Part 28

DINNER

Smelts, or any small fish

A Spanish onion, baked in casserole dish

Corn bread

Buttermilk or skimmed milk

One fresh vegetable, cooked plain

In addition to this diet, there should be a regular daily schedule of exercise and deep breathing, which the patient should be required to carry out with rigid precision and regularity.

In nearly all cases of locomotor ataxia the body is unable to cast off the generated poisons, or used-up tissue, the result being that the new building material (food) taken in is not appropriated. This condition of atrophy must be overcome by exercise, massage, fomentation (wrapping the patient in a hot, wet blanket), or by anything that will induce excessive superficial circulation.

If one afflicted with locomotor ataxia can be induced to arise from his lethargy and exert himself, following the methods herein suggested, a gradual increase in strength is very likely to be experienced inside of two or three months, and sometimes a complete arrest of the process may be expected in time.

The writer had a patient, a retired ship captain, who came under his treatment after suffering for twelve years with locomotor ataxia, and after twelve months declared himself cured. The only evidence remaining of his former condition at this writing is shown when he attempts to turn around suddenly, and his control of the lumbar and motor muscles are undergoing such improvement that even this symptom, it seems, will finally disappear.

In cases of Locomotor Ataxia:

OMIT EAT

Drugs of every character Carbohydrates--limited quantity Intoxicants Corn hominy Sex indulgence Dates, figs, honey Stimulants and narcotics {Beans {Buckwheat Foods {Cheese rich in {Eggs proteids {Fresh corn and {Fish albuminoids {Milk such as {Nuts {Peas {Potatoes {Whole wheat Rice Rye

COLDS, CATARRH, HAY FEVER, ASTHMA, INFLUENZA

These disorders are grouped under a general heading because there are a few fundamental laws that affect them all alike. Capillary congestion is a common cause in all these disorders, and anything that will produce this condition will cause, or at least augment catarrh, hay fever, asthma, influenza, and colds. As overeating is the primary cause of congestion throughout the capillary system, it, rather than exposure, is the most common cause of all these disorders. The treatment that will remove or prevent this form of congestion will, therefore, remove a primary cause, when such remedial measures may be employed as each case demands.

COLDS--THE CAUSE

That condition commonly known as a cold is merely a congestion of effete matter and toxic substances in the body-cells, coming from two causes, and, so far as my experience has been able to guide me, from two causes only, namely:

1 Overeating

2 Exposure to violent atmospheric changes

COLDS--THE SYMPTOMS

The symptoms from both causes manifest themselves in exactly the same way, therefore it becomes very necessary to ascertain what the sufferer has been eating, both as to quantity and as to kind of foods during the previous forty-eight hours.

It often occurs that colds from overeating are cumulative, that is, the patient habitually takes too much fat, sweets, or meat, especially the two latter articles, and these may have been digested, and their nutritive elements may have passed into the circulation, but the body being unable to use them, they finally begin to decompose and are converted into alcohol and other decomposition products. An excess of this effete matter brought to the lungs is called a "cold."

If one who is blessed with good digestion and assimilation should habitually take an amount of nutrition in excess of his needs, it will manifest itself first, perhaps, in the growth of adipose tissue, and later in the various disorders called autointoxication, among which are colds, catarrh, etc.

If the body be exposed to a violent draft of cold air, and sufficient motion is not exerted to keep the circulation active, or if the feet be exposed to cold and wet, Nature, in obedience to the law of self-defense, closes the pores of the skin against the intrusion, hence the poisonous and effete matter that is constantly passing off through these openings cannot escape, but it is picked up by the blood and carried to the lungs to be oxidized or burned in the process of breathing.

If the amount of poisons thus brought to the lungs be in excess of the amount that can be consumed or burned, a form of congestion will take place (in the lungs) causing first irritation, then suppuration, which must be thrown off in the form of mucus. It matters not whether the congestion is caused by exposure or overeating, the effects are identically the same, and Nature's method of ridding the body of these poisons is the same in either case. The only difference between an ordinary cold and pneumonia is one of degree.

COLDS--THE REMEDY

Since colds are merely a form of congestion, first in the capillary vessels and next in the lungs, the first thing to be done is to cease eating. The misunderstanding of the old adage "stuff a cold and starve a fever" has killed thousands of ignorant but innocent people. Its real meaning is, if you stuff a cold, you will have to starve an internal fever.

In the treatment of colds, I would suggest the following method of procedure: