Handbook of Nature Cure Volume One: Nature Cure vs. Medical Science by John L. Fielder Dr Fielder eschews the use of all forms of medication whether they be so-called 'natural' or otherwise, including supplementation. He believes solely in the self-reparative nature of the organism and its ability to heal itself given the necessary care, attention and environment. The only exception being in the case of major trauma where reparative surgery is necessary. Title Handbook of Nature Cure Volume One: Nature Cure vs. Medical Science Author John L. Fielder Publisher Academy of Natural Living Year 2001 Copyright John L. Fielder ISBN 0 9586611 4 6
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Handbook of Nature Cure Volume One: Nature Cure vs. Medical Science
by John L. Fielder
Dr Fielder eschews the use of all forms of medication whether they be
so-called 'natural' or otherwise, including supplementation. He
believes solely in the self-reparative nature of the organism and its
ability to heal itself given the necessary care, attention and
environment. The only exception being in the case of major trauma where
reparative surgery is necessary.
Title Handbook of Nature Cure Volume One: Nature Cure vs. Medical
Science
Author John L. Fielder
Publisher Academy of Natural Living
Year 2001
Copyright John L. Fielder
ISBN 0 9586611 4 6
DISCLAIMER: The information in this book is not intended as medical
advice. The author does not recommend standard medical practices. The
authors, publishers and/or distributors will not assume responsibility
for any adverse consequences resulting from adopting the lifestyle
described herein.
Part I: Chapter 1
Chapter One: That Fallacious Germ Theory
by Harry Benjamin ...
The Unity of Disease
The reader will now be fully ready for acceptance of the cardinal
principle of Nature Cure, which is, that although, thanks to the
pedantry and misconceptions of the leaders of medical science, ...
Nature Cure and Medical Science
It is because they understand this fundamental oneness and unity of all
disease that practitioners of Nature Cure are enabled to secure such
seemingly miraculous results in the treatment of ...
Disease a Self-Healing Process
What the medical profession calls a cure is merely the suppression of
superficial symptoms, to cause further and more serious trouble later
on! What the medical profession never understands is ...
Two Completely Divergent Philosophies
All too often the great surgeon or physician, and even the general
practitioner, vainly imagines that he or she can cure disease by
suppressing symptoms and thwarting Natures work. The ...
The "Fruits" of the Old Philosophy of Disease
Every tree is known by his own fruit, said Christ to his disciples. Let
the men and women of today see for themselves the fruits of orthodox
medical philosophy! They are before our eyes! ...
Part II: Chapter 2
Chapter Two: What is Fever?
by Louis Kuhne ...
Fever Is Fermentation Going On In The System
We shall best comprehend the symptoms exhibited by fever by forming a
correct picture of the processes of fermentation, as they may
frequently be observed outside of the human body. For instance, ...
Part III: Chapter 3
Chapter Three: How Does Disease Arise?
by Louis Kuhne ...
Disease Is The Presence of Foreign Matter In The System
For the correctness of this definition there is an infallible test. If
after that which we have designated as morbid matter has in a suitable
manner been removed from the system, the disease ...
Part IV: Chapter 4
Chapter Four: Racial Memory
by James C. ...
Symbiosis
Now let us look at symbiosis. Probably most of you have heard that more
honey can be obtained in an area where there are many old maids? The
argument runs that unmarried ladies keep cats, and cats ...
Fallacy of "Cures"
Leaving the directly harmful effects of drugs aside for the moment, we
do not believe in the possibility of a cure in the ordinary acceptance
of the word. You can no more undergo a ...
Learn From Your Dog
To see how essentially unnatural is that teaching, watch your dog. When
he is sick he goes away by himself into a corner, and refuses to look
at food. Leave him to himself for some hours, or even ...
Safety Valves
Now let us look into a common statement made by mildly ailing people. I
am very well, except for my rheumatism, or My health is very good
except for my cough, or I am in splendid form except ...
How Chronic Disease is Initiated
According to our idea, if during an illness, the impurities stirred
into the circulation are not allowed free exit from the system, the
usual result is that they become deposited somewhere in the ...
And How To Clear Chronic Disease Up
So, if you are determined to build high level health so that you can go
through almost anything and still remain vigorous and alert, wholesome,
undamaged and healthy, you must learn to cooperate ...
Tilden’s Rule Number One
If, for example, you go weak at the knees from missing a cup of tea or
a meal, it means that you should omit several more cups of tea or
meals. It means that you have been overloading your ...
The Nature Cure "Crisis"
Health is not quite what people think it is. It is vastly more than a
mere absence of symptoms and discomforts. Like your garden, your body
calls for a degree of intelligent attention and ...
To Build Serious Disease
Now a few words more from Dr Tilden: Years ago when I gave salicylates
with the superstitious idea of curing rheumatism, I succeeded in
establishing a heart involvement in nearly every ...
Miracle Drugs
It is not by accident that all medicines are poisonous. Only that way
can they be made to work. But there is also the patients imagination.
During the war we were told that a marvellous new ...
Illness for All
People who equate everything in terms of cash should be satisfied with
health service. It is decidedly expensive. But money costs do not tell
everything. In this case not only the means but the ...
An Experiment
One of my good friends died just a few weeks ago as a result of what he
intended to be an amusing experiment. A month ago he sent for me to
visit him at an Edinburgh hospital, and he explained, ...
Arthritis
I have at the moment at least a dozen patients in Edinburgh with
arthritic rheumatism. In each case, before we saw them they had had
medical treatment over a long period of years, during which ...
Self Responsibility
For real health attainment you must take the responsibility upon
yourself. Practically any ailing person who is willing to do the right
thing can get well, but instead most patients ask, Can you ...
The Stupefied Invalid
How many of you have read or known about someone in a hospital who has
been burned with a hot water bottle? Could you imagine any healthy
child or grown up person lying still long enough for real ...
Somatic Sense
For example, here is an inadvertent experiment I am in the process of
completing. About two months ago I drove a spike of wood under my nail.
The splinter of wood went down under the nail to ...
Body Wholeness
Disease is never only local. Your body is either all healthy, or all
unhealthy. It mayindeed it usually doesexhibit its distress more in one
part than in another, but quite often ...
Your Daily Bread
Now let us see why such deposits arise even in people who have become
health-conscious and who are doing their utmost to live simply and
naturally. Take our staff of life. How many people make a ...
Bread and Convulsions
When dogs ate agenised bread they became dizzy, they staggered about,
and before they died they went into convulsions. Human bodies stand up
to a great deal more abuse than do the bodies of dogs. ...
Part V: Chapter 5
Chapter Five: Questions and Answers
by James C. ...
Can you cure rheumatism by diet alone, or must one also have treatment?
I can cure my rheumatism if I do the right things. The whole idea of
Nature Cure is self-help and wholesomeness. That contains the real
meaning of cure and it is a very good technique; but you ...
If Nature by itself, cures the body, why do you wear glasses?
I am not a perfect specimen. I make no such claim, but I am not the
weakling I was fifty years ago. Eyesight, to be perfect, would call for
Nature Cure living over about three generations, as the ...
Can a person cure himself of tuberculosis?
James Thomson referred to his own experience, having been discharged
from the Navy as a young man, with this complaint. He mentioned that
the doctor came to his bed in hospital and informed him ...
Do you disbelieve in all forms of inoculation, including the
vaccination infants which is compulsory in Northern Ireland?
Dont do it. Far fewer people are vaccinated today than are
unvaccinated. The unvaccinated are greatly the majority. Vaccination
was initiated by a man called Jenner who was a rogue and a ...
Do you think well of raw molasses?
I believe in honey and in some hundreds of other honest food stuffs,
but the question smacks of remedies, which we do not advocate. I
believe in wholeness of diet rather than in single items.<...
Is it possible to cure bowel obstruction without operation?
If it cannot be cured without operation, it cannot be cured. With few
exceptions bowel obstruction arises from hysteria, panic, intense
jitters. Certainly a diseased organ may be cut away, and a ...
Will you please give a cure for depression?
First thing, begin full deep breathing as soon as you awake. Most
civilised people are unhealthy in one way or another, and a high
proportion are suffering from a lack of fresh air. When you awake ...
Have you anything to say on the question of heart trouble?
The heart is the central organ of the body, and if it begins to
manifest distress, there is trouble for the whole body. A great deal of
what passes for heart trouble is actually mental distress. A ...
Is alcohol good or bad for a person?
Your body manufactures approximately 2gs of alcohol daily and it is not
wise to add to that quantity. ...
Is there a point at which hardened arteries cannot be cured?
Unquestionably, there is. Had I been forty years older, instead of
still in my teens when I developed tuberculosis so seriously, I do not
believe anything could have saved me. Similarly there ...
Diabetes is on the increase. Can anyone cure himself by taking insulin?
Diabetes, like all other degenerative diseasehigh blood pressure,
Brights disease, cancer, arthritis, disseminated sclerosis and the
restis on the increase throughout the ...
Part VI: Chapter 6
Chapter Six: Light And Air
by Adolf Just <...
Light-And-Air Huts and Cottages
One great benefit to health comes from sleeping in huts and cottages
situated entirely in the open, and which at all times offer free access
to light and air. We call them light-and-air ...
Part VII: Chapter 7
Chapter Seven: The Earth-Power
by Adolf Just <...
Chapter Seven: The Earth-Power: Part 2
Following the lead of Nature, man lived originally in perfect
sinlessness in the enjoyment of purest happiness, in a state of
unclouded bliss, such as the myths of paradise current among all ...
Part VIII: Chapter 8
Chapter Eight: Vital Economy
by K. Lakshmana ...
Chapter Eight: Vital Economy: Part 2
Now we come to the true principle, namely Vital Economy. That which
maintains health, and restores it when lost, is life. The fivefold
food-medicine furnishes only the needed repair ...
Part IX: Chapter 9
Chapter Nine: But Is It Nature Cure?
by C. Leslie ...
Forward
Many of our longer-established adherents will recognise this as an
augmented revisal of the statement first published eight years ago. The
need for its message has not diminished in that time. ...
Words Out of Place
Very few of those who resort to Nature Cure have any previous
understanding of the principles involved. It is therefore not
surprising that the average layman is unable to distinguish between ...
True Treatment Is Training
That reference to mere hard cash is not so smug as it may sound. We are
up against the essential deceit of the great majority of orthodox and
unorthodox treatmentsthat the patient can be ...
Carefully Hidden Help
Many of the more intelligent vendors do make some attempt to show the
patient a better way of living. It may be camouflaged as a condition
for producing the best effects of the remedy; ...
Different Standards
In this country today we find two groups of people, with different
motives, persuading the public that all unorthodox healers, their
philosophies and their practices, must sink or swim together. ...
How the Press Is Tied
The topical press does not assist the layman to distinguish between the
various unorthodox systems. Now and then some newspaper columnist,
knowing that most readers mildly question current medical ...
Homeopathy
Let us now consider, individually, a few of the therapies most commonly
confused with Nature Cure. The following is typical of many enquiries:
I should be much obliged if you would ...
Behind the Drug
The philosophy of homeopathy is probably its own worst enemy, so we
need waste no further time on that aspect. The important thing is that
people treated by homeopathy mostly fare better than they ...
Unorganised Minerals
Tissue Salts are in a way related to the homeopathic method. The
general idea is that the more finely a substance is divided the more
likely it is to affect or be of use to the cells of the body....
Solutions Are Finer
The manufacturer of tissue salts claims that the only difference
between inert minerals and organised salts is in the fineness of the
particles: that and nothing else. So he grinds up the material&...
Herbalism
Both homeopathy and tissue salts have the negative virtue of being
practically incapable of real harmalmost a positive virtue by
comparison with orthodox medication! But the same cannot ...
Patients Have Duties
The ethics of being a patient are rarely emphasised, but they are
almost as important as those of the practitioner. For example, a new
Nature Cure patient may be required to produce a medical ...
Extracts and Irritants
Health Foods appear to many people to be in the same category as herbs
but, although there are some borderline cases, in the main there is a
clear distinction. Herbs are plant tissues which have ...
For Beginners
Many so called health foods are, of course, simply attractive and
palatable concoctions of perfectly wholesome and natural foodstuffs.
There can be very little objection to these, so long as ...
A Warning
An extract or concentrate is always to be treated with suspicionit can
so easily upset the balance of an otherwise reasonable dietand it may
be a concentrate of the wrong part of the ...
Electronic Magic
Black Boxes are scarcely in the same category as the products discussed
so far, but they also are often wrongly attributed to Nature Cure. A Dr
Abrams of California started the ball rolling in ...
A Federal Inquiry
Within recent years there have been further attempts in the States to
make capital out of the popular respect for, and ignorance of,
electronic apparatus. The first of these was exposed by a ...
"Urine Therapy"… An Ancient Fallacy
Emotional perversions are strange. They seem to give the unfortunate
victim an uncanny power to influence others who may be hovering on the
brink, and drag them down into the pit. To any healthy ...
Pro Tem "Cures"
Again, such treatments brings results. It would take a very bovine
constitution not to react violently to such an affront. The symptoms of
the original disease may ...
Brutalising the Body
Glandular extracts, although a source of much excellent ammunition for
the opponents of vivisectional experiments, do not appear to the layman
as very dangerous substances. They are, after all, ...
Insulin
A very different sequence occurs if a glandular extractin this case,
insulinis administered. (Particularly if the orthodox dietetic changes
are made, since these increase enormously ...
False Promises
Insulin is only one of a large variety of glandular extracts, but the
effects are typical. They seem to produce wonderful results, but these
are only obtained by a sort of chemical hypnotism&...
How to Destroy Nature Cure
A final word about the risks, from the practitioners point of view, of
dabbling in near-medicine. This can probably best be exemplified by
what has happened in the USA, where true Nature ...
Nature Cure or Not Nature Cure?
Summarising this catalogue of disclaimers, it may be said that the true
Nature Cure Practitioner does not make use of any poisons to produce
physiological reactions: neither poisons which are ...
Vital Reserve
But what about the man so ill that all his confidence is lost? Surely
it is right to start him on the road to health by stimulant or other
reassuring means? If the means is genuine and ...
Dr J H Kellogg MD, Battle Creek Sanatorium:
There is healing power in obedience, just as there is destruction in
disobedience. When the evil-doer ceases to sin and enters upon a life
of obedience to the natural laws, the curative forces ...
Part X: Chapter 10
Chapter Ten: The Divine Science of Health
by K. Lakshmana ...
Chapter Ten: The Divine Science of Health: Part 2
One of the reasons for this state of things is that medicos as a rule
are not interested in our health, but only in our ill-health. The
average medical man, when driven into a corner in private ...
Chapter Ten: The Divine Science of Health: Part 3
One of the grievous shortcomings of medicine is the one to be mentioned
here. If a patient, suspecting that he has some disease, such as
gastric ulcer, goes to a doctor, the latter makes a ...
Part XI: Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven: What is the Cause of Disease?
by Kenneth S. ...
Chapter Eleven: What is the Cause of Disease? Part 2
All organs and consequently all functions are under the control of the
nervous system. The efficiency of our organs is dependent upon the
supply of nerve force, so it is essential that the nervous ...
Part XII: Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve: What is Nature Cure?
by Kenneth S. ...
Dietetics
This subject covers everything which is consumed by the mouth. Nothing
but food should ever pass the lips. There is never a time when a poison
or non-food has any value. Dietetics is the ...
Light
This subject covers sunlight, chromotherapy, infra-red, ultra-violet
and other forms of light radiation. It is very doubtful if any of these
methods, except sunbathing, has any value beyond what ...
Air
Air bathing, breathing, hot-air baths, ozone and oxygen therapy have
all been used. Air bathing is most beneficial in that it tones up the
muscles and develops efficient skin reaction. Breathing ...
Exercise
Under this heading we find physical culture, weight lifting, sports and
gymnastics. Running, Jogging, Swimming and all non-violent sports are
the ideal form of exercise. Violent movements should ...
Physical Therapies
Under this heading we can group all of the mechanical treatments, those
which study and treat the body as a mechanical contrivance. The
philosophy behind all of these treatments can be stated as ...
Massage
Under this heading we have manual rubbing, stroking, kneading and
vibration, as well as ultra-sonic, electrical vibration and concussion
of the spine. Massage and vibration can best be described ...
Electrotherapy
This includes Diathermy, Short-wave, Galvanic, Faradic and all other
methods of applying electricity to the body. Except for the slight
psychological help they may give some suggestible people, ...
Psychology
Under this heading we have many schools of thought. All claim to teach
the patient how to correct his mental faults and to give him the right
approach to the problems of life. The system which has ...
Hydrotherapy
This is the use of water. Many modern Naturopaths have now discarded
the use of water and so in recent years this cheap, efficient and safe
health aid has been neglected. Some people claim that ...
Semi-Medical Treatments
Herbal remedies, Biochemic tissue salts, Homoeopathic drugs, and the
thousands of remedies sold as natural remedies are all almost
valueless. They have no place in a natural system of healing. ...
Fasting
I have left the most important and least understand subject until the
last. Fasting can be described as Natures own method of healing. Not
that there is any healing power in the act of ...
Part XIII: Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen: Everybody’s Guide to Nature Cure
by Harry
The Three Fundamental Principles
The philosophy and practice of Nature Cure is built upon three
fundamental principles. It must be fully understood that these
principles are not the outcome of mere theorising into the nature and
...
Part XIV: Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen: Mental Therapeutics
by Henry
Positive Affirmations
The foregoing explains why affirmations of health are justified in the
face of disease. The health conditions must be first established in the
mind before they can be conveyed to and impressed ...
On Rules for Maintaining Health and Prolonging Life
by Luigi
Man May By Dint of Art Mend His Infirm Constitution and Live to Old Age
My treatise on a sober life has begun to answer my desire in being of
service to many persons born with a weak constitution, who, every time
they committed the least excess, found themselves ...
Man May, by Taking Thought of His Diet and Habits, Change His
Disposition and Better His Temper
For man, it is not to be doubted, may by art exempt himself in part
from the influence of the heavens, it being the common opinion that the
heavens give an inclination by do not impel us, for ...
Less Food Is Required As Man Grows Older
This retrenchment is necessary, nor can it be avoided, since it is
impossible for an to live foreve; and as he draws near this end, he is
reduced so low as to be no longer able to take any ...
Two Mistakes Many People Make When Assessing Longevity
Some allege that many, without leading such a life, have lived to be a
hundred, and that in constant health, and though they ate a great deal
and used indiscriminately every kind of viands and ...
Part XV: In Closing
The Two Rules For Maintaining Health and Prolonging Life
This sobriety is reduced to two things, quality and quantity. The
first, namely quality, consists in nothing but not eating food or
drinking wines prejudicial to the stomach. The second, which is ...
On Positive Affirmations
The foregoing explains why affirmations of health are justified in the
face of disease. The health conditions must be first established in the
mind before they can be conveyed to and impressed ...
Bibliography
Benjamin, Harry. 1967. Everybodys Guide to Nature Cure. 16th ...
Chapter One: That Fallacious Germ Theory
by Harry Benjamin†
By ignoring the part played by the individual himself in the setting up
of disease within his own body, and throwing all the emphasis on purely
erroneous factors, such as germs, our medical scientists have succeeded
in giving the word "germ" a significance and dread power, ludicrously
all out of proportion to the part these organisms actually play in the
life processes of the individual human being.
It is time the public realised what germs really are, and the part they
really do play, if any, in the setting up and development of disease.
One would imagine, from the way the medical professions speak, that one
tiny germ or bacillus (countless thousands of which would scarcely
cover the head of a pin) has only to enter the body of a "healthy"
individual for that individual to be stricken with some foul disease or
other. Perhaps typhoid! Perhaps tuberculosis! And modern man goes
around terrified out of his life because of the existence of these tiny
creatures which he believes are always threatening him, and which only
the most powerful microscope can reveal to his shuddering gaze.
What nonsense it all is! Our bodies are always full of germs: they play
a most important part in the working of the body, especially in the
destructive process—for constructive and destructive processes are
always going on within the body, night and day, sleep or awake, whether
we know it or not.
Where any living matter dies, it immediately begins to disintegrate
into the simple chemical elements of which it is composed. It is in
breaking down dead organic matter into its elemental constituents that
bacteria are always employed by Nature.
We all know that a dead animal left lying about unburied will soon
begin to rot. It is precisely in this rotting process—which is simply
the reduction of the once living organic matter back into the elements
of which it is composed—that germs are active. They are just as much a
part of natural phenomena as anything else in Nature, and are brought
into existence to do their allotted task by that omnipresent Power
which, forever invisible, rules the workings of the universe.
All living matter must die and be reduced to dust again, and bacteria
are the appointed agents! They are the agents of disintegration!
Now, the germs which help in the breakdown of dead organic matter—
whether it be of dead bodies or of cell waste and other effete matter
thrown off by the organism—are not very different in kind from the germ
hysterically supposed, by medical science, to be the cause of disease
in the human body. It is simply because they lamentably misunderstand
the work these tiny creatures do, that the medical world attaches so
much significance to germ action inside the body, when seeking for the
solution of the problem of disease.
Germs take part in all disease phenomena because these are processes
requiring the breaking down or disintegration of accumulated refuse and
toxic matter within the body, which the system is endeavouring to throw
off. But to assume, as our medical scientists do, that merely because
germs are present and active in all disease phenomena, they are
therefore the cause of the same diseases, is just as wrong as it would
be to assume that because germs are present and active in the
decomposition processes connected with all dead organic matter, they
are the cause of the death of the organic matter in question. The
analogy is absolutely just and fair! And equally ridiculous!
But no one would say that because the decaying body of a dead dog is
full of bacteria, the bacteria are the cause of the dog’s death. We
know they are there as a part of the natural disintegration process
taking place as a result of the death of the dog. And so it is with
germs and disease. Germs are a part of the results of disease, not its
cause.
Germs are present in disease not as causes, but as superficial helpers
brought there by Nature to rid the body of disease. They are the
"scavengers" employed by Mother Nature to break up and "bring to a
head" the accumulated internal filth of years of unhygienic and
unwholesome living, which are clogging the tissues of the body and
preventing proper functioning.
It is the elimination of this toxic accumulation of internal filth and
waste material which is required if the treatment of disease is to be
effective—not tinkering with germs. They will automatically disappear
when the body filth and refuse have been disposed of, upon exactly the
same analogy as that of flies and household filth, instead of bodily
filth. Nature Cure practice proves this beyond doubt every day!
(Treatment which is directed merely towards the end of killing germs is
treatment that can never be really effective, because it ignores the
real cause of disease.)
Thus, although germs are the very bugbear of orthodox medical science,
they are of little account to Nature Cure, because the Nature Curist
realises they are part of the effects of disease, and not its cause,
and that they will disappear when the real cause has been disposed of.
But that does not mean to say that disease may not be contracted
through germ contact.
Germs may be the apparent cause of disease in certain instances, and
people may "catch" diseases from each other, but only because they have
within their systems the soil for the propagation of these diseases—in
the shape of accumulated toxins and bodily refuse. No one who is clean
and healthy inside can be affected by germs, or become the victim of
germ infection.
When people understand this, they will be freed at last from the dread
germ-bogey which medical science has created for them out of its
imperfect and superficial knowledge of the real action and affect of
germs within the body! It is the outcome of medical inability to
distinguish between the real causes of disease and its superficial
effects and manifestations.
In the face of the question, "What proof have you actually that the
germ theory of disease is wrong?"—it may be said that even in the case
of acute infectious diseases (where the germ theory seems to explain
the facts most fully) it can be said that people in ordinary health
contain within their bodies the same germs that are said to be the
cause of the same infectious diseases in others. This proves quite
clearly that there must be some predisposing factor present in the body
before an attack of any acute disease is possible. Given this
predisposing factor, the germs become active; without them they are
harmless. This predisposing factor is in every case a lowered vitality
and a body clogged with waste materials and impurities.
Members of the medical profession have themselves refuted the theory
upon which practically the whole of present day medicine is based.
In an address on "The Falsity of the Germ Theory and Its Evil Results"
given by M Beddow-Bayly, MD, at the annual meeting of the Anti-
Vaccination League in 1928, Dr Beddow-Bayly said:
"I am prepared to maintain quite definitely that in no single instance
has it been proved that an organism or germ is the primal cause of a
disease. I would go further, and say that I have abundant evidence that
the use of sera has resulted in incalculable harm and even death in
man; that the discovery, manufacture, and testing of these sera are
responsible for untold suffering among our younger brethren, the
animals; and that the obsession of the minds of the medical fraternity
with the clumsy and illogical germ theory has greatly retarded the
progress of medical science by obscuring the real causes of disease."
During the course of the same address, Dr Beddow-Bayly quoted numerous
extracts from records of investigations made by medical investigators
and research workers, all showing the untenability of the germ theory,
of which the following is a fair example:
"Dr Hamer, the late Medical Officer of Health for the County of London,
in his report for 1915, dealing with the investigation of Dr Houston,
the Water Examiner to the Metropolitan Water Boards, finds that the
evidence supports the theory "that it is typhoid fever which leads to
the development of the bacillus", and not vice versa, and "that the
bacillus should be looked upon as the effect rather than the cause".
Perhaps the most striking illustration of all, given by Dr Beddow-Bayly
in support of his contentions as to the unsoundness of the germ theory,
is the following:
"The celebrated Professor Pettenkofer, to show his disbelief in the
then recently mooted germ theory, swallowed a test-tubeful of cholera
germs—supposed to be sufficient to kill a whole regiment of soldiers!—
before a class of gaping students. Nothing happened! As Pettenkofer
maintained, in support of his amazing act: "Germs are of no account in
cholera. The important thing is the disposition of the individual."
These quotations and illustrations from authoritative medical sources
themselves, regarding the instability of the germ theory, can be
multiplied ad lib if anyone has the mind to. But why go further? Surely
the reader has here sufficient proof of the inadequacies of that theory
of disease upon which the noble fabric of modern medication is built.
To seek for the cause of disease in merely extraneous factors, such as
germs and other outside agents, is to turn one’s mind, once and for
all, away from the possibility of an understanding of the true nature
and cause of disease. That is what the whole medical world is doing
today. With what result? The state of our hospitals and general health
of the nation are ample witness!
† Extracted from: Benjamin, Harry. 1967. Everybody’s Guide to Nature
Cure. 16th Impression. Croydon, UK: Health For All Publishing Co.
The Unity of Disease
The reader will now be fully ready for acceptance of the cardinal
principle of Nature Cure, which is, that although, thanks to the
pedantry and misconceptions of the leaders of medical science, the
names of diseases are legion, in reality their basic and fundamental
causes are the same in every case, viz, a body clogged with waste
materials and impurities; and that no matter what the particular
disease might be called, apart from shock, or direct injury, or medical
interference with the blood and nerve supply, its causes can always be
found in disturbance of function due to three main factors:
1. wrong feeding
2. improper care of the body
3. habits of living tending to set up enervation and nervous
exhaustion, such as worry, fear, overwork, excesses of all kinds,
sexual abuse, temperamental and environmental difficulties, etc.
It is these three main factors coupled with hereditary and predisposing
influences, such as physique, personal peculiarities, and the like
(aided by previous medical interference with drug and knife), which
decide exactly what form disease will take in any given individual—
whether it will be rheumatism or eczema, typhoid or pneumonia, cataract
or deafness. So, what one always has to remember is that no matter what
any disease may be described as in medical terminology, in essence:
"Disease is the same in every case, because the underlying causes which
determine the condition in the first place are identical, although the
superficial symptoms and manifestations appear in so many different
guises."
Nature Cure and Medical Science
It is because they understand this fundamental oneness and unity of all
disease that practitioners of Nature Cure are enabled to secure such
seemingly miraculous results in the treatment of disease. For instead
of being appalled by the intricacy, vastness, and hopeless complexity
of the spectacle of disease, opened up to the mind by the study of
pathology along orthodox medical lines, and spending time in vainly
endeavouring to grasp the significance of these merely superficial and
extraneous manifestations of disease, which through a total lack of
understanding of the matter, the medical profession calls disease—a
thousand different symptoms—the Nature Cure practitioner gets directly
to the root of the trouble (the fundamental causes of which are the
same in every case), and by rectifying these, is enabled to effect a
permanent cure. Whereas, medical confreres aimlessly flutter about the
surface of the matter, attempting to patch up or get rid of symptoms,
which are really the superficial effects of disease, and not the real
trouble at all!
The Nature Cure practitioner deals with fundamental, unchanging causes,
and pays very little heed to symptoms, except as they may guide him in
locating the actual seat of the trouble (which is always very deep
within the system). The medical practitioner deals merely with the
symptoms themselves, looks to externals for causes, and remains
blissfully unconscious as to the very existence of the real underlying
factors involved. The result is that under orthodox medical methods of
treatment, not only is such a thing as real cure impossible in any
given case, because of the neglect of the chief factors concerned, but
the underlying disease-condition is yet further intensified and
aggravated by this tampering with symptoms. For, not only does medical
science mistake symptoms for diseases, but these self-same superficial
symptoms and manifestations—which the Nature Cure practitioner uses
only as guides to locating disease, and which he leaves quietly alone
because he realises that they are not harmful in themselves, but really
Nature’s attempts at self-healing and self-cleansing—are suppressively
treated with drugs and surgery, and irreparable harm is thus done to
the system by this "thwarting" of the body’s natural attempt at healing
itself.
Disease a Self-Healing Process
What the medical profession calls a "cure" is merely the suppression of
superficial symptoms, to cause further and more serious trouble later
on! What the medical profession never understands is that in every case
disease itself, with all its varied multiplicity of expression, is
merely Nature’s attempt at self-healing, and must never be thwarted,
fought against, checked, or suppressed, but helped (as it were) out of
the system by an understanding of the real causes at work, and by
active or passive collaboration, as the case may be.
"The Nation’s Fighters Against Disease"—that is the proud title of the
medical profession, and in it is expressed all their failure to
understand the real essential nature of disease!
Disease is not inimical to the system, something to be fought against;
but it is a self-healing crisis brought about by factors, already
described, which the system finds a hindrance and impediment to proper
functioning!
Disease, in short, is the result of man’s own follies and mistakes,
which Nature is doing her best to rectify for him!
In effect, therefore—and if the reader can follow this clearly, he or
she would be forever emancipated from the universal besetting fear of
disease—disease is nothing more or less than Nature’s blind attempts at
cure. [Editor’ Note: As a whole, I do not believe that most Nature Cure
practitioners would agree with the author’s expression, "blind
attempts", but would consider them as manifestations of "right action"
on the part of the organism as it heals itself.] It is the system’s
attempt to deal as effectively as it can under given conditions which,
through man’s ignorance, folly, and self-indulgence, are causing
impediment of function!
Two Completely Divergent Philosophies
All too often the great surgeon or physician, and even the general
practitioner, vainly imagines that "he" or "she" can cure disease by
suppressing symptoms and thwarting Nature’s work. The practitioner of
natural methods of treatment, knowing full well their own feebleness
within the mighty, all-embracing powers and forces of Nature, bows
their head with humility, and says, "Not I, but Nature, cures. All I
can do is help Nature do her work by all means within my power." Herein
lies the failure of orthodox medicine and the triumph of natural
methods of treatment.
One is based on a philosophy which looks upon disease as something
which "happens" to man quite by ill luck, accident, or chance;
something which enters the body from without—germs or microbes—and has
to be fought against and defeated. The other is based upon a philosophy
which realises that all disease emanates from within the body, is self
-generated as a result of individual mistakes and errors of living, and
is Nature’s blind [?] attempt at self-healing. Two completely
antithetical and contradictory philosophies of disease!
The one exonerates man from all blame with regard to all the ills that
befall them, allowing them to pity themselves as much-injured martyrs,
always at the mercy of a wayward and malign Providence, never knowing
when they may be attacked by some awful microbe or prowling germ, and
by means of outside agents attempts to "cure" them; and the other
states definitely and conclusively that man’s ills are in every case
the outcome of their own mistakes and misdeeds—"as a man sows, so shall
he also reap"—and that only by rectifying these same mistakes will
their troubles be finally overcome and a definite cure effected.
The medical profession claims that it can cure disease by means of
drugs, surgery, inoculations, etc; Nature Cure says that man must cure
themselves of disease, but with the aid of help and advice from those
qualified by training and experience to give it!
The "Fruits" of the Old Philosophy of Disease
"Every tree is known by his own fruit," said Christ to his disciples.
Let the men and women of today see for themselves the fruits of
orthodox medical philosophy! They are before our eyes!
New diseases, such as neurasthenia and pernicious anemia, arising every
few years, an appalling advancement in chronic diseases such as cancer,