numer- ous for removing wicked men, if He chose to do so in any particular case, should brutalize man by making him the instrument ? Should not the law be made a good exemplar, in order that immature minds may be correctly formed, and those which have received the develop- ment of adult age, impressed with the sacredness of human life. There is no difficulty in placing the murderer where his existence will no longer be dangerous to society. Let it be the law, if neces- sary, that men guilty of capital offences shall not be pardoned by President, by governors, or other officials, and we may safely await the providence of God, as to when our erring brother shall be called before the great tribunal. So long as the law recognizes murder as necessary in some aggravated cases, individuals will entertain the same sentiment, and act upon the conviction. While writing, my eye falls upon a newspaper containing the following paragraph, dated at the office of Wells, Fargo, & Co., San Francisco : — " San Juan and Nevada stage robbed at four a. m. of $3,000; reward offered at seven a. m. ; robbers shot and all the money recovered at two p. m. ; coroner's inquest at three p. m. ; funeral of the thieves at six p. m. The fore- going programme of a ' spirited little affair,' came off on the 15th of May. First part of programme not so pleasant as the last." Of course all of this must have been done under the law of Judge Lynch, and as the newspaper seemed to regard it as a cute way of disposing of such matters, it is presumable that public sentiment also approved of it. With this and other precedents in mind, somebody will shoot his neighbor for invading his orchard ; some lover send cold lead into the heart of his rival ; and some fellow, in a bar-room brawl, plunge the fatal knife into the breast of his adversary ; for each one feels that the object of his dislike should be speedily put out of the way, and that killing is not, in all cases, morally and legally wrong. It is urged by many that capital punishment restrains people from BRUTALITY AND INHUMANITY. 201 committing crimes for which that penalty is inflicted ; but statistics show that more murders are committed in Massachusetts where the death penalty is rigidly administered, than in Wisconsin where it has been for several years abolished. People laboring under violent passion seldom pause to consider consequences ; while, as before remarked, the fact that public opinion and the law approve the taking of life in some cases, affords them an excuse for so doing : for they frantically imagine, for the moment, that there never was so great a provocation — never a better cause for the adoption of extreme measures. The death penalty, happily, is becoming unpopular, though too slowly. In the earlier period of man's history, a murderer was pur- sued and slain by the friend of the murdered man. The early Hebrews punished blasphemy, disobedience to parents, desecration of the sabbath, idolatry, witchcraft, and many other misdemeanors, with death. The Athenians considered people guilty of open disrespect for religious rites or popular faith, deserving of the deatli penalty. From those earlier periods to the present time, public sentiment has been slowly, but steadily, undergoing a wholesome change, and laws have, accordingly, been made more humane. It is, however, only about seventy years ago that a woman was hung on Boston Common for snatching a bonnet and reticule from a lady on one of the streets leading from Fort Hill. It was pronounced a clear case of highway robbery, upon which charge she was convicted, and for which the penalty was death. To-day, in New York, only the crimes of trea- son, murder, and arson are visited with the death penalty. In Mich- igan no hanging has been done for twenty years; in Wisconsin, none for thirteen years; in Rhode Island, none for fourteen years; in Illinois, through the active efforts of the Hon. IT. Bovee, the stat- utes have been so modified that the power is vested in the jury to decide whether the penalty shall be death, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term of years, in cases of felonious homicide. Even Europe now promises to expunge this relic of barbarism in advance of republican America! Italy has abolished capital punish- ment throughout the kingdom. Tuscany abolished it in 1705, and twenty years or more after, Duke Leopold decreed the perpetuity of the reformed penal code, stating that — "Instead of increasing the number of crimes it had considerably diminished that of the smaller ones, and rendered those of an atrocious nature very care." In 1830, 202 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. M. Berenger reported to the French deputies that — " The mildness of the penal legislation had so far improved the character of the Tus- cans, that there was a time when the prisons of the Grand Duchy were nearly empty." u Opposition to the death penalty," observes a newspaper writer, " is making steady progress throughout Europe. It has been nearly discontinued in Portugal, Oldenburg, Anhalt, Nassau, Roumania, Bremen, the Swiss cantons of Freyburg and jSTeufchatel, and it is seldom if ever carried into execution in Wurtemberg, Baden, Bavaria, Brunswick, and the Swiss cantons of Zurich and Glarus. Belgium has readopted its former system of a virtual suspension of capital punishment. In Russia the death penalty has long been abolished for murder and for non-political crimes. No execution has taken place in Portugal for 21 years, in the cantons of Freyburg and Neufchatel for 36 years, and in Tuscany for 37 years. The bill for the abolition of capital punishment in the Kingdom of Saxony, to which we have already referred, was adopted by the Chambers with the cordial concurrence of the Government, the Procureur- Gen- eral of Saxony being the principal defender of the bill." In every country of Europe the opponents to the death penalty constitute a large and growing party. One of our largest daily journals, and unfortunately an advocate of the death penalty, in advising the employment of an official hang- man, an American Calcraft, supports its suggestion with a narrative of the following shocking incidents : — " A short time ago we had three executions on a single day — one at Elmira, one at Charleston, and one in this city. Subsequently a murderer was hanged at Wilkes- barre, Pennsylvania, and on Friday last another suffered death at Troy. In all these cases the criminals died of suffocation. Their necks were not broken, and the scenes at their executions were of the most disgusting character. One man, we are told, lived for twenty minutes, drawing himself up every few seconds in his struggle against death. Another bounded up and down at the end of his cord, and then breathed for a quarter of an hour afterward. At the Wilkesbarre-hanging the people of the adjacent country made it a gala day, coming out in holiday attire, crowding about the neigh- borhood of the jail and climbing trees in order to get a sight at the show." The foregoing may be quoted without any comments whatever on BRUTALITY AND INHUMANITY. 203 the part of the opponents of the death penalty. It is hard to devise means to kill people humanely. It strikes me that the way in which it may be done with the least suffering to the unfortunate culprits, would be to drown them as they drown dogs at the pound in this city. At that place an immense car is filled with the animals, and is made to descend by a perpendicular scaffolding to the bottom of the river. If we should serve our criminals in this way we should at least save ourselves from beholding their last agonies. In some of our Southern States, in addition to the gallows, the whipping-post remains standing, and in a few of our Northern prisons, convicts are showered with cold water, and some are occasionally killed by the shock. This showering is inflicted for disorderly con- duct. In a majority of the States the death penalty is inflicted for the crime of murder. "When statute law ceases to provide physical torture as a punish- ment for crime, we may reasonably hope to see less cruelty exhibited by man toward his fellow-man, and to the lower orders of animal life. Remove this barbaric example from high places and the influ- ence will be Christianizing to the whole human family; and with this regeneration of man, even the ferocity of beasts will ultimately be subdued by the magnetic power of benevolence and fraternal love. This is not too much to hope for by those who heartily believe in the predicted millennium ; but let us not lose sight of the sanitary motive for reform in this particular. Let every one remember that all cruelty, and all inhumanity is not only felt by the victim thereof, but by all good men and women who are cognizant of the violence or unkindness, and that their nervous systems are seriously impaired by all that is commonly and correctly denominated '* Shocking,' 1 and that the perpetrator suffers physically, to some extent, in consequence of the allowed presence of the passions which instigate him to com- mit the offence. Let me also add that it would greatly conduce to health of nerve, if people of delicate organizations would suppress the morbid taste or curiosity which leads them to witness a stage, or real tragedy ; which makes them attentive readers of a tragical story, or accounts of actual murder ; which induces them to apply to the sheriff for permission to witness the dying convulsions of a conv\cted murderer, or fly to the newspaper for the harrowing description of the last moments of the condemned man. Let us rather try, so far as possible, to turn away our eyes from the bloody acts of depraved 204 CAUSES OP NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. human nature and barbaric laws, and thus preserve our nerves in tranquillity while watching and applauding the examples of the good, and trying to make kindness of heart a quality of earnest and uni- versal aspiration. Wealth. "Wealth, with its attendant dissipations, is a prolific source of ner- vous derangements and blood- impurities-. Many physiologists have described money as the " elixir of both Fi*r. CO. mind and body." Dr. Hall, in his Journal of Health remarks as follows : — " This idea of the hygienic value of money on men is strikingly illustrated in the report of M. Yallerme, secretary of the poor-house commissioners in Havre, where the average age of the rich is twelve years greater than that of the poor. Thus, 1,088 prosperous persons died at an average age of 42 years; 4,791 of the middling classes at 29 years; and 19,849 poor at 20 years." Now these statistics, at first glance, look IIOKX OF PLENTY, j.j^ u kn()ck _ down ar g Ume ntS J " but thOS6 who argue from them that wealth is a promoter of health and lon- gevity, overlook one important consideration which strikes at the very root of their philosophy, to wit: health begets wealth, instead of wealth begetting health. It must be remembered that a large pro- portion of mankind is born into the world with hereditary disease or enfeebled constitution, which disqualifies them for the active pursuits of life, and consequently, unless they become heirs to wealth they must live and die poor. Look over our country now, and learn the history of its wealthy men; what do we find? two-thirds at least have been the architects of their own fortunes. They have amassed their wealth by that indomitable perseverance and industry which they could only have maintained under the encouragement of vigor- ous physical organization. What chance has the invalid to gain wealth, or even a competency? He is interrupted in his business pursuits by the visitations of disease, and the harvests he may reap during the intervals of comfortable health, are at once absorbed in the expenses of sickness which follows. If, as the statistics indicate, WEALTH. 205 the average age of wealth over poverty is only twelve years, the argument is in favor of the latter : for if, with good health to start with, and subsequent wealth to enable them to live as they choose, rich people cannot exceed an average of twelve years over a class, a majority of which is born in sickness and physical deformity, we may justly conclude that wealth, with its usual dissipations, shortens the lives of its possessors. Dr. Hall has fallen into the same error that many other physiological writers have in treating on this sub- ject. Men who have been gifted with that mental and physical energy, united with extraordinary powers of endurance, which has enabled them to stem with success the opposing currents of life, ought to live from twenty to fifty years longer than the sickly crew who fol- low in their wake with spirited oars to-day, and exhausted strength to-morrow. But it appears they can only average twelve more, and probably these are obtained from the extraordinary longevity of the minority of wealthy men, who have attained remarkable age in con- sequence of an adherence to temperate and industrious habits, unal- lured by the vices of wealth. A few men use riches as if they were a loan from God — strewing the paths of indigency and suffering with blessings; many men value riches only because they enable them to live in sluggish idleness — to glut their bellies with besotting wines and rich viands — to gratify in full measure their stimulated passions, and dazzle the world with glittering gew-gaws. The former possess placidity of mind and har- mony of body ; the latter, mental uneasiness and physical debility, and from the dissipations of these arise the common evils of wealth. The mind, under constant excitement, the blood hot with excessive stimulus, and the muscles paralyzed with habitual inactivity, cannot fail to destroy the tone of the nervous and vascular system. There is a happy medium between wealth and poverty, which pro- motes physical health and social comfort, and beyond this boundary it were well if none could pass. Inasmuch as man can carry nothing with him at the close of life except a record of good works, he who possesses a competency during life enjoys all the pleasures that money can buy, without surfeit. But some wish for wealth to be enabled to do good. An excellent lesson for such may be found in the life and sayings of Socrates : A Grecian youth, who saw the errors and fol- lies of the people, and wished to reform the world, exclaimed : " Oh, 206 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. that I were rich, and famous as an orator, I would move the world so soon ! Here are sins to be plucked up, and truths to be planted. Oh, that I could do it all ! I would reform the whole world — and that so soon!" Socrates, hearing the youth, said: "Young man, thou speakest as silly women. This gospel in plain letters is written for all — 'Let him that would move the world, move first himself.' It asketh neither wealth nor fame to live out a noble life. Make thy light thy life ; thy thought thy action. Others will come round, and follow in thy steps. Thou askest riches to move the world. Foolish young man, as thou art, begin now. Reform thy little self, and thou hast begun to reform the world. Fear not ; thy work shall never die." The general tendency of wealth is not benevolence, but prodigality, selfishness, idleness, and gluttony. There is more true benevolence exhibited by the poorest than the wealthiest classes. Hon. Geo. S. Hilliard has beautifully remarked — "I confess that increasing years bring with them an increasing respect for men who do not succeed in life, as those words are commonly used. Heaven is said to be a place for those who have not succeeded on earth ; and it is surely true that celestial graces, do not best thrive and bloom in the hot blaze of worldly prosperity. Ill success sometimes arises from a superabun- dance of qualities in themselves good — from a conscience too sensi- tive, a taste too fastidious, a self-forgetfulness too romantic, a modesty too retiring. I will not go so far as to say, with a living poet, that the ' world knows nothing of its greatest men,' but there are forms of greatness, or at least excellence, which 'die and make no sign;' there are martyrs that miss the palm, but not the stake; there are heroes without the laurel, and conquerors without the triumph." The view I take of the physical effects of riches is sustained by Dr. Charming. He gives it as his opinion that the difference between the rich and the poor in regard to physical suffering is not as great as has been imagined, in support of which he says : " That some of the indigent among us die of scanty food is undoubtedly true ; but vastly more die from eating too much than from eating too little ; vastly more from excess than from starvation. So as to clothing, many shiver from want of defence against the cold; but there is vastly more suffering among the rich from absurd and criminal modes of dress which fashion has sanctioned, than among the poor from defi- ciency of raiment. Our daughters are oftener brought to the grave FAILURES IN BUSINESS. 207 by their rich attire, than our beggars by their nakedness. So the poor are often over-worked; but they suffer less than many among the rich who have no work to do nor interesting object to fill up life ; to satisfy the infinite cravings of man for action. According to our present modes of education, how many of our daughters are victims of ennui, a misery unknown to the poor, and more intolerable than the weariness of excessive toil." Failures in Business. Of those casualties which, through their depressing influence upon the mind, disturb the harmony of the nervous system, there are none, which prudence has power to avert, more Fio , 61 prolific of nervous derangements than failures in business. In fact, financial pros- perity often sustains men in apparent health, whose systems are loaded with diseases in embryo, and the first stroke of misfortune which causes the brain to withhold and consume within itself the measure of vital electricity which it habit- ually dispenses to the various organs of the body, removes the restraining power which holds the latent disorders of the system in check, and, all at once, the unfortunate business-man becomes the tenant of a sick-bed, or the inmate of a lunatic asylum. The human brain sustains a similar relation to its dependency — the body — that the bank does to the commercial world. Its medium is not "rags," but vital electricity; and its depositors and patrons are not merchants and manufacturers, but organs and functions. When trouble overtakes a man, a physiological ' ; panic 1 ' ensues, and the brain discounts sparingly. If a " run " is made upon it, it par- tially or wholly "suspends." The process of digestion and the action of the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, etc., are dependent upon the vital electric forces emanating from the brain, and when the lat- ter is over-exercised with trouble and hard thinking, it reserves its electricity for its own use, leaving the body only partially supplied ; and if the organs retaliate by denying nourishment to the brain, as they are obliged to do, in a measure, the delicately-organized man OTHELLO 8 OCCUPATION GONE. 208 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. becomes a lunatic, and the vigorous man, whose system is filled with inflammatory matter, a victim to some corporeal disease, acute or chronic. "Hard times' 1 invariably increase the labors of a physician, although they do not always increase the gold in his coffers. A bankrupt man is generally an invalid, a prostrate patient, or a men- tal imbecile. The commercial revulsion of 1857 increased the num- ber of inmates in lunatic asylums more than twenty-five per cent., and in Pennsylvania, where its effects were the most immediately and severely felt, the Insane Hospital in West Philadelphia, and the State Asylum at Harrisburg, were filled to the extent of their accom- modations. Such were the commotions between mind and matter, that many severed the unhappy relation existing between the two by suicide. Failures in that year were numerous, and disease, insanity, and suicide increased pro rata. Such being the effects of business failures upon the health of a people, they should be avoided, as far as possible, by prudence and economy. "Live within your means," is an old and good proverb, and he who does not, almost invariably brings upon him- self nervous derangements which are sure to lead to fatal results. Every married man should confide to his wife the real condition of his finances. Much is said of the extravagance of married ladies. Their conduct is often pronounced the cause of their husbands' ruin. Much truth is uttered in such assertions, but not the whole truth. Men are apt to represent their pecuniary resources much greater than they actually are. As a sequence, wives laugh at their admonitions of economy — think their consorts " stingy " — and govern their wants by the supposed capacity of their purses. Nothing short of a failure reveals to them their insolvency. The wife's condition, under the most favorable circumstances, is a hard one, and she cannot be blamed for reaching for the good things of life, if her husband leads her to believe he is rich, particularly if he gives plausibility to her delusion by indulging in such superfluities as Havana cigars and expensive wines. It is high time that men began to appear to their wives exactly what they are, pecuniarily, morally, and socially. Frankness in these respects would not only tend to lessen the number of business failures, but would greatly diminish the evils of prostitution. But deception, in most cases, commences in the moonlight nights before FAILURES IN BUSINESS. 209 marriage, and continues until some pecuniary or physical disaster reveals things as they are. This sometimes happens unexpectedly early. Fowler gives an amusing illustration in commenting on the motive which induces many to marry : — "A distinguished young man from the South, making great pre- tensions to rank and wealth at home, paid attentions to a young lady residing near New York Bay, whose father had been very wealthy, but owing to reverses had become quite reduced in circumstances ; still, the family maintained their style, and the display of affluence equaled fully what it had been in their palmier days, and, by so doing, sustained their reputation in society, in order to allow the young ladies a better opportunity of settling in life. The new-comer, prompted by the desire of securing the prize, and thinking she pos- sessed sufficient of the 'needful' to pay all expenses, dashed out in fine style, ran into every extravagance, and displayed the fastest and most beautiful horses, etc. Finding debts accumulating and becom- ing pressing, he hurried on the wedding day, this being the only prospect for their discharge. Meanwhile, she, not suspecting that he had falsely represented his situation, and delighted at the idea of obtaining so liberal and generous a husband, encouraged his expenses, and was profuse herself, thinking he had the means to settle the bills. They were married — when, to their astonishment and shame, they found themselves not only destitute of the means to discharge their lia- bilities, but unable to buy the necessary furniture for housekeeping." Deception on both sides rather hastened the result in this instance. Had it only been practised by the gentleman, the lady really possess- ing the supposed wealth, the deluded wife would have probably put her fortune into a princely establishment, relying on his purse for its maintenance, when a failure involving extensive loss would have ulti- mately followed. There are unquestionably some wives who, with full knowledge of their husbands' limited resources, endeavor to vie with their wealthiest neighbors, and bring upon their indulgent providers pre- mature ruin and death. Such, however, are exceptions, and when the grave closes over the victims of their foolish extravagance, they bitterly reflect on the errors of their conduct. Eunning in debt to an extent beyond all present prospect of liqui- dation, is a common cause of failures in business. This error is almost characteristic of the Yankee, whose enterprising spirit leads 210 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. liim to embark in hazardous speculations. His organ of " Hope," generally predominates over his " Causality," and "Caution," and, urged on by largely developed propelling faculties, he frequently finds himself in deep water, without plank or life-preserver. He is too, of all men, least calculated, physically, to endure reverses, for although he may succeed, by his indomitable will, in buffeting the waves of adversity, his physical health suffers from all such en- counters. Here, too, the proverbialist whispers — " Live within your means." Dishonesty causes many failures. Let one man of extensive repu- tation and high standing in the commercial world, turn trickster and defraud a bank or railroad of a large sum of money, and the whole community suffers. Public confidence is shaken. Men who have contracted debts with a good prospect of being able to pay, can- not extricate themselves from an unexpected dilemma. Failure after failure follows in the wake of the defaulter, destroying the prospects of many careful as well as careless men. Do defaulters ever reflect that their dishonesty cariies thousands to premature graves ? Obser- vation proves such to be the fact. But reckless men seldom look at consequences, and if they can only raise themselves from the ashes of a financial ruin, which their dishonesty has brought upon a com- munity, their humane curiosity is not sufficiently awakened to inquire how many have been buried in it. Burns truly said, " Man's inhu- manity to man makes countless thousands mourn." Commercial men, who are supposed to regulate the monetary affairs of the world, should realize the powerful influence they exert over the physical well-being of the race. Recklessness by the few should not be tolerated by the many, or at least, not countenanced. Every "false step" brings with it multitudinous failures, and failures in business produce depression "of mind, and depression of mind disturbs the harmony of the nervous system, and this leads to men- tal and corporeal diseases of every variety, according to the predis- position of victims. Do not strive to acquire sudden fortune. Re- member that contentment is wealth, and that there is no real wealth without it. He who passes through life with a sufficiency of food and clothing, and a contented heart, has the benefit of all the wealth the world possesses. EXCESSIVE STUDY. 211 Excessive Study "The mind, just like the stomach, takes Its food for pleasure, profit, use, Reflection all the virtue makes, And serves it for its gastric juice." The mind may be overloaded as well as the stomach. Reading too constantly and studying too closely, is as injurious to the mind and nervous system as is eating too Fi 62 much to the stomach and blood. The back doors of many of our colleges and semina- ries open into lunatic asylums and cemete- ries. The literary world is full of physical wrecks, and many a mind has become bankrupt by trying to acquire knowledge too fast, like the ambitious business-man who fails, through his over-exertions to get rich. Avarice for knowledge is gen- erally more successful than avarice for money, but while the failure of the former leads to an empty head, that of the latter T,IE ST ™ ENT AT ™ BOOKS - only leads to an empty pocket. Every man is born into the world with a certain amount of mental capacity which will admit of cultivation, but not of forced growth. By gentle discipline the mental powers of a man will gradually develop, and reach maturity as early as good physical health will permit, but when the student attempts to crowd his mind with learning all at once, he not only fails to reach the high summit of his inordinate ambition, but often falls a helpless imbecile. "Professor Houghton, of Trinity College, Dublin," says a news- paper writer, "has published some curious chemical computations respecting the relative amounts of physical exhaustion produced by mental and manual labor. According to these chemical estimates, two hours of severe mental study, abstract from the human system as much vital strength as is taken from it by an entire day of mere hand-work. This fact, which seems to rest upon strictly scientific laws, shows that the men who do brain-work should be careful, first, not to overtask themselves by too continuous exertion, and secondly, that they should not omit to take physical exercise each day suffi- 212 CAUSES OF NERVOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS. cient to restore the equilibrium between the nervous and muscular systems. Studies, to be improving, must be pursued with a relish, the same as good edibles are sought after by the epicure. If the mental appe- tite is too craving, gratify it sparingly, as every man should his cor- poreal appetite ; if too dull, nurse it gently. An observance of this rule will prevent our institutions of learning from sending thou- sands of mental dyspeptics into the world to flash and flicker with intellectual light, and then go out like a used-up tallow candle. Excessive Labor. "The night is cotne, but not too soon, — The laborer's hand is weary growing^' Foolish pride and aspirations for wealth more frequently than necessity, drive men to excessive labor. Both the mental and phys- ical system demand rest, and inflict a Fig. 63. J .'.-■*. penalty on the individual who refuses to grant it. Not only has nature ordained night as a season of repose, but the God of nature has commanded that one day in each week shall be observed as a period of rest for all human beings, and has so impressed the necessity of such a regulation on the hu- man mind, that, however diverse may be the religious opinions of different people, all have a day professedly set apart for that purpose. Thus, Sunday is appointed by the Christians, Monday by the Grecians, the overworked man in his Tuesd by the p ers ians, Wednesday by COUNTING-ROOM. J ' the Assyrians, Thursday by the Egyptians, Friday by the Turks, and Saturday by the Jews. The strict observ- ance of the day is, however, unusual. The business man, although he be a constant attendant at church, is apt to look over his accounts and lay down his programme for the week, while the literary char- acter meditates on what he will write or speak, regardless of the sentiment of the Roman philosopher, Seneca, who said that " the mind of man is like the fields, the fertility of which depends on their being allowed a certain period of rest at the proper season." And a great deal of this over work is for the frivolous purpose of driving MELANCHOLY. 213 a prettier span of horses than some neighbor, wearing a finer coat, holding larger estates, or possessing more of that attractive com- modity — gold! The best remedy for this evil is contentment. This should be cultivated, for it is wealth. A contented man with fifty cents in his pocket, and a clear conscience, is far wealthier than the millionaire, whose Sunday, week-day, and night dreams are all about gold, and how more may be accumulated. Dismiss your avocations, all who can, at night and on Sundays, and acquire contentment if you would preserve your nervous systems in health, and your minds in happy placidity. There are, it is true, many so pressed with want that they can hardly do so. Our sewing-women are the most unfor- tunate representatives of this class; but even they would be able to accomplish more in the end by religiously observing some hours for rest, divided between sleep and out-of-door exercise. Sickness, and consequent compulsion to entirely abstain from work for weeks and months, would not occur so often, if those who are obliged to support themselves by the needle would pursue this rule. A healthful position can hardly be maintained in plying the needle steadily, in- conse- quence of which the activity of the vital organs is interrupted, and the circulation of the blood impaired. Exercise of some kind every day, and a reasonable amount of repose every night, are absolutely necessary to preserve health of body and mind. To assist in preserv- ing the strength of the eye, it has been wisely suggested by the Sur- geon of the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital of London, that " needle- women, embroiderers, etc., should work in rooms hung with green, and have green blinds and curtains to the windows. In China, this rule is adopted by the exquisite embroiderers of that country. 1 ' Melancholy. Some writer has facetiously remarked that " there are many peo- ple who keep pet griefs as certain other people keep lap-dogs, that they carry about with them wherever they go. These are the people who feel the best when they feel the worst, and are never so happy as when they are utterly miserable. Like the maiden k who milked the cow with the crumpled horn,' they are always '■all forlorn,' and they keep a figurative dog to be 'tossed,' and a cat to be 'worried,' and a rat to be ' killed ' upon every possible occasion. They turn down the leaf at, ' Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain 214 CAUSES OF NERYOUS AND BLOOD DERANGEMENTS of tears,' as if griefs were like bulrushes, and flourished best in wet places." Melancholy seriously disturbs the circulation of the nervo-electric p icr ^ forces, and causes an undue consumption of the latter in the brain. Melancholy people are almost invariably dyspeptic, be- cause a full supply of the electric element is withheld from the pneumo-gastric nerve, which conveys from the brain the force that gives tone and activity to the diges- tive organs. Despondency of mind, in fact, affects all the organs of the system, more or less, on the same principle; the brain consuming, in its excitement, more than its natural allowance of nervo-electricity, and, as a consequence, withholding the vital element from the various organs which are dependent upon it for healthful action. Cheerfulness should be cultivated by every one. It is an antidote for many ills ; and a laugh is of immense value, physiologically. It produces an electric effect throughout the whole system. It is felt in no one place particularly, but every nerve, muscle, and fibre is simul- taneously titillated with the electric flash from the brain. All who have melancholy friends should try to excite them to laughter. A few hearty laughs will cure the most desperate case of melancholy. It is a Christian duty to look cheerful, and a blessed privilege to laugh. "Away with melancholy." Conclusion. Really the only melancholy which we may be excused for indulging, is that which must come over every one in observing the general ill- health with which we are surrounded, by the unfortunate customs and habits which we recklessly observe and blindly pursue. They are so multitudinous, and so impertinently insinuating, that they may be compared to the insects of summer. They creep into a man's hat ; they crawl into his boots ; they nestle in woman's waistbands, and they conceal themselves in her trailing drapery. They fall into the food we eat, and drop into the liquids we drink. With the greediness of fabled vampires, they suck out the little brain some CONCLUSION. 215 people bring into the world with them, leaving a sting that destroys all moral sense. They penetrate not only the tenement basement, but the drawing-rooms of the affluent. They mark the faces of the poor with pock- pits, and cause the rich to hobble about on gold- mounted crutches. Science must find a cure for their sting, and common sense must devise means for their extermination. CHAPTEE III. PREVENTION OF DISEASE. " If half the thought and sentiment that are spent on the subject of death, were be- stowed on the practical duty of strengthening, lengthening, and ennobling life, we should be more fit to live worthily and die contentedly."— Harriet Martineau. HIS proposition may sound shocking to many, but it is a living truth ; and it may be added, that if half the time and money expended by the sick to recover health had been timely devoted to the preservation of health, life would be a more enjoyable and less expensive luxury. The trite maxim that " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," applies with greater force, in this connection, than it can in any other. If people would properly consult temperaments in marriage ; then, if they would take some thought and pains to prepare themselves to become the healthy parents of healthy children; and then again, if the children of such careful progenitors would take reasonable care of the valuable legacy bequeathed to them, after a few generations, the good people could tip their hats with a sarcastic good-bye to the doctors, use patent nostrums for poisoning troublesome insects, and limit the business of the under- taker to the burial of those who die by accident or old age. A writer in the Atlantic Magazine says: — "In our civilized sedentary life, he who would have good health must fight for it. Many people have the insolence to become parents, who have no right to aspire to that dignity; children are born who have no right to exist; and skill preserves many whom Nature is eager to destroy. Civilized man, too, has learned the trick of heading off some of the diseases that used to sweep over whole regions of the earth, and lay low the weakliest tenth of a population. Secondly, while the average dura- tion of human life has been increased, the average tone of human PREVENTION OF DISEASE. 217 health has been lowered. Fewer die, but fewer are quite well. Many of us breathe vitiated air, and keep nine-tenths of the body quiescent for twenty-two or twenty-three hours out of every twenty- four. Immense numbers cherish gloomy, depressing opinions, and convert the day, set apart for rest and recreation, into one which aggravates some of the worst tendencies of the week, and counter- acts none of them. Half the population of the United States violate the law of nature every time they take sustenance, and the children go, crammed with indigestion, to sit six hours in hot, ill-ventilated, or unventilated school-rooms. Except in a few large towns, the bread and meat are almost universally inferior, or bad ; and the only viands that are good, are those which ought not to be eaten at all. At most family tables, after a course of meat, .which has the curious properties of being both soft and tough, a profusion of inge- nious puddings, pies, cakes, and other abominable trash, disagrees with the young, disgusts the mature, and injures all. From bodies thus imperfectly nourished we demand excessive exertions of all kinds." The proprietor of an expensive steam-engine would never permit such a " Gump ?i to take care of it, as he allows to take care of his own delicate physical machinery. He will not employ an engineer who does not fully understand the entire mechanism of the engine. He will employ one who knows when to increase and when to decrease the amount of fuel ; when to let off some of the superfluous steam, and when to augment it ; when to clean out the ashes and cinders ; and when to add a lubricator to all the various parts subject to friction. Well, now, the human system is a thousand times more intricate and delicate in its mechanism than the steam-engine, and yet peo- ple all over the world are "running it, 1 ' who know nothing of its complicated parts— are in absolute ignorance of the functions of many of them; and are entirely incapable of selecting the proper food (fuel.) to keep it in first-rate order. To the ear of an observant, reflective physiologist, it sounds almost like an insult to our Creator to say that Providence has taken this or that young relative or friend from the family of which it is a dearly loved member. An anonymous writer disposes of this fallacy witli the following pointed interrogatories and sensible re- plies : — " Take for example, the young girl bred delicately in a town ; shut up in a nursery in her childhood, in a boarding-school 10 218 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. through her youth, never accustomed to air or exercise — two things that the law of God makes essential to health. She marries ; her strength is inadequate t© .meet the demand upon it. Her beauty fades early. 'What a strange Providence that a mother should be taken in the midst of life from her children!' Was it Providence? No! Providence has assigned her three-score and ten years, a term long enough to rear her children, and to see her children's children ; but she did not obey the laws on which life depends, and, of course, she lost it. U A father, too, is cut off in the midst of his days. He is a useful and distinguished citizen, and eminent in his profession. A general buzz rises on every side, of 'What a striking Providence!' This man has been in the habit of studying half the night, of passing his days in his office and the courts, of eating luxurious dinners, and of drinking various wines. He has every day violated the laws on which health depends. Did Providence cut him off? The evil rarely ends here. The diseases of the father are often transmitted ; and a feeble mother rarely leaves behind her vigorous children. " It has been customary in some of our cities for young ladies to walk in thin shoes and delicate stockings in mid-winter. A healthy blooming girl thus dresses in violation of Heaven's laws, pays the penalty — a checked circulation, cold, fever, and death, ' What a sad Providence!' exclaim her friends. Was it Providence, or her own useless and sad folly ? " A beautiful young bride goes night after night to parties made in honor of her marriage. She has a slight sore throat, perhaps, and the weather is inclement ; by day her shoulders are loaded with furs, but on these occasions she must wear her neck and arms bare, for who ever heard of a bride in a close evening dress? She is con- sequently seized with an inflammation of the lungs, and the grave receives her before her bridal days are over. ' What a Providence !' exclaims the world. Alas ! Did she not cut the thread of life her own self? "A girl in the country exposed to our changeful climate, gets a new bonnet instead of getting a flannel garment. A rheumatism is the consequence. Should the girl sit down tranquilly, with the idea that Providence has sent the rheumatism upon her, or should she charge it on her own vanity, and avoid the folly in future ? Look, my young friends, at the mass of diseases that are incurred by intemper- PREVENTION OF DISEASE. 219 ance in eating and drinking, in study or in business; by neglect of exercise, cleanliness, and pure air ; by indiscreet dressing, tight lacing, etc., and all is quietly imputed to Providence! Is there not impiety as well as ignorance in this? Were the physical laws strictly observed from generation to generation, there would be an end to the frightful diseases that cut life short, and a long list of maladies that make life a torment or trial. It is the opinion of those who best understand the physical system, that this wonderful machine, the body, this ' goodly temple, would gradually decay, and men would die as if falling asleep.' " We should look upon our Heavenly Father as the author of all good, and if we will but observe and think a little, we shall discover that nearly all physical suffering and premature death arise from our own follies and ignorance. " How about the loss of our dear baby ?" some afflicted mother may inquire: "It surely had committed no physical sin ; and I was careful in feeding and clothing it ; and scarcely allowed it out of my sight." Ah, woman, you must look farther back for the causes of your infant's early death. They may have been as remote as the violations of the laws of health by its grand-parents, or great grand-parents. They may have originated in your ignorance, or willful non-observance of those laws which govern healthy propagation, and of which I shall shortly speak. Health and longevity great'y depend upon what is termed a good constitution at the outset. Many a baby is conceived with the germ of disease and early death, and it strikes me that the kind hand of Divine Providence has little to do with the removal of such a child. The disease may not be apparent at its birth. It may even have a healthy appearing skin and plump body, while in its blood lurks a poison or taint of disease which needs only the contact of the atmos- phere of scarlet fever, measles, or whooping-cough, to develop. Its blood may be possessed of properties which render it susceptible to colds, resulting in croup, diphtheria, inflammation of the brain, or something equally fatal. I have picked open the fairest of rose-buds, and found beneath its delicate leaves, worms that would have prevented it from ever blossoming. I have eaten apples that had the external appearance of soundness, and the rich complexion of perfection, which were rotten at the core. You cannot always conclude that your children are constitutionally healthy because they are fat and fair. Indeed, scrofulous babies are usually remarkable 220 PREVENTION OP DISEASE. for clearness of skin and plumpness of body. I shall therefore tell you, in the opening essay of this chapter, How to Have Healthy Babies. With some childless people, I am aware, it is a question of chief importance, "How to have babies at all?" All such persons I would refer to Hints to the Childless, in another part of this work. The relevant question to be considered here is, what means are ne- cessary to secure healthy offspring when people are physically capa- ble of healthy reproduction. The human family is not sufficiently interested in it, I know, but the physiologist should, nevertheless, endeavor to improve the physical and moral condition of the human race by calling attention to it. If boys and girls, and men and women were marketable in the civilized world, as they are in some semi-barbarous countries ; if they could be sold like horses, cattle, and sheep, the commercial and practical spirit of the age would, irresistibly demand an improvement in the stock of human beings, as it demands, and is busy in securing, an improved stock of domes- tic animals. Celebrated stock-raisers in Europe and America, and many of our scientific farmers, are superintending with much care in field, stall, and pen, the propagation of fine breeds of cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs, while at home, their offspring are creatures of acci- dent; conceived, in many instances, under circumstances which render them inevitably puny, sickly, and ill-natured, if not constitu- tionally immoral. Now, certainly, an argument is not necessary here to show that we should devote as much attention to the proper propagation of children as we do to the breeding of calves and colts. I shall, therefore, defer no longer in coming directly to the advice I proposed to give in this essay. My first proposition embodies the proscription of a certain class. People who are physically infirm should not have children while such infirmities exist, because they are almost certain to transmit them to offspring, and the combined infirmities of each parent (when both are diseased) frequently result in most lamentable conse- quences to the innocent victims of this indiscretion. In some semi-barbarous countries, diseased and malformed children are de- stroyed as soon as born, or when the abnormal manifestations appear, and to the little sufferers this seeming inhumanity may be in reality a mercy ; but disregard of the true laws of propagation, followed by HOW TO HAVE HEALTHY BABIES. 221 such wholesale butchery of the products, would forever keep a people in barbarism, notwithstanding their efforts to preserve only the best specimens of humanity they might find themselves able to produce. It may be hard for the hopelessly incurable to deny themselves the pleasure of becoming parents; but it is questionable if this self-denial brings more suffering to their philoprogenitive nature, than the sickness and early death of offspring inflict upon them, while their enlightened moral and benevolent faculties — if they possess such — must upbraid them for the evil they achieve by bringing into the world, a little, living, conscious being, susceptible to the keenest suffering, immediately coupled with physical derangements only capa- ble of inflicting fain. To do such a deed premeditately would require the fiendish attributes of a demon. It is the ignorance of infirm parents which brings into the world such pitiful specimens of hu- manity ; and it is to the credit of the intelligence and benevolence of some hopelessly diseased men and women, that they do not become parents, for the reason, simply, that they do not wish to bring chil- dren into the world certain heirs to their own sufferings. There is, however, a large class, embracing invalids of both sexes, who think themselves hopelessly incurable, when really, under prop- er treatment, they might be restored to a comfortable degree of health. Physicians of the reformed school of practice often meet these wrecks of the old-school methods, and triumphantly set them on their feet. In some cases these people may not attain firm health, but if they will unite with those of opposite temperament, having perfect health, and have connection for the purpose of offspring only at such times as they feel in the most buoyant physical and spiritual condition, they may be blessed with healthy children, if other necessary rules given in this chapter are observed. The prop- er combination of temperaments is a very important consideration. If the parents themselves possess perfection of health, and they have coalesced without reference to physical adaptation, the children may be physically as imperfect as they would be, if they were the products of diseased progenitors. In Part Fourth this subject of temperamental adaptation will be presented in such a way as to afford a guide to those contemplating marriage. The second proposition embraces hints to those who, having health, do not make the most of it in the act of propagation. People claim- ing entire immunity from disease, have seasons of feeling less vigor- 222 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. ous and vivacious than at others, and unfortunately for offspring, coition is sometimes resorted to at such periods, by way of experi- ment, to see if better feeling may not be induced. If more conve- nient, a glass of wine, beer, or other stimulant, or a narcotic is taken for the purpose ; but if the drug fail, the exhilarating delirium of sex- ual excitement is sought; and if offspring is produced, it not only re- ceives at the moment of conception the organic impression of the phys- ical derangements leading to the momentary depression of the parent, but probably also, the embryonic formation of vitiated appetite and passion. With people of this class, offspring should not be acci- dental, and propagation should only be allowed when they are in the enjoyment of their best physical and spiritual moods. My third proposition possesses something of value to people who are subject to periods of fretfulness; to attacks of melancholy; to fits of violent temper; to quarrelsomeness, etc. Such persons should be made acquainted with the fact that if, while under the influence of any such feelings or passions, or for some time after they have been subdued, the germ of a new being is planted in the womb, it is liable to be marked or influenced by them. The settling up of a matrimo- nial misunderstanding is, for instance, a most inopportune time to beget offspring, yet the conception of many a child has celebrated the conclusion of a family fracas. It should be understood that it takes time for the system to recover from the effects of bad passions, and that the incoming good feeling, incident to "making-up," does not for some hours erase the impressions produced on the nervous system, the fluids of the body, and the germs inhabiting the pro- creative organs of either sex. In my first chapter I have spoken of how all the organs and secretions are affected by the various passions of the mind, and that matter need not be repeated here. With people belonging to the class under consideration, offspring should not be accidental, and conception should take place only when both parties have been in good temper, spirit, and health for at least a period of twenty-four or thirty-six hours. My fourth proposition should be heeded by the woman pregnant and those who are associated with her during this important period. She should avail herself of every means at her command to preserve her physical health unimpaired ; and she should avoid all influences cal- culated to fret, annoy, or distress her. He who is to be the recognized father of her child, should employ every resource within his reach to HOW TO HAVE HEALTHY BABIES. 223 Fig. 65. preserve tranquillity of mind and vigor of body to this woman, who is freighted with a germ which is developing the soul and body of a new human being. Critical period! How greatly it decides, and, too, how early, whether the earth- ly existence of the future man or woman shall be happy or miserable. — Shall the foetus of to-day wish twenty or fifty years hence that it had never been born? The friends of the pregnant woman, and those of all who surround her, should be united to pre- vent this. She may main- tain her physical health by seeking for residence such locations as are pro- verbially healthful ; liv- ing and sleeping in well- ventilated rooms ; care- No> 1 represents poor scrofu i ous nttle Job-the off- fully watching diet — eat- spring of parents who ought not to have had children. ing only those things No. 2 represents suffering John— the offspring of parents t . -i i in an unhealthy condition. No. 3 is fretful Peter— the which seem to agree ..-,.';■* : i# 7 c .■ , t - T • ^. ~ child of fretful, bad tempered parentage. No. 4 is poor with Stomach and mind ; Benny— the child of sensuality, liquor, and tobacco, avoiding excessive and No. 5 is healthy Charley— the fortunate offspring of irregular eating; exer- ^lthy and intelligent parents. cising daily in the open air without reference to the criticism of Mrs. Grundy on one corner, or the smoking loafer on the other ; observing habits of personal cleanliness; and, in brief, by patient, constant watchfulness, doing every thing within her power to pro- mote a feeling of health, and avoiding every thing which in any way produces the contrary effect. Mental tranquillity may be maintained by carefully keeping up the physical health ; by association with those who are cheerful and entertaining ; by reading books and news- papers of an interesting and elevating character; by doing acts of A CLUSTER OF BABIES. 22i PREVENTION OF DISEASE. kindness and benevolence when opportunity offers ; by prayerfulness, if a religionist ; by communion with God and nature if a moralist ; by avoiding jealousy, selfishness, peevishness, and outbursts of tem- per; by indulging in the passion of hatred toward no one; and by cultivating a love of humanity. The more closely a pregnant woman can observe the foregoing rules, the more nearly she will succeed in giving birth to a being that shall possess at once a healthy, vigorous brain, a happy temper, and a spirit of philanthropy. There are some general hints to be observed which could not be properly classed under any of the foregoing heads. Conception should not be allowed to take place without a preparatory season of absti- nence from sexual indulgence, in order that the procreative systems of both parties may be free from morbid excitability and exhaustion. It should not occur when the muscular system is exhausted by over- work or exercise. It should not happen immediately, or for some time, after eating, when the nervous forces are being largely employed by the digestive organs in doing their work, and consequently refuse to be sufficiently engrossed to perform the function of reproduction as well as the procreative organs are capable of performing the latter function when the stomach is at rest, and can "lend a hand." It should not happen while the mother is already nursing, thereby causing a division of nourishment between two, which is suf- ficient for one only ; for it must be borne in mind that the pregnant mother has to feed the growing unborn babe, as well as the one in the arms. It should be known to the reader that some women conceive during the period of lactation, and that this evil should be guarded against. Nor should it be allowed to occur in less than two or three years after the birth of a child ; and in some cases, five years should intervene between the ages of the children, for the mother to suffi- ciently regain a physical condition capable of imparting health to one in utero-Hfe. During the period of pregnancy, excessive sexual indulgence unduly develops, in the unborn child, the passion which leads so many young people to a destructive vice. Even amative excitement, on the part of the mother, without indulgence, has a tendency to do this. She should consequently avoid such food and drink as stimulate the amative impulse. When the impulse becomes strong — when the de- sire is so great as to take possession of the mind, it is then better that it should be gratified, lest the foetus be marked by this unsatisfied HOW TO HAYE HEALTHY BABIES. 225 appetite, thereby producing the very evil sought to be avoided. Sleep- ing in separate beds may be advisable in some cases, to prevent the tendency to excitement by contact. Association with deformed peo- ple, or those having birth-marks, or diseases which cause unnatural manifestations and expressions, should be avoided so far as practica- ble, to avert the danger of marking the unborn child with any of these peculiarities. Cramped positions in sitting, stooping, bending, and sleeping; falls and contusions; and violent coition in sexual in- tercourse, should be cautiously avoided, to save the precious little being in the womb from displacement of its limbs, or spinal distor- tion, which might result in permanent physical deformity ; for al- though remarkably well protected by surrounding membranes, fluids, and the muscular walls of the uterus, the foetus is sometimes deformed by one or more of these causes. Lastly, when labor-pains commence and the doctor is called in, do not urge or allow him to hasten a work which old Dame Nature is usually able to do herself, without intervention or aid. If you do, you may injure the child. Especially is this danger imminent if in- struments are employed. Women in labor are naturally impatient, and surrounding friends must not be too much in sympathy with this impatience. Physicians are often impelled by the solicitations of those present, to make the period of labor as brief as possible ; and it would be well for all to know, that this effort to help matters alon^ not unfrequently results in retarding them, and increasing the suffer- ings of the patient. It is better to give her moral encouragement ; cheer her up ; keep up a running conversation, that will divert her from the discomfort of the moment ; but keep hands off — at least do not employ them locally to hasten the birth. It is well for her to move about, for by exercise and bodily motion labor may be safe- ly accelerated. In some parts of Mexico, the native women fasten ropes in the beams above their heads, and, taking one in each hand, suspend themselves perpendicularly, and remain in this position until the affair is over. This position is a good one to facilitate the pro- cess, and some such arrangement might well be adopted by women generally, for labor is often rendered unnecessarily tardy and painful, by a bad position of the patient, as well as by the drugs and instru- ments employed to assist. With this brief caution to women at the critical period of parturition, I will close this essay, and proceed to answer the next question in order. 10* 226 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. How to Preserve the Health of Children. After the baby arrives, the next duty is, to take care of it properly; The nurse, grand-ma, aunt, or some other kind attendant knows how to wash it, and sometimes, not often, how to dress it. Babies are generally dressed too tightly. Their bones are as elastic as cartilage, and their flesh is spongy, in consequence of which the little lumps of humanity give way easily to pressure. The baby clothes which have been so studiously prepared in anticipation of the event, are uncon- sciously, if not intentionally, pinned or sewed on too closely to allow circulation and physical development to go on naturally. The next error is usually an excess of clothing both by day and by night. Mothers think their babies are such tender little things that they must be warmly clad, hence the flannels, etc., are put on like so many layers of onions. As a consequence the little sufferers wriggle, and twist, and cry all day to get out of them ; and kick them off altogether by night, which last act of the triumphant young heroes, gives them a cold. It is a popular delusion that babies need more clothing than adults, and I am sorry to see that at least one physiologist who has gained considerable reputation as a lecturer, falls into it. He says — 'i Place a thermometer under the arm of an adult person, and it will ran up to ninety-eight degrees: this is the average the world over; under the arms of children or old people it will run up to only ninety degrees or less; therefore children and old people should be dressed warmer than the middle-aged." This looks like a "knock-down argument," at first thought, does it not? But if we look into the animal kingdom below us, we shall find that God does not clothe the inferior animals on any such principle. Sheep, which are full of animal heat, He covers with a thick coating of wool; cattle, horses, and dogs, whose Mood is of a little lower temperature, with hair — a covering of less warmth and depth ; fish, of a still lower tempera- ture, with scales; and the reptiles, which are coldest of all, with neither wool, hair, nor scales — having nothing but the bare skin itself. Now. in the light of God*s example, let us sift this matter a little, and understand it. The child at ninety degrees is in a normal condition ; the old man at the same temperature, is in an abnormal state. The child is as God and nature made him ; the old man is HOW TO PRESERVE THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN". 227 where the bad habits of life, and the infirmities of age have placed him. To prematurely raise the temperature of the child, is to violate the law of its nature, and consequently induce disease; to raise the temperature of the old man, is to restore his system to its wonted condition, and consequently to induce the glow of health. In one case, Ave shall but assist nature in the development of the physical organization by not unduly shutting in or generating animal warmth ; in the other we assist nature in carrying on the physical processes, which have become sluggish, by confining and creating, by every possible means, animal warmth. Need I say more in answer to what, at first glance, looks like a plausible argument. Fig 66. THE TRIUMPHANT BABY AND SURPRISED MOTHER. Let me now appeal to the observation of mothers. You know, don't you, that your babies at night will kick the clothes oft'? You tuck them in here, and pin them down there, but when you rub your eyes open at midnight, or near morning, you are surprised to find them nearly or wholly outside of their bed-covering. What can it mean ? Now will you tell me what causes you to kick off your bed-clothes sometimes? Do you do it because you are cold? Is it always because you are nervous or fidgety ? How often, an hour or two after you have put your child to bed, you will find by laying your hand on its brow, that it is bathed with 228 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. perspiration. Is it necessary that you should give it a sweat? If not, why do you not remove a portion of its covering? The skin should not he wet ; it should be scarcely perceptibly moist. If you have night-sweats, you become frightened, and run to the doctor ; but you persist hi giving your babies night-sweats! .By careful ob- servation you may ascertain just how much clothing your child needs, and just how to vary it to suit all atmospheric changes. Nearly always when it wriggles out of, or kicks off clothing, you may rest assured that it is too warmly blanketed. Remove a little of the covering and watch again. If it repeats the same thing, take off still more, and so continue to do until the restlessness of the little creature subsides. You will be surprised, at last, to see how very little covering an infant needs. In rigorous winter, the indigent mother sometimes freezes to death : not so the baby beside her. Who cannot call to mind some illustration of this remark ? I think I have fully demonstrated the assertion that babies and children require less clothing than adults ; but if any fail to be convinced, let me ask them which they suppose will best conduce to the health of the child — to make it tender by much clothing, so that by getting the clothes off at night, or some other exposure, it inevitably takes cold ; or by clothing it sparingly so as to accustom it to cold weather and its changes ? Another important suggestion in regard to clothing is, that it be so distributed to the various parts t)f the body, that the circulation may not be impaired. In my essay on the clothes we wear, and in some observations in other places on tight-lacing, I have sufficiently cautioned the reader against tight-fitting clothing, and I will not in this place do more than call attention to those remarks; but let me here speak of the great error of dressing the neck, chest, and abdo- men warmly, and leaving the limbs scantily covered. I have seen children dressed like Highlanders — with nothing on the limbs at all, while the upper portions of their bodies were clad in flannels. " The dear little things look pretty don't they ?" Well, I must confess that they do to those who do not know the physical consequences of such an unequal distribution of raiment. Their plump legs, white or rosy skin, and. dimples in the knees are charming ; but the exposition of them should only take place when their whole bodies are equally exposed. Everybody knows, or ought to know, that the circulation of the blood in any part is more or less governed by the temperature HOW TO PRESERVE THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN. 229 of that part. "Warm dressing of the feet and limbs, for instance, in- vites the blood into them ; and if they arc more warmly dressed than the rest of the body, there will be an undue presence of blood in the extremities. If this habit of dress be reversed, and the. upper por- tions of the body be more warmly clad, then the lungs, liver, stomach, heart and head become congested by the excessive pres- ence of blood, while the extremities are cold, and the circulation in them insufficient. Want of common sense on this point, is a great cause of nervous and blood derangements ; and in many cases, the immediate cause of headache, congestion of the lungs, dyspepsia, and constipation among adults, particularly women. I once heard Dr. Dio Lewis very felicitously describe the dress of women before a gymnastic class. I will not attempt to give any portion of his re- marks, but somethings I have to say here were substantially pre- sented by him. Let us for a moment look at the dress of women especially that worn in winter. An ever-varying head-dress, ex- posing, during the continuance of one fashion, that part of the head which had been covered by the style of hat and head-dress in vogue immediately previous. Fur collars about the neck, and in many instances fur cloaks enveloping the whole upper portion of the body. Flannels extending from the neck to the waist, with some times many other garments over them, thus producing undue warmth in that part/ of the body containing the vital machinery, while the limbs are protected only by cotton, or cotton-flannel, at best one thickness of flannel in the shape of drawers, coming a little below the knee, where they meet and lap under white cotton stockings . Now, with such a costume as this, where does the blood go? Crinoline and a petticoat or two, will not compensate for the furs and other garments about the neck and waist, and the blood will congest those parts which by warm covering are kept at the highest temperature. Hence the complaints: — "Oh, what an awful head- ache I do have!" "Doctor, what do you suppose is the matter with my stomach?" "I am habitually constipated," etc. It would be well for all women to remember, both in clothing themselves and their children — if they are mothers — the whole body should be equally clad to insure a good circulation. The mere fact that you have lung difficulties will not excuse you for covering your chest with woolen and fur unless you put precisely the same covering on your limbs. For ^\evy garment put over the chest, one of equal warmth should 230 PREVENTION- OF DISEASE. "be placed over the limbs, or you will defeat the very object you desire to attain ; and mothers, if you will be reckless of your own comfort, health, and life, by obeying the caprice of fashion rather than the laws of hygiene, I pray you heed the hints herein given for taking care of your children ; for, possibly, by the time they become men and women, health will become more attractive than dress. Leaving the criticism of dress, we will next turn our attention to the food of children. It would seem hardly necessary to start out with the remark that babies should not be fed on cow's milk when that from the breast of a healthy mother or nurse can be obtained ; but observation proves that mothers are careless — willfully ignorant — or wantonly indifferent in regard to this matter. I would call the atten- tion of all who are interested in it, to the comparison between the milk of the cow and that of the human mother, in the essay on milk, in Chapter II. The breasts of women are nowadays too much culti- vated with reference to a pretty form and figure; and while this need not be discouraged, the necessity of developing the mammary glands, with a view to making them productive of nutritious milk when their possessors become mothers, is of far greater importance. It is especially so when young mothers decline to nurse their babies, lest the breasts should become flabby, or otherwise affected in their symmetry. Speaking of women, the Rev. O. B. Frothingham very truly remarked : — "It may be a great tiling to be a merchant, a finan- cier, an advocate, judge, writer, or orator, but before these can exist, there must be men ; before these can be what they should be, there must be healthy, disciplined men ; there must be well-bred youths, carefully instructed, and carefully trained children ; infants lying on deep motherly bosoms, and sucking rich motherly milk. Yes, more than that, inhaling the pure womanly spirit. It may be a fine thing to have control of their property ; to help in making the laws they live under ; but to be good mothers of men and women, is the great- est thing in all this world." Many mothers in fashionable life, who are endowed by nature with well-developed organs for nourishing their babies, shirk the responsibility because it is a task — -it soils their fine clothes — or what is a still more insulting excuse to the Deity — because suckling their young is doing so much like the infe- rior animals. To such folly has an undue love of ease, and a false idea of refinement led many women ! When, however, such considera- HOW TO PRESERVE THE HEALTH OP CHILDREN. 231 tions govern mothers, or when an imperfectly developed body has failed to endow the mother with the power to nurse her child, it should not be fed on the milk of cows or goats if a wet-nurse can be obtained, for it is quite unlike human milk in its qualities, as already remarked; and then, too, some discrimination should be used in the selection of a nurse. A cross, ill-natured woman ought not to be employed, because bad temper affects the secretions of the mammary glands, as well as it does other secretions. A scrofulous nurse will not answer, because she not only gives the child scrofulous food from her breasts, but daily bodily contact with her, affects a healthy baby injuriously. Recollect what Dr. Combe said about the atmosphere of a scrofulous person being contagious. A puny, sickly nurse, is also incapable of imparting to a child the nourishment it re- quires. A nurse must, indeed, be a healthy, temperate, good- natured, kindly woman, with the milk of human -kindness flowing from her soul, and pure, wholesome milk issuing from well- freighted bosoms. When such a nurse cannot be obtained, there is manifestly no nourishment so wholesome for babies as the milk of healthy animals diluted sufficiently to agree with the infant stomach, for all vegetable preparations for babies, have a tendency to cause acidity, and contain particles which the young digestive machinery is not strong enough to dissolve. Meats, and the juices of meats will not answer, as they are too stimulating. They are not, indeed, fit for a child under ten years of age, as the reader will observe ia my next essay on dietetics. In addition to clothing and feeding babies properly, attention must be given to bathing and exercising them. If they are fat and full of animal spirits, they should be sponged every morning with tepid water and a little (very little) castile soap. If lean in flesh, they should be so treated only every alternate morning; but their little bodies should be rubbed down gently with a healthy hand, from head to foot, every day. If the child be absolutely wasted so that marasmus is threatened, it would be better to use a good quality of sweet oil instead of water, and rub them from head to foot with the magnetic hand : after which wipe them down with a dry nap- kin. This will keep the skin healthfully active and cleanly ; and the absorbing pores may be provoked to take up some of the oleaginous matter, and with it assist in inaugurating plumpness. Babies should be carried into the open air daily in all weather, and shaken and 232 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. jostled by their nurses. Babies, as much as adults, need muscular exercise to develop the muscular system. They are not strong enough to take that exercise themselves, and it is, therefore, ne- cessary to tumble them about, squeeze their muscles, pat them, and attend to all those little matters which go to promote muscular de- velopment. A writer in Blackwood 's Magazine very sensibly advises nursery tales, rhymes, and other good things. " I would" he says, " say to every parent, especially to every mother, sing to your chil- dren ; tell them pleasant stories; if in the country, be not careful lest they get a little dirt upon their hands and clothes; earth is very much akin to us all, and children's out-of-doors plays soil them not inwardly. There is in it a kind of consanguinity between all crea- tures ; by it we touch upon the common sympathy of our first sub- stance, and beget a kindness for our poor relations, the brutes. Let children have free, open-air sport, and fear not though they make acquaintance with the pigs, the donkeys, and the chickens ; they may form worse friendships with wiser-looking ones. Encourage a famil- iarity with all that love them. There is a language among them which the world's language obliterates in the elders. It is of more importance that you should make your children loving, than that you should make them wise. Above all things make them loving ; and then, parents, if you become old and poor, these will be better than friends that will neglect you. Children brought up lovingly at your knees will never shut their, doors upon you, and point where they would have you go." Babies must also be carefully guarded from all poison, external and internal. Impure vaccination often destroys the health, if not the life of a child. Bead what I have said under this head in the chapter on the causes of nervous and blood derangements. Mothers should be careful that their nipples are free from eruptions which might possibly inoculate the baby with their impure secretions. Nurses and other attendants should have clean hands and well-washed calico gowns. Look out for the napkins and towels which are em- ployed about the baby. Carefully exclude from the nursery all poisonous or unwholesome things which the baby can, on floor or in chair, lay hold of. Every thing you know, goes into the mouth of an infant. Painted toys have sometimes caused the most serious conse- quences in the hands of babies. Excessive and injudicious dosing is a common cause of ill health HOW TO PRESERVE THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN. 233 among children. If a child take a slight cold — if it have a little pain in the stomach — if the bowels move a little too frequently— if it have ear-ache — if it he restless and fretful — the doctor is sent for, who, either through ignorance of the injurious effects of unnecessary drugging, or from fear of not pacifying the mother, deals out a little of this, that, and the other thing, to be taken at various hours of the day or night. In the majority of cases children do not need medi- cating, and a mother more often injures her child by sending for the doctor too soon, than by delaying too long. External applications of proper remedies will, in a majority of cases, cure all sorts of baby complaints. I do not exactly want to assume the character of a panacea pedler, but I feel moved, to say, in this connection, that if you possess a bottle of my magnetic ointment, such as I speak of in the closing part of my book, a doctor need seldom be called. If a child have a cold, attended with any affection of the throat or lungs, apply the ointment thoroughly to the throat and chest; if wind colic, cramping of the stomach or bowels, loss of appetite, worms, diarrhoea, or the opposite — constipation, apply the ointment to the stomach and bowels for several minutes with the hand. If the child receive a bruise, cut, or burn, the ointment will prove a never-failing remedy. For weakness of the spine, weakness or pain in the limbs, stiff neck, for cold feet, etc., it may be successfully applied to the part affected. It may be effectually applied to the region of the bladder in incontinence of the urine, or other affections of the bladder. In brief, there is hardly an infant ill which the external use of this ointment will, not relieve, and generally com- pletely cure ; while grown-up children, who have once introduced it as a family medicine, feel that they cannot pass a night without it in the house. Simple hand friction will often relieve the local difficul- ties of children. Do any thing — do every thing, mother, but admin- ister to the sensitive little stomach a dose of medicine. Soothing syrups are invariably anodynes in their properties, and almost inva- riably contain morphine or opium. Rather than use them, for a nervous or fretful child, I would resort to the ridiculous remedy proposed by a Buffalo Editor. "As soon," he says, "as the squaller awakens, set the child up, propped by pillows if it cannot sit alone; smear its fingers with thick molasses ; then put half a dozen feathers into its hands, and the young one will sit and pick the feathers from one hand to another, until it drops asleep. As soon as it awakes — 23± PRETENTION OF DISEASE. Fi7. 67. more molasses and more feathers, and, in the place of nerve astound- ing yells, there will be silence and enjoyment unspeakable." One word in regard to the corporal punishment of children, and I will close this essay and enter upon other subjects of equal interest to all who have or are about to have babies, as well as to those who have only themselves to care for. First, do not strike a child on the head. The brain is the great nervous reservoir where all the nerves centre, and a blow here may kill it outright, or make it idiotic. Do not "box its ears,'' there is danger, by doing so, of rupturing the ear- drum, thereby render- ing it deaf, if no greater evil ensue. Do not whip it with stick or lash — such a punishment deranges the action of the capillaries, and the circulation of the blood through them. Do not fill its imagination with hobgoblins, and shut it into a dark room. Kept for moments or hours under the influence of fright, the nervous system is tearfully affected, and made susceptible to attacks of a spasmodic nature. Do not punish it by depriving it of its regular food, for then stomach derangements are inaugurated. All kinds of punishment should be avoided if the child can be con- trolled by moral influences; but where punishment is necessary, a " good spanking " is the only physical chastisement the body presents a proper place to receive; while those acting upon the fears of the child should be avoided altogether. Dietetics for Old and Young.* Little space will be occupied under this head, because the reader may learn from the essay entitled " The Food we Eat," in the second chapter, the author's views on what may be regarded as wholesome, food; but I have something important to offer in this place which, THE EDITOR'S PLAN FOE DIVERTING THE BABY. DIETETICS FOR OLD AND YOUNG. 235 if observed, will have a tendency to build up the physical man, and guard against the insidious approach of disease. Nowadays, children and youth accustom their systems to a stimulating diet, suited only to the sluggish systems of older people, so that when old-age comes upon them, they have nothing to. turn to but medicinal tonics to im- part to the infirm body and mind strength and vivacity. So long as animal food continues to find a place upon our tables, and stimulating liquids are tolerated by nearly all, and used by a large portion of mankind, the rule should be as follows : — "Milk for babes," and that only, if possible, which issues from the breasts of healthy mothers. " Mush and milk," for children un- der six years of age ; and during this period all wholesome vegeta- bles may be permitted, but no stronger animal food than milk. Passing the sixth year — butter, eggs, and fish may be allowed to enter sparingly into the diet of the child ; and, from the twelfth year — poultry, broths, and the soups of other meats. Not before he is fifteen or twenty should he be permitted to taste of steak, roast beef, or other strong meat. Not before he is twenty-five or thirty, should he allow himself to drink coffee or tea. Not earlier than forty or fifty should beer or other liquors pass his lips. Then, when the infirmities of age begin to creep upon him (and they will come later under this regimen), if it be necessary to resort to stronger stimu- lants, such inventions as Bourbon whiskey, French brandy, Holland gin, Jamaica rum, etc., may be called to the rescue. But, understand me — I do not advise malt or strong drinks; I merely say so long as animal food and stimulating liquors are used, the foregoing rule is the proper one to be pursued, and now for the reason : — A child cannot well endure a stimulating diet. His little vital machinery, fresh from the ingenious hands of nature, is full of life, electricity, and animation. At birth his palpitating little heart con- tracts from 130 to 140 times per minute. At the age of three, his pulse is about ninety, while that of an adult averages seventy-two. Stimulating food, of course, quickens the activity of the vital organs of children, and this morbid activity renders them susceptible to in- flammatory diseases. Hence the prevalence of measles, scarlet-fever, canker-rash, chicken-pox, and other ills, hardly known to adults. I really believe that these disorders would never affect children if they were fed and clothed properly, or in such a way as not to derange the activity of their vital machinery as set agoing by good old Dame 236 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. Fisr. 63. Nature. The blood of children is richer in solid constituents, and especially in blood corpuscles, than that of adults, and as animal food tends to increase this richness and solidity to a greater extent than veg- etable food, allowing to a child the former, inevitably causes an undue proportion of those constituents to go to the blood, thereby render- ing the vascular fluids as ignita- ble to the breath of contagion, as powder is to the touch of fire. Let intelligent mothers, who set their children's blood on fire with the flesh of animals as food, and then let their doctors kill them in endeavors to quench it with pois- a healthy motiier and child. onous ^rugs, hesitate before they add fuel to the flame. Children do not crave meats — they would not eat them if they were not introduced into their toothless mouths while they are in swaddling clothes, while they have not sense enough to reject them, by which means they acquire a taste for this kind of diet. Tf meats are denied the children, strong drinks will not be craved by the middle-aged; for in a perfectly healthy condi- tion of the human race, meats and strong drinks would not be need- ed, and the promptings of appetite might be trusted ; but now Pande- monium exists in the palates and stomachs of men because they are not started right in babyhood and childhood; and the hydra-headed gourmand looks forth from behind decayed and broken-down teeth, for things totally unsuited to the development of the inner man. Fruits are excellent preventives of disease in children and men. The value of apples as food is suggested by Liebig, who says — " The importance of apples as food has not hitherto been sufficiently esti- mated or understood. Besides contributing a large portion of sugar, mucilage, and other nutritive compounds in the form of food, they contain such a fine combination of vegetable acids, extractive sub- stances, and aromatic principles, with the nutritive matter, as to act powerfully in the capacity of refrigerants, tonics, and antiseptics ; and when freely used at the season of ripeness by rural laborers and others, they prevent debility, strengthen digestion, correct the DIETETICS FOR OLD AND YOUNG. 237 putrefactive tendencies of nitrogenous food, avert scurvy, and main- tain and strengthen the power of productive labor." Nature has kindly looked to sanitary effects in providing summer fruits. As mankind emerges from the winter season, more or less loaded with carbonaceous dregs which have accumulated under the influence of a keen appetite, and the use of hearty food to warm the body in spite of the cold atmosphere, strawberries, currants, and other acid fruits of a relaxing nature to the bowels are presented for his use; aud these dissolve and wash away the effete accumulations of the liver, stomach, and bowels. Lest, however, this process be carried too far, raspberries, with a mild astringency, quickly follow, checking any undue activity of the bowels; and finally when hot weather comes upon us, rendering the system an easy prey to diar- rhoea, along come the luscious, dimpled-faced blackberries, with still greater astringent qualities, which have the power even to cure an attack of summer complaint. The provident housewife not only welcomes their advent, and provides them abundantly for the table, but from their rich juices she prepares blackberry syrup for use in all seasons when the little ones are attacked with bowel complaint. Good, loving, kind-hearted, old Dame Nature; and wise, maternally affectionate, and ever-to-be-remembered mother, who receives and properly uses the fruits of her bountiful hand ! These remarks of course apply. to our latitude where these fruits are raised, but it will be found in all climes that there are fruits of corresponding qualities, whose effects aid nature in keeping up a healthy condition of the system. Next, a word about fasting. If people would enjoy good health, fasting should only be resorted to in obedience to physiological requirements. While fasting, the solid constituents of the blood decrease rapidly. It is customary even in the Nineteenth Century for our rulers, moved by a mistaken religious sentiment, to appoint days of fasting, which, unhappily, are generally observed exclusively by the very people whose abstemious and religious lives not only ren- der them unnecessary, but whose bloodless condition makes it really a sin for them to fast. Our Creator manifestly never desires us to vio- late physical law for his worship. It is said that " the monks and the anchorites of old sought to serve God and win an immortal crown, by spending their lives in self-inflicted penances and mortifications, the severity of which seems almost incredible. It is related of them 238 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. that they would live for years in cells and caves scooped out of rocks, which were scarcely large enough to turn round in. They would load themselves with heavy crosses and chains ; or put collars and bracelets of massive iron about their limbs. They would stand in uncomfortable attitudes until permanently deformed; or look at the sun without winking, until they were blind. They would pass many days without food, many hours without sleep, and many years without speaking. One of the most celebrated of these ascetics, Simon Stylites, lived on the top of a column sixty feet high, for thirty years, exposed alike to the heat of summer and the cold of winter, and at length died without descending! 1 ' All of these things look ridiculous to people nowadays, just as the present custom of fasting will ultimately appear to coming generations. There is not a particle of doubt but that fasting would do thousands of people good, but the days appointed for tl e purpose are only M exceptional cases observed by these; while good and weakly men and women who cannot possibly afford to fast, almost invariably do so, most scrupulously, much to their injury. Fasting, unless called for to counteract the effects of gluttony, also deranges the stomach. This organ must have its due and regular supply of aliment to pre- serve the digestive machinery unimpaired. Parents should never punish their children by depriving them of their dinner, as is some- times the practice. A dinner neglected to-day, prepares an un- natural appetite and a weak stomach for to-morrow. A plain dinner in place of the usual family dinner, would answer just as well for a punishment for a child, and physically do him good ; and plain living for the glutton would be better than fasting, while regu- larity in eating is important on fast days as well as on others. A few remarks on regulating the diet and selecting the food ac- cording to the condition of the bowels, and I will close this essay. Many people predisposed to constipation, and others affected in an opposite way, are ever hitting wrongly in their eating. Those who are habitually costive should not eat their meats and vegetables cooked brown ; nor such binding food as boiled rice, boiled milk, wheat bread, toast, etc. Such things will do for those who are predisposed to excessive and too frequent movements of the bowels. Nor should the latter eat meats rarely cooked, brown, Graham, and corn bread, hominy, baked beans, or other relaxing articles of food. These are just suited to constipated people. Among fruits — oranges, figs, sour PHYSIOLOGICAL INSTRUCTION OP CHILDREN. 239 apples, etc., are well known as relaxing in their properties; while sweet apples, raspberries, blackberries, black currants, and all fruits having a puckering flavor, are binding. Consequently fruits should be selected in their season, suited to the over active or inactive con- dition of the bowels. As remarked before, other matters regarding food and diet would be relevant here, were they not treated upon in chapter second ; I will therefore leave this subject and invite the reader's attention to The Physiological Instruction of Children. In view of the startling wretchedness and vice growing out of physiological ignorance, an essay bearing the above title may proper- ly find place in this chapter. An essay in the second chapter, as well as facts appearing in various pages of this book, exhibit the ne- cessity of proposing some radical course for the proper instruction of children in regard to their bodies, the organs composing their bodies, and the functions of those organs. In our favored country, every district in our cities, and every village in the rural regions, has its school-house. Now, is a knowledge of the alphabet, of spelling, of reading, of writing, of grammar, of arithmetic, of history, of phi- losophy, etc., more important than a knowledge of anatomy, physiol- ogy, and hygiene? Some schools, public and private, have introduced physiological works, which treat in a " gingerly manner " of the hu- man system. They are doing good, but are not just what we want. The most important organs, and those which are most abused, are so delicately alluded to, if spoken of at all, that the student obtains little information regarding them. In our large public schools, academies, and colleges, teachers, male and female, should be appointed to at- tend to the anatomical, physiological, and hygienic departments, where children and youths should be classed according to age and sex, and instructed, not in the technical, jaw-breaking name of each nerve, muscle, and bone (these may be acquired in a medical college) ; but in the uses, and consequences of the abuses, of the vari- ous organs of the body, not omitting those most sinned against — the organs of generation. To girls just entering w-omanhood, lectures should be given on conception and pregnancy, and the duties attend- ing maternity — on every subject, in fact, which prepares them to be- come the healthy mothers of healthy children, when they shall be ready to assume such responsibility. In smaller village-schools, al- 240 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. though as thorough' training may- not 'be practicable in this depart- ment, a very successful plan may be adopted where but one teacher is employed. A female should be kept in the instructor's chair dur- ing the summer, and a male teacher during the winter— a custom not uncommon now in many country places, as a matter of economy. These teachers should be supplied with two sets of plainly written lectures on all the organs, functions, diet, etc., suited to various ages. One set of lectures should be adapted to girls, and the other to boys. In summer, the girls should be classified according to age, and daily, during the boys' recess, the teacher, with such assistance as stie might select from the older female pupils, should deliver, in as effect- ive a manner as possible, to the various classes, a lecture appropriate to each. In winter, the male teacher should pursue the same course with the boys, during the recess of the girls. These lectures could be interspersed with such further instruction as the teacher might be qualified to give. A good manikin would be a profitable investment for any school, large or small, with which *to illustrate the instruc- tions given in this branch of study. Anatomical plates might also be prepared for school purposes, exhibiting the formation of the sexual organs, or those organs which are the more commonly injured in boy- hood and girlhood — those which the Creator has instituted for per- petuating the human family. Some such plan will be carried out in a not far distant future, depend upon it. Let us all try and hasten the day. It is necessary, however, that something be done imme- diately. Boys and girls are annually destroying themselves or making wrecks of their constitutions, for the want of physiological instruc- tion. Parents must take this matter in hand, until our institutions of learning are complete in this respect. If unwilling to counsel their children themselves, then they should throw in their way books containing the needful information. Almost daily am I receiving let- ters from young men and women, who commence their epistles with something substantially as follows : " If I had only read your Med- ical Common Sense five years ago, I should have saved myself the necessity of addressing you now." It should be borne in mind that, if children do not obtain physiological information from proper sources, they learn enough to contract vice, through hidden and vitiated channels, and sooner or later the physician is consulted for the relief of diseases which never would have presented themselves, if parents had religiously discharged their whole duty. MENTAL AXD PHYSICAL RECREATION. 241 Mental and Physical Recreation Is necessary to the preservation of health. In this busy practical age, both the mental and physical energies are too much concen- trated upon money-making. Business men wear themselves out in their counting-rooms, and die just as they are about to reap the gold- en fruit of their labors, having denied themselves all social and physical enjoyment, with the delusive promise to themselves and their friends, that after a certain end is attained, they will give rest to their overworked faculties. This end reached, another one is sub- stituted, and still another, till the worn-out, cheated brain seeks in the repose of death that rest which its possessor denies it in the whirl of busy life. The tiller of the soil, who caresses mother earth, and inhales her vital breath, lives longer, but his mental faculties are dwarfed by the monotonous drudgery with which he seeks to obtain the golden bauble, and his overworked muscles shrink, and his shoulders droop with excessive toil. He, too, plants his ambitious stake afar off, moves it onward still farther as lie approaches it, and finally reaches it too exhausted to enjoy what he has so long labored to attain. The wealthy idler too often pursues his avocation of doing nothing with such singleness of purpose as to induce depression of spirits, and thereby enfeeble both mind and body. His imagination becomes tired at grasping empty shadows, and his faculties wear themselves out in striking at nothing. Many people mistakenly imagine that mental and physical recrea- tion consists in idling away time, while it really consists in doing something all the while, but with such a change of thought and ac- tion as to give rest to those powers which are the more constantly employed. There is, for instance, but little recreation in a game of chess for a man who has been employed in the counting-room all day. His play should be out of doors, and his diversions of a char- acter to free the mind from calculation, and give healthy exercise to the enervated muscular system. The farmer may advantageously shorten his days of toil, and spend some hours in every twenty-four in visiting his neighbors, and in the perusal of books and newspa- pers. The wealthy idler will find happiness and health in industry of some kind, even if it be not remunerative. For the accountant, professional man, or for any one closely engaged in sedentary pur-- 11 242 PREVENTION OF DISEASE. suits, there is probably no exercise so beneficial as horseback riding. Much walking exhausts the magnetic forces of the system, if they are deficient, but in riding a horse, the animal does the work, and the rider takes the exercise, and not only does the stomach, liver, and other internal organs get wholesomely jostled, but every muscle of the arms and limbs partakes of the invigorating shaking. Then. Fig. 69. / ■ //////// ,',- . 1 / (//'/////