Nature Cure | Page 5

to the treatment of germ diseases. As long as
people persist in violating the laws of their being, and thereby making
their bodies prolific breeding grounds for disease taints, germs and

parasites which are bound to provoke inflammatory, feverish processes
(Nature's cleansing and healing efforts), combative measures will have
to be resorted to by the physician, and precautionary measures against
infection will have to be observed, but these should be in harmony with
Nature's endeavors, not contrary and suppressive; they should tend to
conserve and not to destroy.
Natural dietetics, fasting, hydropathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, and
mental therapeutics, are combative as well as preventive, but if
properly applied they do not in any way injure the organism or interfere
with Nature's intent and Nature's methods. This cannot be said for
much of the surgical and medical treatment of the old school of
medicine. We criticize and condemn only those methods which are
suppressive and destructive instead of curative.
In many instances already the warnings and teachings of Nature Cure
Philosophy have been verified, and had to be heeded and accepted by
medical science. The exponents of Nature Cure protested against the
barbarous practice of withholding water from patients burning in fever
heat, and against the exclusion of fresh air from the sickroom by order
of the doctor. The cold water and no drug treatment of typhoid fever,
the water treatment for other acute diseases, as well as the open air
treatment for tuberculosis, were forced upon the medical profession by
the Nature Cure people. For more than half a century the latter have
been curing all inflammaory, feverish diseases, from simple colds to
scarlet fever, diphtheria, cerebro-spinal meningitis, smallpox,
appendicitis, etc., etc., by hydropathy, fasting, and other natural
methods, without resorting at all to the use of poisonous drugs,
antitoxins and surgical operations.
For many years before the terrible after-effects of X-Ray treatment, of
extirpation of the ovaries, the womb, and of other vital organs, became
so patent that the physicians of the regular school could not ignore
them any longer, Nature Cure physicians had strongly warned against
these unnatural practices, and called attention to their destructive
after-effects.
As far back as ten years ago, when the X-Rays were in high favor for
the treatment of cancer, lupus, and other diseases, I warned against the
use of these rays, claiming that their vibratory velocity was too high
and powerful, and therefore destructive to the tissues of the human

body. Since the failure of the X-Rays and the discovery of
Radio-activity, the rays and emanations of radium and other
radio-active substances are widely advertised and exploited as
therapeutic agents, but these rays also are far beyond the vibratory
ranges of the physical body in velocity and power. Therefore, it
remains to be seen whether their injurious by and after-effects do not
out-weigh in the long run their beneficial effects.
The destructive action of these high power rays, as well as of inorganic
minerals, is very slow and insidious, manifesting only in the course of
many years. This new field of therapeutics, therefore, has not yet
passed the stage of dangerous experimentation.
Inorganic minerals prove injurious and destructive to the tissues of the
human body because they are too slow in vibratory velocity, and too
coarse in molecular structure.
It is the intent and purpose of this volume to warn against the
exploitation of destructive combative methods to the neglect of
preventive constructive and conservative methods. If these teachings
contribute something toward this end they will fulfil their mission.
The Author
Chicago, Nov., 1913.

INTRODUCTION
It was the following letter from Mr. William Louden to the editor of
~"Health Culture"~ which prompted the author to issue the ~"Nature
Cure Magazine"~ (published from November, 1907, to October, 1909).
In the series of books of which this is the first volume, he will endeavor
to collect and systematize all his former writings in the~ "Nature Cure
Magazine," "Health Culture," "Life and Action,"~ the ~"Naturopath,"~
the ~"Volksrath,"~ and other publications, and to amplify these by new
material obtained through further research and wider experience.
Mr. Albert Turner,
Editor of ~"Health Culture."~
DEAR SIR--I write to ask what you consider the best book or pamphlet
to put into the hands of people generally, in regard to the preservation
of health. I know ther e are a number of very excellent publications, but
as a rule they deal with certain details or phases of the question, and do
not begin with the great underlying principles in such a way as to

attract and hold the attention of the masses. One advocates one plan,
and another an entirely different, and sometimes a directly opposite
plan--such as uncooked vs. thoroughly cooked food; a strictly
vegetarian diet, and mental culture in place of attention to either, etc.
Such a state of affairs makes