CHAPTER 13: AN INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM.
THE QUESTION OF TUBERCULOSIS.
FIRST PRINCIPLESIN his essay on Charles Dickens, Bagehot makes the comprehensive remark that "there is nothing less like the great lawyer acquainted with broad principles and applying them with distinct deduction, than the attorney's clerk who catches at small points like a dog biting at flies."
That applies not only to the great lawyer but to the great thinker in any department of life, the great statesman, the great warrior, the great scientist, the great artist, the great philosopher, the great organiser, and, last but not least, the great doctor.
Follow closely the career of any eminent man, and you will discover some guiding principle or principles, and a more or less distinct application of this guiding principle or principles to the subject-matter in hand, whether that subject-matter be philosophy, politics, law, war, or anything else. Without a guiding principle to start with, and a steadfast application of this guiding principle, the mind always catches at small points like a dog biting at flies. Shakespeare describes the same thing in "a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." Readers of the Bible are familiar with the denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees for their scrupulous observance of the small things of the law of spirituality -- the paying tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, while leaving out of account the things that really matter in human development.
Put briefly, petty details are not worth very much in anything without the animating principle, idea, or spirit on which they depend for their existence. When the principle is mastered, small things fall into their proper place as parts of a whole; but when the principle is not understood small things run riot, and assume a position quite out of place in the general scheme.
Now, just as in law there are more attorney's clerks than great lawyers, so in the domain of Health there are more medical practitioners than great healers. Medical practice has been wonderfully busy in catching at small points, and making such a fuss about them that the principle of health or wholeness has been entirely lost sight of. A good many members of the medical profession have spoken out pretty freely on this subject, and it is interesting to note that by far the most damaging criticism of the practice of medicine has been written by doctors themselves.
You have merely to cast an eye upon the present type of man, woman and child to see how far off we are from a high standard of health either of body or soul. Something is wanting, and that something must be supplied if the human race is to advance on the path of evolution. Mere conflict of personal or professional opinion is valueless unless that opinion is based upon real knowledge as well as a calm and disinterested survey of the present position. When we are dealing with universal principles in their practical application to human life, no quarter should be asked or given. A line must be drawn between what is true and what is false, between what is right and what is wrong. In human development we must select right ideas and discard wrong ones, without pity, without mercy, with our eyes immovably fixed upon the goal: Real Health or Holiness of the human being as an individual unit. We must be absolutely relentless in eliminating from our consciousness all ideas that hinder us from reaching this goal. The gardener who wants to grow good fruit must throw away bad seed.
Ars Vivendi expounds the science of vitality and the art of living in the full sense of Life -- comprising man as a unit of body, mind, and spirit. It refuses to treat man, on the one hand, as a soul which has to be "saved" for the next world, and on the other hand as a body which has to be "cured" in this. It deals with the problem of vitality from a higher standpoint than the ordinary, showing that the three dominant factors are, in technical language, generation, conservation and potential. It revolutionises and reconstructs present methods, furnishing the key to increase of human force and development of the human form to a higher type. It introduces into human evolution a new principle -- discovery of the respiratory use of the cranial sinuses, which will enable a loftier type of humanity than has ever yet appeared on this earth to grow upon the stem of the Tree of Life as naturally as the inferior types of the past. It is but a question of the knowledge and direction for human use of the hidden forces that have been slumbering in the bosom of the Unknown.
"For Nature, unexhausted, still
Is now profuse of good and ill.
Strength is gigantic, valour high,
And wisdom soars beyond the sky.
And Beauty has such matchless beam
As lights not oft a lovers dream."
(Readers of Sir Walter Scott will pardon the liberty taken with the tenses.)
In this chapter we are dealing with only one aspect of vitality -- the problem of Tuberculosis or Consumption, which is now an international question. While medical treatment of Tuberculosis has been as shifting as the sands, the Ars Vivendi doctrine has stood firm as the rock, for it is based upon an impregnable principle.
The problem is dealt with more fully in "New Light on Consumption," and it is not necessary to cover the same ground again, beyond stating succinctly the great fundamental principle that the real cause of Tuberculosis is inability to get the normal quantity of air, and that the real cure consists in a larger quantity of air being taken in day by day. Failing this, no cure can possibly take place. Given this, and a cure can reasonably be expected under ordinary circumstances. The Ars Vivendi processes are all designed to assist the patient to get a larger quantity of air in the normal manner without strain or effort.
We shall now witness, in the first place, the tragic results of failure on the part of the medical profession to understand this great principle; and, in the second place, the undoubted success of this principle in practical application when intelligently carried out under expert guidance, whether in a sanatorium or in the patient's own home.
WANT OF GUIDING PRINCIPLEAbout twenty-five years ago the hopes of humanity were raised to fever heat with the news that a micro-organism, the actual cause of consumption in the human being, had been discovered, and that the cure of this dread malady was now a certainty by means of a serum. Month after month the hope of a "cure" was dangled before the victims of the white plague, until disappointment and despair took the place of buoyant expectation. The vaunted serum was heralded with a fanfare of trumpets that resounded throughout the whole earth, but the resounding echo died away in silence and even shame.
About a dozen new sera and vaccines have been boomed since then with more or less ephemeral success in catching the Yellow Press, which finds profit in proclaiming a new "cure" for Consumption. The most impudent hoax was that of a few years ago, when a prominent London daily ushered in a new "Turtle Serum," if I remember rightly, which had cured hundreds of cases in Germany straight off the reel. The whole affair was nothing but a stunt.
The extraordinary thing is the ignorance or forgetfulness of the public. In spite of the past, even in 1920 a new serum or vaccine was brought forward in exactly the same style as its predecessors, and met with exactly the same fate. Why? Because, from the very nature of things, it is ignorance of the cause which makes us talk of evading and shirking the effect. That the bacillus flourishes in the consumptive subject nobody denies. The point of practical importance is to understand why it attacks one person and leaves his neighbour alone. Of two workmen in the same factory, one will develop tuberculosis, and the other will not. To argue that the bacillus is the cause and the sole cause is illogical.
Before we can understand the real cause, we must go back to fundamental principles. Before we can tackle successfully the treatment of Consumption we must grasp the actual facts of vitality as they are taught by observation of Nature. What is the difference between a strong man and a weakling? When you learn to read the signs you can pick out at a glance the child or adult who is on the verge of Consumption, even before diagnosis reveals any trace of lung mischief. There is insufficient intake of air with each inspiration, consequently insufficient oxygenation of the tissues. Nature can only make two and two to equal four. Vitality of a high type can be attained only by a high rate of metabolism -- that is, chemical action in the organism. Nature cannot be cheated. It is only ignorance and stupidity on our part which attempt to cheat. Consumption is merely the inevitable effect of a simple and direct cause affecting the actual organism which is "consumptive" that is, wasting away through lack of sufficient air.
Remedy this in the only possible way, by enlarging the capacity of taking air, and you will cure the wasting away. Fail to do this, and the dreams of a new serum to "cure" Consumption are dreams and nothing more. The Ministry of Health has the power of instituting research on new lines, and of carrying out original experiments for the benefit of the public. It is for the general public to insist that this be effected without delay. If this had been done in the past, the race would by now have reached a higher level of health, and Consumption would not have remained the scourge it is to-day in every part of the earth.
When the National Insurance Bill was introduced the most rosy prospects were held out by the Government. Not only was ninepence promised for fourpence, but the victim of Consumption was guaranteed a sort of first-class hotel in which to luxuriate for a few months and return to the bosom of his family a new man. What actually happened? Nothing at all, beyond increased burden on the taxpayer. From all parts have come heartrending stories of bitter disappointment at the failure of sanatorium treatment to stop the ravages of Tuberculosis. When the Government spends public money for a certain purpose, it is in duty bound to see that the public gets the utmost value for this expenditure. The only way in which this consummation can be achieved so far as the treatment and cure of Tuberculosis are concerned, is to open the door widely to all new ideas and methods and to consider them dispassionately in the public interest.
THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATIONIn its report for 1919, the Rockefeller Foundation describes the work done in France in connection with Tuberculosis. The intentions are excellent but the results are not encouraging. "The control of yellow fever, malaria, or hookworm is a relatively simple undertaking compared with the attempt to arrest and prevent the insidious and well-nigh universal ravages of Tuberculosis.
Only in France has the International Health Board undertaken to aid in combating the white plague against which so many vigorous agencies, public and private, are enlisted. A campaign begun there in the summer of 1917 aimed at the following definite objects, etc."
When we read of "standard demonstrations of systematic control methods," the training of public health nurses, clinicians, lecturers, and organisers," and "the educating of the public in the causes, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis," we look forward to great results. But in vain. Out of the mountains in labour not one solitary mouse emerges! As a triumphant example of the "educational devices" and "the series of articles syndicated through the newspapers" we are told that profound remarks were made by two children, one of 6 and the other of 7: "Aunt Clotilde, if you bring home cakes, don't buy those which are outside. You know that the Tuberculosis microbes are walking around on them."
When the report frankly states that the "control of yellow fever, malaria or hookworm is a relatively simple undertaking compared with Tuberculosis," the natural inference is that the story of the precocious wisdom of the two French children, as the result of the educational propaganda of the Rockefeller Foundation, is a standing record of "something attempted, something done." Without a guiding principle, however, life is a mere wandering round and round in a maze in which you come back to your starting point. You talk bravely of a goal, of a straight line to this goal, ignorant of the fact that wandering round and round makes you unable to keep to a straight line. So it has been in the treatment of Consumption. Ever since Koch discovered the bacillus this wandering round and round has been going on, both in and out of the medical profession. First, everyone pinned his faith on killing the microbes by a kind of stewing them in their own juice, and when that did not answer, the cry was started "open air, open air." It never struck the medical mind that it was not much use putting a corpse in the open air and expecting it to recover. The next phase was "open air is quite all right, but something more is wanted, a serum or vaccine." When this in its turn is found of no use, we reach the point from which we started. If the Rockefeller Foundation spent its millions like water in teaching all the children of the world not to eat cakes on the outside, it would not save a single child or adult from dying of Consumption, for Consumption is the definite effect of a definite cause, inability to breathe normally a sufficient quantity of air. It is astonishing how simple a principle may be, and how difficult it is for the average intelligence, professional or not, to see it. If there are a hundred and one ways of doing a thing, and only one right way, the human mind can be relied upon to exhaust the hundred before finding the right one. It shows a kind of instinct, one might almost say intuition, in missing the point.
THE "TIMES" ON MEDICAL TREATMENTThat sanatorium treatment, as at present carried on, was bound to end in disappointment has over and over again been predicted both in the Ars Vivendi books and in the author's letters to the press. The reasons were plainly set forth, showing that the promises held out to the victim of Tuberculosis in connection with National Insurance could not possibly be fulfilled, because the fundamental principles of the Open Air Treatment were not sufficiently understood by the doctors in charge of sanatoria. The statesman was entirely in the hands of the expert, who on his own confession was no master of his art. Public disappointment grew in volume and intensity, until sanatorium treatment for Consumption was seriously discredited. The Times spoke out boldly and trenchantly: -- July 13th, 1920, it had a prominent headline: --
Tuberculosis Danger in London. Neither Prevention nor Cure. The state of matters revealed is most disquieting and leads one to the idea that this disease is at present entirely beyond control. So that, on this basis, there would be 90,000 cases of tubercular disease in London at the present time. This figure has varied little during the last eight years -- perhaps it has slightly increased. Even among early London cases treated 'residentially,' that is, in sanatoria, some 54 per cent were dead at the end of four years in the case of the Council's patients, and some 30 percent, in the case of Insurance Committee's cases. Of those not dead, it is merely known that they were 'alive.' Manifestly, our campaign against tuberculosis has broken down badly, and our treatment is of small avail. We are neither preventing nor curing; and yet vast sums are being spent each year on this effort."
Again: "But it becomes clear that work upon tuberculosis must go farther and must in addition discover new methods. The position at present is far from satisfactory, and even sanatorium treatment begun early is no certain cure. We need, if possible, to approach the whole matter from a new angle."
Again: "The New Health Campaign. A Revolution in Medicine. The student of contemporary medicine must have perceived that a revolution is taking place in the whole attitude towards the prevention and cure of disease. Ideas are changing; new points of view are becoming important. A few will gape if taken into a laboratory or an X-ray room, or shown that recondite instrument, the electro-cardiograph. Thinking people know better. They recognise that progress is not assured when instruments are multiplied. If told that medical science is too complex now to be understood except by the very elect, they reply, 'So much the worse for medical science.' Nor are they more deeply impressed when priests of a different order talk pompously of the 'relation of doctor and patient,' as if that relationship were not founded, like any other relationship, on principles of common sense and common judgment. Here, then, is the revolution. The ill-informed medical thinker calls for more laboratories, more grants for research in the narrow sense of the word -- more specialism, more highly technical education. He will make the medicine of the future a matter of chemistry and bacteriology. The more careful mind recognises that while all this is good enough so far as it goes, it does not go far enough. You are leaving life out of such a calculation. Disease is not an entity, it is an expression of life. Thus the most recent demand is for a wide policy in which the 'doctor' shall play his part. That part is to fortify the human organism to resist disease, to detect the earliest signs of disease, or even of tendency to disease, and to act upon these signs so that disease never begins, or begins only to end at once. Happily the Ministry of Health has declared for the wide view. Disease is 'one and indivisible.' A sound health policy must know no persons or classes or types."
This is most excellent, and is in truth waving the red flag of medical revolution in brave style. But even the most ardent revolutionist must settle down to work. He cannot go on for ever talking and shouting. He has to face the facts of existence. The Times editorials show the need for reform, but the writer has stopped short of actual constructive work. It is not enough to show that sanatorium methods have failed to stop the ravages of Tuberculosis. This is negative criticism preparatory to reconstruction.
THE LONDON CONGRESS OF 1920International Congresses have been held from time to time to discuss the problem of Tuberculosis with no results of any practical value. Each member bravely airs his pet theories, and generally manages to smuggle in something about tuberculin, serum, vaccine, etc., to help the open air, or makes a pathetic appeal to the medical profession to compel the public to do something, if not exactly what the Rockefeller Foundation advised little children of France to do when buying cakes, at all events to stop spitting. I think the climax of impotence was actually reached in the International Congress of London in 1920. It proudly claimed to represent the orthodox medical world of civilisation and its utterances were the last word on Tuberculosis. The gist of the proceedings was given in the Times, with three headlines which, by a stroke of genius, summarised the Congress with succinctness and precision. The headlines were bold in letter and in spirit, and were as follows: -- "Tuberculosis Congress. Ignorance of Doctors. Call for State Aid."
That is a perfectly fair description of the Congress. The only point on which the Congress was unanimous was in passing the resolution: -- "Whereas the world's death rate from Tuberculosis is still very large, etc. ... the International Union against Tuberculosis, assembled in London with representatives from forty nations, urge all Governments to vote large sums of money to promote and foster preventive measures against Tuberculosis." On every other point the Congress was divided hopelessly. One member struck a high, a very high note, by insisting that the medical profession knew perfectly well how Tuberculosis could be prevented, but they were morally lax in not insisting that it should be done. Another thought that the ordinary medical man knew little more than the general public, and his misleading teachings were much worse than none at all. Another suggested that the teaching of Tuberculosis by a special method should be made compulsory in all schools of medicine. Another thought that children could be saved if injections of Koch's original tuberculin were given and continued in increasing doses for months. Another said that sanatorium treatment was still the central point of the battle, but only twenty-five per cent of their sanatoria patients were cured and seventy-five per cent died in them or soon after they left. Another said that, if judged by a certain test, more than eighty per cent of the world's inhabitants were tuberculous and from ninety to ninety-five per cent of the urban population. The obvious method of preventing Tuberculosis "was to shut up all the carriers of tubercle bacilli." But as this was rather a large order, the speaker did not see how it could be done. He consoled the Congress with a masterly picture of the ideal State in which "a measured dose of harmless but effective tuberculous vaccine would be administered to everyone soon after birth and repeated if and when necessary."
When you boil down all the sayings of the Congress, you cannot improve upon the Times headlines: "Tuberculosis Congress. Ignorance of Doctors. Call for State Aid."
PROFESSOR WASSERMANN'S PRONOUNCEMENTIn dealing with a problem of such importance to the human race as Tuberculosis, it is necessary to be absolutely ruthless in destroying wrong ideas, especially if those ideas are put forward by a certain section which claims to speak with authority to their less enlightened fellow-men. It is for this reason that I deal at some length with the London Congress in order to expose the hopeless confusion of opinion that prevailed. To prove my case still further, in fact to demolish once for all any possibility of hope in the direction of a vaccine or serum, I will ask the reader to ponder well over the following.
Granting freely that there were eminent names in the Congress, nobody would seriously claim that any member had attained the reputation and prestige of Professor Wassermann, a real savant of world-wide fame. However much one may disagree with him on certain matters, one cannot refuse to regard him as an authority far higher than any member of the London Congress. Now compare the suggestion that in the "ideal State a measured dose of harmless but effective Tuberculous vaccine would be administered to everyone soon after birth and repeated if and when necessary" with the pronouncement of Wassermann as given in the Times, May 21st, 1920: --
GERMAN SAVANTS ON TUBERCULOSIS.
(From our own Correspondent.)
"Berlin, May 20.
"The question of immunity was discussed yesterday at the German tuberculosis congress held at Bad Elster by Professor Isaac von Wassermann and by Dr. Neufeld, rector of the Robert Koch Institute. Both announced that they have come to the conclusion that there is no immunity against tuberculosis in the sense in which it is understood in regard to smallpox, measles, and some other infectious complaints. They stated that in their conclusions: --
"'We must entirely abandon the hope of protection or precaution, against tuberculosis by tuberculin or by injecting tuberculosis bacilli. In all cases of immunity such as diphtheria and smallpox we have only done what nature does. Against these nature created Prophylactics but did not do so in the case of tuberculosis. Therefore it is no good searching for new tuberculin. On the other hand, we might very well hope that some chemical substance would be discovered that would attack the tuberculosis bacilli.'"
In the face of such a conclusion as that, the babble about tuberculin or vaccine in the treatment of Tuberculosis is not worth wasting time to discuss. Those "remedies" are dead and gone, and should be buried deep enough to prevent medical folly from digging them up again.
Before giving cases in illustration of the true theory of the treatment of Tuberculosis in any part of the world without removal from one country or climate to another, I will deal briefly with the idea of some "chemical substance to attack the Tuberculosis bacilli."
This is not at all required, for Nature has already provided against deleterious action of the bacilli in healthy blood.
A little learning is a dangerous thing. A smattering of chemistry suggested that it was necessary to deluge the stomach with medicine to convert the acid state of the blood, which carries with it low resistance to disease, into the alkaline state of health and high resistance. This idea was due to ignorance of the chemistry of the organism. There is only one way of converting diseased into healthy blood, and that is by burning off the hydrogen ions (waste matter) by a larger supply of oxygen in order to make hydroxyl ions preponderate. If your blood is sufficiently oxygenated, in other words, if you breathe well as a daily habit, Nature safeguards you against Consumption. If your blood is not sufficiently oxygenated, in other words, if you breathe badly as a daily habit, nothing, not all the international congresses that have ever been, or ever will be held in any quarter of the globe, will stop your vitality from deteriorating to the level of Tuberculosis. That is the plain reason why some of the wealthiest and highest placed men, women, and children of the earth, who could command every advantage in the way of medical attendance, have died, and are dying, of Consumption.
THE TRUE PRINCIPLE OF TREATMENTHaving shown the folly as well as the failure of what may be termed the "attorney's clerk's" treatment of Tuberculosis, I will proceed to give an illustration of the efficacy of the true theory of the cause and cure of this disease, in the history of two cases which may be regarded as typical. The extracts are from letters in my possession, and give a plain, unvarnished account of their progress from lesson to lesson. The first case is given fairly fully, in order to familiarise the reader with the general scheme of treatment. The second case is equally, if not more, remarkable, inasmuch as I never saw him personally, directing him entirely by correspondence. The first case had the advantage of about half a dozen personal treatments, which were of immense assistance both directly in clearing the nasal passages of congestion, and indirectly in mental stimulation. The second case shows the wonderful possibility of home treatment entirely apart from residence at a sanatorium. It will open up a new chapter in the history of Tuberculosis, for it will give confidence and hope to any sufferer in any part of the world. This case shows that the sanatorium can be dispensed with in actual treatment, though in advanced stages of the disease, of course, the sanatorium will play its part. But the cry for more and yet more sanatoria as the only hope in Tuberculosis is die to ignorance, and as it invariably means prodigal expenditure of public money, the overburdened tax-payer must call a halt.
CASE I.
-- Sanatorium.
"May 1st, 1920.
"DEAR SIR, -- I have been so interested in and impressed by your books, that I want if possible to put theory into practice. [1] I suffer from consumption. I most emphatically believe your contention that health is threefold -- spiritual, mental, and physical. I believe also in working for health, and want, if possible, to put your theories to the very best practical use. I am an ex-Army man with a pension. I am willing to give anything for health.
"I am aged 31 years last month. Have suffered from colds in head and chest from a child, at intervals. Joined the Irish Guards, 1907. Scarlet Fever, April, 1908. Generally had good health until September, 1914. Badly constipated on retreat from Mons, followed by slight dysentery in September. Wounded November 6th, 1914. Good health till December, 1915, when I contracted a severe cold and cough. Cough stuck to me. Have less now than at any time since. Very bad fit of depression, lasting several months, beginning of 1917. Came back from France second time, April, 1916. In England until March 31st, 1918. Slightly wounded April 30th, 1918. Contracted Flu at Havre, June, 1918. Returned to England July 10th. Haemorrhage July 18th. Admitted to hospital next day. Temporary recovery until end of August. Three severe haemorrhages in a week. Sent to __ Sanatorium, September 16th. Left on March 5th, 1919, very little benefited. Then to __. Another haemorrhage, March 14th. Slight recovery. Admitted __ Hospital, April 19th; some improvement. At home, from June 10th to 24th, when I was admitted here. I was coughing badly, 5 ozs. sputum daily. T.B. in sputum. No cough, and very little sputum now. Shortly after coming here I realised that I had my part to play, and that I must work for health. I realise what a stupendous task lies ahead, but I desire health and all-round fitness, and want to get well enough to go back into the Army. I want health as never before. My weaknesses have been lack of decision. Too easy going, and cannot concentrate. It seems hopeless, but I have come so far when groping in comparative darkness, and hope for a lot better results when my efforts are properly directed, as I sincerely hope and feel that you can direct them. At present I suffer from constipation. Have a daily apenent. Left eye blind; gone gradually. Can give no reason. Nose at time stops, generally once or twice daily. Nervous, and easily excited. Have much improved in this respect during last six or eight months. No bleeding from lungs during last year. I hope to remain in the sanatorium for some time, as its conditions are excellent, and have congenial light occupation."
"-- Sanatorium.
"May 18th, 1920.
"DEAR SIR, -- In accordance with your instructions I am writing to report work done and progress. I have conscientiously carried out the breathing exercises as taught, at 6 a.m., 12 noon, and 6 p.m. I have no startling improvement to report. At the beginning I found it difficult to concentrate on drawing the breath upwards, and also in keeping account of the number of breaths taken. There is a marked improvement in both. My right nostril stops occasionally, but less yesterday and to-day. I find both the breathing and manipulation pleasant and interesting to practise. After losing one pound in weight each week for four weeks, I gained a half-pound last week. I feel very well indeed, and my lungs seem to crave for air. The more I practise breathing the more I want to. Can hold myself up better."
"May 28th, 1920.
I contracted a slight cold in the head at the end of last week, and my nostrils still stop now and then, first one and then the other. However, I am breathing through the nose better than for years, so I hope to get them properly clear very soon. Briefly, the points of improvement are: Breathing through nose easier and better, Concentration better, less tendency to mope, sleeping better. The heavy weather during the past four days has not affected me nearly so much as the other patients."
"June 10th, 1920.
"I am beginning to realise how much a strong, calm mind means, and my determination to keep on seems to grow daily. I am carrying out the exercises faithfully. Results are: less tendency to depressing, worrying thoughts, and a firmer and more equable outlook. Nostrils not quite clear, but congestion very slight indeed since last Tuesday. Am holding myself better when walking. Constipation so much improved that I have not had any medicine for a fortnight. I have practised the walking exercises in the way you demonstrated; and, as this chapter claims, it gives a feeling of lightness and elasticity which ordinary breathing and walking could never ad. I can now understand why gymnastic exercises so often fail to achieve the results expected. My only regret is that I did not hear of you ten years ago. As regrets are of no avail, I turn that around and say, I thank God I heard of Ars Vivendi when I did."
"August 3rd, 1920.
"I will endeavour to convey to you my honest impression of Ars Vivendi. I have been greatly struck by its downright common sense, both in theory and practice. I have been under treatment for consumption for over two years, and have been treated by more than half a dozen doctors. It is interesting to compare medical treatment with Ars Vivendi.
"On main principles -- that is, fresh air, rest, good food and suitable environment -- all doctors agree. On other points, and on anticipation of results, they differ to a very great degree. One is guided by the patient's pulse, another by temperature, another by both together, another by gain or loss of weight, another by the state of the lungs, while a few take the all-round condition and judge by that. Some medical men tell us 'Consumption can be cured,' others 'No! We must not say cured; we can arrest it, but it is liable to return if the patient is overwrought or underfed.' Again, one doctor will advise gentle deep breathing, while another will tell his patients not to attempt deep breathing on any account. Again, one will impress upon the patient the paramount importance of self-control and moderation; while another passes it over as if the patient was condemned to death already, and consequently may as well make the best of his time. The result is that only about one patient in a hundred believes in a cure. Improvement made in a Sanatorium is in the majority of cases only temporary. Treatment seems a waste of time and money, except that it prolongs life to a certain extent. Over and over again have I heard sufferers exclaim, when torn by coughing or gasping for breath, 'Why is not something done for me?'
"Ars Vivendi compares very favourably with medicine. It believes in a 'cure,' not merely patching up. It accepts all that is best in medical treatment of Consumption. Doctors say 'medicine is useless.' Ars Vivendi agrees. Doctors say fresh air, good food, rest, proper environment, absence of worry and excitement are absolutely essential. Again Ars Vivendi agrees. But it goes further, and here is where it surpasses and outdistances the doctors. It instructs and enables the patient to breathe, thereby giving him or her a new power to absorb the all- important oxygen. It does not supersede or seek to supersede medical science. It accepts and completes medical science, and in so doing forges a weapon which I honestly believe, if given a fair trial, will amply justify your expectations. It gives the patient something definite to do, and in this way helps to drive away worry, doubt, and fear.
"During the past three months I have greatly benefited from the practice of Ars Vivendi. My nerve is steadier than for years back. My breathing is better. I feel better and I am better. I am not fool enough to imagine that I am now cured and can straightway dispense with further treatment; but, with patient endeavour, I have no fear of not becoming cured and as strong as ever."
"September 16th, 1920.
"Since seeing you I have steadily and consistently carried out the exercises. I find old enemies, such as inclination to 'give up,' irritability, and occasional depression, returning now and then. I also get some attacks of mind-wandering and self- consciousness. All of these I look upon as enemies to be sternly repressed. I am certainly feeling more self-confident. Where once I said 'I can't,' I now say 'I will.' My memory is also much better. For various reasons, I want to get to twelve months from now, and am I going to concentrate on getting perfectly fit by then, and also getting fit to take up employment there. Physically I am feeling much better. My weight is about the same. I have very seldom any desire to be idle; don't feel in any way unduly tired. Doctor gave me a medical examination yesterday, and was well pleased with my progress. He says I have now the least physical signs of the disease of any patient here. The constipation is much improved. I have a motion of the bowels daily, and much easier; only about four doses of medicine since first seeing you. Previously I had aperients regularly for nearly two years. I am well satisfied with my progress."
"October 19th, 1920.
"I was waiting until I got settled down. Taken all round, I am feeling very well indeed. My nostrils scarcely ever stop; and the discharge, which was troublesome at first, has almost entirely ceased. I am feeling more self-contained and sure of myself, and am determined to make a success of my training. No cough, expectoration, etc. Am doing gardening pro tem. Cabinet-making as soon as the workshops are ready."
"October 23rd, 1921.
"I continue to keep on steadily with the exercises, and in spite of the changeable weather I am feeling very well, and keeping on with my work. My day is fully occupied from 7 a.m. till 9 p.m. I find the time all too short. I have been giving part of my spare time to drawing and part to learning the flute for several months, and I am making steady progress. If anyone had suggested two years ago that I should learn a trade and have the cheek to take up music as well I should have thought that person mad. Yet I feel confident that by sticking to it I will in time become proficient. The idea of starting an experimental colony for Tuberculosis is a very good one. You would have to be possessed of the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job. So much, to my mind, depends upon creating the right atmosphere to start with, and being able to classify your patients. They would fall naturally into two groups -- the triers and the non-triers. Anyone who grumbled and worried would either have to be discharged as intractable or else given special extra attention. The first thing when a patient was admitted would be to see that he or she felt that the institution was one where happiness, peace, and hope reigned supreme. These three taken together would spell Positivity in its best sense. Your assistants, nurses, attendants, whatever you like to call them, would have to be highly trained and efficient, as well as sympathetic, kind, and able to understand human nature. Common sense, combined with hard work and a real enthusiasm, and a wish to help on the part of your staff, and intelligent obedience on the part of the pupil patients, ought to go a very long way towards success."
CASE 2.
__, Lancashire.
"October 22nd, 1920.
"DEAR SIR, -- My age is 31; height 5 feet 4 inches, and occupation iron-turner. Developed consumption about a year ago. I was sent to the T.B. doctor of __, and after a time I was admitted to an open-air sanatorium for four months. I still cough and spit first thing in the morning and slightly during the day. I have an ordinary diet, also one quart of milk per day allowed by the authorities."
"November 8th, 1920.
"I have followed your instructions during the last fortnight and am breathing much easier through the nose."
"November 24th, 1920.
"I am following your further instructions, and am deriving benefit from them. I am now breathing through my nose almost all of the time, whereas previously I had been compelled to use the mouth for many years."
"January 5th, 1921.
"I think your system is beginning to make its effect felt, as I feel decidedly happier and more content at my work now."
"January 29th, 1921.
"I have improved in the following ways since commencing the course. I breathe better and easier and through the nostrils. I am feeling much happier and stronger and am more content at my work. I have experienced better walking at times, feeling more 'pulled together,' better carriage, a better feeling round the hips, legs, and ankles (only occasionally yet). I don't feel the need for sleep (or lying down at any rate) after my meals."
"February 18th, 1921.
"I have to attend the local T.B. doctor every three months, and on my last visit (last week) he gave me a very good report, saying I had mended very much."
"March 16th, 1921.
"I find myself clearer-headed and better for the practice. My condition of body I should call very good. Weight steadily increasing, now 11 st. 2-1/2 lbs. (with clothes on), feeling less fatigue, more able to 'carry on' and do a hard day's work every day. My breathing is easier, and I do a lot less spitting."
"April 4th, 1921.
"My health continues to be first-rate. No loss of weight, and I eat and sleep well. I get through a hard day's work and enjoy a good 5 miles' walk without any signs of fatigue. I am more self-confident now than ever, and looking forward to the next lesson."
"May 12th, 1921.
"I have followed your instructions and improved my concentration. I am sure I am on the right track, and gain fresh interest every day. I will try to give my honest opinion of Ars Vivendi for Tuberculosis. I might say it is 12 months ago I came out of a sanatorium, feeling fairly fit and in a fair condition, weight 10 st. 9 lbs. But after a short time back at home and at work, I began to cough and have sleepless nights. I was certainly going back, and thought of giving up work. But coming across your books, I decided to take up your Correspondence Course, with this result. I became convinced I had found the secret of success, had less periods of that downhearted feeling, and looked upon life as worth living. I did not know what it was to breathe through the nose, but can now walk miles with mouth closed. I want more and more air every time I go out. I am feeling myself again. Saw the Tuberculosis doctor yesterday. He reports no active signs of Tuberculosis. Weight now 11 st. 5-1/2 lbs. Am looking forward to the future with every confidence."
_______________
Notes:1. I have read seven of your books, including "New Light on Consumption."
