' r ' ■■■':■' ■:.. SHI : ' H ■ ■"'"■'"■ • ■■:■.-,•■' ■- :'-■-•■■■■■■•. ''"-'•"••■■■■ :■:•'-■■.•-■--'• EHHHhPS Ssriswi mm " --" ;: - Vi^-v ■ Hi LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. T06 )(oO t V.. Sbelf...._..._ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FOKCE. THE Science of Vital Force. ITS PLAN, DIVISION OF FUNCTION, AND OPERATIVE METHODS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. AN INVOLUNTARY AGENCY OF NATURE THAT * CAN BE HARNESSED AND UTILIZED. A BY W. R. DUNHAM, M.D. AUTHOR OF "HIGHER MEDICAL CULTURE." BOSTON: I DAMRELL AND UPHAM, GTJje (Bin Corner ^Bookstore* 1894. i • HO Copyright, 189$, By J. S. Dunham. Samtatts 3Press : John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction 7 I. Statement of the Situation ... 9 II. The Plan of Operative Vital Force. Division of Duties and Ultimate Functions 21 III. Application of Vital Principles and Significant Paragraphs . . 34 IV. Ultimate Vital Properties ... 50 V. Fundamental Principles in Kela- tions with Disease 77 VI. Disease Germs 108 VII. Toleration 124 VIII. Medical Practice 131 IX. Sensation and Sensibility . . . . 151 X. Pneumonia 167 XI. Miscellaneous Paragraphs . . . 180 INTRODUCTION. nr*HE object of this volume is to designate -*- and demonstrate the fundamental prin- ciples of The Science op Vital Force, — a department of natural science that is directly applicable to the preservation of health and the treatment of disease. It is implied in fundamental principles and laws of Nature not yet recognized and presented for consid- eration, and is a department of science that will require a large amount of literature to illustrate its practical application to individ- ual and national affairs. It also implies a rev- ^/ olution of the recognized plan and principles of a department that has been erroneously presented, — a revolution as significant as was effected in the ideal change of the centre of the solar system, and the principles in- 8 INTRODUCTION. volved being as capable of a positive demon- stration. We allege that medical practice, both regular and irregular, is based on imagi- nary fundamental principles as unreal as was the Ptolemaic system of astronomy, on theo- ries that are insufficient for the safe guid- ance of treatment, and dangerous in their application. Stoneham, Mass. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. STATEMENT OF THE SITUATION. Every now and then a man's mind is stretched by a new idea, and never shrinks back to its former dimensions. — O. W. Holmes. TT 7E shall call attention to a department * * of natural science not taught in the schools and institutions of learning, — a sci- ence implied in that agency called " vital force," a subject referred to in medical litera- ture as being too profound for this age, and which is thus relegated to future generations for a solution. It is a department awaiting the recognition of living outgrowths of actual principles in Nature. This science is not capable of being veri- fied from accepted fundamental principles 10 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. now recognized, but can be demonstrated in the functions of the living human organism. The nature and laws of the force of gravita- tion have been solved, and are now being taught as operative in astronomical science, while that agency called " vital force " is re- ceiving little or no consideration from any department of literature. We shall present many nice distinctions for adjustment; and the differentiation of the operative signifi- cance of the agencies called " mind," " life," and " vital force," may not appear distinct at first, but will be defined later. We shall, however, deal mostly with the operative methods and functions of that agency called " vital force," as applied to the human organ- ism in the matter of health and disease. It is difficult at first to recognize that in the department of living nature a serious mistake has been made relative to the fun- damental operative principles, that a different plan, wholly unlike what is now taught, ex- plains better, and correctly, the situation. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 11 In illustration of the premises to be con- sidered, no better comparison can be made than by reference to the condition of the science of astronomy in the time of Ptolemy. At that time all were familiar with astro- nomical phenomena, but the mind had failed to grasp the plan making it possible to ex- plain how such phenomena were produced. Thus they were trying to explain appearances from an imaginary basis. Medical theories are now projected from similar premises. That is, a great variety of the phenomena presented by the living human organism are alleged to be produced by an active princi- ple, not vital, — an agency wholly imaginary. The vital force agency, as implied in the ulti- mate functions of operative life-processes, is a subject confessed in medical literature to be outside the realm of comprehension. Therefore, the recognition of the science of vital force must be implied in the develop- ment of new ideas of Nature's methods. We are informed in history that the an- 12 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. cient scholar Pliny, who lived previous to the third century a. d., gave credit to Acron as being the first to apply philosophical reason, in explanation of medicinal relations, to the human organism. And to him this genera- tion is indebted for that unfortunate inter- pretation, which has been perpetuated to our day, in the recognition of an " active medical principle." We allege, and shall demonstrate, that the doctrine of " active medical prop- erty" is a misnomer in phraseology, and an ideal delusion of serious and great magni- tude in its application. What is now alleged to be an "active medi- cal principle" was formerly called a "medical power " — an ideal and imaginary agency, which is said to be in association with mate- rial medicine, that may operate and act on the organs of the living human system. We are also required to give credit to the same au- thority for the originality of the recognition of a different and undefined agency, which was presumed to find its way into the human THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 13 system, and to operate disastrously to the well being of the individual ; which disturb- ance was called " disease." If Acron was correct in his interpreta- tions, there is illustrated a singular incident, worthy of eulogistic commemoration for all time, implied in that keen perception of in- tellect which was capable of grasping the nature and plan of such relations, which have ever remained satisfactory with all later generations ; while that less mysteriously profound problem of determining the cen- tre of the solar system awaited the advent of Copernicus more than twelve centuries later. This imaginary agency — " active medical principle" — has been equally as acceptable and satisfactory to cultured civilization for centuries as was the ancient ideal centre of the solar system. Thus there has seemed to be no occasion for overhauling the alleged plans and methods of Nature that are im- plied in such relations, which practically 14 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. inflict immeasurable and serious inconven- ence upon cultured and civilized nations. Acron recognized an " active cause of dis- ease," possessed of a riotous disposition, and also an alleged " medical power," now called " active medical property," which was pre- sumed to put to rout the former invader, restore order, and exercise curative influence. The reader of modern medical literature of the present day will discover but slight modification of fundamental premises, unlike those presented for consideration by the an- cient mind. The ideal " active cause of dis- ease" is still recognized as a disturbing agent, associated with some kind of material and alleged " disease germs." The princi- ple of activity, formerly called "a medical power," is now changed to an " active medi- cal property ; " at the same time, however, the phrase " medical power " is of common use in medical literature. Vital force is rec- ognized as that agency which executes the constructive organic function and structural THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 15 repairs ; and also as exercising in disease an influence called the " efforts of nature." And what the vital force is not alleged to do, in the name of " efforts of nature," is pre- sumed to be done by that reserve force of alleged practical utility called the " active medical property," which is accepted as ca- pable of temporarily operating the functional machinery of human life until the vital force rallies to the rescue. If medical literature means anything, such is the true representation of the existing situation in the department of alleged medi- cal science. Notwithstanding that such ideas are sup- ported by the doctrines of current medical literature, we shall try to illustrate the fact, through the Science of Vital Force, that the cause of disease is passive, and also that the doctrine of an " active medical property " is a delusion. The active properties are all vital, although an eminent medical writer of this generation thus states : " This generation 16 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. and generations to come will have passed to their everlasting rest before a discovery of the secret of vital activity is made." This discovery is already made, to be illustrated in the Science of Vital Force ; and when under- stood, which is not a difficult matter, cul- tured civilization will recognize that the fundamental doctrines of alleged medical science are as crude and inapplicable as the ancient astronomical doctrine advanced by Ptolemy. This whole matter is easy of comprehension when considered from a correct standpoint. No one could comprehend the Copernican system of astronomy with Ptolemaic ideas. No one can understand the nature of vital force while seeking to explain the manifesta- tion of living phenomena as being produced by some agency, not vital, that was acting on the human organism. In our efforts to present intelligently the nature, laws, and operative methods of vital force, we are required to begin with a THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 17 recognition unlike that which prevails with the agency called "the force of gravitation," in which department it is not possible to recognize more than one method, one ultimate function ; while the science of vital force is implied in a compound primary function, and in four different, equally ultimate methods of vital action, — a fact apparently not recog- nized by medical writers and scientists. In calling attention to this department of Nature, we doubtless may be laboring under disadvantages similar to those which existed when it was sought to make acceptable the idea of a different centre of the solar system. The already accepted centre was so satisfac- tory that it required more skill to eliminate the false doctrine than to explain the har- mony, utility, and advantage of the natural plan implied in a different centre. The the- ory and doctrine of " active medical proper- ties " has been accepted for more than fifteen centuries without a recognized protest con- sidered worthy of review ; and like seeing the 18 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. sun revolve around the earth, both cultured and uncultured minds have seen what this " active medical property" was doing, pro- vided we accept this testimony. We confess that it will be difficult in this age of intelli- gence to eliminate long cherished ideas, and to accept the situation we allege, without the presentation of a volume of incontrovertible testimony from Nature. At first we are confronted with this rational inference, that it does not seem credible that the analytical mind, particularly of the last half century, could have been mistaken in the nature of this problem. The same, how- ever, was doubtless said of the ideal earth- centre of the solar system, after thirteen hundred years of acceptance, when Copernicus recorded his protest. This science is not obscured by its profundity, but it has simply been over-looked, existing in a place where the human mind has never had occasion to make research. It has remained among the hidden mysteries of Nature, largely THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE, 19 because there has been accepted an ideal substitute for vital force, — an agency not vital, called the " active medical principle." Every department of natural science exe- cuted by the forces of Nature is presented in accordance with a pre-arranged plan ; and unless we recognize the correct plan, it is impossible to comprehend the operative pro- ceedings of that special department. To make plain the distinction between the accepted plan as now taught, and the plan that we are to suggest for the study of this department of Nature implied in the Science of Vital Force, we would say that the present accepted, erroneous, and ideal plan is im- plied in three unlike divisions of alleged active principles, — the active vital principle, the principle implied in the " active cause of disease," and the " active medical prop- erty ; " whereas the plan that we shall al- lege and demonstrate is implied in one kind of active principle, — the active vital 20 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. principle, having four distinct ultimate vital properties. The difference of plan as an intellectual question implies an operative distinction equal to the difference between the two alleged centres of the solar system. II. THE PLAN OF OPERATIVE VITAL FORCE. DIVI- SION OF DUTIES AND ULTIMATE FUNCTIONS. "\ HTAL power is that active principle ^ which constructs and preserves the human organism, executing its mission in the universe with as much precision and con- formity to law and method as prevails in the departments of inorganic science. The inor- ganic force called "gravitation" executes those changeable phenomena presented in astronomical science, while the vital force executes those phenomena of natural science implied in conditions of health and disease, and operative proceedings which succeed from medicinal relations. The study of the human system as now taught in the schools has its beginning with physiological functions and anatomical struc- 22 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. tures; while with the plan implied in the Science of Vital Force it is required that we begin further back, — that we make research, and determine what divisions there may be of ultimate vital functions that enable such physiological functions and anatomical struc- tures to be thus executed and arranged. In other words, we must determine what con- stitute the essential and primary divisions of life functions, that as a whole make possible the execution of such proceedings. To say that such are organic human life functions, undefined, is not sufficient. It is necessary to grasp in idea certain great and underlying primal principles of organic human life, that have beginning and existence even before physiological and anatomical functions can be made operative. We are about to start on an important journey of ideal research, — a research that may reward us with a correct recognition of the nature of vital force. Therefore it is necessary to determine something that vital THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 23 force does, that we can call by a name, — some isolated ultimate function that can be defined and demonstrated beyond all contro- versy. And whatever such function (or func- tions) may be, it will be that something which is done, which constitutes its nature. We are at the most critical stage of this ideal beginning; and we must begin right, and make sure that none who come after us can recognize a function and method of this agency which we fail to discover; also that what we define will be so susceptible of demonstration that no contradiction can be supported. We cannot recognize its nature in a single ultimate function that can be expressed as a unit; but we are required to interpret its nature as existing in four units, four beginnings, four different functions, — each unlike the other, and no part of the other; each an ultimate function that can be defined, verified, and demonstrated in unmis- takable phenomena presented by the living human organism, constituting in its four 24 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. divisions and unlike functions of vital prop- erties the complete total and aggregate of vital methods, from which basis all the sub- sequent operations of life, in health and disease, are dependent. And we make use of the following names and terms as being representative of such four ultimate vital properties: Sensibility, Instinct, Sensation, and Contractility. We shall but briefly outline the function and distinction of each vital property in this place, but later will take up each divi- sion with a more extended illustration. Sensibility. This term is used to represent certain life abilities comprised in all the variety of brain functions and conscious intelligence. This vital property is implied in the ability to command and execute volun- tary acts, having perceptive abilities that may recognize things, conditions, and rela- tions both in contact with the organism and external and beyond contact ; that is, at all distances. It is the mind property, — that THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 25 property of life which superintends all the voluntary acts. Instinct. This is a vital property wholly unlike sensibility. It presides over the in- voluntary acts, superintending the construc- tion of the organic body. Sensibility volun- tarily supplies the material for constructive purpose, while instinct superintends the use and application of such material in the process of organic growth. The instinct superintends not only the disposition to be made of nutritive material, but the method of eliminating all foreign material that has been introduced into the human organism by accident or design. Instinct, as an ultimate vital property, has no other function except to superintend conditions, and to dispose of material having contact relations with the living organism. Sensibility is the com- mander-in-chief of the voluntary acts, while instinct is commander-in-chief of all invol- untary acts manifested by the living organism. Instinct is a vital property pervading all the 26 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. living tissues, while sensibility is a vital property not pervading all the tissues. Sensation. This is a vital property whose function is wholly unlike those already men- tioned. It is a vital property expressed by certain nerves, whose function is implied in conveying information of existing conditions and the presence of material contacts both to sensibility and to instinct. That is, com- paratively speaking, sensation is a kind of telegraph that makes known to the other vital properties, or enables such other vital proper- ties to hold practical relations with, existing conditions and material contact relations, — relations that may require attention from one or both of those vital properties before mentioned. The means through which this vital prop- erty communicates such facts are implied in an experience of varied sensations called " feelings," which are produced by contacts, and which are implied in all kinds of sensa- tions, from exquisite sensational pleasures to THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 27 excruciating pain. The language of this vital property is the language of experienced sen- sation implied in all kinds of sensational feel- ing. It has no other function, it can execute no other duty. It was created for no other purpose than to experience feeling from con-' tact. And the silent language which it speaks thus communicates with sensibility and in- stinct, each being made aware of duties re- quiring the attention of both. The term "irritability" may represent either a disa- greeable sensibility or a disagreeable sensa- tion, but does not imply a different vital property. Some sensations are known and relate only to the consciousness, requiring attention solely from the function of sensi- bibity. Other sensations have practical rela- tions only with the function of instinct, and are unknown by the sensibility as having existence. In this distinction of the relations of sensa- tion are implied important facts to be recog- nized later in association with the causes of 28 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. disease. Sensibility executes its function at all distances, while sensation executes func- tion only at insensible distances developed by causes existing in immediate contact. In medical literature the terms " sensibility " and " sensation " are used as synonyms in their application to the affairs of the human organism, obscuring all idea of difference be- tween the functions of the two unlike vital properties, — the term "sensation" being fre- quently used for a brain function, while the term " sensibility " is made applicable to the representation of existing feelings of the lower extremities ; thus making it as impos- sible to solve and comprehend many of the problems of human life affairs as it would be to solve mathematical problems without distinction of idea between the application of division and multiplication. Contractility. This is a vital property manifested by the contraction and alternate relaxation of muscular fibre. This property may be considered as an in- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 29 visible instrument of motion in the hands of both the instinct and sensibility. Sensation may have relation to certain facts that re- quire the attention of instinct applied to the function of involuntary action. At other times, the sensation may relate to the sensi- bility in such way as to require that some duty shall be executed by a voluntary act. Thus contractility is a vital property to be made operative by both the instinct and the sensibility. In other words, sensibility presides over voluntary contractility, while instinct presides over involuntary contrac- tility. Contractility is the animal strength property. Abstract thought implies the di- rect exercise of the vital property of sensi- bility. The mind does not effect voluntary muscular motion directly, but employs the vital property of contractility to execute this function. The same exercise of contrac- tility can be made operative, and thus used by instinct to exercise muscular motion even after decapitation, by applying the galvanic current to cause irritable sensation. 30 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. We trust the reader will recognize the distinction implied between the direct and the indirect operation of a vital property. The science of vital force is implied in a great multiplicity of such distinctions. We have thus outlined briefly the function of each of the ultimate vital properties and the unlike duties they perform, which in the aggregate are operative in producing all the visible phenomena presented by the living human organism. We trust the reader will be able to determine that one vital property is not the other, and that the problems of organic human life have their solution pred- icated on the nature and executive functions of the co-operative vital properties. It is apparent that each of the ultimate vital properties executes unlike functions, while it requires the exercise of all those vital properties to execute physiological function and to construct anatomical product. Thus we trust that the premises are made clear; THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 31 that we begin with a study of life functions, which antedate physiological functions. Reader, have you any exceptions to file relative to the number of ultimate vital prop- erties, more or less ; and whether or not such functions as mentioned are entitled to be con- sidered as ultimate vital properties ? Can you recognize in the human organism any vital function not entitled to be included in the four properties described ? Do you think Nature does, or does not, supply and present the existence of ultimate functions that can be verified, in order to demonstrate the correctness of the working plan as here presented ? To understand the nature of disease, — not its appearance, but how it is produced, — and how to prevent and how to cure, and how to take advantage of fleeting opportuni- ties ; and also to understand the relation of materia medica to the human system, in addi- tion to the knowledge of its relational effects, it is essential to become familiar with the 32 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. operative and co-operative functions of the four vital properties in all the affairs of human life. And while it was necessary to eliminate the ideal earth-centre of the solar system to enable the science of astronomy to be developed, it will be equally important and imperative to eliminate the doctrine of ideal " active medical property," — that ideal and imaginary agency which is presumed to act and exercise an influence with the invol- untary department of human life affairs. This doctrine and idea of " active medical property" has been kept alive and perpetu- ated by a conventional acceptance based on appearances, which is wholly in violation of the nature of things, and as unreal of cor- rect representation as the alleged earth-centre, and having no more scientific meaning than a telegraphic cypher code. It ic a singular fact that in the study of this subject we are confronted with a very peculiar paradox. Notwithstanding this doc- trine of " active medical property " consti- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 33 tutes a serious obstacle in the pathway of a recognized science of vital force, it is not possible to eliminate such delusion until a comprehension and recognized demonstration can be developed of the nature and functions of the ultimate properties of vital force, and of their co-operative methods of procedure in the affairs of health and disease. A knowledge of the special function of each of the ultimate vital properties, and of their co- operative relations, contributes to a compre- hension of the nature of every variety of disease, its proper treatment and the modus operandi of medicine. Such knowledge con- tributes an advantage equal to that which the knowledge of the first four principles of arithmetic contributes to the solution of prob- lems in higher mathematics, and is no less indispensable. III. APPLICATION OF VITAL PRINCIPLES AND SIGNIFICANT PARAGRAPHS. TT 7E shall call attention to the applica- tion of separate vital properties in execution of physiological functions, only sufficient to make illustration of simple problems that may lead to the elucidation of the more complex. The vital property, sensibility, makes use of the voluntary, contractility, to introduce within the stomach the nutritive material necessary for organic constructive purposes. After this material has been thus introduced, the vital property, sensation, enables the fact of such presence to be known to the instinct, which in its turn superintends and makes useful the involuntary, contractility, in connection with physical principles, to THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 35 inaugurate physiological proceedings, — that is, to transform said nutritive material into part and parcel of the tissues of the living human organism. It is not necessary to trace such applica- tion in detail as applied to physiological functions, but sufficient only to connect the underlying principles implied in such func- tions, with the execution of physiological proceedings. Provided the sensibility has by accident introduced within the stomach some kind of foreign material (material not of possible use for constructive purpose ; for instance, lobelia), the vital property, sensa- tion, in connection with instinct, discovers such fact, and employs the involuntary, contractility, to execute the act of emesis, — thus illustrating that the vital property, instinct, has the ability to correct some of the errors of sensibility; and also that in- stinct presides over all material that has found its way into the human organism, using nutritive and eliminating foreign. 86 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. All material of every kind, when introduced within the human organism, is subject to such disposal by the involuntary vital proper- ties as its true relation requires. Instinct, without the aid of sensibility or will, directs many acts of self-preservation and defence. Such proceedings are said to be something that "Nature has done," in distinction to what is presumed, in accord- ance with the old plan, that some other agency might do. Vital force — in other words Nature — does it all. Material does not act, and is without active principles; the vital principle does the acting. And it may act spontaneously for self-defence, or from invitation, by supplied medicinal rela- tion. When invited by medicine, it is Nature — the active vital principle — which acts. Medicinal contact causes a sensation, to which instinct responds with an involun- tary act. The vital property, instinct, super- intends all the involuntary doing; and no other agency exercises operative relations THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 37 with the affairs of organic life in health and disease. The functions of sensibility and instinct may be independent of each other in certain affairs, but not in all affairs. Sensibility must furnish instinct with the material for constructive purposes; and when properly constructed, those premises are made to exist, — which make it possible to exercise the function of sensibility. With the conditions of disease, the in- stinct directly superintends and directs the activities of disturbance, although in many cases sensibility can to a limited degree indi- rectly guide, with more or less moderation, many of those actions. The use of medicine in its practical relation affords the supply of a contact-cause for moderating and divert- ing the actions of the instinctive vital agency, — thus enabling us to effect the guidance of those actions which instinct superintends, and vital force operates. Vital force is the active agent that operates the functions of the 38 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. vital properties, while those vital properties superintend the voluntary and involuntary complex operations of human life. We can- not, however, recognize vital force as an agency independent of those functions. Medicine has no " active principles " of operative influence within itself ; but its pres- ence may be a cause which may occasion the involuntary active vital principle to act differently. Thus we may indirectly cause, to a limited extent, such involuntary vital activity as is thought best to have executed under the existing circumstances. This theory may be illustrated in making use of ipecacuanha to cause a sensation of nausea, which sensation appeals to instinct, to make operative that involuntary contractility which ejects the contents of the stomach. One simple problem understood is as instructive as a thousand similar problems. A very important practical idea to be kept in view, in guiding the active vital principle, like the guiding of an unruly horse, is to THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 39 begin to guide early, before the animal be- comes violent and unmanageable. Have in mind the nature and methods of the operative vital principle, and thus anticipate results, and seek to out-general those dangerous instinctive actions by an early guiding. There may be as great display of skill in preventing severe sickness as there is in curing severe sickness, and the risk for the patient is much less. Such practice, how- ever, is not always appreciated; and of the physician employing it this may very likely be said : " I hardly know how much skill Dr. Blank has really got. He does n't seem to have so many very sick patients ; and I don't know how he would succeed with the more severe ailments. " It is true that while instinct presides directly over all involuntary acts, sensibility may to a great degree preside indirectly over the functions of instinct. Before proceeding further, it is important to recognize the distinction between physio- 40 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. logical and pathological vital acts, not alone in appearance, but in principle. In other words, What constitutes physiological ac- tion ? This question seems simple enough at first, but it will be found that much confu- sion prevails in the department to which it applies. We shall define physiological action to be the action of the involuntary active vital principle acting in relation to nutritive mate- rial for organic constructive purpose, and for the elimination of normal waste and worn-out tissues. We shall define patholo- gical action to be vital action acting in rela- tion to surplus nutritive material not of possible use at the time, and to foreign material. Physiological action and pathological ac- tion are both made operative by the active vital property, instinct, exercised for unlike purposes. There is a dividing line of fact distinction, and there should be a dividing line in ideal distinction; and such distinc- THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 41 tion should be recognized as among the primary principles which may enable us to solve more complex problems. In accordance with the other plan, — the accepted plan, on which theories are based, — it is recorded in current and approved medical literature that agencies not vital may execute, and " act physiologically " as well as pathologically. Thus there is a great distinction between the fundamental premises of the two alleged plans for the development of a medical education. All readers of medical journals are fre- quently informed that "Dr. Blank has dis- covered a new isomeric compound, of which it seems that the differently placed atomic radicals may account for the creation of that new active principle which enables such chemical compound to act physiologically." This is not a stray isolated paragraph ; such paragraphs are abundant; and such "dis- coveries " have been more frequent of late years, as every reputable medical journal will bear witness. 42 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. Now, this is a curious state of ideal affairs, although it is alleged science, that human dexterity in the chemical laboratory- may be able to produce inorganic compounds " creating " active principles which have the power to transform nutritive material into living human tissues. The intelligent phy- sician has said in reply with much empha- sis: "No one entertains any such idea." While such denial is true, no doubt, it may be very difficult sometimes to determine what the idea really is that finds expression in such language. Provided, however, that the accepted plan and theory of alleged med- ical science is correct, such an idea is rational, not requiring denial ; and the pro- fession should continue to insist upon the doctrine that chemical combinations may create "active principles" that have the ability to transform nutritive material into living tissues. The accepted plan and theory of medical science, as now taught, implies that agencies not vital may act physiologi- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 43 callj T as well as pathologically and medici- nally. In fact, the ideal utility of the med- ical department is founded on the presump- tion that it is possible to supply an " active principle " and power, not vital, that may temporarily act in substitution of the vital power. Notwithstanding that while this accepted theory has a stronger hold on the imagination than the ancient ideal earth- centre of a former period, and against which the dignity of culture has ever enjoined silence, its supporters have little or no pride in its intellectuality. They do not like to talk about it as a principle, but laud its operative effects. It prevents a mental vacuum, however, and subserves the interests of business as a temporary bridge for the freighting over of unintelligible ideas, con- stituting the only idea on record of the rela- tion of medicine to the living human organism. The medical profession does not take kindly to new theories in substitute for old. 44 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. They think they need more practical facts, not theories. Such is not true. It is a theory that can be demonstrated, that will contribute most to the advancement of med- ical science even practically. What is needed at the present time is a theory that will afford a correct idea of the nature of every form of disease, and how produced, — the nature and law of the operating active vital principle, which is ever present in each case and at all stages of the disease ; also a correct idea and comprehension of the rela- tion of medicine to the human organism. Neither of these departments at the present time are even claimed in medical literature to be within the grasp of comprehension. Correct theory holds the same relation to a scientific medical practice that the mariner's compass holds to the ship's sailing master: it is a guide for the management of the craft. And while the medical profession abjure the value of theory, and call for facts, they are perpetuating a culture of the THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 45 most absurd and dangerous theory that ever wrought misery and destruction to a civilized people. The fallacious medical theory of profes- sional adoption, and the contagious low ideal of medical science which pervades the non- professional mind, enable medicine merchants quickly to become millionnaires at the ex- pense of ignorance and unimproved invalid- ism, and allow ignorance to compete with intelligence in the treatment of the sick, being responsible also for charlatanry and the medical robberies in this age of civiliza- tion. Intelligence does not count for much with many sick people. It is the wonderful curative medical agency of discovery which does the business, and which is entitled to the highest consideration. Thus it is of minor importance from whose hands it may be supplied. It is claimed in medical literature that the " active medical principle " in certain doses will act medicinally, while a larger dose will 46 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. act pathologically. It will be illustrated later that the action implied in the modus operandi of medicines and the alleged action of poisons are but different degrees in violence of patho- logical vital action. There is no medical scientist who can define the difference between a medical action and a pathological vital action ; nor the difference between patho- logical vital action and the action called disease. In the study of the science of numbers, we first learn the numerals, multiplication table, and the first four operative principles in mathematics, before attempting the solution of higher and more profound problems. It is similar with the study of the vital agency: primary premises must engage primary atten- tion. Unless one becomes familiar with the operative relations of the four ultimate vital properties, and recognizes that such ideal is verified in the affairs of the human organism, it will be impossible to recognize and escape from that calamitous infliction of inheritance THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 47 thrust upon civilization in the name of an u active medical principle." The Ptolemaic theory of astronomy prevailed for thirteen hundred years without a record of protest. The doctrine of an "active medical principle," an alleged agency not vital, has been accepted since the days of Acron, dating back to near the beginning of the Christian era, and is equally as fallacious. Medical literature constitutes a vast store- house of valuable and practical facts, but confesses ignorance of the nature, method, and laws of the vital force which creates such facts, — alleging that some other agency, not vital, is concerned in their production. It alleges also that it is u impossible in the present state of science to come to any posi- tive conclusion in regard to the nature of the vital force." But there is no other nature to vital force except what is implied in the func- tions of the separate ultimate vital proper- ties and their co-operative relations. What they do is their nature. It is impossible to 48 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. go behind each represented special vital property, and comprehend any division or factor of previous existence from which such special alleged ultimate vital property might grow. We must be content, for the present at least, to begin with the nature of such functions ; and just what such functions execute, constitutes its nature. Physiologi- cal action is health-producing action ; and pathological action is disease-producing action. Disease and pathological vital action represent a similar disturbance in its essential nature. Functional disease is pathological vital action ; while organic disease is a construction devel- oped by pathological vital action. Nature's methods have always been slow of recognition, constituting a department of inquiry that is liable to experience erroneous pre-conceived ideas of the situation, — a situ- ation more difficult to overcome, many times, than a demonstration of the reality. The pro- jector of the correct ideal centre of the solar system had nothing to fear from intellectual THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 49 influences ; it was the illiteracy of the unscien- tific mind that developed the unpleasant surroundings. Every department of Nature is presented in accordance with some divine plan; and we allege that the fundamental principles of the Science of Vital Force exist in the functions of the four ultimate vital properties, which must be recognized and verified in support of the elucidation of the more complex problems of animated human life. IV. ULTIMATE VITAL PROPERTIES. TT is not our purpose to present an exhaus- tive treatise of each department, but a more extended mention than was presented in a previous chapter. We shall, however, endeavor to illustrate each division suffi- ciently to establish a recognition that may be confirmed by affidavits of Nature's testimony. It may be asked whether it is reasonable to anticipate that the theory and science of vital force will ever be adopted and become prac- tical ? In reply we can only say that the new plan and science of astronomy was adopted after several generations of protest; and it is as reasonable to anticipate that all correct theories of natural science will be adopted when the human mind outgrows its super- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 51 stitions of ancient origin, and gives reason a chance to develop. There are some things in Nature very difficult to ignore : a person may attempt to ignore the fact that he ever had a parent; but such doctrine would be attended with no less difficulty than the effort to ignore the science and practical utility of the vital agency. Like mathe- matics, this science is eminently practical when understood, and indispensable in aid of a life-saving treatment of disease, and is certainly of some satisfaction as an intel- lectual accomplishment. Sensibility. This vital property includes all and every department of intelligence; and in calling attention to this property of human life operations, we shall divide the subject into two grand divisions, — with one of which all readers are familiar, while the other remains more or less obscure, with here and there a recognized out-cropping. And while each of the two grand divisions belongs to the department of intelligence, 52 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. they seem to emanate from unlike condi- tions. Ordinary methods of expressing intelli- gence will be considered as a supraliminal consciousness ; while the phrase " subliminal consciousness " is recognized as most appro- priate in representation of that more obscure function of mind property and intellectual ability. The supraliminal consciousness — above the horizon, and within the limit of recogni- tion — constitutes the ordinary voluntary ability of mental function. It is a property or function of mental ability, which no one individual mind can measure, and of greater dimensions than its own circumference; while the boundaries of this function will ever remain undetermined. Not only has this life property the ability to exercise its function in relation to all the external affairs of the universe ; but it may operate directly the ultimate vital property, contractility, and indirectly guide, to a limited degree, the vital property, instinct. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 53 There is implied in this vital property, sensibility, an ability to originate ideas and to experience emotions of grief, joy, hope, reverence, and to exercise reason and develop a comprehension of those operative principles of Nature which give variety to the visible universe. The special application we are to make of this function and division, as appli- cable to our subject, will be largely to illus- trate its existence in distinction from other ultimate vital properties, and its co-operation in association with other life properties. Sleep is implied in a complete temporary sus- pension of the active property, sensibility, — a condition from which we may be awak- ened in various ways, and frequently by the vital property of the individual sensation. In adopting a name for the obscure division of this mind property, the most advanced thinkers have coined the phrase "sublim- inal consciousness," as best expressive of an intelligence manifested unlike the ordinary consciousness, — an intelligence uprising, as 54 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. we might say, from a submerged strata of individual personality. And it has been asked, "Is there some pattern in the very fabric of our nature which begins to show when we scratch the glaze off the stuff ? " It may be impossible to define where supralim- inal consciousness leaves off, and subliminal intelligence begins; but such, at least, is not our purpose. We only desire to call attention to this department in order to illustrate that there is an obscure feature of human intellectual personality of continued increasing complexity, — a kind of intelli- gence emanating from our obscure selves, of mysterious operation, not easy of comprehen- sion, and for purposes not wholly recognized. We can no better illustrate this depart- ment than by mentioning some of the operations thus executed. What is called " automatic writing " consists of a written intelligence from some source, of whose nature and purport the writer's conscious intelligence may have no knowledge, and THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 55 which is sometimes called " trance writing. " The operation implied in a genuine " trance " is an illustration of the exercise of a faculty of subliminal consciousness. This singular ability may be exercised in the dark in such feats as landscape and portrait painting. This sub-state called "subliminal con- sciousness " belongs to and is a part of the nature of every individual, existing to a more or less degree; and it is capable of being brought to the surface by a system of culti- vation. It is not a consciousness which has been acquired through the culture of supra- liminal abilities, but a kind of innate con- sciousness which may acquire intelligence by an entirely different method, — a conscious- ness which may possess wonderful faculties even in persons whose ordinary intelligence may be mediocre and even below par, illus- trated frequently in mathematical and musi- cal "freaks," so called. It is not unreason- able to suppose that much of the most bril- liant genius of historic mention may have xS 56 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. been found in persons capable of drawing on this quality of highly endowed natural ability. For this subliminal consciousness, with some individuals, has the ability of silent commu- nication. In other words, the subliminal consciousness of A may learn of the sublim- inal consciousness of B what might be known to B by his supraliminal consciousness. Thus A may learn the thoughts and facts known only to B, — which is often accom- plished in test proceedings, and is called " telepathy." The supraliminal mind may imagine itself, and really be, on any part of the globe, while the subliminal may have even a greater ability : it may describe accu- rately the things seen ; it may enter the resi- dence of persons miles away, and describe all there is in the room as correctly, in many instances, as an individual presence might accomplish. Such feats are called " clairvoy- ance ; " and clairvoyance consists in a tempo- rary suspension of the supraliminal mind, and the exercise of the subliminal abilities. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 57 Hypnotism consists in a temporary suspen- sion of the supraliminal faculties of A, while the supraliminal consciousness of B becomes operative with both the thoughts and volun- tary mechanism of A ; and when complete, the voluntary mind of B, with a good subject, may cause hypnotic A to speak the thoughts of B, while A is not conscious of thus doing. But how is this done ? The explanation, we fear, would be as difficult as to explain how we think. In the exercise of the subliminal faculties it is possible that A may speak or write a foreign language wholly unknown to A in his normal condition, it being the native language of B. Thus A may know through the subliminal consciousness of B the lan- guage which B speaks, and may write a message in that language relative to which B has knowledge, while A may have no knowledge of the language or of the incident mentioned in the message. When a child or an untutored individual goes into a trance, 58 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. uses the subliminal faculties, and writes in a language unknown to his normal conscious- ness, the inference is often accepted that the "spirit" of some distinguished dead person is using this particular organism to commu- nicate with the living. Such incidents, how- ever, are telepathic operations, constituting a subliminal exchange of intelligence. The child's subliminal consciousness is in tele- pathic communication with the same faculty of one who speaks such language. No well-informed person will deny the existence of the alleged subliminal conscious- ness. Neither is it intellectually prudent to circumscribe the limits and abilities of such division of intellectual function in liv- ing human individuality. That agency which has been recognized and given the name of "psychic force" is a factor of the subliminal consciousness. This comparative recent discovery of an agency, frequently presented unconsciously through the living human organism, is receiving much attention THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 59 from the most advanced minds in civilized countries ; and to mention the many singular and varied presentations of this agency would require more space than we can give to this interesting department. It may not, however, be considered foreign to our subject to state that a large proportion of alleged departed "spirit manifestations" are implied in phenomena presented by the subliminal consciousness of living individ- uals. And while it may be true that de- parted "spirit communication" is possible, we can only say that such kind of fact trans- cends all our experience, knowledge, and comprehension. We are, however, not capa- ble of measuring what may have been revealed to others in addition to the limits of the liv- ing subliminal function. Instinct. The official function of this vital property consists in presiding over all mate- rial that is found within the jurisdiction of the human organism, implied in the trans- formation and arrangement of nutritive 60 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. material into assimilated living tissues, and the methods adopted in the elimination of waste and foreign material. Both physio- logical and pathological proceedings are directed by this vital property, and executed through the joint exercise of this function in association with other vital properties. Sensibility superintends the voluntary acts, while instinct superintends the involuntary. Each department employs other vital prop- erties to aid in the execution of its own official duties. Instinct as an isolated function is difficult to illustrate except in general outline, and can best be illustrated in association with other functions. It is to be recognized, how- ever, that instinct is not intelligence; that while it may direct many pathological vital acts conducive to the best interest of the human organism, it may also do the oppo- site. It may direct the execution of acts seriously destructive, which require to be watched and guided. Thus while instinct THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 61 may correct many errors committed by sen- sibility, at the same time sensibility must frequently correct and modify the patholo- gical acts operated by this vital property. It may be said that sensibility is a vital property associated alone with the brain, while instinct pervades the whole organism, having its business office associated with nerve ganglions. Instinct may be recognized as more prominent in early life than sensi- bility, and die later. It will be noticed that we have given a different interpretation to the function of instinct than is found to prevail in other departments of literature. Nearly all writ- ers and speakers, in illustrating the function of animal instinct, will refer to the acts of the beaver in building his dam as the most typical and generic act representing its appli- cation. The question may arise, whether in its true import, as a representative func- tion of organic nature, instinct can be made to do duty in such dual and unlike applica- 62 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. tion as alleged; that is, as being both repre- sentative of an involuntary vital property, and also a quality of limited voluntary abil- ity ? When one refers to the lexicons to determine the function of instinct, one will find both voluntary and involuntary acts defined as instinctive functions. Webster defines instinct thus : " Unreasoning impulse in an animal, by which it is guided to the performance of an action without thought of improvement in method. " Professor Robley Dunglison's medical lexicon defines it thus : "Inwardly moved; the action of the living principle directing its operations to health preservation. The law of instinct is the law of the living principle." The latter defini- tion supports the function which we have attributed to instinct. The building of a dam by a beaver is a voluntary act directed by the brain, — the sensibility illustrating a limited degree of constructive ability, although it meets the required wants of the species. The function THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 63 we recognize as instinct is directed by an involuntary vital property, an involuntary, constructive, preservative, living, active principle. From a scientific standpoint, it would seem in very bad taste to allow the term " instinct " to represent both voluntary and involuntary acts; and in place of defin- ing the instinct of a beaver as illustrated in the construction of a dam, we claim it would be more appropriate to have it apply to the construction of the beaver itself. That portion of Professor Dunglison's defi- nition, u the law of instinct is the law of the living principle," constitutes a valuable scien- tific text ; and while the " living principle " cannot be represented by instinct alone, neither can instinct be illustrated and under- stood except in connection with other vital properties as applied to the many affairs of the operations of life. Will some philologist please construct a word to take the place of "instinct," that may represent that innate intelligence which enables the animal crea- 64 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. tion to exercise voluntary ability for self- preservation ? Sensation. This vital property will prove very interesting from a practical standpoint. The function of this property consists in making known to both sensibility and in- stinct all existing conditions and material relations, normal and abnormal. Sensibility relates us to the external world, while sen- sation relates us to the contact world. Vol- untary motion is exercised in response to the will, while involuntary motion is exercised by the dictates of instinct in response to a sensation. It is through the medium of sensation that the sensibility, the conscious- ness, becomes able to know many of the conditions and existing relations which require attention from that department; it is also the medium through which instinct becomes aware of the conditions and rela- tions requiring attention from that vital property. The variety of sensations are as prolific THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 65 and innumerable as the different kinds and degrees of thought; and the question may arise, What is a sensation, and how is it produced? In non-professional literature incidents are mentioned causing emotion and commo- tion, which are erroneously called "sensa- tions," — a usage allowed to prevail because no special distinction has been recognized and defined, between sensation and sensibility as distinct life functions. The term "sen- sation " represents some kind of feeling expe- rienced from a contact relation with those nerves called the "nerves of sensation." This class of nerves are for no other purpose than to experience sensations caused by some existing relation of contact. There will be mentioned later some special exceptions to this statement. At present we will say that sensibility can exercise its function with relations at all distances, while sensation can exercise its function only at insensible distances. Thus we must recognize a very 5 66 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. significant distinction between the functions of those two vital properties. In illustration of different kinds of sensa- tion we may mention some of those feelings, or sensations, implied in sensational pleas- ures and miseries, — taste, smell, heat, cold, itching, smarting, sensational irritability undefined, and pain of all degrees, compris- ing a variety of sensations that may be known by the sensibility. There are very numerous sensations not recognized directly by the mind, but which first have relations to the instinct, and which later, indirectly, are thus known to have had existence. Such are implied in many of the causes of disease, to be illustrated later. The fact that sensations may be produced by contacts affords opportunity for their development at will. Thus sensibility — in other words, intellect — may learn how to produce any kind of sensation desirable ; also how many sensations are produced which are not desirable. Those nerves created for THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 67 such purpose are ever on the alert to recog- nize and experience such sensations as be- come a part of the conditions of health and disease. Sensation must be recognized as an ultimate vital property distinct in itself, and no factor of any other vital property. Sensibility is a vital property having a func- tion which may comprehend the universe; while sensation has no function outside that part of the universe not implied in a contact with the living organism. We insist that an ideal distinction shall become fixed, relative to the difference be- tween the two functions of sensibility and sensation. No reader can proceed under- standing^ without first developing such a recognition. If we refer to the lexicons for a definition, I fear we shall fail to find a distinction with a difference. And in the reading of medical literature it will be observed that the most distinguished writers permit sensibility to be manifested by every part of the external body, from the toes to 68 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. the crown of the head. No distinction is recognized between the knowledge of a sen- sation and the sensation itself. The lexi- cons define sensibility as " a capacity to feel, — as a frozen limb loses its sensibility. " In such an instance the leg has lost its function of sensation, and the sensibility has become aware of the fact. Consider for a moment what progress could be made with the science of numbers, pro- vided its teachers failed to establish an ideal distinction between the fundamental princi- ples of addition and division. We may ac- quire certain knowledge independent of the vital property of sensation, while some kinds of knowledge must be acquired through that function. There are certain facts that may become known from two unlike methods. We may perceive through the media of the optic organs, and thus know, that an injury has been done to the external structures; while the sensation called " pain " may also enable such fact to be known. There are THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 69 numerous facts, however, of which we have no means of knowing except by this indirect way of recognizing the kind of sensation which has been produced from some contact cause. There is also another combination through which we are enabled to know of facts, unlike either of the two mentioned: not from sight, not from recognized sensa- tion, but from an act — a visible action — which instinct has directed, and which is manifested by an involuntary contractility. In other words, some cause of disturbance may exist producing a sensation from con- tact relating only to the instinct, relative to which instinct directs activities; and we become aware of such existing contact and cause only by a recognition of the patholo- gical vital action. For instance, a person may swallow some strychnia in disguise, and in a brief time the instinct has become aware of such fact through the nerves of sensation, and has directed involuntary contractility, — convulsions. 70 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. The practical man may despise such fine- spun theories, but he should remember that this kind of incident is continually being presented in the manifestation of active dis- ease, where causes are not recognized to exist until consequences are developed. He should keep in mind also that the cause of disease is not active, but always passive. Health is physiological vital action, while disease is pathological vital action. Words are ori- ginated for the transportation of ideas ; and unless the original idea is correct, the term may be misleading. Medicine is as passive as the cause of disease. It does not act ; it has no " active medical property." Medicine is useful as placed in contact with the nerves of sensa- tion, to cause instinct to direct a different involuntary vital action more conducive to a speedy restoration of normal vital function. Thus to be able to use medicine most advan- tageously, — to be able to seize the immediate opportunity, to know what to do and what THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 71 not to do, — it is extremely essential that those who superintend the management of disease should be familiar with the Science of Vital Force, the only active agency that is operative in the affairs of health and dis- ease. A passive cause is not an active prin- ciple; and Nature's functional methods of co-operation and restorative process are dif- erent, and of finer calibre, than is implied in the doctrine of medical powers and " active medical principles. " Notwithstanding that some of the theories here presented may seem hair-splitting and unpractical, such is not the fact; and the subject includes those which are much finer, and also eminently practical. Contractility. This is a vital property of animal strength, manifested in muscular tissues, — a contractile strength which can be measured in pounds. This vital property is as distinct in its function as either of those already mentioned. The sensibility uses and makes application 72 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. of this property for voluntary duties requir- ing muscular assistance, while instinct makes use of this property for the execution of involuntary acts requiring muscular effort. The heart is operated by instinct; but some individuals can exercise sufficient will-power to modify the heart's action. There may be degrees of mental emotion sufficient to suspend completely the heart's action and to cause death. The function of respiration can be exercised by both the sensibility and the instinct. This function is performed by a muscular contraction which lifts the ribs, draws them upward nearer the chin, — tend- ing to produce a vacuum, which is prevented by the inflowing of atmospheric air. The muscular contraction and lifting of the ribs can be executed voluntarily; but when this action is automatically executed, as in the ordinary method, carbonic acid and other material continually accumulate in the blood, and thus come in contact with cer- tain nerves, causing a sensation, — to which THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 73 instinct responds with an involuntary con- traction of the muscles, which contraction raises the ribs and enlarges the chest for the ingress of atmospheric air required for vital purposes. Certain waste material is thus eliminated through the lungs, and fresh air is supplied for further use in life functions. Instinct can exercise muscular contrac- tility with those muscles usually operated by the voluntary abilities, — as illustrated in convulsions caused by strychnia, and also in numerous instances where extreme sensa- tional irritability prevails from various causes. The muscular contortions of a decapitated fowl are exercised by instinct. The squirming of eels and other fish lately killed and subjected to heat, thus causing sensation unknown to consciousness, are responded to by instinct; and also the muscular actions induced by electrical cur- rents in contact with a decapitated human body. 74 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. The relative preponderance of this vital property as manifested in different animal tissues is of great degree. There is more contractile strength in the feathered species than in' man, in proportion to their weight; while with some insect life this vital prop- erty is developed to a still greater degree. The vital properties, contractility, sensation, and sensibility, are each susceptible of much cultivation. The vegetable kingdom has similar ulti- mate vital properties. Instinct, sensation, and contractility in a modified function can be recognized in vegetative organisms, while sensibility constitutes a vital property of animal life. Some of the lower organisms of animal life possess but three of the vital properties. The vegetable organism has the ability to use and transform ultimate ele- ments and chemical compounds into organ- ized vegetation ; but animal life forces can- not use and assimilate material existing as ultimate elements and chemical compounds. THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 75 Elementary material passes upward into chemical compounds, and later into vegetable organic structures; and it then becomes susceptible of being assimilated into tissues of animal life structures. In return, it goes downward into chemical compounds and ultimate elements. Thus there is a con- tinual change in organic material, upward and downward, from a lower to a higher state of existence and return, — an ever ceaseless change of transformation by the various forces of Nature. All material, to become susceptible of transformation into animal structures, must first be lifted up, and organized by the vital forces of the vegetable kingdom, before it is susceptible of transformation into the living structures of animal life. This previous and required preparation of animal food material conflicts with the alleged legitimacy of the commercial doc- trines of the period, implied in the prepara- tion of chemical compounds to be sold and 76 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. fed to invalids in the name of " restorative nutrient foods." The vital forces of animal life can transform both organized vegetable structures and animal tissues into their own organism. V. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES IN RELATIONS WITH DISEASE. TN the study of the Science of Vital Force, we not only recognize the existence of the four ultimate vital properties, but also that sensibility has a conscious and an un- conscious division of function, — that is, a supraliminal and a subliminal intellectual ability. Instinct is not such a function of animated life as is generally represented ; it is not expressed in a limited degree of volun- tary ability, but in the superintendence of an involuntary organic function, relative to the disposal of all kinds of material, both useful and otherwise, that are found within the citadel of life from accident or intention. All experienced sensations produced by material contacts relate either to sensibility 78 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. or to the instinct. Some sensations are recognized only by the consciousness; while others relate wholly to the duties of instinct, and are not recognized by the sensibility. This latter division of sensations constitutes a very important subject of primary consid- eration in affairs of disease and medicinal relations. Both departments of sensation may be abnormal to such degree as to develop pathological vital actions, which in them- selves constitute active disease. Those which alone relate directly to instinct are produced by causes which develop consequences, before the causes or the abnormal sensations are known by the sensibility to have had exist- ence. It is this division of abnormal sensa- tions which produces disease so unexpected as to give rise to the remark that " disease has attacked the human system. " In addition to the direct relation of the several vital properties to the affairs of life, there are other approximate or sub-funda- mental principles entitled to an early consideration. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 79 We must recognize that each vital property may act in a manner both normal and abnor- mal. Sensibility may become insane, and instinct may construct pathological anatomy ; sensation may manifest persistent irrita- bility, and contractility may be exercised in convulsions. All things being primarily normal, proper food in proper quantity will cause normal sensation; instinct will con- struct healthy structures, all involuntary contractilities will be normal, and sensi- bility will entertain rational ideas, and in due time correct the theories now in associa- tion with alleged medical science. Sensi- bility surveys and comprehends the affairs of the universe, and may supply a material cause for sensations both normal and abnor- mal, which are produced by an existing con- tact. The kind of sensation revealed to sensibility and to instinct will determine the special duty required from the functions of those departments. Instinct is ever on the alert in co-operation with sensation, inspect- 80 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. ing every kind and quantity of material which becomes introduced by design or acci- dent within the contact boundaries of the citadel of life, with a view to use or elimi- nate such material. No agency acts except the vital. Instinct is a function always at work, and liable to become belligerent at any hour; while sensibility has natural periods for repose and activity. The present old and accepted plan implies that all material relations with the human organism may exist in one of three divisions, — nutrient, inert, and active. The so-called inert material constitutes a harmless material except from quantitive, mechanical relations, and is not of a kind sufficiently objectionable in small quantity to require special patho- logical vital acts for its removal, but may be eliminated in the ordinary manner without disturbance of normal function. Active material so called, both medicinal and poi- sonous, is a kind of material so seriously objectionable within the citadel of life that a THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 81 special pathological vital act is manifested in relation to its presence. Based on this fact alone, the material is called active, because it causes the involuntary vital func- tion to act. Therefore this material is called a medicine, and is said to possess "active medical properties." This kind of material, however, does not act; it has no "active properties ; " but its presence being objection- able, there exists a cause for the involuntary- vital power to act differently. A passive cause is not an active principle ; and the day is coming when it will be considered as absurd to discover an "active medical prop- erty," as it would be now to allege that the sun revolved round the earth. A whip is equally entitled to be accredited with "active principles," because it may be so used as to cause both the voluntary and invol- untary life powers to act differently. The ideal " active medical property " is a doctrine having no better claim for consid- eration than the ancient ideal motion of the 6 82 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. sun. It is a vagary of superstition not yet eliminated, and is supported only by com- mon consent, and repudiated by Nature. A small relative quantity of such material is called a " medicine ; " a larger quantity is called a "poison." An alleged medical action is a mild pathological vital action; and the alleged action of poison is a violent and dangerous pathological vital action. Thus in the nature of such material is found the evidence presented and distorted, like the sun's motion, in the alleged proof that any material, simple or compound, may have " active properties. " In other words, a medical property is implied in that kind of material so seriously objectionable as to be a cause for the disturbance of the involun- tary vital force, and a cause for it to act differently. We have given the correct interpretation of an alleged "active medical property," which is incontrovertible. There is no edu- cational or practical advantage to be derived THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 83 from such interpretation superior to the alleged functions of the ultimate vital prop- erties, but a great and dangerous disadvan- tage. The discovery of an "active medical property " has long been presumed to be of great value, while such is but the discovery of a material which the human organism cannot use for constructive purpose, and which requires to be eliminated when introduced within the system by a special pathological vital act. There are many millions of such compounds yet to be discovered. So far as history contributes to such infor- mation, Acron (who lived before Pliny) was the first to apply philosophical reason to medicine. He presented an idea surrounded with such entanglements of appearances that it has ever been difficult to eliminate the delusion, and to grasp the true principles and nature of vital force. There are in this problem appearances as misleading as the apparent motion of the sun. The human mind has corrected that ideal operation; 84 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. while a similar misconception relative to the medical department, based wholly on appear- ances, continues to be perpetuated and thrust upon the people in this advanced state of civilization and culture. Do not let the idea escape recognition that medicine becomes useful as a means for a guiding relation, and not as an active doing relation; that its presence becomes a cause for the vital force to act differently from what it otherwise would. And to guide the invol- untary vital force knowingly and most advan- tageously and safely, it is necessary to have a distinct and clear idea of its nature, varied functions, and laws. Notwithstanding that medical literature has always supported and persisted in the theory that the "active medical property " acts, yet when this doc- trine is hard pushed for an explanation of what is meant by the use of such phraseology, it is not claimed that medicine has a power to impart, or that it really acts or exercises a function, — as the words " active medical THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 85 property " would seem to imply. Thus while an active vital property acts, an alleged " active medical property " does not act. It is claimed in explanation that medicine only "makes an impression," in response to which the active vital principle acts. Such explanation is very near to being correct, although it is presented as diplomatic logic to escape the charge of accepting a medical- power agency. At the same time, the litera- ture of medical journals makes use of the terms "medical power," "'powerful medi- cine," and "active medical properties," with- out any attempt to explain that medicine has neither power nor active principles to impart, as would be true if medicine only "makes an impression." The inference is not yet disposed of that the " active medical property " " makes an impression " in place of acting, and is thus entitled to be represented as an active med- ical principle. It is necessary to under- stand what constitutes a medical impression. 86 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. An impression is not a something done, but a something recognized as done. It is not unlike a sensation; indeed, the term "im- pression " is ambiguous, while the term "sensation" is precise, correct, and scien- tific. Medicine does not make a sensation, but causes a sensation. By simply changing the words " making an impression " to " caus- ing a sensation," the correct fundamental principle implied in the relation of medicine will be represented. This slight change in phraseology gives an entirely different idea of the source from which the operating active principle is supplied. In the implied differ- ence of the two statements there is made to exist a pivotal idea as significant as would be a reply to the question, " Which orb is the centre of the solar system, the earth or the sun ? " A distinguished medical writer has said "that medicine acts like the cause of dis- ease. " This is a correct comparison of facts ; but the underlying principle that gives exist- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 87 ence to such facts fails of being lifted up for recognition. In such an expression the idea is still perpetuated that some mysterious agency or " active principle " is in association with the cause of disease and with medicine which enables each to be active. In other words, some active principle, not vital, is presumed to operate the organs of the living human system. The fact is that the contact of the cause of disease and the contact of medicine each cause a sensation; and one kind of cause is succeeded by a pathological vital action which constitutes active func- tional disease, while the other kind of cause of sensation is succeeded by pathological vital acts of a different kind, called medicinal effects. Neither has acted, but each has caused a different vital act. It may be instructive here to refer to authorities that accept the old plan as a basis for theories, and I will quote from a standard publication of 1844 the definition then given by Dr. Wood to medicine : — 88 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. " What are medicines ? They are substances capable of producing as an ordinary result, and by their own inherent power, certain modifica- tions of the vital functions, which render them applicable to the cure of disease." Doubtless no one will question the asser- tion that the time has been when medicine was accredited with having "power." The late Dr. Edward H. Clark, when professor of Materia Medica in Harvard Medical School in 1865, said to his class in a lecture on the subject of Ergot : — "The same preparation of ergot often acts finely for a period, but may lose its power, or it certainly seems to, although the bottle has remained corked and properly cared for. And how that power escaped, or why it ceased to act, is a problem which will wait till medical science can explore deeper those mysteries which sur- round us." Another distinguished writer and medical authority says : " We know very little of the THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 89 essential nature of disease, — indeed, noth- ing at all. " Now, functional disease is pathological vital action, — a kind of action and disturb- ance that cannot be made to exist without a previous abnormal sensation. Thus disease begins with an abnormal sensation. The na- ture of every involuntary vital act is modified and determined by the kind, degree, and qual- ity of sensation produced. The entire contact world is related to the living human organ- ism only through the vital property sensation. There is no active principle, not vital, that may exercise influence to modify vital func- tion. The modifying principle exists in the character of the sensation. Every kind of material has a causing relation when in con- tact, which causes some kind of sensation. Food material in proper quantity causes a normal sensation, which is succeeded by a physiological vital action constituting health. That material which may cause disease first causes an abnormal sensation, relative to 90 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. which instinct directs pathological vital action, — another name for the existing con- dition called disease. What is called " opera- tive medical action " is a vital action exer- cised relative to some kind of sensation, pro- duced by the contact of material medicine. Thus the actions of the involuntary vital organism for the manifestation of health or disease are dependent on the kind of sensa- tion which is made, allowed, or does exist. The nature of disease is implied in the rela- tion of cause and effect. The cause occasions an abnormal sensation; and the effect is produced by a pathological vital action. This constitutes all that may be implied in " the essential nature of disease." The vital property sensation is a pivotal life-function of great significance ; and while the dictionaries and medical literature fail in outlining the distinction between this vital property and sensibility, it is the first opera- tive function in the affairs of the involun- tary living organism. Health, disease, and THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 91 medical effects are each dependent on the kind of sensation produced. The involuntary vital organism is implied in sensation, instinct, and action. The sensation is a primary manifestation of a single vital property, while the action is a compound function of instinct and contractility. The human organism can execute physiological and pathological vital actions at the same time, — the greater proportion being the former, the less the disease; the greater proportion the latter, the more severe the disease. The relation of the entire materia medica to the human organism is implied in two grand divisions. First, medicine may cause a sensation without a subsequent develop- ment of involuntary action; and second, it may cause a sensation of a degree that is succeeded by the exercise of an involuntary vital action. Thus medicine may cause a sensation only, or it may cause a sensation that will be succeeded by vital action. The 92 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. cause of disease has precisely similar rela- tions. Disease may exist as a disagreeable sensation, and also as a pathological vital action. There is only one method possible enabling the voluntary ability, the intelligence, to call up, harness, and guide, and make opera- tive, the involuntary vital force; and that method is implied in making a contact appli- cation that will produce and cause sensa- tions. There will be a slight and limited exception made to this statement in a future chapter. The genius of man has enabled him to harness the forces of gravitation, chemical and electric agencies, to fulfil desired results; but the harnessing of the involuntary life force of the human organism, — that department which produces health and disease, — and the calling of this agency into activity at will, has ever remained an unsolved theoretical problem. The Science of Vital Force affords a look- out station of very different standpoint from THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 93 that adopted and occupied at the present time. It illustrates the importance of going back to primary principles, recognizing the difference of relation between an "active" and a passive cause of disease, between an alleged " active medical property " and a passive medical cause of sensation. It illustrates that the cause of disease is no more active than a bowlder on a railroad track is active in a railroad accident. The cause of disease is material in the wrong place, thus interfering by its presence with the normal function of an agency which is wholly separate from the cause of the disturbance. Based on the foregoing alleged fundamental principles, another very important question arises : What constitutes the varied causes of abnormal sensation ? It would be neither possible, practicable, nor instructive to enu- merate all such causes, while it would be of interest to consider the unlike divisions that 94 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. may include a great multiplicity of such causes. Division A. In this division may be included food material undigested and in excess of required use, retained waste mate- rial, and chemical compounds that have formed from such material, — all of which may require special pathological vital acts for their removal. Division B. This will include all kinds of foreign material, organic and inorganic; filth material, solid, fluid, or gaseous, swallowed or inhaled; simple elements and chemical compounds introduced as such, and chemical products of the same of later for- mation, — all of which constitute primary causes of abnormal sensation, followed by a disturbance later, authorized by the vital property instinct, which presides over all material having a contact relation. Division 0. This may include mechanical causes of many kinds, implied in lacerations and compressed nerve structures, and also THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 95 extremes of heat and cold from external associations, — all of which may cause pri- mary abnormal sensations, liable to be succeeded by pathological vital actions. Division D. This will comprise secondary causes, — a very large factor of disturbance ever being developed within, after the dis- eased process once begins from any primary cause. This class of causes includes local congestions, mechanical compressing of nerve tissues, development of higher temperatures of the blood (a secondary cause liable to pro- duce prolonged and serious consequences later), morbid pathological products and infiltrations developed by diseased action, and chemical changes that take place with such material within the organism. 1 1 There is no kind of disease that may be known by any special name, which has its beginning and total cause for continuance implied in a relation of primary cause. This is an important fact for practical consideration, as well as an indispensable recognition in support of the theory of cause and effect, as presented in the operative procedures by the involuntary life force in the various forms and complications of disease. 96 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. The secondary causes, produced by patho- logical disturbance and chemical changes, — - causes developed within, — - are of serious significance, which are made to exist more or less each clay. Primary causes are fre- quently of minor consideration when com- pared with the secondary, which are later made to prevail. Primary causes may often be removed, and yet the disease continue from causes later developed, which many times are very difficult to control. Blood poison in most cases is implied in products developed within, from some disturbance of a primary cause, which would be harmless to some, while fatal to others. Different organ- isms develop secondary causes in a very dissimilar manner. Causes of disease first produce abnormal sensations, which may be known sometimes by both sensibility and instinct, and may receive attention from either or both, while at other times abnormal sensation is recog- nized only by instinct. Consciousness may THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 97 infer, and in fact know, that such an inci- dent has occurred, not from a recognition of the sensation as a pain or any other kind of sensation, but from a recognition of some involuntary active disturbance, — a disturb- ance which could not occur without a pre- vious abnormal sensation from some cause. This may be illustrated in the incident of swallowing strychnia in disguise, as well as in many cases of disease where the conse- quences are recognized before the primary cause is known to exist. In a very large variety of diseases we recognize the conse- quences, the disturbance, before we are in the least aware that causes exist. Among the fundamental principles there is another distinction to be recognized, which is of great importance both because of theo- retical and practical relations, — that while abnormal sensations may be followed by pathological vital actions called disease, there may be numerous abnormal sensations that are not succeeded by pathological vital 7 98 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. actions. This class of ailments are called " nervous " diseases, constituting a kind of trouble existing as disagreeable sensations, from which the person or patient seeks relief. In close connection and corresponding with this existing condition, there may be recog- nized also that with medicinal relations there are kinds and small quantities of medicine which only occasion sensations that may be agreeable or otherwise, and which are not succeeded by any visible or recognizable active medicinal effects. Not only is there a theoretical but also a practical value to be associated with such facts. Thus the condition called "nervous " disease, and the fact that an agreeable sensa- tion may be produced with medicine; it becomes rational to infer that the temporary treatment of many of those disagreeable feel- ings consists largely in swapping sensations, — in producing a more agreeable sensation in exchange for the disagreeable. And while this suggestion seems consistent as a theory, THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 99 the practical facts seem to verify the utility of such application. It is in harmony with the defined functions of the vital properties, and with the theory of medicinal relations. For instance, an intolerable itching of the skin may frequently be relieved with a two- grain solution of Hydrargyri bichloridum to one pint of boiling water, — the quantity of bichloride being only sufficient to effect a swapping of sensations, and not sufficient to cause an abnormal sensation to a degree that will be responded to by instinct with a series of involuntary activities. Hunger and weari- ness are both sensations that may often be relieved by a cup of strong tea, and also by alcoholic spirit. The person thus relieved is liable to infer that such remedy has contrib- uted nutritive support and energy to his organism. The craving sensation in alco- holism is being treated by supplying a cause for a different sensation, — in other words, a swapping of sensations. Patients often request their physician to give them a tonic, 100 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. some " bracing " medicine that will relieve the tired feeling and build them up. This is not the place to discuss to what degree such a practice may be admissible; but it may here be said that such practice is liable to insure a profitable patient for the physi- cian, and in many instances it would be like attempting to cure alcoholic spirit conse- quences with alcoholic spirit medication. This branch of medical practice implied in the swapping of sensations, regardless of correct regimen and proper surroundings of sanitary relations, constitutes a serious im- pediment to the welfare of invalids. It is encouraged by the experience of a more agreeable temporary sensation, and sup- ported by the accepted, fallacious, and dan- gerous theory of "active medical properties." The new sensation is given the interpretation of a supplementary "active principle," which is presumed and alleged to be a contribution of temporary energy that is doing something to help Nature. Consequently there are THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 101 levied millions of tribute on the prevailing ignorance of the science of recovery, and the standard of national health is being thus seriously impaired. The term "medical tonic" is an ideal mis- nomer. All kinds of alleged medical tonics — quinine, ale, and beer — are but so many kinds of material that effect a temporary exchange of sensations. This is a subject worthy of the consideration of philanthro- pists, and of all who may have an interest in the general welfare of the individual and the nation. Medical tonics and " bracing " medicines are made useful in that commer- cial transaction implied in the swapping of sensations. The patient mistakes the ex- change of sensations for a contribution of energy; and the physician often makes a similar mistake in giving his patient chem- ical compounds as alleged constructive mate- rial. When a person feels that a medicine has given him strength, the fact is that only a different sensation has been produced. 102 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. Thus feeling less weary, they infer they have more strength. But the effecting an exchange of sensations with such material is no more an evidence that constructive nutrient mate- rial has been supplied to the body, than the excitement produced by a new idea is evi- dence that a contribution has been made for the support of brain weariness. A multitude of alleged " nerve foods " and " nerve-tonic " compounds belong to this class of medicines, although such are not foods. Alcoholic spirit is the old "stand-by " remedy for weariness, antedating all other discov- eries. An eminent medical writer says, " There are conditions in which alcohol acts simply as material for the production of force, and may be looked upon as a food which requires no digestion, and sets free in a useful form its latent energy. " On the contrary, it has no "latent energy," and does not " produce force ; " but is a cause for a new sensation and the expenditure of vital energy in a different direction. The United THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 103 States Dispensatory and mouth-piece of legal-tender ideas is permitted without pro- test to continue imparting the information that " alcohol in a diluted state gives addi- tional energy to muscles and temporary exal- tation to the mental faculties. " With such doctrines emanating from the highest accred- ited institutions of learning, it is not strange that mankind should resort to the practice of drinking alcoholic spirit for the " energy " it may be presumed to supply, — a doctrine apparently supported by an experience of "feeling better. " As a people and a nation we are living in an age of cultured and singular delusion, — a delusion which is inflicting consequences that are sought to be abolished without an effort to correct the cause. The cause is the false education. People drink alcoholic spirit to enable them to "feel better, " and to give them strength; and they do this in accordance with the doctrines of alleged and accepted science. While the would-be 104 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. benefactors of the race are trying to avert the miseries thus produced, by resorting to prohibitive legislative enactments, would it not be equally as beneficial, to say the least, to give special attention to an education that would cease to develop and perpetuate such expectancies ? There are many people who have not the ability to deal safely with a practice implied in such fallacious expec- tancies of supplied energy; and while the highly cultured frequently stagger under such responsibilities, they should have pity in place of censure for those who are less capable. A most successful medical practice for the saving of human life must be implied in such methods of guidance of the vital energies as will occasion the least expenditure of capital stock of the existing vital force. Medicine does not supply temporary "active princi- ple " or medical power, but it occasions vital energy to be expended in a different mani- festation. The practice of medicine without THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 105 a knowledge of the nature and laws of invol- untary vital force is frequently a dangerous experiment, quite similar to the guiding of a ship in a storm without a mariner's com- pass. And when the people awaken to the importance of this branch of education, there will be a simultaneous effort by all cultured civilization to dissipate the fog of superstition and ignorance which is con- signing thousands annually to an untimely grave. In the development of an enlightened civil- ization, numerous ideal fallacies of Nature's plans and methods require to be eliminated. The ideal flat earth had to be abandoned; the human mind had to outgrow its ideal associations relative to inorganic material transformation, and surrender the expectancy that base metals could be changed to gold; the popular idea of the centre of the solar system had to be changed, which was effected under protest and much remonstrance. It is said, however, that such crude ideas prevailed 106 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. before the star of science had illuminated the pathway of the human mind, during the dark age of superstition. But the combined crudities of thought relative to all those departments of science do not out-weigh in magnitude the present calamitous fallacy that presumes and accepts the existence of some agency in Nature, not vital, which acts on the human organism to produce disease, and also some agency and "active medical principle " which acts to operate the organs of human life, supposed to possess a curative influence to restore health. His- tory keeps green the ideal fallacies of the past, while the worse and dangerous ideal fallacy of to-day remains unchallenged. The expectancy that an "active medical prop- erty " has existence, that it can be bottled, sold, and used as a contribution of temporary energy in substitution for vital force, has as strong a hold on human credulity as any of the ancient delusions that were accepted on the basis of appearances. Facts warrant THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 107 the use of stronger epithets than any here employed, and which will surely be found in future history, relative to this period and age of experimental research for the dis- covery of an imaginary substitute for vital force. VI. DISEASE GERMS. HTHE modern germ-theory of disease im- plies that diseases, more or less, may be caused by germs, — which theory consti- tutes a subdivision of alleged causes that is entitled to separate consideration. Its advo- cates say that it is a subject "entitled to coolest criticism, — never leaving, however, the experimental facts for the airy region of wild theorizing and speculation." We do not care to deny "facts," but desire to learn what kind of fact is determined by such experiment. Every fact in Nature is entitled to an explanation; and whatever theory is presented for that purpose n*ay be called " wild " or rational according to the stand- point accepted by the observer, according to THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 109 which lookout station is occupied, — the old plan or the new. The germ-theory is a doctrine alleged to be based on facts, of a kind however that will be mentioned later. It has been projected to "account for the methods of multiplica- tion of dangerous disease." Disease as con- sidered in the light of the germ-theory, called the "ravages of parasites," and considered also in the light of the old plan and accord- ing to the interpretation of distinguished authorities, is said to " attack " the human family, and "pursues the ordinary routes of travel, following the human race along ocean paths." According to this quotation from an article on the germ-theory found in a journal of acknowledged scientific author- ity, it would seem that disease chooses to inhabit regions frequented by the human family ! We must begin the consideration of the "germ -theory of disease" by changing the language of the text, — making it to read, 110 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. " germ-theory of the cause of disease. " There- fore it will be important to determine to what extent an alleged germ may be a cause of disease, — which constitutes all there is to consider of alleged " facts " implied in such discovery, and also constitutes the kind of fact we propose to examine. In a previous chapter we disposed of the relation of the cause of disease to the human organism; and whatever relation an alleged " germ " may have, it can be of no different relation as a " multiplier of dangerous disease. " The cause of disease does nothing ; it has no influ- ence, it is not active ; it is only a cause of abnormal sensation. What does the word " germ " signify, and what is a germ ? It is important to go to the bottom of this germ-theory. A germ signifies that which is to develop into something, and from which something has its origin. The micro- organism which constitutes the alleged germ may be a microscopic plant or an animalcule. THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. Ill Those organisms feed on organic matter, seizing it on its downward course from a previous higher organization; and thus they multiply wherever it is possible to obtain such nutriment for their support. The plant organizations are designated as "bac- cilli," and the animalcules as "bacteria " and "protozoa." The term "parasite "is given to both, signifying a micro-organism which draws its nourishment from other organisms. The terms " microbe " and " bacteria " are frequently applied to both kinds of organ- isms ; while numerous special names are used to designate some variation of appearance as found in different fluids and localities of the body. The germ micro-organism, of micro- scopic discovery, does not develop into any- thing; it remains the same until death. Therefore it is not a germ in that sense of the definition; and there is much doubt, well founded in the nature of things, whether disease, seldom without inoculation by inten- tion, can have its origin from this kind of 112 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. alleged cause, — that is, from living micro- organisms. Doubtless the alleged germ is sometimes a cause of disease, — that is, a cause of abnormal sensation of a degree sufficient to develop active disease. Such kind of cause, however, has its relation obscured by being called a "germ." This kind of cause is no more entitled to be called a " germ " than are numerous other kinds of primary causes that are not micro-organisms. All kinds of causes have only one kind of relation, — a cause of abnormal sensation, the first existing change in the direction of disease. The accepted theory of putting the cause of disease for the production of disease, in accordance with the old plan, supposes the cause to exercise an influence, and to act. It can be demonstrated, however, that a cause of disease does not act, but only constitutes a cause for the involuntary vital force to act abnormally; which in itself is the disease. Thus it would be very difficult to determine THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 113 what kind of a cause was a germ and what kind not a germ, while all causes have a similar relation. We thought we had good reason for chang- ing the phraseology " germ-theory of disease " to " germ-theory of the cause of disease ;" and we now find also good reason for insisting that in place of the last form of words this subject might be better represented by the phrase "bacterial cause of disease." The word " germ " is wholly out of place in such relation; and should the microscope be applied to the idea as well as to the plant and animalcule, the outline would appear very different. We still have the question before us, Do bacteria cause disease ? Is it the nature of such organisms as a dried Spanish fly to have an irritant relation to nerve tissues ? Were they not designed merely as scavengers ? Do such organisms exist most plentifully in a healthy body, or in a body already dis- eased ? Is it not true that such micro- 8 114 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. organisms find their best opportunity for existence because some diseased action has previously existed ? Every bacteriologist knows that such is the fact. Practical facts seem to show in some in- stances that disease has evidently been produced by the transference of such micro- organisms to a different individual. On the other side is the fact, equally as practical, that such inoculation does not always pro- duce disease. So seldom has disease been thus produced, compared with the failures to produce, that some able physicians have alleged that the germ-theory was inapplicable even upon the basis of experiment. The supposition is not without some reason that micro-organisms, more or less constructed from filth material, might break down and present an amount of poisonous material sufficient to be a cause for vital disturb- ance in some instances. In brief, from the basis of fundamental vital principles and rational reason the bacte- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 115 rial cause of disease, without inoculation, would seem so nearly harmless that it would be wiser to recommend the prevention and the destruction of filth material as a sanitary measure, rather than to consider the microbe the cause of disease. Is it not rational to suppose that the material from which the micro-organism is created, would be a less cause of disturbance existing in an organized state than in its previous condition suscep- tible of solution and absorption ? Who will deny that such micro-organisms do not exer- cise the function of scavengers ? The " disease germ " and bacterial cause of disease is considered more applicable to zymotic disease, — that is, those diseases propagated by contact, measles and scarlet fever being illustrative types. The discov- ery that yeast, or leaven, is a multiplication of microscopic plant organisms, gave rise to the doctrine of the germ-theory of zymotic disease; and the well-known fact that such disease seldom develops more than once in 116 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. the same individual furnishes theoretical complications in association with the germ- theory that require special consideration. On the supposition that a growth of micro- organisms, more or less, constitutes the cause of such disease, is it not a singular fact that a human organism can develop a nidus, or material for such growth, only once in a lifetime, — and especially when we consider that with such disease, when existing, there is a more or less rapid production of poison within the system that is eliminated through the skin, which material also becomes a local irritant at the point of escape ? Now we ask, is this escaping poison a micro-organism, dead or alive, a broken down product of such life, or is it a poison developed by pathological vital action ? The fact that such disease rarely occurs more than once in a lifetime gives rise to two important questions, — Can the human system develop only once a compound food-material for the growth of micro-organisms ? and, Can patho- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 117 logical vital action develop a second time a similar poisonous product to what was first produced, through tissues that have once been subjected to a diseased action ? It is a well-known fact that certain tissues can be modified by a diseased action, and prevent a recurrence of effusions through serous membranes. A cicatrix never has the func- tion of the tissue it has displaced. Should this subject be considered in its complete- ness, we think the weight of testimony would favor the acceptance of the theory that pathological vital action could seldom develop more than once the specific poison peculiar to such diseases. And is it not more rational to accept such a method of supplied cause, — a pathological product, — than to accept the allegation that the human organism cannot more than once in a life- time elaborate a fluid compound capable of the growth of micro-organisms ? Should the subject of the bacterial cause of the zymotic group of diseases be carried up to 118 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. the high court of inquiry, it is reasonable to believe that this group, which is presumed to contribute the most support to the germ- theory, would be found to contribute the least. This group of diseases, which seldom occur more than once in a lifetime, while subject to the same general laws of cause and effect, is subject to a different produc- tion of supplied primary causes not common to other disease. That is, whatever the pri- mary disturbing cause may be, the preponder- ance of secondary product is similar. In this interesting group of diseases we have to infer that the primary cause is similar to that poison which is eliminated through the skin, which in itself constitutes a cause for local disturbance at its place of exit desig- nated the eruption. Thus we are persuaded to infer that the cause of zymotic disease is a pathological product, and not in the nature of micro-organisms. We have also to con- sider that some of the zymotic diseases do THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 119 develop away from all possible contagion as a sporadic presentment; and it is rational to infer that some unlike primary cause, which in itself will not propagate the disease in a different person, may cause a pathological disturbance which will produce this special poison, and that the poison so generously produced will from contact produce a similar disease in one whose system has never been subjected to a previous and similar patholog- ical disturbance. In accordance with the apparent nature of things, based on natural fundamental prin- ciples, it would seem that the micro-organism might be more of a scavenger than anything else, — both the harmless and the alleged disease-microbe. Those scientists who make this subject a study do not claim to find an alleged disease-microbe in a healthy organ- ism, but only where disease already exists, — where there is something for that special variety to feed upon. The micro-organism as found in a healthy human body is regarded 120 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. as harmless, while the microbe found in a diseased system is charged with being the cause of disease. Why not allege that the harmless microbe may be the cause of health, — the health germ of balanced functional harmony ? Vaccine matter and small -pox virus are pathological products, and with persons who never had such disease this virus will occa- sion a vital disturbance which will develop a similar product; but when the virus has been changed by chemical agency, its contact relations will not occasion such a vital dis- turbance as will produce the specific patho- logical virus. And it may be well to state in this place that the practice of vaccination, and its legitimate and effectual protection against small-pox, is founded on laws of vital processes, which are as stable and capable of demonstration as are the laws which make it possible to calculate an eclipse. Its utility has been demonstrated by experience, while the laws of its applicability and appropri- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 121 ateness are supported by the science of vital force. The operative laws of vital force in rela- tion to the production of the cause of scarlet fever give equal protection through a similar modification. But the question may arise, whether the bovine species can have scarlet fever; and if so, how we can secure the spe- cial pathological product for such purpose. A London physician some ten years ago announced an outbreak of this disease among the cows in that vicinity, — a disease said to be known in veterinary text-books as " erythema mammillarum ; " but the process of securing such modified virus has not yet become a matter of record. In connection with the mention of this law of possible utility, we will also say that the treatment of scarlet fever based on the principles of the new plan will prove far more successful. The precise existing condition of the cause of typhoid fever is yet an unsolved problem in the minds of the profession; and to say 122 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. that typhoid fever is caused by a "disease germ " conveys but little intelligence on the subject. We thus have for consideration the question whether such cause is a pathological product, or the product of chemical agency ; also whether such disease may be caused from relations of bacterial existence, which are alleged by some German authorities to secrete a virulent poison, and thus make it possible to develop such disease from micro- organisms that have been transferred from a person previously sick with typhoid fever. Material existing as a pathological product is composed of organic elements that are liable to experience chemical changes. Thus when typhoid fever is developed from drinking polluted water, is the material cause a soluble pathological product, or a soluble chemical product ? Or is it neither, but consisting of micro-organisms created in association with previous disease ? There are numerous instances where it appears that persons have contracted typhoid fever THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 123 from visiting those who were afflicted with this disease. Thus it would seem that the exhaled poisonous vapor from the patient had been inhaled by the visitor. In such instances there may be found strong evidence to support the inference that the cause of typhoid fever exists as a soluble pathological product. This disease has also appeared to develop from surroundings of filth material, and a residence in close relations with a pig-sty. The complexity of this subject in all its variations is very great; and it is a subject entitled to more attention than we can give space for in this introductory volume. VII. TOLERATION. 'T^HIS may be a unique term for the repre- ■*• sentation of a scientific principle ; but in accordance with the dictionary definition, it stands for a useful factor of organic economy, — " the allowance of that which is not wholly approved. " No doubt the thoughtful reader has observed that in the theory we have presented, implied in a primal cause of abnormal sensation that wakes up and is succeeded by a pathological vital action, — an action that in itself may develop secondary causes for continued ab- normal sensation, and a prolonged continu- ance of pathological actions, — there is no provision made for the termination of such disturbed vital action. Thus, so far as the theory has been presented, a disturbance THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 125 once started goes on forever to the end of individual life. Therefore, to preserve the theory and also the patient, and to enable a return to conditions of health, some other principle in Nature not mentioned must take part in disease problems ; that is, a cause for abnormal sensation must be allowed to exist which is no longer the incentive for a con- tinuance of pathological proceedings. In other words, we must allow for a principle permitting causes of a kind that have previ- ously occasioned abnormal sensations to a degree sufficient to arouse pathological activ- ities, to continue to remain and not develop such disturbance. Now, while such a new principle is desir- able for the benefit of the patient, and in- dispensable for the support of the theory advanced, is there a principle provided in Nature to meet this practical and theoretical emergency ? In demonstration of such a provision, we call attention to the well- known fact that people who reside in a 126 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. malarious district sooner or later become "acclimated," as they call it; that is, they become accustomed to the surroundings, and their nervous system tolerates the malarial poison without the development of chill and fever. All medicines, when long continued, fail to produce the same effect from the same quantity, and are said not to act. The drinker of alcoholic spirit is required to increase the quantity in order to produce the same effect. The ergot which was said by the medical professor to have " lost its power " is an illustration of the principle of tolera- tion. Children who are brought up in the tenement houses of a crowded city will toler- ate for a long period those causes of disease which would disturb a healthy child from a rural district in a very brief time. Toleration, then, represents a principle of self-preservation in association with the involuntary function, and oftentimes will compensate for neglect of voluntary duties. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 127 The existence of this kind of principle is too well known to require further illustration. In such a principle there is implied a wise provision of Nature, a reserve corps, for self- preservation under certain circumstances. It is the principle which makes it possible that certain diseases may be self-limited. It is a distinguishing principle existing in acute disease, while not operative in chronic. Now, while this principle crops out spon- taneously in many actions of the human organism, it may also be artificially induced by the physician through medication, from sedative and anaesthetic medicines whose presence in contact with certain nerves abrogates more or less the function of sensation. The principle of toleration is not a fifth vital property ; it is not applicable to physi- ological proceedings, but applies only, and to a limited degree, in association with patho- logical actions. It is a principle to be ever kept in mind in the treatment of disease ; and 128 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. it is a condition to be induced under certain circumstances, and not to be induced under other circumstances. Sometimes serious consequences follow upon the transposition of the application of this principle. Thus to be able to guide most advantageously the involuntary active vital principle in condi- tions of disease, constitutes the most valuable acquisition in the practice of medicine. Special senses. It might be well in this place to allude to the subject of special senses, frequently called special sensations and sensibilities, as implied in special methods of acquiring intelligence, and recog- nized in the functions of touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight. The first three of these are special sensa- tions, while hearing offers a more complex problem. The transmission of sound being yet in the mill of controversy, — divided up between the undulating wave, the corpuscu- lar, gelatinous luminiferous, and interstellar aether theories, — to what degree and how THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 129 the function of sensation is involved in it is not yet a settled problem. Sight seems to approximate a special sensibility, the image being produced through physical principles, and perceived by some special function of the brain. The nerves which experience certain sen- sations cannot experience different sensa- tions; and it might be truly said that the function of sensation is implied in an innu- merable multiplicity of special sensations, some being recognized by the sensibility, while others relate to the vital property instinct. We quote the following from a standard text-book on physiology: "By the sense of touch is usually understood that modification of common sensibility of the body of which the skin is the special seat." It is not possible to understand the science of numbers until a clear idea is made to pre- vail of tne distinction between the primal fundamental principles ; and the same is true of vital-power science. So too the 9 130 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. function of the four ultimate vital properties must exist in clear ideal outline, before it is possible to comprehend the nature and co- operative methods of the vital agency in affairs of disease. VIII. MEDICAL PRACTICE. TN a medical practice based on the funda- mental principles of active vital force, a different idea of duty will be recognized from that which is based on expectant action of presumed " active medical proper- ties." The subject will have an entirely different appearance from this new stand- point of perception. It is a change from an ideal position, where theories and thoughts are out of harmony with facts, to a basis where theories and thoughts will be in har- mony with facts and with Nature's plan, and susceptible of easy demonstration. The whole field of natural phenomena will take on as different an ideal appearance as was effected by the change of the ideal centre of 132 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. the solar system. Facts will be recognized whose meaning will be better understood. There will be recognized indications of what to do; also, which is equally as important, what not to do ; also what degree of guidance of vital agency should be effected, and when it should be let alone. The cause of disease will be recognized as passive; and it will also be recognized that disease may exist as an abnormal sensation only, and as a patho- logical vital action, — and sometimes both. It will be recognized that medicine does not act, nor make impressions, but only causes sensations; that thus sensations may only require to be exchanged, or other sensations produced of such degree as to be succeeded by pathological vital actions, which will be the new phrase representing medicinal effects in substitution for the modus operandi of medicine. There will be recognized causes of disease both primary and secondary ; and the latter often being far more serious in their relations, great advantage will accrue THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 133 to that method of treatment which will most effectually modify and prevent the develop- ment of these secondary causes. In the illustration of the varied causes of disease, — the causes of abnormal sensation, — we made use of several divisions for such enumeration ; and with the subject of applied medication, the same method will contribute better to an illustration of the situation. While medicines may be given to neutralize causes of disease, there are but two grand divisions of medicinal relations with vital functions. One division includes that rela- tion which produces sensations that are not succeeded by pathological vital actions. The other division is represented in that relation where sensations are produced that are suc- ceeded by pathological vital actions. First Division. In treating disease exist- ing only as an abnormal sensation, some kind of bad feeling without active disturb- ance, the indication is met by making such 134 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. application and using such remedy as will cause a new sensation, — thus swapping sen- sations, producing an agreeable in place of a disagreeable sensation. In attempting to effect such exchange, it is very important that the kind and quantity of medicine used shall not produce such degree of abnormal sensation as to cause a subsequent pathological vital action to develop. The cause both of the development of active disease and of the development of active medicinal effect is implied in the pro- duction of an abnormal sensation of a degree that will be succeeded by pathological vital action. We have sufficient reason for believ- ing that great and serious mistakes are often made in failing to recognize such relations, and many pages would be required to do justice to the illustration of such errors. In medical practice these errors are numerous so far as medication is required in the swap- ping of sensations. While there may be numerous abnormal sensations requiring no THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 135 other treatment than that of being exchanged for new, there may, on the other hand, abnormal sensations prevail where, instead of exchange, some operative proceedings should be instituted for the removal of the cause. But while in some instances the cause may be removed, in many cases this is impossible. In such cases a course of hygienic treatment is required, to develop surroundings favorable for normal sensations. It is this kind of fact, implied in the ex- change of sensations, which has made the Homoeopathic practice acceptable and scien- tifically correct in certain cases. The Homoe- opathic theory, however, is as irrational as other medical theories, — claiming, like the others, the use of " active medical principles " that act similar to the vital principle. In place, however, of administering medicine having "similar powers," the Homoeopathic dose has been of a size, that has caused a new sensation, but not of a degree sufficient to develop visible pathological vital actions. 136 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. The small dose meets many requirements, but it does not meet all, as experience has revealed even to that school of practitioners. In referring to "schools of medicine," we may say that all scientific medical practice is based and operative on the nature and functions of vital force. This whole matter of superintending and treating disease is not implied in a meddling supervision, but in a watchful supervision. There are many com- pensating methods for the readjustment of normal sensations and normal activities con- signed to the custody of instinct. Thus instinct may be doing the best within the limit of possibility, and only requires to be let alone; while at other times instinct may require the exercise of much intelligence — of sensibility — for the safe guidance of its function. Second Division. This division includes a medical practice in relation to pathological vital actions, — actions induced by primary THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 137 and secondary causes of abnormal sensation ; causes existing as pathological products, chemical compounds, infiltrations, mechan- ical congestions, and abnormal temperature. It is not our purpose to advise what to do ; but we propose to call attention to some of the relations that may be implied in those operative effects which medicine may have in the production of pathological vital actions. In the treatment of disease, shall we deploy vital action, and thus reduce the violence by dividing the direction of vital action ? This was a method of practice once highly esteemed, and which gave rise to the doctrine of contraria curantur, — a method of practice that was called "allopathic," which term is now erroneously used in the place of "regular," to distinguish the first schools of medical practice from the numerous names of modern invention. Shall we seek to diminish the violence of vital action by diminishing the primary and secondary causes ? What kind of causes can be elim- 138 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. inated, and what neutralized; and how can the same be effected ? When shall we use sedatives to make causes tolerant, and how shall we reduce abnormal temperature ? Such divisions of treatment are of great practical consideration where one method might prove serious when substituted for the other. What was best to do yesterday, may not be the most useful to-day. Have we done our whole duty in treating conditions as they appear from day to day ? Shall we not anticipate severe and serious complica- tions in accordance with the laws of cause and effect, with the nature of vital force ? Shall we not seek to outgeneral the production of effects by guiding the vital action differ- ently, and thus avoid what would otherwise be a serious disturbance ? In these divisions of treatment there is a wide field for diver- sity of application, which might be much better illustrated in connection with special disease. Every form of disease is liable to develop some condition peculiar to itself, THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 139 with different persons, implied in the rela- tions of primary and secondary causes and in the nature of operative vital force. Third Division. This is not a division of relations, unlike the two already outlined, but a classification to include and illustrate a few practical principles slightly removed from an ultimate fundamental basis, and to be made operative more in a distinction of methods to be adopted, and for miscellaneous suggestions that will be crowded into diminutive space. Abnormal temperature of the blood, of high degree, is a secondary cause important to consider; for too frequently it is the pivotal cause of complicated disturbance resulting in death in acute diseases. It is a cause not always recognized in its true relation to subsequent events. How shall we reduce the abnormal tem- perature of the blood, for the best interests of the patient ? High temperature is some- times diminished by suppressing vital action 140 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. from medication, where such action is pro- ducing material for rapid combustion. This, however, is not a safe method in severe cases; for we thus diminish the secondary cause - temperature — at the expense of re- taining certain effete material not suscep- tible of elimination by different process, which should be favored with an early oppor- tunity of escape. High temperature reduced by conduction enables both the early escape of such material, and at the same time keeps the secondary cause — heat — below the max- imum temperature of greatest disturbance and danger. The reducing of high tempera- tures by conduction, from external applica- tion of wet compresses, is far more prudent and always within the limit of immediate control. The ratio of deaths from primary causes of disturbance is very small compared with those from secondary development; and among the secondary causes, it is doubtful if any are equal to abnormal temperature of the blood as a death producing complication THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 141 in acute diseases. At the same time, it is a cause the most easily and effectually con- trolled, and apparently the least recognized. Among the numerous causes of disease both primary and secondary, there will exist causes to be eliminated, causes to be neutral- ized, causes to be made tolerant, and causes with which we can do none of these, — causes that require to be outgeneralled by deploying the vital energies. There are several valuable practical principles that can be illustrated in a case of rattlesnake poison. We have said that small-pox virus was a pathological product, while rattlesnake virus is a physiological product. The effects of rattlesnake virus may often be outgener- alled by the use of a large dose of spiritus frumenti, which may apply in various rela- tions. The presence of the medicine causes the nerves of sensation to be preoccupied, and thus to be more tolerant to a certain degree ; or, in other words, the medicine has early relation to primary sensation, in- 142 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. eluding more nerve structure. It is of great importance to develop early primary sensa- tions, and thus keep the instinctive depart- ment of vital power from acting. It is desir- able to have the virus escape recognition from the function of sensation. The medical remedy admits of an early and general diffu- sion over the entire system, and receives attention by a manifest increase of blood sent to the capillaries of the skin, favoring the elimination of the remedy ; at the same time it prevents any severe local disturbance at the point of the inception of poison, thus outgeneralling the early effects of snake poison by the development of a different primary cause of disturbance over a greater and a different region, and giving time for an organic dissolution of the virus into less objectionable relations to living tissues. Death from rattlesnake virus is due to secondary causes, while strychnia is a pri- mary cause of death, — death ensuing from exhaustion by violent persistent muscular THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 143 contractility. Hydrocyanic acid is a pri- mary cause of death, through relations to a different vital property, from a paralysis and abrogation of that division of the functional property of sensation which is operative in connecting instinct with executive involun- tary contractility. In this distinction there may seem to arise a very delicate question, — Why not infer that instinct is paralyzed ? In reply we say, that after death from such primary cause the galvanic current will occasion an abnormal sensation, irritability, followed by muscular contractions of the extremities, — indicating that only a certain division of the sensational function has become inoperative, while in- stinct remains able to exercise its function, as in the case of experiments after decapi- tation. As this third division is a medley of causes, operations, principles, and facts, we trust it will be admissible here to call atten- tion to certain remarks frequently made, 144 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. which have ideas behind them likely many times to work disastrously in their practical application. It is often said, even by physicians, that a patient "is living on medicine," on stimu- lants. This is a very common idea both in and out of the profession ; and the accepted theory implied in the doctrine of "active medical principles " is responsible for it, — it makes such a belief imperative. As a matter of fact, however, the stimulant is too often hastening the death of the person. We repeat, that the theory of the existence of an agency, — an active principle, not vital, — in association with material medicine, makes the acceptance of such an idea irresistible. That is, the alcoholic spirit agency, or alleged "active medical principle," is pre- sumed temporarily to execute a function which the active vital principle cannot exe- cute under the existing circumstances of its enfeebled condition. The text-books allege that "alcoholic spirit gives energy to mus- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 145 cles ; " in other words, that it imparts strength. What other inference can be legit- imately made on this basis of the accepted doctrine of " active medical principles " ? It is alleged in medical literature that the human mind has no conception of the nature of vital force. This leads us to remark, that the disposition to drink alcoholic spirit, and to use it as a medicine, is based on two mis- conceptions of serious magnitude. First, the interpretation has been accepted by the profession and the laity that an exchange of sensations effected by alcoholic spirit, — the exchange of a feeling of weariness for a less conscious feeling of weariness, — is satisfac- tory evidence of a supplied energy. Second, When alcoholic spirit given in a state of collapse has occasioned, as it many times does, a more nearly balanced circulation, the inference has been drawn that this was due to the fact that the " active principle " of the alcohol executed a temporary duty in place of the debilitated vital energy. 10 146 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. When, therefore, it is said that a person is "living on stimulants," it is presumed that the alcoholic "energy," alleged by high medical authority to exist, is running the machinery of life in place of the vital energy. If the accepted doctrine of "active medical properties" were correct, that presumption would be a correct one ; and it would also be commendable to urge the people to resort to alcoholic spirit for temporary energy. But should this long-cherished doctrine, like that of the ancient ideal earth-centre, be proven to be an error, a new education will be necessary as a fundamental basis for a successful anti-alcoholic era of prosperity and happiness. I believe that the erroneous idea of the relation of alcoholic spirit to the human organism indoctrinated and perpetu- ated by the medical profession, is the largest cause of the present evil habit of drinking alcoholic spirit so common among our people. Our citizens of best intelligence and of great- est influence are conscientious in their con- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 147 yiction of the utility of alcoholic spirit for such purposes as advocated by the deluded medical profession ; and this conviction pre- vents the development of that healthy public sentiment which would otherwise exist to protect the people at large from a gross misuse of stimulants. We ask, now, What is the explanation of recovery from collapse, when such recovery is occasioned by the use of alcoholic stimu- lation? A person in a condition of collapse — a deficient capillary circulation and cold surface — is given a quantity of alcoholic spirit; and provided that the vital energies are sufficient, the heart's action becomes thereby accelerated, and a larger quantity of blood is sent to the surface instinctively to eliminate the alcohol as a legitimate official function of this vital property. In this way a better balanced circulation is made to pre- vail which is far more favorable to continued life, even at the expense of more or less vital energy, than was the existing condition of 148 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. collapse. The vital-power theory, however, would advise that great caution be exer- cised in such an attempt to balance the circu- lation with alcoholic spirit relations; while the medical-power theory would permit great liberty in the supply of such expected new energy. While it would be folly to deny that human life may not in some instances be saved by the use of alcohol as a stimulant, yet if the theory of such use be wrong the tendency will be to continue the practice and destroy the patient. Stimulation as a practice rela- tive to the involuntary life-function is pre- cisely like the application of a whip to the voluntary ability : both will cause a different vital action. Alcoholic stimulation is not a gift of energy, but a different expenditure of vital energy. Like the use of the whip, it may be available under certain circum- stances; but there can be no doubt that it has caused, when given in collapse, ten deaths where it has saved one life. Educa- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 149 tion not only prepares the mind to accept the inevitable, but also to accept theories based on imaginary principles; and education authorizes the giving of alcoholic stimulants to supply temporary uplifting energy. In- deed, should the physician not resort to such practice, he is liable to be severely censured for neglect ; and should the patient die from such treatment, the physician is given much credit for his perseverance with u active medical principles. " Who ever heard of an over dose of whiskey for collapse ? Medical doctrines and theories do not provide for such a possibility. If the patient lives, it is the alcoholic energy which saved his life; if death follows, the patient is charged with a deficiency of vital ability unequal to swallow- ing the fluid energy. This is a doctrinal provision which is very useful in the inter- ests of reconciliation. In trying to anticipate correctly the future developments in a human organism diseased from varied causes, and theorizing from the 150 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. old and accepted ideal plan now in use, cer- tain disadvantages will attend the mental operation, such as prevailed with the Ptole- maic theorist when trying to calculate future astronomical events. The new plan, how- ever, to which we call attention, enables the medical theorist to take advantage in his calculations of all operative principles and laws, as the Copernican system enables the astronomer to do at the present time. IX. SENSATION AND SENSIBILITY. r I ^HESE two vital properties have func- -*- tional relations not previously con- sidered, and which can be described better in a separate chapter, consisting in the fact that each may modify and disturb the func- tion of the other, unlike the relations of pre- vious mention. We can say of those life properties what we have said of the group of zymotic disease, that while they hold a common relation to all things in association with other vital properties, they also have additional relations of inter-association some- times difficult to illustrate. But all progress in science comes by tedious observation and comparison of Nature's laws and methods; and some things, even if not past finding 152 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. out, certainly do not become readily apparent. The vital property sensibility, with some persons, may entertain expectancies of a degree that will develop sensational feelings. For instance, merely the idea that an emetic has been administered may produce nausea, and even sensational feelings, to an extent that will cause the function of instinct to exercise involuntary action. Extreme sen- sational irritability, local or general, may unbalance the function of sensibility to such an extent as to produce delirium and various other disturbances of this vital property. Thus in many cases of mental disturbance, where it is alleged that "the disease has gone to the brain," such condition is pro- duced by sensational irritability, and may frequently be cured by diminishing the cause of such irritability. High temperature of the blood may cause delirium ; also irrita- bility extending over large areas. Nor must we overlook the fact that extreme emotions THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 153 experienced by the sensibility may so far modify the sensational function as to make favorable or unfavorable the numerous dis- turbances over which instinct presides. With some persons, in some forms of disease, mental influence constitutes a large factor of the disturbance, and may be made a large factor of the cure. Not only is it possible for each of those vital properties to modify the other, in association with the same individual, but the will-power of one person may modify the function of both sensation and sensibility in another person. This is illustrated in hypnotic influence, which may be carried to such a degree that an amputa- tion can be performed without pain, and even without consciousness. There are numerous complex operations that are explainable only upon the basis of the co-relation of the several active vital properties. But so long as this department of Nature remains in obscurity, many theo- ries will be adopted to explain such opera- 154 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. tions which are untenable in their applica- tion. At the same time, such theories may remain acceptable and yet be as unscientific in their relation as the alleged and apparent Indian remedy for eclipse of the moon. Be- lieving that some animal was about to devour that satellite, the natives made a great noise to frighten the animal away ; and so far as appearances were concerned their theory of a remedy was well supported, and such inter- pretation was presumed to develop valuable facts for future guidance in the treatment of similar inflictions. The Indians were encour- aged to believe in the utility of such a remedy, while at the same time a very different principle of Nature was implied in the operation which really produced the result. The most gigantic modern parallel of this ancient superstition is illustrated in the doctrine of "active medical property," an imaginary alleged agency, supported by tons of literature in explanation of its utility, as a curative and restorative agency; an THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 155 active principle and medical agency which is sold to the people with mingled praise and mystery, and which is alleged to act upon and to operate the organs of human life when scientifically harnessed with profound and unspeakable skill. The modern doctrines of Mind Cure, Men- tal Healing, and Christian Science are entitled to a candid consideration. There are no working principles in the latter which do not belong to the former, and reversely. Each is in error in its representation of the results claimed from such methods. The doctrine of mental healing has a limited and yet legitimate support in the theory underlying such method, while it has a larger apparent support than the nature of the operative principles will warrant. Thus the question arises, to what degree are such results, in other words cures, effected and explainable on the theories advanced in sup- port of such methods ? Functional diseases of every name and 156 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. nature exist either as abnormal sensibilities, — diseases of the mind, — or as abnormal sensations, implied in sensational feelings and involuntary pathological vital actions. We must also recognize that no agency is operative with either the normal or abnormal functions of the living organism, except the vital agency. The mind agency is a vital agency ; but the involuntary vital-force agency is not a mind agency. Disease exists in both departments, voluntary and involun- tary; and sensation and sensibility have a limited relation of disturbance from each vital property, and also a limited relation in effecting a balance of normal function. Now to what extent are diseases amenable to the mind agency; and what diseases are implied and made operative by that vital force agency which is not a mind agency ? This is a larger department of nature than we care to give space for a full explanation of, while it is at the same time entitled to some general outline in association with the subject of this volume. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 157 Notwithstanding that the theories advanced in support of mental healing are not directly applicable except with a limited and certain kind of ailment, the doctrine as a whole has a better hold on the nature of things, as a fundamental working principle, than the alleged agency of an "active medical prop- erty. " It does have a factor of appropriate relation as suggested, while the "active medical property " has none. The mind agency as a curative agency does apply directly in some instances, and indirectly in other instances. Many times the involuntary vital agency directed by instinct works out the problem of cure. Whatever theory may be advanced in explanation of a cure, the believers and advocates of such theory will point to their cures and say, "There is the proof of our theory ; there is the living evidence of the curative influence that has been operative. You cannot deny facts; facts are stubborn things. " But the " facts " associated with the Indian's remedy for a 158 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. lunar eclipse not only did not refute his theory of remedial measures, but even gave it encouragement ; yet some other theory would explain such facts far more scien- tifically. It is unquestionably true that some persons do have a wonderful mental influence over certain other persons, but not over all persons to an equal degree. Such influence is directly operative only with a certain class of ailments, largely existing in the voluntary department. There are two classes of ailments to con- sider, — those superintended by the mind, and those presided over by instinct. The mind cannot directly guide the activities assigned to the function of instinct. The function of instinct is a reality, it is not imaginary; and to guide this function indirectly it is necessary to make appeal through the vital property sensation. The question then arises, To what extent can the mind produce sensations ? It can to a certain extent, but that extent is very limited. It is a well- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 159 known fact that expectancy may induce nausea and vomiting; it may increase or diminish the sensation of pain to a certain degree when due to certain causes, but when due to other causes little or no modification can be effected except with a hypnotic subject. It is very difficult to comprehend how the mind can abolish those conditions which it cannot produce. The mind cannot produce pneumonia, nor scarlet fever, nor a score of other ailments; and when the mental influ- ence tackles such ailments with an apparent success, please remember the Indian remedy for eclipse. There are different active vital principles implied in such cures wholly un- like mind influence. The mind may exer- cise a powerful influence for good or for evil in a great variety of ailments. The mind may use up vital energy in worry sufficient to prolong the ailment and even to cause death, in both the voluntary and involuntary departments. It is true also that the men- 160 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. tal influence of the patient often constitutes the pivotal influence which may favor a cure or cause death ; it is an influence, frequently of pivotal significance, not duly appreciated. Thus it is very important for the attending physician, or "healer," to maintain suffi- cient control of the hopeful expectancies of his patient to afford the best opportunity for recovery. It is important, however, to recognize that mind and matter do not constitute the sum total of a human organism. The mind prop- erty is but one of four vital properties which exercise functions in the affairs of life. The mind cure, or mental healing, as a theory, like medical theories, is defective; and while frequently fruitful of great practical benefits, all such theories have developed ideal incon- gruities of nature that may be of profit to review. It is alleged that pain is not real, only imaginary; that disease exists only in the mind ; that both pain and disease are factors THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 161 of mind, to be removed at will: thus that one has only to think strongly that one is sick or well, and the job is done. It is true that in the voluntary department of life affairs this theory may apply very correctly, but not in the involuntary. The mind cannot will away pneumonia ; some other principle is operative here, and it must have its time. The doctrine that disease is imaginary, like the doctrine of "active medical properties," has secured a foothold in the popular belief; and this kind of erroneous interpretation has grown out of the fact that no recognition has been developed of the nature of vital force, or of distinction of functions of the several ultimate vital properties. Medical text-books and lexicons fail to outline the difference between sensation and sensibility, — those vital properties being regarded, so far as text-book authority con- tributes testimony, as each being a part of the other. Now, sensation has an innumer- able variety of factors; in other words, 11 162 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. there are different kinds of sensation, among which are taste, smell, itching, and pain. Sensibility also has a multiplicity of factors that make up the total of that vital property, — emotions of grief, joy, anger, hope, mirth, and reason. Many of the factors of sensi- bility may be experienced and abolished at will ; but pain, being a factor and variety of sensation, cannot be abolished at will. Dis- ease, manifested wholly by the involuntary department, cannot be abolished at will, or cured by mind influence ; though such disease may have some of its disagreeable associations modified by mind influence. Involuntary vital power may be guided and controlled to a limited degree by the production of sensa- tions from material contacts, — that being the only means at command which will cause instinct to operate the involuntary vital force as desired. The human mind requires to be broadened sufficiently to recognize that the human organism is a more complex creation than THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 163 can be represented through mind and matter; also that it has active vital properties in common with animal life, — so low down in some cases as to have little or no vital prop- erty of sensibility; that is, no brain. The complexity of a human organism in its variety of functions is of wonderful extent. Not only are the ultimate vital properties unlike and distinct, but each has factors that make up its whole, of great diversity of function. There are many kinds of tastes and smells and sensational feelings, agreeable and dis- agreeable; many kinds of sensational hap- piness, of misery and pain. Sensibility is made up of numerous different factors. Grief is not like joy; sadness is not like hope; and the will power is not like intel- lectual power. Pain is as real as intelligence, while some people are capable of experienc- ing more of the former than of the latter. Distress of mind may disturb the functions of other vital properties, while irritability of sensation may unbalance the mind. 164 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. In alleged mental healing the result is not all due to mental influence. There are laws of involuntary organic operations — con- structive, preservative, and restorative — which to effect, the mind must arrange certain conditions for a successful execution, as would be required for the production of a field of corn. The mental part is frequently more in the arranging than in the doing. The medical healers and mental healers have thus far failed to recognize the functions and operative laws through which the vital prop- erties exercise their activities in the affairs of human life, and thus have failed to take ad antage of opportunities that are continu- ally being presented. In consequence thou- sands of deaths occur annually that might have been prevented. The improper use of medicine is undermining the national health of the people to a degree far more seri- ous than that effected by alcoholic spirit drinking. In summing up the ideal situation of this THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 165 department of Nature as it exists to-day, there are two leading expectancies which we find to predominate. One is the expectancy of great beneficial results from the proper application of an alleged medical agency, — the " active medical property " The other is an expectancy of a mental power that may accomplish a multiplicity of innumerable operations with the organic body, which are really, executed by an entirely different agency. Thus the real agency which exe- cutes the alleged medical operations, and a very large per cent of the alleged mental cures, — the involuntary vital force, — is not recognized and given credit for its operative function in Nature. And it is also alleged that the nature of this vital force constitutes a problem which must await the advent of future generations for a solution. There- fore, little or nothing of practical importance appears in medical literature relative to this department of involuntary living agency, which would require volumes to elucidate 166 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. in its application to the various forms of disease. There are many forms of acute self-limited disease which will be cured in accordance with the laws of involuntary functions com- mitted to the custody of instinct. All kinds of u healers " are likely to take advantage of this fact, and will, unconscious of the prin- ciple involved, point to such cures in support of the theory and method they have adopted. Many who claim the discovery of wonderful curative agencies barricade themselves behind the statement, that, while they may not be able to prove that such alleged agency exists, no one can prove that it does not exist. There is much logic in this statement, and it too frequently represents the precise situ- ation. Consequently, no educational author- ity can expose such frauds with success; and numerous medical and curative systems are invented and become acceptable, while Nature has supplied but one code of laws for disease and the relations thereto of medicine. PNEUMONIA, \ T 7E select this form of disease to illus- trate the application of the theory of Vital Force, not because it is more suit- able for that purpose, but because it affords a greater diversity of applied principles. Starting with the recognition that an abnormal sensation must precede every form of disease, the question arises, What consti- tutes the causes of abnormal sensation in pneumonia, both primary and secondary ? Among the varied primary causes we men- tion, first, that frequent cause implied in a mechanical pressure of blood on the lungs, together with the accumulation of more or less effete material which should be elim- inated through the skin, — a condition of 168 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. unbalanced circulation frequently caused by insufficient clothing for the protection of the body. A great variety of other primary causes may exist, such as inhaled irritant material, — vapors, and extreme cold air; also the presence of poisonous soluble patho- logical products of previous diseases that are being eliminated through the lungs, consti- tuting primary causes of an abnormal sensation. Succeeding any one of the primary causes of disease, there is soon a larger quantity of blood in the lung tissues, in association also with an increased temperature of the blood, constituting a secondary cause of great sig- nificance, — a congestion and temperature producing an abnormal sensation to a degree of more or less pain. The primary cause, whatever it may be, constitutes but a small factor of causation for the development of pneumonia. Many times the primary cause may exist for a period without disturbing the circulation of the blood sufficient for the THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 169 production of the secondary cause. It is the nature of instinct to send a larger quan- tity of blood to any part where an abnormal sensation, or irritability, is made to prevail; thus in a brief time secondary causes are made to exist of serious relations. Every case of pneumonia would certainly prove fatal, in accordance with the nature and laws of the active ultimate vital proper- ties, were there not provided a principle which we have called "toleration," and which we have explained in a previous chapter. One lung, or a part of one lung, may be thus disturbed without involving all the lung tissues ; as is illustrated in superficial inflam- mation which does not include all adjacent tissues. It is not possible to have pneumonia without an excess of blood in the lung struc- tures ; and death ensues because the quantity of blood, together with subsequent patholog- ical changes, mechanically diminishes the air space to a capacity insufficient for respira- tion. This condition can be made to exist 170 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. with a strong and vigorous person in forty- eight hours, while with a less vigorous con- stitution from six to eight days may be required to effect the same condition from congestion and infiltration. The first change from a normal condition which takes place in the lungs exists as an abnormal sensation, brought about by some of the already mentioned, or similar, pri- mary causes. Instinct sends a larger volume of blood to the lungs in consequence of the irritability which we call abnormal sensation. The excess of blood in those organs, and the consequent pathological action, develop continued secondary causes, — high tempera- ture of the blood in most cases being the greater secondary cause which occasions in- stinct to continue sending an excess of blood to the parts, constituting that condition called inflammation. Thus far, this conges- tion and inflammation are made to exist in accordance with the nature and laws of the active vital properties; and we repeat THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 171 that every case of pneumonia would prove fatal, did not that self-preservative principle called " toleration " become effective, which makes possible that discontinuance of path- ological vital action implied in self-limited disease. The important feature of treatment in such cases consists in the early reduction of the quantity of blood in the lung tissues, — not by blood-letting, but by diminishing the secondary cause, heat, which, if allowed to exist, produces an irritability that will be a continued cause for instinct to send a dangerous quantity of blood to those organs. Diminish the quantity of blood, by reduc- ing the temperature cause of disturbance of pathological vital action, and thus allow sufficient air space to be maintained until toleration is established. There is no occa- sion to treat primary causes, even were it possible, but only secondary causes. Exces- sive temperature is the greatest and most approachable cause to be treated. The 172 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. nerves of the lung tissues easily take on irritability, — a condition that may exist unrecognized by the consciousness, yet hav- ing serious relations to instinct. Thus the feelings of the patient are not to be relied upon to determine the severity of existing causes and conditions. The nearer the approach of normal quantity of blood in the lung tissues, the less severe the pneumonia; the nearer that the temperature of the blood is kept to normal, the less cause exists for disturbing the circulation. It is not wise or prudent to try to keep the blood at a normal temperature, but to diminish it several degrees, more or less, from its maximum degree of disturbance. The practical effect between diminishing the quantity of blood in the lung tissues by blood-letting and lowering of total vital energies by antiphlogistic medication, and that of diminishing the secondary cause, heat, to effect a more nearly balanced circu- lation, is of great importance to the patient. THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 173 This difference is often one of life or death, depending on the method adopted. The best method is to reduce the temperature by conduction, which is always subject to imme- diate control. Envelop the patient in a wet- sheet pack of varying degrees of temperature, according to the severity of existing abnor- mal heat. It may be sufficient to envelop the chest with towels wet in cool water, changing every twenty minutes for many hours, some- times for an entire day, until the tempera- ture is lowered several degrees; and thus keep it reduced for several days from the beginning of the disturbance. The fever thermometer should be used frequently to determine the result of the treatment. A temperature of 104 to 106 degrees demands prompt attention. Do not be afraid of cold water about the chest — but not the extrem- ities — with such temperatures. Do not apply such a degree of cold over large sur- faces as to produce a shock of the nervous system. Do not be too heroic in degrees of 174 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. cold, but change the appliance more fre- quently with a milder temperature. The diminishing of temperature by conduc- tion, in association with opiates, to make more tolerant the cause of abnormal sensa- tion, constitutes the most reliable treatment for severe pneumonia as presented by the sthenic, robust individual. Give the patient an abundance of cool water, supply the best air for respiration, and be sparing of food for the first forty-eight hours. There are many mild cases of pneumonia that would recover under almost any let- alone treatment ; and with such cases, much credit is liable to be given to that method of treatment which would be of little or no benefit in severe cases. It is not possible to cure every case of pneumonia, but fifty per cent of those robust persons who die without this treatment would be saved by its early application. It is the early treatment which saves, which converts a would-be severe case into one of milder relations. THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 175 The strong, vigorous person is in more danger, because his vital strength can send more blood to the lungs. It would be well for every household to be the possessor of a thermometer, and to know the meaning of a high temperature of the blood, and how safely to reduce it, regardless of what form of dis- ease might be expectant. With pneumonia, the secondary causes of severe disturbance — heat and irritability — must be made less; while with other kinds of disease different secondary causes demand leading attention. In the case of scarlet fever and measles there exists one secondary cause — heat — to be reduced ; while that abundant secondary cause of irritability, existing as a poisonous pathological product, must be eliminated. To try to make such cause tolerant would be fatal. The distinction of the relation of cause between a common cold and pneumonia is but a difference of degree. A " common cold," so called, is caused by a similar disturbance 176 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. of superficial circulation of the blood, occa- sioning an abnormal sensation of the mucous membranes. A degree of irritability is thus made to exist only sufficient to cause a local disturbance, with little or no perceptible disturbance of the heart's action; while with pneumonia the degree of irritability is sufficient to disturb the whole system, and occasion the production of a special in- creased action of the heart, sending an excess of blood to the region of irritation, developing inflammation. The same prin- ciple is operative on the external surface, where cause may exist for either irritability or for inflammation. We repeat, that the causes of disturbance have no influence, do not act, but exist as passive causes, which occasion pathological vital action to develop. Medicine has no " active medical property ; " it is passive, and a cause for a different vital act. There is no medical agency that can do duty in sub- stitution for vital force; but medicine may THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 177 be made useful to modify conditions, and to cause sensation to be more tolerant. It may be used to produce a sensation which will occasion the deployment of vital activity for the execution of such act as may seem wise to have established. The theory of the Science of Vital Force fits every form of disease equally as well as it does pneumonia; and each form as well as severity of unlike disease has special features entitled to consideration, which could not be illustrated except in association with a description of such disease. Vital force acts in relation to nutrient material with normal surroundings, and produces health. Vital force acts in relation to non-nutrient material and abnormal surroundings, and produces disease. The relation of medicine to the human organism is represented in two distinct divisions. In one division its relation con- sists in the production of a sensation from contact, without disturbance and develop- 12 178 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. ment of pathological vital action. There are different kinds of sensations innumer- able. The other division is implied in the production of sensations that are succeeded by pathological vital actions directed by instinct. This action is usually called "the action of the medicine." The different kinds of pathological action are also innumerable. Thus, in brief, we legitimately use medi- cine either to produce and modify sensations, or to develop pathological vital actions. Certain causes of disease produce abnormal sensations more or less disagreeable, without development of pathological actions, which constitute one form of disease. Certain other causes also produce abnormal sensations that are succeeded by pathological vital actions directed by instinct, which actions do con- stitute active disease. Functional disease is pathological vital action; and the active effects from medicinal relations constitute a similar representation of an involuntary active vital principle. THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 179 In the disease called " pneumonia " there is no occasion to give medicines to deploy and develop pathological actions, but only to modify sensations for the purpose of dimin- ishing pathological vital actions. XI. MISCELLANEOUS PARAGRAPHS. Science. The uplifting of astronomical science from its crude associations was effected by a recognition of the true centre of the solar system; and with the depart- ment of medical science there are accepted theories and fallacious ideas to be elimin- ated, as well as a recognition to be obtained of a different plan, implied in the four ulti- mate active vital properties of human life functions and their co-operative relations. Little or no progress can be made in estab- lishing fundamental principles on which a scientific practice of medicine may be predi- cated, essential both to intellectual pride and a more successful result, until all beliefs and ideas are eliminated of an existing THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 181 agency in Nature called "active medical property," implied in an active principle alleged to be stored away in roots, barks, and minerals, which is said to act on the organs of human life. This accepted idea, now taught and perpetuated, is as crude and void of all representation of a fact or prin- ciple in Nature as the doctrine of a flat earth and the ancient ideal centre of the solar system. In calling attention to the Science of Vital Force, and to the necessary revolution of ideas following upon it, there is presented a subject never paralleled in importance in all the events of civilization and the devel- opment of a science. In association with such a revolution in the department of astronomical science, history is responsible for the statement that the human mind had so little ability to exercise rational thought that it required more than a century to eliminate the crude ideas of the old tradi- tional system, even after public attention was 182 THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. called to its monstrous delusions. So also it may not be unreasonable to expect that some minds will prove to be so fixed by previous education, so inflexible and inca- pable of progress, that it will not be possible for them to unlearn the ideal fallacies of medical teaching that have stamped their impress upon the public mind by the aid of those authorities whose business it is sup- posed to be to transmit wisdom. But in the recognition and development of the Science of Vital Force, Nature must be accepted as the highest authority. Organic disease. In previous pages, fre- quent mention has been made of abnormal sensation and pathological vital actions; and with organic disease, the phrase abnor- mal construction is appropriate in represen- tation of the displacement of normal cell structure by a malignant cell growth. Functional disease is pathological vital action, and pathological vital action in the affairs of cell structure may develop malig- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 183 nant growth. Thus there may exist patho- logical vital action which is not implied in cell construction, while at other times such perversion of activity may become manifest only in abnormal cell construction. When seeking to comprehend the cause of such formation, it is necessary to invoke the aid of the several functions of vital properties. In the formation of normal cell structure there is implied a surrounding condition of normal sensation ; while in the construction of malignant growth there evidently prevails a condition of abnormal sensation, — a con- dition of local irritation of a period of shorter or longer duration. Thus in looking for a cause, we cannot go behind the relative differ- ence between normal and abnormal sensation, — the local irritation alone being the modify- ing influence causing the construction of malignant cells in place of normal cell structure. Why a local irritation, which is of frequent existence, may sometimes be followed by such change of cell structure 184 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. and not at other times is a problem difficult to solve. It is difficult to explain fully why a certain cause of disease at one time may not produce disease every time and with every person, — although such explanation, if possible, would not be implied in the nature and relation of the cause, but in some existing condition of the individual.- The theory we present of active vital force based on the functions of the several vital properties, as well as the facts of common recognition, contributes support and evi- dence to the fact that malignant growth may succeed to known conditions of local irrita- bility, — as may be illustrated in cancer of the mouth from irritable gums, produced by incrustations and decayed teeth. It is alleged by high authority that a mechanical injury from a blow has been succeeded by malignant growth. Sometimes in organic disease of the liver and kidneys succeeding long-continued existing local disturbance, occasioned by the presence of alcoholic spirit THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 185 in near proximity to cell structure, there is illustrated the same principle and relation of cause. Thus we might say that the normal cell growth is handicapped by the presence of such material, and that in place of normal sensation there exists a local irritation, con- stituting the modified surroundings which favor, in place of normal cell growth, that modification of cell structure implied in organic disease. The cause of disease does not act; it only causes an abnormal sensation, which perverts vital action. In the studious research to connect the "germ theory of disease " with cancerous growth, there has been discovered in some instances a protozoic parasite; and a distin- guished writer thus states : " It seems difficult to grasp how the chronic irritation or the toxic influence of a parasite can produce, for instance, a cancer." There is no "toxic influence," but only a toxic relation. The "toxic influence" is an ideal outgrowth from the erroneous doctrine implied in the 186 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. accepted theory that causes act The mate- rial of toxic contact relation disturbs the instinctive influence; abnormal sensation is produced, and instinct constructs a patho- logical cell growth, — malignant structure. So far as the parasite is concerned, we assume that this alleged " germ " took up its abode in that region after irritability was established, and perhaps after malignant cells began to form. Even be it otherwise, the relation of such parasite could be of no different kind than as a cause of abnormal sensation. Sensation, normal or abnormal, is the first language of life, from the contact relation of the external world to a living human organism. Alcoholic stimulation. Alcoholic spirit consumption, both as a beverage and for medicinal use, is a custom encouraged by a certain kind of scientific education, and confirmed by the temporary experience of "feeling better." All the pleasures of life are experienced through the vital properties THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 187 sensation and sensibility; and the fact that alcoholic spirit may occasion a more agree- able sensation, in substitute for such disa- greeable sensations. as weariness and hunger, — thus effecting a swapping of sensations, which has been given the interpretation of a contribution of energy, — constitutes the great educational influence for the adoption of this practice. There also exists the testi- mony of high medical authority, as well as the influence of the object lessons of practice, that alcoholic stimulation is implied in the alleged action of the " active medical prop- erty " of the alcoholic spirit, acting as a tem- porary substitute for vital energy. If such stimulation were really a temporary supply of energy, as alleged by medical authority, alcoholic spirit would be a very useful article of consumption; but such is not the fact. If the swapping of sensations were truly scientific evidence of supplied strength, alco- holic spirit would be a household remedy of great utility; but such is not the fact. 188 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. Neither the swapping of sensations nor stim- ulation constitutes a contribution of energy. Stimulation is not the exercise of an " active medical principle," but an expenditure of vital energy, — a differently deployed vital action, holding the same relation to the involuntary vital action that the whip holds to the voluntary. The alcoholic spirit question is a larger subject with which to contend than has been recognized by the most zealous workers in the field of reform. The alcoholic infliction of misery is not a sequence of human de- pravity, but of a false scientific culture. The worst foe of the temperance cause un- consciously exists in the acceptance of erro- neous medical doctrines, and in the inability to distinguish an occasioned agreeable sensa- tion from a contribution of strength. Should the workers in the temperance cause expend a part of their energies and money in the development of a new education, it would contribute a hundred fold more to the success THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 189 of the reform than the effort of applied legis- lative coercion to overcome an unconscious educational influence. Public sentiment is wrong. Public sentiment, however, is not a spontaneous outgrowth, but dependent on education ; it is what the people make it on an educational basis. It is an all-powerful influence for the right or the wrong, as the case may be. The evils of alcoholic spirit drinking cause its practice to be condemned, while the culture for the persuasion of such practice is allowed to be perpetuated, — which balances the opposing influence, as the statistics of consumption demonstrate. The practice is allowed, because it is sus- tained by medical authority, — an authority not prudent to deny, without a reserve corps of natural fundamental principles at com- mand for support. If the temperance workers are in earnest, they should make it known that science is the natural ally of temper- ance, and not the persuader of the use of alcoholic spirit as a vehicle of "active medi- cal orooerty." 190 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. The medical profession. Who shall prac- tise medicine ? Who shall treat the sick and superintend the management of disease ? This is a difficult question to adjust on the basis of ability and satisfaction to all par- ties ; and it is a very much discussed ques- tion at the present time. We must recog- nize that all people have rights, while a lesser number have abilities. It would seem, however, that this question must ultimately be settled on the same basis as is implied in the question of who should be allowed to make astronomical calculations, and who should be allowed to make a chemical analy- sis of the contents of a human stomach. So long as medical science remains acceptable in its present crude state of imaginary funda- mental principles, there is no authority that can demonstrate where to draw the line and determine on which side exists capability, and on which side exists uncapability, to pre- scribe for and to manage disease. So long as the real fundamental principles of this THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 191 department are allowed to remain in obscur- ity, and success is hoped for through the agency of some wonderful medical power, which is as liable to be discovered by an ignoramus and mere speculator as by a cul- tured physician, this will be a difficult ques- tion to settle. So long as "active medical properties " rather than active mental abili- ties are recognized and presumed to be of the greatest utility, this subject will con- tinue to be agitated. So long as the people believe that a medicine can act and exercise activity with the organs of life, and remain uneducated relative to the nature and func- tions of the unlike ultimate vital agencies and the required guidance of such agency in the affairs of disease, the judgment of such ability will be subject to the whims of ignorance. An ignoramus and speculator in human misfortunes, when giving placeboes for a self-limited disease which is sure to get well if let alone, is liable to be credited with as much skill, erudition, and ability as the cultured physician. 192 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. The fundamental premises of this subject exist as a blank in the minds of the people, which allows them to be unconsciously imposed upon to a degree of criminality and the sacrifice of life. There are no recog- nized fundamental principles of educational acquirement that are accepted as a superior qualification for professional practice. Every school of medicine and treatment has a set of alleged fundamental principles of conven- tional adoption, while Nature has provided but one code of laws and principles that are operative in the affairs of disease. As there is but one science of astronomy and one science of chemistry, so there is but one science of medicine. When the people are educated to understand the nature of the premises on which a scientific treatment and practice of medicine is based, it would be a very ignorant invalid, surrounded by ignorant advisers, who would permit an alleged physician to attempt the guidance of his involuntary vital force in conditions THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 193 of disease who was not well educated in the science of this department of Nature. There are provided principles and operative laws for a more successful treatment and practice of medicine not yet recognized and taught for the benefit of a civilized people; and when this department is understood, the medical profession will occupy a much higher position both in reality and in the judgment of the people, — a position of greater utility to individual and national prosperity than has ever been achieved through any depart- ment of scholastic attainment. Conclusion. We are aware that the theory of the Science of Vital Force has been pre- sented in these pages with much assurance ; but it is an assurance born of the conviction that these operative fundamental principles will stand the test of severe criticism, being based on the living laws of this department of Nature, and capable of demonstration in verified phenomena presented in the human organism. 13 194 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. The practical utility of this science tran- scends all other departments of accumulated wisdom in its applicability to the preserva- tion of human life and recovery from disease, enabling us to adopt measures for the saving of human life at present unrecognized. It affords protection against the infatuation of the alcoholic delusion of expectancy, and merits the attention of earnest workers in temperance reform as the most powerful ally for the development of a higher public senti- ment, based on scientific achievements. It illustrates that ignorance, not depravity, is responsible for the alcoholic infliction which has come upon a civilized people. It enables demonstrated science to become an ally of temperance reform, while at the present time alleged science is the worst unconscious enemy of the temperance movement. Statesmen allege that the temperance ques- tion is the greatest national question before the people of this generation ; but we affirm that the Science of Vital Force is much the THE SCIENCE OP VITAL FORCE. 195 larger subject, for it includes and furnishes a solution for the former, which is implied in that enigmatical paradox where two unlike educations on the subject prevail at the same time, — one persuading to the use of alco- holic spirit for the benefit of its expectant active principle of temporary energy, while the other persuades to its abolishment on the records of its practical effects. When the utility and advantages of this science become recognized, it will be important to have elementary text-books prepared for use in common schools, from which a general out- line of the subject may be taught in associa- tion with the temperance education so much needed, — a subject no more profound than the general principles on which the science of astronomy is based, and certainly of greater practical benefit. There should also be prepared a temperance edition for the development of a higher educational standard of public sentiment, including a household department of instruction, contributing in- 196 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. formation for the preservation of health and the management of disease pending the arri- val of a physician, who would be required to be familiar with this department of science before his services would become acceptable to a cultured people. The time is coming in the near future when it will be considered necessary for the public good that each State supply, or pro- vide at cost, such a book of instruction for every family; for the prosperity of our coun- try is dependent on educational development. There exists an opportunity unprecedented in this direction for the labors of some phi- lanthropic association to develop such com- mendable innovation in the interests of humanity and a better civilization. When the ideal centre of the solar system was changed, astronomical literature required to be rewritten; and it is of much greater importance in this department relating to temperance, the preservation of health, and recovery from disease. Physicians' text- THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. 197 books on theory and practice will require to be rewritten, illustrating the advan- tages of the applied science of vital force in guiding the treatment of disease; and the day is not far distant when every medi- cal school will have an instructor in this department. The nature of this subject forbids all rivalry of claim for superiority of advantage in any particular pathy. There is but one science of disease and relation of medicine. Every practitioner, prescriber, superinten- dent, and general manager of diseased con- ditions should have an education sufficiently broad to take in the whole system. The emergency of the situation requires that the nature, management, and treatment of dis- ease shall be presented in a new form and upon a different basis, — the basis of demon- strated fundamental principles implied in the science of vital force. No branch of scien- tific education exists to-day in such a deplor- able and dangerous situation for practical 198 THE SCIENCE OF VITAL FORCE. appliance as the department of alleged med- ical science. The accepted doctrine of " active medical properties" is as fallacious as the ancient ideal centre of the solar system, while, prac- tically, the application of this imaginary ac- tive principle is destroying many thousands of human lives annually. There is not an intelligent person among civilized nations who will compare the phenomena presented by the human organism with the alleged science of vital force without adopting a similar conclusion. And the intelligent peo- ple of this generation who are liable to be- come victims of this dangerous delusion, cannot afford to extend the mistaken cour- tesy of silence relative to this alleged de- partment of nature, but should immediately demand for individual and national protec- tion a higher standard of medical culture. THE END. 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