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THE
RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF HEALTH.
A DISCOURSE GIVEN AT
SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL,
LONDON,
NOVEMBER 20th, 1881,
Dr. ANDREW WILSON,
OF EDINBURGH.
LONDON :
11,
SOUTH
PRICE
PLACE FINSBURY.
TWOPENCE.
�FREDERICK G. HICKSON & Co.,
257, High Holbokn,
Rondon, W.C.
�THE RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF HEALTH.
T T would be hard to find a truer allegory than the
“ Vision of Mirza,” in which Addison, under a
poetic guise, sought to teach the nature and incidents of
the journey of life. The long series of arches, threescore-years-and-ten entire, and several broken, in the
bridge of life ; the hidden trap-doors that were plentiful
at the entrance of life’s journey, and that again increased
towards life’s close ; the busy multitudes thronging life’s
highway ; the thinning of their ranks as their pilgrimage
progressed ; and the disappearance of unit after unit into
the dark river below as the journey’s stages lengthened,
are features of the allegory which form part of childhood’s
more serious tales. But beneath the clouds of allegory
and metaphor, lie the serious facts of human existence.
Wrap up these facts as you will, disguise them under
what 'simile you choose, their stern realities will still
face us, as we turn from the ideal to survey the fields of
human culture that are spread out everywhere around us.
There are few of these fields more impressive in the pic
ture they present to view than the special aspects which
meet the eye of the physician, the sanitaiy lefoimei, the
scientific man, the statistician himself. Of all the couises
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and phases of human life, none possess for us all such an
interest as those which deal with the chances of life, or
with the possibilities and probabilities of death. It is a
study, this, of the course life has to run, of the best course
which can be run, of the highest goal physical develop
ment can attain. It is a topic, this of health, which presents
for the nation an interest not exceeded by questions of the
deepest political importance. You may applaud the
statesman who introduces amid, it may be, violent oppo
sition, some measure of political reform. You may
admire and reverence the reformer in religion and theo
logy who, with the ardour of a Paul and the eloquence of
a Chrysostom, enunciates a new creed, and, having the
courage of his opinions, seeks to make that creed a life.
You may pause breathless over the work of a general or
commander who has redeemed the fortune of a war which
seemed hopeless before he brought well-nigh superhuman
bravery and promptitude into the field of action. All
these varied aims and excellencies are the stepping-stones
of humanity’s march to better things. But I make bold
to say, your interest will be deeper still, when you listen
to the recital which deals with the labours of science to
prolong life; which recounts the dangers that surround
nations, communities and individuals alike; and which
endeavours to show how, in the newer lights
research is throwing on human existence, there is .to be
found a crown’of years and a length of days. Humanity,
at least, in its thinking and cultured side, is now contented
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and willing to be instructed in the things that constitute
our physical salvation. What science has to say concern
ing the prolongation of human life and of human opportu
nities through attention to the laws of health, is listened
to with increased attention as the years roll on. But there
is yet need that the high morality of the subject be recog
nized. There exists the need that the religious aspects of
the health question should be driven home anew to our
minds in the light of the freer and fuller atmosphere into
which we have passed. There is, above all, an urgent neces
sity that we should assist those who have not yet attained
to a high level of thought, who still linger in theological
Egypts with a Canaan before them wherein is safety and
peace, to realize how closely, nay, how inseparably bound
up with a man’s religion and creed, is his doctrine of
health and its attainment. It is in order to lay before you
this morning a few plain thoughts on its religious aspects,
that I have chosen such a subject as “ health.”
And it may tend in some measure to assist us in the
■work of bodily care and in the enjoyment of life, if we can
realize how closely and inseparably health and its concerns
merge into any rational creed of life and conduct that man
may construct.
It may not be out of place, if, by way of an introduction
to our thoughts, you briefly glance with me at a few facts
typical of the need that exists for health-knowledge.
Begin with the early stages of human life—with the
period of the dim awakening of the child to consciousness
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of a life and of a world external to itself. Statistics on thetruth of which you may rely, prove the verity of that
part of the vision of Mirza, wherein the early arches ofthebridge were studded with pitfalls innumerable. For,
out of every 1,000 children{born, no fewer than 149 die ere
the first year of life is attained. Before the fifth year of
life, 263 will have disappeared from the 1,000, like the
fleeting shadows of cloud-land. Let 25 years of age beattained, and no fewer than 366 of the 1,000 units will havedisappeared. At 45 years of age, exactly 500 remain ;
ten years later only 421 are to the fore. But 309 reach
65 years of age : and 75 years sees a remnant of 161.
About 38 of the 1,000 may see 85 years of age; only 2:
survive till 95 years ; and only 1 in every 1,000 born, lives
through an entire century. But few foofalls re-echo over
the later arches of the bridge of life ; and the longest
livers have but a solitary journey as life wanes to its.
close.
There is much food for reflection in such an exact
account of the fashion in which human units appear on,
and disappear from, the stage of time. How can we
estimate the value of the lives that are cut short, often
through unforeseen circumstances, but as often through,
human ignorance and through human inattention to the
laws of health. Who 'shall conceive the possibilities of
good, of work, of faith in humanity’s highest aims, to
which the lost units might have attained ? Who shall
say anything of the extinction of genius and mind which
�we owe every hour to the fate that is as often as not of
our own making ? What potential Raphaels, or Shakqspeares, or Newtons, have disappeared, and are
disappearing hour by hour from the world’s light through
the trap doors in life’s bridge that lead to Lethe’s dark
silent stream below ? Even viewed as a simple fact of
life, the death of the units as revealed by science causes a
strong sense of rebellious melancholy to arise in the mind.
For science warns us that a very large proportion of the
losses which humanity sustains are preventive losses. They
are the bad debts for which human life has literally nothing
to show. They are the dead losses which weight the profits,
of life so heavily for the survivors, and which leave behind
it may be, the sorrow and poverty, and the desolation and
misery, that know no alleviation while life lasts for the
survivors. If that be true which sanitarians tell us, thaf
120,000 lives are annually sacrificed in our midst by preventible diseases ; that these thousands are sent to an early
grave by the pestilence that stalks abroad at noonday,
when care and attention should have long ago imprisoned
and executed it, the morality of the health-question is no
longer a debatable theme. But, last and best of all, when
we come to know the great and saving truth, worth in its
way, the concentrated culture of centuries, that man literally
holds in his own hands, the power to work weal to his
physical self, it seems high time that our religious teacheis
should have something to say on the morals of health.
I think I make a perfectly just remark when I say that
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to convential theology, with its absurd and inane theories
of the nature and origin of disease, we owe a vast amount
of the stolid indifference and ignorance that prevail in
matters relating to health. If I am able to show that a
foolish and fossilized theology naturally tends to encourage
the spread of disease through its ideas of the causation of
illness, I may claim to thereby furnish the surest ground
for the converse view, namely, that a rational theology
should be the first step towards health-reform. Consider,
for a single moment, the prevalent conceptions of disease
and its origin. The mysticism of the middle ages still
invests the minds of the people, by giving to disease a
purely supernatural and occult origin. The epileptic fit
is the gift of God, equally with the typhoid fever. “ The
Lord chastens whom he loves,” and the fall of a bank which
lands you in beggary, and the scarlet fever that strips your
hearth of its child-tenants and hushes for ever the prattle
that made music in your ear, are equally the means
according to theology, whereby you are to be purified
through trials. No matter that common-sense may
whisper that God’s procedure is hard—unjustifiably,
cruelly hard on the innocent victims, and that a milder
discipline would have been more likely to have won your
heart to righteousness. You are not permitted to inquire at
all into the “ways of Providence;” you are simply to fold the
hands, when every sinew and fibre in your frame feels fit to
start out and to hew down the impious lie that you deserved
the blow which ew your heart’s blood through the death
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of the wife or child you loved so well. You are to say,
“ Thy will be done,” when you know the phrase is, under
the circumstances, but a devil’s shibboleth after all. You
are to go on knowing nothing, seeking no light; only
believing that somehow or other things will right them
selves, when, in your heart, you know that hope is crushed
out of you, and that your life henceforth is but a vain
dream. And so many'a weary soul whose dead is buried,
but whose sorrows are just born, awakens to find life for
a time—it may be till its end—a dismal blank; and the
pulses of humanity, which should throb with hope, but the
muffled drums that herald a march to the grave.
I say then, that the popular theology is a dread enemy
of health-reform. It is plainly so, because it recognises
but one source of disease, and that the capricious fiat of an
anthropomorphic deity, who afflicts the children of men
to-day in as erratic and varied a fashion as when, with the
varied nosology of a celestial college of physicians at com
mand, he rained plagues on Egypt, or afflicted Job in the
manner familiar to all interested in patriarchal troubles
and perplexities. If you reply that even popular theo
logy recognises the newer dispensation, I will answer
“ No thanks to the theologians.” If the pulpit now adopts
less of the tone which bids the pews simply to suffer and
recognise the theoretical hand of the avengei, that is be
cause rationalism is beginning to touch the people s heai t
and head, through the people’s health, and through the
plain lessons of disease. Even those advanced theologians,
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the “ peculiar people,” who found their medical practice
on the learned dictum of the Apostle Tames, do not trust
to prayer entirely, but utilize oil inunction—itself a form
of respectable medical treatment—in the cure of disease.
But even James is far ahead of the popular theology, which
in its spirit and in its practice likewise, bids you cultivate
the resignation of fatalism. “ The Lord gave, and the Lord
taketh away ” is the cant phrase that to honest ears sounds
like the cry of a savage to his fetish. When you reflect
that the typhoid fever that has cost you a life you ill
could spare to be snatched away from you, had its origin in
the bad drainage that could so readily be avoided or cured
—when you know that this epidemic might have been
avoided, or that disease arrested by early care—when you
begin to learn that the proper regulation of life means
life’s prolongation, and that we largely hold our lives in
our own hands—then, and only then, can you realise how
hollow the mockery, how utterly base and irreligious the
words that bid you regard as a gift and sign from heaven,
the disease that is of the earth earthy, and that you might
through the exercise of knowledge have avoided, or per
chance have cured. The stumble that ends in a broken
limb, is, not as a rule, regarded even by theology as having
originated in the clouds. The material cause of your
accident is, of course, as plain to demonstration, as is the
origin of the railway disaster that arises from the careless
ness of a pointsman or the defect of a signal. And the
same reasoning applies to the fever. To glorify the Deity
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that afflicts you with typhus fever, and to condemn the
pointsman that kills you, or the coachman who maims you
by careless driving, are two examples of prevalent incon
sistencies, which are as much the product of a primitive
theology as is the cant expression of the coroner’s jury
concerning “ the will of God.” There is an undercurrent
of strong common sense in the lines of Dryden which
found their contention on the natural nature of disease
and its cure : —
“ Better to hunt in fields for health unbought,
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught;
The wise for cure on exercise depend,
God never made his work for man to mend.”
If the dicta and ideas of theology may be credited with
having tinctured the minds of men with the belief that in
the presence of disease they were literally at the mercy
of a capricious Deity, we may now profitably turn to the
consideration of those newer and higher opinions concern
ing health which the advance of culture—and of religious
culture especially—have evolved.
The growth of national opinions in the matter of health
has been perhaps slow, but the advance has been made with
the slowness of surety. When we reflect that the laws against
witchcraft were exercised little more than a hundred years
ago, it will not surprise us to learn that, as recently as
1853, the Presbytery of Edinburgh sustained a severe
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mental shock by the reply of Lord Palmerston (the then
Home Secretary) in answer to a request that he would
appoint a day of national humiliation and prayer as a means
of averting a threatened visitation of cholera. The Pres
bytery of the Scottish metropolis possessed at that time
but one idea of the nature of disease, and that was
evidently the idea of its being sent from heaven. The
lelations of cholera to the Deity were clear enough to the
minds of Lord Palmerston’s petitioners, if that relationship
might be scarcely apparent to other people. The know
ledge that cholera—which, as I speak, is killing off
Mahommedan pilgrims at the rate of five hundred a day
at Mecca—is the offspring of bad drainage and an infected
water-supply, was an old story in 1853 to sanitary
reformers, but it appeared to be knowledge unattainable
by the theological mind. The facts that, firstly, cholera,
like every other epidemic, depends for diffusion on certain
insanitary conditions, and that, secondly, by improving
these conditions we may stamp out the disease, did not
seem to lie within the knowledge of the Edinburgh
theologians in 1853, as, unfortunately, it seems to be
unknown information to multitudes around us to-day.
Steeped in sanitary and scientific ignorance, can we wonder
then, that theology should collectively ask the Home
Secretary to appoint a day for the express and practical
purpose of asking the Deity to perform a veritable miracle.
By prayer and “humiliation”—I confess, even as a Scotch
man, to be entirely ignorant of the presence or working
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of this latter tendency on “ fast days ” or at any other
periods—the Deity was to be asked to suspend the laws
which regulate the production of the fever-poison and
spread of the cholera-virus. For the sake of “ much
speaking/’ and in the face of filth, bad drainage, and
other conditions then rampant over the face of the
land, the angel of death was actually expected, as in
another Egypt, to spare the chosen from the scourge.
But the sound common-sense of Lord Palmerston gave the
death-blow to the impiety of the wish. “It did not
appear,” said his lordship, “ that a national fast would be
suitable to the circumstances of the present moment.”
And then, in a few scathing sentences, the Presbytery of
Edinburgh was “hoist with its own petard.” “The Maker
of the Universe,” said Lord Palmerston’s letter, “has
established certain laws of nature for the planet in which
we live, and the weal or woe of mankind depends upon
the observance or neglect of these laws. One of those
laws connects health with the absence of those gaseous
exhalations which proceed from overcrowded human
beings, or from decomposing substances, whether animal
or vegetable ; and those same laws render sickness the
almost inevitable consequence of exposure to those noxious
influences. But it has, at the same time, pleased Providence
to place it within the power of man to make such arrange
ments as will prevent or will disperse such exhalations as
to render them harmless, and it is the duty of man to
attend to those laws of nature, and to exert the facilities
�which Providence has thus given to man for his own
welfare.”
In words like these which deserve to be “writ large”
in every school, Lord Palmerston rebuked the folly of his
petitioners. He further told them that the cholera visita
tion for which the Presbytery proposed the remedy of
prayer, was simply “ an awful warning given to the people of
this realm that they had too much neglected their duty in
this respect, and that those persons with whom it rested to
purify towns and cities, and to prevent or remove the
causes of disease, had not been sufficiently active in regard
to such matters.” He added that if the causes of con
tagion were “ allowed to remain,” they would “ infallibly
breed pestilence and be fruitful in death, in spite of all the
prayers and fastings of a united but inactive nation.”
It is indeed cheering for rational minds to read words
like these, not merely because they breathe the spirit of
the soundest scientific policy of health, but because they
are impregnated with what I take’ to be the spirit of true
religion, which ever enforces the precept that man is the
minister of his own salvation, and which render more true
the poet's words—
“ There’s life alone in duty done,
And rest alone in striving.”
The standpoint of the rational mind in regard to
health is simply this—that its preservation is the
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highest duty of mankind. This much and nothing less,
will satisfy the mind that contemplates the phases
of modern life and that longs for a better world
through the improvement of the environments of
human life in the present one. Look abroad for a moment
on the seething tides of humanity that ebb and flow with
ceaseless activity in your great city. Contemplate, as
casually as you will, the course of life to the men and
women we know, and from them extend your thoughts to
the toilers and moilers whose health is, at once, their only
possession and their best stock-in-trade. Observe how,
on every hand, you see the results of wasted 'existences
and broken lives. There, it is the ruin of a home which
might* have resounded with the laughter of children, or
have been blest with the love of wife or husband, bereft
of its sunshine, through, it may be, the gross carelessness
of the builder, or the combined ignorance and dishonesty
of the artisan who fabricated its drainage-works. Tell
the mind, however orthodox, that all is well with it, when
it has just been taught the bitter lesson that the deadly
poison that crept into its home and blighted a life, was,
like the escaped felon, an intruder which demanded con
tinual confinement through ordinary precautions, and do
not wonder if such a mind throws back your consolation
in your teeth, as but the vainest mockery that ever sprung
om a lie. There, again, is an individual constitution
which, born into the world weakly and undermined,
carries to an early grave the legacy of disease it
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inherited from parents who should never have been
allowed to bear that holy name. Here, it is another,
who, starting life in the full flush of vigour, under
mines health by excess. Knowing no laws of conduct
save those which made the enjoyment of the hour the
raison d'etre of life, the powers of that life have been sapped
and undermined by the vicious and insensible folly of halfa-dozen years. Or, again, you witness women and men
bowing before the Moloch of Fashion, and prostrating
themselves beneath the wheels of a fate that will crush
them as surely as the car of Juggernaut demolishes the
votaries who willingly bestrew its path. Is there any
need to emphasize from this pulpit what every pulpit
should denounce, namely, the wholesale bartering of
health for fashion ; the seeking of living bread amongst
the stones and the dust; the expecting to gather the pure
fruit of a healthy life from the foul weeds and thistles that
fringe the waysides of modern life ? Is there any require
ment that I should tell you what you know as well as I
do, that for vanity of figure, the human race will distort its
spine and flatten its chest; will convert the glorious
symmetry of the human body into a living museum of
pathological specimens ; and will cramp its feet until the
extremes of Chinese barbarity and western civilization
meet in amicable proximity ? There is no need to con
tinue the list of social and personal enormities which as a
nation we daily perpetrate. There might be added to the
indictment, crimes against health in the shape of luxurious
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living that is certain to bring a not over-hardy reward in
a shortened life ; and I could emphasize, if need be, the
still greater crime of sins of wilful neglect and omission
in that we have failed to know the great laws of health,
and knowing these laws, to follow and obey them. But
the facts of ill-health are every day facts : they meet us in
our homes; they teach us often in the persons of our
dearest and nearest ones, the baneful effects of carelessness,
and the often irreparable result of a wanton trifling with
health. Nay, still worse, the facts of unsound bodies and
of careless living, face you, and face me as to-day we meet
here to renew the forces of our mental and religious life.
The wasted opportunity of discharging life’s duty ; the
failure of our duty to our neighbour, to our kinsman,
and to ourselves ; the taxation of others for our
helplessness ; the falling short of every ideal, the hopes of
attaining which made life’s start so bright—in a word the
moral and religious wreck of thousands of lives, is a matter
at first of simple health, and indeed may be throughout all,
the consequence of the first shipwreck on the quicksands
of easily avoided disease. My friends, if there be a personal
Deity, who, with a pitying mind, or with some emotion akin
to that which forces the tear of sympathy to the human
eye, looks down from His mercy seat on the wrecked lives
of His children, there can be no pain, no emotion, no
feeling, half so strong in all the range of the divine com
passion, as that which the sight of the human misery, of
ill-health must invoke. Fighting here, and struggling there,
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with the conditions of disease, how ghastly must the con
test seem. How true and how applicable to such a phase
of life as related to a knowledge of health laws, are the
words of the Nazarene, “ If ye know these things, happy
are ye if ye do them."
The duties of the rational mind and of true religion in the
matter of health may be summed up in the one great con
tention that a knowledge of the laws of the universe
should be in the possession of every man or woman with a
life to live, and who boasts of the heaven-born desire to
live that life well. This is not the first time that from this
pulpit I have urged the duty of acquainting ourselves with
at least as much scientific knowledge as will enable us to
understand the constitution of things under which we live,
and of which we ourselves are part. The duty moral, and
the duty religious, exactly parallel in this case the duty
political. ■ You esteem it a bounden duty that for the
furtherance of individual and national interests you should
take a side in politics. And you adopt a side ; but you do
not choose it without weighing the pros and cons of the
matter; without comparing one policy with another ;
without taking a historical review of how or why things
political have come to exhibit their existing phases. Now
what you do in politics as a duty to yourselves, to your
children, and to the State, I imagine becomes a far more
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important matter when the subject is one of health.
The mistakes of a political leader are, as a rule, remedi
able. The genius of his opponent may make that a suc
cess, which otherwise would have proved a disaster. But
you cannot so remedy the mistakes, which, as a nation or
as individuals, we may commit in our health-science. The
grave, like the sea, holds its dead ; there is no erasing
from the statute-book of health the ghastly records of this
crime of indolence that brought the cholera, or of that
crime of ignorance that sent typhoid fever broadcast.
One duty, and one duty alone, lie before us. To it we
are called by the clarion-voice of truth itself, and that
duty is the task of learning the laws of health ; of know
ing that truth which, when we follow it, so surely shall
make us, in'the veriest sense, free.
How powerfully does Mr. Spencer put the case in those
admirable words of his on “ Education.” Listen to his
scathing denunciation of the fashionable know-nothing
ness that everywhere abounds. “ Seriously,” asks Mr.
Spencer, “ is it not an astonishing fact that though on the
treatment of offspring depend their lives or deaths, and
their moral welfare or ruin, yet not one word of instruc
tion on the treatment of offspring is ever given to those
who will bye-and-bye be parents ? Is it not monstrous,” he
adds, <( that the fate of a new generation should be left to
the chances of unreasoning custom, impulse, fancy, joined
with the suggestions of ignorant nurses and the preju
diced counsel of grandmothers?” Again, Mr. Spencer
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says most forcibly : “ When sons and daughters grow up
sickly and feeble, parents commonly regard the event as a
misfortune ; as a visitation of Providence. Thinking after
the prevalent chaotic fashion, they assume that these evils
come without causes, or that the causes are supernatural.
Nothing of the kind. In some cases the causes are doubt
less inherited, but in most cases foolish regulations are
the causes. Very generally parents themselves are
responsible for all this pain, this debility, this depression,
this misery.” And when comparing the inestimable value
of a knowledge of the laws of health over all other know
ledge, his words tell most truly : “ When a mother is
mourning over a first-born that has sunk under the
sequelae of scarlet fever (when perhaps, a candid
medical man has confirmed her suspicion that her
child would have recovered had not its system been
enfeebled by over study), when she is prostrate under
the pangs of combined grief and remorse ; it is but small
consolation that she can read Dante in the original.” Is
there a mother’s heart which does not appeal to her head
on hearing these words ? or is it needful to attempt to add
to their suggestive force ? The duty of each one of us,
then, seems clear enough as this first head, namely, that if
the conservation of life, the perfect discharge of life’s
duties, the happiness of ourselves, of those we love, and
of our neighbours, be aims which make " life worth living,”
then, you cannot, -with this admission, escape from the
inevitable conclusion that it is a crime against the best
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morality and the purest religion, to remain ignorant of the
laws of health, and of physical salvation.
But let me add, that the duty of knowing and doing
these things, is above all,an individual duty. It is the part
of the individual, which gives to the work of health
reform its character and its strength. Without individual
intelligence and appreciation of health-laws and of health’s
value, there can be no true health-reform at all. Nay,
more, the sacred duty we owe to our neighbour, in virtue
of which duty we expect and demand the mutual con
sideration that makes life pleasant'and society a possibility,
is perhaps better illustrated by the question of health
science than by any other phase of social existence.
Suppose that I live up to every law and rule of health
-which science lays down for the guidance of the race ;
grant that in my dwelling I observe, along with my
household, every requirement of sanitation ; imagine that
I and mine live the truly healthy life, of what avail, let me
ask, will all this care be, if my neighbour is a sloven in
health matters ? Of what advantage is my care; when his
carelessness floods me with sewer-gas, when his fever
spreads, through his ignorance of health-laws, to me ?
It is clear that in the complex warf and woop of
civilization, I must, perforce, even were I less willing
than morality makes me, consider my neighbours
interests as my own.
I must, if I am to
live safely, see
that
other individuals acquire
a like culture to mine. Every health-reformer, then,
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in addition to acquiring knowledge of the laws of
health, must see that his neighbour acquires know
ledge of a similar character. In the matter of health,
society must stand or fall as a whole. There can be no
education of one set of its units, leaving another set in
the ignorance which may, through its dire results, kill
educated and uneducated alike. Thus a second aspect of
our religious and moral duty in reference to health
becomes clear. It is the question of the lawyer put to
the Nazarene, “ Who is my neighbour ? ” only put with
infinite force in the light;of nineteenth century life and
exigency. And the parable of the Samaritan with his
kindly aid can never be better illustrated to-day, than when
we ourselves, having found the true way of life, guide the
footsteps of others into the paths that lead to where the
shadows linger lovingly and long at the close of life’s short
day.
To accomplish all this reformation requires time, requires
strength, requires industry and energy, and, above all, a
strong belief in the holiness of the work. But these things
are added unto them who believe in the physical salvation,
as the means come to the earnest worker in the direction of
moral culture or of a truly religious life of any kind. Once
let us believe in the righteousness of living well, and we
shall live well; let us but convince ourselves that as we
live now, we too often live wrongly and badly, and we
shall soon strive after the ideal that science is prepared to
set before them, who look to the possibilities of human
�life becoming a happier thing for all than it is now, even
for the best amongst us. Is there, let us ask, any higher
aim which you who worship here, or which those whose
spirits are attuned to yours can set before their waiting
eyes than the bettering of the race through the work of
health-reform ? Here is a something to live for and to
hope for—a perfectly possible Utopia to dream of lovingly,
and to assist practically by every means in our power.
For us, to whom the concerns of life are destitute of the
mawkish sentimentalism that environs a well-nigh obsolete
theology, there seems something solid, something attainable
in their idea of a well-nigh perfect state. To-day, Euthanasia
is only purchaseable by death; only the “dim beyond” is the
abode of painless existence, extinction, or what you will.
But think of a living, moving world, with a minimum of pain
and wretchedness, and theri turn to the prospects which
health-science and its successful pursuit hold out of
realising your dream. Do not imagine I am simply
indulging in a romance. I do not mean you to infer that
I regard the health-future of the race as a thing easily
attainable. Human nature is proverbially weak; it is
actually lazy ; it is difficult to rouse to energy, let alone
enthusiasm ; it likes to fold the hands to rest and to still
the eyes to sleep, provided to-day is undisturbed, even if
to-morrow’s prospect be stormy. But humanity, heie
and there, has its ideals and the strength of will
to work towards them. And I can discern in
the signs of the times the evidences that the
�(
24
)
health-ideal is assuming a well-defined shape ; that its
■outlines are not so misty as many suppose; and that
earnest minds are already shaping the course of their
thoughts to the attainable end of a long, a healthy, and a
happy hfe. Look around you and see what may be done,
what has been accomplished within your own experienced
We have left the valley of the grim shadow and are
already on the mountain-slope, when we have for ever
discarded the notion that disease is sent ^bv a Deity to
afflict and to chasten. We are already half-way up the
mountain, and we are coming to the blue azure itself,
when we learn that disease is, as often as not, the off—
spring of an ignorance of the conditions that make it
and produce it. Everywhere around you science
is up and doing. There are active minds hard at
work wresting the secrets of infection from the silent
tissues, or poring over the microscope to watch
how the disease-germ buds forth into full vigour, and
where, when, and how that germ may be seized and
destioyed, or at least purged of its noxious properties
and powers. Already the out-look is cheering; byand-by, with fuller knowledge we shall attain a stan
dard compared with which the possibilities of to
day seem but a vain show. Think of one solid
fact alone in the saving of human life, which comes to
you from a great northern city, but which finds a paral
lel elsewhere.
“When Glasgow,” says Professor
Corfield, “ was supplied with impure water from the river
�■L
(
25
)
Clyde, the number of deaths in cholera years varied from
S over 2,800 in 1832, to nearly 3,900 in 1854. After a supply
I of pure water had been obtained for the city from Loch
I Katrine, the number of cholera deaths in 1S66, the next
I cholera year, was only 68.” If ever the old declaration
1 that the people perish, and that human happiness is blotted
B out for lack of knowledge, received a practical application,
1 it surely finds such application in
such a statement as that
1 first made. If even the adage that “ knowledge is power”
| requires an illustration, you may find such illustration
I best and clearest in the saving of human life by the culture
| of the laws of health.
j
Take a mental retrospect of health-matters, and you will
not been speeding “ down the
ringing groves of change ” for nought during the last two
hundred years or so. If, as orthodox theology tells us,
this orb of ours has an existence and development, simply
as a prelude to a symphony of flames and torrents, that pre
lude and the development of human culture have together
produced a choice subject for the holocaust. Two hundred
years ago ague was rife, bred and fostered by the damp and
malaria which were developed in the swamps that environed London itself, and that were broadcast over the
land. Jail fever more recently decimated the miserable
populations of our prisons, until the benevolence of a
Howard struck the keynote of reform. Disease and death,
I discern that the world has
i
i|
I
J
ll
|
(
1
/j
[1
J
I
■■MHnSSSSSSBfiSSS&i
�being esteemed supernatural things were regarded beyond
man’s reach in the way of bettering or avoidance. The
life of the past periods was coarse; the morality was
universally low ; and we wonder to-day that the purer
spirits which even the worst of epochs behold, found
any circumstances which at all favoured the develop
ment of the higher life. To-day how changed the
piospect ! Ague has vanished; fevers are known to
be preventive ; men are being taught wisdom over the
graves of their grandparents ; morality is at least to-day
something more than a name ; and the fears of the night
of grim terrorism of the supernatural are fast vanishing
beneath the increasing radiance of the sun of truth.
What future awaits us, who can tell ? But one thing
is clear, that there are possibilities looming before us,
which even the careless cannot afford to neglect. The
religion of the future will very largely, I think, be a
religion of health. It will be a religion wherein the
causes of pauperism and crime will be known and dis
cussed, and alleviated or banished. Its higher develop
ment will have
“--------------- lent
The pulse of hope to discontent.”
It will aim at making rational minds through wellnourished and healthy bodies. It will leave the “ sanc
tity of dirt ” as a watchword for those who think more of
their souls than their bodies, and it will elevate the race
through the development of heal th with a power comparabe
�to that of an Archimedean lever, that literally can move
a world. Best of all, this religion, which founds itself on
an appreciation of the physical wants and requirements of
man’s nature, will serve as the most efficient corrective to
the false ideals upon which men to-day lavish the service
of a life. It will teach mankind that this earth is their
best and purest heaven ; that in healthy frames, in pure
affections, and in the enjoyment of a rational existence,
there are pleasures beyond those dreamt of by ancient
seer or religious devotee. It will make this earth the
happy home of a contented race, a fit heaven for
the life that ought to be all happiness and health.
It will make the world a scene which, at the close of a wellspent life, man may leave without a pang of remorse,
surrendering his days to the unknown and unknowable,
in the fearless knowledge of a wisely used existence
without so much as the shadow of a teai.
�!
I ;j-
b
i
3
a
�
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The religious aspects of health: a discourse given at South Place Chapel, London, November 20th 1881
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Place of publication: London
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Series title: South Place Discourses
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Health-Religious Aspects
Morris Tracts
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Text
COMPULSORY
VACCINATIO
ITS WICKEDNESS TO THE POOR.
J. J. GARTH WILKINSON]
LONDON ■
F. PITMAN, 20, PATERNOSTER ROW.
PRICE ONE SHILLING.
��PREFACE.
It has been thought desirable to reprint the following
pages, in the present stage of the national movement
against Compulsory Vaccination.
The Times newspaper gives recent statistics of the
Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Deaths for London.
Thus:—
December, 1872, and January!
' 1873.
Vaccinated.
December 4 th, 1872
. I 3
December 12th, 1872
.
.4
December 20th, 1872
.
.1
December 25th, 1872
.
.0
January 1st, 1873
.
. 2
January 9th, 1873
.
1 1
January 16th, 1873
January 23rd, 1873
January 30th, 1873
.
.
.
.2
.1
.2
16
Abstract of Deaths from
Small-pox, Times newspaper,
December, 1872, and January,
isEH
UnvaScinated.
December 4th, 1872
December 12th, 1872
December 20th, 1872 .
. 3
December 25th, 1872 I
. 4
January 1st, 1873
R
. 2
January 9th, 1873
R
. 0
January 16 th, 1873
.
. 2
January 23rd, 1873
R
.1
January 30th, 1873
.
. 1
to to
Abstract of Deaths from
Small-pox, Times newspaper,
17
Showing that about 6 per cent, of small-pox cases are
saved by Vaccination in London.
The Blue Book for 1870, pp. 124, 5, records twenty
deaths from erysipelas after Vaccination.
Since my pamphlet was written, the history of recent
1—2
�4
PREFACE.
Vaccination, and of the late epidemic of Small-pox, has
confirmed and magnified its positions.
It has come out that the Compulsory Laws were
enacted, because the evil consequences of Vaccination
to health and infant life were widely spread among,
and well known to, the poorer classes, whose resistance
to medical destruction required fire and prison to check
it. Public events now demonstrate that, if Compulsion
were removed, the mass of the rejoicing working men
and women would spurn Vaccinators and Vaccination
from their doors.
The evil diseases caused by Vaccination have come
more manifestly to the front in the last year. It is
admitted by established Medicine that Syphilis—called
in The Lancet vaccine-syphilis—has been sown broad
cast ; and I never make inquiry of a poor man or woman
without eliciting accounts of cases of injury from Vacci
nation to their own or their neighbours’ families. Vac
cination is more terrible than it used to be. This
depends upon two causes: 1. When Small-pox is
rife, as during these years, Vaccination meets the
leaven everywhere, and its own venom is intensified.
Recent cases prove, beyond a doubt, that it is then a
predisposing cause of Small-pox. A writer in The
Lancet says that it has also the power of evoking*
latent syphilis. 2. The transmission of the Vaccine
poison through system after system gathers up the
taints of the bodies it comes from, until a sheaf of im
purity is in the arms of the medical harvesters, very
different from the disease of the cow from which, per
haps, the first poison originated. The modern Commu
nists of evil do a deadlier work than Jenner could effect
in his day. For the personal pollution of three more
generations is on the points of their lancets.
�PREFACE.
5
It may be added that the legal necessity to vaccinate
all the poor involves, perforce, that they be driven, like
sheep, into the Vaccination-pens, and blood-poisoned
higglety-pigglety, with no power of question or appeal.
They cannot, as Her Majesty did, have a select baby for
their babies, but are all imbrued in each other’s taints,
and carry them into their miserable homes to be deve
loped to the utmost. Vaccination amuses and abuses
the rich; it is palpable obscene murder to the poor.
In the meantime the magistracy and the medical
profession are doing their very worst. Imprisonment
for non-compliance is greatly the order of the day.
Where one child has been killed, ojlmaimed, the case
to the Authorities becomes the more urgent for com
pelling the Vaccination of other children in the same
families. The indignant rebellion of the bereaved
parents must be stamped out. The climax of shame
less evil is reached. Church doors are hung with boards
of command proclaiming the law about this devil’s sacra
ment, Vaccination. And the power of the medical
dragon seems complete in its offences and defences.
Turning to the medical men, they are more than evei'
convinced of the paramount good of Vaccination. As
a rule—Mr. Hutchinson to the contrary—the eminent
ones have never seen or heard of a case of injury from
it. They never can see or hear of Buch a easel Mag
nificent blindness, deafness, and unfeelingness !
The Press of the country, with few exceptions, is in
their power. It is gagged in favour of Vaccination. It
is an engine for suppressing truth and propagating
falsehood oh the subject. Its "temerity betokens its
fears.
The lower classes, however, are less beset by panic of
small-pox than the higher ; therefore are less amenable
�6
PREFACE.
to .voluntary submission to the medical Lie; partly,
perhaps, because they see from continual observation of
them own injured babes that the certain evils of Vacci
nation which they get, far outweigh the merely possible
evil of small-pox, which they have not. A viper on the
hand is worse than two vipers in the bush. But, what
ever the cause, the resistance of the unenfrachisecL
masses, under their leaders, is becoming more compact.
This, with the progress of events in God’s providence,
will abolish Compulsory Vaccination.
While the following pages were passing through the
press, it was asserted that Vaccination had “ stamped,
out small-pox in Ireland and Scotland.” Since then a
malignant and most destructive epidemic of the disease
has raged over Ireland and Scotland, and caused a
frightful death-rate in Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, and
many other towns. The Vaccination was admitted to
be complete at the commencement of 1872. What has.
been the cause of the enormous death ? The Vac
cination ? In Berlin, a well-vaccinated city, the pro
portional death-rate among Germans has been four
times that of London.
These details give no light to the Medical Profession.
Endowment and Establishment have put it into its.
coffin: as they always put everything else into itscoffin.
Two things are sure. The coffin, though the body in
it is alive with Vaccination fees, must not rule the throne
and the people. 2. Woman, to whose love and insight
all babies first belong by God, must come into all vot
ing power, to be a heart of flesh over the stony heart of
Parliament.
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION;
ITS WICKEDNESS TO THE POOR.
Vaccination is no protection against Small-pox; 80
per cent, of the patients admitted with Small-pox into
the London Small-pox Hospital, and 95 per cent, of
the patients admitted with Small-pox into the Paris
hospitals, are reported vaccinated. Of 227 persons dead
of Small-pox last week, 86 are returned as vaccinated;
and 20 doubtful. “ The Registrar-General tells us that
on an average of four years, only 65 per cent! of the
English people were vaccinated; that is, less than twothirds. The vaccinated two-thirds furnish four-fifths of
the Small-pox cases, whilst the unvaccinated one-third
furnish only one-fifth. That is, the vaccinated are twice
as liable to Small-pox as the unvaccinated.”*
It is mere assumption that re-vaccination protects
against Small-pox; the re-vaccinated take Small-pox,
and you cannot assert of a Se-vaccinated person who
has been free from Small-pox, that he would have had
it but for re-vaccination. You know nothing about
* A similar result is presented in France. See Report by the Im
perial Academy of Medicine respecting Vaccinations in France in 1867.
Translated and abridged with the Arithmetical Proportions of the
Statistics calculated and arranged by George S. Gibbs. Longmans,
1870. Wherever Vaccination was most common, Small-pox was most
rife.
�8
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
that. In all ages the vast majority of mankind have
not taken Small-pox ; in this age an increasing majority
does not take it.
The contagiousness of Small-pox is one thing; the
mortality of it is another. If Vaccination cannot be
asserted to lessen the contagiousness, and if re-vaccina
tion cannot, at least, so the statistics inform us, Vacci
nation and re-vaccination diminish the death-rate of
Small-pox from 42 per cent, to 1 per cent. ; and make
all cases of Small-pox comparatively mild.
Who are the unvaccinated ? and the un-revaccinated ? At present! as a rule, they are the poorest,
most wretched, or sottish, of the population, to whom
all zymotic diseases are more fatal than to other classes ;
enormously and fearfully more fatal. Let the statis
ticians settle how the forces of severity and mortality
are to be apportioned. Non-vaccination has, as com
peting causes of its 42 per cent, of death,—-drink,
poverty, crowding, all final foulness, deep slums only
heard of because Small-pox is there. How much of the
42 per cent, is due Ito non-vaccination ? And how
much to abyssal slumslincluding moral slums ?
There were many mild cases of Small-pox in the
world before Vaccination was heard of. Has the death
rate of unvaccinated persons increased under the present
treatment? Forty-two per cent, of bad cases lost, as a
constant quantity, is an awkward comment on any
mode of treatment. It were well for medical con
sciences to be dissatisfied with it. 'Are the doctors
continually on the move to try means after means, and
to trample orthodoxy after orthodoxy, to abate the
pestilence of that statistic ? It is a disgrace to them.
If the statistic is crazy because it overlooks all
raging causes of disease existing in the slums of the
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
9
people, and alleges all their destructiveness to the fault
of little non-vaccination, it may well be al so suspected
from the historical character and antecedents of the sta
tisticians. When cholera was in London, a HomoeopathicCholera Hospital was opened in Golden Square,
for treating cholera patients. The House of Qommons
moved the College of Physicians to procure statistics of
all the treatment of cholera in all London hospitals.
The statistics were sent in, and respecting those of the
Homoeopathic Hospital, Dr. Macloughlan, the Govern
ment inspector, certified that the Homoeopathic treat
ment was the most successful of all in what he certified
were real cases of severe cholera; and he added that
though not a Homoeopath! he, were he a sufferer
from cholera, would be constrained by the Homoeo
pathic success to become a Homoeopathic patient for
that disease. The Blue Book of all the statistics was
ordered to be printed under the directions of the Col
lege of Physicians. That Blue Book appeared! But
the Homoeopathic !eturn of cases was not in it. The
College of Physicians had vitiated their result, and
voided the good of the book, by turning the one healing
virtue out of their pages. Dr. Paris, then President of
the Boyal College of Physicians, was asked why he
had done this. He said,—Because Homoeopathy is »
quackery. The question was not what Dr. Paris and
the College thought quackery, but what fact proved to
be the best treatment of cholera. That question the
College was clearly not answering in the Blue Book.
It was fighting for medical supremacy with another
body at the bedside of the dying. [The House of Com
mons printed the statistic separately.] This is of a
piece with the historical action of these chartered bodies
wherever medical dissent crosses them? In all such
�10
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
cases, their statistics are vitiated by the love of supre
macy which is the only unvarying fact in their career.
Add then the impurity and want of single eye in
the medical corporations to the abyss of the slums of
London as another factor of the 42 per cent, of deaths
alleged by these corporations to belong entirely to nonvaccination.
Reader, take in the passion with which those statis
tics are engendered^ the clique force which lives in
every figure: they look cold enough in columns and
lines ; but every cypher is white hot if you attempt to
handle it. It has been gathered with tones unmis
takable from the least reliable, poorest creatures in the
town -: beings whose memories from their dire circum
stances drop piecemeal from month to month; and of
whom, in manycases, family ties can hardly be alleged;
whose oath as to whether they, or theirs, have been
vaccinated, is idle wind | and if leading questions are
put, signifies mere falsity; it has been gathered by
powerful medical cliques which for their very life now,
have a case to make out; and which have for a longstream of history shown similar passion, and have for
ages been chased by fact from fortress to fortress of
their own delusions ; and from everything but their
love of supremacy. Reader, take all these factors in, and
deduct them from the figures of death ascribed to nonvaccination, and you will scout the figures ; and be little
liable to be deceived in the future, when you find that
statistical tables of disease and of treatment may be
mere masks of medical passion. As they were in the
cholera tables drawn up by the Royal College df
Physicians.
For the most part in the said 42 per cent, of fatal
cases, the fact of non- vaccination cannot be verified.
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
11
In the majority of such cases, the person is so concealed
hy the disease that it is difficult to tell whether he isold or young; and hence the fact of his Vaccination
rests upon a hear-say gathered by a voice and an ear
determined for only one answer to the question.
The 42 per centlstatistic of deaths alleged to non
vaccination, may therefore be relegated to the limbo of
assertion gathered from the fields of a foregone purpose,
and not from the good grounds of fact. The statistic
itself comes of those thoughts which Lord Bacon charac
terises as “ steeped in the affections,”—in this case, in
the affection or lust of medical rule.
Where are we, then ? Owing to this passion, now
embodied in laws, colleges, in a great profession, and a
corresponding police, and closing in fines and in jails
for the poor, and in threats for all malcontents and dis
senters ; owing to this passion, we do not know, and we
cannot know, whether Vaccination is any protection
against the severity and mortality of Small-pox or not.
Personally, I have no founded conception on the subject,
because no trustworthy data. The buttresses of Vac
cination argument are as flimsy as the castle of Vacci
nation statistics is illusory. They are the weakest
outworks of the medical passion in its war on the health
of the people.
The nurses in Small-pox hospitals are all vaccinated,
and they never take the disease. Some of them, they
tell me, are pitted with Small-pox previous to becoming
nurses ; and the most are of “ a certain age” little liable
to Small-pox. But do not my medical brothers know
that nurses and doctors enjoy a large immunity from the
contagious and infectious diseases which they attend.
Fearlessness in their functions at the beginning, and
afterwards custom with the diseases, protect them ; or
�12
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
■otherwise both, the nursing and medical professions
would be down with the various diseases of London,
continually. Deduct this fact from the immunity of
nurses, and how much of it remains due to Vaccination ?
In Ireland the Small-pox has been stamped out by
Vaccination. The ground here is a little sacred from
the tradition of a similar instance; the toads and ser
pents were stamped out by St. Patrick. The case is
precisely similar® in both cases the stamping was suc
cessful because the stamped object was not there. When
he comes, the stamping mania of Vaccination will wear
out the feet of Old Physic without making any impres
sion upon Irish Small-poM What amount of credulity
can believe that our dear Paddy, with his habits and his
cabins, is a perfectlyl^accinated creature ; that his in
imitable power of non-society, of secret organization, of
resistandb to general orders, is contradicted here; and
that the wolf of generM Irish Ktwlessness is a lamb in
the single fold of Vaccination ?
In the few days since this was written Small-pox
is announced to be making steady ravages in Ireland ;
and the doctors, who accounted for the absence of the
disease by the universal stamping of Vaccination, now
account for its prevalence, and weekly increase, by the
statement that Ireland is “only half vaccinated.”
What ground to go upon is there in such assertions and
statistics ?
The same fact was alleged of Sweden in 1842; of
Sweden, “ the best vaccinated country in Europe only
two deaths occurred from Small-pox; and Old Physic
then said ■“ Lo ! triumph! Vaccination has stamped
out Small-pox !” But again, Lo ! In the next four or
five years the figures rose steadily to an annual death
rate of between 2000 and 3000 in well-vaccinated
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
13
Sweden. Small-pox was easily stamped out when it
was not there; but so soon as it came, its heavy feet
made a football of colleges.
Dr. Lyon Playfair, M.P., in a clever speech traced
the statistics of the decline of Small-pox coincidently
with the terrific frowns of the House of Commons, em
bodied against the monster in the various vaccinatory
laws culminating in the last Act of Universal Compul
sory Vaccination. He made out most beautifully that
every fresh turn of the Parliamentary screw wrung the
withers of the disease 9 and that complete compulsion
would banish it from the earth. Unhappily for the
beauty of his statistics, they were pitted with a few
afterthoughts. In the first place, the diminished death
rate was so immediate on Act after Act of Parliament,
that the effect was clean against time if Vaccination
were supposed to enter into it. The Small-pox might
have been frightened by the Laws, but could not have
been hurt. In the second place, the Acts were at first
coincident with outbursts of Small-pox, after which, decline of the disease is the way of nature : proving that
the coincidence is by a Natural Law. In the third place,
which seams the face of the Doctor’s speech from vertex
to chin, and puts out its eyes,—after the Law of General
Compulsory Vaccination has had time to work, and has
worked, a worse outbreak of Small-pox than before,
occurs ; and has to be accounted for by the statistician
on some grounds quite different to the power of Parlia
ment through Vaccinatory Laws ovei9Small-pox.
Doctor, what are those grounds ? I ask you with
pained interest, as being myself a member of a Special
Commission of the poor men and women of England who
won’t have their children’s blood violated and poisoned
by Acts of Parliament; and who, if even they are as
�14
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
cended from gorillas, refuse to have their natures mixed
again with the disease of beasts. What are those grounds?
You will answer at once,—The Anti-Compulsory Vacci
nation League. But men will know everywhere that
this “ small body of fanatics” has no influence to account
for the fact. You will say secondly, the absence of uni
versal re-vaccination. But neither vaccination, nor re
vaccination is known to check the spread of Small-pox,
however mild the form induced; and when once the
disease is among us, it can spread from the mansion, in
which it does comparatively little death, to the slum in
which it does all death. That, you know, is perfectly
natural. Why, the tenants of our slums are in such a
state physically, that to scratch them each and all with
a pin at fever-time and disease-time, would cause a con
siderable mortality in London.1 And when Small-pox,
ever so mild elsewhere, creeps upon the slum, men and
women and children, they, the proper food of death, die
in shoals. Vaccination, if you; could do it, and watch
the results, would kill shoals of them at once. No
theory of the case is needed. When Small-pox is not
here, it has no death-rate. When it is here, its death
rate has little to do with Vaccination, and almost every
thing to do with bad habits, depressed minds, and filthy
slums. Almost everything to do with the apathy and
somnolence of Parliament.
As soon as this outbreak is done, if you will pass a
tremendous Compulsory Law, and use the military to
enforce it, you will find that the decline of Small-pox,
and the existence and working of the Law, will go side
by side for a time. Simply because, as I told you be
fore, Small-pox always mitigates its ravages after a great
attack has been consummated. After a great scourge,
of cholera, if you will smoke a pipe every day for ten years,
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
15
you will also find that the absence of cholera, and the
smoking of your pipe, are contemporaneous pieces of
history.
But the slums, Doctor,—they are the causes of Small
pox ; and the taking of patients out of the slums through
the various neighbourhoods, the medical taking: that is a
chapter of wide infection. When the Small-pox exists,
move and touch the person as little as you can : let him
or her be, and clear the neighbourhood from about him.
Don’t infect Hampstead* and Haverstock Hill out of
St. Giles, as you are now doing! But how can you clear
out the slums ? Very easily, if you will make war upon
them ; but not if you enter into a treaty of peace with
them, while you make war upon all healthy persons and
places.
At present Parliament is much bent upon Compul
sion : in the present case, the compulsion of Papa Me
dicine upon the thirty-three millions of patients whose
health, failing to come from heaven, comes only through
the channel of papa, who alone knows what is good for
his little ones. But Parliament will discover that this
compulsion has not obvious honesty enough about it, or
results of health, to be borne by the patients, who are
more important to Parliament than Mr. Simon and Papa
Physic. And so Parliament will have to gratify its love
of compulsion by allowing to the people their own pri
vate doctoring, or no doctoring; and by attending to
* Four hundred Small-pox patients gathered in Hampstead !
Patients taken up in open ambulances on the side-walks! Mothers
and nurses, and children, have to run for it to avoid them ! An antwalk of patients going, convalescents returning, and I suppose, coffins
carried somewhere. The very shaking up of London in the Govern
ment bottle of Small-pox 1 And ridiculous Vaccination, Parliament’s
gift per contra. Strain at gnats and swallow camels.
�16
k
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
its own proper business, of national, municipal, and
rural general well-being. Nothing to do whatever with
poisoning people’s arms or opening their bowels. Every
thing to do with the forcible abolition of all buildings
and styles of building that make disease and epidemic
inevitable to the community. Here is room enough for
general officers, field-marshals against disease, working
through surveyors and engineers. But medicine, a
purely private art! has nothing to say or do in the
case.
Take the fact of Westminsteil Out of its square
miles of squalor blossoms a colossal marquis : his sur
veyors and engineers are re-building on a Paris scale
aristocwtic lliondon, because it was not fine enough for
the rich before 9 the palaces were not sufficiently
palatial. Now why not compel here ? Why not enact
that the money crops of Westminster shall be put into
filthy and not into already splendid Westminster ; that
every questionable tenement in it shall be re-built;
that Peabody houses universal, or something better,
shall rise, and be We^minster 9 houses for the poor
with good greensward between them ; and that this
shall be done of compulsion by the landlords of Westminster from one age to another ; they being forced to
improve their estates in this matter ; and to administer
their royal wealth in this manner ? Why not ?
To this compulsion it must come at last. And the
peddling compulsions of vaccinating people whose very
homes and bodies are deathbeds, and of taking them
through healthy neighbourhoods to centres of infection,
must be abandoned. State medicine, that despotic lie,
must be abandoned, State-health, the good of the
people, must be thought of.
A heavy argument is thought to rest in the decline
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
17
of Small-pox since Vaccination was introduced; and
in the few persons one now meets who are pitted
with Small-pox. Since then, however, inoculation has
been forbidden by law, on purpose to limit the propa
gation of the disease ! moreover, the treatment is dif
ferent. In former times, everyone who had Small-pox
was put into the slum-condition at once ! fresh air and
water were sedulously excluded! and crowding and
stifling with bed-things andreurtains was carried out.
That alone accounts for a vast difference in death and
disfigurement. Does it not? But again, cholera has
sensibly declined since it first appeared in India ; has
declined in every country in the world. Why, we do
not know ; but it is certainly not owing to any medical
procedure. Plague has declined!the sweating sickness
has disappeared ; syphilis is constantly on the decline;
the leprosy of the middle ages, with its ten thousand
hospitals, has died away ;but medical prowess is not to
thank for it. Why should it be assumed if Small-pox
declines like all these diseases, that it alone would have
been a fixture but for Vaccination ? You perceive,
reader, that the agency alleged of Wccination in this
result, is a baseless assumption! and that the cases of
numerous other great diseases proclaim loudly that
the assumption is not necessary to account for the
facts.
On the other hand you know again that slums and
hundreds of square miles of landlorded human putre
faction are no assumption as causes of small-pox, scar
latina, diphtheria, typhus, typhoid, and nearly every
disease; and therefore I compel you to face this fact,
divine in its truth, and devilish in its matter, and to
draft your compulsion away from the blood of little
children, and direct it by more than German requisi2
�18
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
tional enactment upon those who can be made to grasp
and purify their own Augean slums, out of which their
brazen palaces now rise into our air.
Let every landlord be compelled to sleep for a week
half yearly in the worst room in his dominions ; the
house to be selected by Dr. Farr according to the
death-rate. Let him be vaccinated before he goes
in if he likes. If he decline, let it be recorded as his
testimony about Vaccination. From the cell-germ of
that one room, sweetened by the great fortune,
New London will arise, fair as loving justice, and swift
as an exhalation.
Legislating medical treatment ingeniously takes the
mind away from the true and great problem of fiscal
Sanitary legislation. It opposes some small and most
dubious medical dogma to the common sense of national
and municipal and ■rural cleanliness, air and light uni
versal. But I ask Parliament, do the antecedents of
medicine make the adoption of medical dogma into law,
feasible ? Inoculation, current for some fifty years, has
been forbidden by law. The thoughts and practices of
Old Physic vary with the moons. There is only one
way of fixing any of Bshem; and that is by endowing
and establishing them; and by this method Parliament
has given the fixity of cash and vested interest to
Vaccination. Parliament has made a church out of
cowpox, the smallest and nastiest of churches. This,
and that other foul jakes, the Contagious Diseases Act,
—an edifice in which a Boyal Commission is now asitting,—are, I predict, the two last prescriptions which
Parliament will force upon Great Britain at the bidding
of the medical profession. Before it has done with
Vaccination, and the money power which is its coat of
mail, it will have learnt to rue the day when it went
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
19
out of its own. general path to embody a poisonous
puncture in a law.
Let us hope that in its awakening it will not only
clear the Privy Council of a medical department, but
also discharter all medical bodies ; and disconnect them
from the State.
So far for one side of the case; the side against
Vaccination and Ke-vaccination as preventive of Small
pox, its deaths and its disfigurements. We have seen
that Vaccination does not prevent Small-pox land that
there is no proof that Ke-vaccination prevents it. We
have seen that the diminished death-rate alleged in
vaccinated cases, has in it several other causes more
obviously important than Vaccination, and which pro
bably reduce Vaccination to mimis nil. We have seen
that the decline of Small-pox takes place after out
breaks, just as the decline of all other un-vaccinated
diseases takes place. We have seen Small-pox leap up
again in spite of legislation. We have seen the steady
decline of the disease for one or two centuries, as we
have seen the steady decline of plague and other un
vaccinated pestilences in the same time. We have
seen the common sense hygienic conditions of patients,
their well-being, followed everywhere by an abatement
of the malignity of the symptoms and legacies of Small
pox. We have seen that misery and want are the beds
of Small-pox; and that Vaccination is inevitably also
one of its beds, because every disease—the Vaccine
disease—increases the weakness of the body, and
diminishes its resisting power. And so we have proved
the negative indictment against Vaccination. We have
found that there is no good thing in its bones.
Yet the medical pack hunts on its scent with almost
unanimous voice; it has an endowed and established
2—2
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COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
smell which pleases them. To me, as a Homoeopath,
their unanimity counts for nothing : I know how unani
mous they are in shutting their eyes, and closing their
ears, to a way more excellent than their own. I know
what they have rejected in the great truth of Homoeo
pathy. And until they are more open-minded and
open-hearted, I cannot value their unanimity as con
taining in it one element of strength, or of love. It
is but the crnelty of routine incarnate in its vul
garity.
The positive indictment against Vaccination is a dif
ferent chapter, and cannot be fully written yet; but the
informations which will instruct it are being prepared
in several journals read chiefly by poor men and women
who are almost out of the ken of the medical profession.
They will form bulky documentary evidence ; and pro
bably will be made the basis of claims for compensation
by the poor in some future and better Parliament, when
the Medical as well as National citadels are all in the
hands of the people. For money payments on a scale
are, I see, to be in the indemnity of all social wrong-doing.
What sum of money will the rich owe the poor for the
deaths and destructions caused by compulsory Vaccina
tion I
The allegation of the best informed is, that Vaccination
widely spreads disease among the people; that erysipelas
immediately, and consumption, syphilis, scarlet-fever,
decline, are sown broadcast by Vaccination. New, cer
tainly, by Vaccination, physic adds one more disease to
human beings. Certainly ■ is a beast’s disease. Cer
tainly there are sensitive people, Specially the mothers
of infants, so framed as to loathe the thought of it, and
to wonder at a large profession not being in the main
sick at the filthy little fancy of it. If this be a prejudice
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
21
it is not an astonishing one. But others allege more
tangible proofs against Vaccination.
There are two parties here to put into the witnessbox. Let the medical profession enter the box first
with the lictors before it, and the State Lancet (only to
think of the State having that abomination of desola
tion, a Zancei) in its hand. The medical profession deposes
that it almost never heard of any ill effects to the health
of children or persons arising from Vaccination. {Mem.
The great lords of the past might depose that they know
no particular evils arising from seduction 1 they see no
more, and want to see no more, of the victims when the
deed is done. They want very particularly
to see
them.) I believe the profession almost. But then, abate
this from their word of truth. They have a dogma that
everything ill that follows Vaccination is not a conse
quence of Vaccination! the converse negative to the
wrong use of post hoc ergo propter 7mc. If a child has
a bad skin disease running from the date of ripe vaccine,
that is said to be a time when children usually have
skin diseases, and consequently the malady in question
is not due to Vaccination! I deny that it rasuch a time.
Does not the public see that with this article of the
Church of Cow-pox regnant in him, a doctor can have
no chance of knowing whether Vaccination causes dis
ease or not. He is out of knowledge, and is well-fenced,
well-feed stupidity. As far as gathering the facts here
are concerned, he is an oaf in livery, and does not know
a hawk from a handsaw, being clique-insane. {Mem.
These are the men whose opinions Parliament makes
into compulsory statutes.) Besides this dogma, that
whatever disease comes after Vaccination cannot be
caused by it, the doctors extend their fortress by pro
claiming that fathers and mother! being not medical,
�22
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
can have no just opinion on any particular case which
arises in their children. The doctor’s word overrides the
mother’s observation coming sharp out of the mother’s
love. He will hear no evidence but that of his own
dogma, which puts its penny-pieces over his own heart
dead eyes.
Here are indeed two incommunicating parties.
What is the relation between them ? The Vaccinator
in many cases, among the pool in the most of cases, per
forms his operation, sees the child a week after, and knows
nothing more of mother or child thenceforth—until she
is brought to him againwvith a second child, to tell him
how ill the first fared after his deed, and to receive
from him a grand pooh-pooh at the end of her mother’s
tale of her child’s sickness, or death. The child is taken
to another surgeon, who also pooh-poohs, and gives a little
medicine, and the longer the case lasts the less it has to
do with direct ruin by Vaccination. She finds the medi
cal men sealed against her piteous story all round. As
a man at Plymouth, whose horrid dominion is over 2000
women a fortnight, said of the poor wretches violated by
the Contagious Diseases Acts, “ We listen to no com
plaints.”
Is Parliament going to proceed on this ex-parte evi
dence? Does Parliament not know that the opinions of
professional experts are not safe unless common experi
ence is added to them from the largest field of good sense
and ordinary attestation ?
What then is to be done ? I say, let a Parliamentary
Commission sit in any great borough of London, and
summon the Vaccinated poor, and take their depositions
with regard to the effect of Vaccination on their children.
Let there be a house to house visitation, such as Mr.
Gilpin s canvass of Northampton proved to be, when he
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
23
said it was pitiful to go from one to another, and to have
to listen to the long story of disease and death which
parents forced upon him as the sequel of the Vaccination
laws. I maintain that parents do know much, and all,
about these consequences. They see their immediacy
upon Vaccination. The Vaccinators do not. They watch
every point of the Vaccination diseases. The Vaccinators
do not. In reality they have a scientific knowledge
which the Vaccinators have-not, if science is founded
upon experience, and ever-widening experience, and
comparisons of experience. And then they have quick
affections which gather the terrible knowledge, where
the Vaccinators have now but the love of power, and
for eyes, dogmas, which are not to see.
I have taken the trouble to inquire of parents whether
they had ever known evil consequences to arise in their
homes from Vaccination. And the results are curious..
Knowing that I am a medical man, at first they were
silent on the subject. But when they found that I was not
one who “listens to no complaints,” they have in many
cases opened to me a breast of suffering. From my in
quiries I state, under full responsibility of the statement,
that I could without difficulty gather tens of thousands
of cases of serious and irreparable evilland a large rate
of death, if I were able to make anything like a wide
inquiry. A figure so great, that after all eliminations
and honest deductions, it would appal the people,
and make them cry aloud for guarantee and indem
nity. .
This morning, February 27th, in my Dispensary prac
tice, a poor woman, Mrs. T. (thanks to Parliament, I
dare not mention her name) brought in her baby. Her
words: “ Vaccinated last September. A fat, strong boy
till he was done. Never well since. Wasting away.
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COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
Arm never has got well.” I examined and saw. “ A
similar place on forehead and throat.” I saw them.
“There could not be a stronger child than this was
before. Three days afterwards he came out with some
thing which the doctor said had nothing to do with
Vaccination.
7s wzt? being summoned to have a
second baby done /” Out! child of hell by Parliament I
Out! damned Law’!
If this happened to Mr. and
Gladstone, and they
had had the utter conviction whicll these poor parents
have, they would, or could, have paid fines, and kept
their next child unvaccinated; but this blacksmith can
not pay the fines, and must go to prison, and let his
wife go to beggary, or offer up another babe to what
they regard as State murder. That blacksmith is cer
tainly nou equal to Mr. Gladstone in the face of British
law.
Another case. Mygoachman’s child was vaccinated,
and took with it erysipelas, which overspread the body.
The mother who wl nursing it took the erysipelas,
and both nearly died of it, I assert that this result, of
two long and all but fatal illnesses, was, in a poor man’s
house, due to Vaccination, and consequently due to
Parliament.
3.—Miss Edith Hutchinson, of Kensington, was
vaccinated by the late eminent Dr. Joseph Laurie.
The arm dwelled enormously, and ms hard like wood.
After a month it subsided, and then a putrid thrush
occurred, which disappeared after some weeks. The
disease was next transferred to the abdomen, and its
lymphatic system, and she died of great purulent
collections in its cellular tissues, the matter, putres
cent, voided by the bowels. I attended the later
stages of the case with Dr. L. Vaccination, careful
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
25
-conscientious vaccination, did it as plainly as fire
burns.
I give this case again in Mrs. H.’s own words.
“ 2, HorntoJ Villas, Kensington,
“6th March, 1871.
“My Dear Dr. Wilkinson,
“ The dear child was in perfect health in
May, 1863 ; but as Small-pox was prevalent, and our
household being vaccinated, she was subjected to the
process,—though the operation had been performed
upon her, and had c taken,’ when she was four months
old. Within a few days of the Vaccination in May,
1863, she—(being then nearly six years old)—was
attacked with inflammation of the lymphatic glands of
the arms to so severe an extent that her arms were
immensely swollen, and so heavy and hard that each
arm had to be supported in a sling; her sufferings for
ten days were very great, at the end of which time her
arms gradually resumed their natural appearance. But
within a few weeks the poor child was prostrated by an
attack of apthous ulceration of the mouth, which was
of a most distressing character from the peculiarly
offensive odour emitted from the gums, &c.
“The dear child was more or less delicate ever
after, and, in the' following June, enlargement of the
abdominal glands, and mesenteric disease set in, her
life being terminated by a . succession of abscesses in the
bowels in July, 1864; the doctor who attended her
telling me that the glandular disease had been coming
on for some months.
“ I felt then, and still do feel convinced that her
system was poisoned by the introduction of the vaccine
matter, for she had never had a spot or swelling of any
�26
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
kind before, nor had there been a previous case of
mesenteric disease in our family,
11 Ever, my dear Dr. Wilkinson, believe me,
“ Yours most sincerely,
“ S. Hutchinson.’7
The three stages in this case are a linked chain of
consequences uncoiling from the Vaccination. 1.—The
Vaccination itself, poisonous lymph, producing poisonous
lymph. 2.—The enormous swelling of the cellular
tissues, and consequently of all the tissues of the arm;
the cellular tissues being the great plane at the end of
the whole lymphatic system I the universal lymph
plane. All the lymphatic vessels and lymphatic glands
of the body stand in the relation of centres to the
cellular tissue as their great circumference. Effects in
the cellular tissue are reflected in intimate effects in
the vital lymphatics. It is a great arena of transfer
ence! of fluids I and if you disease it, of transference of
diseases. It Suns into the depth! of every organ in the
body]) and a spark of poison in its skin may soon be a
devouring fire of poison in its mesentery. 3.—The
next stage! the malignant thrush, was no doubt the
indexl of commencing destruction in the lymphatic
system of the abdomen. 4.-—The centre of the Vaccination was reached; the abscesses in the abdomen were
the end of the Vaccinatory deed. Verdict—Death by
FaccwaftW
This was a compaMtively acute case, and only
lasted about one terrible year. But you can easily
infer from it the certainty, in many cases, of more
subtle and chronic destructions. Keep your minds
open where they have before been willingly closed, and
you will see.
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
27
4.—Lady Campbell, the wife of a British Ambas
sador, (not known to me, but well known to Mrs.
Hutchinson, of the last case,) was vaccinated by a Dr.
L. The vaccinated arm swelled to enormous propor
tions.
A strong fine woman before, she died in a
twelvemonth from the direct effect of Vaccination;
which the doctor did not deny. All the particulars of
this case are extant, and can be verified if required.
5-—The Bev. Dr. L/s daughter had Small-pox last
autumn, for which I attended her. Mrs. L. asked me
to vaccinate the family. I declined, and gave my
reasons. Dr. L. expressed surprise 1 but Mrs. L. said
she was rejoiced to hear me speak thus; and added,
“ Do you not recollect that our eldest son has a scrofu
lous swelling of the arm from Vaccination, and has
never been well since?” He then remembered ; and I
examined the son, and verified the fact of the disease.
6.—A well-known literary gentleman, a name
known to everyone in Parliament, consulted me last
autumn, for an affection of the leg, attended with a
skin eruption, which much crippled him. He said,
“ Four years ago I was overpersuaded by a lady to be
vaccinated ; and I have had this affection ever since.
I showed it to Mr. ------------ > ; he pronounced it to be
gout, and did not admit its connection with Vaccina
tion.” (Gout may be caused by Vaccination, see p. 38.)
This case wonderfully illustrates the post hoc ergo non
propter hoc pleaded against big linked facts, written
out in two tangible and similar diseases, while the post
hoc ergo
hoc is held by the same surgeon in
favour of the invisible, intangible, untraceable con
nexion supposed to exist between Vaccination and non
Small-pox ; or between something and nothing. To
such a logic, endowment and establishment have
�28
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
brought the heads of the profession. The logic of fees
simple.
But if doctors are so subtly able to trace the absence
of Small-pox when it is absent, to the fact of Vaccina
tion, than which no greater mental ingenuity is con
ceivable, how can they refuse the common public the
right to put tens of thousands of like antecedents and
consequences of the broadest kind into the same rela
tions of cause and effect,—the right to attribute visible
immediate consequences to visible immediate deeds and
causes ?
I could multiply my cases from my own note-books,
but have not space! and I will content myself with re
peating that every neighbourhood is full of such cases,
which are only concealed in their ghastly multitude by
the Egyptian darkness, that is, the scientific darkness
of the established Medical Profession! If the reader
wants more information Met him consult the Anti-Vaccinator and
Health Journal, edited by Coun
cillor Pickering, Cookridge Street, Leeds. I have
touched the matter merely to give the pointing of my
own personal enquiries and observations.
All this experience, the whole other half of the
question, is ungathered, and Parliament has legislated
Compulsory Vaccination without it. Now I maintain
that it is the men and women of England, especially
the poor,!vho are the depositors of all the real scientific
information on the subject. The doctors know the micro
scopy of pustules and pock-marks! the poor know the
serpent whose trail is death in their homes. Why has
Parhament cast out the science of the poor ? Why has
it only listened to the venal science of the experts ?
There is a class intermediate between the poor and
the doctor, which can supply a fink, and that is the
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
29
Chemists and Druggists. To them the wounds and woes
of the vaccinated are freely taken; they are not esta
blished into stupidity; and they listen to the tale. If
they will honestly speak out, they can tell the tale. A
Parliamentary Commission ought to call their evidence
in preference to that of the professional experts. But
the substantial evidence will always be that of thevaccinated poor themselves, who have the real science.
Why the poor ? Because their circumstances cause
the Vaccine Disease, like other diseases, to create greater
ravages among them than among the other classes : and
hence it is a more heinous wrong to vaccinate White
chapel compulsorily than so to vaccinate Belgravia.
Add now to these facts, that in the medical darkness,
the Egyptian darkness that can be felt, and that is
cruelly felt by the poor, Parliament has enacted that
thirty-four millions of people shall, generation after gene
ration, be vaccinated to lower the death-rate (not the
disease-rate) of a few thousands of cases of Small-pox.
Is it less than certain that the death from such a vast
field of Vaccination towers over any immunity ever pre
tended to be secured by Vaccination ? If the doctors
dispute this, in which they are themselves arraigned, let
them come down from the bench, and go into the dock,
and let Parliament order a personal minute to be taken of
the experience of the poor ; then, and not till then,
Parliament can set death against death, and strike a
just balance as between compulsory Vaccination and
natural Small-Pox.
Parliament, if it will meddle with particular kinds of
physic, ought also to enquire into the practice in its
Small-pox hospitals. Do the men there, who lose 42 per
cent, of bad cases, stick to their routine and violent
drugging ? or do they try all the available means and
�30
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
new discoveries for treating Small-pox ? At Hampstead
and Highgate do they try the Homoeopathic way, with
tartar emetic in infinitesimal doses ? Do they try the
Hydropathic way, which is, I believe, excellent; and
always a good adjunct ? Do they try Mr. Rose’s plan,
with cream of tartar, the great success of which is
alleged ? Do they use the Hydrastis and veratrum viride
method ? If they do not try all these ways, they are
playing with Small-pox, and the death-rate is greatly
due to their own perverse incapacity! Parliament, if it
meddle at all, ought assuredly not to stop meddling
until it searches out these things, which must affect
even the half-statistics on which it makes its laws.
But is not a clear case made out for abolishing com
pulsion ? It has been shewn that the statistics in favour
of Vaccination—founded as they all are on
hoc ergo
propter hoc for their own side, and post hoc ergo non
propter hoc for the other side—are subtle and unreliable;
it has been also shewn that the statistics against Vacci
nation, gross as sick-beds and coffins, come up in num
bers, so that the whole foot of Old Medicine cannot
stamp them down! b^^hey have been refused to be
heard in the case. In the face of the flimsiness of the
one part, and the horrible doubt of the other, what has
a wise ParliamentKo do but to repeal these compulsory
laws ? Let them compel epidemics to relax their hold
on the throat of the cowitry, by compelling municipalities
to compel property-holders to set towns right, and
estates to set cottages right; but let them beware of
all compulsion that! rests on grounds more subtle and
metaphysical than these.
If compulsory Vaccination is right, compulsory Re
vaccination is right, and moreover necessary. But no
parliament dare enforce it. Were it attempted by fines,
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
31
it would break down ; were it carried out by violence
personally, the lancet would be jostled by the pistol, the
poker, and the knife. And laudable homicide, and godly
homicide, and if ordered or done in court, good and just
magistraticide, would become common verdicts in the
land.
Even the present law, if unrepealed, will lead to civil
war of its own kind. Against the mother who has one
child destroyed, or badly poisoned, by Vaccination, and is
compelled to bring up another and another to the same
ruin, it is civil war; and she, and her kind, will elude it
not by the laws of peace, but by the ways of war. If she
has strong convictions, who can say what is not lawful for
her to do ? She may conceal her births ; and to do so,
call into existence a new and clandestine class of mid
wives who will turn the doctors out of the neighbour
hoods of the poor. She may invent substitutes for
Vaccination, such as tartar emetic injected under the
skin, and forged certificates on a large scale. She wTill
assuredly do everything to barricade her room and her
neighbourhood against the compulsory Vaccinator. In
the process, a complete alienation must occur between
the poor and the medical profession. And a new, an
unrecognized, and probably secret medical service must
•supply the traitor’s place among the poor. How far
this will be serviceable to sanitary progress it is for
Parliament to think.
It may strike Sunday schools, and all education of
the poor, heavily; for the poor will become secretive
under fear for their children’s lives; and if the Hymn
Book means the poisoner’s lancet, woe then to the Hymn
Book.
But if it will create war between the poor and the
doctors, these laws, if persisted in, will speedily destroy
�32
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
the humanity of the profession. The doctor used to be
a familiar friend in the cabin, and the poor abode ; but
now he is the herald of the policeman, the bringer of
fine or imprisonment, the stern derider of the mother’s
eye, and the mocker of her complaints, the minister to
her children, as she believes of disease and of death.
He is not the single-eyed man of charity, but the tool,
the protected tool of the State, as the State is itself,
by base sufferance, the tool of the medical head-centres.
What is his comfort to the lying-in bed, if his know
ledge of birth which he thus gains, is treacherously
turned into a slmmons against father, or widowed
mother to render her fchild to Vaccination in three
months’ time ? He can only be detested while he
serves. His Eawheart .Bind Bpacitv, must be seriously
affected by the State making him into a spy, and an
informer, and his studies and his skill cannot but be
wasted by the sense of official poweSagainst the people,
where he ought to be a minister and interpreter of
nature only, and a private friend of the poor man’s,
needs®
Panic is the direct out-come of the present laws ;
and panic is a potent feeder of Small-pox. House to
house Vaccination puts all persons in dread; and the
vast fee field which is thereby created corrupts the
senses of the medical profession. The bigger the panic
the greateJ the profits. In the meantime, the death
rate ® scarcely affected by the disease, which only robs,
scarlatina of its usual victims ; for when the one disease
rises the other falls, so that nothing is gained to present
life. In the last weeklwhen 227 died of Small-pox,
the whole death-rate was six under the average of the
ten years. But the doctors stupefy themselves and
terrify the public, by proclaiming “the terrible scourge”
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
33
of Small-pox, when scarlatina, a scourge far more dreadis unnoticed in their public action altogether. This
moral deadness is a direct consequence of the endow
ment and establishment of the treatment of one parti
cular disease by Parliamentary acts.
The laws indeed confound the mind by their stu
pidity of conception. Within three weeks, I, as a
medical adviser, have urgently recommended between
twenty and thirty families not to be vaccinated. I
have done so on all the grounds I know, with all my
light, and all my conscience. As a medical man I am
entitled to an opinion, and am a free agent. But what
is my relation to the law ? It is undoubtedly, without
intending offence, a seditious relation. If I could be
heard, I would prevent all London from being vaccinated ; at any cost I would prevent it. If dragoons
were in the streets to do it, I should still stand only in
a medical right and say to the people, “ At all hazards
do not be vaccinated.’' Again I ask,—Is my little light
and skill forbidden by the laws ? And am I a traitor
to my country because, as a medical man, I do what I
know to be right for the people ?
Perhaps you will say, I ought to succumb to the pro
fession. I answer, that all the gain of man by time
comes out of minorities of one, and that we, the Anti
Vaccinators, cannot yield. I know the profession too
well, its fashions, its fluxions, its prejudiceslits passions,
its hopes, and its fears, to be able to cede an inch of
insight to its decisions, embodied in, and further vitiated
by, Acts of Parliament. Upon this particular question
I know that the profession, in spite of its routine, is a
hot mass of uncertainty and unhappiness.
There is nothing for us to do but to resist. And
those who resist here will have on their side the working
3
�34
■COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
people of England, and in time the majority ot the
House of Commons.
The agitation against the Compulsory Vaccination
laws cannot die, but is growing every hour. The at
tempted coercion of the people by medical despotism
cannot die, but is growing every hour. And the Glad
stone Ministry determined upon one permanence, its
own dynasty, cares nothing about small questions that
kill and maim hundreds of thousands, because these
questions do not seem to imperil the Gladstone empire,
the Cabinet life! The people, the masses, often invaded,
always invaded by these party lusts, the frontiers of
their rights constantly infringed, and their homes wasted
by empire-loving Gladstones, who are determined to
secure to the bullet boys of party their thrones, the
people are not yet drilled I but there is a nucleus of
militant resistance springing up in the Anti-Compul
sory Vaccination League, and the National AntiContagious Diseases Acts Association. The’only
thing you can do, my brothers and sisters of the British
Islands, who have bodies to be defended, and babes to
be defended, is to pass into the ranks of these little
armies, by your allegiance, and by your money, where
you will be silently drilled and informed for the coming
hour. Medical despotism, the despotism of science,
Egyptian darkness and Egyptian despotism, that which
brings down upon your houses the curse of the death
of the first-born, the worst despotism of all is going,
when you are fully ready, but after hard fields, to die
the death. As against the medical Gladstone Govern
ment, to-day is your Jena ; if you join ranks obediently
and heartily, another not distant day will be your Paris.
You must insist on new frontiers to your homes,
frontiers of fortified right over your persons, which me
�35
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
dical science and medical men cannot overstep without
your sovereign pass, and then always as private citizens.
You must insist on the demolition of all the fortresses
from which they have sallied against your lives ; on the
dischartering of all medical and scientific corporations.
You must have Science itself coynpletelg dismantled, and
reduced to its own exact but utterly individual authority,
or you will never be safe for science, erected beyond
its place into any power not its own, is the worst tyrant
of all; red democracy is nothing to it |land while go
vernmental fortresses of it stand, you are a constantly
invaded people. You know now, by experience, that
the rule of science by divine right is the most enslaving
of superstitions ; that an uninspired schoolmaster on
the throne, or above the throne, ferruling overgrown
men and women, is a very devil incarnatel Besides
this, during the civil war now waging, you must keep
account of your destructions,—careful books of harm to
persons and to industry, and life, wrought by these
Government Acts,—first least volumes of the new Dooms
day Book of God and the People,—and when the day
of treaty comes, you must demand from the common
stock your war indemnity. The first Parliament of the
people will levy it for you. And if Mr. Gladstone be
then Prime Minister, as we trust he will be, he is
greatly capable of assessing from the poor man’s point
of view, under the poor man’s thumb and pressure, to
secure his dynasty, the Weregild to be paid; the value
of babies to the mother, and of sons and daughters to
the country.
March 4, 1871.
3—2
�NOTES.
The profits accruing to medical men from a diligent
cultivation of the Fee-Field of Panic during these last
weeks, are in the aggregate enormous. One practi
tioner, they tell me,J in a neighbourhood not remote
from my own, has been making sixty guineas a week
by Vaccination. Statesmen, who can measure interest
as a factor in the instincts of cliques and corporations ;
as a creator of class-doctrines; as a power in shutting
the eyes, or opening the eyes, to facts; as a new lease
giver to abuses,—of course regard heavy fees as a
powerful though unconscious operant cause why the
medical profession has a great love for Vaccination. It
may be a legitimate love, but, were it not so, the fees
would give it artificial permanence. Of that, no states
man can doubt. Gain swerves the mind very danger
ously from the rails of fact, and is a general conjuror
with statistics^ Large profits, then, must be regarded
as at least a possible element in the building of the
present collegiate tables, which, while undestroyed, are
professional gold mines.
Bad cases are said to be due to unhealthy lymph,
and the first object is to get “ healthy lymph.” Clean
dirt, and healthy cow-disease! But passing this by,
we know what they mean,—that only the disease of the
beast should be actual in the matter. But what a sur
prising want of subtlety of mind, what pint-pot mate
rialism, as though men and women were vessels filled
with blood and juices from the tap of the “ King’s
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
37
Arms,” reigns in the medical profession, if they can
dream that matter transmitted through the offspring of
men and women for ten or twenty years, does not con
tain all kinds of abominations. If a drop of seed will
make a man, because it is a man’s, a drop of lymph will
make a gout, or a consumption, or a syphilis, because it
has been trailed through systems impressed with those
diseases. Even if it were all mere dirty cow, cows may
differ so far as to be full of hereditary taints, and our
babes may take the analogues of human diseases very
well from the domestic animals. There is no way out
of it. ’Tis all pollution together, though the vaccinator’s
cauldron may have more or less complexity, or simplicity
of disease and decay in it.
Thoughtful dentists suggest Vaccination as a pro
bable cause of the early decay of the teeth in this age.
The surmise gains countenance from the consideration,
that the germs of the second or permanent teeth are
appearing at the time selected by Government physic
for performing Vaccination. Lay this down as sure—
wherever nature is busy upon any conceptive operation
in the body, any’sudden unnatural shock to the system
is likely to impress the embryonic structure ; and hence
it is feasible to suppose that if Vaccination and the be
ginning of the second teeth are contemporaneous, de
formity of the teeth may be the birth-mark on them
inflicted by Vaccination, and premature decay of the
teeth, consumption of the teeth, the inheritance. Small
pox at the time would not have the same power of ill,
for it is taken because the system is predisposed' to it;
but in Vaccination a disease is given by violence against
pre-disposition not to receive nt.
�38
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
Vaccination is sometimes claimed as in principle a
part of Homoeopathy. Falsely, so far as Homoeopathy
in its whole scope is concerned. Homoeopathy, by an
incomparable drug-science, cancels the symptoms of
disease. But there is no case in which it aims to give
a diseased Vaccination is unsuccessful unless it gives a
disease. It also violates the body in a way that no
disease, not plague, or scarlatina, or typhus does, by
an actual wound into the blood; a poisoned wound.
Neither pestilence, nor physic, has any analogy with •
this procedure.
The clerks in the War Office have lately been vacci
nated. A large number of bad arms has been the con
sequence! Vaccination during epidemic Small-pox is
more likely to produce acute bad results than at other
times; because the town is already charged with a
poisonous miasma. In the War Office, axillary abscess,
and crops of boils on the body, have, I hear, followed it,
and ^rheumaj^c affections have freen reproduced. One
reason of the latter is, that depressing diseases bring
out all the weak points. See p. 28.
There is also goodl’eason to suppose that a process
like Vaccination, which in its theory of prevention,
affects the whole organism, is potent, and harmful, in
an increasing ratio from age to age. We have work for
brain and nerves which make morbid disturbances in our
bodies less tolerable than they were in those of our an
cestors. We cannot do that work, and live grossly as
our ancestors did. Finer causes count for us, and
against us. I submit that on this ground the special
empoisonment of Vaccination is more against us now
than it was in Jenner’s day. See if the effects of the
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
39
present re-vaccinations do not bear out this remark.
And also add to the subject the cumulative effects of
successive Vaccinations.
The baby T., mentioned p. 25, died of convulsions
in the night of March 10. The Vaccinating Doctor’s
certificate ran—Died of Congestion of H Drain during
Teething. Mylcertificate would have been—Died of
Convulsions, the product of inanition ccnd nervotis ex
haustion, caused by
disease d^ect^gpaused
by Vaccination. See what a different statistic will be
gathered from the two different views.
Last Sunday (May 1M1872) I lost a little patient,
Edith Clare Patterson, aged six monthslof whoopingcough. She was twice v®cinated — successfully at
three months old. Always weakly, she seemed no
worse, but her parents said, father better, after the
vaccination. The whooping-cough was of the adynamic
kind : convulsion throughout the frame rather the
character of the disease than cough. She was so blue
during the “inward fits,” as almost to suggest blue
heart-diseasel This weak child had a delicate mother.
What had vaccination to do with the case ? In the
first six months of its life vaccination gave it, by shock,
a disease it need not have had. The disease could not
but take away some of its life. And (1st) predispose
it to any current infantile maladieslsuch as whoopingcough—viz., by weakening its powers of resistance g
and (2nd) weaken it for surviving the whooping-cough
when it came. These positions seem to be incontestable
deductions from vital economics. The case is valuable
to me as illustrating the causes of the present great
death-rate from whooping-cough? The parents, I may
add, are distinctly averse to vaccination, but coerced.
�POINTS SUBMITTED
BY J. jIgABTH WILKINSON
to the Vaccinatio^Committee of the House of Commons.
I.—He is prepared to offer evidence giving actual
observation of evil effects arising from Vaccination.
II. —To allege that such evil consequences are wide
spreadgand very serious to the community.
III. —To show reasons why they are to a great extent
hidden from the medical profession. And why, so long
as Vaccination is endowed and established, they will be
so hidden.
IV. —To show that the statistics on this side of the
question are unknown, and that it is not policy to
legislate without them.
V. —To dispute the statistics which allege fatality
of Small-pox to Non-Vaccination, by showing that
other obvious factors are the causes of the fatality, and
Non-Vaccination only the coincidence of it.
VI. —To dispute the fact that Vaccination, or that
the stringency of Compulsory Laws, has anything to do<
with the abatement of the disease in modern times, or
with the immunity of faces in our day from pockmarks.
VII. —To show that the medical profession is incon
sistent in rigidly applying the rule, Post hoc ergo prop
ter hoc, to all who after Vaccination do not take Small
pox, and at the same time in rigorously insisting on
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
41
Post hoc ergo non propter hoc against all domestic evi
dences of grievous complaints following Vaccination.
VIII. —That fathers and mothers, from the necessity
of the case, have a greatly larger scientific basis of know
ledge of the real consequences of Vaccination than the
doctors can obtain. That Acts of Parliament have
brought this state of things about, so far as medicine
is concerned. They have paralysed medicine.
IX. —That Small-pox is a bugbear, because the
medical profession will not look at the various new
means now known of treating it.
X. —That its hospitals, in carrying the people from
Whitechapel to the tops of Hampstead and Highgate,
propagate the disease ; and by the severe act of carrying,
as well as otherwise, increase the death-rate. That
medical men carry it also, and are wide infectors. That
both these infectors can be easily done without.
XI. —That the medical profession will be socially
ruined if it has compulsory laws to carry out its pre
scriptions ; if it is associated with the police; and
the accoucheur of to-day becomes the informer after
wards ; and is either a party to violent Vaccination for
the child; or a means of fine, or gaol with ruin, to the
husband, or widow.
XII. —That the humanity of the medical profession
is seriously compromised by such acts, and its skill
against suffering diminished.
XIII. —That the poorer classes will become aleague
of secrecy against such acts I and concealment of births,
or false Vaccinations, and forging of Vaccination certifi
cates, will be means of public safety.
XIV. —That resistance to the mother’s knowledge,
erroneous or not, that one child has been poisoned, or
killed, by Vaccination, and forcing her to have the next
�42
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
child Vaccinated, is a procedure which, if insisted on
by Parliament, will cause virtual, and chronic, though
it may be covered, civil war. The Acts that do it are
regarded as declarations of war against, and as invasion
of, poor men’s homes. They may seem to triumph, but
resistance will be perpetual.
XV. —That Law Courts could not carry out punish
ments against poor men and poor women if they oppose
violent resistance to violent Vaccination. The moral
sense and sympathy of the constituencies will be en
tirely with the poorer combatants.
XVI. —That the primary wrong of Vaccination lay
in the Parliamentary grant of £30,000 to Dr. Jenner,
which gave Vaccination, then a slight experiment, an
artificial
all over the world, and made^ it so
difficult to reconsider the question, that compulsory
laws easily followed upon the hasty status thus given
to Vaccination^ The assumption that Vaccination can
do no wrong is the first outcome of these laws. The
next consequence is that all enquiry into the evils
inflicted by Vaccination is regarded as out of date.
And, third, all compensation for the mischiefs and mur
ders, is barred by Act of Parliament.
XVII. —The endowment and establishment of Physic
by the State, and its presence and influence in the
Privy Council, is a.n anomaly, and the like of it exists
with no other private calling 9 and it has been disas
trous, as being, among other things, the main cause of
the compulsory Vaccination laws, founded as they are
not upon facts, but upon presumptions, and in disre
gard of wide facts of the evils of Vaccination, known to
the poorer classes especially.
XVIII.—These futile and oppressive laws divert
the mind of Parliament, and of the Municipal bodies of
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
43
the kingdom, from the true social way of stamping out
Small-pox; viz. : the rebuilding and systematic purifi
cation of poor men’s homes in town and country.
FURTHER REMARKS®
When I was under examination, DrlBrewer asked
me : “ Do you not approve of isolation of Small-pox
cases?” I said I “With oil?” He said I “ No, in
hospitals.”
There are two ways of isolation. 1. Keeping every
case of Small-pox in the room where the patient is, and
sending in a nurse. 2. Using a drug which will sheathe
and destroy each poison particle as it comes off the
skin.
The present way—DrlBrewer’s way—is the way
of the general diffusion of Small-poxl That all London
does not take it, shows how few persons are susceptible
of the disease.
1. The patient is taken from a single Boom, where
no one need be in danger, through perhaps six
miles of streets, dropping contagion as he goes, into
the ready furrow of panicl which the ambulance
makes as it passes.
2. He is removed even with death upon him, and
the act kills him, and his aggravated death increases
the ripeness of the field of contagion.
3. He is taken into hospital, where contagion is
concentrated and focussed, and whence it pours
forth in compound waves over Dr. Brewer’s city of
London.
�44
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
4. Doctors steeped in it visit as usual, and sow it
on their own account.
5. When the patients are convalescing, they may
be seen walking in the purlieus of the hospitals, and
if wind and poison-dust exist, they must be sending
showers of seed of Small-pox. (see Tyndall on Dust)
on the wings of the wind over their locality.
6. When the patients are half well, they are
turned out, and communicate the disease to their
own people and neighbourhood after all, I know
this by experience. Why were they taken away at
first ?
Is this isolation] I say it is Diffusion of Small
pox by Medical Act of Parhament, Concentration of
Small-pox in Barns and Granaries of Small-pox, and
systematic sowing of Small-pox, and continual harvest
ing of Small-pox. The wit of man could not have
devised any respectable means of making Small-pox
more universal than Dr. Brewer’s Small-pox hospitals,
and the process of filling them, and emptying them.
Crown ah with the fact, that Dr. Marson, the virtual
Buler of Treatment in the Small-pox Hospital, avows
to the Select Committee that he has no new lights in
the Treatment of Small-pox, which stands for his
mind where it did twenty or thirty years ago : that
his Art of Medicine can do nothingRoo combat Zymotic
Diseases.
So Parliament endows and establishes Small-pox,
and not to be unfair to its little sister, endows and
establishes Vaccination also.
�LETTERS TO A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
ON VACCINAL SYPHILIS
Feb. 12, 1873.
Dear Sir,—
Owing to your multifarious duties, it is pro
bable that you have not seen The Medical Times and
Gazette of Feb. 1, containing a Lecture by Dr. Jonathan
Hutchinson, Senior Surgeon to the London Hospital—
“A Second Report on the Communication of Syphilis in
the Practice of Vaccination” —and a leading article in
the same journal—“ Vaccinal Syphilis.” In this article
the editor says : “ It is plain that our Compulsory Vac
cination laws cannot be maintained unmodified. * *
The number of instances yet before us is small, but we
also well know the manifold inducements to keep these
secret. * * If a full EB| investigation were made * *
we doubt not but that many more facts might be ac
quired. * * What we do know suffices to warn us of
the possibility of the dreadful contamination. * * * It
is not fair to subject peoples’ children to risks such as
those Vaccination-Syphilis implies, with no alternative
save to go to prison.”
Will you not move at once in this matter ? The
Compulsory legisBtion extends virtually to all subjects
of the British Crown. Considering what the human
race is, it is strongly probable that Vaccination syphi-
�46
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
lizes more people—and these little children—than all
debauchery put together; and, whatever the number,
the two Houses of Parliament have the responsibility
of it. Every month of delay, those two Houses are
syphilizing the Young Hope of the British nation.
The facts now at last admitted by the medical
profession render it also certain that whatever other
diseases blood can carry are imparted into the com
pulsorily-vaccinated by the power of your Honourable
Houses.
I say nothing in detail of my own recent experiences,
but I have lately seen many and sad cases of the irre
mediable evils caused by Vaccination.
Will you not, then, afteik brief consideration, move
for a return of all fines and imprisonments under the
last of the Vaccination laws, and beseech your Honour
able House for an immediate delivery from fine and
gaol of all who are suffering in the holy cause of pro
tecting their infants from “ Vaccinal Syphilis” and
other law-made diseases ?
I cannot but hope that your love to the Lord will be
shown in your prompt action here for the little children
of your country.
Yours truly.
Feb. 13, 1873.
My dear Sir,—
What you tell me of the communication of
Syphilis in Vaccination is very distressing; but the
ravages of Small-pox appear to me more alarming, and
much more extensive ; and I could not make up my
mind, even under your high authority, to take a part in
�COMPULSORY VACCINATION-.
47
•withdrawing protection from helpless infants against
that scourge.
Could not something effective be done to prevent
such clumsy practice in. Vaccination ?
Ever truly yours.
; Feb. 14, 1873.
Dear Sir,—
The ravages of Small-pox are not now alarm
ing, while the death-rate of whooping-cough, pro
bably caused by the weakness induced on infants by
Vaccination, is very great, though taken no account of
by the Legislature or the Profession. I had thought
that the recent epidemic of Small-pox had demonstrated
in large characters the futility of Vaccinawon as a pre
ventive of Small-pox. In well-vaccinated and re-vacci
nated Berlin, the death-gate proportionally is four times
greater than in London. And all the statistics about
the deaths in. the Prussian and French armies, cited
from St. Petersburg, have been shown by German
officials to be fiction.
On the other hand, the curtain is now being lifted
by the unwilling hands of the medical profession itself
from the child-victims of Vaccination. A thick curtain
it is, of prejudice, and greed of money and power; but
under it the profession is forced at last to see the in
fant destruction lying, and to suspect the |arger woe
and destruction which is still for the most part covered.
The poor men and women of the country knew all
this long ago: Parhament and the Profession are the
last to know it. The judgment of Solomon proves
who are the rightful fathers and mothers, and that your
�48
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
Honourable Houses are neither paternal nor maternal.
The eyes of the heart are the most precious of even
scientific eyes, and your Houses have them not here.
After what has transpired, the longer maintenance of
Compulsory Vaccination amounts to the National En
dowment and Establishment of Syphilis by the Govern
ment. This is inconsistent with the avowed purpose of
the Contagious Diseases Acts. Their aim is to stamp
out Female Syphilis in the interest of the army, and of
respectable youths who are one day to be virtuous hus
bands. But at the other end you are establishing a
Syphilis Factory, Applicable to all infants. In short,
the law you have made is putting in Syphilis with its
hands, and stamping out Syphilis with its feet. The
babies of the country are in its hands, and the women
under its heels.
This does not depend on clumsy, or careful, Vaccina
tion. No Vaccinator can be sure that he is not syphi
lizing the babe on whom he operates. Will you still
send fathers to gaol for their horror at the dreadful
chance ?
Yours truly.
THE END.
BILLING, PRINTER, GUILDFORD, SURREY.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Compulsory vaccination, its wickedness to the poor
Creator
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Wilkinson, James John Garth
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 48 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Contains letters written by the author to a Member of Parliament for Vaccinal Syphilis and points submitted to the Vaccination Committee of the House of Commons. Tentative date of publication from KVK. Printed by Billing, Guildford, Surrey.
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F. Pitman
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[1873?]
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G5287
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Health
Vaccination
Social problems
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Compulsory vaccination, its wickedness to the poor), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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English
Conway Tracts
Health
Medicine
Poverty
Vaccination
Working Classes
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t |Jl,
Cannon
ife
Nu&f
I A FREE STATE
AND
FREE MEDICINE.
BY
JAMES JOHN GARTH WILKINSON.
LONDON: F. PITMAN, 20, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.O.
GLASGOW : JOHN THOMSON, 39, JOHN STREET.
1870.
�“ New foes arise
Threatening to bind our souls with secular chains.
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.”
Milton.
�I.
A FREE STATE, AND FREE MEDICINE.
The pages headed Medical Freedom, appended to this
Essay, formed a postscript to a small work of mine on a
new Treatment of Small Pox, written some years ago.
*
Their re-publication has been undertaken because it has
been thought that they have work to do at the present
time. I wrote them in good part from the theoretical
side, having a clear certainty that the separation of medicine
from government, and from power, and the dischartering
of all medical corporations, would confer upon medicine
and the community the greatest benefits. I foresaw that
freedom had a future here of which protection could give
no inkling; and that Art, Science, Service, Healing, would
live anew from it upon a hitherto unknown scale. I
pleaded gently in the interest of medicine and the com
munity.
The pages are reprinted as they stood, with some medical
topics adhering to them.
But now in the face of recent acts and facts, I plead in
the name and interest of the community alone : of the
consumer, not of the producer: of the British people
struggling with bonds, not of the banded and enthralled
medical corporations and profession. The medical pro
* On the Cure, Arrest, and Isolation of Small Pox, by a New Method ; and
on the Local Treatment of Erysipelas, and all Internal Inflammations; with a
Special Chapter on Cellulitis ; and a Postscript on Medical Fkeedom. London :
Leath & Ross, 1864.
�4
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
fession has crept into the Government, and is inciting it to
breaches of most sacred freedom, and thus is virtually at
war, and dreadful to say is influencing the Liberal and
Freetrade Gladstone Ministry to war, with the nation.
The particulars are not far to seek, and need not detain
me long, especially as I am about soon, in a larger Essay,
to treat of them severally. Suffice it now to say that,
I. War is levied upon the population by the Parlia
mentary Jet of Compulsory Vaccination. Vaccination may
be bad or good in its results; so may aconite, or arsenic,
or the sword; but no goodness of it justifies the violation
by it of unwilling families. Parliament has no excuse for
it. If Vaccination be protective, whoso will can be pro
tected by it; and leave those who do not choose to be
vaccinated, to their own freewill, to bear the risk. A large
and increasing body of the population hates the name and
thought of Vaccination; numerous cases are extant in
every considerable town of deterioration of health, injury,
and death from it, inflicted upon little children; and
coroner’s inquests return verdicts of “ died from the con
sequences of Vaccination;” and yet Parliament arms the
medical man with a right of virus against the babies next
born to those who have thus been slaughtered, and sends
the fathers or mothers who cannot pay continual fines, to
prison. In this Act Parliament commits a breach of the
peace as wide as Great Britain and Ireland, for it directly
incites to violent retribution. It is obvious that riot may
come of it. And it is equally obvious that if a mother or
father can say to the virus-man, “ Sir, I believe in my soul,
from dire experience in my own family, or my neighbour’s,
that what you are bent upon doing to my baby will pollute
its health, and probably take its life, and I will resist it to
the death, and rouse my neighbourhood to resist it,”—it is
obvious that whatever weapon that woman or that man
uses to protect, not only his fireside, but the very blood of
his race; and whatever arousing of the passions of his
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
5
commune he may cause against his poisoners, the public
opinion of the world will justify him, as much as if he
shot down a midnight assassin from his wife’s and child’s
bedside.
Yet Parliament has sanctioned this perpetual felony and
occasional murder in this compulsory Act; and Parliament
will now have to unsanction the Act, and to destroy it.
Nothing of this would have happened if medicine had
had no more to do with Government than any other calling
has; but medicine has got into the State, and instead of
being called when wanted, it is itself ensconced in office;
the State has lost its service, and got its impertinence, and
any foothold of power, or patronage, or pay, that it has, it
will by no means surrender. Old Physic, thus officialized,
revels in the application of the Compulsory Vaccination
Law, and hunts out the children of those who are known
Anti-vaccinators with especial zest. Nor does it forget
that hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling are the
reward of what so many now regard as the pollution and
slaughter of the innocents. The pressure of the despotism
is so urgent, that Vaccinators will not listen to medical
certificates against Vaccination, on the score of skin disease,
whooping cough, or the like : fine, imprisonment, or sub
mission, are the unconditional demand of the Government
doctors.
And this for a disease which killed eleven people in
London last week, while scarlatina killed more than a
hundred.
I am not now arguing against Vaccination, but against
Compulsory Vaccination; but I am prepared to argue un
reservedly against Vaccination itself when the occasion
arises. I know that it is a delusion and an evil, and I have
done with it. But my point here is that chartered medicine
has polluted and endangered the State with it, where un
chartered medicine would have had no chance of doing so;
and that hence arises a mighty practical reason why the
�6
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
State should discharter all medical corporations, withdraw
all royal patents from them, and leave physic, like other
businesses, to its own unaided work; calling it in for
an opinion when necessary, but judging that opinion by no
professional standard, but by wide and high common sense;
and being entirely free to act upon it or not when the
opinion is delivered, and the doctor gone from Downing
Street.
The plainest medical reason, or medical truth, may not
be expedient or good for a statesman to carry out. If
Jenner or Watson could prove ever so clearly that by dis
secting alive the vilest felon some desired medical light
would shine forth, it would still be competent for the
Home Secretary to say, 11 No, gentlemen, wait for that!
A generation had better die without benefit of illuminated
doctors, than that its life should be bought in the coins of
hellish cruelty. That vile man is my brother, and the State
stands in the interest of a higher light and life against the
pretended medical good that is to come of disembowelling
him.”
And so the State shall say one day, better let epidemic
smallpox sweep our towns, than Vaccination outrage hearts
and homes under the pretence of abating it. Not that
epidemic smallpox will do it, dear reader, for epidemic
smallpox is for the most part a panic ; though when it
does occur in a bad form, Vaccination has no power to
protect against it. But better the desolation which medi
cine and sanitary action could grapple with at last, than
the moral and personal violation of the homes and children
of our commonwealth.
II. This, then, is the first battleground between the British
Nation and the Chartered Medical Profession.
*
The
* I refer the reader to the Essay on Vaccination, by Chas. T. Pearce, M.D.,
Loudon, 1868; to the Essay of Dr. Bayard; to the Anti-Vaccinator; and in
general to the publications of the Anti-Vaccination League, for full information
against the Utility of Vaccination, and about the injuries it causes, and the
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
7
second and equally serious, but not more serious, battle
ground, is in the Contagious Diseases Act, lately passed
by Parliament, for districts where soldiers are housed, and
now proposed for extension to the whole civil community.
This Act too, passed surreptitiously under a misleading
name, would not have become law but that chartered
medicine was at the ear of the central Government as its
only adviser. The process evidently is, to send for “ the
most eminent medical men,” and be bound by their advice.
This course is both misleading and servile; and the mis
direction and the servility both depend upon royal charters.
Thus, “ the most eminent medical men,” to a Minister of
State’s apprehension, are inevitably at the head of the
orthodox corporations; and hence the minister gets arrant
orthodoxy, whose power of poohpoohing is its supreme
faculty, in place of wide and varied experience. He gets
infallibility instead of heart and brains. And instead of
getting orthodoxy as an opinion, he receives it as a com
mand ; and if he must have medical action at all, he has
nothing to hold orthodoxy in check as the agent. Even a
Gladstone can call in nobody else but these pampered and
easily incensed Mandarins. Our ministry, methinks, should
be the highest present jury of the country, giving its inde
pendent verdict after patiently hearing professional judge
and professional advocates ; but in such cases as these it is
hopelessly charged and commanded by the bench, and the
barristers are with the bench in overruling its twelveman
common sense, and forcing the verdict against it.
This is well divulged in a paper by an eminent orthodox
medical lady, Miss Elizabeth Garrett. “ Is legislation
increased death-rate that coincides with it. By this practice the medical
profession has introduced a new disease into the human race; and by the two
Acts under question, two new tyrannies are added to the evils of our country.
And in the case of Vaccination, from a practice not a hundred years old, but
which the doctors seen! to think is as durable as the rock of ages, though the
counter-experiment of letting Vaccination alone has not been tried ; and, con.
sequently, there is no test of its value in any sense, excepting as a fee-field of
the doctors.
�8
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
[about syphilitic diseases] necessary ? ” she asks, and
answers, “ This is strictly a professional question, upon which
the opinion of trustworthy medical witnesses ought to be
accepted as final. It is enough if unprofessional persons
know what that opinion is, together with some of the prin
cipal facts upon which it is based.” We have heard of
the Rule of the Monk, in Rome, and here is the parallel
Rale of the Doctor in Britain. You are no longer to call
in the doctor, and employ him as long as you like his
treatment, and judge with your own common sense every
serious proposal in that treatment; but he, or she, by
Heaven, is to call you in, and do what he likes with you !
You are his bond slave, and his word is, Flat experimentuni
in corpore tuo—vilissimo.
“ Is legislation necessary ? ” Who is to answer that
question, Miss Garrett ? Who calls in legislators, who are
a high order of professionals ? The people of course.
Air. Gladstone is where he is because the household suff
ragans have placed him there, and keep him there so long
as they have confidence in him. He is bound to consult
with his employers upon all matters pertaining to their
own bodies and fortunes. He has to legislate in their best
interest. On medical questions he avails himself of or
thodox eminent advice; he calls the doctors in as the
householders have called him in. But he is to legislate;
they are not to legislate. The opinion they give is strictly
a professional one; but the question of whether, or how, it
shall be carried out is not professional, excepting so far as
statecraft is a profession; it is a legislative question ; and
the settlement of it lies in the will of the people, and then
in the derivative wise will of the ministry. If the opinions
of callings were to be converted into the immediate volitions
of the State, we should have a pretty time of it. The
State would be garrotted by a hundred small ruffians of
professions. “ Nothing like leather” would be the rallying
cry of every cobbler’s onset on his premier. Miss Garrett’s
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
9
baker would force her into vegetarianism, for the food of
the people is strictly an eminent baker’s question; and the
chief of the bakers must be “ accepted by her as final.”
A homoeopathic premier might call in homoeopathic emi
nence, and converting his eminence’s answer into an edict,
forbid her salts and senna and blue pill for the rest of her
orthodox days.
A professional opinion, however eminent, is not then a
legislative question at all, but a mere suggestion, unless a
legislator takes it up ; and moreover, the whole unprofes
sional mass of the country is the permanent jury which
gives the verdict of To do, or Not to do, in every case.
What are the grounds upon which a legislator as distin
guished from “an expert” or professsional specialist must
act ? The expert, you will observe, merely takes his own
medical view of the case, modified of course by his good
sense, and moral and spiritual capacities ; but the medical
view is central. The statesman—I do not accept him as
“ final ”—-is distinguished from the lesser professional man
in this chiefly, that he has all the interests, not merely the
sanitary interests, to help and not to harm. First of all,
the interest of impartiality ; that is the justice-rock on
which he stands. Then, co-extensive with the common
wealth, social interests, spiritual interests, humanitary
interests, bodily interests, moral interests. The order and
poise of all these together in his mind, each like the organs
of a sound body pressing the rest into shape and function,
is the ground of the wisdom of every special action of the
statesman; and makes him neither a philanthropist, nor a
divine, nor a philosopher, nor a sanitarian, nor a moralist;
but a legislator, and a professional statesman. His will is
never reached by any other one profession separately.
Woe be to him if ever he allows that will to be first
violated and then traversed by any doctor or specialist who
represents one partial interest where all interests should
�10
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
be most generously constellated, and a love and wisdom
above interest itself should reign.
The obverse of this, the position assumed by Miss Garrett,
that the people have nothing to do with her foul physic
but to shut their eyes and take it, is the common stupidity
of chartered and collegiate bodies. I leave it to the reader
to imagine whether such dense darkness against human
right, and the human mind, and the all prevalent good
sense of mankind, is a favourable atmosphere for scientific
studies, or the prosecution of the most free and instinctive
of all the arts, the Art of Healing. For my own part I do
not doubt that the conceit and love of power bred of
charters and patronage rob medical men and women of
their best inspirations, and reduce to a minimum the
humane vigour of their lives.
But to return to the Contagious Diseases Act.
As some of my readers do not know what it is, I will
tell them.
First, it is founded on the present fact that the most of
soldiers must be unmarried ; and secondly, on the pre
sumed fact that unmarried soldiers must have women for
their gratification; and thirdly, on the fact that if their
women are diseased, they disease the soldiers, and cause
added expense for the army. Wherefore, it is expedient
to keep the women well for use, which can only be done
by compulsorily examining them at short intervals, and
when needful, compulsorily curing them. For this purpose
they are summoned from very wide districts, one and all,
and come in crowds, to the place of inquisition, the wallow
ing with the tidy, the vilest with the neatest; and they are
examined, very often (I do not know how often, but it
ought to be tabled) with large steel tubes, called specula, and
if diseased, sent to hospital, and if healthy, let back to whore
dom. Purer women may be brought by the police, by
mistake, or by the plotting of villains by design, into the
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
11
same category ; and if they do not take care, or, as Miss
Garrett says, are “ helpless,” which a good many good
women are, they may become liable to fortnightly exposure
and looking at, and steel entry, for one twelvemonth ; and
their husbands have no remedy, because the Act has con
doned the police mistake, and probably veiled the villain’s
plot, by anticipation.
This system, its advocates say, has diminished venereal
disease in array districts, and also the number of pros
titutes ; where it has been applied with the utmost strin
gency, as in the little island of Malta, it has “ stamped
out ” the disease ; and it only remains to apply it to the
whole of Great Britain and Ireland, to extinguish this
disease altogether. Let, then, every common woman in
the three kingdoms be inspected fortnightly—police super
intendents being the judges of who are bad women—and
let hospitals, big enough to take in all who are diseased,
be erected from one end of the land to the other.
A tall medical vision ! Building contractors who could
get on that shoddy Pisgah, would give a handsome per
centage to chartered and patented physic for the admin
istration of the vast disbursement. They need only read
Mr. Simon’s clear'pamphlet to estimate the amazing carcase
to which they would be fain eagles.
But if you can desyphilize little Malta, till a new regi
ment, or a new ship of war comes, it does not follow that
you can do the same for Greater Britain. When I was a
boy there was a current saying, “ Naturam expellas furca,
tamen usque recurret” You may drive out nature with a
pitchfork, but she will always come back again. If you
could clear all prostitution from the streets, so that the
sharpest police superintendent should not know who is
who, you might only, I will say at present you would only,
drive immorality out of sight, and lodge it higher up in
the community. I should like to know if Devonport,
endorsed by Miss Garrett’s “ clergy,” is more moral
�12
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
because its 2000 inspected prostitutes have diminished
from 2000 in 1864 to 770 in 1870. I should like to
know from the dissenting ministers of the district the state
altogether of the 770 who do the work of the former 2000.
It strikes me forcibly, that you may scare prostitutes away
at the expense of bringing up servant girls secretly into
their ranks. And these, being uninspected, all the in
fection begins over again in your own kitchens. And as
masters are often immoral with their servants, and innocent
wives and children must be protected, all you can do then
is to suspect every woman below your own rank, and to
have her inspected ; and presently you will find the old
hospitals bursting with their contents into new ones:
bursting, not like Aaron’s rods, but like spawning serpents.
Truly the medical plot thickens. We have got our reward
for protecting physic ; for adopting Miss Garrett’s principle
that the first topmost medical opinion should be taken, and
that then it should override every other faculty and concern,
and be converted into direct and universal legislation.
Out, I say, upon a protected orthodoxy which would
introduce such a horrid tapeworm into our national con
stitution ; if for no other reason, then for this reason, of
saving bodies and souls, give us freedom from State medi
cine, and let medicine herself be remitted to her own
resources, and have a conscience void of public offence,—the blessing in the humility of freedom.
Could Miss Garrett’s orthodoxy be carried out, Great
Britain would swarm with a vermin of pensioned venereal
doctors more than Spain, or Italy, or Turkey, ever swarmed
with beggar priests. Great Britain would have syphilis
with a vengeance.
But, reader, it cannot be carried
out. The Dissenters will not have it, because they can
scarcely understand the vice of which the diseases in
question are some of the plagues, and they will never
sanction the endowment and establishment of the pre
tended cure of those plagues in the interest of the vice.
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
13
The Municipalities will not have it, because they have
great radical works of good needing all their monies and
means, and they do not hold these to be spent on stopgaps
of an evil which in its retreat will more deeply and des
perately defy them. The public exchequer will not have
it (on its own shoulders), because the prostitutes and their
medical bishops, many tens of thousands strong in London
alone, would devour the treasury. The Married will not
have it, because they see that its tendency is to drive
prostitution, and whatever disease adheres to it, from the skin
of the streets, inwards into homes, and upon the vital parts
of the community. The vast Working Classes will not have
it, because their daughters are those in the main who will
first be invaded by the inspreading of the surgeons and their
poxes. Common Sense will not have it, because common
sense seeks cure and not suppression; and common hope,
which is the sister of common sense, knows that cure is pos
sible ; and that necessity of fornication is a chimera which
has no existence, but is merely the horrible shadow pro
jected before the eyes of a chartered and decayed society,
and cleared at once from the heart and brain of a loving,
an ennobled and a progressive society. The statesmen of
these advancing times will not have it, because it has
nothing to do with statecraft; and because they will see
that they are only general managers for the nation, and that
if in the interest of special people they were to undertake
a special stamping out of evils ; a special hospitalling of all
broken and ruined people, the ground would be cumbered
with a Bedlam-city of hospitals, medical, legal, clerical,
*
commercial, legislative, royal, and the only two classes left,
* Dr. Dalrymple, M.P., is moving in this direction, and asks the State to
erect pillars which will hold all drunkards upright, and Mr. Bruce, the Home
Secretary, instead of teaching the lion, member that the State will be happy
to do this as soon as any great wit shows how the State, which finds it hard
itself to be upright, can hold everybody upright—advises him “ to try his
hand at a Bill on the subject.” Mr. Bruce ought to bo moro merciful to
retired physicians.
�14
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
besides statesmen, would be inspectors, and patients.
This, the logical carrying out of the Act, would be hell
realized upon earth, with the Inquisition for its portico.
And last and first, the awakened Womanhood of the
land will not have it. I dare not know, Why, in the
woman’s way, because I am not a woman ; but I do
know that they will not because they will not. Their
reasons are made of fire in such a case, and could burn
up a household parliament which is made of parchment
presently. They will not have troopers fed by govern
ment on the carcases of their sex ; on carcases stamped
with the government permit; they know all over that
state prohibition and non-prohibition are the two halves
in all licensing. They will feel with those eyes of the heart
which see and more than see, which are all senses in one
touch, that the shame days of the state are their shame
days, and that fortnight by fortnight common modesty is
being effaced from the lowest women to the highest ; and
that purity is freshly trampled every time in the slums
of the filthiest rumour. They will know by the heart
the secrets of the prison-house ; the surgeons and the
unwilling women’s bodies ; the struggle and the steel,
office and agony ; the fairest searcht the foulest. They
will hate men while they love them, till men, public and
private, leave bad womanhood unworsened. They will
hate a government which crowns the infamy of prostitu
tion with the last ignominy and wrong, of public state
ravin and state rape. They will hate the medical govern
ment dogma which lies to mothers and sisters and
affianced brides of the necessity of prostitution, and proclaimes it as a natural office of the community, young
and old ; the dogma which postpones love to lust, which
it is woman’s severest mission to correct in man. They
will quell and choke the medical assertion that their baby
boys are born whoremongers, and that some poorer mother’s
baby girls are their predestined skittles in the game of
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
15
ruin. They will believe that God is love, and that Christ
is incarnate love, and that love is the Creator, and love
is the hope, and love is the Redeemer; and they will have
nothing licensed but love which is the licenser. None of
these are dead men’s reasons; but men’s best reasons
unloved and unaccepted by women, will be poor stubble
in the days of fire which are coming, in the days of
woman which are coming, in the holy days which are
coming.
And ah ! later than last, the slow Manhood of the
country will rise upon these Acts, and their authors. The
chronic meanness of the State, which has confiscated
woman to man, which has made the huge freedom of
marriage into the gulf and abyss of her person and her
property, will begin to be avenged from the ground up
wards, and the sexes will tear up this lowest wrong with
even hands. We men in truth have not known what we
were doing. All uncorrected, unchastened, unmated, in
our public conscience, we have been cruel and greedy as
impuberous boys, and have ravaged the holdings and
trampled out the capacities of woman on the floors of long
parliaments. We have been a sour and an unmarried
country. We are awakening and ripening at last. The
scorn of women is awakening us ; the new power of women
is awakening us; the fiery justice of women is awakening
us; the angry commonweal and coming democracy of
women is awakening us; and we are going to help our
mothers and wives and all our sisters out of the State
chains of unrighteous laws and customs. Out of sex
legislation, and sex-oppression. Out of one morality for
women, and another for men. Out of the household
political Mahometanism that women to the State have no
separate souls. Out of the claws of chartered surgery.
Out of homes that are prisons, and out of brothels that
are graves.
It is now no digression to see that the questions raised by
�16
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
these two seemingly small acts of parliament directly move
the issue of Woman’s Universal Suffrage. All women have
the offices, of protecting their babes, and of caring for their
own sex to whatever deep depths its unfortunates may
have fallen. The public will of woman is summoned forth
by God’s providence when she is publicly assailed in her
womanhood and her home. That which is coming to
answer the call, is not female household suffrage, for that is
another enchanter and chaunter of property, but true univer
sal suffrage, which is the Word of all Souls ■ truly, I will
say, the voice of God more and more audible in progressive
nations. And these Acts of Parliament, if women will
but speedily stamp them out, will be the beginning of the
dav when not woman’s dishonours, but her soul of honour
will be public; when the State in its coldest departments
will begin to know the beating of her heart.
I have now told you faintly some of the reasons why
this Act shall not be extended, and who those are that will
not have it; and I find on carefully looking round that,
judging by the past, the only things that will have it, if
they can, arc the church and the state, including chartered
physic.
So much then for the extension of the Act. But now I
will say further that the present Army Act will not be kept
on the statute book. In the first place, the army which is
said to necessitate it, must go, and give place to an army
which docs not require an episcopacy of prostitution, or to
no.army at all. We are in profound peace, are giving up the
defence of our colonies from home, and there is no disaffec
tion within our borders which a larger commonwealth-heart
would not appease. Gibraltar, and Malta, and Aden, and
the islands of the sea, ought to belong to themselves first,
and next, to the whole world. Excepting for India, where
a humane system of mounted police in plain clothes may
protect the real interests of the country and our own plant
of railway and other property there, we have no need of a
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
17
standing army. We have less need of an army than the
United States has. But as for the graduation of dis
banding, and putting all the remaining men into plain
policemen’s clothes—the symbols of peacekeeping, whereas
the red coats are the symbols of the glories—of slaughter
of males, and seduction of females—as for the disbanding,
the unmarried men, after the horrid treatment they have
survived, should be paid off handsomely, and sent if they
wish it to Canada, or in the “ flying squadron ” to any
other part of the world ; and the married ones, as a
nucleus to national volunteers, should receive a large incre
ment of pay ; <£300 a-year income will be little enough, and
a farm apiece on the crown lands, or in the ducal deso
lations of Argyleshire and Sutherlandshire; for there is no
more reason why an army should be a cheap thing, than
why a Queen should be cheap, or why an Archbishop of
Canterbury should be cheap, or why a Marquis of West
minster should be cheap. This simple plan will render the
Contagious Act unnecessary.
I object, then, to the present Contagious Act, because it
would bolster up our present bestial system —our Sodom
*
* See what the Government and the household suffragans of this country,
the bishops and clergy, and all the classes whose wealth and state are supposed
to be protected by the army, in short, all but the lower classes and the women,
are responsible for in regard to their army. Dr. Stallard says, in the Sessional
Proceedings of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science,
‘ My attention was first directed to the subject by making an attempt to
determine the most convenient number of soldiers who should be accommo
dated in one room. As to the opinion of the commanding officers, I found it
on this subject in general opposition to that of the soldiers. They advocate
large rooms containing not less than eighteen men, and they prefer those with
twenty-five. They do this on the ground of supervision being more easily
exercised, for, with but few exceptions, they are in favour of complete publicity.
There must be no cupboards, no lockers. If the soldier has any money, or
articles on which he sets store, he must keep them in his pockets since he has
nowhere else to put them; and if he keeps over, from time to time, some
portion of his midday meal, he must expose it on the shelf, where it will soon
be covered with dust and dirt from the sweepings of the floor. But as regards
the men, without exception, they prefer a room for eighteen to one for twenty,
five, a room for twelve to one for eighteen, a room for eight to one for twelve,
B
�w
18
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
and Gomorrlia system—with our poor army; because in
so far as it maintains prostitution healthy, it must make
a room for four to one for eight; and those soldiers who have been quartered
in an old prison, now used as a barrack in Dublin, testified that they were
never so comfortably lodged.
*
*
*
The first and great objection
felt by the decent soldier is the entire absence of privacy. From the time of
his enlistment to the date of his discharge there is not a moment or a place
which he can call his own in the fullest sense of the term. He washes, dresses,
eats, drinks, and sleeps in public. Let me try and represent what this publicity
really means. Of his twenty-four comrades it will be absolutely certain that
two or three will be habitual drunkards, and one or two will have been in
prison for some crime. Some commanding officers expressly order the worst
characters in the company to be quartered with the best, with the view of
reformation; indeed this is one of the great arguments used in favour of the
congregation of so many men together.
“ But, as one black sheep infects the flock, so, instead of improving, the bad
soldier often makes the others worse. Naturally, and unless modified by the
presence of a very superior non-commissioned officer, the moral standard of a
barrack-room is that of almost the worst man in it. The more men the worse
and more extensive is the mischief, and the greater is the discomfort inflicted
upon a really decent man. No doubt the presence of a good barrack-room
corporal modifies the evil; but even the power of the best is limited. He is
only a step above the rest, and his life would be unbearable if he were to be
very strict. He is obliged to wink at a great deal which it is his duty to report.
It is well known, for example, that drunkenness escapes report. A man died
of delirium tremens, at Portsmouth, who had gone to bed drunk every night for
more than twenty years, and yet that man had never been convicted, and held
a good conduct medal. There is also a great deal of behaviour which ranges
between fun and torture, of which the non-commissioned officer in charge can
take no notice.
“ An old soldier informed me that he has frequently known a recruit to go to
bed night after night in his clothes, in fear of the remarks and ridicule which
the act of undressing would certainly give rise to. And the public use of that
military institution called the urine tub, is the moment chosen for remarks and
practical jokes of the most disgusting kind.
“ Woe be to the recruit who has any personal defect or peculiarity, and,
above all, to one who has any religious feeling. The attempt to read his bible,
or say his prayers, will be the signal for an onslaught of bread crusts and
slippers. True, it may be, and doubtless is, that the man who firmly persists
in the performance of his religious exercises eventually is let alone, nay, is even
respected by his comrades ; but how few possess this moral courage, and how
many sink before the shafts of ridicule. Moreover, let the man fail to maintain
his own standard for a single moment, and the last discomfort will be greater
than the first, and his difficulties in maintaining his position will be im
measurably increased. And, whilst speaking of the religious life, I have found
that one of the greatest annoyances arising from the publicity of barrack life
is difference of belief. Episcopalians, Methodists, Independents, Baptists,
Roman Calholics, are mixed up together, and with men who scoff at them all.
A Roman Catholic has no opportunity of performing his religious exercises, and
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
19
into shamelessness hard as steel the womanhoods of its
*
base episcopate; and in so far as it scares prostitution
away, it must drive the foul soldiery in upon our houses;
because the fortnightly ripping open of the moral sore and
sewer is an outrage upon the community, and a day of
sour shame and filthy jeering to the thoughtless crowd;
because it embrutes the sacred medical office, and pays it
for pretending to give away the power of sin and wicked
ness ; and because it is the germ of a system which would
debauch and infect the general public. I object to it also
because it sullies the Government of the country with the
responsibility of finding clean prostitutes for the army, and
spends governmental action upon the diseases of one vice,
which itself is but a disease of the hopelessness and drunk
enness which the present Government army system perwhen in a barrack-room with Protestants his position is often most uncomfortable.
A sergeant informed me that, night after night, there used to be controversies
in his room, lasting through half the night, and terminating, not unfrequently,
in blows. He said officers had no conception of the religious quarrels which
ensued, since they were hushed in a moment if an officer came in.
“ Nor is it possible to get a good night’s rest. Out of so many men some
are sure to be noisy and sleepless; and scarcely is the room quiet when some
drunken or noisy person comes in from leave, disturbing all the sleepers. It
not unfrequently happens also, that some one is ill, either from his own fault or
otherwise, and the atmosphere is rendered unbearable by the occurrences
which unavoidably take place. Nor is the urine tub, which appears to be
considered as the only practicable institution of this nature, conducive to the
comfort of the men. If placed inside the room it is most offensive, and is
occasionally used for most improper and disgusting purposes, and if outside the
door, although less objectionable, it‘is often knocked over by the men who
enter in the dark, and the use of it involves the disturbance of all the sleepers
by the opening and shutting of the door. Another objection to a large barrack
room is the impossibility of warming all alike. One fire is quite insufficient for
twenty-five men. Those placed near it are too hot, those at a distance too
cold. This difficulty can only be overcome economically by having a com
bination of fires and hot water pipes; the fires being central, so that the
soldiers may sit around them.”
* Our lady holds that periodical examination by surgeons does not deaden
but increases honest shame; that the violet, modesty, might even root it
were good at least, she thinks, if it did root—on the hot cinder-hills of lust
with the wind of publicity blowing over them. Who else in the world thinks
this ? Or how could such lack of sympathetic knowledge in a woman exist
exoept by royal charter.
�20
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
petuates in the land and in the regiment. I object to it
in the interest of the bad women, whose persons are
violated fortnightly by State interference, and who are
unjustly selected as the mark for medical legislation, while
the corresponding class, the male whores, whose barracks
are the obverse brothels, are left free to emit infection.
And I recall finally that all this comes of taking not the
opinion of “ experts,” but their domination, and of allowing
them to build place, and power, and pelf, where the most
sacred liberties have dwelt, and where the governing will
of the country, founded on the common sense of plain
men, has been hitherto exercised in the righteousness of a
large impartiality.
Only one condition should justify these acts of a despair
ing and witless legislature: the universal female and male
suffrage of the towns and the large surrounding districts
concerned; a majority of 99 hundredths of the population en
dorsing the inspection under much restriction, which would
leave the prostitute population alone against the commu
nity. And even then the commune should give them the
option of handsomely assisted emigration to some of those
new lands where women are wanted. That would have
some fairness in it. And the vote universal which settles
this, including the prostitute vote, should be taken every
three months, that the working of the base, unhoping, un
curing system might be watched and worried continually ;
and that no settlement and medical plant might grow out
of such a polluted pot. And such examination, for sack
cloths’ sake and ashes’ sake,—for we are all “ fallen,” and
the state and the church are prostitute here in their inward
minds more than the street-walker,—should be transacted
in the cathedral or principal church of the district, except in
cases where the whole of its clergy have petitioned govern
ment weekly for the repeal of the act; and in case of such
petitioning, the examination should be done in the officers’
head quarters ; if in London, in Westminster Abbey, in the
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
21
Houses of Parliament, or the Horse Guards; and the
state surgeons should moreover be attended, for indignant
human nature’s sake, by a stout Vigilance Committee of
self sacrificing women, of pure martyr women, chosen by
universal female vote; and this stout Vigilance Committee
should assess drumhead damages for any injury done
by steel or forcings on the examined bodies. Woman
will so be some safeguard to woman. But as at present
administered, the Act is an unrestricted and condoned
male handling by a small household hard-handed minority,
who have no charter but force, of the secret woes of
human nature, selected promiscuously from many woes;
and the sense of the women of the country upon it is
utterly ignored and despised. I am not a jurist, but I
know by heart that there are rights of the person which
precede and tower over the church and the state ; and
that the parliament which breaks them, is out of all law,
and openly invokes on both sides might against right; and
in so far, proclaims the dissolution of society.
Passing now from the patronage which chartered me
dicine gives to one virus, and the public war which it
moves the State to wage upon another virus, I arraign
its mental sanity in the case of the Welsh Fasting Girl.
Here it undertakes by self elected dictatorship to lay
down the final laws of physiology and psychology; to fix
what is possible, and what impossible, in the period of
abstinence from food ; and to rule the press and the people
by its own sick experiences. It undertakes to immure
the people of these islands in its own narrow materialism.
On this I shall not dwell now, having already shewn in
my brother’s pamphlet on the subject, that old physic has
*
no special lights here, and has very special prejudices and
limitations; and is the worst judge of al!, while common
* The Cases of the Welsh Fasting Girl and her Father, by W. M. Wilkinson ;
with Supplementary Remarks, by J. J. Garth Wilkinson. J. Burns, 15
Southampton Row, 1870.
�22
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
experience interpreted by open common sense is the best.
But I will notice, that this arrogance of chartered medi
cine has been displayed on various other subjects ever since
I entered the profession. When Mesmerism came up,
and nobody knew anything about it, and a few wished to
learn something by experiment, chartered physic appeared
upon every mesmeric scene, and attempted by violence to
foreclose the experiments. It swooped with a royal patent
swoop down upon the people who were investigating;
it knew that the whole exhibition was humbug and im
posture ; and it comported itself with an enormity of con
ceited ignorance such as no one can command or contain
unless he has a permanent conceit pipe running into
him directly from a royal college. And yet, reader, the
subject was new: these little men knew nothing about it
but that they hated it; and they hated it because it en
larged the domain of physiology and psychology beyond
their possession; and their possession was narrow, their
heart was narrow, and their mind was narrow, and their
spirit was not, because their calling was no creation of
God, but a manufacture of state colleges.
*
Oh ! but they ought to pray to be drawn up from this
* On the theoretical side, of science and free thought, Lord Bacon saw
clearly the dwarfing of mankind produced by colleges and academic institutions.
I do not know whether his great perceptive observation was ever directed to
the practical working of the same, or to the public conceit and attempted
despotism which the dwarfs would inevitably seek to exercise over peoples in
the last and expiring days of institutional rule. But what Lord Bacon says is
well worth reading still :—“ And he thought this, that in the customs and
institutes of Academies, Colleges, and similar bodies of men, which are designed
for the assemblage and co-operation of the learned, all the elements are found
which are adverse to the ulterior progress of the sciences. For in the main,
the resort is first professorial, and next for honour and reward. The lectures
and exercises are so managed, that it is not easy for anything different from
routine to get into anybody’s mind. And if it happens to any to use liberty of
enquiry and of judgment, he will at once feel himself dwelling in a mighty
solitude.
*
*
*
In the arts and sciences, as in the shafts of metal
mines, all parts should resound with new works and advancing pickaxes.
And in right reason this is so. But in life it has seemed to him, that the polity
and administration of learning which are in vogue, press and imprison most
cruelly the fertility and development of the sciences.”— Coaitata et Visa.
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
23
poisonous well of establishment and patronage, at the
bottom of which, not for truth, they are lying.
And yet, as is always the case with the eaters and
drinkers of evil, they want more of it. They are now
moving Sir John Gray and Mr. Graves to pass a bill to
“ establish one uniform and practical test of efficiency for
all medical practitioners in the United Kingdom,” in order
that “ patients may be enabled readily to distinguish
between qualified and unqualified practitioners.” Uniform
and practical! The pope’s triple hat and Garibaldi’s red
shirt worn by one sentence; high priests and pharisees,
and Lord Christ, at one table. Procrustes cut off heads
and feet, certainly for uniformity, but he did not pretend
to increase either the practicality, or efficiency of his
graduates; or to make their qualifications more dis
tinguishable by an ignorant public. His simple object was
to make men of all sizes fit his bed. The game of life
and death, the grappling with diseases, the cheering of
lengthened sickness, the calm confronting of pestilence,
the promulgation of sanitary rules to sweeten homes and
villages and towns, the private and the public healing,
seem to me to depend all upon the love and life and spirit
and fearless mind of the healers: the education, at this
stage of the world’s books and scientific accomplishments,
is a thing that can be got anywhere; provided you do
not kill the life, by fixing and instituting and endowing
and chartering and deadening the education ; or to sum
up all, by legislating it uniform.
*
And the public has no
difficulty excepting what one uniform diploma and brass
* The following sentences are by one of the greatest men of modern science:
“ Why do candid physicians every now and then astonish casual hearers by a
hint of the very small progress which therapeutics have made since the days of
Calen ? Why does poor little Medicine, stunted and wizened, cast so wistful
an eye at the strong limbs and bouncing proportions of cousin Chemistry ?
Simply because the unhappy child has been brought up on little but main
tenance of truth, while her relative, lucky in not being committed to the care
of royal colleges, has been brought up on progress of science. Go for progress,
and let truth maintain herself.”
�24
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
plate creates and throws in its way, in discerning between
qualified and unqualified practitioners : every neighbour
hood knows its own men; but then the real qualification
lies in the fact that a medical man known otherwise as a
worthy citizen, cures many people, and can probably cure
me, and certainly will if he can : there is no other qualified
practitioner than this; the school gives the schooling, and
certificates the school-success; but the man’s townsmen
give him the seal of qualification.
The struggle for this uniformity where all diversity
would be more to the purpose, because more living, is
another step in the medical plant for power; another
stride into the state ; and another cogent reason for the
dischartering of all medical corporations. If the uni
formity is gained, the people under its regiments will
have a stupider set of men to doctor them for another
quarter of a generation.
I shall now notice one or two reasons alleged in favour
of medical protection, which are not perhaps touched upon
in the following pages. One is, that medical men are so
received in families, are so deeply entrusted, and so re
sponsible, that unless they are good by Act of Parliament
they cannot be up to the mark of their high calling. This
I confess had not occurred to me until I read it in The
Times of last Saturday (art. Medical Education). It would
be a reason for incorporating under the state all catholic
priests, dissenting Ministers, and in general everybody
who has any work of honesty to do for other people. But
the endowment and establishment of everybody is not
likely to be carried in these ways. The other reason was,
that sanitary work, belonging to the public sphere of
action, and comprising towns and districts in its design,
can be carried on only by public medical officers, who can
come only out of royal colleges, which can be created only
by the State. In the first place, this department belongs
more properly to surveyors and engineers; though the
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
25
occasion of it may now and then be suggested by medical
men. But any one with a nose and eyes can generally
tell whether the house-drains, and the drainage of the
neighbourhood are efficient; and where the outward
senses are not enough, other experts, chemists, and not
practising medical men, are usually called in.
In all
general sanitary improvements, engineering talent em
ployed by the municipality through a Board of Works,
is the agent; and medical opinion is for the most part
nothing in regard to such large and obvious uses. It is
but one little nose, and often not the keenest or most
interested nose, among tens of thousands of noses.
These reasons for medical protection are therefore no
reasons, but the animus which they show in the direction
of getting into official place and power by means of fresh
and more centralized chartering, is again another reason for
severing medicine from the State.
If old physic gained nothing from the change but
good manners, the benefit to itself would be great. At
present, all who dissent from it are quacks and impostors;
or as one good man said of homoeopaths, either fools or
knaves. All who die away from it are victims ; and those
who die (the “ peculiar people ”) refusing medical advice,
lay-expectants, we may call them, must be opened after
death by a regular practitioner, who has to decide if they
would have died had they had proper attention and
medicine from old physic.
One would have thought that
the revelations of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, of out
patients treated each in a consultation of 35 seconds, and
then drugged out of one of six bottles, would have kept
down the crest of pride and self applause from the
medical head centres. That such blatant scandals have
not had any effect of the kind, is a proof that the pride
lies deeper than, and out of, the very worthy men who are
so disfigured by it: and I beg to suggest again and again,
that their unhappy inflation, and proved public inefficacity,
�26
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
are due to their royal laurels, which poison their humane
minds, while they seem to decorate their worldly persons.
The present Government, like its predecessors, is not
distinguished for consistency of legislation. Its chieftain,
the most able actuary and accountant mind for assessing
and winding up the failing estates of our societies, that we
have had for centuries ; who knows well how many shillings
in the pound a bankrupt church can pay to its creditors ;
and who apparently can wind up anything, and bring out
comfortable figures ; that great appraising mind has leisure
to write Ecce Homo, Autobiography, and Juventus Mundi,
in addition to the particulars of the numerous State
properties which he is bringing to the hammer. I wish he
would rather spend his leisure in codifying in some manner
the various subjects which all belong under the class of
freedom, free trade, and free competition. I wish he would
hold councils to look all round, and see how many things
the Government can let alone with clearance to itself, and
with advantage to the public. He might draw up for
the guidance of Parliament a schedule of subjects with
which his Government will not meddle, and the control of
which he expressly repudiates. For it is a disgrace to the
mind of a party that they should be increasing freedom of
competition in some departments, and increasing bureau
cracy in others; that they should stand upon the platform
of civil and religious liberty with one foot, and upon that
of medical despotism with the other: that they should
foster all denominations in civil education, and lend their
aid to extinguish all but one denomination in medical
education : that they should leave the bread of the body
free, and let the nation draw upon the fields and granaries
of the whole world for it; and yet confine the growth and
supply of the bread of healing to the sterile field of one
small artificial corporation, where it might be brought
from all ranks and classes, from all men and women, and
the manifold famines of now incurable things be fed into
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
27
health by it. If our great appraiser does not move in this
direction, I shall be forced to think that he has ulterior
objects ; that he is about thoroughly to endow and establish
poor old physic, in order to purchase, I will not say plunder
it at last; and that when it is bureaucratized from top to
bottom, and all colleges are compact as jails, with one big
donjon over all, and the appraiser in the very midst,—
Mark that, old physic ! the appraiser in the midst!—and
the whole profession rigidly fixed in place and power, and
planted like iron upon towns and villages and rustic disstricts, just when that whole profession says, I am all
official and everlasting now, he will step up and say:
“ Gentlemen, you are sold; the State buys you out: you
“ can stay where you are if you like, by paying such or
“ such a per centage, or by purchasing the goodwill of
“ your own practice,—my practice, I mean,—for so many
“ years; but failing this, as your position is an official one,
“ I shall at once appoint your successor, who will comply
“ with ray conditions. In the eye of the State, and in the
“ millennium of Sir John Gray’s uniformity, one medical
“ man is as good as another: they all come from the State
“ brass plate office ; and the public will be satisfied with
“ any change which includes no variety; for I shall be
“ able to remit public taxation out of the annual millions
“ which accrue from my general practice.” Depend upon
it the great appraiser is going to say this, and Sir John
Gray is preparing it: and other callings and professions
may expect to be sold in their turn. This is indeed a
reason why old physic should throw Sir John Gray over
board as soon as ever they can get a cork jacket on him ;
and pray to be dischartered, disendowed, disestablished,
disroyalized, and to have anything on earth done with
them which will take away the great appraiser’s pretext
for buying them at his own probably very low valuation.
The reader will notice that over and over again I have
returned to the assertion that compulsory bills would not
�28
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
have come from Parliament unless privileged medical cor
porations had possessed it. This by no means implies that
the body of the profession is in favour of these Acts : the
crowned head of the profession, perverted by alliance with
the State, acts without caring about the body, and per
suades the State to follow it. The opposite counsels to
these, lie in the absorption of medical sense in common
sense, thereby raising both into powers serviceable to the
community ; not in the calling in of heterodox instead of
orthodox physicians, for then still you would be in the
hands of specialists, and often of very exacting and narrow
specialists, but in the calling in of the nation, which at
present cannot get near to its life, because all the pro
fessionals and experts have closed round that life, and
monopolized it. “ Come let us reason together,” is the
voice of justice on both sides in all propositions affect
ing the people. Whatever clique hinders this, must be
cast out. But this “ reasoning together ” means universal
suffrage, for what else can it mean ? We are living in
great problems of freedom and compulsion ; and we are
bound to reconcile between those opposite ends. Their
meeting point lies in the coming up of the national free
will, which can compel a free nation, as a man’s free will
compels a man, though nothing less than this self com
pulsion can rightfully compel it. The voice of that national
free will is mere universal suffrage. We have a right to
anticipate what the verdict and execution of that suffrage
would be upon these Compulsory Acts ; we know that
they could not subsist one day in any municipality under
that suffrage; we know that that suffrage would not hold
any parley as the Government has done, with these schemes
of chartered physic. As I said before, the absorption of
all professionals into the general voice, and the issue of
measures from none but the chieftains of that voice, are
the only solvent of the case.
My present word is done, though I hope to come forth
�A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
29
again soon on the greater subject of The Commonwealth and
the Godwealth. For thirty years I have been actively con
vinced of the inestimable benefits to be derived from
medical freedom. The results of all legislation towards
freedom during that time have deepened my conviction.
Many years ago I translated Swedenborg’s Animal King
dom, a work in which a free layman demonstrated by light
and life that the psychology and physiology of the body of
man are opened up by God to free thought where they are
closed against professional thought. Next I wrote a tract
on the subject of Unlicensed Medicine After that, a little
work called The Ministry of Health. And lastly, the pages
which now succeed under the special name of Medical
Freedom. As I have said at the beginning of these
remarks, the Medical Freedom was designed to show that
medicine would gain everything by being moveable in
itself, and distant from the State ; by being independent,
and internally various and competitive: in short that
medicine ought to stand clear of Government. Otherwise,
uniformity, livery, dwarfing, arrogance, and contempt of
the laws and light of nature and revelation; in short, social
and scientific materialism. And now I have completed
the globe of fact, and given two hemispheres to this free
dom, in demonstrating that the State and the Government
ought to be quite free from and independent of medicine.
Otherwise the legislative and executive will both be played
upon by the perpetual opinions of “experts;” the rule of
philosophers and scientific men will be forced upon the
bodies of Englishmen ; and the Government will be hated
and despised for essaying to carry out greedy theories and
experiments upon the whole people; and for creating an
official army of apothecaries to superintend the costly vio
lation. The latter half of the proof has been in part
practically furnished by the two heinous Acts of Parlia
ment, the Compulsory Vaccination Act, and the Compulsory
Prostitutes Examination Act; two pestilent diseases in the
�30
A FREE STATE AND FREE MEDICINE.
State which it owes to its unloyal yokefellow, chartered
physic.
I owe it now to all my medical brothers and sisters to
say, that though I have spoken hardly of their corporations
as they at present stand, I desire to speak and think
reverently and lovingly of themselves. For I am one of
them, on board their own boat. I am an old medical
practitioner, forty years at the work; I delight in the
calling, and honour it; and hope to die in the life giving
harness of it. And especially do I desire to see us all more
free and open in our hearts and minds; less fearful and
less unbelieving ; looking less to the past, than to God and
the future ; and praying for His inspirations, while we scan
*
all nature and art and books for His instructions. And I
have learnt very deeply from no man, that the way to
advance to all this is by going out of royal swaddling
clothes, and under heaven winning for ourselves freedom
of medicine in the greater freedom of our country.
�II.
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
It is my intention from time to time to offer cases with
remarks, as an easy means of bringing new treatment
and occasional thoughts before the public.
The time is to come when general medical education
will surround my profession so closely, that its narrow
ness and exclusiveness, and its cliques, will give way
under the pressure of the public common sense; and no
authority will be left but the authority of facts. I
have a great hope in me to hasten that desirable time.
For it is evident that the simpler medical truth can
become—by medical truth understand truth in practice,
the only test of which is, success in practice—the more
must enlightened public criticism come upon the doctors,
and give them their qualification in every separate case. A
man’s or a woman’s repute will be his or her sole
authorization to practice. For instance, in the treatment
of small-pox as I have now made it public, any mother
or grandmother may demand the remedies which ensure
the benefits recorded in my book, and if the doctor is not
acquainted wth them, and will not employ them when
pointed out, then such mother or grandmother can take
away his diploma in the case, and either confer it upon
herself, or provisionally upon any other person whom she
may appoint to conduct the precious interests of the family
health. There can be no wise authority beyond her, or
above her.
For competition will be the soul of success here, as it is in
�32
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
every other case. Given any field of nature or experience
to be explored, and all the faculties of man are wanted
for it; all the chances of birth are wanted for it; all the
gifts of God are wanted for it; all the developments of time
are wanted for it; all the freedom of society is wanted for
it; all absence of fear of man, and fear for position, is
wanted for it; all good genius and good ambition is wanted
for it; in short, numberless men are wanted, each mind of
them free, and original, and inspired, as if there was
nobody else in the world; yet each instructed in his lower
walks by the labours of the rest; and all animated by a
common faith in the inevitable co-operation of good with
good, and the inevitable consentaneousness of knowledge
with knowledge, though independence and freedom be
the only law and bond for each.
Free societies, free institutions will necessarily arise out
of this new medical humanity: order most punctilious and
most exacting will arise; but freedom will be the king upon
its throne.
But now we see the reverse of this, and health contracted
and eclipsed in the prisons of medical establishment.
The maintenance of this present condition lies in the
Protection of Physic by the State. Continue this, and an
external and well-nigh irresistible aid is afforded to the
existing general condition of medical art and science, as
against anything which would considerably enlarge it; still
more, which would revolutionize it ever so benignly; and,
most of all, against anything which tends even remotely to de
professionalize it, publicize it, and humanize it. Continue this,
and an art and science which depend upon the natural truths
of God, the capacities of nature, and the genius of mankind,
and which should be nourished most intimately of all on the
One Exemplar of Revelation, and the fact of Redemption—
that art and science are commanded to eat the dry crusts of
Parliament, instead of the manna of heaven and the bread
of the earth; and lawyers and the magistracy stand with a
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
33
ferule of penalties to rap the knuckles and break the explor
ing fingers of discoverers who dare to discover out of
accord with colleges, or who dare to discover at all if they
are not cloister-vowed, and cloister-bred. Out upon such
public insanity. Any other art, similarly narrowed, would
be similarly strangled. Engineering or chemistry, in their
existing condition in April, 1864, protected—or what is
the same thing—arrested by the State, would stiffen into
Chinese imitation, and their soul, which is invention,
would be lost; their worldly motive, which is ambition,
unbounded by other men’s power, would be lost; and their
huge sense of freedom, in which they live and move and
have their being, would be exchanged for the degrading
consciousness of the powdered head and well-fitted livery of
the kitchen of the State.
But medicine must be emancipated, and as the public,
directed by God, will have to do the work, I address my
medical life and thought to the public; and not specially
to the people in bonds.
Yet would I willingly calm the apprehensions of all
professional brethren.
1. Not a college, sect, or diploma will perish when
physic is free from State patronage and protection; that
is to say, unless public bodies choose to disband themselves.
The only power they will lose will be the power of
harming other bodies, or other people not of their way
of thinking. They will gain the power of emulating in
good works and open-mindedness all the useful people
whom they have called quacks, and imposters, and un
qualified practitioners, and who have been the moving
wheels of practice in all ages of the world. They will
gain the humanity of learning from the dog, when he
cures himself with grass, without practising the now
ordinary ingratitude and inhumanity of kicking the dog
that is their teacher.
They will sympathizingly learn
from the North American Indian, and the poor Hindoo,
c
�34
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
the traditional healing virtues they have known since the
earliest ages; and their own old pharmacopeias will be
enriched, not then without acknowledgment, with the
sweet beginnings of simplicity, of nature, and of health.
Nay, the certainty is, that the existing colleges, owing
to the decrepitude of the public mind, always induced
by being protected, will be too enduring.
2. In the new time coming, when Parliament will no
longer prescribe a medical profession, and force the
British people to take the dose, the public will be more
apt than they are now to send for regular and collegesanctioned practitioners; provided the colleges give them
selves no airs, but compete fairly in the medical race.
For the colleges have the start and can enter the
course with many chances of success; provided, again, they
can take to their hearts the new fact of freedom, and love it
as they ought.
At all events we may say it will be their own fault if
they are not the chief ministers at the public bedside.
This, however, will again depend upon the progress of
the art of healing; and institutionally upon other colleges
quite diverse from themselves coming upon the scene, to
enrich medicine, enflame competition and emulation, and
extend the boundaries of that large kind feeling which alone
can melt away professional jealously, and which is the only
climate in which all that is liberal and humane can live.
But would I commit the lives of the community to the
possible intervention of uneducated men ? That, I answer,
is the very thing which has taken place at present, and
which I would invoke freedom to help me to avoid. The
education of the schools cannot fit men for curing the
diseases of their fellows; it is only one way of launching
them towards professional, but not necessarily, healing
life. A man of no Latin, no anatomy, no physiology, is
every now and then a good physician, though he sits on the
lowest forms of society. He is educated for that use,
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
85
though he cannot write his own name. By freedom, bring
him into rapport with the light of learning, if you can; but
at all events kill not the Divine power which is in him of
doing good, because he is not educated up to your bench.
Perhaps you are confounding education, which is the
accepted art of making gentlemen, with that grander
education, or leading forth, which every man can have,
and which consists in giving him freedom and a career,
that his orginal gifts may be led forth by their own way and
his own way, into each one’s promised land of a useful and
associated life. To confound these two educations were a
mistake; for the great physician, look you, may come in a
beggar’s guise. There are no uneducated men save the
men that cannot do their life-work. Their success in that
gives them their diploma of knowledge every day. And
no college can take it away from them. And none ought
to have the power of obscuring it, by insisting that it shall
be pasted over with an artificial document of State paper.
Want of skill and want of care in medical practice
amount to so much unjustified death per annum; but
who supposes that state protection of physic can in
crease the amount of skill in the medical community ? The
State, it is true, can exact from everyone, that he or
she shall pass through a curriculum of preparatory studies
and hospital attendance, to fit him to enter upon practice.
But of the studies, many may be useless, except as
accomplishments. From the studies, many useful ones
may be left out, owing to the bigotry of the elders. The
diploma may be sought as the shield of protection to the
doctor rather than as the shield of health to the patient.
Numerous men naturally qualified for medicine, born
doctors, may be, and are, shut out from their life-work,
by the expense which confines the practice of physic to
the abler classes. All the State licentiates leaning upon
their diplomas, are apt from the very security of their
position to be mastered by a conceit in which natural
�36
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
skill must languish. To be built up against freedom, to
be privileged, is to be built up against nature ; and gifts
of God, which in this case are given first in the heart,
will be small where the receivers of them deny the exer
cise of them to their fellows. To be inhumane to your
brother man, to be chartered against him, is a bad pre
paration for ministering to the sick, or the departing.
The root and basis of medicine is the love of healing in
the universal heart and mind; the stem of it is the in
stinctive perception and light which is born to penetrate
into health and disease; the branches, and the twigs and
the leaves of it are the specialities of perceptions from the
nature and the spirit of mankind; which become special
in the course of experience; the love of healing reigning
and animating in every one of them. Mere experience in
its widest range is the soil the tree grows in, and the
climate in which it lives. You may garden, you may deepen,
you may purify and enrich this experience as you like; but
the tree grows through all the world, and sciences, and
societies, and states have nothing to do but first not to
define it, not to hinder it; and second, to help it if they
can.
If it wants pruning, the force of public opinion
and public criticism, and the pressure of public safety,
are the only instruments that can lop its sacred life; and
all these will play an immeasurably greater part when
State patronage has passed away.
And now suppose you had broken your leg, and it was
badly managed by a regular doctor, a surgeon by Act of
Parliament; and that I had broken my leg, and it was
badly set by an unlicensed bonesetter; would not your
bad man, in an action at law, be far more likely to escape
from you scot free than my bad man? You know he
would; because he would be in the fortress of legality in
the first place; and because he belongs to a powerful
clique which will gather round his incapacity, and stand
up and speak for him; and unless it be a very gross case,
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
37
say they could have done no better, and that his ante
cedents are perfect. The pressure of public safety towards
each individual is therefore greatly diminished by official
izing a medical profession; thus causing them all,
army-wise, to support each other, and giving them official
irresponsibility toward the suffering and the sick. And
if you could take away bonesetters and quacks altogether,
the medical profession would be utterly uncriticised and
unamenable. We may sum up this branch of the subject
with the axiom, that the more medicine is under the
protection of the State, the less can its practice be subject
to public opinion, or be under the correction of the law.
An impression has been sedulously culivated, that
anatomy and physiology, pathology, and various other
branches of science, are the healing virtue in the world,
and that they, and written Practice of Medicine, con
stitute positive faculties in man; whereas they are mere
books, or at the best outlying experiences. Not one of
them has any direct relation, any ride of thumb, to a single
case that will hereafter occur. In every instance they
require to pass through a living medical perception to
be of any use. That perception and all that belongs
to it, is, as I have said before, a spiritual thing, and
must only be fed, but not substituted or overlaid, by
knowledge. It is an appetite for doing good and
working cures, and experience and knowledge must
feed it; and this must take place upon true social con
ditions ; that is to say, all the men who belong natu
rally to the calling, must be encouraged by the absence of
State interference, to take their places at the Board of
Healing.
For, mark you, all science and experience depend for
their cultivation upon numbers of the right men: so many
earnest men to the square mile of medical truth, and
you will have greater crops of knowledge than if only
half the number were employed. And if you take away
�38
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
protection from this medical corn of humanity, you will
have more colleges to grow it; waste lands of many
minds, never cultivated before, sown with it; more
sciences, more extensive anatomy, physiology, pathology,
pharmacy, rising up from the new interest and curiosity
of the enfranchised medical masses; a greater closeness
of these sciences to the matter in hand; and a quantity of
non-medical minds, who have been forced by mere birth,
parentage, and genteel education, against their grain, into
the cultivation of healing, will be unable to stand the
natural rivalry of born doctors of all classes, and will
betake themselves to other callings. In the meantime,
there will not be more medical men, unless society re
quires them, but there will be a constant tendency ever
increasing, that there shall be none but truly medical men
associated with the medical wants of the people.
This flush and influx of spirit and nature into the call
ing, will greatly—nay, incalculably—alter the spirituality
and naturalness of the art and its ancillary sciences. Much
will then be able to be done by genius and instinct, which
is now only vainly attempted by the cruel senility of an
effete profession. For the matter stands thus:—Nature
and its sciences must be cultivated, according to the
present exigency and mission of the human mind ; for these
are the natural and scientific ages. Medicine must be
extended, falsely or benignly, from the pressure of the sick
upon the sound. The world of work revolving with giddy
velocity, brain and heart, and man and woman, call aloud
for central power to enable us to stand upright in the
rapid revolutions. If the medical faculty — I mean the
cohort of healers out of all men—is only one-tenth nature’s
strength, and nine-tenths noodledom from one class only,
the one-tenth must cast about savagely, and most arti
ficially, for the missing nine-tenths of their natural mind
and their natural array. Failing to combat disease on
such unequal terms, they must endeavour to generate
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
39
power, which is another name for inspiration, instinct, and
genius, out of mere sciences ; and these very sciences per
petually disappointing them they must necessarily cudgel
until there is nothing left but analysis and detail. Woe
then to the bedside when knowledge itself is dust and
ashes; and woe to nature and her feelings when the rack
and the thumbscrew are applied as the only known means
of eliciting her loving, and on any terms but love’s, impe
netrable secrets.
All this has gone on in our time and for ages past, but
now to clear understanding. If the medical calling had
been true to nature, and to human nature, in which free
dom and the order that springs from freedom are abiding
facts, the monstrosity of vivisection, of cutting up live
animals, never could have been thought to be a means to
the healing art. The great gorilla of cruelty could never
have been regarded as an ally of the Great Physician.
Perception, instinct, genius, the inspiration of Christianity,
which by making men love each other is the heart and soul
of all human arts, would have had it given to them to heal
diseases without the need of any suggestion from a torture
in which the demons must rejoice. It would have been
seen at once that to lay one knife edge upon a living
creature was to cut the supreme nerve that carries the
emotion of humanity right out from religion into the
medical mind. It would have been known instinctively
that the power of healing, coming as it should do from
Christ direct, is from that moment paralytic; that the
steady will can no longer lift it, and that the good it still
does is in momentary spasms from the lower emotions of
the man. How different from the river of power, pro
ceeding down the Divine steeps, terrace by terrace, to
humanity at large, through faculties which are essentially
humane.
And this horrible vivisection is a type of the other
distorting arts and sciences which the false cramping of
�40
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
medicine into a State-built profession is one active means
of producing.
Chemic, static, and material reasoning
have as little to do with restoration of health as physiology
founded upon the cutting up of living animals. Observe,
I do not deny that vivisection may, as other analytic
methods have done, contribute hints, in the ages while
man is still cruel to man, to practical medicine; but I
deny our right, even with chloroform to stupify animals,
to gain knowledge in this way. There are robberies and
murders in nature, and science has no more right to live
upon their spoils, than citizens have right to retire into
comfortable drawing-rooms for life upon the proceeds of
daggers and dark lanes. There are better riches for man
and science than these, and immeasurably better ways of
acquiring them. Time was when the cutting up of living
criminals did contribute to the progress of physiological
knowledge. There is no doubt of that; but even Dr.
Brown-Sequard would scarcely advocate the practice as
legitimate at the present day. And now the feelings of
every one of his cats and his crows is worth more than all
the science which their maltreatment has ever brought
into his store.
Before quitting this branch of the subject, let us notice
that the State also lends a heavy pressure to discourage
the introduction of women as medical practitioners. This
it does by chartering irresponsible public bodies, such as
the colleges of physicians and surgeons, who deny the
right of examination to women, however gifted or accom
plished they may be; and these brave women, few at
present in numbers, and with no public support, are
obliged to submit without appeal to this corporate des
potism which has grasped the keys of the door of medical
practice. Surely here, as in all other human things, the
law is freedom and experiment. If woman aspires to try
her hand in healing the sick, what is the justification of
that power which would deny her the trial? You think
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
41
she had better mind her own business, and attend to her
house and its concerns; but why then do you not mind
yours, and leave her to herself? If she has not tried the
medical life, how is it possible to know what will come of
her trial? You cannot penetrate a chemical, or a fact in
anything, by thinking; you must have experiment, which
has made all the difference between the dark ages of
knowledge and the light ages. Especially in human capa
cities you must have experiment: and without freedom,
which State patronage inevitably destroys; you cannot have
experiment. True, woman may be altogether unfit for
this work, but let her try, which is the one only way to prove
her unfitness. Do not with your State sword of ungal
lantry cut her down in her first exercises, because you
think she ought not to succeed. I do not know whether
she will succeed or not, and that is clearly no affair of
mine; but J do know that if I deny her the right to her
experiment, besides being guilty of the most cowardly
meanness and unmanliness, I am denying in the highest
instance the divinely ordained and only successful principle
of all the arts and sciences — I am crushing the very
masterpiece of experiment.
In short, medical social science reposes on the ground
of medical social experiment, just as natural science reposes
upon the ground of natural experiment.
Instead then of cutting up living animals, favour by free
dom the putting together of living humanities; favour
in this way at once the highest synthesis and the highest
experiment; and be assured that if no other good comes
from it, disburdened and leisure-gifted human nature will
become the vehicle of a spirit and a fire, of a generosity
and an insight, of a thankfulness and a penetration, of a
love and of a life, before which Isis will let drop her veil,
and the artificial difficulties which have barred and frozen
out the long lost way to the positive ages will be melted
�43
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
from before our advancing feet by the smiles of nature
herself.
Bnt besides excluding without trial one half of the
human race, and perhaps the better half, from the inspired
pursuit of healing, State interference also confines the cul
tivation and practice of medicine virtually to the middle
classes. That is to say, it ordains that the genius of the
physician is only to be found in one rank of society. It
erects a property-qualification for exercising the gifts of
God in the chief of the inspirational arts supported by the
chief of the sciences. Apply this all round, and how
absurd it grins upon us. Imagine that Parliament should
insist that no painter, sculptor, poet, or musician should be
born in the upper or the lower ranks ! What a belief
in caste, and Chinese artificiality would this imply; and
what an atheistic denial of gifts, of genius, and of the
mission of Nature’s noblemen, wherever they may be.
And yet Parliament, without intending it, virtually does
all this for the medical estate, by interfering to give privi
lege to colleges of the middle class, which thenceforth
inevitably proceed by financial arrangements, and enforced
studies, to make a man first a gentleman in accomplish
ments, and afterwards to let him be a medical man if his
gifts lie that way; and to dub him so in any case. This,
too, is against social experiment, and affronts nature in her
scientific regard. It is the great source of quacks among
the poorer classes ; the said quacks being evidently persons
with some gift for medicine, but with no means of an
education.
Emancipate medicine from State-trammels,
and poor men’s medical colleges would arise, and compete
not ignobly with the other colleges. The poor could then
be attended by educated people of their own sort, at small
expense, and the masses generally would be raised by
having their own unscorned natural professions, and a new
class of bluff honest common senses and artisan ways of
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
43
natural life and thought would be added to these noble
arts. The medical instinct and inspiration of humanity
shall stand upon their feet in the masses.
Nor, then, would medical nature be cashiered, as she
now is, of the splendid culture and chivalric honour and
insight of the upper men and women.
What Lord
Napier was to logarithms; what Lord Rosse is to astrono
mical experiments; what the Duke of Sutherland is to
rescue from fire ; what Wellington was to war; and Prince
Albert to the republicanism of the arts and sciences,
that might other lords and ladies be to practical medicine,
and the inventions which it so much needs. But make
it essentially a middle class affair, and the lower classes
cannot bring their gifts into it, and the upper classes
will not. Yet it is against all reason to suppose that
the noblemen and gentlemen of Great Britain do not
include a per-centage of medically gifted men ; and also
that the same is not true of the people. The fact that
as a rule they yield no recruits to the divine mission of
curing disease, is of itself sufficient to show that some
devouring artificiality is preying upon them; and that a
huge injustice is done to gifts for which we are heavily
responsible before God, and to our fellow men.
The
protection of medicine by the State is that artificiality
and that injustice. Remove it, and with it you begin
to remove the baneful belief—now all but universal—
that medical men can be created by culture; that real
culture can come from without, and that the nature and
gifts of the men are of second-rate importance.
Nay,
in the very act of removing it you reverse that creed,
and make the gifts primary, and set the culture in the
second place.
Will you have less culture for that?
Oh! no, infinitely more! The gifts will become then so
sacred, and the responsibility of them so exacting, that
the sharp and genial powers will raise colleges before
which the existing ones could pass no examination, but
�44
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
great and corporate though they be, would inevitably be
plucked. Where there is a will there is a way. And
the great way is natural knowledge; but the will in
its purest manifestation is only another name for the
determination of our gifts.
And now, to turn the tables, having shown the
blighting and vitiating influence of State patronage upon
medicine, there is another branch of despotism quite
of an internal kind, which deserves to be recorded and
protested against. There is the attempt to subject me
dicine, not to State law, but to scientific law; the aim,
as the phrase goes, to make it into a positive science.
The truth is, as I have stated before, that medicine
is not a science at all, although nourished and fed per
haps out of all sciences; Medicine is an Art, and an
art reposes upon a gift of God, and according to the
intensity of that gift it is called genius, and according to
its native and willing openness to the powers above it
becomes inspiration. And that art summons and em
ploys all the faculties for its furtherance; among them, all
the scientific faculties, and seeks instruction and advance
ment from them all. But because it is an unquestioning
rush of instinctive life from the man into his world and
his calling, it cannot be dominated by any rule or
principle whatever less than the love of medical good,
and subordinate^ and as a means the love of medical
truth. No doctrine or rule must ever be allowed to
invade that centre, any more than the geography of the
earth must be palmed upon the sun. If you attempt
to work it by rule, some one ambitious principle will
extinguish all the much needed others, and you will have
war first, and then inconceivable narrowness in your mind.
You will fall into sects, and at the entrance to each Mrs.
Grundy will stand doorkeeper in your soul. You will
not venture to prescribe what you know would do good,
because it is not of your self-chosen rubric; and because
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
45
your fellows will call you to account for a breach of your
bond. You will cease to look all round for means, and
will wear the blinkers of so-called principle where the
precipices of your own and your neighbour’s danger de
mand the foot of the chamois, and the eye of the eagle.
Heaven help you, you will be accoutred for blindman’s
buff when you ought to be king of the terrible Alps.
And all for what ? that you may pretend to an exactness
which nature disowns; and may enthrone the tiny frame
of material science upon the colossal ruins not only of art,
but of faith.
It cannot be done; there are no positive sciences but
those of man’s own making—the houses which he has
built, and in which therefore he can be supreme—the
rest are all fluctuating, and so full of mystery before
and behind, so meant also for usefulness and not for ab
soluteness, that careful and humble science may indeed be
a positive ship, made in excellent human docks, but
the great, and desiderated, and unattainable knowledge
is the sea itself, and God is in that sea. The bark rocks
and floats, and the further it voyages, and the more it
moves, the less likely is it to founder in the inscrutable
deep. Let it not want to become more positive than
speeding flight can make it; let it not attempt to drop
the anchor of conceit in the unfathomable places. Let it
not dare to say of any spot in the Divine ocean—This
is mine, and here I will abide !
These matters may sound abstract, but they are of
immense practical significance, and play an important
part, for good or for ill, at the bedside. For if you find
a practitioner who has a doctrine which he considers ab
solute, and who derives his art from that doctrine, two
bad consequences will follow. In the first place, he will
set an overweening value upon the science, pure and simple,
of the case he is treating : the exacting doctrine in him
will have an unnatural appetite to be fed out of that
�46
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
science; and the regard of the cure as an end will be
perpetually confused by the regard of the science as an
end.
I have felt this so strongly myself in practice,
that I have been obliged to put it down: and to tear up
in my mind all magisterial doctrines and principles, and to
rewrite them on neutral and subservient parts of myself
in a humble and ministerial capacity. By this means,
however, I hope I am attaining to a wider as well as
exacter science in the end: a science which radiates from
the conscious intellect of cures. But in the second place
the doctrinaire practitioner will be bound, or greatly
biassed,—by his own mind; by the surveillance of his
doctrinaire patients, whom he has helped to make into
pedants; and by the medical clique to which he belongs—
not to do anything which outlies the doctrine which is
his creator. Suggestions apart from that doctrine will
tend to reduce him to a chaos. What treble fear all this
implies ! What a slender exploration of the means of
nature ! What a regard to a centre of the fancy, when
sad and bleeding facts lie calling for pity, and ought to
avail to take one quite out of oneself, and to make one
gather succour from all things. Instead of this, the first
care is to practice within the doctrine, and to use no
weapon but what the armoury of the doctrine contains.
It is true you may have the highest confidence in the
doctrine, and may believe it is a universal rule, but the
universality is only a belief, and not an established fact;
and no number of human lives can make it more than
a belief; that is to say, a probable, and in the ratio of its
probability, a growing and a useful science. Neverthe
less, you have no right to limit your powers of doing
medical good to such a belief or such a science. Observe,
it is not the science but its mastership that I impugn.
And I do impugn it, because it limits you with no com
pensation ; and because in a vast number of serious cases
it does not succeed; and because where it does succeed,
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
47
you have ever a duty to demand a greater success, in
greater rapidity and perfectness of cure. But here again,
your masterful doctrine tells you that when you have
served it faithfully you have done enough.
It will easily be seen that all this applies with force to
Homoeopathy, a doctrine to which I owe so much; in
which, so far as it goes, I thoroughly believe; and which,
whenever the supreme end of cure and my means of know
ledge allow, I unreservedly practice. I regard Homoeo
pathy as the grandest natural and material feeder which
has yet been laid down by the genius of a man from the
nature of things into the spiritual body of the healing
arts. Yet Homoeopathy is but a doctrine, a science, and
a rule, and I will not derive medicine from a science,
or confound it with a science; on the contrary, the science
of Homoeopathy itself is a beautiful child and derivation
of an advancing medical art. Let it occupy a central,
a solar place in the science of therapeutics by drugs.
There it can subsist. But no man can do good by ig
noring any of the wide realms which lie around it and
beneath it, and which are the domain of the collective
medical mind.
I have been allowed to discover that certain formidable
diseases, small-pox to wit, can be treated tuto, cito et
jucunde, with a safetv, rapidity, and absence of suffering
hitherto unknown, by simple external applications. In
the first place, I had a powerful desire to cure my patients
well, and a dissatisfaction with the present standard of
well, in all schools. This desire in its measure is the
natural heart of healing. Then, in the next process, I
knew that Hydrastis soothes irritated mucous surfaces,
and sometimes skin surfaces, and I thought I would try it
on the face of small-pox. The only science here involved
was an acquaintance with the drug, and a little reasoning
by analogy. I tried it, and it succeeded marvellously.
And since then I have the art of applying it correctly,
�48
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
increased by the experience or knowledge of several cases.
And I have faith and confidence in its being a future
blessing to the public; a saving of innumerable healths,
and faces, and lives.
But where is the positive science in all this ? A little
good knowledge suffices for a great deal of good practice.
It strikes me that I have been as little scientific as a
skilled blacksmith who makes a horse-shoe in a given
number of strokes. Of course he knows what he is about
with great accuracy; but that is all you can say of his
knowledge. The rest is educated instinct, and excellent
smiting. He may read about iron and heat, and the
biceps and triceps muscles of his arm, in over hours ; and
he will better his mind by it, and not hurt his strong
sinews ; but the science of his art must not intrude itself
book-wise into his forge, unless as fuel, or he will soon be
a bad professor and spoil horse’s hoofs.
Take the obverse, and suppose that I had enthroned
the Homceopathic principle above my mind, and that I
had to grapple with dreadful small pox. The exigency
then becomes, to cure with a medicine which will produce
symptoms as nearly similar as possible to those of the
disease. I know no drug which will do this except tartar
emetic in one case which I have seen. I should therefore
have had to cast about through the whole of Pharmacy
for the drug in question; to reason by analogy from small
symptoms to great ones, and perhaps I should have reasoned
wrong; and after all I might never have found what I
wanted. And when I had found it, I should have lacked
precedent for applying it externally. In the meantime,
what patients unrelieved and unsaved might be waiting
at the doors of my positive science before I could throw
them open and invite the sufferers into relief and into
health ! Perforce, I must have hardened and narrowed
and thus satisfied my heart, to let such sad waiting go on.
And at the best where would be the gain to science ?
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
49
Science is but the register of success ; and 1 should have
had no science of shortening the disease, no science of
curing the disease, no science of anything, but the worst
sort of expectancy; the science of contentment with bad
things, and the science of waiting for science. In the end,
not Homoeopathy, but the small-pox would be my king.
To obviate this I stood upright, as I have been grad
ually for some years now endeavouring to do, and regarded
Homoeopathy, and all other means and pathies whatever,
as my appointed servants, and myself as the servant of
healing. And now I had no jealousies among the servants,
because I gave no privileges to any; and I could pick
and choose from all means, regardless of the overweening
ness of science, of the sectarianism of patients, and of the
despotism of medical cliques. In short, I essayed to be
free in my art; to wait upon Heaven, and to use all
ministers and faculties in their degree of service. Feeling
the blessed power of this position, in contradistinction to
the cramp and weakness of my old one, I am in duty
bound, even against the charge of egotism, to impart it to
my fellow men.
What then, it may be asked, becomes of Homoeopathy ?
I answer that it takes its place exactly according to its
proved services, and stands upon the irremoveable foun
dation of its cures. It will be all that it ever was, the
most suggestive thing in the round of Pharmaceutical
science. Its dogmatism and its hugeness of minutise will
be cashiered, and Homoeopathy will be the stronger for
losing them. It will be girded afresh for a magnificent
servitude to the ends of healing. Its martyrs will still
prove medicines on their own bodies, but with an almost
exclusive attention to cardinal results. Its registers of
symptoms, curtailed by good sense, will be mastered by
those who court intimacy with drugs, and studied con
tinually afresh where the art of the physician requires it.
The only difference will be, that Homoeopathy will become
�50
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
enormously progressive, because it will have no authority
and no privilege, and will be obliged to subsist upon cures.
Reduced, so far as authority goes, to equality with other
medical sciences, it will become primarily ambitious of
suggesting remedies, and cease from provings which leave
out the human memory, and constitute a new matter and
faculty of absolute dust. But it will no more quarrel with
other means than the mariner’s compass quarrels with
the sextant, or the sails with the steam-engine of the ship.
Above all, mere instrument that it is, and mere instrument
that all science is, it will never go mad again, and believe
that it is the captain of the medical crew; for that captain
is the Great Physician Himself, and all His sons and
daughters in the plenary freedom of His art.
�As a record and a protest I here reprint a Letter on
Vivisection, which appeared in the Morning Star of the
20th of August, 1863. See p. 40.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE “STAR.”
Sir,— From my heart, and also from my head, I thank
you for your leading article on Vivisection in to-days
paper.
I hope and trust that through the subject of
vivisection now publicly opened, and the controversy
going on, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals will become affluent enough to have special
correspondents and reporters wherever vivisection is prac
tised under medical sanction. If the horror is to be, let
us know it, and let us judge of it.
If science is to be
born from the throes of animal life, let us also be duly
horrified and agonised, and suffer with the sufferers.
I have long been of Sir Charles Bell’s opinion that
vivisection is a delusion as a means of scientific progress.
Of course its results, like any other set of facts, constitute
a science in themselves ; so do the results of murder,
and so do the results of picking pockets; an exact science,
if you like; and the earlier parts of the science will of
course be subject to correction by the later; and thus
vivisection may show, and has shown, truths and errors in
the special walk of vivisection. The science of animal
agonies, like all sciences, can be corrected, eliminated, and
completed by experiments of fresh and ever-fresh agonies.
But it has been a mistake to suppose that we were in the
path of the humane sciences — in natural physiology,
natural symtomatology, or within millions of leagues of
medicine, when with rack and thumbscrew and all torture
we were the inquisitors of the secrets of animal life.
Under such circumstances nature is inevitably a liar, and
an accomplice of the Father of Lies. I know that her,
�52
VIVISECTION.
and his, very lies are a science ; but then they are not the
science we take them for, nor the science we want. They
are not mind-expanding, heart-softening, or health-con
ferring science.
Vivisectional anatomy has contributed to medicine—
meaning by medicine the healing of diseases—virtually
nothing, but false paths and wrong roads.
Morbid
anatomy has contributed marvellously little. Anatomy
has done far less than is supposed, though it keeps the
eyes of the physician’s imagination open, and enables him
to tally conditions and symptoms somewhat with parts and
organic structures. If the internal parts of the human
frame were a closed page to-morrow, so to remain for the
next half-century, and if the symptoms and results of
disease, and what will mitigate and cure them, were the
only permissible field of experiment, the art of healing
would lose nothing by ceasing to hold intercourse with the
sciences of structure and function—at all events, for a
time.
For example, I assert that the whole science of tubercle
is trivial and valueless in its results upon the curing of
consumption ; and equally inefficient in showing the cause
of consumption ; and that cod liver oil and general régime,
which have no logical or real connection with the morbid
anatomy of consumption, are the present important me
dical agencies for the treatment of that condition. And I
assert that the whole science of the vivisectional and
morbid anatomy of diabetes ; the artificial production of
it by lesions of the nervous system ; the conditions of it in
the liver, the lungs, and the kidneys, have nothing to do
with its cure, and throw no light upon its cause ; and that
the fact that in some instances it can be cured by the
Hydrastis Canadensis, the Leptandria, and Myrica cerifera,
has never yet been pointed to by any scalpel ; and is
likely to be resisted by the men of the scalpel longer than
by many others. What has the grand experience that a
�VIVISECTION.
53
certain herb or drug will cure a disease, to do with a
knowledge of the particular wreck that that disease
has left in the organisation after death?
Pathological
anatomy, except in surgical cases, never suggests cure.
Now then, sir, let us take stock in this great assize of
humanity and the healing art versus the cutting up of
live animals. Let us have tabulated statements of the
discoveries and results, and of the gain to man, which have
accrued from the introduction of vivisection. The great
facts, the benign arts that have been drawn out of the
intestine agonies of animals, can be easily stated in lines,
and columns of lines, if they exist. Let us have them.
We have had vivisection enough. Whole menageries have
been kept here and in Paris, and all over Europe, to have
their brains sliced and their bodies mangled. It has gone
on for hours a day, and year after year. What is the
stock in hand of results to humanity, to healing, or even
to permissible science?
For, good doctors, there are
sciences, and you will find it out, that are not permissible.
It would not be permissible to suspend a man or a woman
by a hook, to know ever so exactly how they would
writhe; no, not even if you were a painter.
And
therefore, I use the word, “ permissible ” science.
And I
say, that if you cannot show some mighty results, far
greater than the discovery of cod liver oil, and of the
circulation of the blood, your persistent vivisection leads
only to abominable sciences, and to the blackest of all the
black arts, the art of turning the human heart into
stone; after which the gutta serena of cruelty will soon
obliterate the poor eyesight of medicine.
Your constant reader,
J. J. Garth Wilkinson.
Brettell, Printer, 336a, Oxford street.
��
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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A free state and free medicine
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Wilkinson, James John Garth
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Place of publication: London; Glasgow
Collation: 53 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: Inscription on front page: 'M.D. Conway Esq. from the Author'. James John Garth Wilkinson was a homeopathic physician, social reformer, translator and editor of Swedenborg's works. Includes a letter on vivisection by the author to the editor of the Morning Star 20th August, 1863. Includes bibliographical references. "The pages headed Medical Freedom, appended to this Essay, formed a postscript to a small work of mine on a new Treatment of Small Pox, written some years ago [1864]" [Page [3]. Printed by Brettell, London. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
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F. Pitman
John Thomson
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1870
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G5385
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Health
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English
Conway Tracts
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Health Services
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Smallpox
Social Medicine
Vaccination
Vivisection
-
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e79b754c401ffb1ab1f8e765c337b563
PDF Text
Text
ON THE CURE, ARREST, AND ISOLATION
OF
SMALL
POX.
�“Above all Theory in the Art of Warfare, one practical
fact reigns triumphant—‘Defeat the enemy ’—a truth that
will always triumph over all theories.”—Garibaldi.
�TO THOMAS L. HARRIS,
Now OE Wassaic,
THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE IN ALL AFFECTION
INSCRIBED,
IN THE HOPE THAT HE MAY FIND THEM WORTHY
OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE,
AND AS A TRIBUTE AND A TESTIMONY
OF
A FREE
BROTHERHOOD
IN HEART AND SPIRIT.
�CONTENTS
Preface..................................................................................... .......
I. Small Pox...................................................................... 1
II. Erysipelas..................................................................... 14
III. Inflammation of the Spine, with Rheumatism . 20
IV. Inflammation of the Womb following Pregnancy 21
V. Chronic Inflammation of the Right Ovary .
. 22
VI. Earache with Impending Meningitis
.
.
.25
VII. Inflammation of the Parotid G-land .
.
.28
VIII. Acute Tonsillitis............................................................ 28
IX. Hcemorrhoids following Confinement
.
. 29
X. Inflammation about the Cjecum .
.
.
.31
XI. Enlarged and Irritable Breasts .
.
.
.33
XII. Chronic Abscesses ....... 34
XIII. Bunions.............................................................................. 34
XIV. Case of Threatened Mesenteric Disease Ar
rested ..................................................................... 35
XV. Cases of External Injury.......................................... 40
XVI. Ditto............................................................................. 41
XVII. Shingles Treated by Cantharides Lotions .
. 42
XVIII. Cellulitis..................................................................... 43
XIX. General and Local Cellulitis
.
.
.
.50
XX. Eruptive Fever........................................................... 62
Medical Freedom..........................................................67
Appendix.............................................................................. 87
�PREFACE.
Talking one day with a friend I made the remark, that I
never ceased to wonder that the enormous cost involved
in the railways, is justified by the public convenience,
and requited by the public money; and that I could
not but draw from this an inference that every good
thing, however onerous, is worth while doing. “ Ah!” he
said, “that reminds me of a woodcut in one of Bewick’s
books, in which a husbandman is ploughing the field,
and underneath him is written—‘ Justissima Tellus.1 ”
For nature is so munificently constructed as to yield back
in crops whatever seed of good we put into her; to repay
with living inheritances of power whatever trouble we
bestow upon her; to bank for us with compound in
terest of her own intentions; to enhance all faculty and
all freedom; to be diligent to the diligent, niggard to
the niggard, loyal to the loyal; to be in the long-run
supreme poetical justice; and in short to grow forth our
natural wants and wishes, world-sized, into entire ac
complishments.
Medical nature is a part of this mighty motherhood,—
this predestined conception of our human wants; this
bearing of them in the womb of time, and bringing them
forth in forms which partake of the creative current
which flows through both the parents, that is, through
man and the world, from the throne of The Supreme.
But only according to the seed of want, and according
to the husbandry, is the yield which Justissima TeUus,
�viii
PREFACE.
our most account-keeping, stock-taking, and income-ap
portioning ground, bestows upon us.
If we ask little
and insist little, nature, which loves our littleness because
it is our freedom, is charged to maintain us uninfringed,
by giving us little.
And now to come lower down,
medicine has asked but little of nature; and has only
got what she asked.
I have written the following pages to embolden us to
ask for more; because more can be had, on just, if not
on easy terms.
The treatment of diseases has too much ended itself
in the prescription pure and simple; and the prescription
has too much confined itself to something to be put into
our primce vice,—our mouths. It is the most obvious
way, and the least trouble. But it has led to a waiting
upon disease, in place of grappling with it. Nay, as
Prescription is not always obeyed by Disease, it has led
to the Nightingale theory that disease is a reparative
process, and destruction, of course on the great scale,
very complete repair; and this led in earlier times to
treating disease, as a conqueror can hardly fail to be
treated, with royal honours; welcoming it with open
gates, strewing flowers of compliments before its path,
coaching it softly in express medical carriages, welcoming
it home in the palaces of health ; and making its bed,
for rest and for begetting, of the softest down of medi
cal acquiescence.
This was exemplified in the treatment of small-pox;
in which even so late a writer, and so really great a
physician as Elliotson, declares that there is very little
to be done, except upon general principles; the bed
where the monster is preying upon the man being care
fully watched, and only the monster’s rudenesses patted
into rhyme with physicianal propriety.
Thus our Elliotson says : “ There is nothing peculiar
*
* Principles and Practice of Medicine, 1839, pp. 412-3.
�IX
PREFACE.
in the treatment of this disease. It is only the treat
ment of an ordinary fever. . . . Any inflammation
that may occur . . . requires to be attended to.
You must constantly be on the look out for these affec
tions ; but the treatment is certainly to be conducted
altogether on general principles. You have only to
remember that you are treating, not merely an inflam
matory, but a specific disease.”
It would have seemed that though the inflammatory
complication wanted general principles, the specific
disorder required specific remedies. However, in thus
extracting from Dr. Elliotson, let it be known that I
impugn a system, and not that eminent man, to whose
skilful general treatment indeed, under Providence, I
owe my life; and the wedge of whose persistent courage
and powerful natural faculty has opened the medical
age to a part of the new and true good things which it
now possesses.
But the old treatment of small-pox was more defer
ential to the good disease than even the treatment on
“general principles.” The late Mr. Carpue narrated to
me a case which illustrates this. A small-pox patient
grievously held, was imnvmed with his disease in the
deepest oubliette of bed, and blanket, and coverlet; and
curtained all round and all over in his four-poster;
and every door shut, and every window draped; and
every cry for air and water deafly disregarded; and the
mantle of all his stenche® wrapped round and round
him until he was the mummy of his own decays; and
as might be expected, he died. Then the effluvia were
so horrible that overnight he was laid in a summer-house
at the bottom of the garden, and when they went with
disgusted caution and curiosity to him next morning, he
had, by virtue of fresh air and general principles, come
to life again; and he ultimately recovered.
This, perhaps, may have been one of the last cases in
A
�X
PREFACE.
which the royal entertainment of small-pox, and the
petting and pampering of it, were practiced; and in
which Justissima Tellus was regarded as the proper
terminus of the triumphal procession of the disease
through the streets of the man, with the colleges of
physicians and surgeons swelling its train.
Since then, air and cleanliness, and water and diet
have shorn the small-pox of the richness of its de
structions, and some general principles of treatment, in
contradistinction to pampering, have had fair play.
But still the same system has been maintained, though
more cleanly, more respectably, and most scientifically.
It has been maintained under the belief or general prin
ciple that small-pox has a certain course to run, and
must not be checked in its career. The aim, therefore,
has been, in the orthodox body, to limit its excesses, as
Dr. Elliotson proposes; and among the Homoeopaths,
to find specifics for its whole career. My aim is, to dis
allow its career, and knock it on the head as soon as
possible. For I am acquainted with the results of both
practices; and I dislike those results. In Homoeopathy
I have seen cases which have been most carefully, and
if you like beautifully treated, on the theoretical grounds
of the allowance of the entire disease; also in which
diet has been limited, also on theoretical, and I believe
false, grounds; and the patients have been permanently
weakened by the disease and the dietetic system: and I
know that hi those cases the treatment has been ineffi
cient, and the specific remedies not grappling with the
vast bulk of the disease, have been at the best but so much
internal hygeine.
And therefore I also know that the
efficiently specific treatment of small-pox is still a desi
deratum, and that success in arresting the disease is the
only specificity worth having.
I dare to hope that I have attained to a part of that
success. This has been by local remedies; the Veratrwm
�PREFACE.
xi
Viride as general local treatment; the Hydrastis Cana
densis as specific local treatment.
The same remedies
internally as specific internal treatment. This local
treatment, not only for this but for almost all other
diseases, is the new labour and trouble which I believe
will be repaid with new health by Justissimum Corpus,
which, in its faculty of grateful return for work done and
trouble taken, is the very blossom and glory of Justissima
Tellus. The fairy wishing-cap of infinitesimal dynamic
doses does indeed set the eyes wistfully towards the dis
tant plains of health; but it requires hard Roman work,
and railway generations and ages, of local digging and
delving, to carry, not the eyes but the material body
itself, where the wishes can go in a moment. The road
for this, like all other roads, must be born into the world
with pains.
- The success of local treatment at present to be regis
tered is:—
I. The disease has been abridged in duration.
II. The inflammation and primary fever accom
panying it are certainly and speedily
abolished.
III. The secondary fever is annulled.
IV. The itching of the pustules is annulled, and
the patient has no motive to pick the face.
V. The stench of the old disease has no place.
VI. The suffering is reduced to a minimum.
VII. Owing to the perfect antiphlogistic action,
nourishment and stimulants can be borne
almost from the first.
VIII. There is no pitting, and, a fortiori, iio seam
ing ; only, of course, the complexion is
altered for a time.
IX. Any private person, male or female, medical
or lay, with care and courage, can treat
the disease successfully, owing to the sim-
�PREFACE.
plicity of the means: an invaluable result
where professional services are not at
hand. And multitudes of patients, for the
. ' . . . same reason, can easily be treated at
once.
The probable hope and scope of local treatment
embraces other heads still.
I.
The arrest of the disease at the outset, by early
recognising and promptness of application.
II. The extinction of the infection, by the entire
mass of the disease, its pieces, dust, and
effluvia becoming coated with and neutra
lised by the Hydrastis ; which appears,
therefore, to isolate the malady from the
very attendants, and hermetically to seal it.
.
Ill- Immunity for the healthy from the disease,
by the prophylactic powers of the Hydrastis
taken internally, and by sponging baths, with
a teaspoonful of Hydrastis Tincture in them,
night and morning, for infected families and
attendants on the sick.
These means can be easily employed by whole neigh
bourhoods. At Guildford, a few days ago,-1 saw the
Surrey militia encamped in the fields, and was told that
this was on account of the small pox, which was raging
in the town. What a valuable thing it ■will be to possess
a remedy which guards new comers against the existing
infection, and which taken in the spring of the year, when
they say the small-pox has a tendency to come from its
lair m that locality, also preserves the population, and
thus ultimately extinguishes the beds of the disease.
These, results and these hopes ought to commend my
method for instant trial to Boards of Guardians in neigh
bourhoods such as Birmingham, where the whole town is
in alarm on account of - the small-pox; where infection
spreads by the very act of massing the sick in hospitals;
�xiii
and where the parochial rates will be greatly increased
by the public expenses of the disease.
So much at present for small-pox. Am I not justified
in saying that the trouble taken in the local application
of the specific which I have discovered, to the entire sur
face and mass of the disease, is repaid, as no less positive,
material, persistent remedies 'have ever before been '
repaid, by alleviation, abridgement, and cure? For this
method, mark you, of local application of drugs to the
very part which is ailing, or else to the very skin of the
organ and part, is more positive and material than any of
the orthodox conceptions of general treatment, and yet
perfectly harmless; and unlike the case of gross medicines
given by the mouth, expends the greater part of its force
not upon the system, but upon the locality, and, we may
say, the essence of the disease. It is also inevitably
specific in the lowest, and, therefore, the strongest sense :
e.g., in localization.
And with regard to inflammations generally, I know of
none to which the local treatment is inapplicable; and if
I am not too sanguine, in most, cases of congestive inflam
mation the Veratrum Viride is as easy a specific as Arnica
is in bruises, and will introduce a simplicity into ordinary
cases of internal inflammation, now requiring a medical
man, of which as yet we have no idea. Truly, as the
method costs more trouble than the administration of
Homceopathic tinctures, it need not be used indiscrimi
nately ; but wherever bronchitis or any chest inflammation,
peritonitis, or any abdominal inflammation, or any cerebral,
or spinal, or other inflammation, does not at once yield to
Aconite and Belladonna, and ■ to Veratrum Viride and
Podopliylline, then I should with-no delay apply Veratrum
Viride lotions and baths, and maintain them perseveringly
till entire relief is experienced. Nor need the method be
limited to Veratrum Viride, for AcemA, Gelseminum
Virens, and- in short any and every drug has a local part
�xiv
PREFACE.
to play, and should be put close to its work as occasion
requires. The point to be borne in mind is, that the skin
is the face of all the organs, and of all their diseases, and
that they can severally be reached by rapid specifics
through the skin.
The horizon of my cases thus treated is continually
extending, and I shall hope to present further reports of
these new specifics and their methods, from time to
time.
I must not dismiss this subject without confessing how
much I owe to Dr. Grover Coe’s admirable book on Con
centrated Organic Medicines, a book distinguished for me
dical insight, and therapeutical genius as well as know
ledge, and in which I have found everything I have here
laid down inculcated, excepting the specificity of Hyd
rastis to small-pox, and of local applications to all organs
labouring under perilous diseases. Dr. Coe, indeed,
constantly mentions local applications, as of Baptisia to
Phagedenic Erysipelas, &c., &c. ; but the systematic
application of medicated lotions to the whole body, and
its several parts, I have not found in’him, and I suppose
the practice on a large scale is peculiar to myself.
To
Dr. Pattison also I owe much of my knowledge of the
American drugs, and I think I am right in stating that
we are not far apart in our method of local administra
tion.
To Mr. Skelton, sen., of Great Russell Street, I
am also indebted for an unstinted share of his varied
therapeutical experience, though he has been treated so
shabbily by the doctors that I wonder he should have let
me inside his door.
And here a word may be excused on Mr. Skelton’s
recent history, as he has imparted it to me. Mr. Skelton
is a medical eclectic in the American sense of the term;
that is to say, he employs all the vegetable products and
principles, so far as he knows them, in the treatment of
disease; he is also a thorough English herbalist. He
�preface.
XV
repudiates mineral medicines.
He is perhaps the most
fearless apostle of medical freedom in this country, and
longs to extend the blessings of health-education, and the
best and safest practice, to the working men and women
of England. In this respect he is just the sort of man that
Garibaldi would like to know.
Some four or five years
ago he wished to become a member of the Royal College
of Surgeons of England as by law established, and for
this purpose he qualified himself by an attendance upon
the lectures and hospital practice which the College pre
scribes before a man is entitled to be examined for his
diploma. And then he sent in his papers, and proposed
himself for examination. And now, dear public of these
reputed free islands, will you believe it? he was in
formed that he would not be admitted to examination
unless he recanted his eclectic and herbalist faith, and
publicly admitted the superiority of the orthodox practice
to his own.
This he could not do; and not being able
conveniently to go to law with the Royal College, he
remains plain John Skelton, sen., as he was.
By this act the College declares that it is not only a
body for granting degrees of competency ascertained by
examination, but also a tribunal for inquisition into the
faith of those who would be its members, and a corpora
tion of executioners for forcing their faith into the mould
and thumbscrew of its own.
Was this contemplated in
its Acts of Parliament ?
It is a complication in Mr. Skelton’s case that he was
the first to introduce prominently into this country the
Hydrastis, Podophylline, Veratrum Viride, Macrotin,
Caulophylline, Myricin, and in general those American
drugs which the ablest members of the Royal College of
Surgeons of England are now beginning far in his wake
to try to learn to employ, and the use of which he was
asked to recant as the condition of his claim to college
membership.
Is not this matter a providential fulcrum for a move
�xvi
PREFACE.
ment in favour of medical freedom? The College lig
atures its own neck for fear it should swallow the bread
of unorthodoxy: just as some European governments
which have very little food in their parts, tie Custom
Houses round their people’s throats to prevent English
victuals from going down them. We can only hope that
the hunger in both cases will grow, and express itself,
until the straitness of this false rule is terrified into
relaxation.
For my part, as the reader will see, I am no believer
in medical professions, or indeed in professions at all as
successful ways of cultivating any branch of the truths
and goods, the arts or sciences, of nature, of man, or of
heaven. Liberty and the spirit, using all our faculties,
and among the rest the faculty of association, are the
forces which I know are coming from God to supplant
the present state of things. Incarnations, not institu
tions, are the substantial bodies which will constitute
the new world, and open the mighty gates of the divinely-,
human arts and sciences. Gifts not berths will be the
desire and the prayer of those who are permitted to
enter on this new time. And the uses of the world will
be carried on by great and various societies, full of order
and liberty, full of love and of light, full of spiritual and
reasonable endurance, and each man’s character in them
a full and conscious recipient of the gifts and graces of
his art.
When will these things be ? I do not know why they
should be long in coming; for in public power and
respect the professions as by law established, are
dwindling: free trade, and all science, and all voluntary
associations, are examples of what can exist without
them: change has long since begun, and change in our
days is instinct with speeds, as the father of a nation is
instinct with ■ progeny. Courage, therefore, to all who
are in the new way! Half a dozen earnest men, led on
�PREFACE.
xvii
by Garibaldi Skelton, may commence an agitation which
year shall awaken the whole public, produce oneness
of feeling through the several dukedoms of physic, witness
the flight of its despotisms, and annex even the kingdom
of the two colleges to the commonwealth of our art
regenerated.
But now, after all liberation of medicine has been
accomplished, or rather coincidently with every im
provement which will give fair play to the genius of
healing, there remains, in ever new and increasing pro
portions, the exigency of sanitary art and science. This
is to medicine what material and social conditions and
necessities are to morals, their institutions, and their
grounds. This is prevention, while medicine is only
cure. This is the circumambient spirit of health, or
disease, and their widest seed-field.
And if it be taken
to embrace the questions of food and starvation, and of
habits of life, it may fairly be regarded as the most im
portant branch of health-culture.
At present, however, I have but few words to say
about it: and those few chiefly of practical import, as
they have been suggested by my own experience.
Diseases, especially epidemic diseases, have two parents,
a father and a mother; that is to say, an essence or germ
residing in the earth or the air; and a corporeal nidus
or clothing, or obscene vapour or miasma arising from
uncleanness of some kind. Therefore the devil is the
father of diseases, and the dirt of neglect is the mother.
Take away the mother, and the father will still be there,
but unable to breed in that degree. He may breed sin,
inward vileness, perhaps also apoplexies and palsies,
death, vital starvation, all decay from the mental and
spiritual side, suffocation of nobleness and the sense of
God, but probably without his mate, which is filthi
ness, he cannot breed corporeal pestilence. And as we
are bound to be clean first, and to get rid of evil from
�xviii
PREFACE.
the outside, so sanitary science, sewage, drainage, space
of dwellings, and the like, are enjoined upon us by all
our medical commission.
Many people wonder how houses take small-pox,
scarlatina, and the like infectious and contagious com
plaints, seeing that there has been no traceable contact
with those who are suffering from the same. But even
if this be the case, which is difficult to prove, we have
only to reflect that the continuous atmosphere is one
wide repertory of all the miasmas of the world, as well
as of all its better things. These are evidently - most
active, as well as spatially most gigantic; thin, if you
please, to our senses ; but monsters interlocked, and
probably as big as our firmament; and they only await
a womb, a matrix of uncleanness, to engender their
kind in human bodies, and produce all parasitic fevers.
Moreover, it is obvious from constant history, that ever
and anon a new accession arrives from the deep, a new
destroying angel, and a cholera or a new plague is born.
We can chronicle several such advents in our time ; and
the spread of their progeny shows how unclean we
were; how we embraced with our corresponding circum
stances each monster-shape, and how speedily and how
greatly pestilence and death were born. For our posi
tion in the present day is a very undefended one. There
is almost no individuality left; and yet individuality on
the divine side is the one fortress of our bodies, of our
minds, and of our souls. The reason why we, and not
somebody else, have been created, is, that we may be
ourselves, and nobody else. But now everybody wishes
to be according to somebody else; that is, to be some
body else as far as he can. The consequence of which
is, that the human sphere is invaded, pierced and lost.
Kind reader, let us dwell a little on this, perhaps to
you, novel consideration. First, there is such a thing
as the human sphere; that is to say, all our faculties,
�PREFACE.
xix
and all we are, corporeal, mental, spiritual, streams forth.
Each part streams forth in its own order. First, the
Soul streams forth, and being the highest and subtlest
of all, the furthest in its aims, it penetrates through all
the rest, attains its ends of construction, in them rests
most actively, ever on the sense for what infringes ; and
is the outermost covering as well as the innermost essence
of the man. This mighty universe of sphere surround
ing each of us, breathes with our breath and lives with
our life; but also is torn by our violence, and suffers in
our decay. Next, if you choose so to consider it,
though only for illustration, the mind streams forth; 'with
less penetration because it is grosser; to a lesser dis
tance ; and its periphery, far less closely grained, is more
capable of invasion, of rupture, and of decay; even faint
forces of ideas can permanently injure this human
fortress, which so many think is the stronghold of their
being. So, in like maimer as the mind, every instinct
streams forth. So, in like manner, every organ streams
forth: and where each ends, it constitutes a tender
spheral surface which has come through its own spaces,
and is set for ever in the invisible firmament which
guards the man so far as it is intact. Lastly, the bones
and the bodily senses stream forth, and are insphered in
their own creative life; but being the grossest of all,
they cannot penetrate far, but lie folded upon themselves,
like eggs in which all the other world is reflected; and
a very little abused, they are tendencies to denials of the
spheres, because they have so little of their own to
affirm. These facts, which sound at first like wild
assertions, are implied in the very nature of faculties,
which can only be limited by their own ends, and those
ends must be out of themselves; which granted, then
it follows, that tlie soul comes through all the rest, and
has a psychical end in the world, in other words a created
shape there; and if so, a full communication between
�Xx
PREFACE.
that outward shape and itself; in other words, a SoulSphere. And so of the other faculties, q. e. D‘
Now what has all this to do with sanitary science?
For you, good reader, nothing if you please; or, if you
will proceed from spiritual grounds, much. For this
subject of human spheres, and their invisibility, lies
near the root of those causes which pertain to the taking
of disease. In short, we may say, that if the soul
sphere is violated or broken, the man will take spiritual
diseases, mad atheisms, universal lusts, and the like: if
the mind sphere is ruptured, insane mental ambitions
and philosophies will invade, be absorbed, and produce
mental degradation and decay; and if the organic sphere
be broken, bodily miasms will intrude into the nervous
and vital expanses, and epidemic and other maladies will
be taken. Now, these apparently-remote asseverations
have something to do with house architecture.
For it is a rule that nobody ought to be influenced,
except according to his internal essence, by anything or
by anybody. And this rule should be reflected in a
man’s house. The first requisite of a house is, to be
exempted from the world; to have a roof to shut out
the sky, walls to shut out the winds, a door to shut out
mankind; and a floor, with cellars underneath it, and
then a floor again, to shut out the earth, and the earth
sphere. In this way the house reflects the sphere, and
completes the individuality, of the owner.
Now, mark the latter point, about the floor .and the
cellar underneath it. I have noticed in my practice,
that persons inhabiting rooms built directly on the
ground, -with no intervention of underground chamber,
are far more likely to have epidemics and influenzas than
those who tenant rooms separated from the earth. The
power of the earth-effluences is mighty ; and if the
organism is not very strong, is sure to invade it; and
then through the hole of invasion the omnipresent
�PREFACE.
XXI
miasmas, one or more, drive home their impregnation.
Therefore, it is an indispensable rule that so great a cause
of ferment and change as living on the surface of the
active ground, should be avoided.
This holds even where the ground is clean; for the
cleanest earth-sphere getting into a human body is a
calamity and a fall. But where foulness is superadded,
of course the terrible miasms are invited, and commence
their fatherhood.
But sanitary art has much to do after contagious
disease has been already engendered, in claiming power
from the State to limit its excursions. In dealing with
this subject I can only address myself to one crying evil
which has come under my notice. I mean, the practice
of re-letting lodgings after persons affected with con
tagious disorders have occupied them, without any com
plete purification of the apartments having taken place.
If in bad drainage and want of cleanliness are the roots
of these diseases, we may fairly also say, that on infected
walls, and floors, and carpets, and chairs, and beds, are
the seeds which they sow and shed upon the healthy.
I have known a case in which a death from scarlatina
has taken place in a set of apartments; and these after
wards have been let again to an unsuspecting family
with children, who in a couple of weeks have become
the victims of this terrible trap; and the same poisonous
walls have again silently and cruelly communicated their
charge of miasm to another sufferer still, who has barely
escaped- with life from the illness which she took. These
events are of everyday occurrence, especially in the
principal health-resorts, where town children are taken
to enjoy the country, or the seaside.
The only remedy I can think of is a compulsory infor
mation conveyed to the health officer of each district
whenever any infectious or contagious disease occurs in
a house, and power granted to such officer or Health
�xxii
PREFACE.
Surveyor, to see that the out-going infected tenants pro
vide the means necessary for papering, whitewashing, and
sufficiently purifying the tenement they have occupied
during the illness. Also an open registry of such houses
should be kept hi the Health Surveyor’s Office, in order
that persons seeking lodgings may easily know where
they can be safe, and see the length of time that has
elapsed since any house was diseased.
This, I believe,
would have a good effect upon landlords, who, hi their
own interest, would no longer build upon the ground
without a well-ventilated cellar-foundation; and, in short,
would then find that the root of rent is health and clean
liness. At present the reverse is the case; for the more
degraded the population, and the greater the filth, the
larger the numbers of wretched lodgers, whose pittances
in their multitude represent considerable sums for some
hard man who lives in dry decency himself.
It is remarkable that the law is administered for pub
lic sanitary effect in cases of small-pox, while we never
hear of its intervention in the cases of other serious infec
tious diseases. Thus I read in the Birmingham Daily
Post, May, 23,1864, that “ a public caution has been in
serted in the papers informing the public that the expo
sure of a child infected with small-pox in any public
street or highway, is a misdemeanor indictable at common
law, and that the parties committing the offence are lia
ble to fine and imprisonment.” And in the same paper
it is recorded that a poor woman charged with this
offence was brought before the Bench of Magistrates.
Now, assuredly, small-pox is not a worse scourge than
scarlet fever, nor can one imagine a reason why it should
be selected for the action of Parliament, excepting that
it is the worst-looking of diseases.
If there is to be an
action in its case, the powers of that action ought to be
extended to all infections and contagions. And if a pub
lic street or highway is not to be terrified with the sight
�PREFACE.
xxiii
of this repulsive malady, then the private room and the
secure-seeming bed ought to be guarded by the stern
figure and outstretched wings of the State from every
unseen pestilence that walks the noon-day, and every
arrow of destroying miasm that flies in the night.
Here, in short, would appear to be the true realm for
State protection and State interference; nay, even for
State espionage. These powers, despotic and suffocative
when applied to the regulation of arts and sciences, in
dustry and culture, professions, trades and services, are
not only justified and benignant, but indispensable in
their proper sphere; in the protection of the equal rights
of individuals; in the wielding of common powers such
as no individual possesses, for the public health; and in
making it the interest and policy and necessity of each
person to set his house in order, and, by so doing, to con
tribute to the physical welfare of his neighbour. Right
eousness thus completely sought by the State in the ma
terial degree, will educate the public to exact from
medical bodies of its own creation, diligence and skill,
clairvoyance, inspiration and world-wide knowledge, and
godly humility and boldness, which will effect what can
be done in the way of artificial healing, and prepare the
way for things better still.
76, Wimpole St., W.,
and 4, Finchley Road, N. W,
May 24, 1864.
��I.
Small Pox.
It has been my good fortune, thank God, to discover a
method of treating small-pox and erysipelas in their
severer forms, and I now proceed to lay some details of
my treatment before the public.
The Hydrastis Canadensis, a drug already renowned
m the alleviation of cancer, having been first employed,
I believe, for that purpose in this country by Dr. Patti
son, is the remedy which embraces something like a
specific treatment of small-pox within its marvellous
scope.
It is now about five years since I treated Mr. E., a
gentleman living in Acacia Road, St. John’s Wood, for
this disease. It was a pretty severe attack, though not
confluent. The itching and tingling of the face at the
time of maturation, were so distressing, that I was sent
for specially to know if I could recommend any local
application. Recollecting the power which the Hydrastis
exerts upon irritated mucous membranes, and upon
irritable wounds and surfaces generally, I ordered the
face to be dabbed with a cold infusion of the Hydrastis,
a small portion being warmed for each application. The
relief Mr. E. experienced was instantaneous as well as
complete and lasting. The swelling of the face also
subsided quickly; and the case proceeded with more
than ordinary rapidity to a happy issue.
No second
1
�2
A NEW METHOD
case occurred in the house: a point of importance, which
I request the reader to bear in mind.
The next case I will record occurred last summer,
when I was called back to town to attend a friend, who
was the subject of a formidable attack of confluent small
pox. When I first saw him, he had been under treat
ment for several days by a colleague, who visited some
of my patients during my customary autumn vacation.
Although the case was so severe, there was no decidedly
bad symptom. However, I had reason for apprehension,
because H. P., Esq., had experienced an attack of scarla
tina the year before, which had much weakened him, and
left his constitution exposed to mischief from so grave an
attack as the present.
When I entered his bed-room, I was shocked at his
appearance. His handsome chiselled features, capable of
a delicate and versatile play which has made him a
favourite with the public, were almost undiscernible in
the huge carneous head, bossed and buttoned all over
with the rising eruption of confluent small-pox. His
eyes were closed up in the general swelling. The erup
tion extended pretty evenly over the body; and in many
parts was confluent there also.
I saw him on the 7th of August, and found general
fever rumiing high; pulse quick; immense congestion
about the head; and all the appearances, were it not for
the varioloid boutons which were so thickly arising, of
intense erysipelas of the head.
I prescribed at once a mixed lotion of Veratrum Viride
and Hydrastis, and gave the same remedies internally
in rapid alternation. Slops and a watery diet were
enjoined.
On the 8th there was still great swelling of the head
and neck; the pulse however was lower, and the same
remedies were continued.
On the 9th, a marked subsidence had taken place; the
�3
OF TREATING SMALL-EOX.
eyes could be opened; the pulse was reduced to 80; the
pustules were changing colour; the face and neck though
encased, occasioned but little suffering. There was hi
fact none of the usual irritation accompanying this
disease.
On the 10th, the improvement was still more marked,
and the fever and local hiflammation had so completely
departed, that the Veratrum Viride was discontinued, the
Hydrastis' alone being applied, and administered inter
nally; and this was continued for some days.
The history of the case is now told: the combat
between the small-pox and the ( Veratrum Viride and)
Hydrastis was ended by the 14th, when weakness was
the only complaint left. I ought to have mentioned that
my friend had been suffering from constitutional debility
up to the period of the attack I am recording, and was
in a most unfavourable condition for either repelling or re
covering from small-pox. Under other treatment, I think
it reasonable to suppose he would have succumbed to it.
After the first subsidence of the fever, I allowed him
wine and beaf tea, grapes, bananas, peaches, &c. &c.,
only limiting the quantity so as not to add gastric irrita
tion to the presence of the existing disorder.
On the 15th, he complained of great weakness of the
eyes, for which he had Euphrasia and Sulphur.
On the 18th, when he ought to have been at home for
my visit, he was away in Kensington Gardens.
No one else in rather a populous house near the Strand
took the complaint, to my knowledge; his wife, whose
face is a familiar one all over England, waited upon him
with tender assiduity, and slept in a recess opening from
his room, and escaped the infection. A devoted friend
came and received his instructions, and spent whole days
with him, and was unscathed.
The chief points I noticed in the case were:—1. The
rapidity with which the erysipelatous swelling accom*
1
�4
A NEW METHOD
panyiiig the disease, and the fever, yielded to the Vera
trum Viride and Hydrastis. 2. The absence of the
customary irritation both on face and body (the lotion
was applied wherever there was swelling or pain). 3.
As a consequence of this, the absence of the usual in
centive to pick or scratch the face. 4. The absence of
the odour which is characteristic of this disease in such
violent cases, involving so large an amount of suppuration
and scab as there was in this instance. 5. The rapid
convalescence in so delicate a patient. 6. The apparent
arrest of the infectious properties of the disease. 7. The
pitting was less than I have seen after such an ordeal;
it rather amounts to a general graining and alteration
of the complexion: in short, there is hardly any pitting,
and not a trace of seaming. What alteration there is,
would, I believe, have been considerably reduced had I
had the opportunity of applying the Hydrastis from the
first, and of stopping the fever and inflammation at the
outset; which might have been done without fail by the
early application and administration of the Veratrum
Viride and Hydrastis.
Case 2.—On the morning of the 13th of November,
1863,1 was consulted by M. W., Esq., who was suffering
under indigestion and malaise, and under some alarm about
small-pox, which was prevalent in the neighbourhood of
Covent Garden, and had attacked one of the work-people
belonging to his own establishment. For some days I
gave him Antim. crud., Rhus, Belladonna, and Aconite,
according to the symptoms present; and the small-pox,
a severe case of the noil-confluent degree, manifested
itself on the 16th. The fever and sore throat ran very
high, and for these he had Rhus and Bell., and Carbonate
of Ammonia in sensible doses. I saw him again in the
evening, and found no dangerous condition, but the same
symptoms maintained.
�OF TREATING SMALL-FOX.
5
On the 17th he was going on favourably, the pustules
were steadily evolving themselves. This gentleman
labours under a polypus of the nose, and perhaps this
circumstance had determined the pustule-producing
irritation more severely than usual to the throat, the
soreness in which was excessive, and the appearance
alarming. Great groups of pustules covered the pala
tine arches, the tonsils, the uvula, and the pendent poly
pus ; and the appearance, to a superficial observer, might
have suggested severe diphtheria m its earlier stage.
The distress was great, and in the evening of the same
day, when prostration set in, I gave him Hydrastis and
Baptisia alternately.
On the 18th a great change for the better had taken
place; he had had a good night, the throat was relieved,
though the pustules were still maturating; those which
studded the tongue all over were comparatively painless,
and the collapse, which had amounted to fainting, had
passed entirely away. He was allowed the Hungarian
wine Carlovitz, beef tea, and fruit, all of which he now
enjoyed.
The irritation of the face, which was considerable,
was, as usual, extinguished by the application of Hy
drastis in lotion; and wherever the accompanying cel
lulitis was severe, the Veratrum Viride did its unfailing
work in a few half-hours. This patient, who is a man of
talent, was struck with surprise at the immediate effect
of the Hydrastis lotions, and never failed to laud the
beneficent drug, and the discovery of its application.
So impressed was he with the rapid relief he had ex
perienced, that he sent the remedy to a poor girl, one of
his factory people, who was suffering under small-pox;
though whether it was applied or not, I have not heard.
He fully admitted what great things had been done for
him.
Under the action of these remedies the case proceeded
�6
A NEW METHOD
most satisfactorily. Irritation and inflammation were
annulled, picking of the face was prevented, and pitting;
the effluvium of the disease was cancelled, and no second
case occurred in the family. On the 3rd of December,
when he had been long convalescent, I saw him for the
last time, previous to his going to the sea-side.
In this case I only regret that I did not use the
Hydrastis from the very first, but waited until secondary
irritation and cellulitis were developed. One lives and
learns; and really, when I treated this gentleman, the
full power and import of these new means had but im
perfectly dawned upon me.
However, it was in this house that it first struck me
that in Hydrastis we have perhaps a prophylactic against
small-pox; a medicinal counterpart to vaccination. Certain
it is that Hydrastis^ locally applied, produces vesicular
and pustular inflammations of the skin and sub-dermoid
cellular tissues, and thus is, to some extent, locally Homoeo
pathic ; as vaccination is surgically Homoeopathic to the
same complaint. Accordingly, I administered to the mem
bers of this family small doses of Hydrastis tincture; and
this practise I shall continue in other cases, secure that
no harm can come of it. Dor experience has taught me
its power over varioloid disease, and if a neighbourhood
is invaded by the poison which communicates small-pox
to susceptible individuals, the whole neighbourhood
doubtless suffers in health and cleanness, though not in
the manner of that specific disease; and the Hydrastis
may counterwork the poison, even as it extinguishes the
formed cases of the epidemic. It seems reasonable that
the best cure to the sufferer should, in appropriate doses,
be the best preservative and tonic to the non-sufferers.
And though the point is difficult to prove, it is well to
persevere in the practice.
But perhaps one reason of the difficulty of proving the
preservative virtue of Hydrastis against small-pox may
�OF TREATING SMALL-POX.
7
be, that Hydrastis lotions and baths, by saturating,
coating, and altering the scabs, pieces, and dust of the
infected surface, do actually kill the reproducing powers
of the said morbific parts and particles. This may be
proved by experiment, by trying inoculation with small
pox matter with and without a mixture of Hydrastis;
and I commend the demonstration to the small-pox
hospitals. In the same manner, it seems probable, that
any remedy which will extinguish a disease, will also
destroy the infectibility of its particles and effluvia,
which opens a wide field for the application of Hydrastis
Baths in small-pox, and in those who fear it; of Bella
donna Baths in scarlatina, &c. &c. &c.
Case III.—On November 25, 1863, I was visited by
Miss L. J., set. 23, who was suffering from a sudden
acute pain in the back, and a blotchy, almost continuous
red eruption, not unlike measles, on the legs and thighs,
accompanied by great prostration. I prescribed Rhus
and Capsicum.
On the 27th she visited me again; her symptoms
were unchanged, but the rash had extended and had
become scarlet. Continue Rhus and Capsicum.
I was called to see Miss L. J., at her own home,
69, St. John’s Wood Terrace, on the 29th of Novem
ber, and found her labouring under small-pox, un
interruptedly confluent on the face and arms; while
the legs, thighs, and lower body were covered with an
eruption of purple petechial spots like the worst form of
measles. The eruption on the face and arms was one
shining vesicular button-work, accompanied already with
much swelling. I prescribed Phosphorus and Veratrum
Viride and a lotion of Veratrum Viride and Hydrastis
.combined, to the skin externally.
December 2nd. The eruption proceeding; pulse 98.
She seems weaker. She left off the Veratrum Viride
�8
A NEW METHOD
and used Hydrastis alone and Hydrastis lotion. I saw
her again in ’ the evening; and only chronicled in my
note-book, “Fearful eruption. Hydrastis, wine and
brandy.” The patient is literally enveloped in a huge
bag of small-pox. Hydrastis lotions all over face and
body frequently.
December 3rd and 4th. Matters remained unchanged;
she still lived, and the eruption developed itself. On the
4th I learned that she had had her period ever since the
attack began. Continue Hydrastis in alternation with
Sabina.
December 5th. Already the eruption is peeling well
on the face. She has a most distressing cough, and her
voice is nearly lost; the period still continues. She is
to take Hydrastis, Bryonia, and Baptisia.
December 6th. The eyes and face are appearing; she
has no itching, and consequently no tendency to pick
herself. There is no pitting in the spaces where the skin
now begins to be visible. Immense development and
size of the pustular covering, for there are no distinct
pustules on the body and feet; petechial blackness, like
dark blood and water, over the whole of that part of the
eruption. No irritation; no secondary fever; no delirium
at night. Her cough and laryngeal symptoms continue
severe. Continue Hydrastis with Hepar Sulphuris, and
Hydrastis lotions to the whole body.
December 7th. Her throat symptoms are worse; pulse
96. Constant laryngeal cough. Her face continues to
peel; she still has no itching, and complains of nothing
but a heavy strap or saddle of scab on the nose and lips.
I administered Belladonna and Hepar, and occasionallv
also Baptisia and
Viride.
In the evening I paid her a second visit, and found
the cough much relieved; a result which she attributed
to the Veratrum Viride, which has a great expectorant
and resolvent power, Continue the Hydrastis ablutions.
�OF TREATING SMALL-POX.
9
December 8th. I could report her better; cough re
duced; no fever; no delirium; no itching; and what
struck her mother, who attended upon her, there was no
unpleasant odour from the skin, although the quantity of
sanious suppuration, modified only by the Hydrastis,
could not be exceeded on the same space of skin.
Dec. 9th and 10th.—Going on favourably. She is,
however, depressed about her future prospects. She is
a public singer, and has long been overworked and ex
hausted, and always of a delicate frame and health.
To-day her voice is low. The eruption peels apace. Con
tinue Hydrastis, and Veratrum Viride.
Her mother also has one spurious but decided pustule
on the arm, together with pain in the back, and general
malaise. She dabs her daughter all over with the lotion
many times a day, and doubtless has been inoculated
with the disease.
Dec. 11th.—Bryonia was given occasionally for the
cough; also Hydrastin for the conjoint purpose of specific
to the disease, and tonic to the stomach.
Dec. 17th.—Going on well; but weak. Hydrastis
and Xanthoxyllin.
Jan. 5.—Wonderfully well, and little pitted: there is
only one deep pit on the face, where I myself pulled off a
piece of the coating; the rest of the skin exhibits a fine
graining, which will be almost imperceptible in a twelve
month. I gave her Hydrastis, n. 30, in pilules, to go on
with, to keep up the general action of this benign drug
upon the system.
There are one or two points in this case which require
to be brought out into greater prominence. And 1st,
as to one which I have omitted till now—the diet.
Throughout the disease she had beef tea, port wine, and
brandy ad libitum, even at first, when the swelling and
inflammation were at the height. The case was erysipe
latous, typhoid, and putrescent, and happily responded
�10
A NEW METHOD
to free nutrition and stimulation. 2nd. The Hydrastis
lotions, the strongest that could be made, were most
assiduously applied, and always with a feeling of comfort
to the patient. The main treatment of the disease was,
I believe, local. At one period of the complaint, the
lotions to the legs, which were uncovered for the pur
pose, produced a chill that it was desirable to avoid; and
these lotions were therefore abandoned for a few days.
Doubtless, as a general rule, they ought to be applied
warm.
In the course of this case, another sister took scarlet
fever, for which I treated her. I mention this to show
the state of the house (69, St. John’s Wood Terrace),
in which L. J. was attacked by small-pox. A few
weeks previously a person had died of cerebral typhus
on the ground floor; also a child, which I did not at
tend, has since died of scarlatina on the second floor;
and two of L. J.’s sisters took scarlatina and recovered
from it. The drains of the house smelt abominably; and
all the circumstances conspired to produce the putrescent
type of small-pox which I have recorded. Nevertheless,
among L. J.’s numerous family, cooped up in one small
landing, no second case of small-pox occurred, excepting
the case of Mrs. J., by inoculation.
The marvellous power exerted by the Hydrastis over
the irritation and itching which constitute one of the
most troublesome features of this disease, extends also
to the similar symptoms in chicken pox; in which, how
ever, a weaker solution can be used, especially in the case
of children. The terrible itching of jaundice I have also
relieved at once by lotions, or still better by a medicated
bath, of Veratrum Viride.
Had one all the conveniences which exist in first-class
houses, or which are at hand in a small-pox hospital, my
treatment of small-pox in any bad case would be very
simple. As soon as the disease is recognized, and if pos-
�OF TREATING SMALL-POX.
11
sible before the eruption appears, I should give Veratrum
Viride and Hydrastis internally; and when the eruption
is declared I should continue them, with sufficient energy
to control the fever, and reduce the swelling of the parts;
and chicken broth, mutton broth, beef tea, wine and
brandy, as sedatives, and to keep the stomach alive and
active for the great demands made upon the vital powers.
Notwithstanding the apparent incongruity of the two
practices, I find them answer well in typhoid erysipelas
and carbuncle; and I know they will not disappoint us
here. Then I should give immersion baths, at 96 deg.
and upwards, of Veratrum Viride and Hydrastis in com
bination at first; a bath every six hours: sponging the
frame also with lotions of the same, at intervals accord
ing to the exigency of symptoms and circumstances. If
the baths cause faintness, supply strength by judicious
stimulants. The fever and swelling soon subsiding, I
should rely upon Hydrastis baths, and lotions, and upon
the internal exhibition also of Hydrastis ; supplementing
it where needful by other remedies. Of these, perhaps
the most valuable where stomatitis in its worst form
occurs, or where the typhoid and putrescent tendency
threatens more and more, is the Baptisia Tinctoria, a
God-sent addition to the armoury of medicine against
fevers. The baths, I have reason to believe from what
I have seen already, would cut short the disease, and
probably render the one-twentieth part of the eruption
which would be left, amply sufficient to satisfy Nature
in her presumed expulsion of materies morbi, so necessary
in theoretical medicine. For I apprehend that the ex
tension and maturation of the pustules may fairly be a
local development and infection; and thus that there is
no more harm in arresting the greater part of the erup
tion, than there is in curing itch or favus by local
administrations.
These new medicines I have used in the concentrated
�12
A NEW METHOD
tinctures, but in small doses. Knowing as I do the truth
of the Homoeopathic law, and the power that infinitesi
mal doses exert under that law, I shall not be surprised
to find that dilutions produce excellent results internally
in small-pox; yet I have thought it safest at first to
handle powers which are unmistakeable.
Thus it will be seen I would treat the case simply as a
form of erysipelas from the beginning, and no more
think of allowing it to run its course, than I would allow
erysipelas to pursue its destructive way.
Time will
show how far the disease can be extinguished after it has
declared itself; but I believe it can be extinguished in
any stage, though best, of course, nearest to its commence
ment. If it can be thus cut short, the Veratrum Viride
will be the prime agent in producing this effect. Other
wise, when pustulation has occurred, and when the ac
companying cellulitis has given way to Veratrum Viride,
the Hydrastis is the remedy to be relied on for neu
tralizing the developed materies morbi, and abolishing its
irritation; also for coating it, and preventing its diffusion
and re-absorption.
When one comes to think of it, the spread of zymotic
diseases in the body itself, by combined infection and
contagion, seems very probable. From my experience,
I infer that part after part of the organs and tissues
catches the small-pox; and that each pustule enlarges
by the same law. A little leaven, after the disease
becomes palpable, leavens the lump. If this be so, the
disease should be arrested in its centres of development;
which I have already proved to be possible hi several
stages.
For in the cases I have treated, the disease has been
struck dead (if I may use a strong expression) just at
the point where the Veratrum Viride and Hydrastis were
used decisively; and the removal of the destruction has
been the only work remaining to be accomplished.
�OF TREATING SMALL-POX.
13
The complications in the last case (L. J.’s) were suffi
ciently formidable. The most unhealthy circumstances,
a pestilential house, petechial eruption, menorrhagia,
intense laryngeal and bronchial irritation, confluent
small-pox; yet all these conditions yielded to the com
bined powers of Veratrum Viride and Hydrastis; and on
the 21st of March of this year I had the delight of
meeting L. J. at my door in blooming health; the cutis
unattacked, and only the surface of the complexion
grained and slightly reddened by the disease.
Since L. J.’s recovery she has resumed her public
singing, but her voice is quite altered from soprano to
contralto; what voice she has got is much stronger than
it was before. During the disease her eyebrows came
off, but they have now grown again. She told me at
our last interview that she never felt any pain all the
time she was ill.
The method of treatment with Veratrum Viride
baths, is, I feel convinced, equally applicable in scarlatina;
and from the huge diaphoretic power of the drug ad
ministered internally and externally, I should expect it
to produce resolution in the most serious anginose
affections of the throat. I speak especially of cases
where Belladonna is insufficient.
In the small-pox in sheep, a very destructive disease,
and one which it behoves us for sanitary reasons to re
gard very anxiously, the same remedies could easily be
applied to whole flocks. Any number of sheep might
be driven through Veratrum Viride and Hydrastis baths,
with a small cost of labour several times a-day, and the
disease be limited, cured and extinguished. I commend
the subject to Professor Simonds, the Royal Agricultural
Society of England, and the Veterinary College.
The Hydrastis ought to be an inexpensive drug; the
swamps of Canada, stimulated by the wants of this side
of the water, will speedily yield enough to treat the
�14
ERYSIPELAS.
whole small-pox cases of the world. The Veratrum
Viride in its concentrated tincture is a little more
costly; but I presume it can be supplied of uniform
strength to almost any amount from the laboratories of
Messrs. Keith, and of Messrs. Tilden, of New York.
But I strongly advise the public to demand the American
preparation, and not to be satisfied without an assurance
from the chemist that the concentrated tincture is not of
British manufacture. Of the English preparation I only
know that it has neither the appearance nor the qualities
of the American, and that time and even life may be
lost by using it.
II.
Erysipelas.
The triumph of Veratrum Viride locally applied to
pure erysipelas, is as complete as the art of medicine
can desire. Diversity of cases of course requires cor
responding diversity of treatment; yet, from no slight
experience, I can declare that the Veratrum Viride is a
cardinal remedy in the disease now in question.
The first case in which I employed it was that of a
girl, servant to Lewin, the chimney-sweeper, of St.
John’s Wood. She came "with a raised erysipelatous
swelling on the forehead, exquisitely painful, and rapidly
extending. I painted it over with a camel’s hair brush,
•with the concentrated tincture. She returned next
morning, and reported the almost instantaneous subsi
dence and disappearance of the complaint, which never
returned. Since then I have known no case of failure
with this drug locally applied in erysipelas.
When I remember my old days of treating this dis
order, and the terrible cases I have witnessed—cases
rendered terrible by the inefficiency of the means at
�ERYSIPELAS.
15
hand for their suppression, and in which the best treat
ment was the disfiguring method of painting over the
whole head of the patient, scalp and all, with lunar
caustic,—when I remember these days, I am thankful
that a means so simple as a lotion of Veratrum Viride.,
coupled with plenty of stimulants and concentrated
nutriments, should avail to arrest the complaint, and
extinguish it rapidly, without suppuration, with no
suffering, and at small cost to the vital powers.
Case I.—May 21, 1863, I visited Miss M., in the
village of H., near London. She had been labouring
under erysipelas for some days, and I found her in a
typhoid state, with the pulse weak, quick, and fluttering,
the manner hurried, the tongue fleshy red, and dry hi
the centre; and vesicular erysipelas, with painful bulging
swelling considerably developed on the face and the
forehead. She is evidently a person of very feeble con
stitution. I prescribed Belladonna and Rhus internally,
and lotions of Veratrum Viride to be kept constantly
applied to the swelled parts.
Beef tea, brandy, port
wine, and the Hungarian wine Carlovitz, were taken in
alternation, according to want and weakness. I visited
her again at night, and ordered her to continue the same
treatment.
May 22.—Miss M. is better; the swelling subsiding.
There has been no action on the bowels for several days.
Podophyllum and Rhus internally; Veratrum Viride.) ex
ternally. Soups and stimulants continued.
May 23.—The swelling abated, but the face of a dark
purple hue; Arsenicum and Rhus internally.
May 24.—Going on well; but during this and many
subsequent days flushes of erysipelas of the area of a
hen’s egg occur in various parts of the scalp, and are put
down and smoothed away by a cap of Veratrum Viride
lotion.
�16
ERYSIPELAS.
May 25.—The right ear is attacked, and the swelling
promptly taken down by the same means. The Arsenicum
and Rhus are continued the meanwhile.
May 26.—I paid her an early visit, and found her
labouring under great prostration. Hydrastis and Carlo
Vegetabilis were prescribed. Saw her twice that day.
So also on the 27th. She then had a painful cough and
laryngeal symptoms. I gave her Cocculus and Apis,
and an occasional dose of Bromine, which I find to be a
first-class remedy in laryngeal as well as in pulmonary
complications. There seems no doubt that the erysipelas
is flying from organ to organ, and from the skin to the
internal parts. She continues the local application of
the Veratrum Viride wherever the disease appears, and
always with speedy result.
May 28—30.—She improves; but there is still prostra
tion, and dry tongue, with considerable soreness of the
mouth; also drowsiness, and apathetic countenance. I
gave her Baptisia and Opium, and on the 31st found her
decidedly mending. On the 3rd of June she had Bap
tisia and Myricin in alternation for the sore mouth and
dry tongue. On the 5th the tongue was healthy, and
she continued the Myricin, but in combination with Nux
Vomica. I took leave of her on the 8th of June, when
she was fairly well, and in excellent spirits.
This case may be considered in a twofold aspect. First,
as a case of nervous gastric fever with a strong typhoid
tendency. Secondly, as a case of erysipelas of the face
and head. I have seldom seen a more threatening case hi
both regards than was Miss M.’s at the beginning. The
treatment was twofold; local and general. The general
treatment, to anticipate a question in the medical reader’s
mind, did not arrest the erysipelas, which reappeared
in part after part, travelling about over the face, neck,
and cranium. The Veratrum Viride in a few hours did
arrest it, and ultimately suppressed and extinguished it.
�ERYSIPELAS.
17
No suppuration occurred, and no subsequent delicacy or
soreness of the parts; no tendency either to return of
the disease. My patient also has been remarkably well
ever since.
T&e Baptisia was of evident service in arresting the
typhoid tendency which displayed itself throughout a
large portion of this case. It is an admirable remedy
where Rhus does not succeed, and is very valuable as a local
application to sores that threaten a gangrenous termination.
This case lasted eighteen days, from the beginning of
my treatment to the convalescence: an unusually short
period, considering the feeble constitution, the intensity
of the local disease, its obstinacy of re-appearance, and
the typhoid complication; considering also that I was
not called in until the disease was dangerously established.
Case II.—In January, 1863, a low type of fever attended
occasionally with erysipelas, prevailed in my neighbour
hood, and afforded me several opportunities of putting my
local treatment successfully in practice. Of these cases I
have no detailed notes: only a register from day to day.
The following are some particulars of them.
Jan. 14th.—Caroline Bray, get. 3, was seized with
fever, and swelling (erysipelatous) of the vulva, for which
I prescribed Aconite and Belladonna, and cold water on
rags to the part.
Jan. 15th.—The parts are better, but covered with
white blisters. Bell, and Rhus.
Jan 19th.—Erysipelas on the body. Bell, and Rhus.
10 drops of brandy in water frequently.
Jan. 22.—Drowsy and costive. Podophyll.
Jan. 23rd.—Low and comatose. Leg and foot much
swollen. The erysipelas moving upwards. Great suffer
ing. Bell, and Veratrum Viride.
Jan. 24th.—No better. Erysipelas extending up
wards. Cough. Aeon. and Bryonia.
2
�18
ERYSIPELAS.
Jan. 25th.—Relieved.
Jan. 26th.—Transfer of disease to windpipe. Seems
dying. Injections of wine and beef tea:—Bromine, Apis,
and Sulphate of Atropine.
Jan. 27th.—-Relieved. Continue.
Jan. 30th.—A large blister has appeared on the feet.
Bryonia and Rhus.
Feb. 1st.—Erysipelas on the head. Sleepy. Bell, and
Tart. Emet.
. Feb. 2nd.—Sloughing. Ulceration of the foot. Ery
sipelas going on. Continue.
Feb. 3rd.—Erysipelas all over the body. Veratrum
Viride lotions all over. Bell, and Phosph, internally.
•Feb. 5th.—Relieved. Mercurius Corrosivus lotion to
foot. Continue Veratrum Viride to the whole skin.
Feb. 11th.—Abscess in the neck. Continue.
Feb. 13th.—Abscesses. Calcar. Phosphorata. Con
tinue Veratrum Viride.
Feb. 23rd. Continue Calcar. Phosph, and Veratrum
Viride. In a few days after the little patient was pretty
well.
This case, of typhoid fever, with a complication of
erysipelas, which traversed the entire skin, and visited
some of the internal organs, was virtually cured from the
first application of the Veratrum Viride. I pursued
the travelling fire from part to part, and trod it • out un
failingly under the feet of this drug. None of the other
medicaments appeared to me to face the disease;—the
Veratrum Viride previously tried internally was not
effectual.
Let me add, that this patient lived in a
neighbourhood that might well be a nest of fever; and
had a very bad constitution to begin with. My first
experience with her had been to cure her of a scrofulous
swelling of the bone and periosteum of the thumb, at
tended with ulceration—and for which amputation was
proposed—by lotions of Mercurius Corrosivus. Brandy
�19
ERYSIPELAS.
and wine were given freely throughout the above case,
and nutrient injections persevered with. Had I to treat
the case again, the differences would be, that I should
employ the Veratrum Viride from the first; and that
instead of the Mercurius Corrosivus lotion, which how
ever did service, I should use a lotion made with
Cantharidis. The reason of this latter will appear in
the subsequent pages. I did not use the Veratrum
Viride earlier; because, up to this case, I had always been
accustomed to paint it on the surface in the concentrated
form, and the surface here was too extensive: this de
flected my mind from the Veratrum Viride. It was,
however, with this child that I made the discovery
that Veratrum Viride lotions are so effectual in even the
worst cases of typhoid erysipelas, provided stimulants
and nutrient broths are given persistently. The injec
tions of wine and beef tea kept the child alive till the
Veratrum Viride arrived on the scene.
It would also be well, whenever such cases occur, to
employ the warm bath every six hours, medicated with
Veratrum Viride.
Case III.—Jan. 16th, 1863.—I was summoned to
Mrs. D., my coachman’s wife, already under medical
treatment for erysipelas of the head, and rapidly getting
worse. Rhus, and Bell. Brandy and Burton ale. Her
baby at the breast also has the same disease.
Jan. 19th—Erysipelas better, but dry, baked tongue.
Arsen, and Rhus.—Baby: Bell, and Rhus.; and brandy,
ten drops every two hours. It is hardly necessary to
pursue the daily register of these cases. They were
treated with the usual remedies, but also the Veratrum
Viride lotions were persistently applied, and with the
best results. The disease had done some of its destroy
ing work before I saw the patients; and hence the con
valescence was prolonged, and the baby had large
*
9
�20
INFLAMMATION OF THE SPINE.
abscesses on the body, which, however, healed easily,
and have left no bad health behind them. The efficacy
of the remedy at a late stage of the malady, seems
comfortably established by these three latter instances.
I will now give a few cases illustrating the action of
Veratrum Viride as a local remedy in various inflam
matory complaints.
III.
Inflammation of the Spine with Rheumatism.
Master K. C., set. 6, has been ill since the 1st January,
1864, when he took a severe cold and had violent shiver
ing : from this he partially recovered, but on the 15th
relapsed, had pains in the limbs and lower part of the
stomach, swelling of the joints, and flat red spots on the
skin, with lossof power in the legs. Since January 22nd, he
has been attacked with rheumatic pains, and when I paid
him my first visit on January 27th, I found him sitting
half-up in bed, and was informed that he had passed a
night of great suffering. He was feverish, and pulse 120.
He could not stand without being quite held up, and
indeed had lost the use of his legs. This led me to
examine his spine, where I found the pain was concen
trated ; and in a portion of the lumbar spine I detected
extreme tenderness on pressure, and even on contact,
betokening acute inflammation. I at once ordered baths
of Veratrum Viride, the same remedy locally to the
pained part as a constant application; and Veratrum
Viride and Podophylline internally, at short intervals.
Jan. 28.—He was greatly relieved. All the pain in
the spine was gone. He had no tenderness on pressure.
His pulse was 84, and he was able to stand by himself.
Jan. 29th.—He was well except a remainder of
�INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB.
21
rheumatic cold (for which I left him Bryonia and Ledum);
and a thick rash covering the loins. Here the case
terminated, I saw him no more; the rash gradually sub
sided after his taking considerable quantities of port
wine and nutriment; and his father has since informed
me that in a few weeks his usual health returned, and
he has been well ever since.
Had I not used the local remedy, the spinal inflam
mation and the consequent paralysis would have lasted
I know not how much longer; had I not used the Vera
trum Viride and Podophylline internally, these formidable
affections might have endured for weeks or months.
IV.
Inflammation of the Womb following Pregnancy.
Some days after her confinement, Mrs. P. sent for me
to relieve the inflammatory symptoms under which she
was suffering. I found high fever, very quick pulse,
and acute tenderness all over the abdomen, but especially
over the uterus; acute tenderness also in the vagina.
The perineum had been ruptured in the birth, and there
was great soreness of the external organs. I prescribed
the Ferafr’wz Viride and Podophylline internally, and in
three or four days all the threatening symptoms had
subsided.
This case occurred some years since, and at that time
I was not aware of the cardinal importance of Veratrum
Viride locally, and by immersion baths to the skin; or I
believe two days, perhaps one, would have done the
work of four. For the last six years I have treated
many cases of uterine and ovarian congestion and in
flammation with the same means, and always with one
result; indeed I can scarcely think that any case of
puerperal peritonitis, taken anywhere near its commence
�22
OVARIAN INFLAMMATION.
ment, would resist the sedative and resolvent powers of
the Veratrum Viride and Podophylline combined, with the
bath of the former medicine, or of both together, ac
cording to urgency.
V.
Chronic Inflammation of the Right Ovary.
Mrs. D., a lady residing in Yorkshire, consulted me
by letter on Feb. 28th, 1863. The account she gives is
that in autumn, 1861, she experienced slight pain only
on moving, and this pain has continued ever since, and
increases whenever she is weak. For the last two or
three months, and especially for the last few weeks, the
pain has been much worse. There has been marked
increase of pain since the 21st of February. On moving
the pain is like a sprain; but often when she is still there
is a shooting pain, which goes through the body with
throbbing, like twitches from proud flesh in a wound.
Sudden movement gives acute pain; stooping causes pain
from a little below the waist all along the right side,
with a feeling like giving way; lifting has the same effect.
Touch does not increase the pain, but pressure gives re
lief. Externally there is a swelled ridge on the lower
part of the right side of the abdomen, just beside the
thigh, it feels firm like a muscle or ligament. For a
week the pain has extended to the hip, and nearly to the
waist. On examination by her medical attendant last
evening, a pufly swelling was discovered a little above
the other, soft, and reaching to the hip. The pain is
worst the first thing in the morning; moving, dressing,
coughing, sneezing, aggravate it. She is now forty-six
years of age, and had no menses from thirty to forty-four.
For two years she has had slight catamenia, lasting two
days, and dark brown in colour. I ordered Veratrum
�OVARIAN INFLAMMATION.
23
Viride locally, to be kept constantly applied; and also
■Veratrum Viride and Podophylline internally.
March 17th. The report is that the pain and swelling
have been much reduced by the Veratrum, Viride. The
higher swelling about the right ovary is almost gone;
and the pain there has well-nigh subsided. The lower
swelling inside the thigh, and the pain there, continue.
There is weakness and pain in the rectum; and for
fourteen days there have been painful internal piles, and
profuse bleeding with the evacuations. She has been
subject to this for many years. Continue the Veratrum
Viride and Podophylline for another fortnight, with
Tannic Acid at mid-day.
April 7th.—The piles ceased rapidly under the Tannic
Acid. The ovarian pain is subdued. The side pain—
arthritic-uterine—is no better.
It seems fixed inside
the thigh and hip, and is always felt in walking. Some
times lately she has had similar pains in the right kneeI gave her Macrotin.
April 22nd.—She consulted me personally, and I found
the status quo described at the last report maintained.
The only phenomenon elicited on examination was con
siderable relaxation of the womb.
She suffered after this from some return of the con
gestive ovarian pain, occasioned, as I presume, by the
shaking of her long journey, but which was again relieved
by the means which were successful at first; and I took
my leave of her on the 11th of May, prescribing Podophyll. and Hamamelis internally, and Tannic Acid occa
sionally for piles, should they recur.
I cite this case, not that the uterine disorder was
cured, but to show how rapidly and readily the super
ficial ovarian symptoms were extinguished by the simple
means which I employed.
The following letter from Mrs. D., whom I had not
heard of for a year, brings the record of her case to the
�24
OVARIAN INFLAMMATION.
present time. At an interview May 3rd, 1864, I found
her still labouring under occasional piles and slight pro
lapsus; the womb somewhat flaccid, and a little low
down; the rectum and its tissues also swollen and
bulging forward. She reports that the piles are always
relieved by Tannic Acid. She looks far better than
when I saw her last, and admits to greatly improved health
in the past fifteen months. As a more radical measure
for the hemorrhoidal sufferings, she is to have Collins.
Canad. n. 12, a pilule at night: Juglandin in the morn
ing, and Leptandria at noon; and of course the Veratrum
Viride whenever the ovarian and uterine swelling
threatens.
“ In February, 1863,1 applied to Dr. W. for treatment
under an affection, which he pronounced to be ‘con
gestive swelling of the right ovarium and surrounding
tissues.’ I was also suffering in another way from what
he designated, ‘ uterine symptoms, of old duration, and
the basis of the rest.’ For the relief of both, he pre
scribed the use of the tincture of Veratrum Viride.
After using the lotion as just directed, with bandage, for
about two weeks, the swelling was dispersed, and the
accompanying extremely painful sensations quite relieved.
On every occasion of their return in any measure, (but they
have never been so severe again since first relieved), I
have re-applied the lotion, latterly in its midiluted form,
(z.e., the pure tincture,) and by painting the part. And I
have invariably found relief. At the end of the year and
three months my general health is much improved, and
though liable still to a recurrence of the old symptoms
after any extra exertion or excitement, I am relieved in
a most important degree from anxiety and sufferings by
having within reach this valuable remedy.”
In the accessions of inflammation which accompany
�MENINGITIS.
25
tuberculous deposits and ulcerations of the bowels, the
Veratrum Viride lotion, covered in with gutta-percha
tissue, will abate the inflammation, pain and swelling with
great rapidity, though it exert no influence upon the
foundations of the disease.
VI.
Earache with impending Meningitis.
Nov. 29th, 1863.—I saw Miss Jessie B., set. 12, and
found her labouring under acute earache, for which I
prescribed Belladonna and Podophylline. When I called
the next afternoon, she was suffering great agony,
and so impatient of delay, that the family sent to a
medical friend in the neighbourhood, pending my arrival.
He agreed with me that the brain symptoms were
serious, and suggested the continuance of Belladonna.
The pains were acute, lancinating and stabbing, on the
middle of the line of the longitudinal sinus; the irrita
bility was extreme, and there was complete intolerance
of light. I prescribed Veratrum Viride and Podophylline
alternately; and also constant lotions of Veratrum Viride
to, in, and around the ear, and also over the whole scalp,
especially over the seat of pain; the lotions to be covered
in with gutta-percha tissue.
Dec. 1st.—Early in the morning I found her much
better; the pains almost gone, and all the symptoms
abated. Continue Feratfmw Viride and Podophylline at
longer intervals: also Veratrum Viride lotions. At night
the pulse had sunk to 80, and she was going on most
favourably.
Dec. 2nd.—Improvement still continues. In the even
ing, however, the earache and headache returned a little,
and I gave her Belladonna and Pulsatilla in between the
other medicines. After this time she had no return of
�26
MENINGITIS.
her symptoms. As a precaution she continued the
Belladonna and Pulsatilla, and then Bell, and Sulphur,
and Bell, and Hepar till the 10th of December, when
she went down into the country.
The Veratrum Viride was the agent in this case which,
on its local application, rapidly cancelled all the alarming
symptoms. I cannot demonstrate this to the reader,
who was not present at the case; but it was clear to the
patient, the nurse, and myself. The other medicines, in
infinitesimal doses, appeared afterwards to exert their
usual beneficial effects. But without the Veratrum
Viride and Pod. premised, the issue of the case in so
congestive and inflammatory a subject, would, I believe,
have been doubtful; and, at least, the duration of the
illness would have been longer, and the consequences
less completely abolished.
I do not know any inflammatory complaint affecting
the body, especially of the more rapid sort, to which
this or similar local and general skin treatment ought
not to be applied. Take congestive inflammation of the
liver. A theoretical account of it is, that the hepatic
nervous centres, the governing powers of the organ, are
weakened by some cause—by exhaustion, morbid poison,
or some other. The nerve-weakness allows the blood to
collect in the non-resistent, or non-contractile blood
vessels; and a blood-swelling of the organ takes place,
congestion, the first step of, or to, inflammation. You
give medicines by the mouth to relieve this state of
things; you propagate a telegraphic, or what they call a
reflex-action from the mouth and mucous membrane of
the stomach and bowels to the nerves of the liver, and so
to the blood-vessels. But why not also, always, a reflex
action from the nerves of the skin over the part to the
liver itself, and so to the liver nerves? Nature in
stinctively prescribes this local treatment. The other
treatment is a mere roundabout compared to it. The
�MENINGITIS.
27
skin over a part is a universal telegraph to the part
under it, and to the nerves of the part. You can most
nearly touch the hepatic plexus by touching the hepatic
skin. The cold water physicians have been better than
the rest here; only that their waters have not been
medicated, and in some cases medication, as with Vera
trum Viride, is an indispensable condition of the more
rapid cure.
Case II.—Threatened Meningitis.—The following is a
more complex case: Master E. P., aged 7, was seized on
the 29th of December with fever, great gastric disturb
ance, and acute earache. Christmas fare blamed. In
the evening he was so much worse that Veratrum Viride
lotions were applied to the head persistently.
Dec. 30th.—No better; Bell, and Merc, and Veratrum
Viride continued.
Dec. 31st.—Agonizing night; great photophobia.
Jan. 1st, 1864.—No better; Rhus internally, and
Rhus externally.
Jan. 2nd.—Afternoon, agonies in ear and head;
threatened meningitis; pulse feeble and intermittent;
Sulphate of Quinine to be repeated at discretion when
the pains come on.
Jan. 3rd.—Three visits; some relief after the Quinine,
yet no solid abeyance of the disease.
Jan. 4th.—Worse; Mercurius: also blistering paper to
the neck and region of the ear. Evening, worse still;
Mercurius, Asclepin and Euphorbin prescribed. Later at
night, all the symptoms worse. To have Glonoine, Aeon.
and Bell., Quinine if sinking.
*
Jan. 5th.—No worse; has had the Quinine several
times. Continue the medicines.
Jan. 6th.—Better.
Jan. 7th.—Much better. Quinine and Castor Oil.
Jan. 12th.—Quite well. The Veratrum Viride did not
�28
PAROTITIS.
act completely here, because the vital force was so
heavily assailed that the supplementary remedy Quinine
was indicated.
Besides Quinine, the Euphorbin and
Glonoine appeared both to Dr. P. and myself to exert a
marked influence on his son’s case, which was indeed
one that threatened galloping decomposition.
VII.
Inflammation of the Parotid Gland.
Peb. 22.—Dr. P. has a swelling under the left ear,
some fever and great malaise, and has too much to do
to be able to be ill many days. Great pain in the in
flamed and tumefied “ Socia Parotidis.”
I ordered
Aconite and Rhus alternately.
Feb. 23rd.—No better. The swelling is large and
tense, and involves the adjacent fasciae and tissues to a
considerable extent. Asclepias and Podophylline pre
scribed, and a hot bath with an ounce of Veratrum
Viride in it.
Feb. 24th. — Greatly better.
Immense sweating
followed the bath. The doctor reports that Veratrum
Viride baths would go for much in training if their use
were known. Continue Asclepias, beef tea, and stimu
lants.
Feb. 26.—No pain left, and scarcely any swelling.
The complaint is cured, and the busy doctor satisfied.
So, also, is his “ Socia Parotidis.”
VIII.
Acute Tonsillitis.
This was my own case. I tried Belladonna and Aconite
for some time without marked effect. My wife looked
�HAEMORRHOIDS.
29
into the throat, and was alarmed by the great swelling,
the dusky purple colour, and the foetor of the breath,
and by the excessive fever. She gave me of her own
prompting ten drops of Con. Tine. Veratrum Viride, and
placed a Turpentine bandage round the throat. In five
minutes I was in a bath of perspiration which lasted the
night. Belladonna acted well on the residue of the
disease. I was well in a day or two. This is some
years since, and before I knew of Veratrum Viride baths
and lotions.
IX.
Idoemorrhoids following Confinement.
Mrs. B. is suffering from this complaint, attended with
considerable external swelling.
She took Nux and
Sulphur internally, and a lotion of Veratrum Viride and
Hamamelis was kept constantly to the part.
The
-swelling abated at once under the application of the
lotion.
In these external applications it is my custom to
combine the Veratrum Viride with any other drug that
is pathic to the case.
The Veratrum Viride does its
general work as skin-opener, de-constrictor, and con
gestion-disperser; the other, if correctly chosen, puts
forth its more specific power. Thus, in injuries to the
face and eyes, resulting in unsightly swelling, I have
found unusually good and quick results from a weak
lotion of Veratrum Viride and Arnica combined.
Perhaps I shock Homoeopathic prejudices by mention
ing the combination of drugs, even in a lotion. Yet
repeated success in healing will justify anything; and
success is the only science of the art of physic. And in
many cases I have found combinations succeed. True,
you do not know which drug did the work: but why
�30
COMBINED MEDICINES.
should you ? when, perhaps, it was the combination that
did it; and when the knowledge of the truths of com
bination may be worth having, and involve a chapter
which Homoeopathy has yet to open:—the practical power
of its drugs combined. If Aconite and Bryonia * are both
Homoeopathic to Pneumonia, why should not the mind,
by a subtle and rapid instinct, build out of the twain a
compound means which will grasp the disease with a
combined force far more than equal to the solitary forces
of these drugs ? There comes a point in which you quit
the science of the probabilities of drugs, the splendid
and enduring fabric of Hahnemann, for the science of
recorded success in cures, to which the former is per
fectly subordmate in human interest; and in this latter
field of knowledge, every means of every school, and the
statistical result of whole schools, comes forward, and
if it deserves so much, is venerated as a fact.
* Apropos of combination, I copy the following from Grover Coe:—
“ Bnt perhaps the most remarkable feature of the Myricin is its power,
in connection with Lobelia, of allaying false labor pains. The peculiar
therapeutic property here manifested is the result of the combination.
Neither will answer the purpose alone. As soon as the pains are ascer
tained to be spasmodic, place the patient in bed, and administer the
following:—
R
Myricin
....... grs. xv.
Wine Tine. Lobelia
.
.
.
.
ss.
Boiling Water .
.
.
.
.
. ? j.
Add the Myricin to the boiling water, and after a few minutes the
Tine. Lobelia. Exhibit at one dose, and repeat in two hours, if neces
sary. This will seldom or never disappoint the practitioner, and rarely
is a second dose necessary. It allays the pains, quiets the nervous
system, and postpones parturition to the proper period. Delivery will
frequently be delayed from one to four weeks, and the matured energies
of the system will then ensure a safe and easy accouchement.”
�ABDOMINAL INFLAMMATION.
31
X.
Inflammation about the Ccecum.
March 21st, 1864.—W. M., Esq., has diarrhoea, with
great swelling and tenderness in the right ileum; there
is also spasmodic pain, and he cannot stand upright, but
is drawn together to relax and favour the right side.
The pulse is quick and wiry. Podophyllum and Vera
trum Viride in alternation. Veratrum Viride constantly
to the part, and in a hip bath at night.
March 22.—He is relieved. He says he felt quite
differently immediately after coming out of the bath.
Continue all the means.
March 23.—Improving fast. A space as large as a
hen’s egg is still hard, and painful on pressure. The
diarrhoea has gone. To have Bryonia and Mercurius;
Veratrum Viride lotion and bath.
March 25.—The swelling has so far subsided that the
chronic basis comes under examination. It appears to
be a thickening of tissues about the coecum. The recent
attack is cancelled. The residual tumour is deep, but
well defined. He is to continue the lotion of Veratrum
Viride, and to go on with Podoph. and Sulphur in
ternally.
March 28.—The lump is now hard and quite deep.
The account he gives of his attacks is as follows:—
First comes a “sneezing cold,” which is apt to recur on
successive days. If it does so recur, sensations of pain,
and pinching, and rumbling of wind begin to be felt in
the bowels. There is evidently a telegraphic relation
between the sneezing cold and the part which has been
now acutely attacked. Probably at some former period
a year or two back, a cold has fixed upon the coecum,
set up inflammation, and produced a thickening there;
or some impaction may have taken place. The sympathy
�32
ABDOMINAL INFLAMMATION.
between the nose and mouth and this part is so great
that (March 25th) the drawing of the breath through
the water in cleaning the teeth produced a temporary
aggravation of pain. Occasionally the pain shoots from
the part quite through the penis. With regard to the'
“sneezing colds,” he says that “he seems to get a
natural secretion in a certain length of time, which it
requires the sneezing colds to remove.”
The recent inflammation being quite removed, he is now under treatment for the deep seated lump. He is
to have Juglandin at night, and Leptandria in the
morning; and to persevere with Veratrum Viride band
ages, to be worn every night.
April 8.—He reports that he was well up to the
evening of April 6th, when he had a new symptom of
pricking in the nose and left cheek bone; then spasmodic
sneezings from 8 to 11 at night, “to sneeze it off.” He
slept well; but on the morning of the 7th of April had
a blown feeling low down in the belly; in the afternoon
a dead pain in the middle of the same region; and in the
evening at half-past 7 sharp pain. At half-past 10-p.m.,
he put on a compress of Veratrum Viride, and a second
at half-past 7 next morning. He also took Veratrum
Viride internally, ten drops at three times. He had no
sleep from 12 to 3. The pains began to cease about
4 a.m. on the 8th, and have gradually gone; and in the
course of the morning he called upon me in Wimpolestreet, and says .that he feels well.
To-day the old lump cannot be any longer felt. “ The
sneezing cold ” has produced none of the usual results.
As a precaution he is to continue the Veratrum Viride
baths, and to mix Veratrum Viride ten drops in ten
teaspoons of water, taking a teaspoonful every four
hours. Moreover, if the sneezing cold returns he is to
bathe the nose and face directly with a lotion of Vera
trum Viride.
\
�IRRITABLE BREASTS.
33
May 5.—He reports that he has had a bad cold ever
since the last visit; a sneezing cold, which comes on for
an hour or two every morning, and to-day has lasted the
whole morning; but only now for the first time pro
duces any soreness of the abdomen, but none of the old
inflammation. He knows nothing of the lump which
troubled him so long. His general appearance is singu
larly improved; instead of the hollow cheeks and stoop
ing gait which betokened a fine man in distress, his face
is beginning to be as substantial as his intention, and his
gait is solid. But these “ sneezing colds,” which are the
door that opens into all his weakness, must be barred
away; and this will take time. He is to have Hydrastis,
2 drops 4 times a day: a Feru&’em Viride bath at
present, and afterwards a dry Fm^nrn Viride apron to
be worn on the abdomen next the skin continually.
XI.
Enlarged and Irritable Breasts.
Caroline G. has been under treatment for some years
for pain and swelling of the mamma?. These symptoms
have been much aggravated of late during her critical
period of life. The breasts are enormous. She tried
Phytolacca for her sufferings, with good effect for a
time. Nothing, however, has so much relieved her as
sponging all over the body with a weak lotion of Veratimm Viride. Had she the conveniences of a bath, I
believe the cure might be complete. As it is, the relief is
remarkable. Being very corpulent, this patient is under
Banting’s drill, and I hope to report of her another time.
�34
LUMBAR ABSCESS.---- BUNIONS.
XII.
Chronic Abscesses.
J. B., Esq., labouring under Angina Pectoris and
Heart complaint, has a large abscess about the left lumbar
region, and another inside the thigh. In both of these
fluctuation can be distinctly felt.
They are increasing in size and are very inconvenient in sitting and
walking. The surgeon in attendance declines to do any
thing, alleging that it will be dangerous, and that they
must be suffered to break. The discomfort, however, is
so great, that I am consulted. Pretty strong lotions of
T eratrum Viride and Quinine in combination abated
suffering, diminished the size of the lumbar swelling,
entirely took away the large femoral collection of matter,
and much facilitated movement and sitting. The gen
eral health at the same time improved considerably; so
that his surgeon complimented him upon his altered
appearance. Mr. B. was very grateful for the amount of
relief. He died suddenly several months afterwards of
his internal disease.
In this case, as I have often seen before, the Veratrum
Viride emulated Iodine in its power of promoting ab
sorption.
XIII.
Bunions.
Veratrum Viride painted on these is generally a rapid
and perfect relief. I have frequently verified this in my
experience. Ihe fact will suffice without citing the
cases. There is no agent comparable to Veratrum Viride
for bunions or inflamed corns.
�MESENTERIC DISEASE.
35
XIV.
Case of Threatened Mesenteric Disease arrested.
On the evening of the 5th of April, I was called to
see Master T. S., ten years old, and found him labour
ing under feverish symptoms, with cough and vomiting.
On listening to the chest, I found considerable inflam
matory congestion of the right lung. The bowels also
were costive.
Imprudence in diet, cherry tart and
dumplings, and a cold, were the probable occasion of
this state of things. I gave him first a dose of Podo
phylline., to relieve the constipation; and afterwards
Aconite and Bryonia.
April 6th.—About 3 p.m.: pulse 170. Acute pain
and tenderness on the whole right flank of the abdomen,
in all the tissues from the liver to the ctecum. The pains
like localized peritonitis: they also extended to the back
and the head, and he cried out with them. He had been
delirious in the night, and had perspiration with the pain.
One costive motion. He cannot stand for pain. The
cough better. Prescribed Podophylline and Veratrum
Viride. Veratrum Viride compresses to the pained parts,
and Veratrum Viride hip bath.
9 p.m., Pulse 78. Pain greatly reduced. Pose easy
and comfortable. Pie has stomach ache, probably from
the Podophylline ; a pain quite different from that just
recorded. Slight pain still from the liver to the caacum,
and all over the belly. He has had some nice sleep.
Continue the medicine at 3-hour intervals. Also the
compresses and bath.
April 7th.-—Pulse 95. Pain much better, but not
gone. The pain on the right side is worst about the
liver, and is less in its extension downwards to the iliac
fossa. He has no cough now, but when he is asked to
cough, the action hurts him. His facies is good. Very
slight pain on the left side of the abdomen. He ex
�36
MESENTERIC DISEASE.
periences great comfort from the Veratrum Viride baths. *
If the pain, which sometimes lancinates about, returns,
the bath takes it away. Continue all the means.
April Sth.—Pulse 100. Great pain from spasms and
gripes: Podophylline pains ? I now, however, learn for
the first time, that he has had spasms in the stomach for
several weeks. He has passed a restless night: his head
aches, and the bowels are constipated. To have Bella
donna and Nux Vomica alternately.
April 9th.—Pulse 100. He has no pain left, and can
bear pressure. Bowels still costive. Aconite 1 dose:
afterwards continue Bell, and AW. A dessert spoonful
of Castor Oil at night.
April 10th.—Pulse 120. A bad night. Dry skin.
Griping pain in the bowels, and distressing aching be
tween the shoulders. Has had Castor Oil twice, which
has brought away a very copious lumpy motion. Hardly
any pain on pressure: the peritoneal and tissue-symptoms
gone; but the intestinal irritation and griping keep up
the pulse. There is a catch in the breath as if there were
a drag somewhere. He is of an inflammatory, and in
regard to congestion and the rapidity of its consequences,
of an almost explosively inflammatory bodily tempera
ment. The face, however, is still good. Bryonia and
Mercurius alternately.
Chamomile fomentations with
Veratrum Viride tincture on the flannel, hot to the belly.
Hot bath with Veratrum Viride, if pain require it.
April 11th.—Hardly any pain or spasms. The ab
domen is still tympanitic in parts. Pulse quick. The
bowels have been relaxed in the night. An old asthma,
accompanied with extraordinary loud breathing, has
been reproduced. Skin hot, but greater tendency to
perspiration. Since I last saw him he has not required
the poultices or bath. Continue all the means as they
are needed.
April 12th.—Pulse 130. Marked delirium in the
�MESENTERIC DISEASE.
rt rj
oi
night. Cough and asthma. Strong pressure on the
abdomen produces no pain. The cloud is now hanging
over another part of the tissues, and falls upon the lung
nerves and the mind-nerves at night. He is to have
Wine Tincture of Lobelia alternately with Belladonna.
April 13th.—Pulse 120. He is in the drawing-room
on the sofa, but cannot get up on account of severe pain
in the back. On examination, there is a protuberance
backwards of one dorsal vertebra, and considerable
tenderness is felt there on pressure. He has been
wandering in the night. His skin is now moist, and he
says he feels much better. Veratrum Viride compresses
locally to the pained spine.
Continue Lobelia and
Belladonna.
April 14th.—Pulse 120. He is now sitting up, and
has no pain in the back. No asthma or delirium in the
night. His bowels have been once moved. Continue
Viride to spine. Let him have a small mutton
chop. His appetite is craving. (Up to this period for
several days he had been taking beef tea and farinacea.)
April 15th.—The mutton chop has done him no good.
Again there is intestinal pain on pressure. He has
passed a restless night, and had two -small motions.
Prescribed: a dose of Castor Oil. Lach, and Coloc. in
ternally : Veratrum Viride compress to the whole belly.
April 16th—Pain less. Pulse 108. Gentle perspira
tion. Continue the Veratrum Viride compresses ooccasionally. Continue also Loch, and Coloc.
April 17th.—My patient is not getting on.
The
abdomen is like a drum, more or less sensitive all over.
For some days past I have been apprehensive of deepseated mischief; more particularly as he has always been
unable to button his waistcoat from a “ swelled feeling ”
about the bowels; and his eldest sister died of mesenteric
disease after measles. It seems too probable that the
�38
MESENTERIC DISEASE.
inflammations which I have successively combated, are
but the outworks of the same disease, which is now
throwing up fresh symptoms, and in their intractability
is showing its own deep and obstinate centre. I am
obliged to communicate my apprehensions to the parents,
who have indeed for some time past shared them; and
have always, as they inform me, contemplated the
probability of mesenteric disease in their little son.
To-day there is back-ache superadded to abdominal
pain. Pulse 108. I ordered Juglandin, from its mild,
deobstruent influence upon Ever, stomach, and bowels;
and Cod Liver Oil.
April 18th.—Pulse 120. There is an increase of ab
dominal pain and swelling. The pain on the right side
of the abdomen is short and breath-hindering. He is
to have compresses of Veratrum Viride, and a bath of
it: and for internal medicines, Juglandin and Leptandria.
April 19th.—Pulse 96. The abdominal swelling and
the pain are both greatly reduced. He can now bear
pressure. His tongue is cleaning, and he has had one
small motion. After the Veratrum Viride bath, he slept
from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., soundly and sweetly. He looks for
ward to the bath. Continue the bath and the compresses;
the Leptandria and Juglandin, and the Cod Liver Oil.
April 20th.—Master Tommy is up and about. His
skin is cool and perspiring, and he has no pain. He
enjoys the bath. He slept last night from half-past 10
to 7. His appetite is good, but he is to have only slops.
Continue the means diligently.
April 22nd.—Pulse 90. He is convalescent from the
present invasion emanating from his constitutional weak
ness. The spiritus morbi is there, no doubt, but e.anrimt,
act, because the existing materies morbi is dispersed.
His stomach is still high. He sleeps well all night, and
has had one. good motion; and he is going into the
�MESENTERIC DISEASE.
39
country to-morrow. Continue all the means; especially
the Veratrum Viride baths every night.
April 28th.—He came in from the country to see me
in Wimpole Street. His father and mother express their
astonishment, and cannot understand his case; remem
bering as they do, the similar symptoms, but different
issue, of their eldest daughter’s illness. He has now no
pain, and the abdomen is greatly reduced in size; and
we may evidently hope, by carefully watching its
dimensions as a meter of health, to effect a permanent
constitutional cure. His appetite is too good, especially
for bread and butter, which is one of the worst things
he can take, because the dry quantity of it tends to keep
up prolonged exercise of the abdominal functions, and to
fill the tissues with fluid. The liver is not acting quite
well, which perhaps depends on his change to the
country: the motions are light-coloured and hard: one
or two in the day. His prescription is, Silicea 12 every
morning: Leptandria 12 every night: Cod Liver Oil;
Veratrum Viride baths every second night for a week:
afterwards every third night.
Here for the present ends a case which ten days before
appeared to be almost hopeless.
The four remedies
used at last, and which decided the fate of the day: I
mean the Veratrum Viride baths, the Leptandria, Ju
glandin, and Cod Liver Oil, were each called up to the
field as necessity dictated; and I am sure that the com
bination helped each member of it. The case gives
happy hope of the circumscription and final extinction of
mesenteric disease, and shows at least how indefinite
time may be gained for the action of deep constitutional
remedies. But Master T. S. is still under treatment.
�40
EXTERNAL INJURIES.
XV.
Cases of External Injury.
In some cases of external injury, where time is of
great importance, as for instance, where the patient is a
public man, or a professional lady, the Veratrum Viride
is a valuable supplement to Arnica. Locally applied, it
has an undeniable power of abolishing traumatic inflam
mation.
Ihis is a vast convenience for surgery; and
also for medicine; for example, in such cases as peri
tonitis following penetrating wounds of the abdomen;
where the primary inflammation which supervenes is
fatal; and no time is left for the reparative process. In
such cases as these we should combat the inflammation
with lotions of Veratrum Virile^ and support strength
the meanwhile.
It is true I have had no formidable cases of the kind
to treat, but I reason up from the successful manage
ment of lesser injuries. In one case of hurt to the face,
and black eye, the consequence of a fall on the curbstone,
the disfigurement was so far gone in twenty-four hours
that an important appearance in public was made, with
no apology to a brilliant audience, and with the usual
eclat.
XVI.
Dec. 3, 1862, Walter Daws, a?t. 2, had a blow on
the face a month ago, which has caused a circumscribed
swelling, tense and very tender to the touch, on the
cheek bone. It is the result of a bruise of the pe
riosteum, and from the size and appearance of the
swelling, it seems probable that the bone has been
seriously injured, and that exfoliation might take place.
Arnica internally: Veratrum Virile to be painted all
over the tumour.
�EXTERNAL INJURIES.
41
Dec. 5.—Lump a little less.
Continue Veratrum
Viride, washing it off occasionally with a lead lotion.
Dec. 9.—Going on satisfactorily but slowly. Veratrum
Viride alone.
Dec. 24.—'The lump diminished.
Veratrum. Viride
locally.
Jan. 15, 1863, the lump less.
Fhrafr’wm Viride
locally; Plumbum n. 30, internally
Feb. 3.—Improving. Continue Veratrum Viride;
Sepia n. 30, internally.
Feb. 17.-—Langour, and stringy motions. No men
tion of the tumour. Pulsatilla in the day: Mcem’fe at
night.
March 11.—Tumour less. Eruption on the skin from
the Veratrum Viride. To have Sulphur 30 at night:
Mercurius Corrosivus lotion locally. I have not heard of
this patient since; but at the last date the effects of the
injury had well nigh vanished. Had I to treat the case
again, I should probably combine the Mercurius Corro
sivus with
Viride from the beginning; for the
effect of the former remedy on diseases of the bone and
periosteum, even in scrofulous subjects, is very striking.
In one child, I cured great enlargement of this nature
on the finger, and which proceeded to serious ulceration,
with lotions of Mercurius Corrosivus, and Cod Liver Oil
internally; such a case in my youth would assuredly have
gone on to the destruction of the finger, and rendered
its amputation inevitable. For this practice with the
Mercurius Corrosivus I am indebted to Mr. Moore, the
Veterinary surgeon, of Upper Berkeley-street. See the
admirable synopsis of cases which he has published from
time to time.
�42
SHINGLES.
XVII.
Shingles treated by Cantharides Lotions.
As these pages are mainly devoted to local treatment
as superadded to general treatment, I will now briefly
cite four cases which fall under the above heading.
1. Miss R. has an attack of shingles on the back
which yield rapidly to a weak lotion of Ace^m Cantharidis in water. I have no notes of the case, but a few
days terminated it; and there was very little suffering,
and no return of the disease.
2. Dr. P. has shingles on the knee. Two or three
applications of Aceftzm Cantharidis cured it, and no
further crop appeared. The stinging and pain were
reduced to nil by the lotion.
3. Feb. 13, 1864, Miss H. has shingles under the
collar bone, the groups extending across the chest and
to the opposite armpit. The symptoms not urgent or
distressing. Rhus prescribed. The next day an amount
of inflammation and stinging almost maddening occurred.
Acetum Cantharidis lotion prescribed, which killed the
eruption, affording immediate relief. In a few days the
complaint was abolished. The words are decisive, but
they correspond to the facts.
4. Feb. 26, 1864, D. —, Esq., has an unmistakable
crop of shingles on the body. Cantharides lotion exter
nally. Cantharides and Hydrastin internally.
Feb. 27.—The eruption withered.
No suffering.
Continue Cantharides., &c.
March 1.—Well.
These are strikingly homoeopathic results; and the local
application is itself additionally homoeopathic. In the
cases thus treated, the cutting pains, which are often so
persistent and even torturing long after the disease has
disappeared, have no place.
�CELLULITIS.
43
XVIII.
Cellulitus, including Pelvic Cellulitis, its Specific and
General Treatment.
There is an excellent article by Dr. MacLimont, on
“Pelvic Cellulitis,” in The British Journal of Homoeopathy,
Vol. xx., pp. 288-302. In this article, Pelvic Cellulitis,
is defined as, Phlegmonous Inflammation of the Cellular
tissue within the folds of the peritoneum or broad ligaments
of the uterus. Adopting this definition, on which I would
only remark that such inflammation may attack other
parts of the cellular tissue in the pelvis, as for instance
the cellular lanugo which surrounds and embeds the
rectum and connects it to the vagina—but adopting this
definition,—then I would further define general Cellulitis
as inflammation of the cellular tissue in any part of the
body. I am about to cite a case in which Cellulitis was
present from an early period of life, in various parts, and
ultimately in the pelvis; and which appears to be a case
of hope for the treatment of this terrible disease.
Dr. MacLimont says: “Itis somewhat remarkable that
so very frequent and formidable an affection as inflam mation of the cellular tissue of the female pelvis should,
to so great an extent, have been almost completely over
looked by authors on diseases of women.
“It cannot be that this is a new disease, or one be
coming more frequent in all classes of society. Why is
it then, that it is only within the last few years that any
detailed and satisfactory information has appeared of so
distressing, and often fatal a disease, and one, too, of
almost daily occurrence?
“ The reason is, that up to a comparatively recent date,
accoucheurs, both English and Foreign, were wont to
regard the very striking group of symptoms constituting
pelvic cellulitis as so many indications of metritis, peri
�44
CELLULITIS.
tonitis, phlegmasia dolens, &c., whilst those not very
unfrequent cases occurring in the non-puerperal, or even
single state, were too generally referred to cystatis, fibrous
tumour of the uterus, abscess of the rectum, hip-joint dis
ease, mesenteric tuberculosis, ulceration of the cervix, &c.”
This is true; but the Dr. does not inform us why
accoucheurs were thu9 “ wont./’ Great overlookings
of facts generally have interesting reasons. One reason
of the blindness now in question is, that science, among
its many tendencies to disease, has also the tendency to
false definiteness, and to denial of circumambient facts.
Anatomical science begins and is constituted in the clear
ing away first of skin, and next of cellular tissue. And
yet cellular tissue is as universal a high road as the
nerves themselves; and, moreover, a universally con
tinuous expense. It is to the body what space is to the
world, the tension or firmament in which all the organs
are set. Nay, it is in all the organs, and constitutes
everything that they are. And yet science, intent upon
organs, overlooks the material of which they are made;
and by which they are connected, compacted, and asso
ciated in a material sense. As though Astronomy should
deny the stellar interspaces, their imponderable world, the
body of the ether, and the intercourse of the systems.
This is much the same disease in science that has mani
fested itself in history; a few heads and organs of govern
ments, and their lives and acts, have occupied all the
attention due to the life and progress of the peoples; so
in Pathological Science, a few organs have monopolized
the regard due to the universal movements, inspirations,
currents and relationships of the body; and the cellular
tissue which is their channel and their home.
Now among general diseases, of which I. am persuaded
there are troops unrecognized, is this very disease of
Cellulitis; of inflammation of the cellular tissue in the
body, and in any part of the body: a disease which is to
�CELLULITIS.
45
the cellular tissues somewhat as erysipelas is to the skin;
and which like erysipelas may be firmly localized; or
may be fugacious, and wander from part to part; often
leading to suppuration, perhaps in important organs.
When I look back from the teachings of recent expe
rience through a practice of thirty years, I remember
many cases which probably were examples of the disease
in question; but which were regarded as tuberculosis,
complications of pneumonia, bronchitis, pleurisy, and
the various internal inflammations and decays of parti
cular organs. I recollect a family of children who were
carried off by this disease. Of these cases I have no
notes; nor was there great encouragement at the time
to take notes. The chief features in these young persons,
who died from 12 to 16 or 17, was, cellular swellings
in the extremities—inflammation of the subcutaneous
tissues; general feebleness of health; and tendency to
inflammatory colds about the chest; defect of nutrition,
and of sleep; and constant general malaise; then after a
year or two inflammation in the chest-cavity, rapidly
flying from part to part: a kind of smouldering com
bustion which no sooner ceased than it began again in
the same or other parts; and was attended with all the
signs of suppuration; and sometimes with the expectora
tion of pus. The disease also wandered in the stomach
and bowels, and in the abdominal organs; but was less
local than the inflammation of organs, and less rapidly
destructive. . Treatment, from the old points of view,
seemed hopeless.
For at that time I was scarcely aware of the exist
ence of these general diseases in the interior of the
body; and therefore I only applied to the symp
toms specific treatment, and failed to cure, and often
failed to relieve.
Now, however, I know that one
practical fruit of the recognition of such general or cor
poreal diseases, in contradistinction to governmental or
�46
CELLULITIS
organ-diseases, is, the adoption of general measures of
relief, especially applied to the universal skin, which is
the proximate surface of the cellular tissue; the indicator
and regulator of the universal nervous system; and the
medium between the organic and the cellular man.
There are no doubt specifies too for this general disease;
but they will not readily cure without the adoption of
general applications through the instrumentality of the
skin.
In the family just alluded to, there was one singular
exception to the fatal result. The father had died of heart
disease; and one son inherited the same complaint. It
was valvular disease attended with loud regurgitation
sounds-. He had sleepless nights terrible with appre
hension. Once or twice a week he spat up from the
lungs a ball of pellucid tough matter about the size
of a small marble, almost like an uncooked fish’s eye.
His life declined, and sleep was postponed to a later
and later hour in the weary nights.
Pulse about
sixty. Anasarca beginning slowly in the legs gradually
mounted up until he could no longer go to bed, but sat
in his chair all night with his legs and abdomen like hard
boards. For dropsical swellings of the abdomen set in; and
hydrothorax supervened. Just at this time Dr. Rutherfurd Russell introduced the poison of the Cobra (Naja
Tripudians) as a remedy in heart complaints. E. W.,
my dying boy, had it. For the first few days no change,
except that he slept at 11 at night instead of 2 or 3.
Earliness of rest increased upon him. One by one every
symptom disappeared under the action of this single
medicament; and in a few months he was well; and ever
since he has been an upholsterer’s man, and has not
shirked the heavy porterage which belongs to that occu
pation. A remarkable result, when we remember that
his father died of heart disease; and that his brothers
and sisters perished of a decay which seemed to be
deeply present in the family constitution.
�CELLULITIS.
47
But was not his case also cellulitis in some central and
typical sting: not the coils of the serpent crushing the
body, but the unique fang emptied into the heart-valves ?
However this may be, had I to treat the case again, I
should early have used Veratrum Viride baths as a gen
eral antidote, without neglecting the specific Cobra which
stung the sting, and ultimately cured the disorder.
Before proceeding to more immediately practical re
sults, I would specially indicate that cellulitis, besides that
it may belong as a tendency to the universal cellular tissue,
may have a centre of localised mischief in any organ of
the body; and if it pursues its ravages, and travels with
its inflammation and swelling over the more superficial
*
regions, and can be detected through the skin, it also
tends, telegraphically and sympathetically, to invade the
interior of important organs, dwelling in their cellular
parenchyma.
In the case of J. B., Esq., recorded above (see page
34), disease of the heart and cellular abscesses on a large
scale; also cellular swellings in the inguinal and scrotal
regions, were connected with each other; no doubt by
continuity of tissue, and sympathy of structure. The
external swellings were the first symtoms that were
complained of in this case. And in angina pectoris, and
diseases of the coronary arteries, huge cellular indu
rations of the body take place: immense breadth of
shoulders, great board-like expanse of belly; limbs big
as anasarca; filled also with serum; but inflammatory
* Among travelling maladies we note that lesions also travel : as
though the contrecoup could display itself days and weeks after the
injury. I have seen a case of injury to the shoulder, and dislocation,
accompanied by black ecchymosis, travel in this manner: the black
and yellow expanse was some weeks in making its way over parts of
the arm as far as the elbow, which were perfectly normal in colour long
after the concussion. It was like an internal cellular purpura propa
gated from the spot originally injured.
�48
CELLULITIS.
serum in inflamed and hardened cellular tissue. At
whichever end the mischief takes place, there is reason to
suppose that a travelling cellulitis is in its origin and its
propagation: a disease always to be treated where it is
practicable by general measures through the skin.
I met with the remark in one of Mr. Skelton’s books,
*
that disease is only obstruction. Without making a rule
of it, what truth there is in his observation. Y et anatomy
and physiology have hitherto obscured, not illustrated,
the amount of truth. Looking at the channels and tubes
of the body, science has regarded life as a traveller on the
roads. Whereas life here is the roads as well as all the
passengers thereupon. And the roads are movements. So
life flows on in its microcosmal oceans, not through the
trees of nerves, arteries, veins, and ducts, which are but
its rivers, but over and above all through the expanses
of the man. Columns of pressure, and currents of fluids,
and volumes of influences, pass down, and through, and
across the body, not with anatomical, but with emotional
breadth: with the whole heart on the move, not merely
with the pulsatile artery. Life, too, can begin a column
of movement from any centre. But this is a rule:—
wherever any moving column is established, to obstruct
the lower part of it, is to paralyse for the time the whole
movement, and in sensitive subjects, to incapacitate the
man. Constipation in certain cases affords an evidence
of this: in sensitives to this complaint (of which one
every now and then meets with sad specirtiens), the mere
sense of stoppage mounts to the brain, and produces
sometimes acute suffering, and often general incom
petence. In asthma also, where the respiratory column
is impeded, the deep sense of stoppage causes windows
to be thrown open to make evidence of air. And it is
surprising how small a gratification of the sense and
* Family Aledical Adviser, by John Skelton, Sen., Lecturer and
Professor of Medicine, 105, Great Russell Street, 1861.
�49
CELLULITIS.
want of outflow will satisfy the requirements of nature,
and give ease to a patient.
A lady suffering from asthma asked me some time,
since, how it was that during a paroxysm a teaspoonful
of gin and water would occasionally produce a slight per
spiration, and with it an immediate relief to the distressing
symptoms. I answered, that the smallest symptom of
perspiration betokens an entire change in the deter
mination and direction of the fluids within the body.
For when the skin is locked up, the current of the
general life, which tends to surround every one of us
with his own effluences, is shut off at the surface, and
reversed within the body; and being reversed, it tends
back to its sources, and hinders and shocks their flow.
The re-instatement of the right direction—the conversion
of the fluids from the error of their ways—is, therefore,
all that is required in the first instance to the comfortable sense of life within the frame. And a mere indi
cation, a slight perspiration, will effect this marvellous
ciange; polarizing the whole of the given column of
fluids toward outward action, which is the very opposite
of inward obstruction.
These are not scientific, but they are healing truths,
attested in every-day practice, and tending to important
practical considerations: there are millions of such truths
within the same sphere of observation: they in no way
impugn physiological truths founded upon anatomy; but
they imbed them as the cellular tissue imbeds the
definite organs; and prepare them to be covered in by
the skin of the general observation and bodily conscious
ness of poor suffering humanity.
4
�50
CELLULITIS.
XIX.
Case of General and Local Cellulitis.
About Christmas, 1860,1 was called to see Miss E. S.,
and found her suffering from acute local and hysterical
disorder. There was evident inflammation in the pelvic
cavity, and great general excitement. I learned that
she had recently undergone an examination with the
speculum, and had been in torture ever since. The
hysterical symptoms often amounted to catalepsy. Her
voice was gone, and continued in abeyance for four
months.
I attended this lady almost daily for three years, and
I am thankful to say she is now well. Her case is so
remarkable that I will make an abstract of her own state
ment of it which she has drawn up for my use.
Her health since childhood has been poor. At 3
years old she had typhus, which left behind it a swelled
throat. At 12 she was thought to be in consumption;
for which she was bled, blistered, and leeched : fourteen
blisters for twenty-four hours each in one year. Sea air
removed the cough, and till 17 her health was better.
Then inflammation of the chest—bleeding, blistering,
and leeches. On returning home into Rutland she was
greatly afflicted with abscesses, which were treated by
leeches, poultices, the lancet. Her right arm was con
stantly in a sling. When that recovered she suffered
in the same manner from her throat, which was twice
cut: then the right side swelled very much, and the right
leg dragged in walking. At 21 severe scarlatina; and
after that no use in the right leg; its muscles were con
tracted ; she could not put it to the ground. One physi
cian pronounced her a cripple for life. Sir C. Clarke
considered the spine affected, and ordered her to keep
her couch.
After nearly ten years of lameness, and
�CELLULITIS.
51
entire confinement during the winter months to bed and
couch, and after having lost her voice for nine months,
she placed herself under the care of Dr. Jephson, of
Leamington, who salivated her. He succeeded in re
storing her voice, but it soon left again. During this
time she had inflammation of the bowels, for which he
applied forty leeches. “ After a year under his kind
care, she threw away her crutches, and was quite strong.”
He considered the complaint to be “ chronic inflammation
of the mucous membrane with nervous susceptibility and
irritation of the womb.” In 1849, she had a fall, which
bruised the hip and side, and shook her internally; and
taking a long journey soon afterwards, she became pros
trate, no food would digest, the effort to take it caused
fainting; her limbs were stiff and cold, and the right leg
so exquisitely tender that it had to be wrapped up in
cotton wool. She kept bed for two months. Blisters
and galvanism were tried: tonics restored her; and she
was able to resume her arduous duties as companion
to an epileptic lady who was mentally afflicted. In
1852, she was again prostrate, and under the care of
Dr. Marsden, at Malvern, for ulcers of the womb, which
he considered were occasioned by the fall. He applied
caustic, which caused great irritation and inflammation
of the spine, with spasms, and palpitations, and entire loss
of the use of the right leg. Dr. Russell was now consulted,
and wisely ordered mesmerism, which enabled her in a
few months to return to her duties at Leamington. Until
1860, she was able to be actively employed, but suffered
from a bad spasmodic cough in the winter.
On Sept. 7, 1860, she left home for Leamington with
a bad cough, and shortly afterwards passed a long tape
worm, and the cough was relieved; but she was unable
to move in consequence of the pain in the spine and leg.
She was attended and examined by Dr. S. and Mr. P.,
who found induration from piles and enlargement of one
*
4
�52
CELLULITIS.
ovary. Spasms and twitchings of the limbs were fre
quent, and continued till they caused exhaustion. She
came up to London, and the same mesmerism was
again tried, but now it only aggravated the spasmodic
jerking of the limbs. She was examined with the
speculum by Mr. L., which caused her great suffering,
and to use her own words six months ago, she has “ had
internal abscesses ever since. He made the discovery that
it was inflammation of the ovary.” After “intense
suffering, loss of voice for four months, and great pros
tration,” she called me in. I attended her at first in
conjunction with Dr. Pattison, and had the benefit of his
counsel from time to time, whenever local mischief was
urgent, or local irritation ran high.
And now the history of three years can be easily con
densed. The symptoms, which sometimes became in
tense, sometimes declined towards ease if not towards
health, were large and simple. In the first-place the
change of life was being transacted. There was evident
hysteria of a poignant character depending upon most
acute causes. The slightest jar produced an agony; a
little walk at the best of times was followed by an aggra
vation; the shaking of a carriage has more than once
consigned her to her couch for months. The nights
were alarmingly sleepless for these years; and, what
evidently produced the rest of the symptoms, there was
some travelling lesion appearing hi part after part of
the body, and leaving no part unvisited but the head
itself. This lesion was accompanied by evident swellings.
From time to time, there was great swelling over the
region of the womb and ovaries; great swelling about
the hips; swelling almost like lumbar abscess; swelling
of the upper part of the abdomen just under the stomach ;
great swelling of one breast, while the other remained
small; swelling as of anasarca of the limbs—sometimes
of one for weeks, and then of the other. In short, there
�CELLULITIS.
53
was a travelling tumefaction, which seemed to involve
some terrible mischief to one organ after another, as it
passed across their several orbits. Many times did it
appear as if the swelling must burst, internally or exter
nally; and often had the clothes to be adjusted to the
altered shape of the person. The pain, meanwhile, was
that of acute inflammation in its various stages; and,
from the constant element of spinal irritation inter
mingled, the burning was often not less than agonizing,
for long periods together; and, from the beginning of my
attendance, there were abscesses which burst in the
vagina, and, wherever they were situated, discharged
their contents by that passage. After severe attacks of
pelvic inflammation, fresh discharges took place—some
times of pus, sometimes of cores intermingled. These
attacks would last for weeks, and were accompanied by
great swellings, generally of all the accustomed parts on
the left side; e.y., the whole left leg, which once, as the
patient says, “became nearly the size of her body;” of
the whole left abdomen, internally; of the left breast, and
of the left arm. It was clear that there were volcanoes
of inflammation forming ever and anon in the universal
cellular tissue, and sometimes gaining an outlet for their
destructions by the vagina. The bowels were constantly
confined, though I never suffered them to remain so;
but if the homoeopathic deobstruents failed I used castor
oil, injections, or any other means that were necessary.
The state of the limbs was peculiar: for months the
right leg was drawn up, as in hip-disease; the heel could
not be brought to the ground, and any attempt to alter
the habitual position of the limb was agonizing, and led,
that night and the next days, to fresh cellular inflammations. These inflammations generally took place with
rapidity: a few hours sufficed to develop a swelling,
which it required weeks to disperse.
There was
never, however, any redness of the skin, though it
�54
CELLULITIS.
sometimes grew very thin under the increase of the
expansion.
The voice was generally lost when the suffering was
great; but I was almost always enabled to restore it by
breathing upon the larynx for one or two minutes.
There were frequent cataleptic attacks, one of them like
apparent death, during a severe exacerbation of the cellu
litis. The capacity for pain, owing to the spinal and
hysterical basis on which the inflammation was laid, was
extraordinary; but my patient has a mind of impertur
bable cheerfulness, great courage and faith, and a hope
which hopes in subordination, but not dictatorially.
Owing to her inward vitality, the psychical circumstances
were all in her favour.
As the case proceeded, our prospects did not improve.
Air and exercise would have done good, but they broke
the thin crust of health, and the smouldering cellulitis
was underneath: change of air, for the same reason, was
worse than useless, from the shaking of the journey.
About April, 1863, an event occurred which filled me
with apprehension, and from the consequences of which
I saw no escape. In the course of the abscesses, inflam
mation and sloughing occurred between the vagina
and the rectum, and portions of the fasces came with
every motion through the orifice, and passed out by the
vagina. Warm water injections, with Coxeter’s admi
rable syringe, were sedulously used, to render this state
of things tolerable. I communicated to the family that
a lesion had occurred, which might be expected to in
crease, and which might render life a burden, and almost
complete rest inevitable. At this time, the rectum was
the subject of intense distress; the cellulitis was no doubt
in it; and recent haemorrhoids, causing obstruction and
suffering, were superadded. For years previously, “the
action of the bowels had always caused great pain: ” now
the suffering was intense.
�CELLULITIS.
55
The last stroke of calamity which I have described—
this fistulous ulceration—was a fortunate thing for my
patient: it led to what I hope will prove a permanent
cure.
A few months previously, I had read Dr.
MacLimont’s extremely valuable article on Pelvic
Cellulitis, and had understood Miss S.’s case far
better for the reading of it. And now, in view of the
hemorrhoidal complication, and the great inflammatory
swamp surrounding and threatening the vagina and the
rectum and their continuations and cellular beds, I re
collected a passage in Dr. Grover Coe’s work on Concen
trated Organic Medicines, which was first brought to my
knowledge by my dear friend, Dr. Le Gay Brereton, of
Sydney, and which runs as follows :—
“ But the most remarkable influences of the Collinsonin
are observable in haemorrhoids and other diseases of the
rectum.
The most inveterate and chronic cases are
relieved, and frequently cured, by means of this remedy
alone. It should be given in large doses at first, say
five grains, and repeated every two hours, in severe
cases, until the system is brought under its influence
and the symptoms controlled, and then continued in
average doses, three or four times a day, until the dis
ease is eradicated. We have known it to act promptly
in suppressing hseniorrhage from the bowels, and in re
lieving those distressing pains characteristic of hemor
rhoidal affections. It is a valuable constitutional remedy
in many affections, and its persevering use seldom fails
to benefit the general health. It increases the appetite,
and promotes digestion and assimilation.”
And this acknowledgment of the great benefit I have
received from others, will lead appropriately to the
treatment which was adopted in this case.
Rest, as complete as possible, was a necessity for
nearly three years: the patient reclined upon an invalid
couch. As I said before, whenever rest was far infringed,
�56
CELLULITIS.
even by carriage exercise, fresh inflammations, swellings,
and sloughs, were the result in a few days or hours.
Miss S. did indeed usually sit up to her meals, but it
was at the cost of considerable suffering. Dr. Pattison
insisted upon entire repose ; and I prescribed a little
movement, that she might not lose the use of her limbs,
and the functional activity which the limbs excite: and
between us both she oscillated as well as she could.
From a very early period it was found that all shocks
of every description did mischief. Some stimulating
drops (Liq. Amm. Fortiss., tfc.) applied to the spine to
provoke counter-irritation, caused Tetanic spasms, and
prolonged alarming faintings; and loss of voice was
always left behind, besides generally increased stiffness
of some part of the body, or the limbs. The tissues
were evidently so sympathetic, so poorly innervated, and
so friable, that any tension sprained and broke them, and
left a rapid nervous inflammation to consume the injured
parts. We soon discovered that letting the patient alone
was indispensable to her safety.
It was easy to look back through the leechings, and
blisterings, and bleedings, and to know the woeful part
they had played in breaking the bruised reed. It was
also at last obvious to conclude, that the various doctors
had treated special organs, without recognizing the
general cellulitis, which, as a disease, and as a tendency,
lay at the basis of all the exacerbations of the case. It was
not, however, easy to devise anything more for this
hyper-sensitive patient than juclicious expectancy,—
leaving her alone, with occasional reserves of general
common sense. Opiates and hot fomentations when the
pain was unbearable; injections and Castor Oil when the
bowels needed it (and it was never expedient to allow
anything approaching to constipation); wine, and stimulants, and good living,—these were necessities which
enabled her to endure and to live. What more ?
�CELLULITIS.
57
When I saw her first she had tried Allopathy and
Homoeopathy, each for many years; and had traversed
several great belts of illness, and between them had
passed through periods of comparative health. We
might, therefore, hope, especially after the critical age
was past, that the disease would wear itself out again,
and a respite of years be given. I therefore did my best
to combat one distressing complication after another, as
it arose; and she also had courses of Sulphur, Calcarea,
Silicea, Hepar Sulphuris, and the other profound medi
cines which in so many cases work good by apply
ing themselves to the foundations of constitutional
disease. Aconite, Bryonia, Belladonna, Lachesis, Arseni
cum, Arnica, Granatum, Hydrastis, and numerous other
medicines in all dilutions low and high, were adminis
tered as they seemed to be called for. Veratrum Viride,
also, from an early period of my treatment, according
to Dr. Maclimont’s suggestion (but long before I read
his Essay), had been given internally, to combat the
successive inflammations; and all this, with more or less
good effect, but with no comprehensive curative result.
In short, after using all the means I knew, I had miti
gated my patient’s sufferings, and relieved her symptoms
one by one; but the attacks of the complaint were in
creasing, and the deep disease itself derided my efforts.
It was now that I found and tried the Collinsonia
Canadensis, a remedy to which I was led entirely by the
disease of the rectum, vagina, and the expanse of
tissues in which these organisms lie. For the erethism,
spasms, violent cough, and sleeplessness, which accom
panied the progress of destruction, I found Hyoscyamus
in narcotic doses very useful; I had frequently employed
it before under similar emergencies. Now, then, she
took these two remedies, the Hyoscyamus at night, and
the Collinsonia n. 3 at intervals during the twenty-four
hours. As soon as ever she began the Collinsonia, to
�58
CELLULITIS.
use her own phrase, it “ acted in a most marked manner
upon the skin and muscles. During all her previous
illnesses, she had never had any perspiration; but now
the drops were continually standing on her forehead.”
By June, 1863, her size was greatly diminished; the
bulging tracts of hip, and loin, and hypochondrium were
subsiding towards the natural level; and, marvellous to
say, the foeces occasionally made no passage through the
recto-vaginal ulceration.
Continuing the Collinsonia
daily, she was able to walk about without being injured
by exercise. Improvement continued till the 9th of
August, when a cab-drive shook her, and brought on
internal suffering; great swelling of the left side took
place, and the old tracts of cellular and other tissues
were charged with the contents of inflammation. There
was difficulty of passing water, and the urine was scant
and high-coloured. Her spirits were depressed.
August 28th.—I recommended her for the first time
hot slipper-baths, medicated with Veratrum, Viride; and
almost at once immense relief was experienced. To use
her own words, “ the muscles of the right leg were soon
set at liberty; and for the first time for three years she
could really put her heel to the ground, and in a little
time walk without a stick.” The swelling subsided. The
action of the bowels became regular and complete. The
ulceration between the bowel and the vagina closed of its own
accord; and has given no trouble since. This result has,
I confess, surprised me; and I must doubt whether there
are many more happy issues in the history of ordinary
medicine.
September 30th.—She could “walk a mile without
her stick, with great enjoyment.”
October 1st.—The general health is good, and the
step elastic; though she still suffers much at night.
She has entirely given up her couch in the day, and is
able to employ her time thoroughly. She still continues
�CELLULITIS.
59
the Veratrum Viride baths twice a week, and the
Collinsonia persistently.
It is not long since I received from her the following
letter, which continues her state, and shows her thank
fulness :—
“ March 20th, 1864.
“My dear Doctor,
“ I have had no return of internal ailments for the last
three months, only symptoms of what I have suffered in
the continual passing of what appears to be the cores of
the abscesses. Since the large swelling subsided in my
side and body from the use of your medicated bath, I
have had my throat, glands, and left elbow much
swollen, but I am thankful to say the Feratfrwm Viride
has dispersed the ailments. For some weeks during the
severe winter my knees have been very stiff and painful
from rheumatism. You have relieved them entirely by
Collinsonia; the effect of this is very peculiar, for
whilst I am taking it the pain goes from the affected
part; but gives a comfortable glowing sensation at the
roots of the hair, which gets quite crisp. I have at this
present time no aches, no pains. I walked nearly five
miles yesterday, and have been twice to church to-day;
and the joy and gratitude I feel I cannot describe. In
stead of sleepless painful nights, I enjoy calm refreshing
sleep, and rise in the morning ready for any work or
walk that comes before me—(‘Bless the Lord 0 my
soul, and forget not all His benefits.’) That our good
God may bless your skill and watchfulness to many
others, whose lives have been despaired of, is the prayer
of your ever grateful patient,
“E------ S--------.
“4, St. Leonard’s Terrace, Maida Hill, West.”
The last time I saw her medically was on March 30th,
when she was suffering from indigestion, and deficient
�60
CELLULITIS.
action of the liver. These symptoms were speedily re
lieved by Pulsatilla n. 12.
On that occasion she reported some circumstances
which were interesting, as connected with a drug so
little known as the Collinsonia Canadensis.
She re
ported that she had left off the Collinsonia for some
little time; and that since leaving it off, her “ hair felt
so limp as if she could do nothing with it.” She also
felt an achy coldness about the head, whereas before she
felt “ a comfortable glow enlivening at the roots of the
hair; the hair was also crisp, curly, and growing;” and
under the same medicinal influence the hair from grey
has been becoming black. While taking the Collinsonia
Canadensis she “ feels as if all the muscles have more
vigour; a lightness of body, as if she is fit for any
thing.”
After the Pulsatilla was finished, I prescribed the con
tinuation of Collinsonia, 30 and 12. Now, these high
dilutions of the medicine have a most penetrating effect,
extending their power over the whole organism. If any
one doubts it, let him doubt after a fair trial, and then I
will love his doubt.
This lady is now well: thank God. Three serious
questions occur:—1. Seeing that she has had intervals
of health before, will she now remain well ? Can she be
said to be cured ? I believe she will remain well, and
that she is cured, because the result, for the first time in
the history of her cases, is due to specific treatment,
which has been discovered for her particular case; and
also to general treatment answering to specific.
If
the complaint recurs, Veratrum Viride and Collinsonia
Canadensis may fairly be expected to extinguish it
at once. 2. How do I know that the Collinsonia
was the specific, and did the work ? Reader, did
you ever shoot a bird, and know at once you had shot
it, without having any ground for the knowledge
�CELLULITIS.
61
but its own intrinsic assurance ? The evidence was
irresistible, but can hardly be conveyed. The other
drugs I had tried struggled with the disease, and
succumbed to it: the disease crouched from the first
moment before this one, and melted into nothingness.
The whole life was altered: there was a consciousness of
health coming from afar, but surely coming—the advanced
pickets of it were already on the spot in the very first
dose of the Collinsonia.
But the Cellulitis returned after the cab-shaking of the
9th of August. Yes: and it may return again, in its begin
ning, under any imprudence, until the organism forgets the
habit of it. But there was one reason then, which there
will not be again: the tissues, infarcted and confarcted
for years, were loaded with effete materials, and the
Collinsonia, after having slain the present monster, found
before it an unliftable load of his former exuviae and
slough-skins. These could still be a seed of mischief,
and a multiform root of destructions.
The Veratrum
Viride was needed to disperse them, which it did by
aggrandizing sweats to the uttermost; by increasing the
power of the absorbents enormously; and by thus dimi
nishing the bulk and packing around old “cores,” it
allowed them to seek an outlet, and to drop from the
organization. It also destroyed the capacity for inflam
mation in the tissues, and rendered them incombustible
—as the whole course of these pages has shown that this
drug does. 3. Is the Collinsonia a specific for Cellulitis
in other cases? This question can only be answered
after an extended experience. I was led to it by its
patness to the attack on the rectum and to the haemor
rhoids ; and in cases similarly complicated, I should have
great confidence in its specific powers. But then, on
the other hand, these symptoms were of such late deve
lopment, that they seem to form no part of the ground
work of the disease; and therefore it may be, that the
�62
ERUPTIVE FEVER.
Collinsonia is really the remedy for many forms of
Cellulitis. The sceptical part of us will again suggest
that the Veratrum Viride was equally a specific in this
instance. I do not, however, see anything in its known
action, hitherto, to account for its cure of the recto
vaginal fissure, which was nearly obliterated before the
Veratrum Viride baths were employed.
XX.
Eruptive Fever, with threatened Paralysis of the Brain.
On the 1st of this May, I was called to see Miss R.,
a young lady from the Midland Counties, on a visit in
my neighbourhood, and found her with a flushed and
spotted face, and complaining of some pain in the back,
for which symptoms I prescribed Bryonia and Mer
curius.
May 2, at seven in the morning, an urgent message
summoned me to her at once. She had alarmed her
sister and the family by several fainting fits during the
night. When I arrived, she was labouring under strong
excitement, apparently hysterical. Her face was red
and swollen with a continuous eruption; and small
pimples, which created no great irritation, were thickly
dotted over the chest. The pain in the small of the
back was worse. I ordered her to continue the Bryonia
and Mercurius, and to have Ignatia occasionally if the
faintings returned.
At 30 p.m. I saw her again, and found her symptoms
*
aggravated. Her pulse was fluttering, and 110. Occa
sionally she lost her voice; at other times she could not
speak plain, so as to be understood. Her manner was
hurried and excitable, and I could not command her
silence. She complained of an electric feeling in the
limbs. The pain had left her back, and the face was less
�ERUPTIVE FEVER.
63
swelled; but the eruption extended now all over the
body, and was not unlike measles in appearance. She
had considerable cough. I prescribed Rhus and Phos
phorus, and Veratrum Viride lotions to the forehead.
For support—chicken-broth, mutton-broth, brandy, and
wine-and-water.
May 3rd, 11.10 a.m.—I was unable to see her last even
ing, having a call into the country. Now, when I paid
my visit, I found she had been alarmingly ill all night.
Pulse 100, very weak—nay, almost gone. The eruption
on the face was raised and scarlet. She had low, mutter
ing delirium. The prostration was utter, and her hands
and arms fell about as if completely paralysed. Cough
bad, and sore throat superadded. She had had no sleep.
Occasionally she could be roused to temporary conscious
ness, and then she said she was better. Her friend who was
with her was anxious to have Father A. in the house, to
administer the last sacraments, and I could not say that
such a measure might not be urgent, for, indeed, she seemed
to be dying. I prescribed Belladonna, Stramonium, and
ffisemewn, in alternation, at half-hour intervals; and
ordered a cap of Veratrum Viride lotion, covered in with
gutta percha tissue, and kept tightly on the head, to the
whole brain: the hair to be shortened sufficiently to
admit of its close application.
At 3^ p.m., I found her revived and sensible, though
she still spoke with morbid velocity, and would not hold
her tongue. The head, however, was decidedly relieved;
pulse 100. I found that the Veratrum Viride cloths had
not been applied, but the remaining hair had been wetted
with it, and gutta percha tissue superposed; now, however,
I had the cloths carefully applied. The extreme collapse
was lessened; she was sick and had some epigastric pain;
the tongue furred, but not fleshy. She had taken sherryand-water and beef-tea, frequently. To continue the
medicines at the same intervals. To the Veratrum Viride
�64
ERUPTIVE FEVER.
brain-lotions, I added some tincture of Keith’s Oil of
Capsicum—an invaluable local remedy, where stimulation
is required.
At 9 p.m. I found her more composed than she was by
the Report last night, but less so than she had been at my
last visit; pulse 102. Her answers were quite rational,but
the speech sometimes sharp and splintery. She had
passed no urine since 3 o’clock in the morning, but had
had one good motion. There was no prostration, but
constant sickness. The eyes were suffused, the skin hot,
but the palms moist. Continue the local and internal
medicines. Give Ipecacuanha occasionally, for sickness.
May 4th, 9^ a.m.—Pulse 96‘8. She is comparatively
calm and composed this morning, and the threatened
paralysis of the brain has passed. Her pose in bed is
good, and she can use her arms. The sickness left her
at half-past eleven last night. Her tongue is now clear
ing. The eruption is continuously red on the face, and
smooth there; but dotted, perseminated, and raised all over
the body, and even on the fingers. It is not, how
ever, very thick. The urine is now normal; and the
cough better; but the sputa are thick and suspiciouslooking, and sink in water. Her talkativeness is still
controlled with difficulty. She had small snatches of
sleep in the night, with talking in it; and two sleeps of
half-an-hour each. She feels the tingling of the Cap
sicum over her head and neck. Continue all the means;
the internal medicines, however, at longer intervals.
4 p.m.—Pulse 96. Copious tubercular-looking sputa.
Rale in right chest. Quite collected, and can sit up in
bed.
9.20 p.m.—Pulse 88. No hurry of manner. Continue
the medicines, but omit Veratrum Viride cap for a few
hours.
May 5th.—Pulse 72. Eruption lessening; calmer and
stronger. She had two hours’ good sleep in the night,
�ERUPTIVE FEVER.
65'
and many dreamy dozes. The expectoration is less.
Dulcamara and Calcarea Carbonica. To have some
under-done minced mutton-chop.
May 6th.—Pulse 80. The rash is still on the face;
sleep poor; cough and expectoration less; tongue, clean
ing. She felt better after her chop yestesday. She is
to take Cod Liver Oil, and continue the medicines, but
not the lotion.
May 7th.—A poor night, in consequence of swelled
face and abscess in the gums. Pulse 80. Continue.
May 8th.—Pulse 75. Seven hours’ sleep; occasional
hysterical laughing, which she does not remember after
wards. The suspicious expectoration gone, and replaced
by clear salivary spitting. She has a good appetite,
and was up for an hour last evening. This morning
she is writing notes, which I forbid; and has on her bed
Father Newman’s Apologia pro Vita Sud, which she is
not to read. The eruption is still out on the face, but is
leaving the body; the tongue is healthily clean. Con
tinue Dulcamara and Calcarea Carbonica and Cod Liver
Oil.
May 9th.—The face peeling; pulse 72. A night’s
rest; functions regular; no cough or expectoration.
Continue.
May 11th.—Convalescent.
What part did Hysteria play in this case ? At first,
although there was an eruptive fever, I was inclined to
set down the nervous symptoms as purely hysterical. But
the attack on the brain, threatening paralysis, was too
alarming to be treated on that hypothesis alone. And
the anti-congestive Veratrum Viride., with the medicines,
produced instantaneous relief. Moreover, the subsequent
attack on the chest showed a travelling materies morbi of
a real bodily character. The fever was of that kind
which is sometimes called spurious scarlatina, and for
which Dulcamara is homoeopathic: during the progress
5
�66
of which, paralysis of the brain, or of the lungs, is some
times imminent.
And here I conclude these cases for the present, feeling
assured that the truly experimental reader will find in
them indications for a new and easy power of healing in
numerous diseases that have hitherto been fatal to kings
*
and poor people alike—from defect of the direct and
efficient ways and remedies which I now make known.
* Witness the deaths of the kings of Denmark and Wurtemberg,
from erysipelas, within these few months. I believe they might have
been alive now, and an iniquitous war have been postponed by a few
ounces of Veratrum Viride.
�Medical Freedom.
It is my intention from time to time to offer cases with
remarks, as an easy means of bringing new treatment
and occasional thoughts before the public.
The time is to come when general medical education
will surround my profession so closely, that its narrow
ness and exclusiveness, and its cliques, will give way
under the pressure of the public common sense; and no
authority will be left but the authority of facts. I
have a great hope in me to hasten that desirable time.
For it is evident that the simpler medical truth can
become—by medical truth understand truth in practice,
the only test of which is, success in practice—the more
enlightened public criticism must come upon the doctors,
and give them their degrees in every separate case. A
man’s or a woman’s repute will be his or her sole
authorization to practice. For instance, in the treat
ment of small-pox as I have now made it public, any
mother or grandmother may demand the remedies which
ensure the benefits recorded in the foregoing pages; and
if the doctor is not acquainted with them, and will not
employ them when pointed out, then such mother or
grandmother can take away his diploma in the case,
and either confer it upon herself, or provisionally upon
any other person whom she may appoint to conduct the
precious interests of the family health. There can be
no wise authority beyond her, or above her.
For competition will be the soul of success here, as it
*
5
�68
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
is in every other case. Given any field of nature or
experience to be explored, and all the faculties of man
are wanted for it; all the chances of birth are wanted
for it; all the gifts of God are wanted for it; all the
developments of time are wanted for it; all the freedom
of society is wanted for it; all absence of fear of man,
and fear for position, is wanted for it; all good genius
and good ambition is wanted for it; in short, numberless
men are wanted, each mind of them free, and original,
and inspired, as if there was nobody else in the world;
yet each instructed in his lower walks by the labours of
the rest; and all animated by a common faith in the
inevitable co-operation of good with good, and the ine
vitable consentaneousness of knowledge with knowledge,
though independence and freedom be the only law and
bond for each.
Free societies, free institutions will necessarily arise
out of this new medical humanity: order most punctilious
and most exacting will arise; but freedom will be the
king upon its throne.
But now we see the reverse of this, and health con
tracted and eclipsed in the prisons of medical establish
ment.
The maintenance of this present condition lies in the
Protection of Physic by the State. Continue this, and
an external and well-nigh irresistible aid is afforded to
the existing general condition of medical art and science,
as against anything which would considerably enlarge it;
still more, which would revolutionize it ever so benignly;
and, most of all, against anything which tends even
remotely to de-professionalize it, publicize it, and human
ize it. Continue this, and an art and science which depend
upon the natural truths of God, the capacities of nature,
and the genius of mankind, and which should be nourished
most intimately of all on the One Exemplar of Revelation,
and the fact of Redemption—that art and science are
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
69
commanded to eat the dry crusts of Parliament, instead
of the manna of Heaven, and the bread of the earth;
and lawyers and the magistracy stand with a ferule of
penalties to rap the knuckles and break the exploring
fingers of discoverers who dare to discover out of accord
with colleges, or who dare to discover at all if they are
not cloister-vowed, and cloister-bred. Out upon such
public insanity. Any other art, similarly narrowed,
would be similarly strangled. Engineering or chemistry,
in their existing condition in April, 1864, protected—or
what is the same thing—arrested by the State, would
stiffen into Chinese imitation, and their soul, which is
invention, would be lost; their worldly motive, which is
ambition, unbounded by other men’s power, would be
lost; and their huge sense of freedom, in which they
live and move and have their being, would be exchanged
for the degrading consciousness of the powdered head
and well-fitted livery of the State.
But medicine must be emancipated, and as the public,
directed by God, will have to do the work, I address my
medical life and thought to the public; and not specially
to the people in bonds.
Yet would I willingly calm the apprehensions of all
professional brethren.
1. Not a college, sect, or diploma will perish when
physic is free from State patronage and protection; that
is to say, unless public bodies choose to disband them
selves. The only power they will lose will be the power
of harming other bodies, or other people not of their way
of thinking. They will gain the power of emulating in
good works and open-mindedness all the useful people
whom they have called quacks, and imposters, and un
qualified practitioners, and who have been the moving
wheels of practice in all ages of the world. They will
gain the humanity of learning from the dog, when he
cures himself 'with grass, without practising the now
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MEDICAL FREEDOM.
ordinary ingratitude and inhumanity of kicking the dog
that is their teacher. They wiR sympathizingly learn
from the North American Indian, and the poor Hindoo,
the traditional healing virtues they have known since the
earliest ages; and their own old pharmacopeias will be
enriched, not then without acknowledgment, with the
sweet beginnings of simplicity, of nature, and of health.
Nay, the certainty is, that the existing colleges, owing
to the decrepitude of the public mind, always induced
by being protected, will be too enduring.
2. In the new time coming, when Parliament will no
longer prescribe a medical profession, and force the
British people to take the dose, the public will be more
apt than they are now to send for regular and collegesanctioned practitioners; provided the colleges give
themselves no airs, but compete fairly in the medical
race. For the colleges have the start, and can enter
the course with many chances of success; provided,
again, they can take to their hearts the new fact of
freedom, and love it as they ought.
At all events we may say it will be their own fault if
they are not the chief ministers at the public bedside.
This, however, will again depend upon the progress of
the art of healing; and institutionally upon other col
leges quite diverse from themselves coming upon the
scene, to enrich medicine, enflame competition and emu
lation, and extend the boundaries of that large kind
feeling which alone can melt away professional jealousy,
and which is the only climate in which all that is liberal
and humane can live.
But would I commit the lives of the community to the
possible intervention of uneducated men?
That, I
answer, is the very thing which has taken place at
present, and which I would invoke freedom to help me
to avoid. The education of the schools cannot fit men
for curing the diseases of their fellows; it is only one way
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of launching them towards professional, but not neces
sarily, healing life. A man of no Latin, no anatomy,
no physiology, is every now and then a good physician,
though he sit on the lowest forms of society. He is
educated for that use, though he cannot write his own
name. By freedom, bring him into rapport with the
light of learning, if you can ■ but at all events kill not
the Divine power which is in him of doing good, because
he is not educated up to your bench. Perhaps you are
confounding education, which is the accepted art of
making gentlemen, with that grander education, or leading
forth, which every man can have, and which consists in
giving him freedom and a career, that his original gifts
may be led forth by their own way, and his own way,
into each one’s promised land of a useful and associated
life. To confound these two educations were a mistake;
for the great physician, look you, may come in a beggar’s
guise. There are no uneducated men save the men that
cannot do their life-work. Their success in that gives
them their diploma of knowledge every day. And no
college can take it away from them. And none ought
to have the power of obscuring it, by insisting that it
shall be pasted over with an artificial document of State
paper.
Want of skill and want of care in medical practice
amount to so much unjustified death per annum; but
who supposes that state protection of physic can increase
the amount of skill in the medical community? The
State, it is true, can exact from everyone, that he or she
shall pass through a curriculum of preparatory studies
and hospital attendance, to fit him to enter upon practice.
But of the studies, many may be useless, except as ac
complishments. From the studies, many useful ones
may be left out, owing to the bigotry of the elders
The diploma may be sought as the shield of protection
to the doctor rather than as the shield of health to the
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MEDICAL FREEDOM.
patient. Numerous men naturally qualified for medicine,
born doctors, may be, and are, shut out from their life
work, by the expense which confines the practice of
physic to the abler classes. All the State licentiates
leaning upon their diplomas, are apt from the very se
curity of their position to be mastered by a conceit in
which natural skill must languish. To be built up
against freedom, to be privileged, is to be built up
against nature; and gifts of God, which in this case are
given first in the heart, will be small where the receivers
of them deny the exercise of them to their fellows. To
be inhumane to your brother man, to be chartered
against him, is a bad preparation for ministering to the
sick, or the departing. The root and basis of medicine
is the love of healing in the universal heart and mind;
the stem of it is the instinctive perception and light
which is born to penetrate into health and disease; the
branches, and the twigs and the leaves of it are the
specialities of perceptions from the nature and the spirit
of mankind; which become special in the course of ex
perience ; the love of healing reigning and animating in
every one of them. Mere experience in its -widest
range is the soil the tree grows in, and the climate in
which it lives. You may garden, you may deepen, you
may purify and enrich this experience as you like; but
the tree grows through all the world, and sciences, and
societies, and states have nothing to do but first not to
define it, not to hinder it; and second, to help it if they
can. If it wants pruning, the force of public opinion
and public criticism, and the pressure of public safety,
are the only instruments that can lop its sacred life; and
all these will play an immeasurably greater part when
State patronage has passed away.
And now suppose you had broken your leg, and it was
badly managed by a regular doctor, a surgeon by Act of
Parliament; and that I had broken my leg, and it was
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73
badly set by an unlicensed bonesetter; would not your
bad man, in an action at law, be far more Ekely to escape
from you scot free than my bad man? You know he
would; because he would be in the fortress of legafity in
the first place; and because he belongs to a powerful
clique which will gather round his incapacity, and stand
up and speak for him; and unless it be a very gross case,
say they could have done no better, and that his ante
cedents are perfect. The pressure of public safety towards
each individual is therefore greatly diminished by
officializing a medical profession; thus causing them all,
army-wise, to support each other, and giving them official
irresponsibility towards the suffering and the sick. And
if you could take away bonesetters and quacks altogether,
the medical profession would be utterly uncriticised and
unamenable. We may sum up this branch of the subject
with the axiom, that the more medicine is under the
protection of the State, the less can its practice be subject
to public opinion, or be under the correction of the law.
An impression has been sedulously cultivated, that
anatomy and physiology, pathology, and various other
branches of science, are the healing virtue in the world,
and that they, and written Practice of Medicine, con
stitute positive faculties in man; whereas they are mere
books, or at the best outlying experiences. Not one of
them has any direct relation, any rule of thumb, to a single
case that will hereafter occur. In every instance they
require to pass through a Eving medical perception to
be of any use. That perception, and aU that belongs
to it, is, as I have said before, a spiritual thing, and
must only be fed, but not substituted or overlaid, by
knowledge.
It is an appecite for doing good and
working cures, and experience and knowledge must
feed it; and this must take place upon true social con
ditions : that is to say, all the men who belong natu
rally to the caUing, must be encouraged, by the
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MEDICAL FREEDOM.
absence of State interference, to take their places at the
Board of Healing.
_ •
For, mark you, all science and experience depend for
their cultivation upon numbers of the right men: so many
earnest men to the square miles of medical truth, and
you will have greater crops of knowledge than if only
half the number were employed. And if you take away
protection from this medical corn of humanity, you will
have more colleges to grow it; waste lands of many
minds never cultivated before, sown with it; more
sciences, more extensive anatomy, physiology, pathology,
pharmacy, rising up from the new interest and curiosity
of the enfranchised medical masses; a greater closeness
of these sciences to the matter in hand; and a quantity of
non-medical minds, who have been forced by mere birth,
parentage, and genteel education, against their grain, into
the cultivation of healing, will be unable to stand the
natural rivalry of born doctors of all classes, and will
betake themselves to other callings. In the meantime,
there will not be more medical men, unless society
requires them, but there will be a constant tendency ever
increasing, that there shall be none but truly medical
men associated with the medical wants of the people.
This flush and influx of spirit and nature into the call
ing, will greatly—nay, incalculably—alter the spirituality
and naturalness of the art and its ancillary sciences.
Much will then be able to be done by genius and instinct,
which is now only vainly attempted by the cruel senility
of an effete profession. For the matter stands thus:—
Nature and its sciences must be cultivated, according to
the present exigency and mission of the human mind,
for these are the natural and scientific ages. Medicine
must be extended, falsely or benignly, from the pressure
of the sick upon the sound. The world of work revolv
ing with giddy velocity, brain and heart, and man and
woman, call aloud for central power to enable us to stand
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
75
upright in the rapid revolutions. If the medical faculty
—I mean the cohort of healers out of all men—is only
one-tenth nature’s strength, and nine-tenths noodledom
from one class only, the one-tenth must cast about
savagely, and most artificially, for the missing ninetenths of their natural mind and their natural array.
Failing to combat disease on such unequal terms, they
must endeavour to generate power, which is another
name for inspiration, instinct, and genius, out of mere
sciences; and these very sciences perpetually disappoint
ing them they must necessarily cudgel until there is
nothing left but analysis and detail. Woe then to the
bedside when knowledge itself is dust and ashes; and
woe to nature and her feelings when the rack and the
thumbscrew are applied as the only known means of
eliciting her loving, and on any terms but love’s, impenetrable secrets.
All this has gone on in our time and for ages past, but
now to clear understanding. If the medical calling had
been true to nature, and to human nature, in which
freedom and the order that springs from freedom are
abiding facts, the monstrosity of vivisection, of cutting
up live animals, never could have been thought to be a
means to the healing art. The great gorilla of cruelty
could never have been regarded as an ally of the Great
Physician. Perception, instinct, genius, the inspiration
of Christianity, which by making men love each other is the
heart and soul of all human arts, would have had it given to
them to heal diseases without the need of any suggestion
from a torture in which the demons must rejoice. It would
have been seen at once that to lay one knife edge upon a
living creature was to cut the supreme nerve that carries
the emotion of humanity right out from religion into the
medical mind. It would have been known instinctively
that the power of healing, coming as it should do from
Christ direct, is from that moment paralytic; that the
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MEDICAL FREEDOM.
steady will can no longer lift it, and that the good it still
does is in momentary spasms from the lower emotions of
the man. How different from the river of power, pro
ceeding down the Divine steeps, terrace by terrace, to
humanity at large, through faculties which are essentially
humane.
And this horrible vivisection is a type of the other
distorting arts and sciences which the false cramping of
medicine into a State-built profession is one active means
of producing. Chemic, static, and material reasoning
have as little to do with restoration of health as physio
logy founded upon the cutting up of living animals.
Observe, I do not deny that vivisection may, as other
analytic methods have done, contribute hints, in the ages
while man is still cruel to man, to practical medicine;
but I deny our right, even with chloroform to stupify
animals, to gain knowledge in this way. There are
robberies and murders in nature, and science has no
more right to live upon their spoils, than citizens have
right to retire into comfortable drawing-rooms for life
upon the proceeds of daggers and dark lanes. There are
better riches for man and science than these, and im
measurably better ways of acquiring them. Time was
when the cutting up of living criminals did contribute to
the progress of physiological knowledge. There is no
doubt of that; but even Dr. Brain-Skewerhard would
scarcely advocate the practice as legitimate at the present
day. And now the feelings of every one of his cats and
his crows is worth more than all the science which their
maltreatment has ever brought into his store.
Before quitting this branch of the subject, let us notice
that the State also lends a heavy pressure to discourage
the introduction of women as medical practitioners.
This it does by chartering irresponsible public bodies,
such as the colleges of physicians and surgeons, who deny
the right of examination to women, however gifted or
�MEDICAL FREEDOM,
77
accomplished they may be; and these brave women, few
at present in numbers, and with no public support, are
obliged to submit without appeal to this corporate
despotism which has grasped the keys of the door of
. medical practice. Surely here, as in all other human
things, the law is freedom and experiment. If woman
aspires to try her hand in healing the sick, what is the
justification of that power which would deny her the
trial ? You think she had better mind her own business,
and attend to her house and its concerns; but why then
do you not mind yours, and leave her to herself ? If she
has not tried the medical life, how is it possible to know
what will come of her trial? You cannot penetrate a
chemical, or a fact in anything, by thinking; you must
have experiment, which has made all the difference
between the dark ages of knowledge and the light ages.
Especially in human capacities you must have experi
ment ; and without freedom, which State patronage
inevitably destroys, you camiot have experiment. True,
woman may be altogether unfit for this work, but let her try,
which is the one only way to prove her unfitness. Do not
with your State sword of ungallantry cut her down in her
first exercises, because you think she ought not to succeed.
I do not know whether she will succeed or not, and that
is clearly no affair of mine; but I do know that if I deny
her the right to her experiment, besides being guilty of
the most cowardly meanness and unmanliness, I am
denying in the highest instance the divinely ordained and
only successful principle of all the arts and sciences—I am
crushing the very masterpiece of experiment.
In short, medical social science reposes on the ground
of medical social experiment, just as natural science re
poses upon the ground of natural experiment.
Instead then of cutting up living animals, favour by
freedom the putting together of living humanities;
favour in this way at once the highest synthesis and the
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MEDICAL FREEDOM.
highest experiment; and be assured that if no other good
comes from it, disburdened and leisure-gifted human
nature will become the vehicle of a spirit and a fire, of a
generosity and an insight, of a thankfulness and a pene
tration, of a love and of a life, before which Isis will let
drop her veil, and the artificial difficulties which have
barred and frozen out the long lost way to the positive
ages will be melted from before our advancing feet by
the smiles of nature herself.
But besides excluding without trial one half of the
human race, and perhaps the better half, from the
inspired pursuit of healing, State interference also con
fines the cultivation and practice of medicine virtually to
the middle classes. That is to say, it ordains that the
genius of the physician is only to be found in one rank
of society. It erects a property-qualification for exer
cising the gifts of God in the chief of the inspirational
arts supported by the chief of the sciences. Apply this
all round, and how absurd it grins upon us. Imagine
that Parliament should insist that no painter, sculptor,
poet, or musician should be born in the upper or the
lower ranks1 What a belief in caste, and Chinese arti
ficiality would this imply; and what an atheistic denial of
gifts, of genius, and of the mission of Nature’s noble
men, wherever they may be. And yet Parliament,
without intending it, virtually does all this for the
medical estate, by interfering to give privilege to colleges
of the middle class, which thenceforth inevitably pro
ceed by financial arrangements, and enforced studies, to
make a man first a gentleman in accomplishments, and
afterwards to let him be a medical man if his gifts lie
that way; and to dub him so in any case. This, too, is
against social experiment, and affronts nature in her
scientific regard.
It is the great source of quacks
among the poorer classes; the said quacks being evi
dently persons with some gift for medicine, but with no
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
79
means of an education. Emancipate medicine from
State-trammels, and poor men’s medical colleges would
arise, and compete not ignobly with the other colleges.
The poor could then be attended by educated people
of their own sort, at small expense, and the masses
generally would be raised by having their own un
scorned natural professions, and a new class of bluff
honest common senses and artisan ways of natural life
and thought would be added to these noble arts. The
medical instinct and inspiration of humanity shall stand
upon their feet in the masses.
Nor, then, would medical nature be cashiered, as she
now is, of the splendid culture and chivalric honour and
insight of the upper men and women. What Lord
Napier was to logarithms; what Lord Rosse is to astro
nomical experiments; what the Duke of Sutherland is to
rescue from fire; what Wellington was to war; and Prince
Albert to the republicanism of the arts and sciences,
that might other lords and ladies be to practical medicine,
and the inventions which it so much needs. But make
it essentially a middle class affair, and the lower classes
cannot bring their gifts into it, and the upper classes
will not. Yet it is against all reason to suppose that
the noblemen and gentlemen of Great Britain do not
include a per-centage of medically gifted men; and also
that the same is not true of the people. The fact that
as a rule they yield no recruits to the divine mission of
curing disease, is of itself sufficient to show that some
devouring artificiality is preying upon them; and that a
huge injustice is done to gifts for which we are heavily
responsible before God, and to our fellow men. The
protection of medicine by the State is that artificiality
and that injustice. Remove it, and with it you begin to
remove the baneful belief—now all but universal—
that medical men can be created by culture; that real
culture can come from without, and that the nature and
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MEDICAL FREEDOM.
gifts of the men are of second-rate importance. Nay,
in the very act of removing it you reverse that creed,
and make the gifts primary, and set the culture in the
second place. Will you have less culture for that ?
Oh! no, infinitely more! The gifts will become then so
sacred, and the responsibility of them so exacting, that
the sharp and genial powers will raise colleges before
which the existing ones could pass no examination, but
■ great and corporate though they be, would inevitably be
plucked. Where there is a will there is a way. And
the great way is natural knowledge; but the will in its
purest manifestation is only another name for the de
termination of our gifts.
And now, to turn the tables, having shown the
blighting and vitiating influence of State patronage
upon medicine, there is another branch of despotism
quite of an internal kind, which deserves to be recorded
and protested against. There is the attempt to subject
medicine, not to State law, but to scientific law; the
aim, as the phrase goes, to make it into a positive
science.
The truth is, as I have stated before, that
medicine is not a science at all, although nourished and
fed perhaps out of all sciences; Medicine is an Art, and
an art reposes upon a gift of God, and according to the
intensity of that gift it is called genius, and according
to its native and willing openness to the power above it,
it becames inspiration.
And that art summons and
employs all the faculties for its furtherance; among
them, all the scientific faculties, and seeks instruction
and advancement from them all. But because it is an
unquestioning rush of instinctive life from the man into
his world and his calling, it cannot be dominated by
any rule or principle whatever less than the love of
medical good, and subordinately and as a means the love
of medical truth. The doctrine or rule must ever be
allowed to invade that centre, any more than the geo
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
81
graphy of the earth must be palmed upon the sun. If
you attempt to work it by rule, some one ambitious
principle will extinguish all the much needed others,
and you will have war first, and then inconceivable nar
rowness in your mind. You will fall into sects, and at
the entrance to each Mrs. Grundy will stand doorkeeper
in your soul. You will not venture to prescribe what
you know would do good, because it is not of your self
chosen rubric; and because your fellows will call you to
account for a breach of your bond. You will cease to
look all round for means, and will wear the blinkers of
so-called principle where the precipices of your own and
your neighbour’s danger demand the foot of the chamois,
and the eye of the eagle. Heaven help you, you will
be accoutred for blindman’s buff when you ought to be
king of the terrible Alps. And all for what ? that you
may pretend to an exactness which nature disowns; and
may enthrone the tiny frame of material science upon
the colossal ruins not only of art, but of faith.
It cannot be done; there are no positive sciences
but those of man’s own making—the houses which he
has built, and in which therefore he can be supreme—
the rest are all fluctuating, and so full of mystery before
and behind, so meant also for usefulness and not for
absoluteness, that careful and humble science may indeed
be a positive ship, made in excellent human docks, but
the great, and desiderated, and unattainable knowledge
is the sea itself, and God is in that sea. The bark rocks
and floats, and the further it voyages, and the more it
moves, the less likely is it to founder in the inscrutable
deep. Let it not want to become more positive than
speeding flight can make it; let it not attempt to drop
the anchor of conceit in the unfathomable places. Let
it not dare to say of any spot in the Divine ocean—This
is mine!
These matters may sound abstract, but they are of
6
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MEDICAL FREEDOM.
immense practical significance, and play an important
part, for good or for ill, at the bedside. For if you find
a practitioner who has a doctrine which he considers
absolute, and who derives his art from that doctrine, two
bad consequences will follow. In the first place, he will
set an overweening value upon the science, pure and
simple, of the case he is treating: the exacting doctrine
in him will have an unnatural appetite to be fed out of
that science; and the regard of the cure as an end will be
perpetually confused by the regard of the science as an
end. I have felt this so strongly myself in practice,
that I have been obliged to put it down: and to tear up
in my mind all magisterial doctrines and principles, and
to rewrite them on neutral and subservient parts of myself
in a humble and ministerial capacity.
By this means,
however, I hope I am attaining to a wider as well as
exacter science in the end: a science which radiates from
the conscious intellect of cures. But in the second place
the doctrinaire practitioner will be bound, or greatly
biassed,—by his own mind; by the surveillance of his doc
trinaire patients, whom he has helped to make into
pedants; and by the medical clique to which he belongs,—
not to do anything which outlies the doctrine which is
his creator.
Suggestions apart from that doctrine will
tend to reduce him to a chaos. What treble fear all this
implies ! What a slender exploration of the means of
nature!
What a regard to a centre of the fancy, when
sad and bleeding facts lie calling for pity, and ought to
avail to take one quite out of oneself, and to make one
gather succour from all things. Instead of this, the first
care is to practice within the doctrine, and to use no
weapon but what the armoury of the doctrine contains.
It is true you may have the highest confidence in the
doctrine, and may believe it is a universal rule, but the
universality is only a belief, and not an established fact;
and no number of human lives can make it more than a
�MEDICAL FREEDOM.
83
belief; that is to say, a probable, and in the ratio of its
probability, a growing and a useful science.
Neverthe
less, you have no right to limit your powers of doing
medical good to such a belief or such a science. Observe,
it is not the science but its mastership that I impugn.
And I do impugn it, because it limits you with no com
pensation ; and because in a vast number of serious cases
it does not succeed; and because where it does succeed,
you have ever a duty to demand a greater success, in
greater rapidity and perfectness of cure. But here again,
your masterful doctrine tells you that when you have
served it faithfully you have done enough.
It will easily be seen that all this applies with force to
Homoeopathy, a doctrine to which I owe so much; in
which, so far as it goes, I thoroughly believe; and which,
whenever the supreme end of cure and my means of
knowledge allow, I unreservedly practice. I regard
Homoeopathy as the grandest natural and material feeder
which has yet been laid down by the genius of a man
from the nature of things into the spiritual body of the
healing arts. Yet Homoeopathy is but a doctrine, a
science, and a rule, and I will not derive medicine from
a science, or confound it with a science; on the contrary,
the science of Homoeopathy itself is a beautiful child and
derivation of an advancing medical art.
Let it occupy
a central, a solar place in the science of therapeutics by
drugs. There it can subsist. But no man can do good
by ignoring any of the wide realms which lie around it
and beneath it, and which are the domain of the collec
tive medical mind.
In the very matter of which the body of this little
work treats, the gist of the above abstract remarks is very
well exemplified. For I have been allowed to discover
that certain formidable diseases, small-pox to wit, can be
treated tuto^ cito et jucunde^ with a safety, rapidity, and
absence of suffering hitherto unknown, by simple external
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MEDICAL FREEDOM.
applications. In the first place, I had a powerful desire
to cure my patients well, and a dissatisfaction with the
present standard of well, in all schools.
This desire in
its measure is the natural heart of healing. Then, in the
next process, I knew that Hydrastis soothes irritated
mucous surfaces, and sometimes skin surfaces, and I
thought I would try it on the face of small-pox. The
only science here involved was an acquaintance with the
drug, and a little reasoning by analogy. I tried it, and
it succeeded marvellously.
And since then I have the
art of applying it correctly, increased by the experience
or knowledge of several cases. And I have faith and
confidence in its being a future blessing to the public; a
saving of innumerable healths, and faces, and lives.
But where is the positive science in all this ? A little
good knowledge suffices for a great deal of good practice.
It strikes me that I have been as little scientific as a
skilled blacksmith who makes a horse-shoe in a given
number of strokes. Of course he knows what he is
about with great accuracy; but that is all you can say
of his knowledge. The rest is educated instinct, and
excellent smithing. He may read about iron and heat,
and the biceps and triceps muscles of his arm, in over
hours ; and he will better his mind by it, and not hurt
his strong sinews ; but the science of his art must not
intrude itself book-wise into his forge, unless as fuel, or
he will soon be a bad professor and spoil horse’s hoofs.
Take the obverse, and suppose that I had enthroned
the Homoeopathic principle above my mind, and that I
had to grapple with dreadful small pox. The exigency
then becomes, to cure with a medicine which will produce
symptoms as nearly similar as possible to those of the
disease. I know no drug which will do this except
tartar emetic in one case which I have seen. I should
therefore have had to cast about through the whole of
Pharmacy for the drug in question; to reason by
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85
analogy from small symptoms to great ones, and per
haps I should have reasoned wrong; and after all I might
never have found what I wanted. And when I had
found it, I should have lacked precedent for applying it
externally. In the meantime, what patients unrelieved
and unsaved might be waiting at the doors of my posi
tive science before I could throw them open and invite
the sufferers into relief and into health! Perforce, I
must have hardened and narrowed and thus satisfied
my heart, to let such sad waiting go on. And at the
best, where would be the gain to science ? Science is
but the register of success ; and I should have had no
science of shortening the disease, no science of curing
the disease, no science of anything, but the worst sort
of expectancy ; the science of contentment with bad
things, and the science of waiting for science. In the
end, not Homoeopathy, but the small-pox would be my
king.
To obviate this I stood upright, as I have been
gradually for some years now endeavouring to do, and
regarded Homoeopathy, and all other means and pathies
whatever, as my appointed servants, and myself as the
servant of healing. And now I had no jealousies among
the servants, because I gave no privileges to any; and
I could pick and choose from all means, regardless of
the overweeningness of science, of the sectarianism of
patients, and of the despotism of medical cliques. In
short, I essayed to be free in my art; to wait upon
Heaven, and to use all ministers and faculties in their
degree of service. Feeling the blessed power of this
position, in contradistinction to the cramp and weakness
of my old one, I am in duty bound, even against the
charge of egotism, to impart it to my fellow men.
What then, it may be asked, becomes of Homoeopathy ?
I answer that it takes its place exactly according to its
proved services, and stands upon the irremoveable foun
�86
MEDICAL FREEDOM.
dation of its cures. It will be all that it ever was, the
most suggestive thing in the round of Pharmaceutical
science. Its dogmatism and its hugeness of minutise
will be cashiered, and Homoeopathy will be the stronger
for losing them. It will be girded afresh for a magni
ficent servitude to the ends of healing. Its martyrs will
still prove medicines on their own bodies, but with an
almost exclusive attention to cardinal results.
Its
registers of symptoms, curtailed by good sense, will be
mastered by those who court intimacy with drugs, and
studied continually afresh where the art of the physician
requires it. The only difference will be, that Homoeo
pathy will become enormously progressive, because it
will have no authority and no privilege, and will be
obliged to subsist upon cures. Reduced, so far as au
thority goes, to equality with other medical sciences, it
will become primarily ambitious of suggesting remedies,
and cease from provings which leave out the human
memory, and constitute a new matter and faculty of
absolute dust. But it will no more quarrel with other
means than the mariner’s compass quarrels with the
sextant, or the sails with the steam-engine of the ship.
Above all, mere instrument that it is, and mere instru
ment that all science is, it will never go mad again, and
believe that it is the captain of the medical crew; for
that captain is the Great Physician Himself, and all His
sons and daughters in the plenary freedom of His art.
�APPENDIX.
For some time past I have been in the habit of recommending
the Hungarian wines in the convalescence from fevers and
other diseases; and also in cases of vital debility, and its con
sequences. A large experience has now enabled me to endorse
afresh the commendation which I addressed to the importer,
Mr. Max Greger, *, Mincing Lane, and which is here ap
7
pended. The physician is often sorely tried to invent a new
nutrient-stimulant when the stomach is fastidious, and the
powers of life require recruiting, but are not to be reached by
ordinary bread, or ordinary wine. In such cases the novelty,
as well as the blood-invigorating qualities of the Hungarian
wines, render them rare friends at the bedside:—
June 27th, 1863.
Sir,—Since your wines were brought under my notice by
Colonel and Aiderman Wilson (Artillery Barracks, Finsbury),
I have had good opportunity of judging of their medical
qualities. My experience, especially of your Carlowitz wine,
is, that it agrees with persons who cannot take other wines;
that it has not the acidity which often renders the French and
Rhine wines inadmissible; that it is gratefully strong to weak
stomachs, and exerts a strengthening influence upon the blood.
Moreover, what is of great consequence medically, it is new to
the palate in flavour, and to the system in qualities. It is in
the best sense nutritious, and very valuable in that large class
of diseases and disorders which depend upon a feeble condition
and constitution of the blood. It is good in heemorrhages.
In an infant born with imperfectly closed heart, Carlowitz has
�88
APPENDIX.
sustained the strength admirably, while other means aiding
nature have been completing the organization.
Yours obediently,
Garth Wilkinson.
To Max Greger, Esq.
As a record and a protest I here reprint a Letter on Vivi
section, which I addressed to the Editor of the Morning Star,
and which appeared in that Paper on the 20th of August,
1863.
VIVISECTION.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE “ STAR.”
Sir,—From my heart, and also from my head, I thank, you
for your leading article on Vivisection in to-day’s paper.
Allow me, as a small response, to burden you with the office
of forwarding half-a-guinea as our annual subscription to the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. I hope and
trust that through the subject of vivisection now publicly
opened, and the controversy going on, this society will become
affluent enough to have special correspondents and reporters
wherever vivisection is practised under medical sanction. If
the horror is to be, let us know it, and let us judge of it. If
science is to be born from the throes of animal life, lut us also
be duly horrified and agonised, and suffer with the sufferers.
I have long been of Sir Charles Bell’s opinion that vivi
section is a delusion as a means of scientific progress. Of
course its results, like any other set of facts, constitute a
science in themselves; so do the results of murder, and so do
the results of picking pockets; an exact science, if you like;
and the earlier parts of the science will of course be subject to
correction by the later : and thus vivisection may show, and
has shown, truths and errors in the special walk of vivisection.
The science of animal agonies, like all sciences, can be cor
�APPENDIX.
89
rected, eliminated, and completed by experiments of fresh and
ever-fresh agonies. Buf it has been a mistake to suppose that
we were in the path of the humane sciences —in natural phy
siology, natural symptomatology, or within millions of leagues
of medicine, when with rack and thumbscrew and all torture
we were the inquisitors of the secrets of animal life. Under
such circumstances nature is inevitably a liar, and an accom
plice of the Father of Lies. I know that her, and his, very
lies are a science; but then they are not the science we take
them for, nor the science we want. They are not mind-ex
panding, heart-softening, or health-conferring science.
Vivisectional anatomy has contributed to medicine—meaning
by medicine the healing of diseases—virtually nothing, but
“ false paths and wrong roads.” Morbid anatomy has con
tributed marvellously little. Anatomy has done far less than
is supposed, though it keeps the eyes of the physician’s
imagination open, and enables him to tally conditions and
symptoms somewhat with parts and organic structures. If
the internal parts of the human frame were a closed page to
morrow, so to remain for the next half-century, and if the
symptoms and results of disease, and what will mitigate and
cure them, were the only permissible field of experiment, the
art of healing would lose nothing by ceasing to hold intercourse
with the sciences of structure and function—at all events, for
a time.
For example, I assert that the whole science of tubercle is
trivial and valueless in its results upon the curing of con
sumption; and equally inefficient in showing the cause of
consumption; and that cod liver oil and general regime, which
have no logical or real connection with the morbid anatomy of
consumption, are the present important medical agencies for
the treatment of that condition. And I assert that the whole
science of the Yivisectional and morbid anatomy of diabetes ;
the artificial production of it by lesions of the nervous system ;
the conditions of it in the liver, the lungs, and the kidneys,
have nothing to do with its cure, and throw no light upon its
cause; and that the fact that in many instances it can be cured
by the Hydrastis Gamadensis, the Leptandria, and Myrica
cerifera, has never yet been pointed to by any scalpel; and is
likely to be resisted by the men of the scalpel later than by
many others. What has the grand experience that a certain
�90
APPENDIX.
herb or drug will cure a disease, to do with a knowledge of the
particular wreck that that disease has left in the organisation
after death ? Pathological anatomy, except in surgical cases,
never suggests cure.
Now then, sir, let us take stock in this great Assize of
Humanity and the Healing Art versus the Cutting up of Live
Animals. Let us have definite tabulated statements of the
discoveries and results of the gain to man which has accrued
from the introduction of vivisection.
The great facts, the
benign arts that have been drawn out of the intestine agonies
of animals can be easily stated in lines, and columns of lines,
if they exist. Let us have them. We have had vivisection
enough. Whole menageries have been kept here and in Paris,
and all over Europe, to have their brains sliced and their
bodies mangled. It has gone on for hours a day, and year
after year. What is the stock in hand of results to humanity,
to healing, or even to “ permissible ” science ?
For, good
doctors, there are sciences, and you will find it out, that are
not permissible. It would not be permissible to suspend a
man or a woman by a hook, to know ever so exactly how they
would writhe; no, not even if you were a painter.
And,
therefore, I use the word, “ permissible ” science. And I say,
that if you cannot show some mighty results, far greater than
the discovery of cod liver oil, and of the circulation of the
blood, your persistent vivisection leads only to abominable
sciences, and to the blackest of all the black arts—the in
dulging of the human heart; and the gutta serena of cruelty
after that will soon obliterate the intellectual eyesight of
medicine.—Your constant reader,
Garth Wilkinson.
August 19th.
P.S.—I am informed by Mr. Skelton, sen., since these pages
were written, that in 1863 he became a Licentiate of the
Apothecaries’ Company of London, and this year has taken his
degree in medicine both in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and is
“ registered ” accordingly.
�
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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On the cure, arrest, and isolation of small pox of a new method: and on the local treatment of erysipelas, and all internal inflammations, with a special chapter on cellulitis and a postscript on medical freedom
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Wilkinson, Garth
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Place of publication: London
Collation: xxiii, 90 p. ; 21 cm.
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Leath and Ross
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1864
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G2484
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Health
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Conway Tracts
Inflammations
Medical Ethics
Sacerdotalism
Vivisection
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Text
THE DIETETIC REFORMER
AND
NJ? XXXVI.]
OCTOBER, 1869.
[Price 3d.
THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1869.
The Executive Committee have arranged for the annual gathering to
be held at the Trevelyan Hotel, Manchester, on Wednesday evening,
October 20th. The Business Meeting, to receive accounts and elect
officers, will be held at four o’clock. The Evening Meeting will be held
at six o’clock, when tea will be provided. Early application for tickets
is much desired, in order that proper arrangements may be made.
Members and friends whose annual contributions are in arrear will
facilitate the duties of the secretary by an early remittance, to meet the
liabilities of the society.
It is very desirable that our friends should assemble in as great force
as possible, to aid an effort which it is intended to put forth for the
more effectual working of the movement. Professor Newman has been
desired to prepare a suggestive paper; and it is intended to devote a
large part of the evening meeting to the consideration of his and other
suggestions. The meeting will be open to receive practical advice from
any friendly quarter; and any members who may be prepared to
lend active help are cordially invited to come forward and offer their
services.
DIETETIC
FALLACIES.
The question of food—kind, quality, and variety, as best suited to man in the
various climates of the earth—is one that perhaps deserves a more extended, careful,
and thorough treatment than it has yet received. That various and greatly diverse
climates require corresponding varieties and adaptations of diet, will not be seriously
doubted by anyone who has observed widely and thought closely upon the question.
Still, we are of opinion that these changes are not so essential and not so pro
found as are generally and popularly supposed, provided we are satisfied to live
upon the simple products of the earth, taking them in moderation and in their most
wholesome condition, properly prepared, and in suitable quantities, unaccompanied
with intoxicating beverages and other pernicious substances, such as tobacco,
opium, &z. The typical foods—bread, grapes (fresh or dried), figs, olives, rice,
�98
THE DIETETIC EEFORMER
cheese, &c., can be eaten,enjoyed, and digested almost anywhere by an average healthy
human system. And water, pure, sparkling precious water, cold, warm, or hot
according to circumstances, is always a boon and a blessing to man. But there are
some things that seem to be more specially adapted to particular climates, seasons,
or ages than others, and, for the most part, our beneficent creator and preserver has
so arranged and adapted the products of the various regions and seasons as to
facilitate man and beast in their instinctive and rational efforts to obtain what is
best and most needed. Still this provision is not so uniformly complete and manifest
as to preclude the necessity for wise and discriminating observation, and for the
discipline and stimulus of effort, enterprise, and commerce. At some ages, in some
conditions and climates, men can and do indulge in a greater variety of food than
in others; and it would appear to the unthinking savage, or to the more civilised
but equally unreflecting gourmand, that almost anything in any quantity can be eaten
by some men with impunity. Neither quantity nor quality, provided there is plenty,
seems to be matter of much moment to some carnivorous animals, especially those
of the man kind. But this impunity is only seeming, and is only for a time. Nature,
the law of God in the life of man, as in all other lives, and in all spheres and modes
of being, will not and cannot be mocked or cheated for long. It is a profound
truth, an unrepeatable taw, that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.
We may for a time deviate from the line of rectitude as to diet, and still continue
to live on ; but the life we live, not being so true to our nature, will not be so full
of the pure instincts, healthy activities, and joyous inspirations of nature.
If we look through animated nature, we find every creature so wisely con
structed, and endowed with such marvellous instincts as induce it to make choice of
that diet and of those means which are best calculated to maintain and preserve its
existence. Were not this the case, animal life would soon terminate. Man is
surely not intended to be an exception to this grand and beautiful law of adaptation
and healthy conservation. He is the last and the most finished result of Divine
contrivance and creative power and wisdom. But, alas! how has the fine gold
become dim! how has the wine of life become soured! There is no other creature
on the face of the globe that has so manifestly deviated from rectitude and from the
manifest moral intent of his being as man; and we cannot but believe and perceive
that much of the degradation and depravity of human character, conduct, and con
stitution arise from his enormous dietetic transgressions, alike as to the kind of
food, the quantity, and the strange mixings-up of our fantastic cookery, our epicu
rean cravings, and our depraved lusts.
We have been led into making these remarks rather to induce other, with abler
and more discriminating pens, to take up the subject they suggest, than from any
intention to pursue the inquiry in any elaborate essay. Our object is only to write
a brief article or two, hoping to stimulate those who have more leisure and more
ability to go deeper into the question and to treat it more exhaustively.
A recent number of Cassell's Magazine, which we have not seen, is credited with
the following suggestive paragraph, to which our attention has been turned:—
“ Eating in India.—Nor is moderation in eating to be disregarded. Could we
eat as do the natives—that is, confine ourselves to a vegetable diet, and make a
feast of a handful of rice—probably the climate would be as innocuous to us as to
them, but then there would perhaps be an end of the energy which flesh-eaters
show. There seems to be little doubt of this, for, as is well known, when the
French railways were beginning to be made, it was the English ‘navvy’ who
made them, and his French coadjutors were looked upon as a feeble and effeminate
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
99
race; and so, for the business of railway making, they practically were. But as
hands were very scarce, a leading contractor tried what he could do with what he
naturally called ‘the foreigners,’ and insisted on his French excavators eating and
drinking somewhat after the fashion of their English mates. The result appeared
decisive—the French navvies grew to be, and are, nearly as effective as the genuine
midland counties man. Thirty years ago no one would have predicted a riot in
England because of an immigration of foreign excavators, yet we have lived to see
even that come to pass. In India the food is seldom to the liking of a European, it
must be eaten when so freshly killed that it cannot be tender. The driver starting
on his journey often takes a live fowl with him, to be killed and cooked when
required ; it would be thoroughly tainted did he kill it beforehand.”
Now, we are ready to admit that this paragraph—which we observe is doing
duty in the periodical press—as a select sub-editorial clipping, is quite as sensible,
though quite as fallacious, as most of the newspaper writing that we see upon
dietetic questions. “ Moderation in eating” ought not to be “ disregarded ” either
in India or elsewhere; but it is not always good policy to eat as the natives do,
as the following spicy paragraph cut from the Daily News will indicate :—
“ How to Cook a Man.—If any one of us looks forward to being eaten by
cannibals, he may wish to be informed how he is likely to be cooked. It is a com
fort to know that the savages who devour him are by no means devoid of refinement
in their culinary disposition. Some French soldiers were lately taken prisoners by
the Canaks, and one of them was killed and eaten. His comrades describe the
process. The Canaks first decapitate their victim, a matter of no small difficulty
cons'dering the bluntness of their hatchets. Ten to fifteen blows are necessary.
The body is then hung up to a tree by the feet, and the blood allowed to run out for
an hour. Meanwhile a hole, a yard and a half deep and a yard wide, is dug in the
ground. The hole is lined with stones, and then in the midst of them a great fire
is lit. When the wood is burnt down a little and glows with heat, it is covered
over with more stones. The man is then cleaned out, and divided into pieces about a
foot long, the hands and feet being thrown away as worthless. The pieces of the
man are placed on the leaves of a large rose tree peculiar to the tropics. The meat is
surrounded with cocoa-nuts, bananas, and some other plants noted for their delicate
flavour. The whole is then tied together firmly, the fire is removed, from the pit,
the meat is placed among the hot stones, and thus, carefully covered, is left to cook
for an hour. Women do not partake of this warriors’ feast. Men alone are allowed
to enjoy so great an honour and so rare a delicacy.”
It is clear from this Daily News paragraph that the Canaks have a system and
morality of diet and social habits very much divergent from those natives of India
who “ make a feast upon a handful of rice.” And, if we had our choice of living
and dying, cooking and eating, we would prefer not to be amongst the Canaks! but
to be as far removed from their philosophy and practical dietetics as .possible. They
may have the more savory dishes ; but commend us to the rice feast. “Better is a
dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” “ Better is
a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.”
Solomon perhaps had never heard of the Canaks or other cannibals, in his time ;
but he had observed that flesh eating tended to strife and hatred; whilst a simple,
natural, and bloodless diet favoured and promoted a more amiable and affectionate
social condition.
The very fact that the flesh-eater has to kill before he eats, and to kill what he
eats, cannot but tend to make him a man of strife and bloodshed: and there is but
a step—a fearful yet still a possible step—from killing and eating an ox, and killing
and eating a human being. Our flesh-eating friends are next-door neighbours to
the Canaks, whilst we prefer to live nearer to the rice-eaters of India, who will
never be tempted to cook and eat us, however hungry or angry they may be.
�THE DIETETIC REFORMER
100
But it is objected that if we “ eat as do the natives of India,” that is, confine
ourselves to a vegetable diet, and make a feast of a handful of rice, though
“ probably the climate would be as innocuous to us as to them —what a grand
admission !—“ but then there would perhaps (?) be an end of the energy which flesh
eaters show." Here we have the curious and astounding hypothesis, that what
favours Health and Longevity will perhaps destroy Enebgy ! In our next article
we will look at this curious dietetic problem ; and in the meantime we shall avoid
the Canaks, whose energy, though no doubt great, is greatly to be feared and not
at all to be admired, and certainly ought not to be imitated in civilised and Chris
tian countries. Indeed it is not good enough for even benighted India or degraded
Africa.
B.
MAN’S
AN
ARGUMENT
BEST
FOR
FOOD:
VEGETARIANISM.
(Continued from page 36.J
Our illustrations are, however, open to the objection that they are too few to
afford scientific proofs of the suitableness of such a diet to men in general. We
therefore proceed to adduce facts on a larger scale, and including persons of various
ages, who have been systematically experimented upon for the purpose of discovering
the effects of various kinds of foods. This method seems best adapted to the people
of this century who mostly dislike abstractions and remote inferences. In this
direction we offer substantial facts which tell their own story.
*
An eminent
German physiologist (Vierordt), weighing carefully the results of numerous expe
riments on that which enters the body as food and that which leaves it through
the several channels of purification and discharge, tells us that an adult male, to
keep in good condition, should take about 4oz. of albuminous matter, nearly 3oz. of
fat, and about lOJoz. of amylaceous food daily. About 84oz. of water would be
taken as drink, and about an ounce would have to be allowed for saline matters
contained in or added to the three leading articles of food. The four articles of
diet in the quantities specified below are therefore a model dietary as to chemical
composition.
Bread..........
Potatoes ...
Oatmeal ..
Milk..........
Albuminous Matter:
Gluten and Albumen.
lib
= 861
lib
50
|ib
— 638
lpint. = 350
Fat.
65
7
198
245
1,899
Vierordt ................. 1,920
515
1,440
21
Defect.. 925
+ 653
Defect..
Amylaceous Matter:
Starch, Sugar, and Gum.
3,847 grains.
701
„
1,810
„
315
„
6,673
5,040
Excess.. 1,633 = 653 grains
Defect.. 272
By careful observation then we have it ascertained what a man requires as food,
and by exact analysis we learn what any kind and quantity of food can supply. If
the kind and quantity can be supplied from a Vegetarian diet our case as to its
efficiency will be established, but we can prove much more than this. The experi
ments made at the Glasgow Bridewell in 1840j- shows an advantage in a simple
* Day’s Physiological Chemistry, p. 496.
f Fifth Report of Inspectors of Prisons, Scotland.
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
101
Vegetarian diet over one containing a small quantity of flesh-meat, as seen in the
table below. The experiments were made upon eight groups of prisoners, the
greater part being adult males.
(baked)
4
—
91
224
5
—
91
112
28
3
—
91
336
2
1
Oatmeal ..................... 91 oz. 91
336
Potatoes, boiled.......... 336
56
343
259
Bread ................................
427
427
Total solid food.. 427
Buttermilk .............
104 pts.
6
—
56
112
7
—
91
li2
56
280
147
2|
101
10J
101
7
2|
10J
10J
10J-
7
(skim milk)
Total liquid food.
10 J
672
10J
■
*
Broth ................................
8
—
.. per week-.
672
14
24$
2f
3J
less than £ib .,
li very slight
li
—
—
—
■ 1 ■■
—
■
1078 men and
15 m. 570 m. 578 m.
5 m. 378 m. 16 m.
Prisoners submitted 15 m.
to experiments... J 5 boys. 58 fem.
5 fem.. 5 fem. 5 fem. 578 fem. 5 fem.
boys.
2 boys.
* The broth contained 4oz. barley and loz. bone, with vegetables to one quart.
Average weight gained 4
„
„
lost
4
■
The facts here show in No. 1 an improvement in condition upon a diet
consisting of three articles only, viz., oatmeal, potatoes, and buttermilk; and
in No. 2, even with a serious reduction in the last named article, the results are
still very good. No. 3 is a similar dietary, but the potatoes are baked, and half
the prisoners experimented on are young women, but they fell off in weight. 4
and 5 have flesh-meat, Iflbs. being substituted for 71bs. of potatoes, and 3£lbs. for
141bs.; the proportion of females was smaller, but the effect was to produce nearly
as great a loss in weight in one case and a slight loss in the other. No. 6 changes
the flesh for twice its weight in bread, taking away 3| pints buttermilk and 35oz.
oatmeal, with the effect of producing a gain in weight instead of a loss, and we
notice this is the only case in which a group consisting partly of females shows
a gain in weight. Considering the quantity consumed, No. 6 must be pronounced
the most satisfactory diet; No. 3 the least so. No. 2 and No. 7 stand higher than
4 and 5, and on the whole the Vegetarian lists, though restricted to a few articles,
come out triumphant.
Dr. Guy, to whom we are already indebted, quotes! the dietary of the Irish
Military Prisons as excellent for their purpose, although no flesh-meat is used in
them; they consist of bread 56oz., oatmeal 56oz., Indian meal 42oz., total 154oz.,
with 10J pints of milk per week. Dr. Tuffnell reports on the Dublin Prison : “ To
the increase of the dietary, and especially to its alteration I have ever been
upon principle opposed, because I found that I could upon the old scale of dietary
maintain the man in the most perfect condition.” A good reason indeed, and the
highest enconium that could be passed upon a dietary. The same gentleman says
of the dietary used for the “ penal class” at Millbank Prison, and which consists of
bread 84oz., oatmeal 70oz., Indian meal 70oz., potatoes 56oz., and 10| pints of milk
per week:—“ The dietary was favourably reported on by my predecessor, Dr. Baly,
in 1858, and in my own report for 1859. It has stood the test, both of experimental
weighings and of more general observation of the state of health of the prisoners.”
In summing up a very able paper containing a widely-extended view of facts and
experience he has these among other conclusions :—“ That we possess conclusive
f Journal of the Statistical Society, September, 1863.
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THE DIETETIC REFORMER
evidence of the sufficiency of a diet from which meat is wholly excluded, and even
of a diet consisting entirely of vegetable matter ; that such a diet would probably
suffice for able-bodied paupers, and even for prisoners sentenced to hard labour, and
for convicts employed at public works; and that this is true of men previously
accustomed to animal food. That the potato is an important element in our
dietaries, and that its omission has probably been the true cause of outbreaks of
scurvy which have been attributed to a mere reduction in the quantity of food.”
We are indebted to Mr. Edwin Chadwick for a view of this similar experience,
combining the effects upon health and life, which is extremely interesting, and
brings our proof out into strong relief. In a speech to the Society of Arts he said :—
“The death-rates in the army had been reduced in many instances by sanitary
measures by one-half, without any important alteration of the dietaries. The effects
of the prison dietaries, combined with improved sanitary conditions, were the most
instructive. Soldiers were taken from the ranks, generally the worst conditioned
men, where the death-rate was seventeen in a thousand, and put into military
prisons in Ireland, where the death-rat§ was reduced to two and a half per
thousand, and the sickness in proportion. The dietary consisted of eight ounces
of oatmeal, eight ounces of Indian meal, and eight ounces of wheaten bread, with
half a pint of milk at the three meals, daily. There was no meat, no tea, no coffee,
no beer, no tobacco, none of the stimuli which they got in the ranks, and their
general health and strength was vastly improved. The medical authority who had
observed the effect of this dietary for years declared he would make no alteration.”
In another part of his address he mentioned the following facts:—“ It had fallen to
him to collect and compare, rudely as it might be, the effects of different public
dietaries, before chemical analysis had been brought to bear on foods. It was at
that time urged by medical authorities, and indeed is still so by many, that dietaries
containing high stimuli beyond those got by the hard-working honest population,
were necessary to sustain the health of the prisoners. He found that the quality of
the diets, as containing more or less of animal food, was very much represented by
the cost, and this varied from Is. 2d. to 5s. and even 7s. per head per week. Now,
it should follow, from the medical recommendation, that the health of the prisoners
would rise in proportion. To determine this question he resorted to statistics.
Taking 104 prison returns—which enabled a comparison of the 20 gaols where the
expense and the quantity of the diet were the lowest, the 20 where the expense and
the quantity of the diet were the highest, and the 20 where they were intermediate
between the highest and the lowest—the results came out as follows :—
Ounces of solid Cost per head
Sick per
Deaths per
food per week.
per week.
cent.
1000.
Twenty lowest prison diets ..................... 188 ................ Is. 10£d. ................. 3
1|
Twenty intermediate diets......................... 213 ............. 2s. 4jd. ........ 18
3
Twenty highest............................................ 228 ............. 3s. 2d. ............... 23J................ 4
The results were objected to on the grounds that in some of the larger prisons,
where the lower dietaries were adopted, the terms of imprisonment were shorter
than in others. But those objections were met by the trial of the simpler dietaries
in the same prisons, with the same classes of prisoners, with labour and without
labour, for the like periods, where the like results appeared. No doubt changes of
diet were beneficial, if not absolutely necessary, for persons in sedentary conditions
or prolonged confinements, but variations wfth simple foods might be made to suffice,
I instead of augmentations in quantities, and in foods of the more stimulating and ex
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
103
pensive character, beyond those which sufficed for the general population. Later
experience was in the same direction.”
Hence it appears that animal food plays an unsuspected and deadly part in cases
where it is consumed even in moderate quantities, a conclusion which must astound
most inquirers, and which ought to weigh with all classes and conditions. Length
of days is one of the blessings promised to the faithful, and in this case faithfulness
to knowledge offers the same reward. “ What man is he that desireth life and
loveth many days, that he may see good ? Depart from evil (in eating) and do
good.” We take it to be now demonstrated that good health and length of days
are the reward of a well-chosen diet from which animal food is excluded. In
relation to this world, no more important truth can be declared, for good health is
the most essential element of active life and enjoyment. The exercise of mental
and bodily power depend so directly upon its possession, that no society can attain
to its full growth or do justice to itself whilst it remains in a practice which preys
upon its vitals; nor should the economy of that simple diet which conduces most to
health be an unconsidered element: it may mean less labour and more leisure to
the overworked, or less confinement and more liberty to the delicate; or less devo
tion to the body and more to the mind for the thoughtfully inclined; or it may
render possible a better education, more spacious and better adorned homes, the
cultivation of taste in innocent enjoyment from art—music, drawing, carving,
painting—and more extended converse, and, consequently, closer sympathy in the
family. Some, perhaps many, of these sources of recreation and delight might be
open to the humbler classes in return for habituating themselves to a simple,
healthful diet—a change not always the most attractive to the palate until habit
has made the best course the most delightful. It must not, however, be understood
as absolutely necessary to refrain from delicacies or luxuries on the vegetarian
system, nor yet that vegetarian fare is necessarily cheap. Many desirable fruits are,
with us, very dear, and, if used at all, must be a tax upon the means of our ordinary
population. But we wish to show they are unnecessary; yet, in various ways, a great variety is possible, both in the methods of cooking and in the articles
selected, without injury to health, and, indeed, with good effect.
Having shown the advantages of abstaining from flesh, let us add a word to our
working people on their peculiar position. It has to them, no doubt, been a
stumbling-block that the goods of this world should be so unequally distributed,
when they have observed how the intelligent part of society esteem flesh alone
worthy to be called meat, and treat other dishes as adjuncts only. If animal food
be so necessary and so superior in power to yield strength, they might ask : How
comes it that they who have most need of strength get least, and in many
cases none, of this necessary; whilst that part of society which has less occasion
for strength gets most flesh, and nearly monopolises that class of food? It must
appear mysterious. But if our demonstration be sound, it shows, on the contrary,
khat the necessary and best foods are most abundant, and within the reach of all
classes and nations. In that there is no mystery, but supreme satisfaction. It
may thus increase their contentment when reflecting on their condition, by mani
festing the love of our common Father. This makes the poor man rich, for—
Poor and content is rich;
But riches infinite is poor as winter
To him that ever thinks that he is poor.
(To be continued.)
Kappa.
z,
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THE DIETETIC REFORMER
MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY IN FAVOUR
OF A VEGETARIAN DIET.
[Note.—It is not implied that all the authorities mentioned are in favour of Vegetarianism, either
in theory or practice. They are Quoted to prove facts, rather than to enforce opinions.]
Peofessoe Owen.—“ The apes and the monkeys, which man nearly resembles
in his dentition, derive their staple food from fruits, grain, the kernels of nuts, and
other forms in which the most sapid and nutritious tissues of the vegetable king
dom are elaborated; and the close resemblance between the quadrumanous and
human dentition shows that man was, from the beginning, adapted to eat the fruit
of the trees of the garden.”—Odontography, p. 471.
Baeon Cuviee.—“ The natural food of man, judging from his structure, appears
to consist principally of the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables.”
Animal Kingdom (Orr, London, 1840), p. 46.
M. Daubenton.—“ It is, then, highly probable that man in a state of pure
nature, living in a confined society, and in a genial climate,—where the earth
required but little culture to produce its fruits,—did subsist upon these, without
seeking to prey on animals.”—Observations on Indigestion.
M. Gassendi.—“ Wherefore, I repeat, that from the primeval and spotless insti
tution of our nature, the teeth were destined to the mastication, not of flesh, but of
fruits.”—Works, vol. x. p. 20.
Linnaeus.—“ This species of food [fruit] is that which is most suitable to man;
which is evinced by the series of quadrupeds; analogy; wild men; apes; the
structure of the mouth, of the stomach, and the hands.’’—Linnai Amenitates
Academicce, vol. x. p. 8.
Ray.—“ Certainly man by nature was never made to be a carnivorous animal,
nor is he armed at all for prey or rapine, with jagged and pointed teeth, and crooked
claws sharpened to rend and tear; but with gentle hands to gather fruit and vege
tables, and with teeth to chew and eat them.”—Evelyn's Acetaria, p. 170.
Peofessok Laweence.—“ The teeth of man have not the slightest resemblance
to those of the carnivorous animals, except that their enamel is confined to the ex
ternal surface. He possesses, indeed, teeth called ‘ canine but they do not exceed
the level of the others, and are obviously unsuited to the purposes which the cor
responding teeth execute in carnivorous animals........................ Thus we find that,
whether we consider the teeth and jaws, or the immediate instruments of digestion,
the human structure closely resembles that of the siamce; all of which, in their
natural state, are completely herbivorous” [frugivorous ?]—Lectures on Physiology,
pp. 189, 191.
Bell.—“ It is, I think, not going too far to say, that every fact connected with
the human organisation goes to prove that man was originally formed a frugivorous
animal.................... This opinion is principally derived from the formation of his
teeth and digestive organs; as well as from the character of his skin, and the
general structure of his limbs.”—Anatomy, Physiology, aud Diseases of the Teeth.
De. Spencee Thompson.—“ No physiologist would dispute with those who main
tain that man ought to live on vegetables alone, the possibility of his doing so, or
that many might not be as well or better under such a system as any other,” &c.—
Dictionary of Domestic Medicine, Art. “ Food.”
Hallee.—“ This food, then, which I have hitherto described, and in which flesh
has no part, is salutury ; insomuch that it fully nourishes a man, protracts life to
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
105
an advanced period, and prevents or cures such disorders as are attributable to the
acrimony or grossness of the blood.”—Elements of Physiology, vol. vi. p. 199.
Liebig.—“ Grain, and other nutritious vegetables, yield us, not only in starch,
sugar, and gum, the carbon which protects our organs from the action of oxygen,
and produces in the organism the heat which is essential to life, but also in the form
of vegetable fibrine, albumen, and caseine, our blood, from which the other parts of
our body are developed....................... Vegetable fibrine and animal fibrine, vegetable
albumen and animal albumen, hardly differ even in form ; . . . . and when
they are present, the graminivorous animal obtains in its food the very same
principles on the presence of which the nutrition of the carnivora entirely
depends.......................... Vegetables produce, in their organism, the blood of
all animals; for the carnivora, in consuming the blood and flesh of the graminivora,
consume, strictly speaking, only the vegetable principles which have served for the
nutrition of the latter.”
De. Lankestee.—“ Animal food is composed of the same materials as vegetable
food. It is formed of the same elements, and presents the same proximate prin
ciples.”—Guide to the Food Collection, p. 79.
Moleshott.—“ The legumes are superior to meat in abundance of solid consti
tuents which they contain; and while the amount of albuminous substances may
surpass that in meat by one-half, the constituents of fat, and the salts, are also
present in a greater abundance.”
De. Caepentee.—“We freely concede to the advocates of Vegetarianism that,
as regards the endurance of physical labour, there is ample proof of the capacity of
what is commonly called the vegetable regimen, that is, abstinence from flesh meat,
to afford the requisite sustenance.................... We are inclined, then, to believe that
a purely vegetable diet, if it contains a due proportion of oleaginous matter, is cap
able of maintaining the physical powers of the body at their highest natural eleva
tion, even under the exposure of the extreme of cold, &c.”
De. S. Bbown.—“We are ready to admit that Vegetarian writers—especially
the author of Fruits and Farinacea [Churchill, London]—have triumphantly proved
that physical, horse-like strength, is not only compatible with, but also favoured by,
a well-chosen diet from the vegetable kingdom ; and, likewise, that such a table is
conducive to length of days.”—Westminster Review.
“De. Maecet, Omvee, and other physiologists unite in stating that chyle elabo
rated from animal food putrifies in three or four days at longest; while chyle from
vegetable food—from its greater purity and more perfect vitality—may be kept for
many days without becoming putrid.”—/Smith's Fruits and Farinacea.
Edinbuegh Medical and Suegical Jouenal.—‘‘We have known various per
sons who have been delivered from painful and obstinate disorders by giving up the
use of animal food entirely; and others in whom disorders of the nervous system
and the chest have been very much relieved by the same procedure.’’—No. 166.
Medico-Chibuegical Review.—“We are by no means sure, indeed, whether
the entire dietetic treatment of dyspepsia, ordinarily practised, is not fallacious; and
whether, instead of a highly-animalized regimen, it would not be preferable to have
recourse to a simple vegetable diet. Mr. Smith [Fruits and Farinacea} has collected
several cases of the benefits of such a system, from the writings of eminent medical
authors, who had no particular doctrines to support, such as Abercrombie, Cheyne,
and Thakrah ; and from the considerations we have already adduced, we think that
a strong case has been made out in its favour.”
�106
THE DIETETIC REFORMER
Dr. J. S. Wilkinson.—“ It is quite undeniable that many persons are benefited
by resortingto such a mode of diet.”—Literary and Scientific Lecturer, vol. ii., p. 110.
Dr. Cheyne.—“ For those who are extremely broken down with chronic disease,
I have found no other relief than a total abstinence from all animal food, and from
all sorts of strong and fermented liquors. In about thirty years’ practice, in which
I have (in some degree or other) advised this method in proper cases, I have had but
two cases in whose total recovery I have been mistaken.”
Dr. A. P. Buchan.—“Of the effects of a regimen of the farinacea, combined
with milk and fruits, in subduing the early attacks of phythisis, many examples are
recorded; and there would, probably, be many more, were an appropriate regimen
adopted rather with a view to prevent than to cure this disease, .... When
there is a tendency to consumption in the young, it should be counteracted by strictly
adhering to a diet of the farinacea and ripe fruits. Animal food and fermented liquors
ought to be rigidly prohibited.................. If vegetables and milk were more used in
diet, we should have less scurvy, and likewise fewer putrid and inflammatory fevers.”
Dr. Craigie.—“ Diet consisting of bread and milk, or rice and milk, or the flour
of farinaceous seeds and milk, is quite adequate to prevent the formation of the
gouty diathesis, and to extinguish that diathesis if already formed. . . . Such diet
is also adequate to prevent the disease from appearing in its irregular form, and
affecting the brain and its membranes, and the heart or lungs.”—Elements of the
Practice of Physic, vol. ii. p. 633.
Dr, Cullen.—“ I am firmly persuaded that any man who, early in life, will
enter upon the constant practice of bodily labour and of abstinence from animal
*
food, will be preserved entirely from gout. . . The cure [of rheumatism] requires,
in the first place, an antiphlogistic regimen; and particularly a total abstinence
from animal food, and from all fermented and spirituous liquors.”
Dr. S. Nicolls says (1864.)—“ This hospital [Longford Fever Hospital] is con
ducted on vegetarian and temperance principles—not one pound of flesh-meat, pint
of whisky, or bottle of wine having been used in it for the last fifteen years,—long
experience having satisfied me that animal food, wine, brandy, &c., require to be
given with great caution; indeed, I have seen sad results from their use. . . It
may be said that the class of patients was unused to good food and stimulants—
therefore did not require them. However, such is not the fact, for among them
were officers of this house, members of the constabulary force, tradesmen, gentle
man’s servants, and others accustomed to substantial food. . . A large proportion
of cases (in 1865) were spotted, with sordes on the teeth, and a tongue like maho
gany, and many were brought in with bed sores on their hips and back, and some
with gangrene of the toes and feet. . . Nine persons stricken with the same fever
were removed from one house to the fever hospital, and every one recovered, though
they got neither wine, brandy, nor animal food. . . I still continue the treatment
which for sixteen years I have found so successful.”
Arbuthnot.—“ I know more than one instance of irrascible passions being
much subdued by a vegetable diet.’*
Hufeland.—“The more man follows nature, and is obedient to her laws, the
longer will he live: the further he deviates from these, the shorter will be his
existence. . . Plain, simple food only, promotes moderation and longevity; while
compounded and luxurious food shortens life. . . Instances of the greatest Ion gevity
are to be found among men who, from their youth, lived principally on vegetables,
and who, perhaps, never tasted flesh.”
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
107
P.S.—The following may be mentioned as being, entirely or partially, adherents
of Vegetarianism:—Daniel, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus, Plutarch;
Cornaro, Milton, Swedenborg, Wesley, Howard, Franklin, Shelley, Newton,
Lamartine, Rousseau. Sir Richard Philips, Ritson, Brotherton, General P. Thomp
son, and F. W. Newman.
[The testimonies collated above are issued in a Tract, to be sent to medical men inviting their
opinions and experience. Eriends can be supplied on application to the Secretary. The Execu
tive Committee of the Vegetarian Society also hereby request readers of the Dietetic Reformer
to call the attention of their friends and acquaintances belonging to the medical profession to
the views expressed above, and invite them to write any facts in their experience, whether
favourable or otherwise, and send them to the Secretary. ]
THE VICTORIES OF TRUTH.
What errors (he that reads may see)
Have rul’d in turn the human race,
Have cried to nations, “ Bow the knee,”
And said to hated Truth, “ Give place,
No longer let me see thy face ! ”
What troops have followed at their heels !
What zealots at their shrines have pray’d,
And died beneath their chariot wheels !
What abject homage men have paid !
What gifts upon their altars laid !
But when submitted to the test
• .
Of Time, they fail’d that test to stand;
*?,
Then some one, bolder than the rest,
The downfall of their pow’r has plann’d,
And dragg’d them down with daring hand.
But let the friends of Error mourn,
When Error yields her tainted breath;
Truth to eternal life was bom;
Her friends shall never mourn her death,
Nor weave for her the cypress wreath.
Time spares not age, nor pities youth ;
Man’s proudest works he doth abuse,
Yet has no power to injure Truth;
The wasting years but add new grace
And beauty to her form and face.
She will not fail her friends, and none
Shall live to see her strength decay,
Or beauty fade and die : her sun
Moves on towards a perfect day,
Her glory shall not pass away.
And though we perish in the strife,
The truth is not a thing of breath,
And still the truth shall live, though Life
Roll writhing down the jaws of Death Who too shall die, the scripture saith.
And though he drive us from the field,
And hand us captive to the grave,
From whose black dungeons, barr’d and seal’d,
He calls on Truth her friends to save,
Short is the triumph he shall have.
For He who toil’d at Nazareth
The captive from the strong shall take,
And we shall live and reign when Death,
And he that follows in his wake,
Are buried in the fiery lake.
R. Phillips.
Mm
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THE DIETETIC REFORMER
SHerttb >rtuM
VACCINATION VIEWED POLITICALLY: LETTER FROM
PROFESSOR NEWMAN.
[From the Anti- Vaccinator, of September 25th, 1869.]
Dr. ar Me. Pitman,—You call my attention to an article in the Lancet, commenting
on a private letter of mine to you, which you have thought fit to publish. You
kindly desire to print some reply from me. I really think I may claim that
you or other anti-vaccinators will make the reply, which is not at all difficult. I
have po taste for detailed controversy, especially with an anonymous opponent, and
with a medical man on a medical topic. But I regard the political side of the
question as the primary. It is not developed in that letter—which I never intended
for the public; but I will now enter upon it somewhat more fully.
It does not rest with Parliament to enact how a disease shall be treated. If a
bill were proposed to enforce that everyone who is seized with apoplexy shall be
bled, the Lancet would probably be foremost in the outcry. I should expect it to
propound that Parliament is no authority in medicine; that to protect us from
dangerous treatment by ignorant pretenders, Parliament enacts medical degrees
as mere tests of knowledge, but it must not dictate to those who have displayed
their knowledge by gaining the degree.
Nor is it to the purpose to say that Parliament took advice of physicians before it
legislated. Some thirty or forty years ago, when homoeopaths first disused bleeding
for apoplexy and fever, the disapproval of their conduct by the orthodox medical
faculty was so universal and so vehement, that Parliament might easily, have got
medical warrant to enforce bleeding. Nay, one hundred years ago, physicians were
zealous for inoculation. My father was with difficulty saved from it by the sturdy
refusal of his mother, who said (as she told me) “ If God send small-pox on my
child, I must bear it; but never will I consent to give it him on purpose : how can
anyone know what would come of it ? ”
At that time Parliament might have been advised by educated and learned, phy
sicians to make inoculation compulsory ; and I make no doubt those physicians
spoke as dogmatically to my grandmother in favour of it, as any can now speak of
vaccination ; yet, by the advice of physicians, inoculation is. now made penal! It
is certainly possible that by the advice of physicians vaccination also will hereafter
be made penal. Medicine is a changing and (let us hope) progressive Art; it has
no pretension to be Science, or to have any fixedness at all. The editor of. the
Lancet has probably read the article in the Quarterly Review of April, 1869, entitled
“ The Aims of Modern Medicine.” It is a storehouse of detailed fact for those who
are too young to remember what it narrates of unanimous medical error, pernicious
on the hugest scale. Medicine cannot improve, unless the younger and fresher
minds among physicians are left perfectly free to deviate from the routine of their
elders. Nothing can justify Parliament in enacting a medical creed, or enforcing
any special medical procedures.
.
.
But if physicians must have hands unfettered, have patients no right to choose
lheir physician ?—no right to repudiate treatment which they think quackery ? We
all ought to be re-vaccinated periodically, according to the Lancet. Does, then,
Parliament dare to enact such a thing ? It does not; else I might be taken by
force and vaccinated to-morrow. And if I understand the argument for compulsory
vaccination, it cannot rightly stop short of this. I may be told that extreme danger
requires extreme remedies. Well—I will put really extreme.cases. . In an age and
country of barbarism, I am seized with the plague, or with a highly-infectious
leprosy. If I have the plague, I am to be shot dead with arrows, and mould is to
be heaped over me where I lie. If I have the leprosy, I am to be hunted into soli
tude, and there live, if I can.
.
The law is hard, yet I might accept my fate without murmuring. One who is
dangerous to society, whether from contagion or from mania, cannot retain ordinary
social rights. Better for me to die outright than to infect my kind, nurses, for the
miserable chance of lingering. To put me to death for plague is sharp law, no
doubt; but the legislator would at least know that a pestilential body, once well
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
109
covered with earth, does no further harm, so that the despotism effects its end—at
least it stops contagion. I should feel that I died for my country’s good. But if
he enacted that I should be bled, or should have the sore places cut out. or that
poison should be infused into my veins, he could never be sure that the public
gained any benefit from his cruelties. A far more overwhelming proof is needed
by the legislator than so very shifting a thing as medical advice. And here it is
advice from one country only in all the world, and that where men peculiarly
experienced in vaccination condemn it.
One who carries disease with him is ostensibly dangerous. This—and this
only—.justifies legislation against him. But when a man or child is ostensibly
healthy, no case is made out for legislation at all. To enact that a healthy person
shall have a disease lest hereafter he get a worse disease, is a form of despotism
hard to parallel; and, what is peculiarly disgraceful, it is directed against innocent
infants alone, because they are helpless: it does not dare to attack us adults. This
fact justly arouses parents to indignation. Let parliament enact that every M.P.
shall be at once vaccinated, and that it shall be done from arm to arm among them,
every four or five years, as the doctors may prefer,—if they will enact such things
concerning children. The law now says to a parent—“ We are alarmed to see
that your child has no disease. Cow-pox (for the public good) it must have, with
the chance of other hideous diseases: submit, or else make yourself a criminal,
have your hair cropped, and dress in prison garb.”
Such legislation implies that parliament is a Medical Pope, and would justify no
end of monstrous violations of sacred personal right. The Lancet “begs respectfully
to tell me” that, in the matter of “vaccine lymph,” “ the State (!) and private prac
titioners take great care.” Is this very comforting—very reassuring—to one who
has read Ira Connell’s frightful case ? I have a paper before me—reprinted from
the Lancet of Nov. 16, 1861—which contains a detailed account of 46 children in
Piedmont being infected with loathsome disease—soon fatal to some of them—from
receiving the lymph (called vaccine!) out of the arm of one child called (and sup
posed to be) healthy. As the surgeon cannot be omniscient, he eannot know the
diseases hidden in a particular child; he is not to blame for not knowing; but this
is precisely the reason why parliament ought much rather to forbid than to enforce
the vaccinating of one child from another. It makes the enforcement so indefen
sible, that one is unwilling to affix the right epithet.
But.even if cows would kindly get cow-pox for our convenience, so that each
child might have the disease direct from the cow, even so it would be blind tyranny
for the law to say to a parent—“ You shall not keep your child in perfect health: that
is too dangerous a course.” When to this the parent replies by defiance of the law,
and is treated as a criminal, the law-makers are (in my opinion) the real criminals
before God and man. Parents who become martyrs by resisting the law, deserve a
sympathy akin to those who are martyrs of religion.—Yours, F. W. Newman.
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J. STUART MILL, ESQ., AND TEMPERANCE POLITICS.
[The secretary of the United Kingdom Alliance, Mr. T. H. Barker, has been favoured
by the Hon. Gerrit Smith, of the State of New York, with the following copy
of a letter which that distinguished philanthropist has recently addressed to
John Stuart Mill, Esq., on the subject of “ Temperance Politics.” The letter
will be specially interesting as having been suggested by the correspondence
between Mr. Mill and the Alliance secretary, published in the Alliance News
just before the general election.]
GERRIT SMITH TO JOHN STUART MILL.
Honoured and dear Sir, —A gentleman in England, who is rendering eminent
service to the cause of temperance, requests me to criticise your attitude toward
that cause. So profound is my sense of your pre-eminent wisdom—perhaps, wellnigh as profound as was Buckle’s sense of it—that I could not, without heavily
‘
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taxing my diffidence, presume to criticise you in any respect. Nevertheless, I
venture to comply with the request.
The gentleman I refer to would have Government shut up the dramshop. You
*
would have Government leave it open. How shall so wide a difference on a subject
of so vast importance be explained ? Is he more radical in his theories than you are ?
Probably not. Few of the world’s great writers are less cramped than yourself by
the spirit of conservatism. Are you less disposed than he to reduce radical theories
to practice ? Your admirable pleas for woman’s voting prove that you do not
shrink from the boldest practical innovations. This wide difference must be. other
wise accounted for. Perhaps, whilst his philanthropy is particularly moved by
intemperance, yours is by some other vice or suffering. Or, perhaps, it is to be
accounted for, in part or entirely, by the supposition that you are especially jealous
of the interference of society with the rights and practices of the individual, and
he, of the interference of the individual with the interests and welfare of society.
On this supposition it is quite natural that one of you should argue the right of the
individual to buy or sell drams, and the other the right of society to punish him for
such buying or selling.
You make the province of civil government much narrower than most do. I
(though not forgetting that, in doing so, I go against the judgment of many a man
far wiser and better than myself) make it still narrower. For instance, whilst you
would have Government compel the idler to work, I would let him remain an idler,
should moral influences prove inadequate to change him; and whilst you would
have the parent compelled to educate his child, I, with my dread of all possibly
avoidable compulsion, would look to his enlightened and benevolent neighbours to
supply, as far as they can, the unnatural parental lack. Again, I would have
Government shut out not only from the church but also from the school. It should
have nothing to do with either. Then, too, I would have the right to buy and sell
so free, as not to leave a custom-house upon the earth. Nor would I allow Govern
ment to concern itself with the cause of temperance, nor with any other moral
reform, nor with asylums for the blind or the deaf mutes, nor with any other bene
volent institutions. Why, then, you will ask me, am I in favour of the enactment
of sumptuary laws ? I am not. Families should be left to dress as they please,
and to eat and drink what they please. There should be no laws to regulate living.
If, in saying so, I open the way for the question—how I can then consistently be in
favour of Government’s shutting up the dramshop—my reply is that this question
will be answered in what I shall say of the province of Government. I have said
what is not its province—in other words, wbat it should not do. I will now say
what is its province—in other words, what it should do. It should protect person
and property ; and it should attempt nothing more. Its one work is to hold a shield
over its subjects beneath which they can, unjostled by each other, and secure from
foreign aggression, pursue each his own chosen calling, and each live out his own
views of life. The protection of person and property being its sole office, Govern
ment is to protect society not only from the criminal but from the insane, be it
liquor or disease that has produced the insanity. Hence, whilst we are to look to
enlightened and benevolent persons for asylums for the sick and poor, we are to
regard lunatic asylums, including inebriate asylums, as part of the machinery of
Government. By the way, the almshouses and kindred institutions would scarcely
be needed were the dramshop abolished. Rare, in that case, would be the person
who is so impoverished or debased, as to cast himself upon the public charity; and
rare too, in that case, would be the person, whose friends are so impoverished or
debased, as to allow him to be cast upon it.
If I have rightly defined the office of civil government, then, manifestly, were
every part of the earth to be blessed with a true civil government, there would not
be so much as one dramshop left in any part of the earth. For what is the dram
shop but the great manufactory of incendiaries, madmen, and murderers? Its
staggering army in Great Britain counts up nearly a million ; in America scarcely
less. Because of the dramshop hundreds of thousands of British and American
families are deep sunk in misery, stricken with terror, and not a very small portion
of them besmeared with blood. Because of the dramshop night is so often made
* The practioal proposition of the Permissive Bill is something short of this: It is that the
people should have the power of local option or veto.—T. H. B.
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
Ill
hideous in Britain and America by screams of “ murder,” and sunrise made sorrowful
by its revelations of the deeds of drunkenness. And, yet, even John Stuart Mill
will not have Government suppress the dramshop ! Its evils, surpassing the sum
total of all other evils, stare him in the face—and yet he allows himself to be
swayed by that microscopic view, which detects in such suppression a particle of
seeming sumptuary legislation I Pardon me for being reminded by your hypercritical
and fastidious objection to the only way of salvation in this life and death case, of
the old story of the extreme ceremoniousness of the gentleman, who made his neverhaving-been-introduced to the drowning man his excuse for not rescuing him.
Even if there is in this proposed suppression of the dramshop something of the
form or semblance of sumptuary legislation, there, nevertheless, is not the least
spirit of it. Moreover, were it so that, incidental to this suppression, there must be
violations of some minor rights and inconsiderable interests, no account should be
made of the violations, but all of them should be forgotten in the joy of the
accomplished object.
I admit that the shutting up of the dramshops might put some families to a
little inconvenience, if not also to a slightly additional expense, in obtaining
alcoholic liquor. I admit, too, that, whilst it is not only unnecessary but pernicious
to persons in health, there is occasionally a bodily ailment in which, provided there
are not other remedial agents of similar effect at hand, such liquor is useful. But
to make trifles like these excuses for keeping open the floodgates of the deadly
dramshop argues the impossibility of finding worthier excuses for continuing the
murderous wrong.
I do not forget that, although you would leave the dramseller unpunished for
keeping a soul-and-body slaughter-house, you would have his customer punished
for the violence of which he may have been guilty in his drunkenness. But to
make this the only security against such violence is too much like stipulating with
the men, reckless or malignant enough to bring fire into the powder house, that
they shall not be punished until an actual explosion has come of their recklessness
or malignity. Surely, surely, London is entitled to more security against dramshop
violence than this, which you propose—yes, to immeasurably more, seeing that,
probably, never a day passes without some of the dramshops being chargeable with
one or more deaths. The deaths may be from suicide or murder—produced suddenly
or gradually—nevertheless, they are all dramshop deaths.
I do not forget the frequent cavil, that, even were the dramshop shut up,
drinking and drunkenness would not therefore be diminished. Nevertheless, over
whelming are the proofs that the drinking and drunkenness are in proportion to the
temptations—in proportion to the frequency and attractiveness of the places for
gratifying the unhappy appetite. Of course, no one is less chargeable with such
cavil than yourself. For your argument against shutting up the dramshop is the
solemn one that human rights would thereby be invaded—invaded by lessening the
facilities for tippling and drunkenness! I scarcely need add that the cavillers I
refer to entirely ignore your argument. With your fear of the increased difficulty
of getting rum they have no sympathy. Their confidence that rum will still be
within as easy reach as ever remains undiminished.
How sad it is that even the wisest and best of men do, by getting used to
crimes—to the presence of criminal usages—become patient with them! Possibly,
before the year is ended, thousands of shops may be opened in London for the sale
of a newly-discovered gas. It will craze no small part of their frequenters. Some
of them it will turn into incendiaries and some into murderers. Nevertheless, so
attractive will be the gas that scores of thousands will go to inhale it. No sooner,
however, will the effect of it be well ascertained than petitions for shutting up
these gas-shops will pour into Parliament. Amongst the most influential names
upon them will be your own. The gas-shops, unsustained by the plea of custom,
would be tried solely by their character, and would, therefore, be as quickly and as
thoroughly condemned as would be the dramshops, were they also unsheltered by
this plea, and put on trial for their character only—their emphatically infernal
character.
We are both in favour of having the people own Government instead of being,
as is the case in many nations, owned by it. Hence we both deprecate Govern
ment’s travelling beyond its legitimate limits. Could it be kept within them, it
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THE DIETETIC REFORMER .
would be a blessing above all price. Travelling beyond them it becomes an evil,
not only from its meddling with matters which do not belong to it, but from its
consequent neglect of its own proper duty. Has it never occurred to you, that
the most effective way to recall Government from its meddlings is to hold it firmly
and constantly to the discharge of its one duty to protect person and property ?
When it shall have been brought to see that, in leaving the dramshop to pour out
destruction and death, it leaves person and property more unprotected than from any
or all other causes ; and when it shall, consequently, have been brought to see that
it has no higher duty to perform than to shut up this fountain of woe, then will
civil government be in a process of education and change, that will leave it no taste
nor time nor talent for continuing its usurpations And then, with hands filled
with its legitimate work, and heart filled with zeal to perform it, and destitute
alike of affinity and ability for every other work, civil government will realise the
sublimest expectations of the most enlightened and philanthropic statesmen. In
that day, it will be held, not only that civil government has the right to shut up
the dramshops, but that, wherever it fails to exercise this right, it fails to prove
itself worthy of the name of civil government.—With the highest regards, yours,
Gebbit Smith.
THE NATIONAL HEALTH.
The Westminster Review for the current quarter has reached a second edition,
the cause of the extraordinary demand for the number being a remarkable article
on “ Prostitution in Relation to the National Health.” The difficulty and delicacy
of this subject have prevented its full discussion, and the result is that there exists
amongst all classes a vast amount of ignorance with respect to it. A writer in the
Westminster Review brings to the investigation he has entered upon a full knowledge,
a powerful pen, a thorough consciousness of the importance of the work he has to
do, and, considering the subject, he avoids everything which may be called offensive.
He states his facts in plain, unmistakable English, it is true, but this is no doubt
the best mode of treating a subject of such vital importance to the community; and
while he pays no respect to the false delicacy of the time, his language is as pare
as his evidence of the existence amongst us of a terrible social pestilence is abundant.
We cannot quote the whole of the article, which is a long one, but the opening,
which is as follows, will show the object of the writer:—
“ We purpose in this article to examine a disease which is at once social, moral,
and physical, and, especially, to exhibit the nature and extent of its agency in
destroying the health and vigour of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the
British Islands, tainting their blood with an ineradicable poison. Of all the mala
dies with which humanity is afflicted, prostitution is, we believe, the worst: its
causes are the most persistent, its physical effects are the most terrible, its social
and moral complications are the most numerous and inextricable, its whole aspect
is the most saddening, and its cure is the most difficult. Among the social prob
lems which it behoves philanthropists and statesmen to solve, this—how may pros
titution be annihilated ?—stands pre-eminent; and though, together with the several
subordinate ones related to and grouped around it, urgently demanding solution, it
is seemingly the most insoluble. The mere statement of the elements of the ques
tion is beset with almost insuperable difficulties; how much greater, therefore,
must be the barriers opposed to its exhaustive discussion ? By conventional agree
ment society is forbidden to speak on the subject unless in whispers ; and he who
ventures to write upon it in a journal for general readers must either suppress
many of the most important facts and arguments relating to it, or run the risk of
damaging the medium which he uses.
“ Women, who ever, as a rule, shape their conduct conformably to the views
and wishes of men, offer the most powerful conservative resistance to any agitation
of this momentous topic: many observe and impose the silence of hypocritical
ignorance—feeling constrained, while wholly conscious of the vast importance of
the evil in question, to act and speak as if unaware of its existence; and many
more, from genuine delicacy, avert their eyes and resolutely ignore it. But surely
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
113
this ostrich-like cowardice or timidity cannot continue much longer I It seems
impossible for English women to persist in ignoring a social evil, the disease inci
dental to which is undermining the strength and indirectly destroying the lives
of a large proportion of the adult male population—of their brothers, their sons,
and their husbands, and which is directly destroying their infants, both before
and after birth. We trust that social propriety and true feminine delicacy will
always be held sacred; but there is a false delicacy which is alike hostile to needful
physiological knowledge and physical well-being, which is incompatible with a
healthily-constituted mind, and which ought to be resolutely put away ; and there
are occasions when even true delicacy must suffer violence if the lives and welfare
of others, or self-preservation, cannot be otherwise insured. When, as a genius of
beneficence, Florence Nightingale encountered the horrors of the military hospitals
during the Crimean war, she gave practical recognition of this duty.
“ But it is not on behalf of others only that we now appeal to English women—
it is equally and still more urgently on behalf of themselves. Thousands upon
thousands, chiefly of the lower classes, but partly of the higher, are the innocent
and defenceless victims of a pestilence whose march is so secret, and whose attacks
are so insidious, that none can be certain of escape ; many a trusting maiden radiant
with happiness, health, and beauty, who gives herself in marriage, speedily finds
her joy turned to mourning, her health to disease, and, it may be, her beauty
defaced by its loathsome poison ; many a mother has to deplore the contamination,
not only of her own constitution, but that of her child, to which, either before or
after birth, in countless instances that poison proves fatal. Thus the social malady
which we now propose to discuss is vitally interesting to woman : it affects her
both as a wife and as a mother, and while destroying the health of herself and of
the dearest objects of her affections, too often blights those affections themselves.
Suffering as she does from its effects, shall she be restrained by conventional pro
hibitions, or even by her own sensitive delicacy, from manifesting her interest in
it, from exerting her influence at once to repress it and to remove its causes, or
from labouring in every possible way to place herself and those related to her out of
danger? On the contrary, we believe that this is precisely one of those subjects
which it is her most solemn duty to examine for herself. We believe that only through
the resolute co-operation and influence of women w any great and permanent diminu
tion of the evil in question possible. If the sexual Relation is to be ennobled, if passion
shall ever be so restrained as to become only the intensest expression of affection,
if love shall ever be so purified and hallowed as never to degrade and sacrifice, but
always to exalt and bless its objects, women will assuredly be the chief agents of
the change. So greatly do our hopes of social amelioration depend on the co
operation with wise and earnest men of intelligent and beneficent women, that we
entreat their attention to the facts we are about to describe. We shall say nothing
but what a most delicate and refined woman might listen to from her physician,
nothing but what every woman, if she be capable of understanding it, should, in
our opinion, know. On this subject we believe the language of simplicity to be the
purest and the least calculated to offend the most delicate nature. But the contem
plation of disease, of which we shall have much to say, ih always painful, and not
seldom revolting; no painting can make the pictures of it pleasing; and especially
would the attempt be futile with reference to those diseases the character and
magnitude of which it will be our duty to portray.”
The writer points out that according to the Registrar-General’s returns 408
deaths occurred from diseases associated with thejvice of the streets, and that this
number, great as it is, gives no idea of the real amouiff, as from the shame attaching
to the disease it is assigned as a cause of death in public practice only, and seldom
or never in private practice. A human organism once tainted can never be restored,
he asserts, to the condition of health and strength which it might otherwise have
enjoyed, and this it is that makes the subject of so great social importance. In the
conclusion of the article the writer gives his opinion of the Contagious Diseases
Act in these words:—
“ Prostitution presents two aspects—one social, the other physical, and hence
two questions for solution. First, how may prostitution be eradicated ? And,
second, until it is, how may the diseases engendered of it be extirpated, or" at least
reduced within the narrowest possible limits ? Any adequate discussion of the first
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THE DIETETIC REFORMER
involves such a wide and comprehensive consideration of every aspect of the relation
of the sexes, as few men, if any, of the present day are duly qualified to undertake;
the other, dealing only as it does with certain results of prostitution—the diseases
we have described—is more simple, and this we propose to grapple with hereafter,
and pledge ourselves to prove that this question can and ought to be practically
dealt with, that the plan of dealing with it now vigorously pressed on the Legisla
ture of extending the Contagious Diseases Act to the civil population will both
signally fail to accomplish the object in view, and will itself entail evils far
greater than those it is intended to remedy, and that there is a plan open to no
such objection, in harmony with the free spirit of English institutions, which, if
practised, will be successful, and which it is our intention fully to explain in a
succeeding number of this Review."—The Western Daily Press, Sept. Wth.
PHYSICAL HEALTH, STRENGTH, AND ACTIVITY CAN
BE REGULATED BY DIET.
The vitality of plants, the muscular activity of all animals, and the mental as well
as muscular and organic health and vigour of man, depend on phosphorus. These
are legitimate inferences from facts, presented clearly, as you shall see, in the
organisation of plants, animals, and man. In grains and all seeds, the phosphates
which give vitality, and furnish food for the brain and nerves, reside in the germ or
“ chit,” while the fixed phosphates, which are devoted to bones, &c., are mixed with
gluten in the crust under the hull, as seen in the plates of corn and wheat. That
the phosphates are concentrated in the germ of all seeds, and that they vary in
different seeds, is easily ascertained by chemical tests applied to the grain or seed.
It is thus ascertained that some seeds and some grains contain two or three
times as much phosphates as others. Wheat, for example, contains two per cent,
while millet four per cent. 'Grass seed from six to seven per cent, and some, as
clover and herds-grass, from seven to nine. In all seeds and roots and nuts, which
germinate from chits or eyes, the phosphates centre about these eyes, and what is
not found there, is always found connected with the muscle-making part of the grain
or fruit, showing that the phosphates are connected with vitality and the life-giving
principle.
The same thing is shown in animals by a test of their flesh, and by their manner
of living. The flesh of quadrupeds and birds, and fishes, contains phosphorus in
just the°proportion to their natural activity, wild animals much more than domestic ;
the most active birds, like the pigeon and migrating birds, much more than domestic
fowls, and quiet and lazy birds. The migrating fishes, whose astonishing muscular
power enables them to swim up rapids and over falls, contain more phosphates than
the flounder and halibut, which are clumsy and comparatively dormant.
Insects abound in phosphorus in proportion to their activity and strength of
muscle, and among them are the greatest gymnasts in the world. The leap of a
flea is as great in proportion to size of muscle, as if a man should jump over the
Atlantic Ocean, from Boston to London; and a beetle, not weighing s scruple, will
lift and move a junk bottle with contents, weighing, a pound—a weight more than
one hundred times as great, in proportion, as Dr. Winship could lift (and the beetle
wears no yoke). Being wanted for scientific purposes, a beetle was.placed, for safe
keeping, under a bottle filled with liquid, in the inverted cup made in the bottom of
the bottle. Immediately the plucky little insect was seen walking off with the
bottle on his back—as if the strong doctor, being shut up in his own office in the
basement of Park-street Church, with a steeple two hundred feet high, should hoist
the old thing, steeple and all, over into the cemetery.
.
The active bird lives on active insects or small seeds, which contain the most
phosphorus, while the sluggish hen or robin is content with corn or worms, which
contain much less of the life-giving element; and migratory birds,
bbey
remain quiet, raising their young, live on worms and berries, but in the fall get a
supply of strength for annual flight by eating seeds and active insects. The king
bird is the smartest little bird in New England, and gets his name from the fact
�115
AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
that he governs all other birds—large and small, or drives them from his domain if
they give Um offence. Even the hawk, which is such a terror to other birds, seems
to be a source of amusement to the kingbird. Many a time have I seen this little
bird, not one-tenth as large as the hawk, flying just over his back in the air,
keeping out of his way by superior activity, occasionally pouncing on him, and
giving him such annoyance that he was glad to leave the neighbourhood to escape
■Ra little tormenter. A brace of these jolly and eccentric little kingbirds are just
now affording infinite amusement to the denizens and visitors of Chester square,
in Boston, June, 1867. Having, according to the custom of other royal families,
selected a beautiful city residence for a part of the year, and having built their
nest, and the queen being engaged in matters pertaining to the perpetuation of
royalty, the king is obliged to entertain visitors^ This he does by pouncing on the
backs of dogs and driving them from the square; diving at the bright buttons on
the policemen’s coats; knocking off tall, black, awkward stove-funnel hats, &c.
Looking out of my office window, which looks over an open lot to the square, the
other day, I saw this kingbird pouncing with tremendous vigour into a thicket of
shrubs, and soon came out a big cat, escaping as' for life, to the nearest shelter,
with the little bird every moment striking at his back and head. This little king
bird lives on bees and hornets—insects proverbial for their industry,.strength, and
persevering activity—and on flies, whose activity keeps them up inthe air for
amusement, and the bird amuses hirnself in catching them; and thus it is clearly
established that active animals require food which contains more phosphorus than
inactive animals, and the inference is conclusive that man also will have more or
less activity of brain or muscle in proportion to' the elements he takes to feed the
brain and muscle.—Philosophy of Eating.
DR. MUSSEY ON HEALTH
*
[From The Radical (Monthly), for January, 1869.
(Continued from p. 69.J
Boston, U.S.]
But to return to the point, as to what feeds the world. Look first at the great
flesh-eaters, — the inhabitants of Northern Europe, Eastern Asia, and North
America, the Laplanders, the Tungooes, and the Buracts. ;. They are the weakest
and least brave of men. Take some of the New Zealand tribes,—-eating like cows,
on all-fours, tearing a smoking hog to pieces with their fingers, and eating all up,-—
flesh-eating monsters ! They are theinost savage and unhealthy of men; while their
children, fruit-eaters during youth, are healthy and mild.. They get disease and
savageness when they leave the fruits for flesh. Take a, tribe of one of the Westmann Islands. The people die rapidly, and have few.children. They live on eggs
and birds almost exclusively. But the Irishman with his potato lives to old age,
and the number of his children we know. On the other hand, look at the fifteen or
sixteen cases which the doctor cites. 1. Some tribes in the South Pacific. Excel in
■beauty and grandeur of form. Few cripples or diseased persons among them. They
are entirely fruit and grain eaters. 2. The earlier Greek athletse. Very powerful.
Ate no animal food. 3. The Saracens under Mohammed. A' terror to. Southern
Europe. Heroes. Food, water, milk, vegetables. And so their great chief, Oinar.
He, too, lived entirely on vegetable food. Celebrated'for his endurance,, purity,
genius. 4. A tribe at Jenno, east of Gape Mesurado; They have flesh which they
can have if they would prefer it. They do prefer fruits and vegetables. A stronger
■race of men not to be found. 5. The Spanish peasants. Food/ milk and wheat
flour, or bread steeped in oil, or bread and cheeSe. Great labourers. And one traveller
says they are the liveliest, healthiest, best-favoured peasants he has seen. 6. The
inhabitants of East Scotland. Strong, large, healthy. Diet, vegetables and oat
meal ; no meat. Scott speaks of the “ hardy warriors of Douglas who lived on the
oat-meal taken from the bag suspended by the great chimney.” 7. The Russian
grenadiers. Called the “ finest body of troops.” Food each day, one pound of black
gbread, and half a pound of vegetable oil. 8. The porters of Smyrna. Carry through
* Health; Its Friends and its Foes.
Lincoln.
By R. D. Musaey, M.D., LL.D.
Boston: Gould and
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THE DIETETIC REFORMER .
the streets on their backs four-hundred-pound boxes of sugar, .gome take up nine
hundred pounds of boards for a single-load. Food spare ; coarse bread, figs, other
fruits, water. 9. The blacks of South Carolina,—field hands. Live on sweet potatoes
and corn meal. Healthy during the malaria. But if they become house domestics,
and live more generously, subject to malaria. A proof that the fever is kept off more
by the careful diet than the black’s constitution. It is also said that the young field
hands, who subsist entirely upon fruit and grain, learn much better than the home
servants,who eat everything. 10. The famous Cherokee athletae. They play a most
bellicose game of ball of two hours’ duration, taxing their muscular system to the
utmost. Their food is corn meal. Sometimes those who eat flesh enter the lists. At
first more vigorous than the others. But never endure so long as the corn-eaters.
They fail in breath. 11. The Chili miners. Carry stones of three hundred and sixty
pounds’weight on their backs from the bottom of the mines, three hundred feet deep.
Have no ladders to go up on. Diet, very seldom meat. Usually harricot bean and
bread. 12. The hardy pupils in the old Persian schools. Trained, according to
Xenophon, to heavy camp exercise and severe hunts. Very strong. Food, bread
and water-cresses. 13. The athletse of the Himalaya Mountains. One of them is
often stronger than three Europeans. Can grasp a man at the breast and back
between their palms, and lift him at arms’ length. Never eat meat. 14. The trappists of Kentucky. Labour ech day twelve hours. No cases of cancer and liver
disease. Hardly any sickness. Live to great age. When the Western fever and
cholera have raged about them, they were exempt,—not one case of sickness. Food,
vegetables and milk.
Nor do these statements as to masses of men exhaust the subject; though it
must be admitted they make out a splendid case for grains and vegetables as against
beef and luxuries. As facts making against the necessity of a meat diet, we think
them victorious. Whether they prove more, we do not discuss. But, besides these
cases, the doctor adduces others of individuals which are valuable. He alludes to the
great world-geniuses, Pythagoras, Plato, Newton (when at his heaviest work), and
Descartes, who managed to subsist their minds and bodies to boot without patronising
the butcher. To one Golonel Twitchell, who found himself a bankrupt. He made a
resolution to eat no meat or rich food till he had paid his debts. A very blessed
resolution, worthy of being followed in honest Boston. Had been troubled with cold
feet and little coughs. But, bravo I his bread and water helped him to perfect health
and a fortune. To Colonel Haskett. In perfect health. Walked two thousand miles
in ninety days, on fifteen, eighteen, twenty ounces of bread, with one or two quarts
of water, per diem. To Dr. R. Jackson, a British surgeon. He boasted that he
had worn out two British armies in two wars, and could wear out a third. He never
ate meat. To the Arabs of the desert. Perfectly healthy. Live, some of them, to
200 years. They subsist on very moderate quantities of camel’s milk. On so little,
in fact, that sometimes, upon an autopsy, their stomachs are found greatly contracted.
These Arabs are as hardy and fiery as their splendid horses. Finally, he tells the story
of a miser and his new wife. At forty, the miser proposed marriage with a rich widow
*
The widow possessed the blessing of wealth, but not health. His protestations of
affection were the strongest. “ He loved the very ground she walked on ” (she was
a large holder of real estate). But the widow was out of health. Constitution
shattered. Very much reduced. Stomach used up. The marriage took place. And
her ardent lover, whether, as was surmised, to bring a seasonable issue to her exist
ence, and thus get the property, or to keep her and himself from debts at the
butcher’s and grocer’s, proceeded at once to put her on low diet. She descended to
corn-meal bread, hasty-pudding, and boiled potatoes. But the miser’s ambition over
leaped itself. The widow become healthy, and added to her life fifteen years. So
much, then, for a simple diet. In fact, from a moral point of view, the doctor is
sure that an unstimulating diet of grains tends directly to make people calm, pure,
happy. He alludes to the beautiful type, the Quaker family; cheerful, healthy,
moral; eating, of course, little meat. And to a flesh-eating and most fierce Auburn
prisoner. He was most dangerously violent; but at once became quiet and docile on
a bread and vegetable diet. It was the only thing which would bring him to terms]
The world at large, therefore, attests to the fact that hardihood and health may go
with the grains and fruits. The cutlet and turtle may be very nice and palatable, but
labour can go on bravely without them.
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
117
But we must not dismiss the doctor’s book quite yet. His second cardinal rule as
ttrhealth refers to quantity. He insists on a moderate amount of food for the maximum
of health. Especially does he insist on this for the ailing person, and for that unfortunate individual among the class who carries in his body a bottomless pit, a bad
itomach. He admits that a man may drink deeply and advance to ninety, or eat
heartily and live as long. But do you want brilliant nerves, clear tissues, blood that
can leap and bound because unclogged by the weight of an august dinner, a brain
whose tides of light will run through the year with little ebb ? then, he says, look
to the amount of what you eat. And if you are a melancholy, pulled-down repro
bate of a dyspeptic, here, here is your salvation. We will close what we have to
say by giving a few of his capital illustrations upon the point.
First, as to the general matter of quantity. He thinks that from one to two
pounds a day furnish sufficient nutriment for the body to do its work. And facts
which we have gleaned from other sources lead us to believe that his rule could be
made universal, and the race be better off. It is said that in Central Brazil there
are tribes who are as muscular as any men to be found among the Caucasians, and
as hard labourers too. They eat but one light meal a day. A cup of coffee takes
the place of the others. The Egyptian peasantry are a very fine class of men.
Hire them for a Nile expedition. They will bake their bad flour in a heated hole in
the ground, throw the rock-like lump into the boat, work all day at the oar, or at
the pole or line, and then, chipping off a piece of the bread, as big as an orange,
with an axe, will soak it in the muddy Nile, and eat it as an abundant supper.
Breakfast, the same. In many parts of India, too,, where the labourers compare
quite favourably with the English, their diet is almost exclusively rice, and small
at that. Four cents a day pays their wages. They will live on one, and lay up
the other three. John Wesley did enormous work. He averaged eighteen
hours a day in labour. Rode thousands of miles (seven hours a day for months
on horseback). Preached thousands of sermons (often five a day.) Published
over forty volumes. And lived strong till ninety. Jonathan Edwards was a
great student. What he accomplished we know. His allowance was a pound
for a day. Many English poorhouses and workhouses give out daily rations
of two and three pounds. The work done and health accruing are not the maxi
mum. But those work and poor houses where the daily allowance of a pound and
a half is given make the best exhibit of work, and health too. We all know of the
alertness and military prowess of the Bedouins. Yet the majority of them eat but
six ounces of food a day. Often six or seven dates soaked in melted butter give
them all their food for twenty-four hours. The addition of a little ball of rice is
considered a luxury. The case of an English captain is cited. He was taken
prisoner at Algiers. He lived nine months on one pound Of black-bread and a
pitcher of water a day. Moreover he did hard work. Yet he was perfectly well.
A Mr. Reed lived twenty-eight days on thirty pounds of corn. Stronger than ever
at the end of the four weeks. He alludes also to several cases where men have
>lived for years healthfully and happily on apples alone. But, without mentioning
more, what we have shown ought to be conclusive. And when we consider the
feasting habits both of past and present^ and their consequences, stupidity of mind,
loathsome disease of body; when we remember that letter of Cicero, describing a
supper at his house,—his illustrious guest, the bald first Caesar, preparing for the
battle at the board by an emetic taken just before the repast, .that he might feast
high and long; when we recall that famous German Krocher who put down into
his capacious stomach a whole calf in twenty-four hours; the hungry Texans in
the mountains, grumbling because they could get but seven pounds of Buffalo
meat for each man per diem; and the numberless great suppers of everyday occur
rence, paid for by precious headaches, colds, neuralgias, restless nights and fevers,
and followed by other not very pleasant consequences, poor sermons, poor briefs,
poor fields, poor money-drawers,—these melancholy things should cast a light upon
the fact as to the alliance of simplicity of diet with health and happiness, and make
men cease to be fools at their meals.
One word more for the sick man. We have current some very delightful rules
as to the healing art. One is, for example, stuff a cold. A second, fill up the
body, if you feel weak. A third, decidedly Napoleonic, is, a man, like an army,
moves on its stomach. And the joke is, a person seems to use these charming rules
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THE DIETETIC REFORMER
all the more as he grows sicker and weaker, until he winds up with a fever or dis
eased bronchial tube. Now we venture to say that in New England every year
thousands fling themselves into graves by their excesses at the table. Nay,
thousands do it, believing the excess a necessity. And we are sure that the saving
gospel to thousands of invalids around us is, “Limit your diet. Don’t starve.
Don’t eat sawdust nor drink skim-milk. But cut off a respectable portion from
every meal.” Look at these rules. Stuff a cold! The very condition of a cold’s
departure is that the system must be freed from an excess of solids and liquids.
Feed up, if you feel weak 1 The very thing which often makes weakness is too
much food ; the chemical laboratory of the stomach becomes used, and needs rest;
and to eat adds to the weakness. We never work a weary limb to get strength.
We let it be quiet. And of the two kinds of overwork for the poor body, common
labour and the overtaxing the chemical power of the assimilative and digestive
organs, we know that where one man gives out from the first fault, fifty give out
from the second. Work a battery of the chemist to excess, and it is done. Give
the inner bodily tissues enormous labour by flinging to them vast quantities of food
to be made into blood and fibre, and these batteries are damaged. But let the
tissues be relieved, and work moderately, and then, soon, daily labour will be
invigorating. The strains which bring disease are not usually on the muscles or
brain, but on the digestive and other internal organs. And now, what the remedy ?
The doctor answers, reduce your feeding. »He tells of a child, quite sick and
feverish, and living, said its mother, in a most careful way. What was the careful
way ? “ Oh ! it has just taken the breast of a chicken, a piece of apple-pie, a slice
of cake, and only a mug of tea ; nothing more.” He mentions a sick student, used
up from a cold and bilious attack. The poor sufferer had been reducing his diet.
Had just eaten only a piece of mince-pie, ditto of squash, two large slices of buttered
bread, a piece of pound-cake, and drank seven cups of tea. Famishing fellow!. A
wonder of abstemiousness! Now perhaps these are uncommon cases. But it is
still true that two-thirds of New England, by leading not an active, robust life, but
a quiet one, by feeding at almost every meal a trifle more than it ought, finds that
in the course of weeks or months, at any rate, years, it has rolled up these trifles,
so as to make a great excess, like the invalid’s fast on pound-cake and the seven
cups. The result in the two classes of cases is the same.
He tried his cure on a miserable asthmatic. Had had in a year a dozen con
vulsive attacks. A short diet of bread and water cured him. He tried a merchant.
Had most severe pains in ,the region of the bowels, and was reduced. His physician
told him to feed up. Accordingly brandy, beef-steak and wine, were largely appealed
to. But no better. While bread and water, in small quantities, cured him, and he
grew fat. A boy was afflicted with constant vomitings for months. Became a
skeleton. Nothing would help. The doctor began treatment by a table-spoonful
of milk a day. Gradually increased the quantity. Was cured. A person was reduced very low from indigestion, with a voracious appetite. The doctor put kim
on four ounces of crackers for eleven days, and five for the next twenty-eight. The
result was, the craving ceased, strength restored. Dr. James Jackson tells of a
convalescent from lung difficulty, who gained flesh on two crackeis a day. We
have all heard of the crusty Englishman, Dr. Abernethy. He probably helped
more of John Bull’s subjects out of bilious troubles than any other physician. And
his one solitary rule for a man sick from indigestion was twelve ounces of coarse
bread per diem, with an interval of six hours between meals. The recipe cured
hundreds. He cites the case of a woman who constantly lost flesh as she increased
her rations, and as constantly gained as she decreased the food to a sPec’flc quan
tity. And now for the case of Jervis Robinson. He was a ship-builder. At
thirty-two he was a profound dyspeptic, weak as water. Tried the filling-up sys
tem ; attacked every day luscious buttered beef-steak; but grew worse At last
tried the radical’s diet. Ate, for four months, three ounces of wheat-meal per day,
one ounce at each meal. For liquid, to a third of a gill of water at each meal, or a
gill a day. At the end of sixty days had lost twenty pounds But bowels became
regular. Kept on his strict diet sixty days more, leaving off the third of a gill of
water for supper. And then, behold! at the end of the two months, on three ounces
of food a day, he had gained twenty pounds. Was well. And, moreover, was
always satisfied with his meals. Now we beg to say that this case is most remarkable
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
119 *
and instinctive. Dyspepsia is the small dragon which accompanies a third of the
people of New England. It seems to go with them, like the little dog following in
the street. We are aware of the usual remedy—the pill. The doctor mentions one
senli-martyr who swallowed in four weeks six hundred Brandreth’s pills. And
another who put down one thousand three hundred Morrison Boluses in six months,
or eight a day. We know a man who for twenty years paid out twenty-five hundred
dollars for patent medicines. He took every quack preparation he had ever heard
ofi and the day of his death sent off' for a new medicine. He had emptied into his
stomach four thousand boxes of pills. And finally would buy medicine by the
wholesale, put his pills into a bean-pot, and take a heaping teaspoonful every twentyfour hours. It may be refreshing to know the result of this magnificent dosing.
He finally died. But there is a more excellent way than this. It is the rule as to
Quantity. And we are sure, as blessed old Amos Lawrence used to say, there is
more exhilaration and inspiration to be got from a temperate diet than from all the
baskets of champagne and choice cuts of marbled beef in the world. Louis Cornaro
is, of course, a classic example. At forty he was in consumption, and given up. He
took to a careful diet, and ate for the next fifty years but twelve ounces of food a
day, drinking but the same number of ounces of liquid—two tumblers of wine.
Twice he deviated from his rigorous rule, and paid a severe penalty in each case.
But the diet made him strong and happy. At eighty he wrote a book on the plea
sures of temperance. And, moreover, at forty he was poor, though a nobleman.
But after recovery he purchased a farm, did his farm work on the twelve ounces,
and grew rich. It is known, too, that our ven.erablfi Dr, Jackson (a name never to
be mentioned without respect), considerably changed his views in later years, as to
the matter of quantity and kind of food in connection with lung diseases. He
believed that in very many cases a diet of very moderate quantity, and, moreover,
mostly vegetable, would furnish a far better remedy than any other. And the reason
is clear. In consumption, the system is weak. The organs are enfeebled. Part of
the chemical apparatus has collapsed. And the remedy lies in applying the same
law to the body which you would apply to a horse-wearied out, or a brain exhausted
from thinking. It wants rest. Give the internal organs little to do in the way of
assimilation and digestion ; let nature, the great curer, have time to clean out foul
matter from the tissues and great organs, and then assert its own force. Do this,
and you may expect fruitful results. Finally, the testimony of another distinguished
physician is in point—that ornament of his profession, that representative of our
bright gift of brain, that Christian man, Dr. John Ware. Unfortunately, he has left
us for the higher and holier walk. But his magnificent power of judgment will
Bong be remembered in Boston. At first, the doctor treated cases of indigestion in
the old way; believed in the generous breakfast, dinner, and supper; generally
advised the dyspeptic to eat at least a pound and a half each day; nay, would advise
this quantity with medicine, rather than less without it. But later he revolutionised
his system, and confessed his mistake : and his own later diet is not a bad prescrip
tion for all suffering from that unamiable devil, a torpid liver. Breakfast, one cup
of tea (or coffee), one baked apple, one thin slice of toast. Dinner, a piece of meat
as large as your two fingers, one tablespoonful of squash, and one of potato, or their
equivalent. No more. No bread, no pie, no pudding, no dessert, nothing more,
except part of a tumbler of water. Supper, a baked apple, and at times a cup of
tea. Before retiring, took a cup of milk boiled with half a cup of the hulls of wheat
(which, by the way, to our own disadvantage, we give our horses under the name of
“ shorts’’)- That new diet he used to remark made him a different man. Cured his
costiveness (most obstinate). Gave him strength and cheerfulness. Checked a
disease of the brain that for many years he was sure was in progress. Allowed him
to see and visitKany patients during the day, and to study into midnight. In fact,
added to his life, and took from him years of pain and depression. Now, when it is
remembered that our usual diet goes up to two pounds, and often to four, sometimes
to six and eight, and that a sick man or woman is no wonder in our community, but
is almost the average type of the population, we submit that, in the great light of
the cases we have stated, we need here a vast reform. We need, as the good Dr.
Mussey says, a more simple diet, and in much less quantity.
I
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�'120
THE DIETETIC REFORMER
“SLINK” AT SWINTON.
“ Slink” is a word used to describe unsound or diseased meat. “ Slink” is, in fact,
“ shoddy” meat, and, like “shoddy,” “slink” is of various qualities and prices.
The “ slink” trade is an important one, and many men have realised fortunes in it.
The cattle plague, whilst it ruined thousands, made hundreds. It will hardly be
credited, but it is nevertheless true, that no matter what the disease, or how the
animal has met with its death, the carcass is too valuable to be buried, but is con
verted into food. “ Pig’s cheek,” “ brawn,” “ sausages,” “ veal pies,” are all more
or less under the influence of “ slink.” Manufacturers of these articles exist out
side our towns, and it is chiefly in the cooked state that this abominable traffic is
carried on. Milk cans are the favourite means of conveying “ slink” from place
to place. They attract no attention, and are not liable to be inspected. Some may
be inclined to discredit our statements, but it is only a month or two ago that a
celebrated veal-pie man was fined for having in his possession several putrid calves ;
and every week some person appears in our police courts for exposing diseased cattle
or meat for sale. Last week the Salford magistrates fined one I. Bury £10 and
costs, for bringing a diseased heifer to market; for which offence he is now taking
the alternative of “ three months” in prison.
The Nuisances and Cattle Market Inspectors reduce the live “slink” made in
our large towns to a minimum, but they are almost powerless to prevent the impor
tation of dressed and cooked offal. The inhuman dealers in this traffic are well
read in the law. They know that an inspector’s power terminates with the city
or borough boundary, and just over the line they bid him defiance. In the same
way, just let a cart loaded with “ slink” cross from Salford to Manchester, or vice
versa, and the authorities of either cannot follow and seize it.. They can only give
information to their brother officials. In giving this information much time is lost,
and the fox generally manages to get to earth. Again, only officers of health and
inspectors of nuisances can legally detain suspicious meat, &c. A policeman, as
such, has no right to stop any butcher’s cart or examine any slaughter-house. The
law wants extending here ; and it ought to be lawful for any policeman or inspector
of nuisances to seize any unwholesome meat wherever he may find it. If such
were the case, the “ slink” factories in the neighbourhood would soon be stamped
out. The sickness caused by the fearful amount of bad meat that is sold must be
considerable. Fancy eating joints of meat cut from a cow which has died of puer
peral fever, consumption, pleuro-pneumania, abcesses, and hosts of other com
plaints. We are just learning that consumption is an innocuable complaint, and
therefore the fair inference is that it may also be propagated by means of eating
meat saturated with tubercle. No disease is so catching or fatal as puerperal fever,
and yet we are told on most incontrovertible authority that hardly a cow dies in
or after calving, but is dressed and sold for food. We could enter into many more
details, but they are so disgusting that we will spare our readers their recital, and
only say hardly a parasite exists which cannot be, and is not, propagated in
the human frame by means of unsound meat.
The reason we have called attention to this disagreeable subject this week is
because only the other day a case occurred at Swinton, which well illustrates the
difficulties which surround the seizure of “ slink.” A cow was seized at Swinton
as unfit for food. The nuisance inspector seized it; and to assist and confirm his
judgment, Inspector Bird, of Salford, and Mr. Bostock, veterinary surgeon, were
also called to examine the animal. The verdict was an unanimous one against the
cow. And so the carcase was destroyed. For giving an honest professional opinion,
Mr. Bostock has been favoured with the following specimens of the Swinton Art of
Polite Letter Writing:—
.
,
“ Swinton, August 10th, 69.
“ Mr. Bostock, Sir,—I write to inform you that a public meeting of the ratepayers
of. the Swinton Local Board will be holden at the Bull’s Head on Wednesday evening
next, at seven o’clock, to condemn the proceedings and conduct of Bird, Bostock,
and Claridge, and the shamefull Robbery which by them was committed last week,
and to take further proceedings with respect to the same and to the removal of
Claridge.—Yours respy.,
“A Ratepayer.
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
“Your conduct in this affair has met with public condemnation from all Classes
Bffine most respectable Ratepayers.”
“ If you think your qualification worth defending you had better attend tor, it
will be severely tested by Public Opinion. Against other Respectable gentlemen.
Inspectors Claridge and Bird have also been subject to much personal abuse.
The cow in question was very much diseased, lungs and kidneys both being unsound,
especially the lungs.
.
,
Whether or no the “ indignation meeting” was held we do not know, but tor the
fair fame of the Swinton ratepayers we will hope not. The Swinton folks it seems
are indignant” over many things. They object to their Local Board; in other
words they object to being compelled to be less filthy. They cannot understand
being “penny wise and pound foolish,” and so they were to have an “indignation
meeting” against the Local Board. At this meeting we suppose an attempt would
be made to drag in the consumptive cow. If we could have ordered matters, all
present should have been compelled to sup on this cow ; that would have cured them.
Even supposing those indignant Swintonians should prefer eating diseased meat,
we cannot allow them to indulge their unnatural propensities. We should have to
keep their sick, and we know that health depends in a great measure on good food.
PAb-o’-th’-Yate’s” friend’s cow hung herself, and Ab profited thereby; but honest
Ab would not have iled his children’s hair with dripping from a consumptive beast.
We should be happy to contribute our mite towards sending f a ratepayer” to
the village school, for he evidently knows nothing.of two out of the “three B’s;”
and in all probability he has no need to know aught of the last one, for the ‘ sBnk ’
trade is so profitable a one as to render ’rithmejbi©-superfluous.—From, the Shadow
(Manchester).
_______________ _________
Milk Diet.—The general indications for its use are so well laid down by
Niemeyer, that I shall quote what he says:—In the selection of suitable diet for
consumptive patients, the old rules, derived partly from common experience, agree
completely with the views now received in physiology respecting nourishment and
renewal of tissue. All the articles of food especially recommended to consumptive
patients contain large quantities of fat, or of substances which form it, and propor
tionately little of protein substances. This selection corresponds with the empiri
cally ascertained fact, that the production of urea, or the conversion of nitrogenous
elements, is increased by a large supply of protein substances; while,on the other
hand, the conversion and expenditure of the organs and tissues most important to
the organism is reduced by an abundant supply of fat and fat-forming articles.
Therefore, the freest possible use of milk cannot be too strongly recommended to
phthisical patients. But it is entirely superfluous, and indeed erroneous,, to remove
the casein from the milk and make it be drunk in the shape of whey; this, can only
be necessary in the rare cases when the stomach bears whey well and milk badly.
When I frequently order my patients to drink three times daily a pint of milk warm
from the cow, my only object is that, the milk should not be robbed of any of. its
constituents or skimmed before it is drunk.” Warm milk is like other warm fluids,
useful in chronic bronchitis. Milk is also an agent of very great value in affections
of the stomach and of the intestines. It is easy to see how it is useful when we do
not wish to give these organs much work to do; in chronic catarrhs of the stomach,
and in perforating ulcer, milk is constantly used with great advantage. In infants,
when amylaceous food is given too early, a return to milk is often the appropriate
remedy. It is also useful in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery; in the chronic diarrhoea of children its use is familiar; and it is an old and rather neglected remedy in
dysentery. If used with care, it is a valuable adjunct in many stages of the disease,
and I believe that, if more freely and systematically used, it would be found to be
one of the best cures for the obstinate diarrhoeas and other sequelae of tropical .dy
sentery. Of course the milk must be taken with care, and it must be ascertained
whether it is digested or not. If given in too large quantities, it may overload the
stomach and increase the diarrhoea. To improve general constitutional states, there
is no necessity, as in Dr. Karell’s employment of it, for the milk being drunk at
precise hours and in precise quantities. The chief object is to drink the milk in
such quantities as are digestible. There is no virtue in drinking milk warm from
the cow, if you do not like it. It is better to have it previously boiled.
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THE DIETETIC REFORMER
The Philosophy of Marriage.—Few people, in estimating the happiness of a
married couple, make due allowance for human imperfection. No two human
beings can be brought into the intimate relationship of husband and wife without
the occasional development of something discordant. Only perfect, absolutely sin
less persons, could live absolutely perfect lives together; and such men and women
can never be found in this world; and as in another world there will be no marrying,
absolutely perfect marriages can never be realised, either in this world or in that
which is to come. But are not the vast majority of married persons quite as happy
as an equal number of unmarried ones? Nay, more, are not the great majority of
married people as happy in their married state as they would be unmarried ? And
still more, are they not as happy with each other as they would be with anybody
else ? By a change of partners, they might get rid of some one or more causes of
disturbances between them—some constitutional defects or infirmities, or some dis
agreeable cherished habits; but they would find in other parties other causes of
disturbance quite as serious, though of an entirely different kind; so that, after all,
it might be very difficult to say on which side there was the greatest amount of
happiness or misery. The fact is that men and women are susceptible of only a
given amount of contentment and happiness in any condition of life; and marry
whom they will, they can never exceed their capacity for enjoyment. Many people
are foolish enough to imagine that marriage is the sovereign cure for all the dis
quietudes and miseries of life; and when they get married, and yet find their
favourite panacea does not work perfectly, they jump to the conclusion that it is
because their marriage was not a true one—that it was ill-assorted, and therefore an
unhappy one; whereas the only difficulty is, that both husband and wife are
human—neither divine nor angelic—and have, like all other human beings, more
or less of sinful infirmity about them.
Physical Influence of Sunday Rest.—“ I have practised as a physician
between thirty and forty years, and during the early part of my life, as the physician
of a public medical institution, I had charge of the poor in one of the most populous
districts of London. I have had occasion to observe - the effect of the observance
and non-observance of the seventh day of rest during that time. I have been in
the habit during a great many years of considering the uses of the Sabbath, and of
observing its abuses. The abuses are chiefly manifested in labour and dissipation.
Its use, medically speaking, is that of a day of rest. As a day of rest I view it as
a day of compensation for the inadequate restorative power of the body under con
tinued labour and excitement. A physician always has respect to the preservation
of the restorative power, because if this once be lost, his healing office is at an end.
A physician is anxious to preserve the balance of circulation as necessary to the
restorative power of the body. The ordinary exertions of man run down the circu
lation every day of his life; and the first general law of nature, by which God
prevents man from destroying himself, is the alternating night and day, that repose
may succeed action. But although the night apparently equalises the circulation,
yet it does not sufficiently restore its balance for the attainment of a long life.
Hence, one day in seven, by the bounty of Providence, is thrown in as a day of com
pensation, to perfect by its repose the animal system. I consider, therefore, that
in the bountiful provision of Providence for the preservation of human life, the
Sabbatical appointment is not as it has been sometimes theologically viewed, simply
a precept, partaking of the nature of a political institution, but that it is to be num
bered amongst the natural duties, if the preservation of life be admitted to be a duty,
and a premature destruction of it a suicidal act.’’—J. R- Farre, M.D.
Bread without Grinding Corn. —The Daily News says, a method has been dis
covered of making bread without grinding the corn, and a patent has been taken out
for the process. It is said that whereas in the process for making bread from flour
there is much waste, so that lOOlbs. of grain yields only 1121bs. of bread ; according
to the new process lOOlbs. of grain will produce 145 or 1501bs. of bread. The new
bread is not only increased in quantity, but is also said to be of better quality. Accord
ing to the old process much, of the gluten was decomposed and lost in the heat of
grinding. It is preserved when grinding is unnecessary; and the new mode of fermen
tation contributes greatly to the whiteness of the bread. Of course we give no opinion
on the invention, whether it does or does not proceed on sound principles ; or whether,
if the principles be sound, their application is practicable.
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
133
VEGETARIAN QUERIES.
To the Editor of the Dietetic Reformer.
■ Dear Sir,—I shall be glad if you would permit me to ask a few questions on
practical matters which may possibly be of service to many others like myself, if
some old practised Vegetarians will be at the little trouble to reply to them from
their larger experience.
Rice.—How is this to be ground ? In what sort of mill—what is its cost—and
where obtained? In an ordinary steel flour mill it grinds with great difficulty, and
seems in danger of injuring the mill. It could be used in various ways, but only
safely if ground at home.
Earley and Rye.—Will these grind in an ordinary steel grinding mill used for
corn ?
L Cocoa.—How may the nuts be ground ? I have heard of a cocoa mill: Does it
work satisfactorily, and to the best advantage? An iron pestle and mortar (the
nuts, pestle, and mortar made hot, and then pounded) is said to be the most success
ful method of preparation, as it is then pasty, and the oil comes out.. If so, where
can such pestle and mortar be had, and at what cost ? I do not consider the boiling
of the nib as satisfactory, as well as being a very long process.
Oatmeal.—Is there any simple means of preparing this for domestic use from
the oat, at home. Any simple plan of drying and doing the- necessary decortication
or crushing ?
I Perhaps these are enough for one number.
An Outside Friend.
INFANTS’ FOOD.
To the Editor of the Dietetic Reformer.
Dear Sir, —I wish to let you know what has Recently occurred here, proving the
wisdom and correctness of Dr. Sylvester Graham’s advice for bringing up infants
by hand. An infant, for which the mother had no milk, and which they were
attempting to bring up by hand, was shown to me when a few weeks old. It was
puny, weak, and sickly. It always cried when an attempt was made to feed it, and
could not hold up its head, which hung on one side from weakness. On inquiry, I
ibund that it was fed on gruel, made of fine flour, mixed with ;unboiled milk, and
heavily sweetened with brown sugar; and that latterly, to still its peevishness and
cause it to sleep, a small quantity of rum was added to this. The sugar was given to
prevent costiveness which, otherwise, it suffered from. 1 It was acknowledged that
the child was getting worse daily. “ Put the sugar in your own tea," said I.
“ Throw the rum out of the door, and send up your daughter to me immediately for
a bowl of whole meal wheaten flour, the same as my own bread is made of.” This
I directed them to make into gruel, according to Graham, thus:—“ With a tablespobnful of this meal, and a pint of pure water, make a thin gruel, which should
be boiled about fifteen minutes, and then about a pint of new milk fresh from, the
cow should be added
the milk being of course unboiled, as before. These direc
tions being followed, and the child being fed accordingly, in a week there was
visible improvement, at thosame time that red blotches, like those on the face of a
drunkard, began to appear on the infant’s face. All costiveness had now gone. At
the end of six weeks from the commencement of change of diet the flesh of the
child was firm and hard, its skin clear and bright, and it was perfectly good-tempered and quiet. Its weight, too, was about double what it was a few weeks before.
The red blotches on the child’s face, which appeared after the spirit was given up,
were to be attributed to its constitution having gained strength by that time from its
fiMd sufficient to throw out the poisonous spirit, and they soon went away altogether.
The infant is now at least fully as strong as the generality of children of the same age.
Narberth, S. W.
A. B.
�124
THE DIETETIC REFORMER
DIETETIC SUGGESTIONS INVITED.
To the Editor of the Dietetic Reformer.
Dear Sir,—I should very much like some one to give a few suggestions, rational
and reasonable, as to particulars of the daily consumption of food, in kind and
quantity, for breakfast, dinner, and evening, adapted for a man and wife living on
£200 a-year. I believe a few such suggestions, founded on individual experience,
supplied through the medium of the Dietetic Reformer, would very much help the
cause. I am aware that it may be said that stomachs vary ; but let the examples
furnished be suited for persons in good health and no idlers. If thou canst give me
what I ask, well, if not, can thou give me the name of some one with whom I
could make free to write to ?
I will give thee my fare for to-day :—Breakfast: 5oz. of bread and butter, and
two cups of homoeopathic cocoa. Dinner: Two roasted potatoes; a quarter of a
baked rice pudding (made of 1 quart of milk, Jib. of rice with a little tapioca, and
1 egg); and finished with a slice of bread and butter. Teatime : 6oz. of bread and
butter, and two cups of homoeopathic cocoa. I make my cocoa with one cup of
water and one cup of milk.
I am 84 years of age and my wife 92 ; we have lived together 60 years ; and
are both able to do a day’s work. I can walk a mile in a quarter of an hour.
Have we not much to be thankful for ? So I am.
J. B.
Substitute foe Cod-Liver Oil.— A correspondent, writing from Edinburgh,
says:—“You will be glad to know that Oleum Arachnis (Earth-Nut Oil) is an
advantageous substitute for cod-liver oil, in many cases, especially for children.’’
SLeptfe, fa.
AMERICA.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science held its annual meeting
at Salem, Massachusetts, in August last., From the report of the proceedings of the
Association, furnished by the correspondent of the Toronto Daily Globe, we make the
following extract:—
Your correspondent, not possessing the power of ubiquity, had no difficulty in
making up his mind to leave the learned speakers in section A (on Mathematics,
Physics, and Chemistry) to the regular reporters, and betake himself to the more
attractive session of sectioii B, where the interesting subject of that bugbear of
pork-eaters, the Trichina spiralis, was the first on the list. The subject was intro
duced by Professor J. Baker Edwards, of Montreal, whose remarks may be briefly
related as follows:—
, tt ...
The occurrence, he stated, of two fatal cases of Tnchimasis at Hamilton,
Ontario, and the successful treatment of several cases at Montreal, had drawn fresh
attention to the parasite causing this disease, and accordingly he thought that a
short account of its natural history might be interesting. The cysts containing
this parasite had been first observed and examined microscopically by 1 ledman m
1822 ; these were found in human muscle after death, and occasioned much specu
lation as to their real nature. In 1835 they were minutely examined by Mr James
Paget, and described and named by Professor Owen, but for some years no further
clue as to their origin was obtained. In 1841 it Was found that dogs fed on parts of
a badger containing these worms became infested with them in their muscles ; but
it remained for Zenker in 1860 to show that the human body becomes affected by
these creatures after eating pork containing them. Since that time thousands of
deaths have been traced to this cause, which had previously been attributed to
various other diseases. Trichiniasis was now fully established as one of the ills
that flesh is heir to.” In several hospital examinations of human bodies after death
from various causes, from 2 to 3 per cent of adults were found to contain old en
crusted capsules containing these parasites, showing that the disease existed at
some previous period. In Chicago a medical commission found 2 per cent ot the
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
1W
pork offered for sale affected in this manner. Thus it may be inferred that the dis
ease occurred much more frequently than had previously been suspected, but that
it was only in exceptional cases that it caused fatal or even serious results. The
Professor then proceeded to give an account of a case that occurred in Montreal last
March, and which, being speedily diagnosed of a slight nature, was successfully
treated. His description and remarks are of so much general interest and value,
that they may very well be reported here, though at the risk of making this letter
unduly long:—
p ** On Wednesday, the 24th of Mareh, a family in a boarding-house partook of
some hastily fried ham. Within an hour afterwards two of the adults felt nauseated,
And had some pain in the stomach. One took a large dose of brandy, and vomited
his dinner ; the other felt only abdominal pain, spasms, and faintness. He returned
from his work and went to bed. During the night his wife and wife’s mother felt
ill, and suffered from pains in the bowels, together with great feverishness and
Ehirst. During the following day, five other persons, who had partaken of the same
meal, suffered more or less from similar symptoms, and in the evening of Thursday
called in a physician, who, after careful enquiry, diagnosed Trichiniasis, and called
in a second opinion on the case. On Good Friday a slice of ham was submitted for
microscopic examination, in which Professor Edwards discovered, after some hours’
investigation, several characteristic specimens of Trichina spiralis. By Monday
morning, with the assistance of his friend, Mr? Ritchiej he had found several groups
of Trichina, both in the free state and partially, as well as fully, encysted. These
were during the same day shown to a considerable'number-of medical friends.
“ It was evident that the disease was recent in .the young pig from which the
ham was taken, and that, being in the free and semi-encysted condition, the worms
were in a condition to be aroused into action and activity in a much shorter time
than had they been fully and calcareously encysted.. According to Virchow and
Benker, the period of incubation of the cyst in the stomach is from six to eight days.
This had been erroneously interpreted to mean that such a period must elapse before
any marked symptoms can be recognised. < Such a period of time, however, is meant
to be inclusive of the reproducing power of each individual, from whose body suc
cessive broods of young, numbering from 100 to 200, are discharged. Dr. T. S.
Cobbold had found a period of sixty-nine hours amply .sufficient for the development
of the young muscle flesh worms of the human subject . into the sexually mature
adult Trichina of the dog. If all the worms were calcareously encysted a delay of
from three to six days might be expected before intestinal irritation was a marked
symptom. But in cases where the worms were young and free in the muscle,
development might take place in a few hours, and rapid multiplication take place
before other encysted worms were released from their capsules.
“ Thus a succession of fresh irritations to the muscular and nervous system
might-be expected from the first few hours to a period of- eight or ten weeks. In
the fatal cases examined in Chicago and Hamilton, no-singlecase of encysted trichina
was found in the flesh, but in the Montreal cases one or two distinct and complete
cysts were extracted from the man’s leg. This was eight weeks after eating the
pork, and when the symptoms had somewhat abated, but considerable pain still felt
in the muscles. The great shock to the system, which frequently terminates
fatally, appears to result from excessive generation of the worms at any one period ;
thus young and healthy persons are frequently killed sooner than older and more
feeble persons, the reason being that in the former case probably more food is eaten,
digestion is more rapid, nausea more readily overcome by active exertion, and the
breeding of the worms becomes excessive and continuous. In the Hamilton cases
the young woman died in three weeks, whilst her mother survived six weeks after
eating the fatal repast.
“ In 1866 some valuable experiments were conducted, in reference to the propa
gation of these worms, by Dr. T. Spencer Cobbbld, whose researches on Cestoid
Entozoa place him at the head of English authprities on such subjects. After
feeding animals with trichinous food, seven experiments on birds all proved negative.
fThree sheep, two dogs, one pig, and one mouse gave also negative results. Nine
cases were successful, viz., four dogs, two cats, one pig, one' guinea pig, and one
hedgehog. While we might, therefore, conclude that birds and herbivorous
mammals were very unlikely subjects for infection by this means, it was also found
�126
THE DIETETIC REFORMER
that other animals, as the dog and pig for instance, might partake of the food, and
yet escape infection. This helped to explain the recorded facts, that large parties
have eaten of trichinous food in company, and some have been killed, others have
suffered slightly, and again some escaped altogether.
“ Moreover, in the human objects examined post mortem, where the disease had
not proved fatal, in some cases the cysts were by no means numerous, whilst in
others they had been estimated at from forty to one hundred millions. The exces
sive alarm which was apt to seize the public mind by the discovery of a case here
and there was not, therefore, justified by the facts when properly understood. At
the same time, whatever means could be adopted by the public authorities to prevent
its becoming a familiar disease in our new dominion, should be forthwith adopted.”
At the close of this interesting paper, which was listened to with great attention,
Professor Agassiz stated that he thought parasites existed in all kinds of meat, and
that everybody who eats fish, eats hundreds of them; hence only one of two alter
natives could be adopted to escape injury—either to stop eating flesh and fish, or to
have these articles of food well cooked. With this high authority the reader may
rest assured that, however unpleasant the idea may be, the Trichina Spiralis is quite
harmless as an article of food, provided only it be well roasted or boiled.
The next paper, by Mr. Meehan, was of a botanical character, and of no parti
cular general interest. He was followed by Professor B. W. Hawkins, of New
York, who made some remarks on “ Visual Education.” After referring to the
inability of the majority of mothers to answer satisfactorily the questions constantly
asked by intelligent children, he advised the education of the powers of observation,
rather than those of memory, and recommended the establishment of museums in
connection with the public parks of large cities, so that healthy exercise and
amusement might be combined with instruction. Such institutions, if properly con
ducted, would, he thought, do more good than reformatory establishments, and
would also enable boys to remain longer under the good influence of their mothers
than was the case with the present imperfect system. Professor Agassiz followed by
expressing his belief that we should, ere long, see a great change in our educational
system, and that the basis of it would be the contemplation of the works of nature,
and no longer the study of languages, the study of the human mind, or the process
of mathematical reasoning. Although these must form a part of liberal education,
they should come after the organs had been trained in seeing through observation,
and the mind taught to argue by comparing observations; that was the first great
step in education, and all that followed in scholarship should come afterwards.
geHttos oft JMuo nf gwK
Proceedings of the London’Co-operative Congress, 1869. Price Is. London : F.
Pitman, 20, Paternoster How, E.C.
This large and neat pamphlet of 118 pages, is edited by J. M. Ludlow, and contains
the proceedings of the Co-operative Congress held in London, at the Theatre of the
Society of Arts, on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of June, 1869. There are also appendices
containing statistical details respecting societies represented at the Congress; papers
by Mr. Malcolm Macleod and Mr. James Samuelson and other information. Those
*
who take interest in this important movement will be greatly interested with this
report of Proceedings of the London Congress.
The Anti-Vaccinator. Edited by Henby Pitman, Manchester. London : F. Pit
man, 20, Paternoster Row. Manchester : John Heywood. Price Id.
This is a weekly organ of the new movement against compulsory vaccination. We
have before us the first six numbers, and find them replete with facts, arguments, and
reports of progress. No. 6 opens with an able and spirited letter from Professor
Newman on “ Vaccination viewed Politically,” which will be found in another page of
the present number of the Dietetic Reformer. The movement seems to be making
headway ; and we hope will soon result in forcing the question upon Parliament for
a most sifting inquiry leading to a repeal of the obnoxious Act.
Human Nature. London: J. Burns. Monthly.
A publication, thoroughgoing and progressive on dietary questions, and equally so in
philosophy and religion. It includes spiritualism, on which we have nothing to say in
these pages.
1
�AND VEGETARIAN MESSENGER.
AN AUTUMN RAMBLE.
One autumn afternoon, my friend and I
Escaped from city smoke and ceaseless roar
To breathe, along with nature’s breath, somewhat
Of Nature’s loving, beauteous tenderness.
Along the river’s meadowy marge we strayed
By cot and farm to where its banks rise high,
With overhanging trees, which fain would dip
Their thirsty branches far below into
The rippling, glistening wave. And as we went
We spoke of man, self doomed tffijfedless toil
In mine, and mart, and mill, with little time
(And less desire) for art or poesy ;
But rather bent at best on wanton play,
And oft engulfed in drunken orgies wild
And Cyprian vice. Anon we turn aside
Through clough and pSai by many an ashen bush
Tn coral berries clad, to where ’mid groves
And gardens stands serene the stately hall.
The fuchsias hang in showers, and ripening fruit
Makes glad the eye and scents the whispering
While many a marble vase and antique gem
Recalls the classic memories of the past.
In winding lanes we meet the lowing kine
Which stand and gaze’ with gentle, wistful orbs,
Nor dreS@Egit we have no intent to wield
The butcher’s axe to feed a pampered taste.
Returning by the stream as fast the sun
Sinks down ’mid clouds and woods of transient gold,
Our lengthening shadows stretch across the path,
And lendj^bmbreitfnt tolbrook. and hedge,
And fluttering heaps of rustling autumn leaves.
In yonder field, new reaped, a startled hare,
Pursued-l^^oejafnotWogs. but men), makes way
Along the hedge straight for the river’s brink,
Nor stayJMfliwt behind, but plunges in,
And swims beneath the bridge; then, panting, rests
Below the pier upon a stony heap—
*
Appearing one itself—until its foes
Approach as if a murderer theljB™^MF
The one a farmer, fork in hand, goes o’eS' The bridge, and waits the foe on th’ other side;
His fellow stays on this—a collier he,
Returning homeward, safety lamp in hand.
The science which had given the lamp had failed
To give him light. He seized a stone, and hurled
It at the terror-stricken thing, which sprang
Once more, though sorely bruised; into the stream,
And sank, at length, despairing and quite spent.
The farmer went to gather golden grain,
Just reaped from gentle Nature’s bounteous lap ;
The collier went his way to tell the tale
To boon companions ; we pursued our path
With one great question weighing down our hearts—
Why man to man and brute should be so vile,
While Nature’s face wears still a fairy smile.
127
�128
THE DIETETIC REFORMER.
Facts fob Smokers. —A fact for the Anti-Tobacco Association is brought out in
a Parliamentary return just issued. The consumption of tobacco in this country is
enormously increasing. Over 41,000,000 pounds’ weight has been consumed in the
United Kingdom in a single year, without taking into account the illicit trade. Thus
1 lb. 5- oz. per head of population is yearly consumed, as compared with only 13J oz.
a quarter of a century ago. Now, we shall not be so ungenerous as to ascribe this
great increase in the quantity of tobacco consumed to the vicious habits with which
some are wont to credit the “ girls of the period.” But it may be as well that our fair
smokers should be made aware of a fact or two concerning the ‘‘fragrant weed.” In
the laboratory of th’e Excise Department certain tests are occasionally made as to the
genuineness of the tobacco sold. Of 118 samples, 88 were found to be adulterated,
and 45 of these contained liquorice ranging in amount from 1 to JO per cent; four
contained liquorice and sugar, varying from 2 to 10 per cent. Among the other
adulterants were oom mon salt, aniseed, starch, brown paper, and an excessive amount
of sand. A few instances have again occurred of “ smoking mixture ” having been
found adulterated with sweetened cavendish. Of course, the Excise authorities do
what they can to check adulteration. Last year they made a raid upon six Irish
manufacturers who supplied English dealers with Irish roll tobacco coated with starch,
which had been coloured to resemble tobacco. Some 28,0001b. of the adulterated
tobacco were seized in Ireland, and 4,0001b. in England; and the penalties and for
feitures amounted to £4,000. Despite all the precautions, however, the revenue is
extensively defrauded, while the people are poisoned by these adulterations, which
will never be stopped until the act is constituted a criminal offence.
The Resurrection Plant.—This is one of the latest curiosities in the plant line.
We obtained one of Mr. Vick, of Rochester, last spring, and it then resembled a
bunch four or five inches in diameter, of curled-up shoots of young cedar, with a small
cluster of thread-like roots depending from the bottom. Placing it in a saucer of
water the bunch unrolled in a few hours, spreading out quite flat, and presented some
what the appearance of a heavy patch of moss. In this state it remained two or three
weeks If the supply of moisture failed for a time, the plant gave warning by
assuming its regular ball-like form. At the end of that time we transplanted it to the
ground and it looked fine and green under the influence of genial showers. But the
weather grew dry, and the resurrection plant rolled itself into a ball and rolled away
before the wind, the roots not having much grasp on the soil. It lay in the sun on the
ground for a month, when we gave it to a friend,, who placed it in a saucer of water,
and lo it spread out its arms again and showed the green colour of vegetable life. An
American paper thus speaks of this singular plant: “These plants are brought from
the southern parts of Mexico. During the rainy Reason they flourish luxuriantly, but
when the dry weather and hot sun scorch the earth, they, too, dry and curl up, and
blow about at the mercy of the wind. To all appearances they are as dead as the
‘ brown and sere leaf,’ but as soon as the rain comes again, the roots suck up the
water the leaves unfold, and assume a beautiful emerald green appearance. No
matter where the plant may be, on a rock, on a tree, or a house-top, wherever the
winds have blown it, there it rests, and being a true temperance plant, it only asks
for water and at once bursts into new life. Having purchased one of these tufts,
and placed it in a soup plate filled with water, the reader will be surprised to see
it gradually unfold and take on a deep green. The leaves are arranged spirally,
and altogether the resurrection plant is the latest curiosity.”—Rural New Yorker.
We are indebted to some German friend for copies of “ Vereins-Blatt fur Freunde der
naturalichen Lebensweise (Vegetariener.)
Emil Weilshauser.—See second page of our cover.
Subscriptions received since our last issue ;—
July 9.
20.
Aug.12.
22.
” 23.
Sep. 25.
C. Hunter, D. R. 2 0 Sep. 25. R. Templeton.. 10
,, 29. Thos. Ashley.. . 2
Charles Hart .. 2 6
J Hull............. 20 0 Oct. 1. J. H. Sweetnam 2
1. J. Ashmore.... 2
Robert Palmer . 10 0
,, 1. A. Bayle .......... 2
John Kershaw . 2 6
„ T. E. Miller.......... 10
J. Templeton ..50
0 Oct. 1. A. Erlebach ....
„ 1. S Stocks ..........
6
For Tracts :
6
6 Sep. 11. J. Robertson ....
,, 29. W. Lawson........
6
„ 29. E. T. Hill ........
0
A. Ireland & Co., Printers, Manchester.
10 0
5 0
0 6
8 0
0 6
�
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The Dietetic Reformer and Vegetarian Messenger. Vol. XXXVL, October, 1869
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U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION.
ZKTo.
G9.
STATEMENT
OF
THE OBJECT AND METHODS
OF THB
SANITARY COMMISSION,
Appointed by the Government of the United States, June 13, 1861.
PUBLISHED BY ITS DIRECTION.
NEW YORK:
Wm. C. Bryant & Co., Printers, 41 Nassau Street, corner or Liberty.
1863.
�\HfMT
At the last session of the Sanitary Commission, at Washington, a
resolution was adopted a That the subject of an appeal to the public
« for funds be referred to a Committee consisting of the Standing Com-
« mittee and the members of the Commission residing at Philadelphia and
“ Boston.” This Committee submits the following statement.
823 Broadway, New York, Dec. 7, 1863.
�SANITARY COMMISSION.
6 J Qli'i t
3NTO- 69.
£
The Sanitary Commission was created by Government in
June, 1861.
Like every other organ of our National energies it has been
steadily gaining strength ever since that time. The resources
that have been put at its disposal, and the work it has been
enabled to do, far exceed the most sanguine hopes of its founders.
Its aggregate receipts (including the money value of supplies
sent to its depots) are believed to exceed the income of any other
benevolent organization, American or Foreign, during the same
period.
The objects of this paper are, first, to state what has been
done with these great public benefactions; and, secondly, to
enable the People to determine whether it will or will not pro
mote the National cause, by enabling the Commission to continue
and extend its efforts.
A large portion of its resources has been expended on measures
for the prevention of disease. Their result is necessarily nega
tive and cannot be stated with certainty. The low rate of
mortality from disease in our Armies has unquestionably been
due in some degree to the warnings and labors of the Commission. But it is impossible to say how much other causes have
contributed to it, or to distinguish their effects from those due
to the work of the Commission.
It is certain that, in the summed of 1861, experienced Army
officers predicted that malaria, camp fever and dysentery would
within six months destroy fifty per cent, of the Volunteer Army
�then assembling. What the Commission did to avert this
calamity, will be stated hereafter, and must have contributed
—under Divine favor—to save our Armies from the ravages of
pestilence.
But it has done much work beside—with positive results that
can be definitely stated. The value of this work is recognized
by the Medical staff of the Army, and in Orders published by
prominent General officers, East and West.
*
Its direct and tan
* Department of the South, Headquarters in the Field, )
Morris Island, S. C., Sept. 9, 1863.
)
General Orders, No. 73.—The Brigadier-General commanding desires to make
this public acknowledgment of the benefits for which his command has been in
debted to the United States Sanitary Commission, and to express his thanks to the
gentlemen whose humane efforts in procuring and distributing much-needed articles
of comfort have so materially alleviated the sufferings of the soldier.
Especial gratitude is due to Dr. M. M. Marsh, Medical Inspector of the Com
mission, through whose efficiency, energy and zeal, the wants of the troops have
been promptly ascertained, and the resources of the Commission made available
for every portion of the army. By order of
Brigadier-General Q. A. Gillmore.
Ed. W. Smith, Asst. Adjutant-General.
OfficialIsrael S. Sealy, Capt. Forty-seventh N. Y. Volunteers, Acting Asst]
Adjutant-G eneral.
Headquarters Department of the Cumberland, )
Murfreesboro, Feb. 2, 1863.
f
The General commanding presents his warmest acknowledgments to the friends
of the soldiers of this army, whose generous sympathy with the suffering of the
sick and wounded, has induced them to send for their comfort numerous sanitary
supplies which are continually arriving by the hands of individuals and charitable
societies. While he highly appreciates and does not undervalue the charities
which have been lavished on this army, experience has demonstrated the importance
of system and impartiality, as well as judgment and economy, in the forwarding
and distribution of these supplies. In all these respects the United States Sanitary
Commission stands unrivaled. Its organization, experience, and large facilities for
the work, are such that the General does not hesitate to recommend, in, the most
urgent manner, all those who desire to send sanitary supplies to confide them to
the care of this Commission.
They will thus insure the supplies reaching their destination without wastage or
expense of agents or transportation, and their being distributed in a judicious
�5
gible results are many thousand lives saved, an incalculable
amount of suffering relieved or mitigated, smallpox and scurvy
checked in camps and hospitals by cargoes of vegetables, and by
timely supplies of vaccine—and succor, comfort and relief freely
given to hundreds of thousands when they could be obtained
from no other source. What the People have thus done for their
soldiers will long be held in honorable remembrance as a magni
ficent National act, not only of humanity and charity, but of
Patriotism also, for by preventing disease and speeding conva.
lescence, it has materially strengthened the National forces,
contributed to the success of the National cause, and added
a certain number of thousand bayonets to the available strength
.of the Army during every month of the past two years.
This is the great object for which the Commission exists. Its
work is, in the highest degree, humane and charitable, for it visits
and relieves the sick, destitute, and miserable. But its ultimate
end is neither humanity nor charity. It is to economise for the
National service the life and strength of the National soldier.
The Commission works in a spirit and on a system as practical
as that of the War Department, and it submits the value of its
system and its work to the practical common sense with which
the People decide on whatever concerns the public interest.
It asks the confidence and support of patriotic and far-sighted
men on two special grounds. One is the nationality and catho
licity of its work as compared with that of State and local or
manner, without disorder or interference with the regulations and usages of the
army.
This Commission acts in full concert with the Medical Department of the Array,
and enjoys its confidence. It is thus enabled with a few agents to do a large
amount of good at the proper time. Ever since the Battle of Stones’ River, it has
distributed a surprisingly large amount of clothing, lint, bandages and bedding, as
well as milk, concentrated beef, fruit, and other sanitary stores, essential to the
recovery of the sick and wounded.
W. S. Roseceans, Major-General Commanding Department.
�6
ganizations. Not a word of censure or of disrespect should be
spoken of these agencies. Many of them do great good within
their own sphere. But their sphere is provincial, not National,
and their object is the relief of some single class of National sol
diers, to the exclusion of all others. They assist men, not be
cause they now belong to the National army, but because they
formerly belonged to some particular State, county, or neighbor
hood. This distinction between their avowed object and that of
the United States Sanitary Commission should be clearly under
stood.
The Commission studiously ignores sections and State lines,
and knows soldiers from Missouri or from Massachusetts only as
in the National Service. It declines all contributions for
the exclusive benefit of a single class, and impartially applies
its resources, received from East or West, to the aid and relief of
the National Army East and West, asking only where they are
most sorely needed. It is thus daily teaching thousands a prac
tical lesson on the blessings of National Unity, which will not
be forgotten when they return to the duties of civil life. The
Maryland or Illinois volunteer who has been rescued from mis
ery and the prospect of death, by clothing, food, stimulants and
chloroform, that came to him on the field or in some ill-pro
vided hospital, through the Commission, from some remote cor
ner of New England or Pennsylvania, is likely for the rest of his
days to think of himself less as a Marylander or as a Western
man, and more as a citizen of the United States; and though he
will not value his State less, he will love his country more.
Even rebel prisoners, helped through their sickness and destitu
tion by the stores of the Sanitary Commission, carry back to
their Southern homes new and enlarged views as to the resources
and the generosity of the People against which they have fought
under coercion, or misled by systematic falsehood.
,
The Commission seeks to direct the overflowing sympathy of
�7
the People with the Army into a National channel. It calls on
the women of New England to clothe soldiers at Alexandria and
Chattanooga, and on the West to aid the Army at New Orleans
or Port Royal, wherever supplies are most wanted or can be
most economically carried. Its influence on its contributors is
no less National than on its beneficiaries. That of local or
State agencies tends to foster, in contributor, agent and bene
ficiary alike, the very spirit of sectionalism and “ State-isk-ness”
to which we owe all our troubles.
The Commission is, moreover, the only organization for Army
relief, local or general, that works on a system carefully con
formed and subordinated to that of the Army, and through,
agents specially trained and permanently employed. The ob
jection that has been made to its employing permanent salaried
officers, instead of unpaid volunteers, giving a fortnight or a
month each, to the work of Army relief, is untenable and short
sighted. It has to distribute millions of dollars worth of
bulky stores over an area of many thousand square miles.
This is, in a merely business point of view, a work of seri
ous magnitude. It is, moreover, a work of special delicacy
and difficulty, because it must be so done as not to inter
fere with the machinery of the Army, or weaken the reliance of
the men upon their officers. Without a corps of agents who un
derstand their work, give their whole time to it, and are bound
to perform definite service during a definite period, loss, waste,
and misapplication of supplies are inevitable. This branch of
the Commission’s work may fairly be compared with that of our
largest railroads and express companies, and is at least as worthy
of being well and economically done. But how long would any
railroad corporation keep out of the hands of a Receiver, if
it confided its freight business to volunteers over whom it
could exercise no real control, and who felt themselves at full
liberty to leave its service whenever they tired of it, or when-
�8
iTO * '! f ■
■
■
■»'••••
ever they thought themselves overworked or unfairly criticised,
instead of employing superintendents, clerks, and porters, en
gaged in the usual way and on the usual terms ? The poetry of
the Relief Agent’s work may be spoiled if he receive a salary,
but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, its practical value to
the Army is doubled. It would be easy to name splendid ex
ceptions to this rule, but they are only exceptions.
The work of Army relief, like every other practical and seri
ous business, requires skill which can be got only by expe
rience, and men cannot, as a general rule, be secured for service
long enough to acquire experience and skill, unless they receive
moderate pay. But the difference between a skilled and an un
skilled agent is equal to a difference of at least fifty per cent, in
the amount of practical good each can do the soldier with the
stores entrusted to him, and it costs the Commission less than
two per cent, on the estimated value of its supplies to distribute
them through skilled salaried agents, instead of unskilled volun
teers. This is not all. The volunteer is necessarily unacquaint
ed with the complex regulations under which Government sup
plies the wants of the Army, for thorough familiarity with their
practical working can be acquired only by months of actual con
tact and experience. He cannot tell, therefore, when called
upon to relieve a Regiment or a Hospital, whether its officers
have done or have neglected their duty, and whether they can
or cannot promptly obtain what is needed through regular offieial channels. His impulses prompt him of course instantly to
relieve the suffering he sees before him. He distributes his sup
plies at once, asking no questions, and goes home thankful that
he has been enabled to relieve so much destitution and dis
tress. But he has too often been merely covering up the
short-comings of some inefficient Officer paid by Government to
do precisely the same thing, and has thus shielded him from
■
<
�9
exposure and dismissal, and done the Army in the long run
more harm than good.
The Commission avoids this danger. It reserves its sup
plies for the cases of accidental failure, which must from time
to time occur in the working of every military system, and
especially of one newly organized on so vast a scale as ours, and
seeks rather to strengthen the official agencies through which
Government provides for the army, than to set itself up as a
rival source of supply, and thus weaken the confidence of the
men in their military superiors.
Finances
oe the
Commission.
The Treasurer of the . Commission has received in cash from
his appointment, in June, 1861, up to and including December
7th, 1863:......................................... ,............
From Maine......................................
$17,720 33
“ New Hampshire.................................................
1,701 44
“ Vermont.............................................................
2,035 15
“ Massachusetts........ ................ .>...................
. 48,548 86
“ Connecticut.............................
5,181 35
“ Rhode Island......................................................
8,068 30
“ New England (Statesnot discriminated).......
6,683 75
New York............................................................ 160,042 58
“ New Jersey.........................................................
3,170 88
“ Pennsylvania.................................................
11,699 18
“ Delaware ...........................................................
765 00
“ Maryland...........................................................
1,733 00
“ Washington, D. C..............................................
2,333 08
J “ Ohio ...................................................................
2,700 00
.1.
“
“
“
Michigan.............................................................
Illinois.................................................................
Kentucky...........................................................
578 00
546 25
6,166 45
�10
«
From Indiana..........................
500 00
“ Minnesota...........................................................
45 00
“ Nevada Territory.............................................. 54,144 75
“ California........................................................... 526,909 61
“ Oregon............................................................... 26,450 78
“ WashingtonTerritory........................................
7,258 97
“ Idaho...................................................................
2,110 46
({ Vancouversand San Juan Islands...................
2,552 68
“ Honolulu.............................................................
4,085 00
“ Santiago de Chili................................................
3,688 84
“ Peru.....................................................................
2,002 00
“ Newfoundland...................................
150 00
“ Canada...............................................................
439 48
“ England and Scotland........ . ........................... .
1,150 00
“ France..................................................................
2,750 00
“ Turkey..................................................................
50 00
“ China..................................................................
2,303 93
“ Cuba.....................................................................
23 00
“ Unknown som’ces...............................................
3,192 88
Making in the whole the sum of......................... $919,580 98
Large amounts have been raised by the Branches of the
Commission beside their contributions to its Central Treasury,
included in the foregoing statement. The money receipts of the
Philadelphia branch for instance, over and above what it has
contributed to the general Treasury, up to December 4th, 1863,
have been $117,097 75.
These local receipts have been expended chiefly in the pur
chase of supplies forwarded to the depots of the Commission at
Washington, Louisville, Morris Island, New Orleans, &c., or to
its relief agents in the field, and in the local work of Special
Relief.
. .. .. j
..
�11
/J To the large amounts thus raised at our principal cities, must
be added the aggregate of the smaller sums which innumerable
societies, “sewing circles,” snd other patriotic organizations
affiliated with the Commission or its various branches have
spent in the purchase of material to be converted into Hospi
tal clothing, and for other like purposes. This aggregate may
never be precisely ascertained, but it doubtless far exceeds what
has been received by the Branches and the Central Treasury
together.
There must also be taken into account the value of the trans
portation given the Commission for its bulky stores, either freely
or at greatly reduced rates, by Railroad and Express Companies,
and of the free use it enjoys of many of our Telegraph lines.
These are equivalent to so much money saved its treasury for
the benefit of the Army, through public confidence in its effi
ciency and National scope. This amount can only be estimated
at present, but it is immense. On two Western Railroads alone,
it is understood to exceed two hundred thousand dollars.
The money value of the material supplies dispensed by the
Commission will be considered hereafter. Leaving them out of
view, it is evident' that the public bounty it has organized and
directed in aid of the National Army must be estimated in terms
of millions.
But it enjoys the confidence also of the Military authorities.
Having been ever on its guard against the danger (inherent in all
attempts to aid the Army through outside unofficial agencies,)
of weakening the sense of responsibility among officers, and in
terfering with discipline among the rank and file, it is known to
Military and Medical officers as an auxiliary on which they can
call with entire safety. It has, therefore, as a general rule, the
benefit of their cordial co-operation. The economical value of
their assistance, especially in all field operations, is inestimable.
It often makes all the difference between life-saving success and
�12
utter waste and failure. Quartermasters feel authorized to help
forward supplies entrusted to the recognized agents of the Com
mission when they decline giving facilities to unknown and
irresponsible relief agents. After a great battle such transpor
tation cannot be bought with money, though the lives of thou
sands may depend upon it, and the lives of many thousands
have been saved because help was sent them through the Sani
tary Commission, and because the system of the Commission
is known to harmonize with that of the A rmy.
The confidence thus reposed in the Commission economizes
its resources in many other ways, and enables it to use them
with special advantage and effect. For instance, Government
supplies ordinary rations to the hundreds of thousands of men
who are relieved in the “ Homes ” of the Commission. It often
furnishes transportation, guards for depots and for wagon trains,
and details of men for special service in aid of the Commission.
*
Without this help the “ Special Relief” system, which has done
what no Government system could undertake, and what we
could not have endured to see left undone, would have cost four
fold what it has. The special advantages thus secured to the
Commission through the confidence reposed in it by the Public
* Head-Quartbrs Department op the Cumberland, )
Stevenson, Ala., August 19th, 1863,
j
Sir,—The General commanding authorizes the use of half a car daily for the
shipment of sanitary stores by the United States Sanitary Commission, from Nash
ville to such points South as may be desired. This letter, if exhibited to the
Quarter-Master at Nashville, will procure you the transportation at all times, unless
the exigencies of the service should make it necessary temporarily to suspend the
permission. General directions to ship nothing but government stores, will not
affect this permit. Should it be necessary to suspend it, special direction will be
given.
I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
C. Goddard,
Lieut. Col. and A. A. G.
Dr. A. N. Reed,
U. S. Sanitary Commission.
mA -
�13
and by the Army, make every dollar contributed to its Treasury
do the work of two.
Though the resources controlled by the Commission have been
very large, its work has demanded them all. It has repeatedly
been obliged to purchase supplies, after its depots were ex
hausted, for tens of thousands of wounded men. This includes
rebel prisoners in our hands, for it has been found practically
impossible to pass by on the other side when any citizen of the
United States was suffering from the casualties of war.
The disbursements of the Central Treasury for the eight
'-months ending December 1st, 1863, have been as follows:—
*. ..»j
April................... ............................. $29,142
May.................... ............................. 36,315
June................... ............................ 54,623
July.................... ............................. 92,020
August.............. ............................ 40,507
September ..... ............................ 28,470
October.............. ............................. 30,191
November........ . ............................. 49,845
57
09
21
86
07
35
81
87
i'
-
'll
$361,116 83
or on an average a little over forty-five thousand dollars a month.
GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMISSION.
The Commission meets at Washington quarterly, and holds
special sessions whenever they are required. During the inter
vals between its sessions its affairs are administered by its chief
executive officer, the General Secretary, and by a standing com
mittee of five of its members, which meets daily in New York.
Two “ Associate Secretaries ” are stationed one at Louisville
and a second at Washington. The former is charged with the
work of the Commission west of the Alleghanies, the latter east
�14
•—including our positions on the Rebel Seaboard, and the city of
New Orleans. These Associate Secretaries, have the supervision
of all Sanitary Inspectors, Relief Agents, &c., within their re
spective departments, receive constant reports from them, and
direct their labors wherever comparison of these reports indicates
that they are most wanted. Each is in communication also with
the Branches of the Commission, and through them with the
local Societies that send their stores to the branch and central
depots and makes requisitions for these stores from time to time
as they are needed. In case of pressing emergency he pur
chases supplies or calls by telegraph for their purchase at the
point from which they can be most speedily forwarded.
Each Associate Secretary is thus kept informed of the relative
wants, of every regiment within his department, and as to the
particular depots from which supplies of any particular class
can be most promptly and economically forwarded. No State
Agent can thus view the whole national field. He may do great
service, but he can never be quite sure that he would not have
done the whole army and the whole country much more service
if he had worked somewhere else.
The subordinate agents of the Commission are employed on
duties which can mostly be classed under the heads of Sanitary
Inspection, Army Relief, and Special Relief. They all report
to one or the other of the two Associate Secretaries already men
tioned, except the Inspectors. These report to a third Associate
Secretary, who is also Chief of Sanitary Inspection.
There are several hundred “ Associate members ” of the Com
mission, selected as prominent and loyal citizens, or as experts in
Sanitary science. Many of them have attended its sittings, and
aided it with their counsel. Under their auspices the numerous
Branches of the Commission have been established in our prin
cipal cities. These admirable and efficient organizations pro
vide for the local work of Army relief, and raise funds and
�15
’
fl *r •
t
■
*
, I;
; * ,
'
secure supplies for the general objects of the Commission. Each
has its own Treasurer.
*
The object of this paper is to state the work and the wants of
the Commission itself, but it is impossible to pass over, without
mention, the services rendered by its Branches. The final his
tory of the Commission, and of the great popular movement of
munificence and humanity that distinguishes this war from all
others, will show how much these organizations at Chicago,
Philadelphia, Cleveland, New York,f Pittsburgh, Brooklyn,
Cincinnati, Boston, and elsewhere, have done in addition to the
work of the Central Commission. Without them the Commis
sion would have been a comparative failure. The work of the
Commission and of its branches cannot be so analyzed as to
show exactly how much of the aggregate result should be cred
ited to either. To attempt such analysis would overload this
statement with details. But its readers must bear in mind, that
the results it sets forth as accomplished “ by the Commission,”
are in many cases largely due to the energy of its branches,
the Commission itself acting merely as a balance-wheel to
secure the harmony and the impartial Nationality of their
work.
The financial centre of the Commission is at New York. Its
Treasurer acts under the supervision of the Standing Committee,
and makes no payments without its authority.
SANITARY INSPECTION OF CAMPS, POSTS, AND HOSPITALS.
This was the chief object contemplated by the Commission
when it was created by Government. As has already been stated,
our Armies were during the summer of 1861, in serious danger
of destruction by epidemic disease. Modern Sanitary science was
* See Appendix B.
f The Women’s Central Association of Relief, New York.
�16
hardly recognized in the ancient regulations of the Medical Bu
reau. Its officers could not be expected to go beyond the strict
line of official duty when that duty was more than quadrupled.
The first business of the Commission therefore was to awaken
general attention to the Sanitary interests of the Army, and to
do what it could to improve the Sanitary condition of camps,
quarters, hospitals, and men.
It sent out Medical Inspectors forthwith to warn inexperi
enced officers of the peril to which filth, bad ventilation and
bad food exposed their men and themselves. It brought
to bear upon Government the influence of the medical profes
sion throughout the country, effected the extension and invigo
ration of the Medical Bureau, and secured the express recogni
tion of the prevention of disease, no less than its cure, as among
the functions of the Medical Staff. Government now employs
its own Sanitary Inspectors and does a certain portion of the
preventive work which the Commission did during the first year
of its existence. But the Commission still keeps up an Inspec
torial Corps auxiliary to that of Government, for the latter is
numerically unequal to its great work, and there are special
causes beside that have thus far interfered with its efficiency.
Each Inspector on visiting a Camp or Post puts himself, in
the first place, in communication with its Military authorities
and asks their co-operation in his work. This being secured,
he proceeds to investigate the condition of the men in every
particular that bears on their liability to disease, and the suffi
ciency of the remedial agencies within their reach. He inquires
into the quality of their water-supply, food, cooking and clothing
—the ventilation and the cleanliness of their camp or quarters—
the position of their latrines—the provision for the removal and
destruction of refuse and offal—the equipment of their field or
post hospital—their ambulance service—the competency of
their medical officers—the salubrity or insalubrity of their
�Camp-site or post—the sufficiency of their bedding and blankets,
the character of the diseases that have prevailed among them,
and the precautions thus indicated. On these points he advises
the medical and military authorities of the Corps as a Sanitary
expert. His inspection generally discloses something that can
be done to promote the health of the command. He finds, for
instance, that there are tendencies to malarious disease that5
call for quinine as a prophylactic, or tendencies to scurvy,
that require supplies of fresh vegetables, or that there is
a deficiency of stimulants, bedding, articles of hospital diet, or
disinfecting material. If the want, whatever it is, can be
promptly supplied through the regular official channels, he sees
that this is done—but if it cannot, or if (as is often the case)
something is required which Government does not undertake to
supply, he calls on the Relief Department of the Commission
which supplies it according to its ability. If the officer who
should obtain it be inexperienced in requisitions and supply
tables, the Inspector is able to assist him. If the defect arise
from corruption or incapacity, he reports the fact. It sometimes
happens that the health of a Camp is endangered by want, not
of supplies, but of some work for which authority cannot at
once be obtained. In this case money is appropriated by the
Standing Committee, or in case of emergency by the Associate
Secretary on the Inspector’s report. The Commission has done
much work of this class. It has improved the ventilation of
hospitals, dug wells to improve the water-supply of camps, built
temporary hospitals and quarters, to replace unwholesome and
dangerous buildings, furnished and fitted up Hospital Transports
and converted ordinary Railroad cars into Railroad Ambu
lances, with cooking apparatus and store rooms, and litters hung
on springs, in which thousands of men with fractured limbs
have travelled thousands of miles without suffering or injury.
The results of every Inspection are noted on blanks provided
2
�18
for the purpose, and are severally reported. Each report covers
about two hundred distinct points affecting the sanitary condi-j
tion and wants of the force inspected. More than 1800 of these
reports have been accumulated. They are digested and tabu-lated, as received, by a competent actuary. It is believed that
the body of military and medical statistics thus collected is
among the largest and most valuable in existence. It can hardly
fail to furnish conclusions of the utmost importance to sanitary
science.
The Commission employs other agencies also for the preven
tion of disease. It urges measures of sanitary reform on the
attention of Government. It furnished material for the vaccination of thousands of men at a time, now happily past, when the
Medical Bureau was unable to supply the tenth part of what
was needed, and issued what it had only after a fortnight’s delay.
It has thus stayed the ravages of smallpox in regiments crowded
on board transports, after that disease had actually begun to
spread among their men.
It has done much beside to protect our soldiers against this
peril. During the first year of the war, for instance, all cases of
“ eruptive disease ” in one of our most important military depart
ments were consigned indiscriminately to a single Hospital, from
which men were “ discharged cured ” of mumps or measles, and
rejoined their regiments to sicken and die of smallpox con
tracted in this “ hospital,” so called, and to infect and kill their
comrades. It was through the persevering remonstrance and
protest of the Commission that this murderous abuse was at
last corrected.
*
The Commission has also circulated throughout the Army,
and especially among the Medical Staff’, many hundred thousandd
copies of its medical documents. This series now numbers^,
* It is hardly necessary to say that all this occurred before the appointment of
the present able and efficient Surgeon General, Dr. '\illiam A. Hammond. ’
�10
•
eighteen publications, each devoted to some special point of
prevention or cure. Some of them are addressed to the indi
vidual soldier, but the great majority are for the use of the Medical
Staff, and relate to the prevention or treatment of the diseases
t6 which camps are specially exposed, and to sundry operations
of Military Surgery with which it cannot be expected that Sur
geons recently appointed from civil life should be generally
familiar. These monographs have been prepared at the request
of the Commission, by some of the most eminent Physicians and’
Surgeons of the country. Embodying, in a condensed form, the
Idlest results of science, they have been of great use to our Army'
Surgeons, who often encounter cases1 for which their pre
vious- practice hasnot specially prepared them, and who have
neither medical libraries nor opportunities for consultation.
The Commission institutes special Inspections also from time
to time, outside of its general Inspectorial system. It employs
medical agents to look into the condition of such Camps or Hos
pitals as seem to require special attention, and to ascertain and
report the wants of our armies during or immediately after a
trying campaign. Within the past year it has made a thorough
inspection of all General Military Hospitals, East and West,
employing for this purpose Medical practitioners of the highest
professional standing; ‘ Their recommendations of improvement
ufrour Hospital system and its administration1 havebeen sub- '
mitted to the proper authorities.•'
The Relief Agents of the Commission are'not expressly ch arged
*
with the office of Sanitary inspection, but their reports and journals, sent in at short intervals, help to keep the Commission informed of the condition of the Army, and of the measures required to’-maintain it in health.; at-every point from Annapolis to Hew ’
Orleans.As has been already stated, it is from the nature of the case”
impossible accurately to estimate how many men have been'saved
�2Q
from death or disease, and how much efficiency has been econo
mized for the country by this preventive service, for though the
results of the treatment of disease can be more or less accurately
recorded, the result of measures for its prevention cannot be
stated with any kind of certainty. The only attainable data are
the percentage of disease among men to whom such preventive
measures have been applied, and among those to whom they
have not. Though inferences from a comparison of the two are
not absolutely to be relied on, (because we can never be quite
sure that the conditions of any two cases have been precisely the
same), a comparison of the mortality rates of our Army with
those of the British Armies in the Crimea and during the Pe
ninsular W ar will nevertheless throw some light on the ques
tion.
The average annual loss of the whole British Army during
the Peninsular War was one hundred and sixty-five men out of
every thousand. Of these one hundred and thirteen died by
disease or accident.
'
From 1803 to 1812 the average annual death-rate of the whole
British Army “ abroad” was 80 per 1,000—71 by disease and
accident, and 9 by wounds in action.
In July, August and September, 1854, the British Army in the
Crimea lost at the rate of two hundred and ninety-three men out of
every thousand per annum. Ninety-six per cent, of this loss was
from disease. During the next three months, October, November
and December, 1854, their loss was at the annual rate of five hun
dred and eleven out of every thousand, seven-eighths of which
loss was by disease. In January, 1855, it was at the rate of 1174
per 1,000 per annum, 97 per cent, of this loss being due to dis
ease, During the first three months of that year it was at the
annual rate of 912 per 1,000, and ninety-eight per cent, of the
loss was due to disease.
Up to May 18, 1862, our armies had lost at the rate of fifty-
�21
three per thousand per annum, and only forty-four per cent, of
that loss was by disease and accident.
*
■ In estimating the value of these figures, it must be remembered
that the conditions under which our soldiers serve have been gen
erally unfavorable. Their field of operations includes large districts
quite as insalubrious as any part of Spain, Portugal or the Crimea.
There has at all times (and especially during the first year of the
War) been among them a large proportion of half-disciplined
recruits and of inexperienced officers, while the soldiers of
Great Britain in the Peninsula and the Crimea were regulars
under high discipline, and commanded by professional officers.
The Commissariat and the Medical Department of the British
Army were parts of a system long established and matured. In
May, 1862, ours were newly organized (for the purposes of this
War), and not yet in perfect working order. The Peninsular and
Crimean Armies had therefore material advantages over our own.
Yet we have lost far fewer men by disease. Even on Morris Island
and in the pestilential swamps of the lower Mississippi our loss
by disease has been smaller than that of any Army about which
we have authentic information. For this great fact—equivalent
to the addition of hundreds of millions to our National resources
—the Nation can never be sufficiently thankful. No human
agency could have ensured it. Though the average intelligence
and culture of our common soldiers are beyond those of any
army ever yet put into the field, and though the Medical Staff
- and the Sanitary Commission have worked diligently in their
respective spheres, a blessing so great, exceptional and unhoped
for can be attributed to none but the Highest cause, f
* See Preliminary Report on the Mortality and Sickness of the Volunteer Forces,
by E. B. Elliott, Actuary.
f The last report of the Secretary of War, as just published in the daily papers,
states the number of patients in General Hospital, June 30, 1863, as 9.1 per cent.,
and in Field Hospital 4.4 per cent, of the whole national forces—and that of this
�22
DEPARTMENT OF ARMY RELIEF.
This work was not at first contemplated by the Commission.
But the need of some central agency, to prevent the most dis
tressing waste of supplies, and the most mischievous interference
with Army discipline by irresponsible volunteer agents, was soon
apparent. Boxes and bales of life-saving stores were rotting and
perishing in railroad depots because wrongly directed, or because
the Regiment for which they were intended had changed its po
sition. Regiments were throwing away superfluous delicacies,
while others were suffering for want of necessaries. The bounty
of the People was manifestly losing half its practical value be
cause unsystematically distributed, and system could be secured
only through some central and National organization.
The Commission therefore allied itself with Army Relief As
sociations and Societies already existing, promoted their forma
tion where they did not exist, and undertook the great work of
systematizing and economizing the public effort to aid the Army.
This was then and still is a work of the first necessity. For, though
no Government has ever provided for its Army so liberally as
ours, and no People has ever given so liberally to supplement
what Government does, both People and Government are still
unable to do all that should be done, and men are still dying
every day who could be saved from death at the cost of a
few dollars. System and economy in the application of the pub
lic bounty, munificent as it is, are therefore indispensable. It
must be applied so as not only to do good, but to do the greatest
good to the greatest number, and the Commission endeavors so
to apply it through its Army Relief Department.
The branches of the Commission daily receive supplies of
aggregate °f 13-5 per cent., 11 were cases of sickness and 2.5 of wounds or other
casualties. This is a most gratifying statement; especially when contrasted with
the sickness-rates of foreign armies in the field and of our own during the Mexican
war.
�23
almost every kind from the sewing societies, Soldiers’ Aid Socie
ties, and other patriotic organizations that exist under various
titles in almost every town and village of the North. The num
ber of these organizations is exceedingly great. During August
last more than one hundred and twenty contributed to the
Chicago branch alone. More than twelve hundred have sent
supplies to the New York branch. From the depots of these
branches the Commission draws the supplies that are distributed
through its relief agents.
The issues of these depots are not confined to goods received
from auxiliary societies. The branches also purchase supplies
on a large scale, especially in cases of emergency, as after a great
battle. They have thus expended several hundred thousand
dollars, the proceeds of which have gone directly to the relief of
the army. The cargoes of ice, for example, sent to the hospitals
of Morris Island and Hilton Head, by the Boston branch, at the
expense of the Central Treasury, have been of inestimable value,
not merely to the individual soldier^ whose suffering they have
alleviated, but to the country in expediting his convalescence
and return to duty.
The general fund is used for like purposes. Up to De
ember 1, 1863, the central Treasury at New York has
expended more than a quarter of a million in the purchase of
hospital clothing, chloroform, medicines, stimulants, beef stock,
farinaceous food, and other material for army relief. This is over
and above what it has spent in sending surgeons, medical dressers,
and skilled nurses to the field.
The methods adopted for the systematic distribution of these
stores have been carefully considered. They work well and
economically, and are cordially approved by the military and
medical authorities of the army.
*
Losses by miscarriage and by
* Surgeon-General’s Office,
Washington Citt, D. C., February 13th, 1863.
Sir,—In reply to your communication of the 11th inst., 1 am directed to inform
�the casualties ot war (the capture of wagons by the enemy, for
instance,) have been exceedingly small. Their estimated amount,
all told, is less than ten thousand dollars.
For each great division of the army the Commission provides
a chief sanitary inspector and a superintendent of field relief.
If the force be stationary (as at Aquia Creek during the winter
of 1862-3, at Vicksburg, and now on Morris Island,) a permanent
lodge is established near its headquarters as a relief agency or
semi-governmental hospital, and depot of supplies. If the force be
in motion, supplies are issued from wagon trains or from steam
boats, of which the. commission has three, one in the Eastern
Department and two in the Western. Transportation is some
times paid for by the Commission, and sometimes put at its
disposal by the Quartermaster’s Department. There are now
(November, 1863,) five relief agents attached to the Army of
the Potomac, one for each army corps, each at the front in
charge of a wagon train moving with its own corps, and kept
constantly supplied from the W ashington depot. Each is cer
tainly saving one man’s life every day, and probably more.
Lodges and depots are also established at every important
hospital centre and convalescent camp to do such works of mercy
as are not provided for by regulation, and cannot, therefore, be
officially done at all. Each of these lodges and depots is, in fact,
the office of a volunteer surgeon, quartermaster, and commissary,
you that the Sanitary Commission is believed to be the best repository, and
distributor of the people’s bounty; giving the greatest certainty of good to the
soldier, with the least interference with the surgeons of the hospitals.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
By order of the Surgeou-General,
C. C. Bynnes,
Assistant-Surgeon,
.r. W. 11. Hadley,
U. S. Army.
Washington, D. C.
�23
sent there by the people, to provide for accidental failures in the
work of its government officials.
Pursuant to the settled policy of the Commission, its relief
agents are instructed to dispense supplies to camps and hospitals
through the regular military channels of supply whenever they
can possibly do so. If they have shirts and blankets for a ragged
regiment they distribute them, as a general rule, through its
officers, and thus make the supplies effective, not only to relieve
the soldier, but to maintain his confidence in his military
superiors.
• ■ • . 'i,,
It has been said that surgeons and other officers misappropriate
the stores thus put within their reach. Every great army must
include a certain per centage, larger or smaller, of dishonesty and
baseness, but such cases, if there have been any at all, are most
exceptional in ours. The Commission has diligently followed up
every rumor of the kind that has reached it, often employing
special detective agents for the purpose, but in no one case has
the report been confirmed. In most it has been conclusively dis
proved. Such stories originate in many ways. A soldier, for
instance, sells or loses a blanket issued by the Commission, and
marked with its stamp. The blanket finds its way to some second
hand shop in Washington or Cincinnati, and somebody who sees
it there sets afloat an “ authentic” report that goods sent the Com
mission for army relief are sold either by the Commission itself
or by army officers. Or a surgeon uses the hospital stores of the
Commission for his own relief when ill, thereby practically,
though indirectly, applying them to the benefit of his patients,
and thus creates a rumor that army surgeons generally live on
beef tea and brandy meant for hospital use. There is no proof
that a dollar’s worth of the people’s bounty has been thus per
verted. If any portion has been, it is less than the hundredth
part of one per cent, on the value of the supplies sent the army
through the Commission. But if fifty dollars’ worth out of every
�^6
hundred were proven to be intercepted by official corruption,
it would not excuse our abandoning the work. It should
rather inspire us to provide more actively for this additional
source of depri vation and danger. What should we think of a
farmer who declined to make provision for his stock because he
suspected his servants of stealing part of their feed?
There are, undoubtedly, intelligent people who take a different
vieXv of the case, unconsciously influenced, perhaps, by that
readiness to believe anything to the disadvantage of anybody
holding public office which seems one of our national weak
nesses. Some of them object on this ground to any organization
that works in concert with surgeons or hospital stewards, and
prefer the agency of volunteers who make unlawful inroads into
camps and hospitals, and help the individual soldier at the ex
pense of the system which must always be his main dependence.
The inevitable mischief this practice mnst produce has been
already pointed out. If one or two surgeons out of thousands
have appropriated a few hundred dollars’ worth of army stores
out of millions, the loss is insignificant when compared with the
slightest risk of impairing the morale and discipline of the army,
on which, Under God, we depend for our national existence.
The service directly rendered to the Army by the Supply De
partment, through the Commission and its branches, has been
inestimable. A full statement of its results would require pages
of detail, setting forth the operations of Relief Agents and their
Assistants after every battle, in every general hospital, and in
the camps and quarters of every Corps. Steamboats chartered
by the Cincinnati Branch reached Fort Donelson laden with
medicines and supplies of every kind in time to supplement the
deficient stores of the Medical Staff, and save hundreds of men.
At Antietam there were literally no Government Medical stores.
The surgeons had used up their stock during General Pope’s
Campaign, in Virginia. Supplies sent them from Washington
�27
had been captured at Manassas. The Quartermaster’s Depart
ment, taxed to its utmost to forward ordinance and Commissary
stores, ammunition and food, had been obliged to leave all medi
cal supplies behind, miles away from the field. But the officers
of the Commission, at Washington, advised by authority of this
unfortunate deficiency, and of the impending battle, sent off by
/ independent routes, and in good season, wagon trains laden
with medical and surgical appliances, which reached the field
before the battle was over, and for forty-eight hours after that
hardly-won victory thousands of wounded men got all their
opiates, stimulants, chloroform, medicines, appropriate diet, and
hospital clothing and bedding, mainly from Agents of the Sanitary
Commission. So at Getty sburgh, the headquarters and supply
depots of the Commission were established and at work while
the battle was hottest. At Vicksburgh, Murfreesboro, Chancellorsville, Chattanooga, Chicamauga, Fredericksburg, its relief
agents dispensed many thousand dollars’ worth of life-saving
supplies. During our Peninsular Campaign, it did the Army
most signal service. The history of its work on the Peninsula
—at White House, Savage’s Station, and Harrison’s Landing—
is yet to be written. Its Relief Depots and Hospital Transport
Service did more to relieve misery and save life than any other
voluntary organization has ever done within the same period.
After the second battle of Bull’s Run the wagon trains of the
Commission moving from Washington, met our retreating forces
at Centreville, exhausted by hard fighting, and wholly without
• restoratives or medicines. Their medical supplies had fallen
into Rebel hands. At this point, as at many others, the Com
mission’s proper work of supplementing accidental deficiencies
in the Army system saved hundreds from perishing by pros
tration and enabled them to return to their ranks and their duty.
*
* Within ten days after Chattanooga, four thousand packages of Sanitary stores
had gone to the field from Nashville, and two thousand more were on the way
I
�28
This Department of the Commission’s work has cost, not
money alone, but health and life. Many of its Agents have
already died in the service, or have been obliged to leave it
broken down by overwork and exposure or poisoned by malaria.
Another name has just been added to its roll of martyrs to our
national cause—that of Rev. James Richardson, a gentleman of
education and high social position, who died at his post Novem
ber 10th, 1863, of disease contracted in the service of the Com
mission, Two of its Agents were captured near Gettysburg]},
while carrying supplies to the front. They have undergone
months of starvation and ill-treatment at Richmond, from the
effects of which it is probable they will never fully recover.
In our General Hospitals the Relief Department of the Com
mission is now a recognized institution, on which surgeons rely
for certain extra-governmental supplies, as fully as they depend
on Government for ordinary rations. Accidental failure of
Government supplies sometimes obliges them to rely on it for
everything. This work of the Commission is not confined to
Hospitals at or near the front. During the summer of 1862, for
example, a medical officer of the Commission learning that a
transport from the Peninsula had just landed several hundred
invalids on one of the Islands of an Atlantic harbor, thought
proper to make a personal inspection of their condition. He
found them mostly bad cases of malarious typhoid fever, requir
ing vigilant nursing and stimulation from hour to hour, but with
out proper food or stimulants, or any attendance, save that of
one or two enlisted men detailed as nurses. The Post Surgeon
had gone to bed in a condition that forbade his doing more for
down the Mississippi. Up to 17th November last, 5,000 packages and boxes had
been forwarded for the relief of the wounded men at Chickamauga. The means of
classifying these supplies are not yet at hand. But a detailed statement is appended
of the supplies issued to the army of the Potomac after Gettysbubgh. (See Ap
pendix A.)
sm;
�his patients than to utter a cordial but semi-articulate consent
that the Sanitary Commission should take care of them. The
representative of the Commission forthwith sent a boat to the
city, which returned laden with beef, milk, and brandy bought
at the Hotels, for it was late and all the shops were closed. He
*
extemporized a kitchen, and spent the whole night administering
beef tea and milk punch to these neglected men, most of whom
would have been dead or past recovery before morning but for
his intervention. Many of them were saved, and an unworthy
employe of the Medical Department was summarily dismissed
.within forty-eight hours, upon report of the facts.
This is an extreme case. Instances of such misconduct are
most rare, for since the re-organization of the Medical Bureau,
our army surgeons have almost universally labored with a degree
of fidelity, energy, and self-devotion beyond all praise. But the
Commission has relieved many Hospitals suffering like destitu
tion, for which their officers were not to blame. As already
stated, the Medical Bureau has no independent transportation.
Military necessity sometimes requires that guns, ammunition and
provisions be forwarded with all possible despatch to the entire
exclusion of everything else. Supplies actually issued and con
signed to surgeons and urgently needed by them may thus often
be unavoidably detained on the road for days or weeks.
The machinery of the War Department is necessarily rigid
and wooden. A flexible organization like the Sanitary Com
mission, governed by principle rather than by
r
*ule,
and, above
all, able to exercise discretionary powers necessarily forbidden to
the officials of Government, can obviously render great service
in filling the gaps that must occur in its working, especially
on a field so vast as that of the present War.
* (And paid for at Hotel prices—an exceptional incident in the experience of the
Commission.)
�30
The value of this Relief system is well understood by the
whole Army.
*
A circular letter was lately addressed to a
large number of medical officers in charge of general hos
pitals inquiring through what Agency, National, local or
individual, supplies sent their patients did most good. The
answer was almost unanimous,—“ Through the Sanitary Com
mission, because it ministers impartially to all National soldiers,
East and West, and because it understands the paramount im
portance of subordination to Military system in all efforts for
Army relief.”-]*
z ffr <!.•’
* Headquarters Department
of
Tennessee,
Special Order, No. 86.
1. The Quartermaster’s Department will provide and furnish a suitable steam
boat, to be called the “ United States Sanitary Store Boat,” and put the same in
charge of the U. S. Sanitary Commission, to be used by it exclusively for the
conveyance of goods calculated to prevent disease, and supplemental to the Gov
ernment supply of stores for the relief of the sick and wounded.
2. No person will be allowed to travel on said boat except sick officers of the ■
army and navy, (and they only on permits from their proper commanding offi
cers,) discharged soldiers and employees of said Sanitary Commission, and no
goods whatever for trading or commercial purposes will be carried on said boat,)
and no goodswill be taken for individnals or with any conditions which will prevent them being delivered to those most needing them in the army or navy.
3. The accounts of all packages to be shipped on said U. S. Sanitary Store
Boat will be inspected before shipment, unless, an invoice of their contents hasbeen received, the correctness of which is assured by the signature of some per
son of known loyalty and integrity. • A statement, showing what goods have been
placed on board at each trip will be asent.i to the Medical Director of the Depart-’
ment at these Headquarters.
4. A weekly statement will be made by the Sanitary Commission to the Depart
ment of the Medical Director, showing what Sanitary supplies have been issued
by said Commission, and to whom Issued.^/
5. All orders authorizing the free transportation of Sanitary Stores from Cairo :
south on boats other than the one herein provided for are hereby rescinded.
By order Major General U. S.-Grant.
John A. Rawlings, Asst. Adt. General.
| This circular and all the letters in reply to it were published by the Women’s
Central Association of New York in a pamphlet entitled “ How can we best help
our Camps and Hospitals ?” New York: 1863.
�34
DEPARTMENT OF. SPECIAL RELIEF.
The necessity of this work became apparent as soon as our
volunteer forces began to assemble. It was first undertaken, at
Washington, in August, 1861, and its results there soon led to
the establishment of agencies for. the same purpose at other
points. It is now in operation throughout the country.
The General Relief System, of which some account has Just
been given, assists the soldier when in camp or in hospital, by
strengthening and supplementing the military system with which
he is then in close connexion, and on which it is his right and
his duty mainly to depend. The Department of Special Relief
deals mainly with the waifs and estrays of the Army, and
relieves the individual soldier when temporarily out of connexion
with the Military system. It gives him shelter, food, medical
treatment and transportation when it. is impossible for him
tq obtain rthem. from, Government. At points; dike Washington, or. Nashville, for, . example, there, may.be daily , found
scores or hundreds. of men, separated from, their regiments
and anxious to rejoin them, but unable to obtain transportation,
and without legal title meanwhile to quarters or rations, or any;
kind of recognition or aid from any Government officer within
reach... Some are returning after a furlough, but find that their
regiment has moved. Their little stock of money has. given .;
out, and they must beg through the streets, for aught that any
official. , has the power to.. do for them. Others.. are * sick,
but no. Hospital can admit them without a breach of regula
tions. Others are waiting to get their back pay, but there is
some technical defect in their papers for which they are not re
sponsible, and they must wait a week for a letter to, reach their
regiment and be answered, before they can draw a dollar from
the Paymaster, and subsist as they can meanwhile. ,
These seem at first to be serious abuses, but they are, in faet,
merely inevitable incidents of the rigorous system of. detail :
�82
that is essential to every army, and especially to armies so
large as ours. It is only through technical regulations, un
sparingly enforced, that the most mischievous irregularities can
be prevented, and the army as a whole kept in working condition.
But any such system, however necessary on the whole, must
produce cases of hardship, and in great armies such cases must
be numerous. When the subject matter of these regulations is
the provision of food, shelter, clothing and hospital treatment,
whatever hardship their inflexibility produces, must cost health,
efficiency and life. The Army has thus but the choice of
two evils. It must suffer as a whole, because regulations are
not rigidly enforced, or individuals must suffer because they are.
There can of course be no question which of these two evils is
the greater. However great may be the amount of suffering
thus caused, only a blind and reckless philanthropy would seek
to remedy it at the expense of discipline. A large portion
of the suffering in question arises, in fact, not so much from the
rigor of the system as from the want of accuracy on the part
of those who administer it, ancf seems due to a deficiency rather
than an excess of “ red tape.”
For this inevitable evil, the Commission seeks to provide
through its Special Relief Department. To the extent of its
means it keeps everywhere within the soldier’s reach establish
ments to supply him with food, shelter and medical care, when
he can get them nowhere else, and to supplement the inflexible
machinery of the Commissary Department, the Quartermaster’s
Department, the Paymaster’s Office, and the Medical Bureau.
This Department does much work also that can hardly be dis
tinguished from that of General Relief, except in this, that while
the latter provides for men in camp, in hospital, or on the march,
the former gives them especial attention and care while passing
from the condition of recruits to that of National soldiers, and
while still unfamiliar with the system through which they must
obtain subsistence, quarters and medical treatment.
�33
For example, a newly-raised regiment reaches Louisville or
Washingtoi^late at night, after a weary, depressing day, spent
without food in cattle cars without seats. The men are exhaust
ed, and a dozen or twenty of them are ill. Sick and well, they
are deposited at the railroad terminus. The Regimental Sur
geon’s medical stores are buried in the baggage cars, and cannot
be got out till morning. He is in a strange place, and does not
know where to go to get his patients into hospital. The Com
pany officers are equally inexperienced. It may take them half
the next day to ascertain how to get rations and quarters for
their men. Meanwhile, the men must stand in the street and
get on as best they may, without food, shelter, or medical at
tendance, the healthy sickening and the sick growing worse from
hour to hour.
This is a very moderate statement of what has occurred over
and over again. Many have died of fatigue and exposure under
these circumstances in the street or on the floor of a depot, be
fore their connection with the Government machinery could be
so established as to become available for their relief. A little
suitable food or stimulus, and a few hours rest, would probably
have saved most of them. But their officers cannot, under the
circumstances, be severely censured for the loss.
The Commission provides for cases of this class. Its agents
are kept informed by telegraph of the movements of newly-raised
regiments, and are prepared to receive them, with coffee and
soup for the well men, and with ambulances for the sick, who
are at once conveyed to a “ Home” of the Commission, where
they receive food, shelter, nursing, and medical care, till they
are able to join their regiment, or are duly transferred to Gen
eral Hospital. Many thousand men “ slightly ailing” have been
saved from illness that would have made them unserviceable for
weeks or months, and perhaps forever, by the few days or hours
of repose, comfort and medical care thus afforded them.
3
�84
The Homes of the Commission provide in like manner for the
large class already mentioned of men separated fr<gm their regi
ments, unable to get transportation, and without money or
friends, and to whom no officer within their reach can supply
quarters or rations without personal liability and violation of
Army rules. Every such case is carefully scrutinized. If it be
genuine, the man receives subsistence and quarters at the
“ Home” until the position of his regiment is ascertained, and
he is furnished transportation to rejoin it.
A regiment carrying its sick with it in ambulances is often
detailed in passing through a city. As the length of this deten
tion is uncertain, and the regiment may have to move at a mo
ment’s notice, these sick men cannot well be transferred to a
General Hospital. Their admission and their discharge would
each require too much time. But if a “ Home” of the Com
mission be within reach it provides for them during their deten
tion.
The work of the Special Relief Department is too various for
complete classification. Every day brings out some new case for
its intervention, differing from all that have preceded it. But its
chief objects are as follows :
*
9
First.—To supply the sick of newly arrived regiments such
medicines, food, and care as their officers are, under the circum
stances, unable to give them. The men thus aided are chiefly
those not sick enough to have a claim on a general hospital, but
who nevertheless need immediate care to prevent serious illness.
Second.—To furnish suitable food, lodging, care, and assist. ance to men who are honorably discharged as unfit for further
service, but who are often obliged to wait for several days be
* See printed reports of Mr. F. N. Knapp, Superintendent of Special Relief.
�35
fore they obtain their papers and pay, or to sell their claims to
speculators, at a sacrifice.
Third.—To communicate with distant regiments in behalf of
men whose certificates of disability or descriptive lists on which
to draw their pay prove to be defective—the invalid soldiers
meantime being cared for, and not exposed to the fatigue and
risk of going in person to their regiments to have their papers
corrected.
Fourth.—To act as the unpaid agent or attorney of soldiers
who are too feeble or too utterly disabled to present their own
claim at the Paymaster’s office.
Fifth.—To look into the condition of discharged and fur
loughed men who seem without means to pay the expense of
going to their homes, and to furnish the necessary means where
the man is found to be true and the need real.
Sixth.—To secure to soldiers going home on sick leave rail
road tickets at reduced rates, and through an agent at thi# rail
road station to see that they are not robbed or imposed upon.
Seventh.—To see that all men who are discharged and paid
off do at once leave the city at which they receive their dis
charge, for their homes, or in cases where they have been induced
by evil companions to remain behind, to endeavor to rescue
them, and see them started homeward with through tickets.
Eighth.—To make men going home discharged, or on sick
leave, reasonably clean and comfortable before their departure.
Ninth.—To be prepared to meet, at once, with food or other
aid, such immediate necessities as arise when sick men arrive in
large numbers from battle fields or distant hospitals.
�36
Tenth.—To keep a watchful eye upon all soldiers who are out
of hospitals, yet not in service; and give information to the
proper authorities of such soldiers as seem endeavoring to avoid
duty or to desert from the ranks.
In all these arrangements the Commission and its branches
receive practical support and aid from the Quartermaster’s
Department, which makes its beneficial work tenfold more ef
fective.
It must be understood, that the “ Homes ” are administered
in no spirit of indiscriminate philanthrophy. Malingerers and de
serters who have found refuge within them under false pretences,
are promptly turned over to military authority, and no soldier is
permitted to enjoy their privileges for a single day after he is
pronounced fit for duty.
These Relief Stations are established at most of our Military
Centres. The “ Home” at Washington is a large three-story brick
building on North Capitol street, with temporary wooden build
ings around it, and with auxiliary “ lodges ” established near
the Paymaster’s office, and other centres around which soldiers
are obliged to congregate. Each has its provision of beds, and
of food, its housekeeper, nurses, and attending Physician, and its
staff of experts in Army relief. Before they were established
men actually died of weariness and exhaustion while waiting
their turn in the dense crowd and blazing sunshine around the
Paymaster’s Office. Soldiers physically unequal to this ordeal
are now provided with shelter and rations till they have secured
their pay.
The following extract from Mr. Knapp’s last report on the
“ Home” at Washington indicates the nature and value of the
Commission’s Special Relief work at that point:
“ ‘ The Home,’ 374 North Capitol street.—Increased accommoi dations for securing room and comfort have been obtained; and
�37
“ now, instead of 140 beds, we have at the Home 320, besides a
“ large baggage-room, a convenient wash-room, a bath-house, &c.
“ Two of the additional buildings, one 16 feet by 60, the other 28
“ feet by 90, were put up by the Quartermaster’s Department.
“ The third building 30 feet by 50 (with an L 20 by 35) for a
“ ‘ Hospital,’ (this was at the expense of the Commission,) at a cost
“ of about $800. The necessity for this building, devoted exclu“ sively to Hospital purposes, is found in the fact, that although
u the men who came under the care of the Commission are
“ mostly on their way to their homes, and might therefore be
“ supposed to be not so very feeble as to need specially “ Hos“ pital ” treatment, yet, as a matter of fact many of them are
“ weakened to such a degree by disease, that by the time they
“ reach Washington, or the railway station from the front, or
“ from the various hospitals, their strength is nearly exhausted,
“ and they are only restored, if at all, by such care as hospital
“ treatment affords; and frequently they are too far gone to
“ make that available, as is indicated by the record which shows
“ that frotn February 23d to October 1st, there were received at
“ the Home 665 men, very sick, who were placed in the new
“ Hospital, of which number thirty-eight died there. This was
“ from February 23d, when this new building was opened, but
“ dating back to December 15th, there has been under the
“ charge of the Commission, including those just named, so®ie
“ 900 men who were very sick and feeble, of which number a
“ total of sixty-one (61) have died at the Home. These were
“ nearly all men having their discharge papers with them, and «
“ they had consequently given up their claim upon the General
“ or Regimental Hospitals, and had taken the first stage of their
“ journey towards their homes. If they had not found the care
“ which the Commission thus offered to them, these same men
“ must have died in the cars along the way, or at some stopping
“ point on their journey. Of the remaining 840 of these very
�38
“ feeble men we have reason to believe that many, except for the
“ care and rest secured to them by the provision of the Commis“ sion, could not have lived through their journeys.
#******
_?
“ At this office and lodge No. 4, from January 1st to October
“ 1st, 1863, the number of discharged soldiers whose accounts
“ against the Government have been settled through our assist“ ance, men who were too feeble to attend to settling their own
“ accounts, or who were unable to obtain their pay because of
“ some charge against them on the pay-rolls, or some errors in
“ their papers, amount to 2,130.”
x
“ Information and directions have been given relative to set“ tling pay accounts, collecting arrears of pay, extra duty pay,
“ and commutation money to about 9,000 men.
“ The aggregate value of the 2130 cases amounted to
“ $130,159 01. This amount was collected and paid to the
“ soldiers through this office.
“ But for the gratuitous aid thus afforded, these soldiers dis“ charged from the service, disabled by wounds, or worn down
“ by long marches and exposure in the field, or enfeebled by
“ disease, anxious to get home, would have applied to ‘ Claim
“ Agents’ for aid in obtaining speedily their dues from Gov“ ernment, submitting willingly to pay a commission ranging
“ from 10 to 40 per cent. These Agents, with some rare and
“ admirable exceptions, in four cases out of every five, impede
“ the settlement of accounts instead of facilitating them.
“ Taking 10 per cent, as an average, which is the lowest com“ mission usually charged by Claim Agents, the amount saved
“ to the soldiers in adjusting the 2130 cases of which a record
“ has been kept, is shewn to be $13,015 90. Add to this 10 per
“ cent, of the probable aggregate value of the 9000 cases in
“ which information and directions have been given, (for in most
“ of these cases the soldiers would otherwise have gone to Claim
�39
“ Agents) and the amount saved to the soldiers through tho
“ Commission by this office, is shown to be at least $70,000
“ during nine months ending September 30th.”
“ The number of letters written in adjusting the above cases
“ of sufficient importance to make a copy necessary, 2,224.
“ Many of the cases have been very difficult to adjust, requir“ ing several weeks to complete them.
“ The ‘Home’ or ‘Lodge for Special Relief’ at Alexandria
“ is almost equally important with those at Washington. Alexan“ dria is the gateway toward home for the sick and wounded of
“ the Potomac Army. During the first week after this Agency
“ was established, it provided meals for 1761 sick or wounded
“ men who could have got them nowhere else.
“ In January, 1863, a ‘ Nurse’s Home’ was opened at Washing“ ton. It has proved a source of immense relief to nurses arriving
“ in the city, and to those worn down by service at the hospitals,
“ and needing a few days of quiet and rest, and also to the wives,
“ mothers and daughters of soldiers who have come on seeking
“ their husbands, sons or fathers in hospital. During the past two
“ months many of this latter class have been cared for who, utterly
“ ignorant of the cost of their journey, and of obtaining board
“ and lodging, even for a day or two, in the city, were utterly
“ destitute and helpless. Hundreds of weary and almost broken
“ hearted women have been received as at a home. Many re“ fugees also—mothers and little children—have been received
“ here and warmed and clothed. This has proved in its working
“ one of the kindest charities of the Commission.”
Since the “ Nurses’ Home ” was opened in January, the total
number of nights’ lodging given has been........................... 1583
Meals furnished........................................................................ 3040
Number of women sheltered and admitted......................... 1190
Total cost to Commission, about.......................................... $2,300
#
�40
The Homes of the Special Belief Department at Washington,
Louisville, Alexandria, Annapolis, and New Orleans, are sup
ported by the Central Treasury of the Commission; at other
points mainly by its Branches.
Their work up to October 1st, 1863, has been as follows :—
“ THE HOME,” WASHINGTON, D. C.
Number of individuals received............ ............................ 7,287
“
“ nights lodging furnished.................................... 26,533
“
“ meals given............... .......................................... 65,621
LODGES NOS. 2, 3, 4 AND 5, WASHINGTON, D. 0.
Number ofnights lodgings furnished................................. 23,590
“
“ meals given....................................
184,995
“home”
IN CLEVELAND, OHIO.
Number of nights lodgings furnished............................... 2,569
“
“ meals given........................................................ 12,227
LODGE AT MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.
Number of nights lodgings furnished................................ 2,850
“
“ meals given........................................................ 14,780
LODGE AT NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.
Number of nights lodgings furnished..............
4,821
“
“ meals given............................................................11,909
“HOME” AT LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.
Number of nights lodgings furnished................................ 17,785
“
“ meals given at the Home.................................. 52,080
“
“
“
“ at Station House......................... 49,933
�41
CC
*
___55
■ HOME ” AT CAIRO, ILLINOIS.
Number of nights lodgings furnished.........................
79,550
“
“ meals given........................................................ 170,150
“home”
AT •CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Number of nights lodgings furnished................................ 40,017
“
“ meals given (about).............. 1.......................... 10,000
LODGE AT ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA.
Number of nights lodgings furnished...............................
“
“ meals given................................... 1................
604
5,980
“ HOME ” AT BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
Number of nights lodgings furnished........ ;......................
“
“ meals given...........................
1,407
4,129
“ HOME ” FOR NURSES AND FOR SOLDIERS WIVES AND MOTHERS AT
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Number of nights lodgings furnished................................
“
“ meals given................
1,583
3,640
4
“ HOME ” FOR NURSES AT ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.
Number of nights lodgings furnished.................................
“
“ meals given........................................................
569
2,847
“HOME” AT CHICAGO.
Number of nights lodgings furnished................................ 3,109
“
“ meals given........................................................ 11,325
The aggregate of nights’ lodgings furnished by the
Special Relief Department up to the 1st October
last, is therefore.............................................................. 206,570
And of meals provided.........................................
602,656
�42
The total cost of the Special Relief Department at Wash
ington, Annapolis and Alexandria, from August, 1861, to 1st
October, 1863, has been $24,582 00.
*
Among the modes in which thi^ Department does its work of
relief are several that have not been mentioned.
For example, it corresponds on behalf of soldiers with their
friends. In special cases it sends Agents with officers and sol
diers suffering under severe disease to take care of them on their
journey home.f It attends to the claims of soldiers whose pay
is unjustly withheld through mistake or otherwise. It looks
into cases of punishment or disgrace alleged to be unjust, and
if they be found so on investigation, lays the evidence before the
proper military authorities. £ Such errors must occur in the
working of a military system so extensive as ours, and the Com
mission has thus saved many good and faithful soldiers from
undeserved punishment and disgrace. It employs detectives to
ferret out and bring to justice sharpers and gamblers who live
by preying on the soldiers. It looks out for men who set off for
hospital on foot, but break down by the way, and supplies them
with conveyances.
* The “Home” recently established at New Orleans has lodged and fed 2,162
men from October 16th to 22d November, 1863. From November 22d to 27th, its
daily average of cases relieved was more than 250.
f The expense of this service has been defrayed from a special fund raised for
the purpose. Though a most humane and life saving office, it seems to involve too
large an outlay on individual cases, to be paid for out of the general Treasury
of the Commission.
t Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 1, 1863, thirty-four applications were made to the
Special Relief Agency at Washington alone, by men claiming to have been unjust
ly disgraced and deprived of their arrears of pay as “deserters” or “absent with
out leave.” The investigation of some of these claims required twenty letters to
Hospital Directors and Regimental officers, for it was necessary to ascertain and
to prove where the applicant had been during every day of the period of his
alleged absence from duty. Twenty-eight of these thirty-four claims were proved
to be valid, and were recognized as valid by the military authorities. The men
had not known how to state them, or how to obtain the necessary evidence.
�43
In short, there is hardly a service within the whole range of
charity that has not been rendered our soldiers by this agency.
And they must surely endure longer and fight better for
knowing that they are thus watched over and aided by the Peo
ple whose cause they maintain.
HOSPITAL DIRECTORY.
This branch of the Special Relief Department is of compara
tively recent date. Its offices are at Washington, Philadelphia,
Louisville and New York. Its necessity arises from the prac
tical difficulty of obtaining information about men in hospital
from official sources. It keeps a record of the name, regiment
and company of every man admitted into General Hospital, and
of the nature of his disease or injury, and also of every man
dying or discharged, and if discharged, whether it was to re
join his regiment, or as permanently disabled. These records are
corrected daily. Friends and relatives can thus readily ascertain
by letter whether any given man is in general hospital, and if
so, all particulars about him.
The names entered on the Hospital Directory books from
June 9th to Oct. 1st, 1863, were—
At
“
“
“
the
“
“
“
Washington office..................................................... 64,635
New York
“ ...................................................... 18,771
Philadelphia “ .......................... 12,213
Louisville
“ from May 9th............................ 96,433
Total...................................................... 1............... 192,052
Add number of names on record June 9th........................215,221
Total................................................................................. 407,273
Recorded as follows:
Washington office to Oct.
New York
“ “ “
Philadelphia “ “ “
Louisville
“ “ “
1st, 1863.................................... 169,007
“
“
27,320
“
“
24,513
“
“
186,433
______
Total....................................................................^....407,273
�44
The number of inquiries and of answers, from the organiza
tion of the Directory to Oct. 1,1863, have been as follows. The
surplus of inquiries over answersis the number of cases in which
the subject of inquiry had not been in General Hospital since
the Directory System went into operation.
Washington office, inquiries . ... 6,712
cc
cc
656
New York
“
cc
CC
547
Philadelphia “
cc
cc
5,852
Louisville
“
Inquiries...........
Answers.............. 4,524
“ “
474
“ “
348
“ “
4,016
13,767 Answers...............9,362
It may at first seem that this undertaking, however humane,
has no connection with the Sanitary interests of the Army, and
is therefore no legitimate work for the Sanitary Commission.
But it practically multiplies to a great extent the facilities for
correspondence and communication between men in hospital and
their friends at home, and such communications are often worth
more than any medicine to the sick and convalescent. They
promote health, bodily and mental, keep up the sick man’s
morale, and expedite his recovery and his return to duty.
OTHER WORK OF THE COMMISSION.
The Commission does much work beside that comes strictly
under none of the preceding heads. During and after a battle,
its medical officers act as volunteer aids to those of the
Army, while its Relief Agents add to their proper office of
dispensing medicines and supplies the functions of nurses, hospi
tal stewards, and ambulance drivers. Honorable instances are
recorded of the courage and devotion with which they have
brought off wounded men under fire.
*
The Commission retains
* We find the following in the Port Royal Free South of the 25th instant:
“The officers of the United States Sanitary Commission have won for them- ,
selves a splendid reputation in this department. They have by their discretion and
�45
no one in its service who shrinks from any work, hazardous,
menial, or mechanical, that comes in the course of his duty.
It has organized a system by which extra supplies are fur
nished our general hospitals at prime cost, thus effecting a very
large daily saving to their “ hospital funds.’^ Up to 1st Novem
ber last it had thus expended more than $10,000 on hospitals
around Washington, and in South Carolina.
It endeavors to keep the people, and especially the loyal wo
men of the North, informed of the wants of the Army, and
stimulates the production and forwarding of Army supplies.
It calls the attention of Government to the defects and abuses
that appear from time to time in the various branches of the
service and directly or indirectly affect the health of the Army,
and recommends to Government such improvements in the
Medical and Sanitary administration of the Army as seem enti
tled to its attention.
It relieves our men in rebel prisons wherever it is permitted
to do so, and is now sending to Richmond (at a cost of nearly a
thousand dollars a day) large consignments of food and other
supplies, appropriate for men broken down by confinement and
*
starvation.
zeal saved many valuable lives. Under the guns of Wagner, in the hottest of the
fire, their trained corps picked up and carried off the wounded almost as they fell.
As many of our men were struck while ascending the parapet and then rolled into
the moat, which at high tide contains six feet of water, they must inevitably have
perished had they been suffered to remain. But the men who were detailed for
the service with Dr. Marsh went about the work with intrepidity and coolness
worthy of all praise. The skill and experience of the members of the Commission
has, since the battle, been unremittingly employed to render comfortable the sick
and wounded.—2V. Y. Evening Post, July 30, 1863.
* It has established on every flag-of-truce boat from Fortress Monroe for the re
ception of exchanged prisoners a depot of such medicines and restoratives as are
most suitable for men in the distressing condition in which they are generally found
when discharged from confinement at Richmond. From Nov. 17 to Dec. 3 it has
sent $28,000 worth of supplies beside to Richmond. There is every reason to
believe that these supplies are not intercepted or misappropriated, and that the
Rebel authorities do in good faith protect them from attack, and convey them to
their destination. [Dec. 10, 1863.]
�46
Above all, it loses no opportunity of advocating every measure
calculated to increase the efficiency of the Military system itself
in all its relations with the sanitary interests of the Army; and
it has in this way probably done the Army as much substantial
service as by all its other agencies together. More than two
years of experience and .observation have shown it that the main
dependence of the soldier, sick or well, must be on the Military
system, and not on outside help. The reformation of the Medi
cal Bureau, and the appointment of an honest, energetic, ac
complished and fearless officer as Surgeon-General, is mainly
*
due to the influence the' Commission brought to bear on Gov
ernment. It has thus done more for the health of the Army
than could have been done for it in any other way whatever.
The Commission hopes to effect further reforms, still sorely
needed, and thus by still farther increasing the efficiency of the
Medical Bureau, to make its own existence less and less a neces
sity to the Army.
%
OBJECTIONS TO THE COMMISSION.
The Commission has from the first enjoyed a degree of public
favor and confidence greater than it had any right to expect.
Certain objections, however, are made to its system and methods
which require a brief notice, though they have for the most part
been already anticipated.
One is that the Commission employs paid agents, and that its
organization is expensive. It has already been shown that paid
and permanent Agents are in the long run cheaper than unpaid
volunteers, because the superiority of skilled labor over un
skilled, is much more than equivalent to the amount thus paid
to secure it.
The more general charge that the Commission’s system is a
* Dr. Wm. A. Hammond.
�47
costly one, is believed to be wholly unfounded. Its salaries are
on a most moderate scale.
*
Thanks to the co-operation of Go
vernment and the liberality of Railroad, Telegraph and Express
Companies, and other private agencies, its expenses for transpor
tation and telegraphing are not one-tenth of what they would
otherwise be. A reference to the statistics given above of'the
cost of its special relief system at Washington, Alexandria and
Annapolis, show how much work it has done at comparatively
trifling expense. The value of the supplies it has actually
issued to the Army from its numerous depots, East and West,
can only be estimated, and these estimates vary largely, the
lowest estimate being about four millions of dollars, and the
highest exceeding seven.
These supplies have been carried all over the country, from
Maine to Texas, and from Washington to Vicksburg, in charge
of special agents, and deposited in Relief Stations where store
keepers are necessarily engaged to protect them, and Relief
Agents to distribute them; yet this great mass of bulky stores
has been moved, stored at the depots, moved to the front, stored
again in temporary depots, and then distributed, at a total
expense to the Central Treasury of less than one and seven
eighths per cent, on their lowest valuation.
Another objection to the Commission is generally expressed
somewhat as follows:—
“ It is a very benevolent organization, no doubt, and relieves
* It may be proper here distinctly to state, that no member of the Commission
receives, or ever has received a dollar from its treasury, or from any other quarter,
in the shape of salary, or compensation for his services as Commissioner. Four of
its members hold office, viz.: its President, Vice-President, and Treasurer, and its
Associate Secretary at Louisville. Of these, the first three have been able to do
their official work without absolutely sacrificing all their other duties, and they
have done it without dreaming of “ pay” from any quarter. The Associate Secre
tary, who has removed his home from Cleveland to Louisville, abandoned his pro
fession, and devoted his whole time and energies to his official work, receives a
moderate salary.
�48
“ a great deal of suffering. But it does harm in the long run,
“ because officers are tempted to lean upon it and neglect their
‘‘ official duty of providing for their men. Without the Com“ mission there might have been more suffering at first; but
“ this evil would have cured itself by this time. Officers would
“ have been obliged to become more active and vigilant, and
“ the Army would now be in perfect condition and need no help
“ from without.”
The principle on which this criticism rests underlies all the
policy of the Commission. It has already been shown that its
system is so framed and guarded, that no Army officer can take
advantage of it to escape duty or to cover up inefficiency. But
in the application of this principle by those who use it as an ob
jection to the Commission, there is a peculiar fallacy which it is
worth while to point out.
So far from endangering the military system by relief from
without, the Commission has from the first been the chief pro
tection of the Army against this very danger, and the only organi
zation, official or private, that has openly aided and encouraged
our Military authorities in their endeavor to avert it. Though
wholly dependent on popular sympathy for support, it has uni
formly maintained this position, though well aware that it is
peculiarly distasteful to many whose patriotism and human
ity are stronger than their judgment.
The Commission did not create the unprecedented popular
effort to furnish supplies for the sick and wounded, which will
distinguish the history of this War from that of all others,
That movement began before the Commission was in existence,
when the first Regiment of National Volunteers was mustered
into the National service. It was equally spontaneous and irre
sistible. Neither the Commission nor Government could’have
checked it had they felt disposed to try. It still continues, and
it will continue so long as a single regiment remains in the field.
�49
The Commission when first appointed found the stream in full
flow, but guided by zeal rather than discretion. One regiment
out of every two, East and West, was waited on and followed up
by Agents and Relief Committees from its own town or county,
begging surgeons and quartermasters to take a few packages of
hospital stores off their hands, and surreptitiously administering
delicacies and medicaments wherever they could secure a re
cipient. Other regiments were suffering for want of necessary
subsistence, because recruited in some neighborhood less wealthy
or less liberal. Officers seemed as much disturbed by the de
moralizing interference of friends in the rear as by the demon
strations of the enemy in their front.
The Commission recognized the depth of the National in>
pulses that were at work, the immense mischief they might do
if allowed to run wild, and the good they might do if organized
and regulated, and it undertook the work of so guiding
these efforts as to make them more effective and less
dangerous to discipline. It found the Army inundated by a
flood of public bounty, wasting itself where it was not wanted,
and threatening to undermine the foundations of official respon
sibility. Its endeavor has been and is to direct this stream into
measured channels, carrying it to the points at which it will do
most good, and applying its power to strengthen the working of
the military system.
It has thus to a great extent saved the Army from the mischief
this torrent of outside relief might have done it. If it has not
fully done so, it is because so many agencies and societies for
Army relief continue to work independently of the Commission
and by methods 'which it does not approve and cannot control.
The objection that “ Government ought to do the work the
Commission is doing” has no longer the foundation it had before
the Reform of the Medical Bureau. Government might undoubtedly still farther invigorate that Bureau and thus still
4
�50
farther diminish the necessity for the Commission. Let 11s hope
that it soon will. But to refuse aid to the Army on this ground
would be mere inhumanity. No Government, moreover, has
yet been able through its own proper machinery to do for its
soldiers what the Government and the Commission together do
for ours, and the objection above quoted, though undeniable as
an abstract proposition concerning the functions of an ideal
Government, is not applicable to our Government, or to any
other that exists, or has eVer existed. The provision Govern
ment makes for the physical wants of the soldier in sickness and
in health is profuse when compared with that made by France
or England, or by any other power. But it cannot permanently
maintain a medical and surgical staff large enough to provide
with promptness (or rather without such delay as would seem
shocking and criminal if it occurred in connection with some
casualty of civil life) for the casualties of battle even on the
smallest scale.
A regiment, for instance, of a thousand strong, after a day’s
fighting, leaves, say one hundred men wounded on the field, and
scattered over an area of one or two square miles. To hunt them
up and provide for them there are one surgeon and one assistant,
with a small detail of enlisted men. The next day the regiment
moves twenty miles farther, fights again, and leaves as many
more wounded men on this second battle ground. The surgeon
and his assistant cannot possibly give thorough attention to
every case in these two widely separated field hospitals. Twenty
surgeons would be hardly enough to care for both during the
first few days, as patients are cared for in private practice.
Public sympathy with our wounded men demands that each
receive the full benefit of all that vigilance and science can do
for each of them. But government cannot provide this measure
of relief. There are not in the country thoroughly educated
surgeons enough to permanently supply every regiment with
�51.
^ven five competent medical officers instead of two. But twenty
to each would he too few to give full attention and care to
all the sufferers after a great battle.
Government may be theoretically bound to supply this de
ficiency, but it is practically beyond the resources of govern
ment. The gap has been filled up during the last two years, in
some degree at least, by the creative energies of the people
exerted through the Sanitary Commission. The people thus
maintains a supplementary Medical Bureau of its own for the
purpose, among others, of sending forward civil surgeons of the
first professional rank to reinforce the army medical staff in
emergency. When a battle is in progress, or at hand, the relief
agents of the Commission on the spot telegraph to Louisville,
Cincinnati, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, or some other
point, and its agency there engages the best medical talent within
reach for temporary service during the next week or fortnight.
It has already been shown that our military system is, and
must be, founded on a rigorous system of regulations and official
responsibility, and that any such system must sometimes break
down by unavoidable accident or otherwise. Public opinion
makes too little allowance for this. It condemns the Medical
Bureau because its stores arrive too late at one point, and gives
it no credit for the energy and prevision that carried them in
good season to ninety-nine others.
Government must depend for its transportation on railroads
and steamboats. Its trains and transports are just as liable
as any others to accident and detention, and often much more so.
•jSuch accidents and detentions often cause suffering and death,
for which neither the Medical Bureau nor any official is justly
accountable. In every such case our camps and hospitals have
the relief agencies of the Commission to fall back upon, and
though in supplying their wants the Commission is literally
.“doing what Government ought to do,” it nevertheless does
�52
what Government cannot do at that particular time and place,
and what the people would not willingly see left undone.
The Commission was at one time accused of desiring to usurp
the functions of the Medical Bureau, and of putting itself forward
as a rival of the Medical staff, but it must be evident from what
has been already stated, that all the policy and efforts of the
Commission have tended, from the first, in a precisely opposite
direction. It has labored untiringly, and not without re
sults, to uphold the Medical Bureau, and to obtain it addi
tional powers. Just so far as these efforts have succeeded,
have they diminished the prominence and importance of the
Commission. Its members have good reason to desire that Gov
ernment should assume all that part of its work which Govern
ment can do, for their duties have proved far more onerous than
was anticipated when they were undertaken; they often require
the sacrifice of professional and private interests, and at any
time less critical than the present they would much exceed the
amount of voluntary public service that can reasonably be ex
pected of private citizens.
Other criticisms on the work of the Commission, relating
mostly to points of detail, do not require special notice. They
are generally founded on some mistake about facts. We all
know what swarms of “ authentic statements,” “ reliable reports,”
and pieces of “ direct information” are daily engendered concern
ing the army, and everybody and everything connected with
it, and how utterly untrustworthy they are apt to be. The
Commission is the permanent subject of a due proportion of
these legends, both commendatory and disparaging.
In estimating the value of the latter, it should be remem
bered that the work of the Commission necessarily makes it
enemies. Medical and other officers who know that their inca
�53
pacity or indolence has been detected and noted by a relief
agent or inspector, naturally think it a meddlesome and mischie
vous organization, and are always ready to report, and sometimes
to embellish and magnify, every case of failure in its work.
Officers of the Medical Staff who stood high on the list, and
were expecting speedy promotion and additional rank and
emoluments, when Government was prevailed on to fill the
higher offices of the Medical Bureau according to ability and
not, as before, according to seniority (or, in other words, by
selecting the best man instead of the oldest), cannot be expected
to admire the Sanitary Commission. Some of them think (very
naturally) that it has “ ruined the service,” and are not disin
clined to believe and to endorse any story that tells against it.
Many of our most thoughtful and far-sighted people, misin
formed as to its aim and policy, suppose it to seek merely the
immediate relief of the sick or wounded soldier, at any cost to
military self-reliance and discipline, and distrust it accord
ingly. Thousands of warm-hearted and energetic men and
women, diligently laboring for portions of the army through
State agencies and local societies, find the Sanitary Com mission throwing cold water on their work, because it is not con
formed to the system which the Commission holds to be the
most economical, the most National, and altogether the best.
They cannot help becoming more or less prejudiced against the
Commission, which seems thus to discourage and discredit what
they rightly feel to be the most unselfish and the most important
work of their lives, and they are thus unconsciously predisposed
to believe anything they may hear against it.
For a year past the Commission has been under no necessity
of appealing to the public for support. It has been sustained
during that period mainly by the splendid and spontaneous con
tributions it received from beyond the Rocky Mountains. These
�$4'
enabled it to breathe freely, to lay out large and liberal plans,
to work for the future as well as for the present, and to expand
its system both of prevention and of relief to dimensions com
mensurate with the wants of the whole Army.
But these great contributions are now nearly exhausted. The
Commission receives no money from Government, and has no
income from any quarter on which it can rely. The con
tinuance of voluntary public contributions is necessarily too
uncertain to justify it in forming or continuing permanent
engagements or in undertaking any work that requires con
siderable time for its execution.
*
It’s ordinary expenditure is
nearly fifty thousand dollars a month. During last July it was
more than ninety thousand. It’s operations cannot be main
tained on their present scale without a reserve fund of at least
one hundred thousand. The balance in its treasury has now
fallen much below that point, and unless it be speedily and
* Our daily papers are full of paragraphs and advertisements about subscrip
tions and undertakings in aid of the “Sanitary Commission,” which often do not, in
fact, aid the Commission at all. The proceeds of the Fairs, Lectures, and other
entertainments announced as “for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission,” are
seldom received by its treasurer. They generally go to the treasury of some one
of its branches, and are applied to local expenses, to local “ special relief,” and to
the purchase of supplies and material. They thus relieve the general treasury of
the Commission, to some extent, from the necessity of purchasing supplies, but
they contribute nothing to any other department of its work. For instance, the
great “Sanitary Commission Fair” recently got up with such unprecedented and
admirable talent and energy by the loyal-people of Chicago, has produced not less
than sixty-nine thousand dollars. But it is not expected that any portion of this
amount will be received by the central treasury of the Commission. The pro
posed “Metropolitan Fair,” in New York, will be for the benefit of the Com
mission itself, but months must elapse before its proceeds are received, and the
Commission require large sums to sustain it in operation meanwhile.
The distinction between a “ Commission ” and a “ Committee ” seems not gene
rally recognised. Committees of patriotic and humane citizens, anxious to do
something to promote the sanitary condition of the army, style themselves the
“Sanitary Commission of-------- ” and report their receipts as contributed to
“the Sanitary Commission.” People are thus led to over-estimate the receipts
and under estimate the wants of the U. S. Sanitary Commission—the only or
ganization for army relief commissioned by Government and entitled to that name.
�55
abundantly replenished, it must at once begin winding up its
affairs, closing its “• homes” and depots, dismissing its agents, and
preparing to retire from the field.’ No reduction of its work to a
smaller and less expensive scale is practicable. It must continue
to do all it now does, or cease attempting to do anything. For
should it be obliged to abandon any part of the ground it now
covers, the diminution of its efficiency would be at once per
ceived, and the public support at once farther diminished. Each
successive contraction of its work would produce corresponding
contraction of its means, and it would rapidly dwarf and dwindle,
inch by inch, till it ceased to be worth sustaining at all. It would
be unseemly that a work so noble and so new in history as that
which the people has done through the Commission should ter
minate in lingering decay, and pass through successive stages of
'weakness to insignificance and extinction. It should rather stop
short while still in full vigor, for its existence in decrepitude and
with failing energies would bring discredit on the people, and
do little to help the Army.
The Commission now asks the country to decide, and that
promptly, whether it shall or shall not continue its work. It
makes no appeal to public humanity and sympathy, for they are
already enlisted in its favor. It declines to stimulate those feel
ings as it might, most effectively, by dwelling on the pathetic
and touching incidents of its work, on the cases of heroic suffer
ing it has relieved, and the brave men who have thanked it for
saving them to do further service to the country. It addresses
itself not to the sentiment, but to the practical good sense of the
community, and asks no support except from those who are
satisfied that the country receives a full return in money value
for all the country gives to support it. It submits to every man
the question whether it has or has not saved the country ten
times its cost by what it has done to economize the life, health,
and efficiency of the army—whether the continuance of this
�56
z-
i
work will or will not tend appreciably to diminish the cost and
the duration of the war; and whether he will or will not promote
his own material interests by doing what he can to sustain it.
In considering these questions, it must be remembered that in
all campaigns three or four men die of preventible disease for
every one destroyed by the enemy; and also that the death
of every soldier is a considerable pecuniary loss to the country,
and to each and every one of its citizens.
The amount of this loss is made up of many items—the cost
of his enlistment, his pay and his rations, while he was an in
efficient recruit, the bounties that must be paid to replace him,
and the pension which his death or disability charges on the
public ; and to these must be added his worth to the nation as
a producer, had he survived the war, and returned to the indus
trial pursuits of civil life. The average money value to the
people of each soldier in the service is certainly not less than
one thousand dollars.
Men are not among the commodities we buy and sell; but
they are bought and sold elsewhere, or have been ; and an ablebodied male adult has never been held worth much less than
that sum to his owner. A Northern mechanic or farmer is cer
tainly worth as much to the country. The loss of a single
soldier by death or disability adds at least that amount to the
expenses of the war, and to the burthen it necessarily imposes
on every member of the community.
Rigorous economy of the life and health of our soldiers is
practically most important, therefore, to every tax-payer, and to
every holder of Government Securities. Whether the Sanitary
Commission does enough toward this great object to make it
worth the people’s while to sustain it (at the cost of nearly
fifty thousand dollars a month), is the question the people is now
esked to consider and decide.
Leaving out of view all its other work, the Commission cer
�tainly saved not less than one thousand lives within forty-eight
hours after Antietam. If each of these was worth as much to
the country as the average South Carolina field hand to his
owner, then the Commission, by its work at this one point,
returned to the country more than an equivalent, in money
value, for the nine hundred thousand dollars the country has
given its Central Treasury during the last two years. But this
is only a single incident of one branch of the work it has been
doing ever since the war began.
In view of facts like this, the Commission submits the case,
without misgiving, to the intelligence of the People. The
value of all property throughout the country depends on the
success of the National cause, and every property-holder has a
personal interest in whatever promotes it. In no way can it
be more surely promoted than by retrenchment of the cost of
war; and the Commission claims that its efforts to this end
have thus far saved the People at least two dollars for every
dollar it has been enabled to expend.
It will make no attempt to raise the sum required to keep it
in operation through the instrumentalities usually employed for
like purposes. If means be freely supplied, as heretofore, the
work of the Commission will be kept up, but, if not, it will be
abandoned; and, to keep it up, not less than two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars must be raised before the 1st of February.
1864.
For the purpose of ascertaining what the People is disposed
to give, it is recommended that the several branches of the Com
mission proceed at once to ascertain, by public meetings, or
otherwise, what sum their respective cities will contribute for
the general purposes of the Commission, and report the result
to its General Secretary Dr. J. Foster Jenkins, No. 823 Broad
way, New York.
Those who are satisfied that the work of the Commission is
�58
one not only of mercy and humanity, but of substantial service
to the country, and who are able and willing to aid it, will send
their contributions to its Treasurer, Geo. T. Strong, No. 68 Wall
Street, or 823 Broadway, New York.
By order of the Commission.
Henry W. Bellows,
Wm. H. Van Buren,
x
Wolcott Gibbs,
C. R. Agnew,
B
I
j
\Committee.
Same. G. Howe,
Horace Binney, Jr.,
I
J. Huntington Wolcott, |
Fairman Rogers,
1
Geo. T. Strong,
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APPENDIX A.
........ . ...... —
......
SUPPLIES DISTRIBUTED DURING AND IMMEDIATELY
AFTER THE BATTLES AT GETTYSBURG,
JULY 1st, 2d and 3d, .1863.
—-----—
Of Articles of Clothing, etc., viz.:
Of
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
•“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
Drawers, (woolen) 5,310 pairs............................................ $9,292 50
“
(cotton) 1,833 pairs.......................... ...................
1,833 00
Shirts, (woolen) 7,158....................................
• 14,316 00
“
(cotton) 3,266............................................................
3,266 00
Pillows, 2,114................
1,268 40
Pillow Cases, 264..................................................................
105 60
Bed Sacks, 1,630..................................................................
3,463 75
Blankets, 1,007..... .........................
3,021 00
Sheets, 274.................................. '.........................................
274 00
Wrappers, 508.......................................................................
1,498 60
Handkerchiefs, 2,659............................................
319 08
Stockings, (woolen) 3,560 pairs..........................................
1,780 00
“
(cotton) 2,258 pairs..........................................
451 60
Bed Utensils, 728..................................................................
182 00
Towels and Napkins, 10,000................................................. *1,500 00
Sponges, 2,300.................................................................... . •
230 00
Combs, 1,500......... ............ ...........'...........................
75 00
Buckets, 200..................
60 00
Soap, (Castile) 250 pounds...................................................
50 00
Oil Silk, 300 yards................................... '............................
225 00
Tin Basins, Cups, etc., 7,000..............................................
*700 00
Old Linen, Bandages, etc., 110barrels...............................
1,100 00
Water Tanks, 7...................................................................
70 00
Water Coolers, 46...............................................................
230 00
Bay Rum and Cologne Water, 225bottles.......................
*112 50
Carried forward'.......... *
...............
$45,624 03
�60
Brought forward....................................................... $45,624 03
Of
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
Fans, 3,500............................................................................
145 00
Chloride of Lime, 11 barrels.........................
99 00
Shoes and Slippers, 4,000 pairs........................................... *2,400 00
Crutches, 1,200.............................
480 00
Lanthorns, 180..........................................
90 00
Candles, 350 pounds............................................................
*70 00
Canvas, 300 square yards....................................................
360 00
Musquito Netting, 648 pieces..............................................
810 00
Paper, 237 quires..................................................................
23 70
Pants, Coats, Hats, 189 pieces............................................
*96 75
Plaster, 16 rolls........................
4 00
Of Articles of Sustenance, viz.:
Of Fresh Poultry and Mutton, 11,000 pounds.....................
“
“ Butter, 6,430 pounds.................................................
“
“ Eggs, (chiefly collected forthe occasion at farm
houses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey,) 8,500
dozens....................................................................
4‘
“ Garden Vegetables, 675bushels........................
“
“ Berries, 48 bushels.....................................................
u
“ Bread, 12,900 loaves..................................................
“ Ice, 20,000 pounds..............................................................
“ Concentrated Beef Soup, 3,800 pounds..............
“
“
Milk, 12,500 pounds...................
“ Prepared Farinaceous Food, 7,000 pounds........................
“ Dried Fruit, 3,500 pounds..................................................
“ Jellies and Conserves, 2,000 jars.........................................
“ Tamarinds, 750 gallons.......................................................
w Lemons, 116 boxes..............................................................
“ Oranges, 46 boxes......... ..........................
“ Coffee, 850 pounds...............................................................
“ Chocolate, 831 pounds.........................................................
“ Tea, 426 pounds...................................................................
“ White Sugar, 6,800 pounds...............................................
4‘ Syrups, (Lemon, etc.) 785 bottles.......................................
u Brandy, 1,250 bottles............................................................
u Whiskey, 1,168 bottles.........................................................
u Wine, 1,148 bottles................................................. *...........
1,540 00
1,286 00
1,700
337
^2
645
100
3,800
3,125
700
350
1,000
600
580
230
272
249
383
1,156
596
1,250
^60
861
00
50
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
30
40
00
25
00
80
00
Carried forward............. ,..........................................$71,736 73
�61
Brought forward...................................
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
u
Biscuit, Crackers, and Rusk, 134 barrels............................
Preserved Meats, 500 pounds...............................................
Preserved Fish, 3,600 pounds...................
Pickles, 400 gallons..............................................................
Tobacco, ICO pounds..............
Tobacco Pipes, 1,000........................ .................................
Indian Meal, 1,621 pounds...................................................
Starch,-1,074 pounds......................
Codfish, 3,848 pounds..................................... 7.................
Canned Fruit, 582 cans........................... .......... ftte.
$71,736
180
*670
125
720
120
70
5
40
75
269
436
“
“
“
“
“
“
Oysters, 72 cans...............................................
Brandy Peaches, 303 jars..............................................
Catsup, 43 jars...................................................
Vinegar, 24 bottles............................................
Jamaica Ginger, 43 jars........................................................
36
303
11
3
37
Of Ale, 600 gallons....................................................................
73
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
50
18
36
50
00
00
00
00
25
Total........................................................................... $74,838 52
* Estimated value.
J 'iJ X.
�While this paper is passing through the press, information is received
that a Branch of the U. S. Sanitary Commission has just been organized
at Paris, and is entering with energy on its legitimate work of col
lecting money and supplies from loyal Americans abroad, and from all
others who sympathize with us in our National struggle.
The following is an abstract of the official report of its proceedings up
to 4th December, instant, transmitted to the Standing Committee in New
York;
A meeting of American gentlemen was held at the American Consulate,
Paris, November 30th, 4863, for the purpose of organizing a Paris Branch
of the United States Sanitary Commission.
The Rev. John McClintock, D.D., was duly appointed President, and
Mr. James W. Brooks, Vice-Consul of the United States, Secretary pro
tern.
An Executive Committee was appointed, consisting of the following
named gentlemen :
Rev. John McClintock, D.D., (Pastor of the American Chapel, Paris.)
Mr. John Bigelow, U. S. Consul.
Mr. Chas. S. P. Bowles, Boston.
Mr. Edward Brooks,
do.
Dr. T. W. Evans, Paris.
Mr. Robt. M. Mason, Boston.
Mr. Geo. T. Richards, Paris.
Mr. J. Phalen, New York.
Mr. Wm. H. Thomson, New York.
Mr. Henry Wood, Boston.
Such Committee to have general supervision of the action of the Paris
Branch, subject to the approval of the Central Board of the Commission,
with power to fill its own vacancies.
�63
Mr. Geo. T. Richards was appointed Treasurer, and Mr. Wm. B. Bowles
Secretary, such appointments to be subject to the approval of the Central
Board.
The Secretary was instructed to provide books of subscription, prefaced
with a statement of the character and objects of the organization.
The meeting then adjourned.
A meeting of the Executive Committee Was held at the office of Messrs.
J. Munroe & Co., No. Rue de la Paix, Paris.
Present—Rev. John McClintock, D.D., and Messrs. Robt. M. Mason,
Wm. S. Thompson, Edward Brooks, Geo. S. Richards. Henry Woods,
Charles S. P. Bowles and Wm. Bowles, General Secretary of the Paris
Branch of the U. S. Sanitary Commission. •
Dr. McClintock • was, on motion, duly elected Chairman of the Com
mittee, and Mr. Wm. B. Bowles Secretary.
The minutes of the preliminary meeting was read and approved.
A list of names of gentlemen on whom it was thought best to wait for
subscriptions, was submitted and approved.
It was resolved that the Secretary open a correspondence with American
Consuls, and with prominent American citizens residing in Europe, with a
view to the extension and increased efficiency of this Branch of the Com
mission.
Resolved,—That the title of the Branch be “ The European Branch
»
the
United States Sanitary Commission.”
Mr. Wm. S. Thompson offered his name as one of ten to subscribe five
thousand francs each for the objects of the European Branch.
Adjourned to meet at the same place 6th December instant, at 3 P. M.
The European Branch appears to have established its permanent head
quarters at No. 2 Rue Martel, Paris, and to have already raised a con
siderable amount which it bolds subject to the orders of the Commission,
and which can be used abroad to very great advantage in the purchase of
certain articles of hospital supply.
This creation of a Branch of the Commission amoDg loyal Americans
on the other side of the Atlantic is especially gratifying, because it,has
oeen wholly spontaneous. It shows that this new work, invented by the
American People, and by them practically applied for the first time in
�history, through the Sanitary Commission—of supplying an army with
an additional staff of Volunteer Commissaries, Quartermasters and Sur
geons, working in harmony with its military authorities, and vested with
discretionary powers that enable them to do whatever the necessary in
flexibility of military regulations obliges Government officials to leave un
done—commends itself to the heads and to the hearts of loyal Americans
wherever they may be.
This extension of the influence and agencies of the Commission into
Europe suggests the mention of another fact of like interest, which
may be due to the example the Commission has set, and may prove a
material step in the progress of mankind toward the mitigation of the
evils incident to war. An “ International Conference ” of representatives
of the several European States met at Geneva last October, and has
published a voluminous report of its deliberations and transactions.
Its object is to establish a Sanitary Commission for the army of
every European Power. It proposes that, in case of war, each army—
French, Austrian, Russian, or as the case may be—shall have its staff
of Sanitary and Relief Agents, representing an International organiza
tion, whose duty it shall be impartially to succor and relieve all the sick
and wounded among friends and enemies alike, and whose office shall
make their persons sacred and inviolable, and secure them against cap
ture, injury, or interference.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Statement of the object and methods of the Sanitary Commission appointed by the Government of the United States, June 13, 1861
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United States Sanitary Commission
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Place of Publication: New York, N.Y.
Collation: 64 p. ; 23 cm.
Series Title: United States Sanitary Commission ; Documents of the U.S. Sanitary Commission
Series No: 69
Notes: 'Published by its direction' [Title page]. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
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1863
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Health
American Civil War
Conway Tracts
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Text
REPORT
ON
A DEPARTMENT OF HYGIENE
AND
PHYSICAL CULTURE
IN
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN,
BY A COMMITTEE OF THE UNIVERSITY SENATE.
ANN ARBOR:
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY.
�monj
NOTE.
JV
At the meeting of the Board of Regents of the University of
Michigan, September 22d, 1869, the following resolution was adopted:
Resolved, That the University Senate be requested to examine and
report to the Board in regard to the propriety of establishing a Gym
nasium in connection with the University, as also in regard to the re
lation which it shall hold to the University Course, if so established ;
and to collect information and present their views respecting the entire
subject of introducing Gymnastic Exercises as a part of a course of
Education.
The following report, prepared by a committee of the University
Senate, in response to this request, is published by authority of the
Board of Regents.
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�REPORT.
A vast expansion of the scope of our American college
system is the characteristic educational fact of the last fifteen
years. One very important direction in which this recent
enlargement has shown itself, is towards systematic physical
culture, as a regular part of the work of a college course.
This latter movement was, indeed, to have been expected.
It would have been more than strange, if, while our colleges
were providing greater facilites for the study of the sciences,
of modern languages and literatures, of history, of the fine
arts, they had done nothing for the instruction of students
in hygiene and gymnastics. For it is impossible to advance
very far in the construction of a scheme of education without
confronting the fair claim of the body for orderly scientific
culture along with the culture of the mind. The mere state
ment of the great object of education as being the systematic
development of manhood and womanhood, really settles the
question; for there is no other spectacle of a want of sym
metry in the development of a human being so glaring and
so painful as that of a cultivated mind inhabiting a neglected,
feeble and incompetent body. And the declaration just made
is confirmed by the fact that the principal modern writers on
education—Roger Ascham, Bacon, Cowley, Milton, Locke,
Rousseau, Dr. Arnold, Horace Mann, and Herbert Spencer—
have insisted upon the equal rights and the equal needs of
the body and the mind, with reference to systematic training.
Yet, in America fifteen years ago, no contrast could have been
greater than that which was presented between theory and
practice upon the subject. All our educational authorities
sanctioned physical culture; and all our educational institu
tions neglected it.
Within the brief period which has been mentioned, how
ever, in consequence of a general awakening of American col
leges to a new and larger life, and especially in consequence of
a ripening of public opinion upon the necessity of attending to
�4
the education of the body, in several of the leading colleges a
department of physical culture has been established. Already,
gymnasiums have been erected at the following colleges:
Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Harvard, Amherst, Williams, Yale and
Princeton. Some of these gymnasiums, particularly those at
Dartmouth, Williams and Princeton, are large, imposing and
costly edifices. At all these colleges, with the exception of
Princeton, the experiment of physical culture has been tried
for a number of years. Ample time has elapsed for the results
of this experiment to appear. What these results are your
committee have sought to ascertain by corresponding with the
proper persons.
At four of the colleges just named, the experiment seems
to have been made with peculiar thoroughness; and for the
sake of simplifying the present report, the results obtained at
these four colleges will be particularly referred to. These
colleges are Yale, Dartmouth, Williams and Amherst.
It appeared to your committee that the experience of these
colleges was to be sought as to the effects of a Department of
Physical Culturt in three particulars :
1. Upon the physical condition of the students.
2. Upoijr the scholarship of the students.
3. Upon the morals and general behavior of the students.
Our informant" are Mr. F. G. Welch, Instructor in Gym
nastics at Yale, whom we have consulted chiefly as to methods
rather than results, Professor A. M. Wheeler of Yale, Presi
dent Smith of Dartmouth, President Hopkins of Williams,
and Professor Edward Hitchcock of Amherst. Professor
Hitchcock, also, very kindly! sent to us a pamphlet entitled
“ Physical Culture in Amherst College, by Nathan Allen,
M. D.,” one of the Trustees of the college. From this pamphlet
we have obtained most valuable information, a part of which
will be given in this report. Before proceeding to quote the
testimony which we have received from these gentlemen it
may be well to say that the Yale and Amherst gymnasiums
have been in use eight years, and those of Williams and Dart
mouth about half that time ; that at Williams and Yale the
attendance at the gymnasium has been voluntary, and conse
quently has been but partial; while at Dartmouth and Am
herst, physical education has been recognized as of equal im
portance with intellectual education, and has been put upon
the same basis with it; and that, consequently, at these two
colleges the influence of the gymnastic department being felt
by all the students, has been more fruitful of results.
1. Effects of the Department of Physical Culture upon
the bodily condition of the students.
Under this head the committee made three inquiries ; first
whether any serious accidents had occurred in the gymnasium ;
second, whether there had been any cases of injury from over
�5
practice; third, whether any improvement had taken place in
the physical development and in the general health of the
students.
To these inquiriegwe have received the following replies:
Yale. Mr Welch says : “ No serious accidents have ever
happened here. In all my experience I have not known a
dozen falls that amounted to anything. Undoubtedly there
are some who are injured more or less permanently by over
practice. Sometimes the results are manifest during the time
of practice ; at otherSlater in life. In my experience I have
known of but two instances. One, a delicate young man,
who seldom frequented the gymnasium, came in one day and
attempted a most difficult feat, rupturing a blood-vessel. His
accident was not of a serious nature] The other was myself,
at a time when I taught and studied too much.”
Dartmouth. President Smith says
Very few serious
accidents and none fatal. Fewer, I think, than in many of
the out-door sports. But few cases of injury from over-prac
tice. When classes enter they sometimes spend too much
time in the Gymnasium, particularly mt the bowling alleys.
But the matter soon regulates itself. As to the effects of
gymnastic practice on the physical development and health of
the students, I give below the testimony of Prof. A. B.
Crosby, now lecturing at Ann Arbor, aslpublished in our
Catalogues. ‘ Since the opening of the Gymnasium, I have
taken occasion to witness frequently the exercises, and the
results have more than equalled my expectations] There has
been no case of severe illness in the College during that time,
and there have been fewerKnstances of slight indisposition
than I have eve]known in the same length of time before.
Dyspepsia, debility, and similar affections incident to a seden
tary life, and which have hitherto been frequent in the change
of seasons from winter to spring, have, during the present
season, been unimown. There has been a manifest improve
ment in the general physical tone of the College, and the
increased muscular power and agility of the young men have
forced themselves on the attention even of unpracticed eyes.
I am fully satisfied, that these exercises have greatly subserved
the general health of the students.’ ”
Williams. Pres. Mark Hopkins says: “ We have had
no serious accidents. I am aware of no serious injury from
over-exertion. I have no statistics, and ca] only say that I
think well of the department of physical training, if the right
man can be in charge of it.”
Amherst. The testimony from Amhers]College, both
on this point and on every other connected with the practice
of physical culture, is very full. Prof. Hitchcock says : “We
have had but two serious accidents] one, that kept a student
from study three months, and one that compelled a young-fnan
�6
to drop behind one year. No cases of injury from over-prac
tice. As to the effects of gymnastics on the physical devel
opment and health of the students, see Dr. Allen’s pamphlet.”
Accordingly we turn to the pamphlet alluded to, and we find
a careful and deeply interesting sketch by a physician of the
history of the department of physical culture in the College.
Upon^the^points now under consideration Dr. Allen, p. 18-19
says:
“When the subject was first agitated in respect to intro
ducing into college gymnastic exercises, there were various
prejudices and objections to such a course. One of the orig
inal objections to the establishment of a gymnasium—and it
still exists to some extent—is the danger of some serious harm
or injury befalling those engaged in such exercises. But such
accidents very seldom occur in the regular practice of gym
nastics. It should be remembered, that the more one exer
cises in this way the better command of his limbs and body
he obtains, and therefore is less likely to meet with injuries.
During the eight years since the establishment of this depart
ment there have been quite a number of bruises and sprains,
one broken limb and one dislocated joint, but no really serious
or permanent injury. Considering the great number and
variety of exercises and the extraordinary exposures in the
performance of daring feats,—that over six hundred students
have taken a part in these exercises, and most of them, for a
time, entirely inexperienced, the accidents have certainly been
very few in number and slight in character. And those that
have taken place occurred generally out of the regular exer
cises, for the want of care, or on account of some physical
weakness of the individual injured. It is stated on good
authority, that the accidents arising in ball-playing,—practiced
only a few weeks each year,—are four times larger than those
from gymnastics.”
With regard to the effects of gymnastics upon the physi
cal development and health of the students, Dr. Allen, pp. 22
—26, says:
“ When the erection of a gymnasium was first agitated,
and even for some time after gymnastics were introduced, it
was said by some persons that the whole thing was an experi
ment ; that after the novelty was over the interest would soon
subside, and the enterprise would prove a failure. It is now
eight years since this department was established,—eight dif
ferent classes, numbering in all over six hundred students,
have taken part in its exercises, and four classes have enjoyed
its benefits throughout their whole collegiate course. What
then has been the effect of these upon the health of the
students, as well as upon the sanitary condition of the Insti
tution ? This may be exhibited in a variety of ways.
1st. There has been a decided improvement in the very
�7
countenances and general physique of students. Instead of
the pale, sickly and sallow complexion once very commonly
seen, with an occasional lean, care-worn and haggard look,
we now witness very generally, fresh, ruddy and healthy
countenances, indicative of a higher degree of vitality, and
that the vital currents, enriched by nutrition and oxygen,
have a free and equal circulation throughout the whole
system. This change is so marked as to attract the attention
of the casual observer, and has been commented upon by
those formerly attending Commencements or other public
occasions here, as exhibiting a striking difference between the
personal anpearance of students at those times, and, that at
the present day.
2d. In the use of the limbs and the body,—in the physi
cal movements and conduct of student® generally, there has
been, we think, decided improvement. Once the awkward
ness of manner and the ungraceful bearing of scholars were
matters of common remark, and such characteristics not unfrequently followed them through life. This resulted not so
much from the want of early training and instruction on this
subject, as from the formation of bad habits in study, and the
long continued neglect of proper exercise. It was frequently
exhibited in stiffness of the joints, a clumsy use of the limbs,
in round shoulders and a stooping postuia and sometimes by
a countenance set, stern and almost devoid of expression.
Now gymnastics, when properly practiced, are calculated to
produce in this respect, a surprising effect upon the use of all
parts of the body, as well as upon its development. They
give not only agility and strength to all the muscles, but a
quick and ready control of them, thereby begetting an easy
and graceful carriage of the person.
*
*
*
*
4th. We come now to consider what has been the effect
more directly upon the health of the students, and the sani
tary condition of the Institution. It is needless to state how
many students formerly impaired or broke down their consti
tutions for want of sufficient exercise, or from irregular or
excessive hours of study, or from some improper habits, or for
want of suitable attention to diet, sleep or some other physi
cal law. Perhaps the effects of violated law were not always
visible at the time, and did not apparently impede the college
course, but the seeds were here sown which afterwards brought
on disease and premature death, or crippled the energies and
limited the usefulness through after life. This may still hap
pen : but with such exercise and instruction as can now be
obtained it is not near so likely to occur. Besides, where the
vitality of the 'system is kept up by regular muscular exercise,
to an even healthy state, it is one of the strongest safeguards
against disease; and then when any organ or portion of the
body iq affected, nature is more powerful to throw off the
�8
attack. In a community thus trained and instructed the more
common complaints, such as colds, headaches, sore throats,
feverish attacks, will seldom occur, and the diseases to which
scholars are peculiarly liable, such as dyspepsia, neuralgia and
consumption stands a far less chance of finding victims. Any
skillful and experienced physician will testify at once, that
such a community is possessed of a wonderful power to pre
vent as well as throw off disease. The common proverbs,
‘ a stitch in time saves nine' and 1 an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure,’ are not more truthful than the
statement here made of the remarkable exemption from dis
ease of a community trained and educated as above described.
5th. A comparison of the present health of students
with what it was ten or fifteen years ago, shows a surprising
improvement. It is rare wow for any student to break down
suddenly in his health, or to be compelled to leave college on
this account. In 1855-6-7 and 8 such cases were common,
as may be seen by referring to the statements of President
Stearns; and the truth of the statements is moreover con
firmed by others personally conversant here for twenty o?
thirty years. As no record was formerly kept of the amount
of sickness from year to year, or of the number of students
leaving college on account of illness, no exact comparison on
these points in figures can be instituted. But the experience
and observation of those who have been on the ground a long
time must bear decided testimony to a greatly improved state
of health among the students over that of former times ; and
as for those who once were members of the Institution, and
return here on public occasions, they cannot fail to see a
great improvement in this respect.
6th. But the evidence of improved health does not rest
wholly upon individual opinions or upon loose comparisons.
Since 1861, a register has been carefully kept of the kind and
amount of sickness in college, an analysis of which presents
some striking facts. No student is placed upon the sick list,
unless he is detained two consecutive days from the usual
exercises of the Institution. The number of students re
ported sick ranges in the course of the year from twenty-five
to sixty, showing a far greater amount of sickness in some
years than others, which depends very much on the fact,
whether some epidemic prevailed, or whether the year as a
whole, either on account of the weather or from some other
cause, was not generally unhealthy. If allowance is made for
this extra sickness in two of the years out of the eight, the
register shows that the actual amount of sickness in college
has diminished in these eight years more than one-third.
That is, in the year just closed, there were only two-thirds rs
much sickness as in 1861, the year when gymnastics were
introduced.
�9
Again, the average number of students sick each year of
these eight was thirty-eight, and the average number present
in college was two hundred and twenty-four, showing that
there were one hundred and eighty-six students on an average
each year who did not experience two days’ sickness at any
one time. The register reports forty-one different diseases or
complaints to account for this sickness, and a careful inspec
tion of the list shows a remarkable exemption from what
are considered generally the more violent and dangerous dis
eases.”
2. After seeking information as to the effects of gym
nastics upon the physical condition of the students, your com
mittee enquired concerning the effects of gymnastics upon
scholarship. The question had been raised among ourselves
whether the gymnasium might not prove a distraction from
study, and especially whether some young men might not
become so proud of their success as athletes as to disregard
the pursuits of the mind. Accordingly into the list of ques
tions sent to the different colleges, your committee intro
duced this: “ Are the great gymnasts apt to be satisfied
with that eminence, to the neglect of study?” The follow
ing replies have been received:
Yale. Professor Arthur M. Wheeler, of the chair of
History, in a letter dated Dec. 20, 1869, says : “ Our gymna
sium is much frequented by the students ; and the general
opinion here is—shared alike by the older and younger officers
—that the students are more vigorous and healthy in conse
quence of it, and that in this way it contributes toward higher
scholarship. Of course it would be difficult to say to what
extent it does this; but we all feel sure that we are much
better off for it, physically, mentally and morally.
There is no tendency among us to cultivate muscle at
the expense of brains, yet now and then a case of that kind
occurs. Nearly all the men who do this, however, are boat
ing men ; and the evil, so far as it exists, is to be attributed
to the boating fever; and boating, as you know, is not an
outgrowth of the gymnasium ; for it existed before we had a
gymnasium.”
Dartmouth. Pres. Smith says: “ The effect on scholar
ship has been good, in that health and physical vigor have
been promoted. We have had no trouble of the kind you
speak of to any extent worth mentioning.”
Williams. President Hopkins includes his answer to
this question in the general answer given to the preceding
one ; which answer is favorable.
Amherst. Professor Hitchcock says: “ Effects on
scholarship, good generally|| Since the first two years, have
known of no neglect to study by any student or set of stu
dents.” Upon the same subject Dr. Allen [p. 29,] says:
.
2
�10
“ There is still another very important consideration, viz: has
the standard of scholarship in college been raised by means
of gymnastics ? As the system of marking or mode of
exhibiting this standard was changed a few years since, an
exact comparison in figures cannot here be instituted; but it
is the decided opinion of the Registrar, (the College Officer
who has charge of these statistics,) that there ‘ has been an
elevation of rank.within the past few years.’ It may be that
some individuals in a class formerly reached as high scholar
ship as any now do ; but the aggregate scholarship of a whole
class, we are confident, is higher now than it once was, and,
to say the least, is much easier obtained, with fewer hours of
study, and less loss of health and life.”
3. The third general question proposed by your commit
tee had reference .to the effects of gymnastic training upon
the morals and manners of the students. To this question the
replies from Yale and Williams are in general terms that the
effects are good.
Dartmouth. Pres. Smith says : “ The effects on morals
are good, in that the sane body is conducive to entire sanity
of soul. A vent is opened also, for superfluous animal spirits,
which sometimes pass with young men into a ‘ superfluity of
naughtiness.’ ”
Amherst. Prof. Hitchcock says: “ Less rough and
rowdy students. Do not make so much noise on the street or
by night; as I oncourage noise and considerable rough play
during the regular exercises.”
In 1862, Professor Hitchcock, in his first report to the
trustees, made this remark ; “ During a portion of the exer
cises, I urge upon the captains the necessity of introducing
playful exercises, such as running in grotesque attitudes,
singing college songs, &c. Sometimes this may seem boister
ous and undignified, but it seems desirable to me that a por
tion of the animal spirits should be worked off inside the stone
walls of the gymnasium, under the eye of a college officer,
rather than out of doors, rendering night hideous ; and in no
instance has the captain found the slightest difficulty in bring
ing his men into line at the word of command.”
Dr. Allen [pp. 17-18] quotes upon this subject the testi
mony of the “ Congregational Journal,” of Concord, N. H.,
for Oct. 23, 1862, a correspondent of which paper writes from
Amherst College as follows:
“The gymnastic exercises greatly promote the good
order and morals of the students. Their animal spirits work
off.by the correct movements of the gymnasium. They are
indisposed to the unmauly and often mischievous doings of
students too frequent in our colleges. A citizen of the town
assures me, that the amount of injury done to the college and
other buildings in the village is almost, nothing since the open
�11
ing of the gymnasium, compared with what it was before.
No less advantageous, probably, is the gymnasium to the
mental progress of the students. They come from the gym
nastic exercises to their studies with healthful bodies, clear
minds and cheerful spirits. The 4 blues,’ those most formid
able enemies of successful study, assail thenf not. All is
bright and promising, all hopeful. Time will undoubtedly
show that no one adjunct, no one department of college, will
conduce more to the noble object for which the Institution
was founded, than the Gymnasium.”
Later in his pamphlet [pp. 31-33] Dr. Allen, refers again
to this subject
follows :
“ There is another advantage from these exercises worthy
of notice, that is in preventing vicious and irregular habits.
While no system of gymnastics alone can be expected to
break up settled habits of dissipation, such as intemperance,
licentiousness, and the excessive use of tobacco or any other
stimulant, still, combined with other good influences, they
have a direct tendency to forestall or arrest such practices by
giving a safe vent to the animal spirits, by regularity of phy
sical exercise, by improving the general health, and producing
a more normal condition of the brain. But there is a vice,
(nameless here,) more terrible in its effects, both physical and
mental, upon the student, than either of the above, and over
which gymnastic exercises have great influence. In fact, it is
the testimony of the highest medical authorities, that regular
and tolerably severe gymnastic exercise is not only the most
effective means of preventing or checking this vice, but is
really the best curative agent. And it is a gratifying fact that
we can add the testimony of the Professor of this department,
that gymnastics have been working to a like result in this in
stitution.
“ It is found that a regular system of gymnastics operates
in a variety of ways as a powerful auxiliary of discipline;
that it answers as a kind of safety-valve to let off in an indirect
way that excess of animal spirits which is characteristic of
some young men, and which not unfrequently leads them into
trouble or conflict with authority. Again it serves with others
as a kind of regulator to the system, exercising certain parts
of it to such an extent as to produce weariness and fatiSue, so
that the individual seeks repose; and with another class it
tends to remove any unnatural or innate weakness of the
frame, and by such improvements serves to equalize and regu
late all the forces of nature. Thus such a system of gymnas
tics sets up a standard of law for self-government ; for it is
based upon those great laws of life and health which are a
part of the will and government of God in this world, as much
as the ten commandments. No by-laws or code of ethics
established by any humen teacher or institution can compare
�12
in authority or final appeal to these great natural, primeval
laws engraved upon our constitntions by the Creator. It will
be seen at once what a power the instructor has over the con
science and reason of a student thus trained. Said President
Felton to the writer, shortly before his decease, referring to
the gymnastics at Amherst which he had just witnessed:
4 Such a system of physical exercises thoroughly understood
and applied by the members of Harvard University, would aid
me in the matter of discipline in P e Institution more than
a,nything else.’ We are here authorized to state, that the
Faculty of Amherst College have found great assistance in
government from this source ;—that since the introduction of
this department, the cases requiring discipline have been far
less numerous, and more easily managed, than formerly.”
Thus upon the three great questions which can be raised
respecting a department of Physical Culture in the University,
namely, as to the effects of such a department upon the bodily
condition, upon the scholarship, and upon the manners and
morals of the students, your committee have submitted—not
abstract theories of their own, but the authentic results of
actual experience, obtained in the four celebrated American
colleges which have tried the experiment of physical culture
the longest and most thoroughly. These results are communi
cated to us in the form of testimony from two college Presi
dents, from two college Professors, from one college Trustee
who is also a physician, and from one practical instructor in
gymnastics, who is very noted in his calling and of whom
President Smith has written to us in the highest praise.
This testimony can not fail to be regarded as decisive.
Your Committee are of the opinion that in the light of
such testimony, this University may proceed to the establish
ment of a department of Physical Culture, not as if it were
venturing upon an untried and a dubious experiment, but un
hesitatingly, boldly, with entire confidence in the complete
success of the measure, if it be but carried out with reasonable
care in its details. Moreover your Committee are of opinion
that in view’ of the great benefits which other colleges have
actually found to proceed from such a department, and in view
of the great needs of our own students with respect to physi
cal culture and healthful regulated exercise, when the
funds of the University shall permit, vigorous action should
be taken upon this subject—providing for the students a de
partment of Physical Culture with a building, with an instruc
tor, and with all the necessary appliances, commensurate with
the greatness of the institution, with the wants of the students,
and with the demands of enlightened public opinion. It has
not been usual for the University of Michigan to be either
timid or laggard in moving towards improved and generous
educational methods. Its true place is in the van of the great
�13
army of educators. At last, however, there is great danger of
its violating its own instincts and traditions. On this im
mense anxious and most urgent business of providing, in a
scientific and efficient manner, for the physical education of
its students, and through that for their highest intellectual and
moral development, the University has dropped*from its hon
ored place in the front; unless speedy action be taken, it will
lose even a middle position; it will drag hopelessly and un
worthily in the rear.
Should it be decided, then, to establish a department of
Physical Culture in the University, a number of very import
ant questions at once arise for determinaion, with reference—
1. To a Gymnastic Building;
2. To the qualifications and duties of the Professor at the
head of the new department;
3. To the relation which the department shall hold to the
various University courses already established, both profess
ional and collegiate.
Your committee are very clearly of opinion that with ref
erence to each of these questions mistakes are not only possi
ble, but are extremely liable to be made—mistakes, too, which
would be absolutely fatal to the utility and success of the
department.
Some of the colleges which have established gymnasiums
have made such mistakes upon these points as have rendered
their gymnasiums nearly useless, thus bringing distrust and
reproach upon the whole cause. These mistakes can be
avoided by us—by our being on our guard against them, by
our remembering that the opinions of experts alone are of
much worth upon this subject in matter a of detail, and by
studying still more minutely the methods pursued in the col
leges which have made this department a success.
We would particularly recommend further study of this
department in Amherst College. That noble institution un
doubtedly leads not only America, but the world, in the suc
cessful solution of the problem of uniting physical and mental
culture. We may safely take it as almost® perfect model in
the arrangement of a department of physical culture. Should
the Regents find themselves enabled to establish such a de
partment here, we would suggest to theifljBthat before finally
deciding as to the dimensions and the interior arrangements
of the gymnasium, upon the choice of an instructor, and upon
the relations of gymnastic instructiointo the other courses, it
would be prudent to send a suitable person to at least six of
the colleges which have been named—Princeton, Williams,
Yale, Amherst, Harvard and Dartmouth—authorized to find
out upon the spot, by actual observation, and by conversation
with officials of experience there, all that can be ascertained
�14
with reference to the mistakes to be avoided, and the right
conclusions'to be reached.
Your committee have already obtained nearly all the in
formation that could be got by correspondence, and they are
able to submit, if it were desirable, a great many facts and
opinions upon the several particulars now referred to. As to
some of these particulars, however, they feel the need of
more information than they have been able to obtain by let
ters, before coming to an absolute conclusion.
For example, if it be decided to have a gymnasium, the
very first question which arises is as to its dimensions. Here,
at the outset is a serious danger. At some of the colleges it
is found that the gymnasiums are too small, or that they are
unfortunately proportioned. One great practical authority
says that whatever may be the length of the building, it must
by all means be as broad as it is long. Yet at Yale the gym
nasium is 120 x 50 ; at Amherst 70 x 40; at Dartmouth
90 x 45 ; at Princeton 81 x 55; at Bowdoin 75 x 30. Now,
we need upon this single point alone, to have some one
enquire upon the spot the results of experience as to these
dimensions. None of these buildings are square. Is this
fact found to be an inconvenience ? It would be a pity to
ascertain, after our building was up, that its utility to us
would be impaired by a mistake that might have been so
easily avoided, as to its size and proportions. Professor
Hitchcock writes to us that he cannot introduce a very im
portant and attractive method of exercise, for want of room.
How unfortunate that that want was not foreseen. Dr. Pea
body of Harvard writes to us : “ If we were to build anew we
should make the gymnasium at least 25 per cent larger, and of
two stories,” instead of one. When we build, we want to
build it as it should be the first time, without having to tear
down and build anew. Too often gymnasiums are built with
out consulting gymnasts; they are built apparently on a
priori principles. Such a course is as foolish as it would be
to build a chemical laboratory without consulting a chemist,
or an astronomical observatory without getting any advice
from an astronomer. This, then, is but a specimen of the
practical questions which present themselves the moment we
set about carrying into effect the resolution to establish a
Department of Physical Culture; and your committee would
repeat their statement that in order to settle these questious
wisely more information must be obtained than can be pro
cured through the channel of letters. Yet as the Regents have
expressed a wish for such recommendations as we could make
upon these questions we will give concisely the conclusions
which we have drawn from our present knowledge upon the
whole subject, conscious that these conclusions may require
some modification under the pressure of further knowledge
that may yet be obtained.
�15
1. We recommed the establishment in this University
at such time as circumstances may permit, a Department of
Hygiene and Physical Culture, believing, as we do upon ample
evidence, that the establishment of such a department would
be attended with no such difficulties, or risks as may not be
overcome by cautious and intelligent foresight, and that if
successful it would result in incalculable good to all our stu
dents, and to an increase of the good reputation of the Uni
versity.
2. In dealing with the next topic, that of the gymnasium
building, the committee have had peculiar difficulty. The
discrepancy between the sort of building we ought to have,
and the sort of building we may be able to have, is so wide
as to make it nearly impossible to determine what to recom
mend. Formerly it was thought that any room, however
cheap, dark, cheerless, and inconvenient, if only large enough
to admit a few ropes and pulleys and bits of timber, was suita
ble for a gymnasium. But the opinions of enlightened edu
cators upon this subject are now changed. At" the principal
colleges the gymnasiums are made as spacious, attractive and
convenient as possible.
The following description of the new gymnasium at
Princeton, written by Professor Schank, and politely commu
nicated to us by President McCosh, may give some idea of
the sort of building which liberal men have provided at that
ancient seat of learning: “It is a two story stone build
ing, the main body of which is 81 x 55 feet, flanked by two
octagonal towers, each about twenty feet in diameter, the en
tire measure, including these, being 92 x 60 feet. On the first
floor, besides both rooms, &c., there are bowling alleys. The
second story, which is open to the roof and high, accommo
dates the ordinary gymnastic fixtures, with a gallery for spec
tators over the ball rooms. The towers are pointed spires
above the roof and terminate on rods with balls and vanes.
The cost when completed and equipped will be about $35,000.”
The gymnasium at Yale cost $14,000 before the war, ex
clusive of the apparatus; and at present prices Mr. Welch
thinks it would cost $30,000.
President Smith informs us that the Dartmouth gymna
sium cost $22,800, with about $1,500 for apparatus—total
cost $24,300.
We did not learn the cost of the Williams gymnasium,
but it could not have been less than $30,000. It is the most
beautiful building in Williamstown.
The gymnasium at Amherst cost $8,000 in 1859, with an
an additional cost of $2,000 for apparatus.
The committee began with the attempt to ascertain what
could be done for $5,000, the sum named in the resolu
tion of the Regents in March 1869 ; but we soon found that
�16
*
no building of the size required could be put up for any such
amount, unless it should be one that would be an eye-sore and
an offense to all beholders. A great ungainly shed would not
answer the purposes of the Department of Physical Culture;
and even if it would, the committ' e would hesitate long before
taking the responsibility of recommending any further dese
cration of our noble University grounds by architectural mon
strosities.
What is really needed by the University to meet the pres
ent demands of scientific physical culture is a building either
of brick or of stone (the latter being preferable) of dimensions
hereafter to be determined, to consist of two stories and a
large well lighted cellar; the cellar serving as a store room,
as a place for heating apparatus, and ultimately, when means
should permit, for ample bath rooms ; the first story to be used
for bowling alleys, superintendent’s and janitor’s rooms, dress
ing rooms and offices; while the second story would contain a
large hall of exercise in both heavy and light gymnastics, as
well as smaller rooms for sparring, fencing, etc., a room for
simple refreshments, like tea and coffee, and a suite of rooms
supplied with a piano, and with newspapers, to be used by all
the students as the University parlors and reading-rooms, and
to be kept open every day in the year, from sunrise until ten
o’clock at night. Such an edifice, especially in the absence
of the dormitory system, would be a most beneficent one to
all our students. It would be the University home. Besides
furnishing the students with a means of bodily health and
development, it would be a boon to them socially; and by its
joyous and hospitable privileges open to them, even when all
the other University buildings are closed, it would both afford
an unspeakable enjoyment to hundreds of young men, and
would save many from temptations now fatal both to health
and character. Such a building, properly furnished, at the
present rate of materials would require not less than $25,000.
3. We recommend the appointment of a Professor of
Hygiene and Physical Culture, to have the full salary of a
Professor in the collegiate department; and as to his qualifica
tions and duties we would adopt the admirable description
given by President Stearns in his Annual Report to the Trus
tees of Amherst College for the year 1 860:
“ What we need is a professorship extending over the
entire department of physical education. 1st—The officer
should be a skillful gymnast, capable of conducting his classes,
by example as well as precept, through all the exercises which
the best training would require them to perform. 2d—He
should have a good medical education, with sufficient know
ledge of disease, if not to manage severe cases, yet to know
whether a student is sick or well, obeying the laws of health
or breaking them, and, as a wise friend, to caution him, ad
�17
vise him and put him on the track towards physical vigor.
3d—That he should have such knowledge of elocution as
would enable him to teach those movements of the body,
lungs and vocal organs which are essential to graceful and
effective oratory. Elocution is properly a branch of gymnas
tics, and the highest degree of health, to say nothing of good
manners and good speaking, can hardly be secured without it
or a substitute for it. This officer, while having charge of
gymnastics, would naturally teach the laws of health and the
physical part of oratory; and as he would be much with the
students, and would be likely to have great influence over
them, he ought to be a man of cultivated tastes and man
ners—a man of honorable sentiments and correct principles,
having high aims and a Christian spirit. Such a man, with
such a work as I have now marked out successfully pursued,
would be an incalculable advantage to the college and to
mankind.”
4. In order to avoid over-crowding of the building, and
inconvenience to the students, we recommend that during the
Law and Medical terms, the several parts of the day and
evening, to be hereafter determined, be divided among the
students of the three departments, and that for at least one
hour each day the building be also appropriated to the use of
the University Faculties; that attendance at the gymnasium
be entirely optional with all the students; only that the stu
dents in the collegiate department be called upon, at the be
ginning of each year, to determine whether they will attend
the gymnasium, and that those who decide to do so shall
be required to exercise in light gymnastics with their respec
tive classes for at least one-half hour each day, for four
days in the week; all work in heavy gymnastics and in the
bowling alleys to be taken by them according to regulations
hereafter to be determined.
5. We recommend that in order to meet the current ex
penses of the Department of Physical Culture, a small fee,
(say $2 per semester, and $3 per professional term) be charged
to each student who avails himself of the privileges of the
department; it being understood that so soon as, either by
private munificence or by State endowment, the expenses of
the department shall be otherwise provided for, its privileges
shall be extended to all without any charge whatever.
In conclusion, the Committee would remark that the
foregoing plan for a Departm^it of Physical Culture involves
an expenditure which is probably quite beyond the present
resources of the University; and that without some special
gift of money for the purpose, either by the legislature or by
private individuals, the University will be unable to confer
upon its students certain very important advantages in the
process of a complete education. We would call particular
�18
attention to the fact that the beautiful and spacious gymnasi
ums at Princeton, Williams and Dartmouth were built by
private generosity. Is there no rich man in Michigan, or
even in the United States, (for our students represent all the
States) who would be willing, by a timely benefaction, to
connect his name forever with the destinies of this great
University, and to bestow an incalculable boon upon all the
multitudes of students who are to resort here for the pursuit
of knowledge ?
MOSES COIT TYLER,
Chairman.
EDWARD OLNEY,
C. L. FORD, M. D.
THOMAS M. COOLEY.
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Report of a department of hygiene and physical culture in the University of Michigan
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Tyler, Moses Coit [1835-1900]
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Conway Tracts
Hygiene
Physical Education
University of Michigan
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Text
THE
NEW SYSTEM
or
MUSICAL GYMNASTICS
INSTRUMENT IN EDUCATION.
jA
lecture
DELIVERED BEFORE
THE COLLEGE OF PRECEPTORS,
BY
MOSES
COIT
TYLER, M.A.,
M.C.P.,
^xiiuipnl of tlje bonbon Stljool of ^sitnl fibutalion, Bnnbrr of i^e
gjnericHn gssotiniion for tljr gbbtinrmrni of ^rirnre, Hr.
*' Intellect in a weak body is like gold in a spent swimmer’s pocket tho richer
he would be under other circumstances, by so much the greater his danger now. ’
D. A. Wasson.
LONDON;
WILLIAM
TWEEDIE,
1864;
337,
STRAND.
�A short life is not given us, but we ourselves make it so.”—Seneca,
“ We are weak, because it never enters into our thoughts that we might
be strong if we would.”—Salzmann.
“The first wealth is health. Sickness is poor-spirited, and cannot serve
any one : it must husband its resources to live. But health or fulness
answers its own ends and has to spare, runs over and inundates the neigh
bourhood and creeks of other men’s necessities.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“ I am convinced that he who devotes two hours each day to vigorous
exercises, will eventually gain those two hours, and a couple more into the
bargain.”—Washington Irving.
“ The man who invented cricket as surely deserves a statue to his memory
as he who won Waterloo.”—Archibald Maclaren.
“ The excess of bodily exercises may render us wild and unmanageable;
but the excess of arts, sciences, and music makes us faddled and effeminate :
only the right combination of both makes the soul circumspect and manly.”
—Plato.
“ Surely none the worse Christians and citizens are ye for your involun
tary failing of muscularity.”—Thomas Hughes.
�NOTE.
The following Address was delivered before the College
of Preceptors, at their rooms, in Queen Square, on the
evening of Wednesday, March 7th, 1864, the Rev. Richard
Wilson, D.D., F.C.P., being in the chair.
It was published
in The Educational Times for the succeeding month, precisely
as it appears in these pages.
By the multitude of letters
I have since received from educators in all parts of the
kingdom, I am tempted to hope that its publication in the
present form may be not without good results to the cause
of a wise and generous method of education.
29, Delam ere Terrace, Bayswater,
May 1st, 1864.
a
2
��MUSICAL GYMNASTICS
AS
AN INSTRUMENT IN EDUCATION.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The mind of Lord Bacon, brooding over and methodizing all
knowledge within the reach of man, has indicated the boundaries
and the relations of physical culture, in the following sentences which
I extract from 11 The Advancement of Learning:”—“The good
of a man’s body is of four kinds—health, beauty, strength, and
pleasure.” Hence the knowledge that “ concerneth his body is
medicine, or art of cure ; art of decoration, which is called cosmetique; art of activity, which is called athletique; and art
voluptuary, which Tacitus truly calls ‘ eruditus luxus.' ” And after
several paragraphs in exposition of the first two branches of bodily
knowledge, he continues :—“ For athletique, I take the subject of
it largely, for any point of ability whereunto the body of man may
be brought, whether it be of activity or of patience ; whereof activity
hath two parts, strength and swiftness : and patience likewise hath
two parts, hardness against want and extremities, and endurance of
pain or torment. ... Of these things the practices are
known, but the philosophy that concerneth them is not much
inquired into.”
I am quite sure that I do not need to consume the time of my
auditors on this occasion with any laboured arguments to convince
them of the importance of physical culture. Certainly I may be
allowed to take this for granted, that all intelligent educators in
this age are thoroughly persuaded that the body needs education as
truly as does the mind ; that this process of bodily education
should commence and continue with that of the mind ; and perhaps
I may be indulged in the expression of the opinion, that if the
�6
THE NEW SYSTEM OF
general practice does not yet equal the general belief upon this
subject, it is owing to certain inevitable obstructions presented by
the current methods of carrying this belief into effect, rather than
to any lack of sincerity in the belief. If those methods were more
practicable they would be more practised.
At the same time, it has seemed to me that there might be a real
advantage gained if I were to make, as the basis of my address this
evening, a very brief sketch of the historical and literary antecedents
of this important department of education, thereby indicating both
the opinions and the proceedings of other ages and other nations
upon the subject. I shall paint this sketch as a sort of consecrating
background to my picture of 11 The New System of Musical Gym
nastics as an Instrument in Education.”
In searching for the first developments of the art of gymnastics,
we must be content to go to that small but sacred spot of earth,
whither we are obliged to look for the germs of all our science, art,
and song. For, although traces of a crude athletic practice are to
be found among the Hebrews and many of the early Asiatic tribes,
it was in Greece that gymnastic cultivation first received that
systematic attention which raised it to its true rank among the
liberal arts.
The Greek education was divided into two branches, which com
prehended their entire disciplinary method either in youth or
maturity; and these two branches were, gymnastics for the body,
and music (by which they meant the topics presided over by all the
nine Muses, such as history, poetry, mathematics, painting, logic,
rhetoric, &c.) for the mind. They placed the subject of gymnastics
first, and they always kept it first. In their view the education of
the body was in the front, both logically and chronologically. Any
one familiar with the facts descriptive of Greek education related by
Grote, or Thirlwall, or Mitford, will be quite prepared to accept the
statement of the ‘1 Encyclopedia Britannica, ’ ’ which asserts that ‘ ‘ the
Greeks bestowed more time upon the gymnastic training of their
youth than upon all the other departments put together.” The
following sentence from the profound and elaborate work of Mr.
Grote describes the supreme devotion paid to gymnastics in Sparta,
and reflects to a certain extent the prevailing practice of all the
other Hellenic States:—•“ From the early age of seven years,
�MUSICAL GYMNASTICS.
7
throughout his whole life, as youth and man no less than as boy,
the Spartan citizen lived habitually in public, always either himself
under drill, gymnastic and military, or a critic and spectator of
others.” And, in another part of his history, the same distinguished
scholar assures us, that “the sympathy and admiration felt in
Greece towards a victorious athlete, was not merely an intense
sentiment in the Grecian mind, but was, perhaps, of all others the
most widespread and Panhellenic.” And Bishop Potter, in the first
volume of his “ Antiquities,” confirms this by the declaration, that
<£ such as obtained victories in any of their games, especially the
Olympic, were universally honoured, almost adored.” Without
entering farther into details, it may be sufficient to say, that we
have abundant evidence to assure us that the art of gymnastics was
held in the highest honour throughout Greece. It was recognised
and sustained by the State. Solon introduced into his code a special
series of laws for its protection. The art was consecrated by every
sentiment, religious, literary, and domestic. Certain of the gods were
regarded as the peculiar patrons of the gymnasium. The teachers
of morals discoursed of attention to physical exercise as a distinct
virtue, calling it apenj yvpraffriK)], the gymnastic virtue. The
great historic sects in Grecian philosophy took their titles from the
gymnasia, where they were first expounded. Moreover, he who
should excel in gymnastics thereby won high personal distinction
and the most honourable rewards of the State. Thus in the mind
and life of a Grecian in the ancient time, gymnastics entwined
themselves with all his ideas of individual culture and personal
dignity, piety, beauty, health, prowess, literary power, philosophy,
and political renown.
We have not the same temptation to linger over the story of
Roman gymnastics. With regard to the position of bodily culture
in the Roman plan of education, there is the testimony of Eschenberg, who affirms that corporal exercises were viewed by them,
especially in the earlier times, as a more essential object in education
than the study of literature and science. This is a sentence which
glances both ways. It may mean that their devotion to gymnastics
was very great; it may hint that their appreciation of literature
and science, at the period referred to, was very small. However, it
seems evident that, prior to the time of the emperors, the gymnas
�8
THE NEW SYSTEM OF
tics in vogue were of a rude character, having chief reference to the
discipline of military recruits, and to the exigencies of certain
athletic games, like the Consualia. Scientific gymnastics came in
with the importation of other Greek ideas by the conquerors. The
first gymnasium at Rome is said to have been built by Nero. Still
the Greek gymnastics never became thoroughly naturalized and
assimilated among the Roman people. The art seemed a fair but
unprosperous exotic; and after serving a temporary purpose in the
hands of scholars and gentlemen, it subsided into the brutality of
pugilism and gladiatorship, and finally expired in the general wreck
of the Imperial State.
The lost art rose again, after its slumber of centuries, with the
dawn of Chivalry, but in an altered garb and tone. The medieval
gymnastics very naturally took their methods from the chivalric
spirit. Fencing, wrestling, vaulting, boxing, the sword exercise,
horsemanship, and the dance, now held the place in men’s regard
once occupied by the old Greek Pentathlon; and these forms of
gymnastics revived the ancient credit of physical culture, and were
accorded the universal devotion of princes, and noblemen, and poets,
and artists. Tasso, Da Vinci, and Albert Diirer were among the
renowned gymnasts of the period.
From the decline of Chivalry, onward through the sixteenth,
seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, the practice of gymnastics
fell more and more into disuse; many forms of exercise became
quite obsolete—only the limited methods of sparring1 and fencing
seemed to remain in the memory of educators. The allusions to
gymnastics, scattered through our English literature of the period,
abundantly prove to how slight and contracted a scheme the once
elaborate Art of Gymnastics had become reduced.
But although the practical details of gymnastics may have relaxed
their hold upon human attention, the theoretical standing of physical
culture, in any comprehensive plan of education, was on all hands,
by all respectable writers in the principal languages of Europe, most
abundantly and emphatically asserted. The renowned scholar, J. F.
Scaliger, published at Lyons, in 1561, a work entitled “ The Art of
Gymnastics.’’ Four years later, Leonard Fuchs put forth at Tubingen
a treatise on “ Movement and Repose and, in ten years from that
date, Ambrose Pare issued at Paris a work with the same title. In the
�• y"
9
MUSICAL GYMNASTICS.
same year, at Cologne, Jules Alessandrini published a work in
twenty-three books, called “ The Art of Preserving Health.” And,
tracing the literature of the subject onward through the succeeding
one hundred and fifty years, we find similar productions by Borelli,
Brisseau, Paulline, Stahl, Hoffmann, and Burette. It is pleasant
to find a distinct and very earnest statement of the claims of
physical education in a continental writer who lived before Shakspeare, and whom we happen to know Shakspeare read and loved.
For in a very brilliant essay by Montaigne on the education of
youth, occurs this passage :—“ I would have a boy’s outward
behaviour and the' disposition of his limbs formed at the same time
with his mind. It is not a soul, it is not a body, that we are
training up ; it is a man, and we ought not to divide him into two
parts.”
Turning from the continental languages to our own, we are proud
and grateful to discover that English literature, so rich in philosophy
and poetry, and in the gems of perfect speech, is by no means
behind other literatures in the department of Physical Education.
Let it never be forgotten by us, that the first book ever written in
our English tongue on education was on Physical Education ; and
so long ago as 1540, in the reign of Henry VIII., and by no less
a man than Sir Nicolas Bacon, who is said to have trained
Elizabeth to empire. I have already shown that his illustrious son,
Lord Bacon, did not neglect this alcove of human thought and
knowledge ; and no one at all acquainted with his pages can have
failed to observe how thoughtfully and reverently he considered the
body’s welfare, speaking of “the human organization as so delicate
and so varied, like a musical instrument of complicated and exqui
site workmanship, and easily losing its harmony.”
The next important work in English literature upon this subject,
is Milton’s Tract on Education. In this most eloquent essay, the
great bard defines education as “ that which fits a man justly, skil
fully, and magnanimously to perform all the offices, both private
and public, of peace and war; ” and after recommending a plan
“ likest to those ancient and famous schools of Pythagoras, Plato,
Isocrates, and Aristotle, and such others, out of which were bred
such a number of renowned philosophers, orators, historians, poets,
and princes, all over Greece, Italy, and Asia,” he claims that his
P
�10
THE NEW SYSTEM OF
own method should exceed them, and “ supply a defect as great as
that which Plato noted in the commonwealth of Sparta; whereas
that city trained up their youth most for war, and these in their
Academies and Lyceums all for the gown, this institution of breed
ing shall be equally good both for peace and war. Therefore, about
an hour and a half ere they cat at noon should be allowed them for
exercise, and due rest afterwards. . . . The exercise which I com
mend first, is the exact use of their weapon, to guard and to strike
safely with the edge or point; this will keep them healthy, nimble,
strong, and well in breath; is also the likeliest means to make
them grow large and tall, and to inspire them with a gallant and
fearless courage, which, being tempered with seasonable lectures
and precepts to them of true fortitude and patience, will turn into a
native and heroic valour, and make them hate the cowardice of
doing wrong. They must be also practised in all the locks and
gripes of wrestling, wherein Englishmen were wont to excel, as
need may often be in fight to tug, to grapple, and to close. And
this will perhaps be enough wherein to prove and heat their strength.”
Advancing to the next prominent English writer upon education,
we come to the calm and judicious works of John Locke ; and no
one will be surprised to hear that Locke’s scheme of education
recognized the value of full attention to the development of the
bodily health and vigour.
“ A sound mind in a sound body,” remarks this great philoso
pher in his treatise entitled “ Some Thoughts concerning Educa
tion,” “ is a short description of a happy state in this world. He
that has these two has little more to wish for ; and he that wants
either of them will be but little the better for anything else. Men’s
happiness or misery is most part of their own making. He whose
mind directs not wisely will never take the right way ; and he
whose body is crazy and feeble will never be able to advance in it.”
The foregoing authorities from our earlier English literature are
enough to indicate what I desired to represent—namely, that the
department of Physical Education has an honourable and unquestion
able basis in the recognition of the most illustrious writers of the
English language ; and it will be sufficient for me to add, that every
important, writer on education, from John Locke to Horace Mann
aud Herbert Spencer, has reiterated, in a great variety of forms,
�MUSICAL GYMMASTICS.
1
and with the use of erudition and logical appeal, these earlier claims
on behalf of Physical Education.
I think no one can have accompanied me to the present point in
my address, without having forced upon his mind this thought—
the extraordinary contrast between theory and practice with re
ference to physical culture in our modern systems of education,
especially in England and America. I have just made reference to
our greatest and most influential writers on education, all enforcing
the claims of physical culture ; and yet, when we look at the facts as
they stand before our eyes on every hand, we must acknowledge
that these claims are strangely disregarded. It may seem a very
bold statement, but it has been made by wise and cautious tongues,
that our modern education practically ignores the body, practically
forgets that boys and girls who are its subjects are endowed with
corporeal natures, for the healthful, vigorous, and symmetrical
development of which it is strictly responsible.
I do not doubt the existence of many beautiful and cheering
exceptions to this rule. I know also that these exceptions are
happily increasing. But up to latest dates, the vast majority of
educational institutions, both in Great Britain and America, have
failed to recognize the true position of physical culture in the work
of education. Take London alone. Bringing schools of every grade
into the account, the general rule is, that bodily culture is either
wholly unprovided for, or at best is left to the option of each pupil;
and even when, in exceptional cases, bodily exercise is made impera
tive, the amount required bears no proportion to the efforts made
for intellectual exercise. Now, I most strenuously affirm that this is
not recognizing the true position of physical culture. And I venture
to lay down the proposition, that physical culture will not receive
its true recognition until every school is founded on the creed that
the body is as essentially the subject of its educational care as the
mind, requiring for its development scientific preparation and
earnest conscientious practice ; that physical exercise should not be
left as an optional thing, but should be made an integral part of
every day’s hearty work ; moreover, that this branch of education
should in every instance be conducted by wise, well-educated, and
competent masters, and should be no more committed to the
undirected efforts, to the whims and haphazard experiments of the
n 2
�12
THE NEW SYSTEM OF
pupils, than should geometry or grammar; and consequently, ano
finally, that it is as absurd to establish a school omitting to make
provision for adequate gymnastic education, as it would be to invite
pupils to a school in which no arrangements were made for desks,
forms, chairs, books, pens, maps, or paper. In short, the word educa
tion should be understood to embrace in its operation our entire
nature, mental and physical; both departments advancing together
hand in hand, mutually respectful, helpful, and tolerant. Bodily
culture should be received as an equal and an honoured occupant in
the great Temple of Education, not kept standing upon the door
steps like a shivering beggar, nor thrust down into the scullery as if
it were some servant of dirty work.
But having spoken of the vast and startling discrepancy between
theory and practice in our modern education with reference to phy
sical culture, I hasten to express the opinion that this is a phe
nomenon for which the conductors of schools cannot generally be
censured. I am convinced that it has been chiefly owing to the
low tone of public appreciation upon this subject, whereby school
masters have lacked the encouragement and support of parents in
any efforts to bring this department up to its proper level; and
second, to certain radical faults in the common methods of bodily
culture, which have rendered their general adoption either incon
venient, undesirable, or impossible. I claim the right to bear this
testimony. It is an honest one—not given with any purpose of
empty compliment. It is my constant duty and privilege to be
thrown into conversation with teachers ; and I can truly say that I
generally find them anxious to realize a higher standard of practice
in the department than they have yet attained, but trammelled and
thwarted by these practical difficulties to which I have made
allusion.
Perhaps the fundamental remedy for this is direct and energetic
action upon the general mind of the nation, to inform it more
thoroughly of the reasons for bodily education, and to imbue it
with more earnest convictions as to the duty of parents in sustaining
schoolmasters in their efforts to attend properly to the subject.
We must create a public sentiment for educational gymnastics.
From pulpit and platform and lecture desk and printed column,
there must stream a current of knowledge and influence for physical
�MUSICAL GYMNASTICS.
13
regeneration, which shall place the cause upon its proper basis in
the intelligence and moral sense of the Anglo-Saxon race.
But, as I have already intimated, even when other difficulties are
removed, obstacles frequently occur, arising from the methods of
gymnastic practice commonly used. The old system of heavy
gymnastics, with its fixed beams, bars, ladders, swings, and wooden
horses, requires a considerable outlay for its construction ; but more
than all requires a large room for its occupation. Ours is a civiliza
tion of large cities ; space is precious ; and any system which is to
meet the wants of the time must be so very simple in its machinery
as to be capable of introduction wherever there is standing room.
The civilization of precious space will not be apt to give up room
for bulky systems, no matter how good. The gymnastics must be
adapted to the civilization; the civilization will not adapt itself to
the gymnastics. When, therefore, from want of room or other
cause, teachers have been obliged to forego this heavy system, and
have resorted to the method technically called “ drilling,” as
administered by a “ drill-serjeant,” they have frequently been aware
of a difficulty of the very opposite character, viz., that the method
was too light and apparently superficial, besides soon becoming
monotonous and uninteresting—so obviously inadequate as a means
of physical culture, that they not seldom begrudged the time which
they gave to it.
Accordingly, in very many cases, masters, dissatisfied with both
experiments, have been obliged to content themselves by encouraging
the usual games of the play-ground, if they are so fortunate as to
have a play-ground; although conscious that these sports are by
no means a realization of physical education, and especially that
they do not counteract the worst tendencies of the school-room,
viz., the tendencies to stooping shoulders and narrow chests.
It is at just this angle of thought that I desire to bring to your
notice a new system of gymnastics, which has been devised by an
eminent medical man, and a practical educator of our time, for the
very purpose of filling up this lamentable chasm in our modern
educational practice ; a system which has now undergone the test
of several years’ rigorous experiment, and has come forth from the
trial with success.
This system is at the present time attracting attention in England
�14
THE NEW SYSTEM OE
under the name of 11 Musical Gymnastics.” It was constructed by
Dio Lewis, M.D., of Boston, Massachusetts, a physician and
medical writer of great renown in his native land.
I shall now endeavour to describe to you this very original and
novel system; and to point out several particulars in which it
seems to me beautifully adapted to meet our modern wants.
I shall first attempt a verbal description ; but, as words can but
poorly portray movements so unique as those which constitute this
system, I have brought with me several of my juvenile pupils, who
will present to you, after my lecture, some characteristic specimens
of the method. Let it be said, then, in brief, that the new gym
nastics differ from all preceding systems as regards the apparatus
employed, the mode of the employment, and the results attending
employment. The system discards, at once and totally, the heavy,
complicated machinery of the old gymnasium, and adopts instead
light wooden rings, wooden rods, wooden dumb-bells, and wooden
clubs. None of these implements are attached to post, or wall, or
ceiling ; but each is merely held in the hand when used, and laid
aside when the exercises connected with it are performed. Further
more, the exercises which this simple apparatus involves are
elaborated, with a view to their physiological value, in distinct
sets; each exercise has its own invariable place in the series to
which it belongs; all are adapted to quick and stirring music ;
they combine almost infinite variety with consummate simplicity
and precision; and, finally, they admit of being performed in
drawing-room, school-room, or hall, wherever there is space suf
ficient for outspread arms, in a manner the most graceful, pleasing,
and appropriate.
With your permission, I shall now go over these statements, and
develop them somewhat more in detail.
And, first, concerning the machinery of the new system. There
have been two difficulties in constructing a system of gymnastics
which should be capable of universal diffusion. On the one hand,
if the method was thorough, the apparatus was too elaborate, too
costly, and absorbed too much space; on the other hand, if the
apparatus was simple, the exercises failed in thoroughness, variety,
and prolonged interest. It seems to me that Dr. Lewis’s system
happily and ingeniously reconciles both extremes of difficulty. It
�MUSICAL GYMNASTICS.
15
will not be laborious to prove to you that the apparatus is simple.
One of my boys has brought here to-night, in his hands, four
gymnasiums. The apparatus is so slight and inexpensive, that
the humblest primary school can afford to get them, and can find
room to use them. And with these simple and uncostly implements
are connected a vast multitude of the most varied, powerful, and
graceful movements, bringing into play, under healthful conditions,
every muscle, joint, and member of the human body. Perhaps the
greatest encomium to be pronounced on Dr. Lewis is, that he has
struck a vein which every teacher can go on working without end :
he has indicated a path which leads to perpetual additions of exercise
conceived in his spirit, but presenting constant variety to the pupil.
So much for the apparatus.
Second, concerning the mode of its employment. Under this
head there are several particulars to which I wish to direct your
attention. And the first has reference to a gymnastic principle,
interpreted by a law in mechanics. Momentum is made up of two
factors, weight and velocity. Allowing momentum to remain the
permanent quantity, the greater the weight, the less the velocity ;
and, conversely, the greater the velocity, the less must be the weight.
Passing over to the realm of gymnastics, that term which corres
ponds to momentum is the amount of exertion each one is capable
of putting forth with safety ; and it is plain that if you have heavy
weights, you must have slow movements ; and, on the contrary, if
you would have rapid movements, you must have light weights. It
costs as much effort to pass a light body through the air swiftly,
as it does to pass a heavy one slowly. Now, the more common idea
in our modern gymnastics has been to give prominence to weight.
How many pounds can you put up ? what vast Herculean burden
can you carry ? have been the test questions, and have indicated
the direction of the average gymnastic ambition. But the new
system inverts this order, and seeks to give prominence to the idea
of velocity in gymnastics rather than of weight. It claims that a
better muscular result is obtained by this method. It claims that,
while huge lifting power is quite desirable for those who design
following the profession of a porter, or a hod-carrier, or a coalheaver, it is not so important, for ladies and gentlemen in the more
usual avocations of life, as flexibility, grace, ease, fineness rather
�16
THE NEW SYSTEM OF
than massiveness, poise, perfect accuracy and rapidity of muscular
action, and a general diffusion of muscular vigour. Dr. Lewis is
fond of illustrating the differentia in the systems—on the one hand
of weight, on the other hand of velocity'—by pointing to the van
horse, with his vast though stiff muscles, with his slow, ponderous
elephantine movements, just fit to draw burdens for the world ; and
then to the carriage-horse, with his graceful, airy, elastic step, his
rapid movement, his vivacity, his fineness of nerve and muscle.
What I have just said will serve to indicate the mechanical
principle of the new gymnastics. I must now direct your attention
to its fundamental physiological principle. It adopts the plan of
lively moderate exercises, in opposition to the plan of laborious,
violent, exhausting movements. I believe the idea is becoming
very generally accepted by physiologists, that the muscular system
may be cultivated at the expense of the vital; that a man may
develop a magnificent shell of muscle, and draw away to the surface
the life and power of the interior; that a man may become very
weak by becoming very strong. I need only remind you of the
recent discussion upon this subject in The Lancet, suggested by the
defeat of Heenan.
*
I think a wrong direction has been given to
* “ Those who know what severe training means will, perhaps, agree with us
that Heenan was probably in better condition five weeks before meeting his
antagonist than on the morning of his defeat; although, when he stripped for
fighting, the lookers-on agreed that he seemed to promise himself an easy
victory, while exulting in his fine proportions and splendid muscular develop
ment. It is now clearly proved that Heenan went into the contest with much
more muscular than vital power. Long before he had met with any severe
punishment, indeed, as he states, at the close of the third round, he felt faint,
breathed with difficulty, and as he described it, his respiration was ‘ roaring.’
He declares that he received more severe treatment at the hands of Sayers than
he did from King; yet, at the termination of the former fight, which lasted
upwards of two hours, he was so fresh as to leap over two or three hurdles, and
distance many of his friends in the race. It was noticed on the present occa
sion that he looked much older than at his last appearance in the ring.
“ Without offering any opinion as to the merits of the combatants, it is certain
that Heenan was in a state of very deteriorated health when he faced his
opponent, and it is fair to conclude that deterioration was due in a great
measure to the severity of the training which he had undergone. As with the
mind, so with the body, undue and prolonged exertion must end in depression
of power. In the process of the physical education of the young, in the train-
�MUSICAL GYMNASTICS.
17
the ambition of boys. A vulgar desire has been created to rival
draught-horses, and porters, and the muscular monstrosities of the
circus. The idea has been cherished, that one must do much—
must make vast, straining, depleting exertions. Has not this ten
dency been carried too far ? Especially injurious is this process to
the young. Many a fine fellow at Cambridge and Oxford trains
for the boat-race, and wins heart-disease. Many a fine fellow
carries off the oarsman’s laurels, and expends in that attempt the
vitality which might help him to get any other kind. But hasten
ing from this point, I add, that the new system discards the
acrobatic principle. It makes no provision for ground and lofty
tumbling. It does not invite its disciples to practise locomotion
by rolling over and over; it does not ask them to stand on their
heads, or walk on their hands, or practise any form of personal
inversion or revolution in the air. Those who are fond of acrobatic
gymnastics will of course pursue them. I believe many people who
need artificial exercise have been deterred from gymnastics by their
repugnance to this sort of performance. I need not remind you,
also, that any gymnastic method which makes much of acrobatics,
so far forth excludes the whole female sex from the advantages of
gymnastics. There is but one other point of which I desire to
speak, while attempting to describe the modus of the new gym
nastics ; and that point has reference to the introduction of music,
for the purpose of stimulating and regulating bodily movements.
When I consider the value of music as recognized in dancing and in
military life, I wonder that the importance of making it an essential
and an inseparable element in gymnastics has not sooner attracted
the deliberate attention of educators. In Dr. Lewis’s system music
is made so central a member, that without it we can do nothing.
When the music leaves off, we adjourn.
Having spoken of the machinery and the method of the new
gymnastics, I must say a few words as to the results. One of the
ing of our recruits, or in the sports of the athlete, the case of Heenan suggested
a striking commentary of great interest in a physiological point of view. While
exercise, properly so called, tends to development and health, excessive exertion
produces debility and decay. In these times of over-excitement and over
competition in the race of life, the case we now put on record may be studied
with advantage.”—The Lancet.
�18
THE NEW SYSTEM OF
most precious and honourable of these results is, that the new
system is essentially fitted for both sexes; or, to bring out more
pointedly the idea which I aim to convey, 'while it provides an
elaborate scheme of exercise for man, there is not, within all its
ritual, one exercise which cannot be performed with equal safety,
propriety, and success, by woman. I do not need to insist upon
the immense desirableness of such a result. Surely, if either sex is
to be excluded from gymnastics, let it be ours. Boys and young
men have at least something, in the athletic sports of the playground
and the field, to atone for the loss of scientific bodily culture. If
they lose gymnastics, the loss is not without a species of remedy.
But if young ladies are denied gymnastics, there seems to be abso
lutely no indemnification. Herbert Spencer tells us that near his
own residence is a school for boys and one for young ladies. In
the uproar, the vociferation, the gleeful shouts of the playground,
he was instantly informed of the existence of the former ; but many
months had elapsed, after taking that residence, before he was made
aware that an establishment for young ladies was in full operation in
the very next house, enjoying, too, a large garden overlooked by his
own windows.
*
Among the physiological results of the new
system, I can truly say, also, that a very marked feature is the
symmetry of the muscular development produced. For every
muscle of the body Dr. Lewis has devised movements. No class of
muscles receives attention to the neglect of the rest. The result is
a beautiful, harmonious, complete cultivation of the entire body.
Moreover, a large series of movements are constructed with the
view of counterbalancing the tendencies of our modern life, and
especially of our modern school life, to a depression and narrowing
of the chest, and to the formation of an uncomely roundness upon
the shoulders. One of my pupils, a student in a well-known college
of London, informed me last evening, that, although he has been
under my care but one quarter, his tailor was startled to find the
size of his chest enlarged by two or three .inches. The great peril
of our Anglo-Saxon race is from pulmonary weakness.
Our
* “ Look at the number, still too great, o£ schools,—I beg pardon,—of
Academies, where young ladies are educated within an inch of their lives, per*
fected into paleness, and accomplished into spinal distortion and pulmonary
phthisis.”—'W. B. Hodgson, Esq., LL.D.
�MUSICAL GYMNASTICS.
19
gymnastics should direct their remedial enginery to that quarter.
I can only hint at the peculiar benefit resulting from the habit of
performing all these bodily movements in strict musical time.
Whatever muscular development’ ensues becomes far more closely
associated with the intelligence and will. The whole frame at last
seems embued with the musical principle, vitalized and permeated
by some breath of harmony, grace, and accurate ease. Although
I have by no means brought forward all the important results which
in experience have attracted my notice, I dare not trespass upon
your patience longer than to mention this other one'; namely, the
attractiveness of the new gymnastics to those who practise it. The
new system insists upon being enjoyed, if pursued at all. It seeks
to stir the sources of exhilaration, mirth, enthusiasm. It seeks
to achieve this by the vivacious character of the movements, by the
contagion of perfectly concerted action, and by the delightful stimulus
of music. Of course much depends, also, upon the magnetic
power, the cheerfulness and playfulness of the teacher. I can
honestly testify that when these conditions are complied with, the
new gymnastics rise far above the dreary level of task-work and
monotonous drudgery, and are literally and permanently a pleasure,
they recognize the artistic necessity of touching the play-impulse.
They attempt to inaugurate, during the hour devoted to gymnastics,
a sort of physical jubilee, a carnival of the emotional and vital
powers.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have thus endeavoured to give you a
verbal account of the new system of Musical Gymnastics; and in
one moment you will have an opportunity of witnessing an ocular
demonstration of it.
I cannot take my seat, however, without expressing the earnest
hope, that the claims of physical education are destined to receive
still more largely the recognition of the public, and especially of
those engaged in the high, sacred, and most responsible vocation of
teaching the young. In his brilliant and deeply suggestive work on
Education, Rousseau has said,—“ Do you wish to cultivate the
intelligence of your pupils, cultivate the power that controls it.
Exercise the body continually ; made it robust and healthy, to
make a. wise and rational individual.” Jean Paul puts a profound
�20
the new system of musical gymnastics.
truth into exquisite imagery, when he says in Titan, that Don
Gaspard, in revising a scheme of education for his son, “had
chosen that more attention should be paid to bodily health than to
mental superfoetation ; he thought the tree of knowledge should be
grafted with the tree of life. Alas, whoever sacrifices health to
wisdom has generally sacrificed wisdom too.”
�APPENDIX.
i.
Remarks
on
Mr. Tyler’s Lecture by Members of
of Preceptors.
the
College
At the conclusion of the foregoing Lecture, Mr. Tyler introduced
a class of his pupils who executed, to the accompaniment of music
on the piano, a variety of movements with dumb-bells, rings, and
wands. The subject was then open for discussion by the meeting,
and the following are some of the remarks elicited as reported in
the Educational Times.
Very excellent speeches also were made by Dr. Hessel and Mr.
Oppier, which are here omitted. In my heart I honoured them
for the patriotic enthusiasm with which, under the mistaken suppo
sition of an attack by me, they came to the defence of “ German
Gymnastics ” as practised by their countrymen at the present day ;
but, as their remarks were based on a misapprehension of my own
meaning, doubtless bunglingly conveyed, I do not think it neces
sary to publish them. So far am I from disparaging what these
gentlemen purposed to defend, that in all my public lectures on
gymnastics I have endeavoured to pronounce an affectionate eulogy
upon the Germans as the foremost of modern nations in devotion to
physical culture, they having lifted it more than sixty years ago
out of the sad limbo of Lost Arts, and having worthily and success
fully cherished it down to the present day.
The Rev. A. Conder said, that he fully concurred with the
Lecturer in the opinion that violent gymnastics, like violent mus
cular exertion of every kind, are most injurious. As a Cambridge
man, he had had many opportunities of observing this ; and it was
well known that those who in early manhood were distinguished for
their skill in athletic sports, too frequently paid the penalty for
their disregard of the laws of health, by premature loss of vigour.
He was acquainted with a large public school in Ireland, in which
�22
APPENDIX.
violent games were at one time very much in vogue; but it was
observed that diseases of the heart became prevalent among the
boys ; and the result was, that the authorities had to prohibit the
objectionable sports. . Mr. Conder thought, therefore, that the
system explained by Mr. Tyler deserved the serious consideration
of all teachers, as it appeared to afford ample scope for the due
exercise of the muscles, without the risk of producing any of the
evils to which other plans often gave rise.
W. B. Hodgson, Esq., LL.D., F.C.P., said, that he had never
listened to a lecture with which he was more pleased than he had
been with Mr. Tyler’s. He had not been impressed so much with
the novelty of the views maintained in it, as with the clearness
with which their soundness had been demonstrated, and with the
constant reference to physiological principles. It was of great
importance to remember that gymnastics deserved' to be carefully
studied, not merely, or even chiefly, for the sake of the body, but
above all in order that the mind may acquire full development and
strength. Some people might decry this doctrine as savouring of
materialism; but it is now universally admitted that it is neces
sary to attend to the health of the brain as a condition of intel
lectual soundness and vigour ; and it scarcely required to be proved
that this admission virtually included the larger proposition, that
the health of the whole body affects the condition of the mind.
Every one must have had opportunities of convincing himself that
this is the fact, and of the truth of Rousseau’s assertion,—“ The
stronger the body, the more it obeys : the weaker the body, the
more it commands.” Dr. Hodgson expressed his concurrence in
the principle laid down by Mr. Tyler, that the object of gymnastics
should be to develop not mere strength, but rather rapidity and
flexibility of movement, of which the exercises that they had seen
performed were admirable examples. The reason for the pre
ference had been clearly stated by the Lecturer, and it depended
on the distinction between muscular force and vital force. These
forces were by no means identical, or even convertible; and the
latter might, and too often was, sacrificed to the other: a serious
mistake, which amounted in fact to the sacrifice of the end to the
means—of life to the instruments of life. For this folly there was
now less excuse than at any former period, since the circumstances
�APPENDIX.
23
of civilized life rarely, if ever, required the exertion of great
physical strength. The speaker said that he had always been a
great pedestrian; and experience had satisfied him that the power
of endurance exerted in walking twenty or thirty miles a day,
depended much more on general good health, and especially on
sound digestion, than on muscular development. With respect to
the exercises which Mr. Tyler’s pupils had gone through, every
one must have been struck with their great diversity, their ele
gance, and their perfect adaptation to the requirements of females
as well as of boys. He trusted that the Lecturer’s system would
be extensively adopted in this country, where there was a great
need for well-devised and regulated physical education. Dr.
Hodgson said he had no wish to discuss the question of originality,
which had been raised, but which was comparatively unimportant.
There could be no doubt, however, that the application of music to
gymnastics was not new; it had been made years ago in the system
known as the Kinder Garten; and the speaker had, six years ago,
seen the girls at the London Orphan Asylum, Upper Clapton, go
through a series of exercises accompanied with music.
F. J. Weigiitman, Esq., of Hollywood School, Brompton, said
that as he had the honour and satisfaction of being the first school
master in this country who had made use of Mr. Tyler’s services
for the instruction of his pupils, and had thus had good opportunities
for observing the results of his system, he wished to make a few
remarks on the subject. And first he would observe, that admir
able as were the exercises which they had seen that evening, they
must not be considered as anything more than fragmentary speci
mens of a complete and carefully progressive system, of which,
consequently, they were altogether incapable of conveying an
adequate idea. As the exercises required close attention and
prompt action, they had considerable value as a means of mental
training, and as aiding in the formation of habits of self-control
and command. The memory especially was brought into a state of
great activity, so that boys were able, with little or no external
suggestion, to go through the whole or a long series of complex
movements in their proper order. Another point was, that the
pupils took very great pleasure and interest in the musical gymnas
tics, which they regarded not as a part of their school work—in
which light drilling was too often viewed by boys—but as a real
�24
APPENDIX.
amusement and relaxation, from which therefore they derived the
greatest possible benefit. The last observation he had to make was
that Mr. Tyler’s system was an excellent introduction to music, by
developing and cultivating the perception of musical time. The
speaker said he had often been much amused by the awkward
attempts of beginners to keep time in their movements. At
first many of them appeared to be quite uninfluenced by the music,
but tried to do what was required by watching and imitating the
movements of the other pupils. This necessarily prevented simul
taneousness of motion, and led to highly laughable consequences.
After a few lessons, however, even those who were the worst in this
respect showed manifest signs of improvement; a new sense seemed
to be awakened in them; and at length their perception of musical
time became fully developed, and they were then able to perform
the whole of the exercises, guided by the music alone. He con
sidered that this, though a merely collateral advantage of the
system, was one of considerable value.
Dr. Brewer, in moving a vote of thanks to the Lecturer, said
that he was sure Mr. Tyler had no intention of giving offence to the
admirers of. German gymnastics, or of attributing to the systems
now pursued in Germany the evils which he had so ably pointed out.
He believed that the Lecturer employed the term “ German gym
nastics ” to designate the system which he condemned merely as a
brief mode of expression, which was justified to a certain extent by
what had at one time prevalent in Germany, without at all intending
to convey the impression that that state of things still existed.
J. P. Bidlake, Esq., B.A., seconded the motion for a vote of
thanks to the Lecturer; and said that although he knew from ex
perience that gymnastics, with the ordinary kind of apparatus,
might be employed without injury, provided due care in superin
tending the exercises were taken, yet he believed Mr. Tyler’s system
was in many respects far preferable, and he intended there fft-e to
endeavour to introduce it into his school.
Mr. Tyler, in acknowledging the vote of thanks, expressed his
obligation to the meeting for the great kindness and attention with
which he had been listened to, and disclaimed any intention to give
offence by the use of the term 11 German gymnastics,” his reason
for employing which had been correctly interpreted by Dr. Brewer.
�£5
APPENDIX.
II.
Notices by
the
Press.
In pursuing my labours as a public lecturer, I have had the satis
faction of presenting the subject of Gymnastics to assemblages of
every class; to the aristocratic visitors on Saturday mornings at
the Royal Polytechnic, to the gentlemen of science and of critical
acumen gathered at the meetings of the Metropolitan Board of
Health Offices, to the learned scholars and the practical educators
composing the College of Preceptors, and finally, to the more
general and popular audiences who sustain the Literary Institutes
of town and country. In chapels, in school-rooms, in lecture halls,
in theatres, and even in the open air, during the last twelve months
have I been trying to preach the ethics of physical regeneration,
and to inaugurate a crusade against the embattled infidelities of
bodily weakness and neglect. These manifold efforts have awakened
in some quarters considerable discussion, among the newspapers
and otherwise.
To those who shall, in this treatise, learn of the new system of
Musical Gymnastics for the first time, it may be interesting to
know somewhat of the voice of public opinion upon the subject, as
echoed in the public journals. I therefore place together, in this
article, a few of these newspaper accounts.
Fi'om The Albion, Liverpool, December 21, 1863.
“ Among the many inventions and devices by which, of late
years, new interest has been given to the pursuit of physical
health by means of exercise, none is more beautiful or useful than
Dr. Lewis’s system of Musical Gymnastics, lately introduced in an
improved form, and with marked success, by Mr. Hulley, at the
Rotunda Gymnasium.
“ The system is peculiarly adapted for ladies, because, while
fully exerting, it does not overtask the strength of the participants,
�26
APPENDIX..
and it has a great charm for all who use it in the variety and live
liness of the exercises of which it consists. The appliances used
are equally simple and ingenious. Amongst them are rings, balls,
bags for throwing, sceptres, and other simple implements. By the
varied use of these, a most complete education of the whole muscular
system is secured ; and by the adaptation of music to the exercises,
a grace and fascination is thrown over them, which every one can
appreciate, but which will be especially valued by those who are
practically versed in the comparative merits of the different methods
of gymnastic education. For its effects on the frame, the new
system has such warm testimonies from principal members of the
faculty as establish it to be fully as beneficial in its results as it is
attractive in operation.
u We hope to hear of the extension of the system to many schools
and institutions. The portability of the apparatus prevents the
existence of any obstacle to its general introduction, and its popu
larity where tried is universal. It is most gratifying to find that,
especially in the higher circles, the importance of gymnastics to both
sexes is now generally recognized. It is not too sanguine to expect
from this reform an absolute renovation of the race in process of
time; and the great encouragement given to Mr. Tyler in London,
is one remarkable symptom of its spread. All who aid in it may
pride themselves that they have done something to banish from
generations yet unborn many of the misshapen forms and languid
constitutions which are a sad testimony to the physical declension
that ensues when morbid habits of inaction are generally indulged.”
F 'orn The Weekly Record, London, July 15th, 1863.
li MUSICAL GYMNASTICS.
11 A large and fashionable audience assembled in the Vestry-hall,
Chelsea, last Monday evening, to listen to an address by Mr.
Moses C. Tyler, M.A., and to witness the exercises of a class of
Mr. Tyler’s pupils in the new system of musical gymnastics. These
gymnastics are entirely novel in their apparatus and methods ; can
be performed with equal success and benefit by ladies, gentlemen,
�APPENDIX.
27
and children; are executed to the accompaniment of music; and are
not only very beautiful and conducive to health, but are also very
attractive to those who engage in them.
“ The chair was taken by George Wallis, Esq., of the Kensington
School of Art, who presented Mr. Tyler to the audience in a very
felicitous speech. Mr. Tyler’s address was devoted to the impor
tance of scientific physical culture, and to an explanation of the
peculiar features of the new system of which he is the introducer in
London. At its conclusion the platform was cleared, and a fine
class of boys from Hollywood School, Brompton, took their places
on the stage, and presented a succession of exercises which they had
been taught. Their execution of these movements was in concert,
and with musical accompaniment, and produced the greatest delight
and enthusiasm in the spectators, who expressed their approbation
by rounds of hearty applause. The exercises were, indeed, very
exciting and picturesque, and must have a fine effect on the health
and forms of all who practise them. They realized the description
applied to them by the New York Times :—‘ They are poetry in
motion, and motion set to music.’
“ After these exercises had been given, brief speeches were made
by Mr. Weightman, Master of Hollywood School, bearing testimony
to the success of these gymnastics among his pupils ; by B. Water
house Hawkins, Esq., the distinguished anatomist, whose eloquent
approbation of the new system, from the stand-point of scientific
observation, electrified the audience ; by Dr. Woolmer, of Warwick
square, who expressed his views as to the importance of bodily
culture, and his endorsement of the method which had been pre
sented ; by Mrs. Bessie Inglis, the accomplished lecturer, whose
address was admirable in thought and diction; and finally by Mr.
William Tweedie, who gave an account of his interest in physical
education, and of his acquaintance with the gymnastic system which
had been presented that evening, and who concluded by moving a
vote of thanks to Mr. Tyler for his address, and to the members of
Hollywood School for their brilliant part in the doings of the
meeting.
“ A vote of thanks to the Chairman, Mr. Wallis, was also heartily
carried.
“ The audience separated at a late hour, apparently highly
�28
APPENDIX.
delighted. Among the distinguished persons present we observed
the intellectual face of Elihu Burritt, ‘the learned blacksmith,’ who
seemed intensely interested, but whose delicate condition of health
prevented his taking any active part in the meeting. As a whole,
the meeting was a rare and striking success.”
From the Marylebone Mercury, January 1864.
11 METROPOLITAN ASSOCIATION
OF
MEDICAL
OFFICERS
OF HEALTH.
<{ The usual monthly meeting of the above association was held
at the Scottish Corporation Hall, Crane Court, Fleet Street, on
Saturday, the 16th inst., Dr. Thomson, F.R.S., president, in the
chair.
11 Physical Training.—Mr. Moses C. Tyler, M.A., who was
present for the purpose of exhibiting by means of some of his
pupils his system of physical training for schools, said that his
mode of training claimed to be a compact and simple method of
physical culture. He could only give a few samples, and those of
the simplest nature, although whole schools could go through a
similar course, and the usual accompaniment was a piano. A half
dozen youths were then introduced, and to the chiming of a bell
and the beating of a drum passed through a number of very grace
ful exercises with dumb bells, rings, and wands. Mr. Tyler at the
conclusion said that the object of his system was, by exercise, to
develop the whole of the muscles of the body, and that it was
adapted equally for the strongest men or the most delicate ladies ;
and he would take the liberty of mentioning one result that his
system had accomplished. He had been told by masters of schools
where it was introduced, that that which before had been looked on
as a mere mechanical effort was now viewed as a pleasing recreation.
Another of the advantages would, he believed, be that it would do
away with the tendency to round shoulders, which prevailed among
bitli girls and boys, by the bending over the desks to their lessons.
Mr, Liddle said he thought he might express the thanks of the
association to Mr. Tyler. So far as he (Mr. Liddle) had seen of
the system, it appeared to recommend itself for general adoption.
�APPENDIX.
29
There was nothing- violent in it, or likely to strain the muscles ;
and it would give health and physical development to both boys
and girls. He would move that a vote of thanks be given. Dr.
Druitt seconded. The Chairman said that he thought the system
highly deserving of encouragement. Dr. Lankester had no doubt
that it would be beneficial. The vote was carried unanimously.”
From the City Press, March, 1864.
il London Mechanics’ Institution.—On Wednesday, M. C.
Tyler, Esq., M.A., gave a lecture on the 1 Art of Gymnastics,’
which was received with the approbation that it well deserved.
Mr. Tyler pointed out the anomaly that, of those ancient
nations whose intellectual works remain as models in literature,
the Greeks, Romans, &c., actually devoted more time and space to
the due training of the body than to mental culture, whilst most
modern nations, until a very recent period, had neglected the mus
cular arts, or had caused them to become matters of reproachful
tendency. The energy and effective address of the lecturer placed
the cause in a favourable point of view, and having successfully
pleaded the necessity for muscular exercise and recreation, he
showed how, by musical accompaniment, the graceful motions im
parting muscular power could be made most acceptable to childhood
and to classes. Mr. Tyler received and deserved the thanks of the
audience for his manly and patriotic influence in favour of judicious
exercises and games.”
From the Standard, February 8th, 1864.
11 Royal Polytechnic Institution.—The third fashionable
morning entertainment was given on Saturday, February 6th.
Among the novelties presented, was a lecture on ‘The Art of
Gymnastics,’, by Moses Coit Tyler, Esq., M.A., illustrated by
twelve of his pupils.
This is a very interesting exhibition,
abounding in graceful evolutions by the pupils. Mr. Tyler’s system
�30
APPENDIX.
repudiates the course of gymnastics which prevailed some years
ago, by which many boys were seriously injured. By his plan, the
exercises are so regulated that females may adopt the system with
out any fear of injury from violent contortions of the body. Mr.
Tyler’s accompanying address on the importance of gymnastic
training as promoting physical health was very striking.”
The Morning Advertiser (Feb. 2) describes the exercises as
11 exceedingly graceful, manly, and beautiful;” the Morning Star
(Feb. 2) as “at once attractive and useful as a means of physical
development;” the Daily News (Feb. 2) as “something won
derful.”
From the Whetstone Circular, March 12, 1864.
“Working Men’s Institute.—Mr. Tyler’s lecture on 1 Gym
nastics, Ancient and Modern,” on Thursday evening last, was
deservedly well attended. We went to get an idea worth carrying
out, and we got it. The development of the intellectual to the
neglect, and to a certain extent at the expense, of the physical
energies of youth, has hitherto been sadly the rule in all our
systems of education ; but in Musical Gymnastics we find a remedy
which cannot be gainsayed. How shall we enumerate the advan
tages of the system ? The expense of its accessories is trifling,
and the space for earning it out can be found in any school-room
of moderate dimensions. Moreover, parents cannot object to the
system, seeing that their boys and girls can all engage in it, for its
movements do not require turning over on heads and heels, or
vaulting on each other’s shoulders. Active motion without severe
bodily exertion; muscular, as an aid to vital action; endless
change of position; and the calling into play every joint and muscle
of the limbs by turn, are its principal features.”
�APPENDIX.
31
From the Bethnal Green Times, March 26tli, 1864.
PEEL GROVE INSTITUTE.
11 Mr. Moses Coit Tyler, M.A., the celebrated Professor of Gym
nastics, gave a highly interesting lecture at the above institute on
Monday evening, March 21st.
“ The lecturer gave a historical sketch of the gymnastic art, and
quoted the opinions of eminent men concerning it, and concluded
by exhibiting his new system, which is evidently far in advance of
any other, with a class of boys who have been under his training.
The audience was no more spell-bound by the graceful evolutions of
these lads, all of which were performed t,o music, than they were by
the lecturer’s eloquence and forcible rhetoric. Their fixed eye, their
riveted attention, and oft-repeated bursts of applause, were sufficient
to show their appreciation of the speaker’s delineation. •
“ Mr. Tyler’s genius is well directed towards awakening an in
terest in the neglected subject of physical culture. In his hands it
is sure to revive. We wish the gifted lecturer and his good work
abundant success.”
III.
The Gymnastic Club at Regent’s Park College.
The following expression, as the latest one received from the
different institutions with which I am connected, I append for the
value it may have to those who are interested in the practical
working of the new gymnastics as an educational process :—
“ Regent's Parle College,
11 April 19th, 1864.
11 Dear Sir,* —I have been requested by the Members of the
Gymnastic Club at Regent’s Park College, to express to you
their satisfaction and pleasure in receiving1 the course of exercises,
through which you have led them, this last quarter. They would
specially notice the interesting character given to the practice by
the introduction of music.
�32
APPENDIX.
“ They already feel the benefit of these exercises, and are
persuaded that, if persevered in, they cannot fail to accomplish
their object in training all the muscles to a prompt and vigorous
action, and so in promoting a sound physical culture.
11 With warm assurances of regard, and with grateful acknow
ledgments of your kind attention,
“ I remain,
“ Yours very truly,
“ James Sully,
“Hon. Sec.
£i Moses Coit Tyler, Esq.”
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The new system of musical gymnastics as an instrument in education: a lecture delivered before the College of Preceptors
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Tyler, Moses Coit
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An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 32 p. ; 21 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Appendix includes remarks made on Tyler's lecture by members of the College of Preceptors. The Address was delivered before the College of Preceptors, at their rooms in Queen Square, on the evening of Wednesday, March 7th,1864, the Rev. Richard Wilson was in the chair. It was published in the Educational Times in April 1864.
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William Tweedie
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1864
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G5198
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Education
Health
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Gymnastics
Physical Education
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SIXPENCE, NETT.
WRi,
�JUST PUBLISHED.
Crown Svo, cloth gilt, 2s. nett, post 2s. 3a.
An important new work by
EDWARD CARPENTER.
PRISONS, POLICE .
. an u rumoiiiWElM.
AND PUNISHMENT.
An Inquiry into the Causes and Treatment of Crime and Criminals
K
■•“J
never writes without a message
°* v e J)re,s®nt generation. He
of one at least prepared thus t'o’s’peaY feaXs^v^^1 for.*e presence
hysterical, filled with a fieru
JL
ssv’« ^?urnane without being
desire our readers to circulate as widely as^ossibl’e.”
™ earnestly
enforced he tT^XinteresTkg
’’“'Tol'll’0Ft*voluntary for the
suggestive.”
7 lncerestmS- • ■ 10 all alike this volume will prove
A New and
heaper Edition of
game of life. b7 bolton
Author of Even as Y
Hall's wise and pun;
parables of the great
24. nett. Postage 3a.
4 New and Cheaper Edition of
THE diary of an old soul9
tC
■
and other spiritual verse. By GEORGE MACDONAT n
THE WHITE SLAVES
OF ENGLAND.
By R. H. SHERARD.
With.80 page appendix,
inusternateed°f This^isTb'T^ "from bTuTSs.^F®
uustratea. This is a book no social reformer should be without fM
nett- B°staSe 3rf. Paper edition, without append*, £ost freii, S’
London : ARTHUR C. FIFIELD, 44, Fleet Street, E.C.
�OF WALKING
“ I beieve in the forest, and in
the meadow, and in the night in
which he corn grows” Thoreau.
“ One of the pleasantest things
in the world is going a wurney.”
Kazlitt.
“ J foot and in the open road,
one has a fair start in life at
last. There is no hindrance now.
Le; him put his best foot for
ward.”
Burroughs.
��IN PRAISE
OF WALKING
THOREAU, WHITMAN,
BURROUGHS, HAZLITT
*
LONDON:
ARTHUR C. FIFIELD
THE SIMPLE LIFE PRESS
44 FLEET STREET E.C
1905
�CONTENTS
PAGE
WALKING, AND THE WILD. Thoreau .
.
5
THE SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD. Whitman . 45
THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD.
Burroughs............................................................... 59
ON GOING A JOURNEY. Hazlitt
... 75
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
H. D. THOREAU
“ The West of which I speak is but another name
for the Wild, and what I have been preparing
to say is, that in wildness is the preservation o f
the world.”—Thoreau.
“ I believe in the forest, in the meadow, and in the
night in which the corn grows.”—Thoreau.
WISH to speak a word for Nature, for absolute
freedom and wildness, as contrasted with
a freedom and culture merely civil,—to regard
man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of
Nature, rather than a member of society. I
wish to make an extreme statement, if so I may
make an emphatic one, for there are enough cham
pions of civilization : the minister and the school
committee, and every one of you will take care
of that.
I
I
I have met with but one or two persons in the
* course of my life who understood the art of Walk! ing, that is, of taking walks,—who had a genius,
so to speak, for sauntering : which word is beauti
fully derived “ from idle people who roved about
the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity,
under pretence of going a la Sainte Terre,” to the
Holy Land, till the children exclaimed, “ There goes
5
�6
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
a Sainte-Terrer,” a Saunterer—a Holy-Lander.
They who never go to the Holy Land in their walks,
as they pretend, are indeed mere idlers and vaga
bonds ; but they who do go there are saunterers
n the good sense, such as I mean. Some, how
ever, would derive the word from sans terre, without
land or a home, which therefore, in the good sense,
will mean, having no particular home, but equally
at home everywhere. For this is the secret of
successful sauntering. He who sits still in a house
all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all;
but the saunterer, in the good sense, is no more
vagrant than the meandering river, which is all
the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to
the sea. But I prefer the first, which indeed is the
most probable derivation. For every walk is a
sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit
in us, to go forth and reconquer this Holy Land
from the hands of the Infidels.
It is true we are but faint-hearted crusaders,
even the walkers, nowadays, who undertake no
persevering, never-ending enterprises. Our ex
peditions are but tours, and come round again at
evening to the old hearth-side from which we set
out. Half the walk is but retracing our steps.
We should go forth on the shortest walk, per
chance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never
to return—prepared to send back our embalmed
hearts only as relics to our desolate kingdoms.
If you are ready to leave father and mother, and
brother and sister, and wife and child and friends,
and never see them again—if you have paid your
debts, and made your will, and settled all your
affairs, and are a free man, then you are ready for
a walk
To come down to my own experience, my com-
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
7
panion and I, for I sometimes have a companion,
take pleasure in fancying ourselves knights of a
new, or rather an old, order—not Equestrians
or Chevaliers, not Ritters or riders, but Walkers,
a still more ancient and honourable class, I trust
The chivalric and heroic spirit which once belonged
to the Rider seems now to reside in, or perchance
to have subsided into, the Walker,—not the
Knight, , but Walker Errant. He is a sort of fourth
estate, outside of Church and State and People.
We have felt that we almost alone hereabouts
practised this noble art; though, to tell the truth,
at least if their own assertions are to be received,
most of my townsmen would fain walk sometimes,
as I do, but they cannot. No wealth can buy
■ the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence,
r which are the capital in this profession. It comes
• only by the grace of God. It requires a direct
' dispensation from Heaven to become a walker.
You must be born into the family of the Walkers.
Ambulator nascitur, non fit. Some of my towns
men, it is true, can remember and have described
to me some walks which they took ten years ago,
in which they were so blessed as to lose themselves
for half-an-hour in the woods ; but I know very
well that they have confined themselves to the
highway ever since, whatever pretensions they may
make to belong to this select class. No doubt
they were elevated for a moment as by the re
miniscence of a previous state of existence, when
even they were foresters and outlaws.
“ When he came to grene mode,
In a mery mornynge,
There he herde the notes small
Of byrdes mery svngynge.
�8
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
“ It is ferre gone, sayd Robyn,
That I was last here ;
Me lyste a lytell for to shote
At the donne dere.”
I think that I cannot preserve my health and
spirits unless I spend four hours a day at least—
and it is commonly more than that—sauntering
through the woods and over the hills and fields,
absolutely free from all worldly engagements.
You may safely say, A penny for your thoughts,
or a thousand pounds. When sometimes I am
reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers
stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but
all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so
many of them—as if the legs were made to sit
upon, and not to stand or walk upon—I think
that they deserve some credit for not having all
committed suicide long ago.
I, who cannot stay in my chamber for a single
day without acquiring some rust, and when some
times I have stolen forth for a walk at the eleventh
hour of four o’clock in the afternoon, too late to
redeem the day, when the shades of night were
already beginning to be mingled with the daylight,
have felt as if I had committed some sin to be
atoned for,—I confess that I am astonished at the
power of endurance, to say nothing of the moral
insensibility, of my neighbours who confine them
selves to shops and offices the whole day for weeks
and months, ay, and years almost together. I
know not what manner of stuff they are of—sitting
there now at three o’clock in the afternoon, as if
it were three o’clock in the morning. Bonaparte
may talk of the three-o’clock-in-the-morning
courage, but it is nothing to the courage which
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
9
can sit down cheerfully at this hour in the after
noon over against one’s self whom you have known
all the morning, to starve out a garrison to whom
you are bound by such strong ties of sympathy.
I wonder that about this time, or say between four
and five o’clock in the afternoon, too late for the
morning papers and too early for the evening
ones, there is not a general explosion heard up
and down the street, scattering a legion of anti
quated and house-bred notions and whims to the
four winds for an airing—and so the evil cure
itself.
How womankind, who are confined to the house
still more than men, stand it I do not know ;
but I have ground to suspect that most of them
do not stand it at all. When, early in a summer
afternoon, we have been shaking the dust of the
village from the skirts of our garments, making
haste past those houses with purely Doric or
Gothic fronts, which have such an air of repose
about them, my companion whispers that pro
bably about these times their occupants are all
gone to bed. Then it is that I appreciate the
beauty and the glory of architecture, which itself
never turns in, but for ever stands out and erect,
keeping watch over the slumberers.
No doubt temperament, and, above all, age,
have a good deal to do with it. As a man grows
older, his ability to sit still and follow indoor
occupations increases. He grows vespertinal in
his habits as the evening of life approaches, till
at last he comes forth only just before sundown,
and gets all the walk that he requires in half-anhour.
But the walking of which I speak has nothing
in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the
�IO
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
sick take medicine at stated hours—as the swing
ing of dumb-bells or chairs; but is itself the
enterprise and adventure of the day. If you
would get exercise, go in search of the springs of
life. Think of a man’s swinging dumb-bells for
his health, when those springs are bubbling up in
far-off pastures unsought by him !
Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which
is said to be the only beast which ruminates when
walking. When a traveller asked Wordsworth’s
servant to show him her master’s study, she
answered, “ Here is his library, but his study is
out of doors.”
Living much out of doors, in the sun and wind,
will no doubt produce a certain roughness of
character—will cause a thicker cuticle to grow
over some of the finer qualities of our nature, as
on the face and hands, or as severe manual labour
robs the hands of some of their delicacy of touch.
So staying in the house, on the other hand, may
produce a softness and smoothness, not to say
thinness of skin, accompanied by an increased
sensibility to certain impressions. Perhaps we
should be more susceptible to some influences
important to our intellectual and moral growth
if the sun had shone and the wind blown on us
a little less ; and no doubt it is a nice matter to
proportion rightly the thick and thin skin. But
methinks that is a scurf that will fall off fast
enough—that the natural remedy is to be found
in the proportion which the night bears to the
day, the winter to the summer, thought to experi
ence. There will be so much the more air and
sunshine in our thoughts. The callous palms of
the labourer are conversant with finer tissues of
self-respect and heroism, whose touch thrills the
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
II
heart, than the languid fingers of idleness. That
is mere sentimentality that lies abed by day and
thinks itself white, far from the tan and callus of
experience.
When we walk, we naturally go to the fields
and woods : what would become of us if we walked
only in a garden or a mall ? Even some sects of
philosophers have felt the necessity of importing
the woods to themselves, since they did not go to
the woods. “ They planted groves and walks of
Platanes,” where they took subdiales ambulationes in porticos open to the air. Of course it
is of no use to direct our steps to the woods if
they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when
it happens that I have walked a mile into the
woods bodily without getting there in spirit. In
my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morn
ing occupations and my obligations to society.
But it sometimes happens that I cannot easily
shake off the village. The thought of some work
will run in my head, and I am not where my body
is—I am out of my senses. In my walks I would
fain return to my senses. What business have I
in the woods, if I am thinking of something out
of the woods ? I suspect myself, and cannot help
a shudder, when I find myself so implicated even
in what are called good works—for this may
sometimes happen.
My vicinity affords many good walks; and
though for so many years I have walked almost
every day, and sometimes for several days to
gether, I have not yet exhausted them. An
absolutely new prospect is a great happiness,
| and I can still get this any afternoon. Two or
I three hours’ walking will carry me to as strange a
I country as I expect ever to see. A single farm-
�12
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
house which I had not seen before is sometimes
as good as the dominions of the King of Dahomey.
There is in fact a sort of harmony discoverable
between the capabilties of the landscape within
a circle of ten miles’ radius, or the limits of an
afternoon walk, and the threescore years and
ten of human life. It will never become quite
familiar to you.
Nowadays almost all man’s improvements, so
called, as the building of houses, and the cutting
down of the forest and of all large trees, simply
deform the landscape, and make it more and more
tame and cheap. A people who would begin by
burning the fences and let the forest stand ! I
saw the fences half consumed, their ends lost in
the middle of the prairie, and some worldly miser
with a surveyor looking after his bounds, while
heaven had taken place around him, and he did not
see the angels going to and fro, but was looking
for an old posthole in the midst of paradise. I
looked again, and saw him standing in the middle
of a boggy, stygian fen, surrounded by devils^
and he had found his bounds without a doubt,
three little stones, where a stake had been driven,’
and looking nearer, I saw that the Prince of Dark
ness was his surveyor.
I can easily walk ten, fifteen, twenty, any
number of miles, commencing at my own door,
without going by any house, without crossing a
road except where the fox and the mink do : first
along by the river, and then the brook, and then
the meadow and the wood-side. There are square
miles in my vicinity which have no inhabitant.
From many a hill I can see civilization and the
abodes of man afar. The farmers and their works
are scarcely more obvious than woodchucks and
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
13
their burrows. Man and his affairs, church and
state and school, trade and commerce, and manu
factures and agriculture, even politics, the most
alarming of them all,—I am pleased to see how little
space they occupy in the landscape. Politics is
but a narrow field, and that still narrower highway
yonder leads to it. I sometimes direct the traveller
thither. If you would go to the political world,
follow the great road—follow that market-man,
keep his dust in your eyes, and it will lead you
straight to it; for it, too, has its place merely,
and does not occupy all space. I pass from it
as from a bean-field into the forest, and it
is forgotten. In one half-hour I can walk off
to some portion of the earth’s surface where a
man does not stand from one year’s end to another
and there, consequently, politics are not, for they
are but as the cigar-smoke of a man.
The village is the place to which the roads tend,
a sort of expansion of the highway, as a lake of
a river. It is the body of which roads are the
arms and legs—a trivial or quadrivial place, the
thoroughfare and ordinary of travellers. The
word is from the Latin villa, which, together with
via, a way, or more anciently ved and vella, Varro
derives from veho, to carry, because the villa
is the place to and from which things are carried.
They who get their living by teaming were said
vellaturam facere. Hence, too, apparently, the
Latin word vilis and our vile ; also villain. This
suggests what kind of degeneracy villagers are
liable to. They are wayworn by the travel that
goes by and over them, without travelling them
selves.
Some do not walk at all; others walk in the
highways; a few walk across lots. Roads are
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IN PRAISE OF WALKING
made for horses and men of business. I do not
travel in them much, comparatively, because
I am not in a hurry to get to any tavern or grocery
or livery-stable or depot to which they lead. I
am a good horse to travel, but not from choice
a roadster. The landscape-painter uses the figures
of men to mark a road. He would not make that
use of my figure. I walk out into a Nature such
as the old prophets and poets, Menu, Moses, Homer,
Chaucer, walked in. You may name it America,
but it is not America : neither Americus Vespucius,
nor Columbus, nor the rest were the discoverers
of it. There is a truer account of it in mythology
than in any history of America, so called, that I
have seen.
At present, in this vicinity, the best part of
the land is not private property; the landscape
is not owned, and the walker enjoys comparative
freedom. But possibly the day will come when
it will be partitioned oft into so-called pleasure
grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and
exclusive pleasure only,—when fences shall be
multiplied, and man-traps and other engines
invented to confine men to the 'public road, and
walking over the surface of God’s earth shall be
construed to mean trespassing on some gentle
man’s grounds. To enjoy a thing exclusively
is commonly to exclude yourself from the true
enjoyment of it. Let us improve our opportunities
then, before the evil days come.
What is it that makes it so hard sometimes to
determine whither we will walk ? I believe that
there is a subtile magnetism in Nature which, if
we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.
It is not indifferent to us which way we walk.
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
15
There is a right way ; but we are very liable from
heedlessness and stupidity to take the wrong one.
We would fain take that walk, never yet taken by
us through this actual world, which is perfectly
symbolical of the path which we love to travel
in the interior and ideal world; and sometimes,
no doubt, we find it difficult to choose our direction,
because it does not yet exist distinctly in our idea
When I go out of the house for a walk, uncertain
as yet whither I will bend my steps, and submit
myself to my instinct to decide for me, I find,
strange and whimsical as it may seem, that I
finally and inevitably settle south-west, toward
some particular wood or meadow or deserted
pasture or hill in that direction. My needle is
slow to settle,—varies a few degrees, and does not
always point due south-west, it is true, and it has
good authority for this variation, but it always
settles between west and south-south-west. The
future lies that way to me, and the earth seems
more unexhausted and richer on that side. The
outline which would bound my walks would be,
not a circle, but a parabola, or rather like one of
those cometary orbits which have been thought to
be non-returning curves, in this case opening
westward, in which my house occupies the place
of the sun. I turn round and round irresolute,
sometimes for a quarter of an hour, until I decide,
for a thousandth time, that I will walk into the
south-west or west. Eastward I go only by force ;
but westward I go free. Thither no business leads
me. It is hard for me to believe that I shall find
fair landscapes or sufficient wildness and freedom
behind the eastern horizon. I am not excited by
the prospect of a walk thither ; but I believe that
the forest which I see in the western horizon stretches
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IN PRAISE OF WALKING
uninterruptedly toward the setting sun, and there
are no towns nor cities in it of enough consequence
to disturb me. Let me live where I will, on this
side is the city, on that the wilderness, and ever
I am leaving the city more and more, and with
drawing into the wilderness. I should not lay so
much stress on this fact, if I did not believe that
something like this is the prevailing tendency of
my countrymen. I must walk toward Oregon,
and not toward Europe. And that way the nation
is moving, and I may say that mankind progress
from east to west. Within a few years we have
witnessed the phenomenon of a south-eastward
migration in the settlement of Australia ; but this
affects us as a retrograde movement, and, judging
from the moral and physical character of the first
generation of Australians, has not yet proved a
successful experiment. The eastern Tartars think
that there is nothing west beyond Thibet. “ The
world ends there,” say they; “ beyond there is
nothing but a shoreless sea.” It is unmitigated
East where they live.
We go eastward to realize history and study
the works of art and literature, retracing the steps
of the race ; we go westward as into the future,
with a spirit of enterprise and adventure. The
Atlantic is a Lethean stream, in our passage over
which we have had an opportunity to forget the
Old World and its institutions. If we do not
succeed this time, there is perhaps one more chance
for the race left before it arrives on the banks
of the Styx ; and that is in the Lethe of the Pacific,
which is three times as wide.
I know not how significant it is, or how far it
is an evidence of singularity, that an individual
should thus consent in his pettiest walk with the
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
17
general movement of the race ; but I know that
something akin to the migratory instinct in birds
and quadrupeds,—which, in some instances, is
known to have affected the squirrel tribe, impelling
them to a general and mysterious movement,
in which they were seen, say some, crossing the
broadest rivers, each on its particular chip, with
its tail raised for a sail, and bridging narrower
streams with their dead,—that something like the
furor which affects the domestic cattle in the spring,
and which is referred to a worm in their tails,—
affects both nations and individuals, either perenni
ally or from time to time. Not a flock of wild
geese cackles over our town, but it to some extent
unsettles the value of real estate here, and, if I were
a broker, I should probably take that disturbance
into account.
“ Than longen folk to gon on 'pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken strange strondes.”
Every sunset which I witness inspires me with
the desire to go to a West as distant and as fair
as that into which the sun goes down. He appears
to migrate westward daily, and tempts us to follow
him. He is the Great Western Pioneer whom
the nations follow. We dream all night of those
mountain-ridges in the horizon, though they may
be of vapour only, which were last gilded by his
rays. The island of Atlantis, and the islands and
gardens of the Hesperides, a sort of terrestrial
paradise, appear to have been the Great West of
the ancients, enveloped in mystery and poetry.
Who has not seen in imagination, when looking into
the sunset sky, the gardens of the Hesperides, and
the foundation of all those fables ?
B
�i8
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
Columbus felt the westward tendency more
strongly than any before. He obeyed it, and found
a New World for Castile and Leon. The herd of
men in those days scented fresh pastures from
afar.
“ And now the sun had stretched out all the hills,
And now was dropped into the western bay;
At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue;
To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new.”
Where on the globe can there be found an area
of equal extent with that occupied by the bulk
of our States, so fertile and so rich and varied in
its productions, and at the same time so habitable
by the European, as this is ? Michaux, who knew
but part of them, says that “ the species of large
trees are much more numerous in North America
than in Europe; in the United States there are
more than one hundred and forty species that
exceed thirty feet in height; in France there are
but thirty that attain this size.” Later botanists
more than confirm his observations. Humboldt
came to America to realize his youthful dreams of
a tropical vegetation, and he beheld it in its greatest
perfection in the primitive forests of the Amazon,
the most gigantic wilderness on the earth, which
he has so eloquently described. The geographer
Guyot, himself a European, goes farther—farther
than I am ready to follow him; yet not when he
says : “As the plant is made for the animal, as
the vegetable world is made for the animal world,
America is made for the man of the Old World. . . .
The man of the Old World sets out upon his way.
Leaving the highlands of Asia, he descends from
station to station towards Europe. Each of his
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
steps is marked by a new civilization superior to
the preceding, by a greater power of development.
Arrived at the Atlantic, he pauses on the shore of
this unknown ocean, the bounds of which he knows
not, and turns upon his footprints for an instant.”
When he has exhausted the rich soil of Europe, and
reinvigorated himself, “ then recommences his
adventurous career westward as in the earliest
ages.” So far Guyot.
From this western impulse coming in contact
with the barrier of the Atlantic sprang the com
merce and enterprise of modern times. The
younger Michaux, in his Travels West of the Alleghanies in 1802, says that the common inquiry in
the newly settled West was, “ ‘ From what part
of the world have you come ? ’ As if these vast
and fertile regions would naturally be the place of
meeting and common country of all the inhabit
ants of the globe.”
To use an obselete Latin word, I might say,
Ex Oriente lux; ex Occidente frux. From the
East light; from the West fruit.
Sir Francis Head, an English traveller and a
Governor-General of Canada, tells us that “ in
both the northern and southern hemispheres of
the New World, Nature has not only outlined her
words on a larger scale, but has painted the whole
picture with brighter and more costly colours than
she used in delineating and in beautifying the Old
I World. . . . The heavens of America appear
infinitely higher, the sky is bluer, the air is fresher,
the cold is in tenser, the moon looks larger, the stars
are brighter, the thunder is louder, the lightning
is vivider, the wind is stronger, the rain is heavier,
the mountains are higher, the rivers longer, the
forests bigger, the plains broader.” This statement
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IN PRAISE OF WALKING
will do at least to set against Buffon’s account of
this part of the world and its productions.
Linnaeus said long ago, “ Nescio quae facies
lata, glabra plantis Americanis : I know not what
there is of joyous and smooth in the aspect of
American plants ; ” and I think that in this country
there are no, or at most very few, African# bestice,
African beasts, as the Romans called them, and
that in this respect also it is peculiarly fitted for
the habitation of man. We are told that within
three miles of the centre of the East Indian city
of Singapore, some of the inhabitants are annually
carried off by tigers; but the traveller can lie
down in the woods at night almost anywhere
in North America without fear of wild beasts.
These are encouraging testimonies. If the
moon looks larger here than in Europe, probably
the sun looks larger also. If the heavens of America
appear infinitely higher, and the stars brighter, I
trust that these facts are symbolical of the height
to which the philosophy and poetry and religion of
her inhabitants may one day soar. At length,
perchance, the immaterial heaven will appear as
much higher to the American mind, and the
intimations that star it as much brighter. For
I believe that climate does thus react on man—as
there is something in the mountain air that feeds
the spirit and inspires. Will not man grow to
greater perfection intellectually as well as physically
under these influences ? Or is it unimportant how
many foggy days there are in his life? I trust
that we shall be more imaginative, that our thoughts
will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal, as our
sky—our understanding more comprehensive and
broader, like our plains—our intellect generally
on a grander scale, like our thunder and lightning,
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
21
our rivers and mountains and forests—and our
hearts shall even correspond in breadth and depth
and grandeur to our inland seas. Perchance there
will appear to the traveller something, he knows
not what, of lata and glabra, of joyous and serene,
in our very faces. Else to what end does the world
go on, and why was America discovered ?
To Americans I hardly need to say—
“ Westward the star of empire takes its way.”
As a true patriot, I should be ashamed to think
that Adam in paradise was more favourably
situated on the whole than the backwoodsman in
this country.
Our sympathies in Massachusetts are not con
fined to New England; though we may be estranged
from the South, we sympathize with the West.
There is the home of the younger sons, as among
the Scandinavians they took to the sea for their
inheritance. It is too late to be studying Hebrew ;
it is more important to understand even the slang
of to-day.
Some months ago I went to see a panorama of
the Rhine. It was like a dream of the Middle
Ages. I floated down its historic stream in some
thing more than imagination, under bridges built
by the Romans, and repaired by later heroes, past
cities and castles whose very names were music
to my ears, and each of which was the subject of
a legend. There were Ehrenbreitstein and Rolandseck and Coblentz, which I knew only in history.
They were ruins that interested me chiefly. There
seemed to come up from its waters and its vine-clad
hills and valleys a hushed music as of Crusaders
departing for the Holy Land. I floated along
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IN PRAISE OF WALKING
under the spell of enchantment, as if I had been
transported to an heroic age, and breathed an
atmosphere of chivalry.
Soon after I went to see a panorama of the Missis
sippi, and as I worked my way up the river in the
light of to-day, and saw the steamboats wooding up,
counted the rising cities, gazed on the fresh ruins
of Nauvoo, beheld the Indians moving west across
the stream, and, as before I had looked up the
Moselle, now looked up the Ohio and the Missouri
and heard the legends of Dubuque and of Wenona’s
Cliff,—still thinking more of the future than of
the past or present,—I saw that this was a Rhine
stream of a different kind; that the foundations
of castles were yet to be laid, and the famous
bridges were yet to be thrown over the river;
and I felt that this was the heroic age itself, though
we know it not, for the hero is commonly the
simplest and obscurest of men.
The West of which I speak is but another name
for the Wild; and what I have been preparing
to say is, that in Wildness is the preservation of
the World. Every tree sends its fibres forth in
search of the Wild. The cities import it at any
price. Men plough and sail for it. From the
forest and wilderness come the tonics and barks
which brace mankind. Our ancestors were sav
ages. The story of Romulus and Remus being
suckled by a wolf is not a meaningless fable. The
founders of every State which has risen to eminence
have drawn their nourishment and vigour from a
similar wild source. It was because" the children
of the Empire were not suckled by the wolf that
they were conquered and displaced by the children
of the Northern forests who were.
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
23
I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and
in the night in which the corn grows. We require
an infusion of hemlock-spruce or arbor-vitae m
our tea. There is a difference between eating
and drinking for strength and from mere gluttony
The Hottentots eagerly devour the marrow of
the koodoo and other antelopes raw, as a matter
of course. Some of our Northern Indians eat raw
the marrow of the Arctic reindeer, as well as
various other parts, including the summits of the
antlers, as long as they are soft. And herein,
perchance, they have stolen a march on the cooks
of Paris. They get what usually goes to feed the
fire. This is probably better than stall-fed beef
and slaughter-house pork to make a man of.
Give me a wildness whose glance no civilization
can endure,—as if we lived on the marrow of
koodoos devoured raw.
There are some intervals which border the strain
‘of the wood-thrush, to which I would migrate,
i wild lands where no settler has squatted; to
I which, methinks, I am already acclimated.
;
The African hunter Cummings tells us that the
skin of the eland, as well as that of most other
antelopes just killed, emits the most delicious
perfume of trees and grass. I would have every
man so much like a wild antelope, so much a part
and parcel of Nature, that his very person should
thus sweetly advertise our senses of his presence,
and remind us of those parts of Nature which he
most haunts. I feel no disposition to be satirical,
when the trapper’s coat emits the odour of mus
quash even ; it is a sweeter scent to me than that
which commonly exhales from the merchant’s
or the scholar’s garments. When I go into their
wardrobes and handle their vestments, I am
�24
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
reminded of no grassy plains and flowery meads
which they have frequented, but of dusty mer
chants’ exchanges and libraries rather.
A tanned skin is something more than respect
able, and perhaps olive is a fitter colour than white
for a man—a denizen of the woods. “ The pale
white man! ” I do not wonder that the African
pitied him. Darwin the naturalist says, “ A
white man bathing by the side of a Tahitian was
like a plant bleached by the gardener’s art, com
pared with a fine, dark green one, growing vigor
ously in the open fields.”
Ben Jonson exclaims—
“ How near to good is what is fair 1 ”
So I would say—
How near to good is what is wild !
Life consists with wildness. The most alive is
the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence
refreshes him. One who pressed forward inces
santly and never rested from his labours, who
grew fast and made infinite demands on life,
would always find himself in a new country or
wilderness, and surrounded by the raw material
of life. He would be climbing over the prostrate
stems of primitive forest trees.
Hope and the future for me are not in lawns
and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but
in the impervious and quaking swamps. When,
formerly, I have analysed my partiality for some
farm which I had contemplated purchasing, I
have frequently found that I was attracted solely
by a few square rods of impermeable and unfath-
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
25
omable bog—a natural sink in one corner of it.
That was the jewel which dazzled me. I derive
more of my subsistence from the swamps which
surround my native town than from the cultivated
gardens in the village. There are no richer
parterres to my eyes than the dense beds of dwarf
andromeda {Cassandra calyculata) which cover
these tender places on the earth’s surface. Botany
cannot go further than tell me the names of the
shrubs which grow there—the high-blueberry,
panicled andromeda, lambkill, azalea, and rhodora
—all standing in the quaking sphagnum. I often
think that I should like to have my house front on
this mass of dull red bushes, omitting other flower
plots and borders, transplanted spruce and trim
box, even gravelled walks—to have this fertile
spot under my windows, not a few imported barrowfulls of soil only to cover the sand which was
thrown out in digging the cellar. Why not put
my house, my parlour, behind this plot, instead
of behind that meagre assemblage of curiosities,
that poor apology for a Nature and Art which I
call my front-yard ? It is an effect to clear up and
make a decent appearance when the carpenter
and mason have departed, though done as much
for the passer-by as the dweller within. The most
tasteful front-yard fence was never an agreeable
object of study to me ; the most elaborate orna
ments, acorn-tops, or what not, soon wearied and
disgusted me. Bring your sills up to the very
edge of the swamp, then (though it may not be
the best place for a dry cellar), so that there be
no access on that side to citizens. Front-yards
are not made to walk in, but, at most, through,
and you could go in the back way.
Yes, though you may think me perverse, if it
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IN PRAISE OF WALKING
were proposed to me to dwell in the neighbourhood
of the most beautiful garden that ever human art
contrived, or else of a dismal swamp, I should
certainly decide for the swamp. How vain, then,
have been all your labours, citizens, for me !
My spirits infallibly rise in proportion to the
outward dreariness. Give me the ocean, the
desert or the wilderness ! In the desert, pure air
and solitude compensate for want of moisture and
fertility. The traveller Burton says of it—“ Your
morale improves ; you become frank and cordial,
hospitable and single-minded. ... In the desert,
spirituous liquors excite only disgust. There is
a keen enjoyment in a mere animal existence.”
They who have been travelling long on the steppes
of Tartary say—“ On re-entering cultivated lands,
the agitation, perplexity, and turmoil of civilization
oppressed and suffocated us; the air seemed to
fail us, and we felt every moment as if about to die
of asphyxia.” When I would recreate myself, I
seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most inter
minable, and, to the citizen, most dismal swamp.
I enter a swamp as a sacred place,—a sanctum
sanctorum. There is the strength, the marrow of
Nature. The wild-wood covers the virgin mould,
—and the same soil is good for men and for trees.
A man’s health requires as many acres of meadow
to his prospect as his farm does loads of muck.
There are the strong meats on which he feeds. A
town is saved, not more by the righteous men in it
than by the woods and swamps that surround it.
A township where one primitive forest waves above
while another primitive forest rots below,—such
a town is fitted to raise not only corn and potatoes,
but poets and philosophers for the coming ages.
In such a soil grew Homer and Confucius and the
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
27
rest, and out of such a wilderness comes the Re
former eating locusts and wild honey.
To preserve wild animals implies generally the
creation of a forest for them to dwell m or resort
to. So it is with man. A hundred years ago they
sold bark in our streets peeled from our own woods.
In the very aspect of those primitive^ and rugged
trees there was, methinks, a , tanning principle
which hardened and consolidated the fibres 0
men’s thoughts. Ah! already I shudder for
these comparatively degenerate days of my native
village, when you cannot collect a load of bark ot
good thickness ; and we no longer produce tar
and turpentine.
The civilized nations—Greece, Rome, England,
have been sustained by the primitive forests which
anciently rotted where they stand. They survive
as long as the soil is not exhausted. Alas for
human culture ! little is to be expected of a nation
when the vegetable mould is exhausted, and it is
compelled to make manure of the . bones of its
fathers. There the poet sustains himself merely
by his own superfluous fat, and the philosopher
comes down on his marrow-bones.
.
(
It is said to be the task of the American to
work the virgin soil,” and that “ agriculture here
already assumes proportions unknown everywhere
else.” I think that the farmer displaces the Indian
even because he redeems the meadow, and so
makes himself stronger and in some respects more
natural. I was surveying for a man the other day
a single straight line one hundred and thirty-two
rods long, through a swamp, at whose entrance
might have been written the words which Dante
read over the entrance to the infernal regions
“ Leave all hope, ye that enter,”—that is, of ever
�28
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
getting out again; where at one time I saw my
employer actually up to his neck and swimming
for his life in his property,, though it was still
winter. He had another similar swamp which
I could not survey at all, because it was completely
under water; and nevertheless, with regard to a
third swamp, which I did survey from a distance,
he remarked to me, true to his instincts, that he
would not part with it for any consideration, on
account of the mud which it contained. And that
man intends to put a girdling ditch round the
whole in the course of forty months, and so redeem
it by the magic of his spade. I refer to him only as
the type of a class.
The weapons with which we have gained our
most important victories, which should be handed
down as heirlooms from father to son, are not the
sword and the lance, but the bush-whack, the turf
cutter, the spade, and the bog-hoe, rusted with the
blood of many a meadow, and begrimed with the
dust of many a hard-fought field. The very winds
blew the Indian s corn-field into the meadow, and
pointed out the way which he had not the skill
to follow. He had no better implement with
which to intrench himself in the land than a clam
shell. But the farmer is armed with plough and
spade.
In Literature it is only the wild that attracts
us. . Dullness is but another name for tameness.
It is the uncivilized free and wild thinking in
Hamlet and the Iliad, in all the Scriptures and
Mythologies, not learned in the schools, that
delights us. As the wild duck is more swift and
beautiful than the tame, so is the wild—the
mallard—thought, which ’mid falling dews wings
its way above the fens. A truly good book is
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
29
something as natural, and as unexpectedly and
unaccountably fair and perfect, as a wild flower
discovered on the prairies of the-West or in the
jungles of the East. Genius is a light which makes
the darkness visible, like the lightning’s flash,
which perchance shatters the temple of knowledge
itself,—and not a taper lighted at the hearth-stone
of the race, which pales before the light of common
day.
English literature, from the days of the minstrels
to the Lake Poets—Chaucer and Spenser and
Milton, and even Shakespeare, included—breathes
no quite fresh and in this sense wild strain. It is
an essentially tame and civilized literature, reject
ing Greece and Rome. Her wilderness is a green
wood,—her wild man a Robin Hood. There is
plenty of genial love of Nature, but not so much
of Nature herself. Her chronicles inform us when
her wild animals, but not when the wild man in
her, became extinct.
The science of Humboldt is one thing, poetry
is another thing. The poet to-day, notwithstand
ing all the discoveries of science, and the accumu
lated learning of mankind, enjoys no advantage
over Homer.
«•
Where is the literature which gives expression
to Nature ? He would be a poet who could impress
the winds and streams into his service, to speak
for him ; who nailed words to their primitive
senses, as farmers drive down stakes in the spring,
which the frost has heaved ; who derived his words
as often as he used them—transplanted them to his
page with earth adhering to their roots ; whose
words were so true and fresh and natural that they
would appear to expand like the buds at the
approach of spring, though they lay half-smothered
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IN PRAISE OF WALKING
between two musty leaves in a library,—ay, to
bloom and bear fruit there, after their kind,
annually, for the faithful reader, in sympathy with
surrounding Nature.
I do not know of any poetry to quote which
adequately expresses this yearning for the Wild.
Approached from this side, the best poetry is
tame. I do not know where to find in any litera
ture, ancient or modern, any account which con
tents me of that Nature with which even I am
acquainted. You will perceive that I demand
something which no Augustan nor Elizabethan
age, which no culture, in short, can give. Mytho
logy comes nearer to it than anything. How
much more fertile a Nature, at least, has Grecian
mythology its root in than English literature.
Mythology is the crop which the Old World bore
before its soil was exhausted, before the fancy
and imagination were affected with blight; and,
which it still bears, wherever its pristine vigour
is unabated. All other literatures endure only
as the elms which overshadow our houses ; but
this is like the great dragon-tree of the Western
Isles, as old as mankind, and, whether that does
or not, will endure as long ; for the decay of other
literatures makes the soil in which it thrives.
The West is preparing to add its fables to those
of the East. The valleys of the Ganges, the Nile,
and the Rhine, having yielded their crop, it remains
to be seen what the valleys of the Amazon, the
Plate, the Orinoco, the St. Lawrence, and the
Mississippi will produce. Perchance, when, in the
course of ages, American liberty has become a fic
tion of the past—as it is to some extent a fiction
of the present—the poets of the world will be
inspired by American mythology.
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
31
The wildest dreams of wild men, even, are not
the less true, though they may not recommend
themselves to the sense which is most common
among Englishmen and Americans to-day. It is
not every truth that recommends itself to the
common sense. Nature has a place for the wild
clematis as well as for the cabbage. Some expres
sions of truth are reminiscent,—others merely
sensible, as the phrase is,—others prophetic. Some
forms of disease, even, may prophesy forms of
health. The geologist has discovered that the
figures of serpents, griffins, flying dragons, and
other fanciful embellishments of heraldry, have
their prototypes in the forms of fossil species which
were extinct before man was created, and hence
“ indicate a faint and shadowy knowledge of a
previous state of organic existence.” The Hindoos
dreamed that the earth rested on an elephant, and
the elephant on a tortoise, and the tortoise on a
serpent; and though it may be an unimportant
coincidence, it will not be out of place here to
state that a fossil tortoise has lately been discovered
in Asia large enough to support an elephant. I
confess that I am partial to these wild fancies,
which transcend the order of time and develop
ment. They are the sublimest recreation of the
intellect. The partridge loves peas, but not those
that go with her into the pot.
In short, all good things are wild and free. There
is something in a strain of music, whether produced
by an instrument or by the human voice,—take
the sound of a bugle in a summer night, for in
stance,—which by its wildness, to speak without
satire, reminds me of the cries emitted by wild
beasts in their native forests. It is so much of
their wildness ' as I can understand. Give me
�32
S ”'
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
for my friends and neighbours wild men, not
tame ones. The wilderness of the savage is but
a faint symbol of the awful ferity with which good
men and lovers meet.
I love even to see the domestic animals reassert
their native rights,—any evidence that they have
not wholly lost their original wild habits and
vigour; as when my neighbour’s cow breaks out
of her pasture early in the spring and boldly swims
the river, a cold, grey tide, twenty-five or thirty
rods wide, swollen by the melted snow. It is
the buffalo crossing the Mississippi. This exploit
confers some dignity on the herd in my eyes—
already dignified. The seeds of instinct are pre
served under the thick hides of cattle and horses,
like seeds in the bowels of the earth, an indefinite
period.
Any sportiveness in cattle is unexpected. I
saw one day a herd of a dozen bullocks and cows
running about and frisking in unwieldy sport, like
huge rats, even like kittens. They shook their
heads, raised their tails, and rushed up and down
a hill, and I perceived by their horns, as well as
by their activity, their relation to the deer tribe.
But, alas ! a sudden loud Whoa! would have
damped their ardour at once, reduced them from
venison to beef, and stiffened their sides and sinews
like the locomotive. Who but the Evil One has
cried, “ Whoa ! ” to mankind ? Indeed, the life
of cattle, like that of many men, is but a sort of
locomotiveness ; they move a side at a time, and
man, by his machinery, is meeting the horse and
the ox half-way. Whatever part the whip has
touched is thenceforth palsied. Who would ever
think of a side of any of the supple cat tribe, as we
speak of a side of beef ?
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
33
I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken
before they can be made the slaves of men, and
that men themselves have some wild oats still
left to sow before they become submissive members
of society. Undoubtedly, all men are not equally
fit subjects for civilization; and because the
majority, like dogs and sheep, are tame by inher
ited disposition, this is no reason why the others
should have their natures broken that they may
be reduced to the same level. Men are in the main
alike, but they were made several in order that
they might be various. If a low use is to be served,
one man will do nearly or quite as well as another ;
if a high one, individual excellence is to be regarded.
Any man can stop a hole to keep the wind away,
but no other man could serve so rare a use as the
author of this illustration did. Confucius says—
“ The skins of the tiger and the leopard, when
they are tanned, are as the skins of the dog and
the sheep tanned.” But it is not the part of a
true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to
make sheep ferocious ; and tanning their skins for
shoes is not the best use to which they can be put.
When looking over a list of men’s names in a
foreign language, as of military officers, or of
authors who have written on a particular subject,
I am reminded once more that there is nothing
in a name. The name Menschikoff, for instance,
has nothing in it to my ears more human than a
whisker, and it may belong to a rat. As the names
of the Poles and Russans are to us, so are ours to
them. It is as if they had been named by the
child’s rigmarole—levy wiery ichery van, tittletol-tan. I see in my mind a herd of wild creatures
swarming over the earth, and to each the herds-
�34
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
man has affixed some barbarous sound in his own
dialect. The names of men are of course as cheap
and meaningless as Bose and Tray, the names of
dogs.
Methinks it would be some advantage to philo
sophy if men were named merely in the gross, as
they are known.
It would be necessary only to
know the genus, and perhaps the race or variety,
to know the individual.
We are not prepared to
believe that every private soldier in a Roman army
had a name of his own, because we have not sup
posed that he had a character of his own. At
present, our only true names are nicknames. I
knew a boy who, from his peculiar energy, was
called “Buster ” by his playmates, and this rightly
supplanted his Christian name. Some travellers
tell us that an Indian had no name given him at
first, but earned it, and his name was his fame ;
and among some tribes he acquired a new name
with every new exploit. It is pitiful when a man
bears a name for convenience merely, who has
earned neither name nor fame.
I will not allow mere names to make distinctions
for me, but still see men in herds for all them.
A familiar name cannot make a man less strange
to me. It may be given to a savage who retains
in secret his own wild title earned in the woods.
We have a wild savage in us, and a savage name
is perchance somewhere recorded as ours. I see
that my neighbour, who bears the familiar epithet
William, or Edwin, takes it off with his jacket. It
does not adhere to him when asleep or in anger, or
aroused by any passion or inspiration. I seem to
hear pronounced by some of his kin at such a time
his original wild name in some jaw-breaking or
else melodious tongue.
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
I
i
5
35
Here is this vast, savage, howling mother of
ours, Nature, lying all around, with such beauty,
and such affection for her children, as the leopard ;
and yet we are so early weaned from her breast to
society, to that culture which is exclusively an
interaction of man on man—a sort of breeding in
and in, which produces at most a merely English
nobility, a civilization destined to have a speedy
limit.
In society, in the best institutions of men, it is
easy to detect a certain precocity. When we
should still be growing children, we are already
little men. Give me a culture which imports
much muck from the meadows, and deepens the
soil—not that which trusts to heating manures and
improved implements and modes of culture only.
Many a poor sore-eyed student that I have
heard of would grow faster, both intellectually
and physically, if, instead of sitting up so very late,
he honestly slumbered a fool’s allowance.
There may be an excess even of informing light.
Niepce, a Frenchman, discovered “ actinism,”
that power in the sun’s rays which produces a
chemical effect,—that granite rocks, and stone
structures, and statues of metal, “ are all alike
destructively acted upon during the hours of sun
shine, and, but for provisions of Nature no less
wonderful, would soon perish under the delicate
touch of the most subtile of the agencies of the
universe.” But he observed that “ those bodies
which underwent this, change during the daylight
possessed the power of restoring themselves, to
their original conditions during the hours of night,
when this excitement was no longer influencing
them.” Hence it has been inferred that “ the
hours of darkness are as necessary to the
�36
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
creation as we know night and sleep are to the
organic kingdom.” Not even does the moon shine
every night, but gives place to 1 darkness.
I would not have every man nor every part of
man cultivated, any more than I would have every
acre of earth cultivated : part will be tillage,
but the greater part will be meadow and forest,
not only serving an immediate use, but preparing
a mould against a distant future, by the annual
decay of the vegetation which it supports.
There are other letters for the child to learn
than those which Cadmus invented. The Span
iards have a good term to express this wild and
dusky knowledge,—Gramatica parda, tawny gram
mar,—a kind of mother-wit derived from that
same leopard to which I have referred.
We have heard of a Society for the Diffusion of
Useful Knowledge. It is said that knowledge
is power ; and the like. Methinks there is equal
need of a Society for the Diffusion of Useful Ignor
ance, what we will call Beautiful Knowledge, a
knowledge useful in a higher sense : for what is
most of our boasted so-called knowledge but a
conceit that we know something, which robs us
of the advantage of our actual ignorance ? What
we call knowledge is often our positive ignorance ;
ignorance our negative knowledge. By long years
of patient industry and reading of the newspapers
—for what are the libraries of science but files
of newspapers ?—a man accumulates a myriad
facts, lays them up in his memory, and then
when in some spring of his life he saunters abroad
into the Great Fields of thought, he, as it were,
goes to grass like a horse and leaves all his harness
behind in the stable. I would say to the Society
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, sometimes,
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
37
—Go to grass. You have eaten hay long enough.
The spring has come with its green crop. The
very cows are driven to their country pastures
before the end of May; though I have heard
of one unnatural farmer who kept his cow in the
barn and fed her on hay all the year round. So,
frequently, the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge treats its cattle.
A man’s ignorance sometimes is not only useful,
but beautiful,—while his knowledge, so called, is
oftentimes worse than useless, besides being ugly.
Which is the best man to deal with—he who knows
nothing about a subject, and, what is extremely
rare, knows that he knows nothing, or he who
really knows something about it, but thinks that
he knows all ?
My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but
my desire to bathe my head in atmospheres un
known to my feet is perennial and constant. The
highest that we can attain to is not Knowledge,
but Sympathy with Intelligence. I do not know
that this higher knowledge amounts to anything
more definite than a novel and grand surprise on
a sudden revelation of the insufficiency of all that
we called Knowledge before—a discovery that
there are more things in heaven and earth than
are dreamed of in our philosophy. It is the light
ing up of the mist by the sun. Man cannot know
in any higher sense than this, any more than he
can look serenely and with impunity in the face
of the sun : '0$ t! votin' vv kcivov vo?/crei$,—“ You
will not perceive that, as perceiving a particu
lar thing,” say the Chaldean Oracles.
There is something servile in the habit of seek
ing after a law which we may obey. We may
study the laws of matter at and for our convenience,
�38
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
but a successful life knows no law. It is an un
fortunate discovery certainly, that of a law which
binds us where we did not know before that we
were bound. Live free, child of the mist,—and
with respect to knowledge we are all children of
the mist. The man who takes the liberty to live
is superior to all the laws, by virtue of his rela
tion to the law-maker. “ That is active duty,”
says the Vishnu Purana, “ which is not for our
bondage ; that is knowledge which is for our libera
tion : all other duty is good only unto weariness ;
all other knowledge is only the cleverness of an
artist.”
It is remarkable how few events or crises there are
in our histories; how little exercised we have
been in our minds ; how few experiences we have
had. I would fain be assured that I am growing
apace and rankly, though my very growth dis
turb this dull equanimity,—though it be with
struggle through long, dark, muggy nights or sea
sons of gloom. It would be well if all our lives
were a divine tragedy even, instead of this trivial
comedy or farce. Dante, Bunyan, and others,
appear to have been exercised in their minds
more than we : they were subjected to a kind of
culture such as our district schools and colleges
do not contemplate. Even Mahomet, though
many may scream at his name, had a good deal
more to live for, ay, and to die for, than they have
commonly.
When, at rare intervals, some thought visits one,
as perchance he is walking on a railroad, then
indeed the cars go by without his hearing them.
But soon, by some inexorable law, our life goes
by and the cars return.
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
39
“ Gentle breeze, that wanderest unseen,
And bendest the thistles round Loira of storms,
Traveller of the windy glens,
Why hast thou left my ear so soon ? ”
While almost all men feel an attraction drawing
them to society, few are attracted strongly to
Nature. In their relation to Nature men appear
to me for the most part, notwithstanding their
arts, lower than the animals. It is not often a
beautiful relation, as in the case of the animals.
How little appreciation of the beauty of the land
scape there is among us ! We shall have to be
told that the Greeks called the world Kocr/xos,
Beauty, or Order, but we do not see clearly why,
they did so, and we esteem it at best only a curious
philological fact.
For my part, I feel that with regard to Nature
I live a sort of border life, on the confines of a
world into which I make occasional and transitional
and transient forays only, and my patriotism and
allegiance to the State into whose territories I
seem to retreat are those of a moss-trooper. Unto
a life which I call natural I would gladly follow
even a will-o’-the-wisp through bogs and sloughs
unimaginable, but no moon [nor fire-fly has
shown me the causeway to it.
Nature is a
personality so vast and universal that we have never
seen one of her features. The walker in the familiar
fields which stretch around my native town
sometimes finds himself in another land than is de
scribed in their owners’ deeds, as it were in some far
away field on the confines of the actual Concord,
where her jurisdiction ceases, and the idea which
the word Concord suggests ceases to be suggested.
These farms which I have myself surveyed, these
�ijl&Jgaai
40
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
bounds which I have set up, appear dimly still as
through a mist; but they have no chemistry to fix
them ; they fade from the surface of the glass ;
and the picture which the painter painted stands
out dimly from beneath. The world with which
we are commonly acquainted leaves no trace,
and it will have no anniversary.
I took a walk on Spaulding’s Farm the other
afternoon. I saw the setting sun lighting up the
opposite side of a stately pine wood. Its golden
rays straggled into the aisles of the wood as into
some noble hall. I was impressed as if some an
cient and altogether admirable and shining family
had settled there in that part of the land called
Concord, unknown to me,—to whom the sun
was servant,—who had not gone into society in
the village,—who had not been called on. I saw
their park, their pleasure-ground, beyond through
the wood, in Spaulding’s cranberry-meadow. The
pines furnished them with gables as they grew.
Their house was not obvious to vision; the trees
grew through it. I do not know whether I heard
the sounds of a suppressed hilarity or not. They
seemed to recline on the sunbeams. They have
sons and daughters. They are quite well. The
farmer’s cart-path, which leads directly through
their hall, does not in the least put them out,—
as the muddy bottom of a pool is sometimes seen
through the reflected skies. They never heard of
Spaulding, and do not know that he is their neigh
bour,—notwithstanding I heard him whistle as he
drove his team through the house. Nothing can
equal the serenity of their lives. Their coat of
arms is simply a lichen. I saw it painted on the
pines and oaks. Their attics were in the tops of
the trees. They are of no politics. There was
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
41
no noise of labour. I did not perceive that they
were weaving or spinning. Yet I did detect, when
the wind lulled and hearing was done away, the fin
est imaginable sweet musical hum,—as of a dis
tant hive in May, which perchance was the sound
of their thinking. They had no idle thoughts,
and no one without could see their work, for their
industry was not as in knots and excrescences
embayed.
But I find it difficult to remember them. They
fade irrevocably out of my mind even now while
I speak and endeavour to recall them, and recol
lect myself. It is only after a long and serious
effort to recollect my best thoughts that I become
again aware of their cohabitancy. If it were not
for such families as this, I think I should move
out of Concord.
We are accustomed to say m New England that
few and fewer pigeons visit us every year. Our
forests furnish no mast for them. So, it would
seem, few and fewer thoughts visit each growing
man from year to year, for the grove in our minds
is laid waste,—sold to feed unnecessary fires of
ambition, or sent to mill, and there is scarcely
a twig left for them to perch on. They no longer
build nor breed with us. In some more genial
season, perchance, a faint shadow flits across the
landscape of the mind, cast by the wings of some
thought in its vernal or autumnal migration, but,
looking up, we are unable to detect the substance
of the thought itself. Our winged thoughts are
turned to poultry. They no longer soar, and
they attain only to a Shanghai and Cochin-China
grandeur. Those gra-a-ate thoughts, those gra-a-ate
men you hear of!
�42
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
We hug the earth—how rarely we mount!
Methinks we might elevate ourselves a little more.
We might climb a tree, at least. I found my
account in climbing a tree once. It was a tall
white pine, on the top of a hill; and though I got
well pitched, I was well paid for it, for I discovered
new mountains in the horizon which I had never
seen before,—so much more of the earth and the
heavens. I might have walked about the foot
of the tree for threescore years and ten, and yet
I certainly should never have seen them. But,
above all, I discovered around me,—it was near the
end of June,—on the ends of the topmost branches
only, a few minute and delicate red cone-like
blossoms, the fertile flower of the white pine look
ing heavenward. I carried straightway to the
village the topmost spire, and showed it to stranger
jurymen who walked the streets,—for it was court week,—and to farmers and lumber-dealers and
wood-choppers and hunters, and not one had ever
seen the like before, but they wondered as at a
star dropped down. Tell of ancient architects
finishing their works on the tops of columns as
perfectly as on the lower and more visible parts !
Nature has from the first expanded the minute
blossoms of the forest only toward the heavens,
above men’s heads and unobserved by them.
We see only the flowers that are under our feet
in the meadows. The pines have developed their
delicate blossoms on the highest twigs of the wood
every summer for ages, as well over the heads of
Nature’s red children as of her white ones yet
scarcely a farmer or hunter in the land has ever
seen them
Above all, we cannot afford not to live in the
�WALKING, AND THE WILD
43
present. He is blessed over all mortals who loses
no moment of the passing life in remembering
the past. Unless our philosophy hears the cock
crow in every barn-yard within our horizon, it
is belated. That sound commonly reminds us
that we are growing rusty and antique in our
employments and habits of thought. His philoso
phy comes down to a more recent time than ours.
There is something suggested by it that is a newer
testament—the gospel according to this moment.
He has not fallen astern ; he has got up early and
kept up early, and to be where he is to be in season,
in the foremost rank of time. It is an expression
of the health and soundness of Nature, a brag for
all the world,—healthiness as of a spring burst
forth, a new fountain of the Muses, to celebrate
this last instant of time. Where he lives no fugi
tive slave laws are passed. Who has not betrayed
his master many times since last he heard that note?
The merit of this bird’s strain is in its freedom
from all plaintiveness. The singer can easily
move us to tears or to laughter, but where is he
who can excite in us a pure morning joy ? When,
in doleful dumps, breaking the awful stillness of
our wooden sidewalk on a Sunday, or, perchance, a
watcher in the house of mourning, I hear a cockerel
crow far or near, I think to myself, “ There is one
of us well, at any rate,”—and with a sudden gush
return to my senses.
We had a'remarkable sunset one day last Novem
ber. I was walking in a meadow, the source
of a small brook, when the sun at last, just before
setting, after a cold grey day, reached a clear stra
tum in the horizon, and the softest, brightest
morning sunlight fell on the dry grass and on the
�44
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
stems of the trees in the opposite horizon, and on
the leaves of the shrub-oaks on the hill-side,
while our shadows stretched long over the meadow
eastward, as if we were the only motes in its beams.
It was such a light as we could not have imagined
a moment before, and the air also was so warm
and serene that nothing was wanting to make a
paradise of that meadow. When we reflected
that this was not a solitary phenomenon, never to
happen again, but that it would happen for ever and
ever an infinite number of evenings, and cheer
and reassure the latest child that walked there,
it was more glorious still.
The sun sets on some retired meadow, where no
house is visible, with all the glory and splen
dour that it lavishes on cities, and, perchance, as
it has never set before,—where there is but a soli
tary marsh-hawk to have his wings gilded by it,
or only a musquash looks out from his cabin, and
there is some little black-veined brook in the midst
of the marsh, just beginning to meander, winding
slowly round a decaying stump. We walked
in so pure and bright a light, gilding the withered
grass and leaves, so softly and serenely bright,
I thought I had never bathed in such a golden
flood, without a ripple or a murmur to it. The
west side of every wood and rising ground gleamed
like the boundary of Elysium, and the sun on our
backs seemed like a gentle herdsman driving us
home at evening.
So we saunter toward the Holy Land, till one
day the sun shall shine more brightly than ever
he has done, shall perchance shine into our minds
and hearts, and light up our whole lives with a great
awakening light, as warm and serene and golden
as on a bank-side in autumn.
�Song of the Open Road
WALT WHITMAN
FOOT and light-hearted I take to the open
road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading whereever I choose.
A
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am
good fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more,
need nothing.
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous
criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient.
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
1 know they suffice for those who belong to them.
(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with
me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)
46
�46
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
2
You road I enter upon and look around, I believe
you are not all that is here,
I believe that much unseen is also here.
Here the profound lesson of reception, nor pre
ference nor denial,
The black with his woolly head, the felon, the
diseas’d, the illiterate person, are not denied ;
The birth, the hasting after the physician, the
beggar’s tramp, the drunkard’s stagger, the
laughing party of mechanics,
The escaped youth, the rich person’s carriage,
the fop, the eloping couple,
The early market man, the hearse, the moving
of furniture into the town, the return back
from the town,
They pass, I also pass, anything passes, none can
be interdicted,
None but are accepted, none but shall be dear to
me.
3
You air that serves me with breath to speak !
You objects that call from diffusion my meanings
and give them shape !
You light that wraps me and all things in delicate
equable showers !
You paths worn in the irregular hollows by the road
sides !
I believe you are latent with unseen existences,
you are so dear to me.
�THE SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD
47
You flagg’d walks of the cities ! you strong curbs
at the edges !
You ferries ! you planks and posts of wharves !
you timber-lined sides ! you distant ships !
You rows of houses ! you window-pierc’d facades !
you roofs !
You porches and entrances ! you copings and iron
guards !
You windows whose transparent shells might
expose so much !
You doors and ascending steps! you arches!
You grey stones of interminable pavements!
you trodden crossings !
From all that has touch’d you I believe you have
imparted to yourselves, and now would impart
the same secretly to me,
From the living and the dead you have peopled
your impassive surfaces, and the spirits thereof
would be evident and amicable with me.
4
The earth expanding right hand and left hand,
The picture alive, every part in its best light,
The music falling in where it is wanted, and
stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road, the gay
fresh sentiment of the road.
0 highway I travel, do you say to me Do not
leave me ?
Do you say Venture not—if you leave me you are
lost ?
Do you say I am already prepared, I am well beaten
and undenied, adhere to me ?
�48
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave
you, yet I love you,
You express me better than I can express myself,
You shall be more to me than my poem.
I think heroic deeds were all conceiv’d in the open
air, and all free poems also,
I think I could stop here myself and do miracles,
I think whatever I meet on the road I shall like,
and whoever beholds me shall like me,
I think whoever I see must be happy.
5
From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits
and imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master total and ab
solute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating.
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself
of the holds that would hold me.
I inhale great draughts of space.
The east and the west are mine, and the north and
the south are mine.
I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness.
All seems beautiful to me,
I can repeat over to men and women" You have
done such good to me I would do the same to
you,
�THE SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD
49
I will recruit for myself and you as I go,
I will scatter myself among men and women as
I go,
I will toss a new gladness and roughness among
them,
Whoever denies me it shall not trouble me,
Whoever accepts me he or she shall be blessed
and shall bless me.
6
Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear
it would not amaze me,
Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women
appear’d it would not astonish me.
Now I see the secret of the making of the best
persons,
It is to grow in the open air and eat and sleep
with the earth.
Here a great personal deed has room,
(Such a deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole
race of men,
Its effusion of strength and will overwhelm laws
and mocks all authority and all argument
against it.)
Here is the test of wisdom,
Wisdom is not finally tested in schools,
Wisdom cannot be pass’d from one having it to
another not having it,
Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof,
is its own proof,
Applies to all stages and objects and qualities
and is content,
�50
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
Is the certainty of the reality and immortality
of things, and the excellence of things ;
Something there is in the float of the sight of things
that provokes it out of the soul.
Now I re-examine philosophies and religions,
They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not
prove at all under the spacious clouds and
along the landscape and flowing currents.
Here is realization,
Here is a man tallied—he realizes here what he
has in him,
The past, the future, majesty, love—if they are
vacant of you, you are vacant of them.
Only the kernel of every object nourishes ;
Where is he who tears off the husks for you and
me ?
Where is he that undoes stratagems and envelopes
for you and me ?
Here is adhesiveness, it is not previously fashion’d,
it is apropos;
Do you know what it is as you pass to be loved
by strangers ?
Do you know the talk of those turning eye-balls ?
7
Here is the efflux of the soul,
The efflux of the soul comes from within through
embower’d gates, ever provoking questions.
These yearnings why are they ? these thoughts in
the darkness why are they ?
Why are there men and women that while they are
nigh me the sunlight expands my blood ?
�THE SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD
51
Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy
sink flat and lank ?
Why are there trees I never walk under but large
and melodious thoughts descend upon me ?
(I think they hang there winter and summer on
those trees and almost drop fruit as I pass ;)
What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers?
What with some driver as I ride on the seat by
his side ?
What with some fisherman drawing his seine by
" the shore as I walk by and pause ?
What gives me to be free to a woman’s and man’s
good-will ? what gives them to be free to
mine ?
8
The efflux of the soul is happiness, here is happi
ness.
I think it pervades the open air, waiting at all
times,
Now it flows unto us, we are rightly charged.
Here rises the fluid and attaching character,
The fluid and attaching character is the freshness
and sweetness of man and woman,
(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and
sweeter every day out of the roots of them
selves, than it sprouts fresh and sweet continu
ally out of itself.)
Toward the fluid and attaching character exudes
the sweat of the love of young and old,
From it falls distill’d the charm that mocks beauty
and attainments,
Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of
contact.
�52
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
9
Allons ! whoever you are come travel with me !
Travelling with me you find what never tires.
The earth never tires,
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at
first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible
at first,
Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine
things well envelop’d,
I swear to you there are divine things more beauti
ful than words can tell.
Allons ! we must not stop here,
However sweet these laid-up stores, however
convenient this dwelling we cannot remain
here,
However shelter’d this port and however calm
these waters we must not anchor here,
However welcome the hospitality that surrounds
us we are permitted to receive it but a little
while.
io
Allons ! the inducements shall be greater,
We will sail pathless and wild seas,
We will go where winds blow, waves dash, and the
Yankee clipper speeds by under full sail.
Allons ! with power, liberty, the earth, the ele
ments,
Health, defiance, gaiety, self-esteem, curiosity;
Allons ! from all formulas !
From your formulas, O bat-eyed and materialis
tic priests.
�THE SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD
53
The stale cadaver blocks up the passage—the
burial waits no longer.
Allons I yet take warning !
He travelling with me needs the best blood, thews,
endurance,
None may come to the trial till he or she bring
courage and health,
Come not here if you have already spent the best
of yourself,
Only those may come who come in sweet and
determined bodies,
No diseas’d person, no rum drinker or venereal
taint is permitted here.
(I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes,
rhymes,
We convince by our presence.)
ii
’
Listen ! I will be honest with you,
I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough
new prizes,
These are the days that must happen to you :
You shall not heap up what is call’d riches :
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you
earn or achieve,
You but arrive at the city to which you were des
tin’d, you hardly settle yourself to satisfac
tion before you are call’d by an irresistible
call to depart,
You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and
mockings of those who remain behind you,
What beckonings of love you receive you shall only
answer with passionate kisses of parting,
You shall not allow the hold of those who spread
their reach’d hands toward you.
�54
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
12
Allons ! after the great Companions, and to belong
to them !
They too are on the road—they are the swift and
majestic men—they are the greatest women,
Enjoyers of calms of seas and storms of seas,
Sailors of many a ship, walkers of many a mile of
land,
Habitues of many distant countries, habitues
of far distant dwellings,
Trusters of men and women, observers of cities,
solitary toilers,
Pausers and contemplators of tufts, blossoms,
shells of the shore,
Dancers at wedding-dances, kissers of brides,
tender helpers of children, bearers of children,
Soldiers of revolts, standers by gaping graves,
lowerers-down of coffins,
Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the years,
the curious years each emerging from that
which preceded it,
Journeyers as with companions, namely their own
diverse phases,
Forth-steppers from the latent unrealized babydays,
Journeyers gaily with their own youth, journeyers
with their bearded and well-grain’d manhood,
Journeyers with their womanhood, ample, unsur
pass’d, content,
Journeyers with their own sublime old age, of man
hood or womanhood,
Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty
breadth of the universe,
Old age, flowing free with the delicious near-by free
dom of death.
�THE SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD
55
13
Allons ! to that which is endless as it was begin
ningless,
To undergo much, tramps of days, rests of nights,
To merge all in the travel they tend to, and the
days and nights they tend to,
Again to merge them in the start of superior
journeys,
To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach
it and pass it,
To conceive no time, however distant, but what you
may reach it and pass it,
To look up or down the road but it stretches and
waits for you, however long but it stretches
and waits for you,
To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go
thither,
To see no possession but may possess it, enjoying
all without labour or purchase, abstracting
the feast yet not abstracting one particle of it,
To take the best of the farmer’s farm and the rich
man’s elegant villa, and the chaste blessings
of the well-married couple, and the fruits
of orchards and flowers of gardens,
To take to your use out of the compact cities as
x
you pass through,
To carry buildings and streets with you afterward
where-ever you go,
To gather the minds of men out of their brains as
you encounter them, to gather the love out
of their hearts.
To take your lovers on the road with you, for all
that you leave them behind you,
To know the universe itself as a road, as many
roads, as roads for travelling souls.
�56
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
All parts away for the progress of souls,
All religion, all solid things, arts, governments—
all that was or is apparent upon this globe
or any globe, falls into niches and corners
before the procession of souls along the grand
roads of the universe.
Of the progress of the souls of men and women
along the grand roads of the universe, all
other progress is the needed emblem and
sustenance.
Forever alive, forever forward,
Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad,
turbulent, feeble, dissatisfied,
Desperate, p oud, fond, sick, accepted by men,
rejected by men,
They go ! they go ! I know that they go, but I know
know not where they go,
But I know that they go toward the best—toward
something great.
Whoever you are, come forth ! or man or woman
come forth !
You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in
the house, though you built it, or though it
has been built for you.
Out of the dark confinement! out from behind the
screen !
It is useless to protest, I know all and expose it.
Behold through you as bad as the rest,
Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping,
of people,
Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those
wash’d and trimm’d faces,
Behold a secret silent loathing and despair.
�THE SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD
57
No husband, no wife, no friend, trusted to hear
the confession,
Another self, a duplicate of every one, skulking
and hiding it goes,
Formless and wordless through the streets of the
cities, polite and bland in the parlours,
In the cars of railroads, in steamboats, in the public
assembly,
Home to the houses of men and women, at the
table, in the bed-room, everywhere,
Smartly attired, countenance smiling, form up
right, death under the breast-bones, hell under
the skull-bones,
Under the broadcloth and gloves, under the ribbons
and artificial flowers,
Keeping fair with the customs, speaking not a
syllable of itself.
Speaking of anything else, but never of itself.
14
Allons ! through struggles and wars !
The goal that was named cannot be counter
manded.
Have the past struggles succeeded ?
What has succeeded ? yourself ? your nation ?
Nature ?
Now understand me well—it is provided in the
essence of things that from any fruition of
success, no matter what, shall come forth some
thing to make a greater struggle necessary.
My call is the call of the battle, I nourish active
rebellion,
He going with me must go well arm’d,
He going with me goes often with spare diet,
poverty, angry enemies, desertions.
�58
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
15
Allons ! the road is before us !
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have
tried it well—be not detain’d !
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and
the book on the shelf unopen’d !
Let the tools remain in the workshop ! let the
money remain unearn’d!
Let the school stand ! mind not the cry of the
teacher !
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer
plead in the court, and the judge expound the
law.
Camerado, I will give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law ;
Will you give me yourself ? will you come travel
with me ?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live ?
�The Exhilarations of the Road
JOHN BURROUGHS
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road.
—Whitman.
CCASIONALLY on the sidewalk, amid the
dapper, swiftly-moving, high-heeled boots
and gaiters, I catch a glimpse of the naked human
foot. Nimbly it scuds along, the toes spread,
the sides flatten, the heel protrudes ; it grasps
the curbing, or bends to the form of the uneven
surfaces,—a thing sensuous and alive, that seems
to take cognizance of whatever it touches or
passes. How primitive and uncivil it looks in
such company,—a real barbarian in the parlour.
We are so unused to the human anatomy, to
simple, unadorned nature, that it looks a little
repulsive ; but it is beautiful for all that. Though
it be a black foot and an unwashed foot, it shall
be exalted. It is a thing of life amid leather,
a free spirit amid cramped, a wild bird amid
caged, an athlete amid consumptives. It is the
symbol of my order, the Order of Walkers. That
unhampered, vitally playing piece of anatomy
is the type of the pedestrian, manTreturned to
first principles, in direct contact and intercourse
with the earth and the elements, his faculties
unsheathed, his mind plastic, his body toughened,
O
�6o
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
his heart light, his soul dilated : while those
cramped and distorted members in the calf and
kid are the unfortunate wretches doomed to car
riages and cushions.
I am not going to advocate the disuse of boots
and shoes, or the abandoning of the improved
modes of travel; but I am going to brag as
lustily as I can on behalf of the pedestrian, and
show how all the shining angels second and
accompany the man who goes afoot, while all
the dark spirits are ever looking out for a chance
to ride.
When I see the discomforts that able-bodied
American men will put up with rather than go
a mile or half a mile on foot, the abuses they
will tolerate and encourage, crowding the street
car on a little fall in the temperature or the
appearance of an inch or two of snow, packing
up to overflowing, dangling to the straps, tread
ing on each other’s toes, breathing each other’s
breaths, crushing the women and children, hang
ing by tooth and nail to a square inch of the
platform, imperilling their limbs and killing the
horses,—I think the commonest tramp in the
street has good reason to felicitate himself on
his rare privilege of going afoot. Indeed, a race
that neglects or despises this primitive gift,
| that fears the touch of the soil, that has no foot
paths, no community of ownership in the land
which they imply, that warns off the walker as
a trespasser, that knows no way but the highway,
the carriage-way, that forgets the stile, the foot
bridge, that even ignores the rights of the pedesi train in the public road, providing no escape
I for him but in the ditch or up the bank, is in a
j fair way to far more serious degeneracy.
�THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD
6i
Shakespeare makes the chief qualification of
the walker a merry heart :—
“Jog on, jog on, the foot-'path way,
And merrily hent the stile-a ;
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.”
The human body is a steed that goes freest
and longest under a light rider, and the lightest
of all riders is a cheerful heart. Your sad, or
morose, or embittered, or preoccupied heart
settles heavily into +he saddle, and the poor
beast, the body, breaks down the first mile. In
deed, the heaviest thing in the world is a heavy
heart. Next to that the most burdensome to
the walker is a heart not in perfect sympathy and
accord with the body—a reluctant or unwilling
heart. The horse and rider must not only both
be willing to go the same way, but the rider
must lead the way and infuse his own lightness
and eagerness into the steed. Herein is no doubt
our trouble and one reason of the decay of the
noble art in this country. We are unwilling
walkers. We are not innocent and simple' hearted enough to enjoy a walk. We have fallen
from that state of grace which capacity to enjoy
a walk implies. It cannot be said that as a
people we are so positively sad, or morose, or
melancholic as that we are vacant of that sport
iveness and surplusage of animal spirits that
characterized our ancestors, and that springs
from full and harmonious life,—a sound heart
in accord with a sound body. A man must in
vest himself near at hand and in common things,
and be content with a steady and moderate
�62
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
return, if he would know the blessedness of a
cheerful heart and the sweetness of a walk over
the round earth. This is a lesson the American
has yet to learn—capability of amusement on a
low key. He expects rapid and extraordinary
returns. He would make the very elemental
laws pay usury. He has nothing to invest in a
walk ; it is too slow, too cheap. We crave the
astonishing, the exciting, the far away, and do
not know the highways of the gods when we see
them,—always a sign of the decay of the faith
and simplicity of man.
If I say to my neighbour, “ Come with me, I
have great wonders to show you,” he pricks up
his ears and comes forthwith ; but when I take
him on the hills under the full blaze of the sun,
or along the country road, our footsteps lighted
by the moon and stars, and say to him, “ Behold,
these are the wonders, these are the circuits of
the gods, this we now tread is a morning star,”
he feels defrauded, and as if I had played him a
trick. And yet nothing less than dilatation and
enthusiasm like this is the badge of the master
walker.
If we are not sad we are careworn, hurried,
discontented, mortgaging the present for the
promise of the future. If we take a walk, it is
as we take a prescription, with about the same
relish and with about the same purpose ; and the
more the fatigue the greater our faith in the
virtue of the medicine.
Of those gleesome saunters over the hills in
spring, or those sallies of the body in winter,
those excursions into space when the foot strikes
fire at every step, when the air tastes like a new
and finer mixture, when we accumulate force
�THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD
63
and gladness as we go along, when the sight of
objects by the roadside and of the fields and
woods pleases more than pictures or than all
the art in the world,—those ten or twelve mile
dashes that are but the wit and effluence of the
corporeal powers,—of such diversion and open
road entertainment, I say, most of us know very
little.
I notice with astonishment that at our fashion
able watering-places nobody walks ; that of all
those vast crowds of health-seekers and lovers
of country air, you can never catch one in the
fields or woods, or guilty of trudging along the
country road with dust on his shoes and sun-tan
on his hands and face. The sole amusement
seems to be to eat and dress and sit about the
hotels and glare at each other. The men look
bored, the women look tired, and all seem to
sigh, “ O Lord ! what shall we do to be happy
and not be vulgar ? ” Quite different from our
British cousins across the water, who have
plenty of amusement and hilarity, spending
most of the time at their watering-places in the
open air, strolling, picnicking, boating, climbing,
briskly walking, apparently with little fear of
sun-tan or of compromising their “ gentility.”
It is indeed astonishing with what ease and
hilarity the English walk. To an American it
seems a kind of infatuation. When Dickens
was in this country I imagine the aspirants to
the honour of a walk with him were not numerous.
In a pedestrian tour of England by an American,
I read that “ after breakfast with the Inde
pendent minister, he walked with us for six
miles out of town upon our road. Three little
boys and girls, the youngest six years old, also
�64
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
accompanied us. They were romping and ramb
ling about all the while, and their morning walk
must have been as much as fifteen miles ; but
they thought nothing of it, and when we parted
were apparently as fresh as when they started,
and very loath to return.”
I fear, also, the American is becoming dis
qualified for the manly art of walking, by a
falling off in the size of his foot. He cherishes
and cultivates this part of his anatomy, and
apparently thinks his taste and good breeding
are to be inferred from its diminutive size. A
small, trim foot, well booted or gaitered, is the
national vanity. How we stare at the big feet
of foreigners, and wonder what may be the price
of leather in those countries, and where all the
aristocratic blood is, that these plebeian ex
tremities so predominate. If we were admitted
to the confidences of the shoemaker to Her
Majesty or to His Royal Highness, no doubt
we would modify our views upon this latter
point, for a truly large and royal nature is never
stunted in the extremities ; a little foot never
yet supported a great character.
It is said that Englishmen when they first
come to this country are for some time under
the impression that American women all have
deformed feet, they are so coy of them and so
studiously careful to keep them hid. That
there is an astonishing difference between the
women of the two countries in this respect,
every traveller can testify ; and that there is a
difference equally astonishing between the pedes
trian habits and capabilities of the rival sisters
is also certain.
The English pedestrian, no doubt, has the
�THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD
65
advantage of us in the matter of climate ; for
notwithstanding the traditional gloom and mo
roseness of English skies, they have in that country
none of those relaxing, sinking, enervating days,
of which we have so many here, and which seem
especially trying to the female constitution—
days which withdraw all support from the back
and loins, and render walking of all things burden
some. Theirs is a climate of which it has been said
that “ it invites men abroad more days in the year
and more hours in the day than that of any other
country.”
Then their land is threaded with paths which
invite the walker, and which are scarcely less
important than the highways. I heard of a surly
nobleman near London who took it into his head
to close a foot-path that passed through his estate
near his house, and open another one a little
farther off. The pedestrians objected ; the matter
got into the courts, and after protracted litigation
the aristocrat was beaten. The path could not
be closed or moved. The memory of man ran
not to the time when there was not a foot-path
there, and every pedestrian should have the right
of way there still.
I remember the pleasure I had in the path that
connects Stratford-on-Avon with Shottery, Shake
speare’s path when he went courting Anne Hath
away. By the king’s highway the distance is
some further, so there is a well-worn path along
the hedgerows and through the meadows and
turnip patches. The traveller in it has the privilege
of crossing the railroad track, an unusual privilege
in England, and one denied to the lord in his
carriage, who must either go over or under it.
(It is a privilege, is it not, to be allowed the forE
�66
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
bidden, even if it be the privilege of being run
over by the engine ?) In strolling over the South
Downs, too, I was delighted to find that where
the hill was steepest some benefactor of the order
of walkers had made notches in the sward, so that
the foot could bite the better and firmer; the
path became a kind of stairway, which I have no
doubt the plough-man respected.
When you see an English country church with
drawn, secluded, out of the reach of wheels, stand
ing amid grassy graves and surrounded by noble
trees, approached by paths and shaded lanes,
you appreciate more than ever this beautiful
habit of the people. Only a race that knows how
to use its feet, and holds foot-paths sacred, could
put such a charm of privacy and humility into
such a structure. I think I should be tempted
to go to church myself if I saw all my neighbours
starting off across the fields or along paths that
led to such charmed spots, and was sure I would
not be jostled or run over by the rival chariots
of the worshippers at the temple doors. I think
this is what ails our religion; humility and de
voutness of heart leave one when he lays by his
walking shoes and walking clothes, and sets out
for church drawn by something.
Indeed, I think it would be tantamount to an
astonishing revival of religion if the people would
all walk to church on Sunday and walk home again.
Think how the stones would preach to them by
the wayside; how their benumbed minds would
warm up beneath the friction of the gravel; how
their vain and foolish thoughts, their desponding
thoughts, their besetting demons of one kind and
another, would drop behind them, unable to keep
up or to endure the fresh air. They would walk
�THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD
67
away from their ennui, their worldly cares, their
uncharitableness, their pride of dress; for these
devils always want to ride, while the simple vir
tues are never so happy as when on foot. Let us
walk by all means ; but if we will ride, get an ass.
Then the English claim that they are a more
hearty and robust people than we are. It is
certain they are a plainer people, have plainer
tastes, dress plainer, build plainer, speak plainer,
keep closer to facts, wear broader shoes and
coarser clothes, place a lower estimate on them
selves, etc.—all of which traits favour pedestrian
habits. The English grandee is not confined to
his carriage; but if the American aristocrat
leaves his, he is ruined. Oh, the weariness, the
emptiness, the plotting, the seeking rest and
finding none, that goes by in the carriages ! while
your pedestrian is always cheerful, alert, refreshed,
with his heart in his hand and his hand free to all.
He looks down upon nobody; he is on the common
level. His pores are all open, his circulation is
active, his digestion good. His heart is not cold,
nor his faculties asleep. He is the only real
traveller ; he alone tastes the “ gay, fresh sentiment
of the road.” He is not isolated, but one with
things, with the farms and industries on either hand.
The vital, universal currents play through him.
He knows the ground is alive ; he feels the pulses
of the wind, and reads the mute language of things.
His sympathies are all aroused; his senses are
continually reporting messages to his mind. Wind,
frost, rain, heat, cold, are something to him. He
is not merely a spectator of the panorama of
nature, but a participator in it. He experiences
the country he passes through—tastes it, feels
it, absorbs it; the traveller in his fine carriage sees
�68
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
it merely. This gives the fresh charm to that
class of books that may be called “ Views Afoot,”
and to the narratives of hunters, naturalists,
exploring parties, etc. The walker does not
need a large territory. When you get into a
railway car you want a continent, the man in
his carriage requires a township; but a walker
like Thoreau finds as much and more along the
shores of Walden Pond. The former, as it were,
has merely time to glance at the headings of the
chapters, while the latter need not miss a line,
and Thoreau reads between the lines. Then the
walker has the privilege of the fields, the woods,
the hills, the by-ways. The apples by the road
side are for him, and the berries, and the spring
of water, and the friendly shelter; and if the
weather is cold, he eats the frost grapes and the
persimmons, or even the white meated turnip,
snatched from the field he passed through, with
incredible relish.
Afoot and in the open road, one has a fair start
in life at last. There is no hindrance now. Let
him put his best foot forward. He is on the
broadest human plane. This is on the level of
all the great laws and heroic deeds. From this
platform he is eligible to any good fortune. He
was sighing for the golden age ; let him walk to
it. Every step brings him nearer. The youth
of the world is but a few days’ journey distant.
Indeed, I know persons who think they have
walked back to that fresh aforetime of a single
bright Sunday in autumn or early spring. Before
noon they felt its airs upon their cheeks, and by
nightfall, on the banks of some quiet stream, or
along some path in the wood, or on some hill-top,
aver they have heard the voices and felt the
�THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD
69
wonder and the mystery that so enchanted the
early races of men.
I think if I could walk through a country I
should not only see many things and have ad
ventures that I should otherwise miss, but that
I should come into relations with that country
at first hand, and with the men and women in
it, in a way that would afford the deepest satis
faction. Hence I envy the good fortune of all
walkers, and feel like joining myself to every
tramp that comes along. I am jealous of the
clergyman I read about the other day who footed
it from Edinburgh to London, as poor Effie Deans
did, carrying her shoes in her hand most of the
way, and over the ground that rugged Ben Jonson
strode, larking it to Scotland, so long ago. I
read with longing of the pedestrian feats of college
youths, so gay and light-hearted, with their coarse
shoes on their feet and their knapsacks on their
backs. It would have been a good draught of
the rugged cup to have walked with Wilson the
ornithologist, deserted by his companions, from
Niagara to Philadelphia through the snows of
winter. I almost wish that I had been born to
the career of a German mechanic, that I might
have had that delicious adventurous year of
wandering over my country before I settled down
to work. I think how much richer and firmergrained fife would be to me if I could journey afoot
through Florida and Texas, or follow the windings
of the Platte or the Yellowstone, or stroll through
Oregon, or browse for a season about Canada.
In the bright inspiring days of autumn I only
want the time and the companion to walk back
to the natal spot, the family nest, across two
States and into the mountains of a third. What
�7°
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
adventures we would have by the way, what
hard pulls, what prospects from hills, what spec
tacles we would behold of night and day, what
passages with dogs, what glances, what peeps
into windows, what characters we should fall in
with, and how seasoned and hardy we should
arrive at our destination !
For companion I should want a veteran of the
war ! Those marches put something into him I
like. Even at this distance his mettle is but little
softened. As soon as he gets warmed up it all
comes back to him. He catches your step and
away you go, a gay, adventurous, half predatory
couple. How quickly he falls into the old ways
of jest and anecdote and song ! You may have
known him for years without having heard him
hum an air, or more than casually revert to the
subject of his experience during the war. You
have even questioned and cross-questioned him
without firing the train you wished. But get
him out on a vacation tramp, and you can walk
it all out of him. By the camp-fire at night or
swinging along the streams by day, song, anecdote,
adventure, come to the surface, and you wonder
how your companion has kept silent so long.
It is another proof of how walking brings out
the true character of a man. The devil never
yet asked his victims to take a walk with him.
You will not be long in finding your companion
out. All disguises will fall away from him. As
his pores open his character is laid bare. His
deepest and most private self will come to the
top. It matters little whom you ride with, so
he be not a pickpocket; for both of you will,
very likely, settle down closer and firmer in your
reserve, shaken down like a measure of corn by
�THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD
& i
t
.
‘
I
i
71
the jolting as the journey proceeds. But walk
ing is a more vital copartnership ; the relation
is a closer and more sympathetic one, and you
do not feel like walking ten paces with a stranger
without speaking to him.
.
1
Hence the fastidiousness of the professional
walker in choosing or admitting a companion,
and hence the truth of a remark of Emerson that
you will generally fare better to take your dog
than to invite your neighbour. Your cur-dog is
a true pedestrian, and your neighbour is very
likely a small politician. The dog enters thoroughly into the spirit of the enterprise; he is
not indifferent or preoccupied; he is constantly
sniffing adventure, laps at every spring, looks
upon every field and wood as a new world to be
explored, is ever on some fresh trail, knows some
thing important will happen a little further on,
gazes with the true wonder-seeing eyes, whatever the spot or whatever the road finds it good
to be there—in short, is just that happy, deli
cious, excursive vagabond that touches one at so
many points, and whose human prototype in a
companion robs miles and leagues of half their
power to fatigue.
.
Persons who find themselves spent in a short
walk to the market or the post-office, or to do a
little shopping, wonder how it is that their pedes
trian friends can compass so many weary miles
and not fall down from sheer exhaustion; ignorant of the fact that the walker is a kind of
projectile that drops far or near according to
the expansive force of the motive that set it in
motion, and that it is easy enough to regulate
the charge according to the distance to be tra
versed. If I am loaded to carry only one mile
�72
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
and am compelled to walk three, I generally
feel more fatigue than if I had walked six under
the proper impetus of preadjusted resolution.
In other words, the will or corporeal mainspring,
whatever it be, is capable of being wound up
to different degrees of tension, so that one may
walk all day nearly as easy as half that time if
he is prepared beforehand. He knows his task,
and he measures and distributes his powers ac
cordingly. It is for this reason that an unknown
road is always a long road. We cannot cast the
mental eye along it and see the end from the
beginning. We are fighting in the dark, and
cannot take the measure of our foe. Every step
must be preordained and provided for in the mind.
Hence also the fact that to vanquish one mile in
the woods seems equal to compassing three in the
open country. The furlongs are ambushed, and
we magnify them.
Then, again, how annoying to be told it is
only five miles to the next place when it is really
eight or ten ! We fall short nearly half the dis
tance, and are compelled to urge and roll the spent
ball the rest of the way.
In such a case walking degenerates from a fine
art to a mechanic art; we walk merely; to get
over the ground becomes the one serious and.
engrossing thought; whereas success in walking
is not to let your right foot know what your left
foot doeth. Your heart must furnish such music
that in keeping time to it your feet will carry you
around the globe without knowing it. The walker
I would describe takes no note of distance; his
walk is a sally, a bon-mot, an unspoken jeu d’esprit;
the ground is his butt, his provocation ; it fur
nishes him the resistance his body craves ; he
�THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD
73
rebounds upon it, he glances off and returns again,
and uses it gaily as his tool.
I do not think I exaggerate the importance
or the charms of pedestrianism, or our need as
a people to cultivate the art. I think it would
tend to soften the national manners, to teach us
the meaning of leisure, to acquaint us with the
charms of the open air, to strengthen and foster
the tie between the race and the land. No one
else looks out upon the world so kindly and charit
ably as the pedestrian ; no one else gives and
takes so much from the country he passes through.
Next to the labourer in the fields, the walker
holds the closest relation to the soil; and he
holds a closer and more vital relation to Nature
because he is freer and his mind more at leisure.
Man takes root at his feet, and at best he is
no more than a potted plant in his house or carriage
till he has established communication with the
soil by the loving and magnetic touch of his soles
to it. Then the tie of association is born ; then
spring those invisible fibres and rootlets through
which character comes to smack of the soil, and
which make a man kindred to the spot of earth he
inhabits.
The roads and paths you have walked along
j^in summer and winter weather, the fields and
hills which you have looked upon in lightness
and gladness of heart, where fresh thoughts have
come into your mind, or some noble prospect
has opened before you, and especially the quiet
ways where you have walked in sweet converse
with your friend, pausing under the trees, drinking
at the spring—henceforth they are not the same ;
a new charm is added; those thoughts spring
there perennial, your friend walks there for ever.
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IN PRAISE OF WALKING
We have produced some good walkers and
saunterers, and some noted climbers; but as a
staple recreation, as a daily practice, the mass
of the people dislike and despise walking. Thoreau
said he was a good horse, but a poor roadster.
I chant the virtues of the roadster as well. I
sing of the sweetness of gravel, good sharp quartz
grit. It is the proper condiment for the sterner
seasons, and many a human gizzard would be
cured of half its ills by a suitable daily allowance
of it. I think Thoreau himself would have profited
immensely by it. His diet was too exclusively
vegetable. A man cannot live on grass alone.
If one has been a lotus-eater all summer, he must
turn gravel-eater in the fall and winter. Those
who have tried it know that gravel possesses an
equal though an opposite charm. It spurs to action.
The foot tastes it and henceforth rests not. The
joy of moving and surmounting, of attrition
and progression, the thirst for space, for miles
and leagues of distance, for sights and prospects,
to cross mountains and thread rivers, and defy
frost, heat, snow, danger, difficulties, seizes it;
and from that day forth its possessor is enrolled
in the noble army of walkers.
�ON GOING A JOURNEY
WILLIAM HAZLITT
NE of the pleasantest things in the world is
going a journey ; but I like to go by myself.
I can enjoy society in a room ; but out of doors
nature is company enough for me. I am then
never less alone than when alone.
O
“ The fields his study, nature was his book.”
I cannot see the wit of walking and talking at
the same time. When I am in the country, I wish
to vegetate like the country. I am not for criticis
ing hedgerows and black cattle. I go out of the
town in order to forget the town and all that is in
it. There are those who for this purpose go to
watering places, and carry the metropolis with
them. I like more elbow-room, and fewer encum
brances. I like solitv. :e, when I give myself up
to it, for the sake of solitude ; nor do I ask for
“ A friend in my retreat,
Whom I may whisper solitude is sweet.”
The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty,
to think, feel, do, just as one pleases. _ We go a
journey chiefly to be free of all impediments and
of all inconveniences ; to leave ourselves behind
much more to get rid of others. It is because I
75
�IN PRAISE OF WALKING
want a little breathing-space to muse on indifferent
matters, where contemplation
May plume her feathers, and let grow her wings
That in the various bustle of resort
Were all too ruffled, and sometimes impair’d.”
that I absent myself from the town for a while
without feeling at a loss the moment I am left
by myself. Instead of a friend in a post-chaise
or in a Tilbury, to exchange good things with and
vary the same stale topics over again, for once
(let me have a truce with impertinence. Give
me the clear blue sky over my head and the green
turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me,
and a three hours march to dinner—and then to
thinking ! It is hard if I cannot start some game
on these lone heaths. I laugh, I run, I leap, I
sing for joy. From the point of yonder rolling
cloud, I plunge into my past being, and revel there,
as the sunburnt Indian plunges headlong into
the wave that wafts him to his native shore. Then
long-forgotten things, like “ sunken wrack and
sunless treasuries,” burst upon my eager sight, and
I begin to feel, think, and be myself again. Instead
of an awkward silence, broken by attempts at
wit or dull commonplaces, mine is that undisturbed
silence of the heart which alone is perfect eloquence.
No one likes puns, alliterations, antitheses,
argument, and analysis better than I do; but I
sometimes had rather be without them. “ Leave,
oh, leave me to my repose ! ” I have just now
other business in hand, which would seem idle to
you; but is with me “ very stuff o’ the con
science.” Is not this wild rose sweet without a
comment ? Does not this daisy leap to my heart
�ON GOING A JOURNEY
77
set in its coat of emerald ? Yet if I were to explain
to you the circumstance that has so endeared it to
me, you would only smile. Had I not better, then,
keep it to myself, and let it serve me to brood over,
from here to yonder craggy point, and from thence
onward to the far-distant horizon ? I should be
but bad company all that way, and therefore
prefer being alone.
I have heard it said that you may, when the
moody fit comes on, walk or ride on by yourself,
and indulge your reveries. But this looks like a
breach of manners, a neglect of others, and
you are thinking all the time that you ought to
rejoin your party. "Out upon such half-faced
fellowship ! ” say I. I like to be either entirely
to myself, or entirely at the disposal of others ;
to talk or be silent, to walk or sit still, to be sociable
or solitary. I was pleased with an observation of
Mr. Cobbett’s, that " he thought it a bad French
custom to drink our wine with our meals, and
that an Englishman ought to do only one thing
at a time.” So I cannot talk and think, or indulge
in melancholy musing and lively conversation,
by fits and starts. " Let me have a companion of
my way,” says Sterne, " were it but to remark
how the shadows lengthen as the sun declines.”
It is beautifully said ; but, in my opinion, this
continual comparing of note interferes with the
involuntary impression of things upon the mind,
and hurts the sentiment.
If you only hint what you feel in a kind of dumb
show, it is insipid; if you have to explain it, it is
making a toil of a pleasure. You cannot read
the book of nature without being perpetually
put to the trouble of translating it for the benefit
of others. I am for this synthetical method on a
�78
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
journey in preference to the analytical. I am
content to lay in a stock of ideas then, and to
examine and anatomize them afterwards. I want
to see my vague notions float like the down of the
thistle before the breeze, and not to have them
entangled in the briars and thorns of controversy.
For once, I like to have it all my own way ; and
this is impossible unless you are alone, or in such
company as I do not covet. I have no objection
to twenty miles of measured road, but not for
pleasure. If you remark the scent of a beanfield
crossing the road, perhaps your fellow-traveller
has no smell. If you point to a distant object,
perhaps he is short-sighted, and has to take out
his glass to look at it. There is a feeling in the
air, a tone in the colour of a cloud, which hits
your fancy, but the effect of which you are unable
to account for. There is then no sympathy,
but an uneasy craving after it, and a dissatisfaction
which pursues you on the way, and in the end
probably produces ill-humour.
Now, I never quarrel with myself, and take
all my own conclusions for granted till I find it
necessary to defend them against objections.
It is not merely that you may not be of accord on
the objects and circumstances that present them
selves before you—these may recall a number of
objects, and lead to associations too delicate and
refined to be possibly communicated to others.
Yet these I love to cherish, and sometimes still
fondly clutch them, when I can escape from the
throng to do so. To give way to our feelings
before company seems extravagance or affecta
tion ; and, on the other hand, to have to unravel
this mystery of our being at every turn, and to
make others take an equal interest in it (otherwise
�ON GOING A JOURNEY
79
the end is not answered), is a task to which few
are competent. We must “ give it an under
standing, but no tongue.” My old friend Cole
ridge, however, could do both. He could go on
in the most delightful explanatory way over hill
and dale a summer’s day, and convert a landscape
into a didactic poem or a Pindaric ode. “ He
talked far above singing.” If I could so clothe
my ideas in sounding and flowing words, I might
perhaps wish to have some one with me to admire
the swelling theme ; or I could be more content,
were it possible for me still to hear his echoing
voice in the woods of All-Forden. They had
“ that fine madness in them which our first poets
had ” ; and if they could have been caught by
some rare instrument, would have breathed such
strains as the following:
“ Here the woods as green
As any, air likewise as fresh and sweet
As when smooth Zephyrus plays on the fleet
Face of the curled streams, with flow’rs as many
As the young spring gives, and as choice as any ;
Here be all new delights, cool streams and wells,
Arbours o’ergrown with woodbines, caves and dells ;
Choose where thou wilt, whilst I sit by and sing,
Or gather rushes to make many a ring
For thy long fingers ; tell thee tales of love,
How the pale Phoebe, hunting in a grove,
First saw the boy Endymion, from whose eyes
She took eternal fire that never dies ;
How she conveyed him softly in a sleep,
His temples bound with poppy, to the steep
Head of old Laimos, where she stoops each night,
Gilding the mountain with her brother's light,
To kiss her sweetest.”
—(Fletcher’s “ Faithful Shepherdess.”
�8o
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
Had I words and images at command like these,
I would attempt to wake the thoughts that he
slumbering on golden ridges in the evening clouds;
but at the sight of nature my fancy, poor as it is,
droops and closes up its leaves, like flowers at
sunset. I can make nothing out on the spot : I
must have time to collect myself.
In general, a good thing spoils out-of-door
prospects ; it should be reserved for Table-Talk.
Lamb is, for this reason, I take it, the worst com
pany in the world out-of-doors ; because he is the
best within. I grant there is one subject on which
it is pleasant to talk on a journey, and that is,
what we shall have for supper when we get to our
inn at night. The open air improves this sort
of conversation or friendly altercation, by setting
a keener edge on appetite.
Every mile of the
road heightens the flavour of the viands we expect
at the end of it. How fine it is to enter some old
town, walled and turreted, just at the approach
of nightfall; or to come to some straggling
village, with the lights streaming through the sur
rounding gloom ; and then after inquiring for the
best entertainment that the place affords, to
“ take one’s ease at one’s inn ! ”
These eventful moments in our lives’ history
are too precious, too full of solid, heartfelt happi
ness, to be frittered and dribbled away in imperfect
sympathy. I would have them all to myself,
and drain them to the last drop ; they will do to
talk of or to write about afterwards. What a
delicate speculation it is, after drinking whole
goblets of tea,
“ The cups that cheer, but not inebriate.”
and letting the fumes ascend into the brain, to sit
�8l
ON GOING A JOURNEY
considering what we shall have for supper—eggs
and a rasher, a rabbit smothered in onions, or an
excellent veal-cutlet! Sancho in such a situation
once fixed on cow-heel; and his choice, though
he could not help it, is not to be disparaged. Then,
in the intervals of pictured scenery and shaudean
contemplation, to catch the preparation and
the stir in the kitchen (getting ready for the
gentleman in the parlour), Procul, o procul esti
profani / These hours are sacred to silence and
to musing, to be treasured up in the memory, and
to feel the source of smiling thoughts hereafter.
I would not waste them in idle talk ; or if I must
have the integrity of fancy broken in upon, I
would rather it were by a stranger than a friend.
A stranger takes his hue and character from
the time and place; he is a part of the furniture
and costume of an inn. If he is a Quaker, or
from the West Riding of Yorkshire, so much
the better. I do not even try to sympathize with
him, and he breaks no squares. How I love to
see the camps of the gypsies, and to sigh my soul
into that sort of life ! If I express this feeling
to another, he may qualify and spoil it with some
objection. I associate nothing with my travelling
companion but present objects and passing events.
In his ignorance of me and my affairs, I in a
manner forget myself. But a friend reminds
me of other things, rips up old grievances, and
destroys the abstraction of the scene. He comes
in ungraciously between us and our imaginary
character. Something is dropped in the course
of conversation that gives a hint of your profession
" and pursuits ; or from having some one with you
that knows the less sublime portions of your his
tory, it seems that other people do. You are
F
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IN PRAISE OF WALKING
no longer a citizen of the world; but your “ un
housed free condition is put into circumspection
and confine.”
The incognito of an inn is one of its striking
privileges—“lord of one’s self, uncumbered with a
name.” Oh, it is great to shake off the trammels
of the world and of public opinion; to lose our
importunate, tormenting, everlasting personal
identity in the elements of nature, and become
the creature of the moment, clear of all ties; to
hold to the universe only by a dish of sweet
breads, and to owe nothing but the score of the
evening; and no longer seeking for applause and
meeting with contempt, to be known by no other
title than the gentleman in the parlour !
One may take one’s choice of all characters in
this romantic state of uncertainty as to one’s real
pretensions, and become indefinitely respectable
and negatively right-worshipful. We baffle pre
judice and disappoint conjecture ; and from being
so to others, begin to be objects of curiosity and
wonder even to ourselves. We are no more those
hackneyed commonplaces that we appear in the
world; an inn restores us to the level of nature,
and quits scores with society ! I have certainly
spent some enviable hours at inns—sometimes
when I have been left entirely to myself, and
have tried to solve some metaphysical problem,
as once at Witham Common, where I found out
the proof that likeness is not a case of the associa
tion of ideas—at other times, when there have been
pictures in the room, as at St. Neot’s (I think it
was), where I first met with Gribelins’ engravings
of the Cartoons, into which I entered at once,
and at a bttle inn on the borders of Wales, where
there happened to be hanging some of Westall’s
�ON GOING A JOURNEY
83
drawings, which I compared triumphantly (for a
theory that I had, not for the admired artist)
with the figure of a girl who had ferried me over
the Severn standing up in a boat between me and
the twilight. At other times I might mention
luxuriating in books, with a peculiar interest in
this way, as I remember sitting up half the night
to read Paul and Virginia, which I picked up at an
inn at Bridgewater, after being drenched in the
rain all day ; and at the same place I got through
two volumes of Madam D’Arblay’s Camilla.
It was on the 10th of April 1798 that I sat down
to a volume of the New Eloise, at the inn at Llan
gollen, over a bottle of sherry and a cold chicken.
The letter I chose was that in which St. Preux
describes his feelings as he first caught a glimpse
from the heights of the Jura of the Pays de baud,
which I had brought with me as a bon bouche to
crown the evening with. It was my birthday,
and I had for the first time come from a place in
the neighbourhood to visit this delightful spot.
The road to Llangollen turns off between Chirk
and Wrexham ; and on passing a certain point
you come all at once upon the valley, which
opens like an amphitheatre, broad, barren hills
rising in majestic state on either side, with “ green
upland swells that echo to the bleat of the flocks ”
below, and the river Dee babbling, over its stony
bed in the midst of them. The valley at this
time “ glittered green with sunny showers,” and
a budding ash-tree dipped its tender branches in
the chiding stream.
How proud, how glad I was to walk along the
highroad that overlooks the delicious prospect,
repeating the lines which I have just quoted from
Mr. Coleridge’s poems ! But besides the prospect
�84
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
which opened beneath my feet, another also opened
to my inward sight, a heavenly vision on which
were written in letters large as Hope could
make them, these four words, Liberty, Genius,
Love, Virtue, which have since faded into the
light of the common day, or mock my idle gaze.
“ The beautiful is vanished, and returns not.”
Still, I would return some time or other to this
enchanted spot; but I would return to it alone.
What other self could I find to share that influx
of thoughts, of regret, and delight, the fragments
of which I could hardly conjure up to myself, so
much have they been broken and defaced ? I
could stand on some tall rock, and overlook the
precipice of years that separates me from what I
then was. I was at that time going shortly to
visit the poet whom I have above named. Where
is he now ? Not only I myself have changed;
the world, which was then new to me, has become
old and incorrigible. Yet will I turn to thee in
thought, O sylvan Dee, in joy, in youth and gladness,
as thou then wert; and thou shall always be to
me the river of Paradise, where I will drink of the
waters of life freely !
There is hardly anything that shows the short
sightedness or capriciousness of the imagination
more than travelling does. With change of place
we change our ideas; nay, our opinions and feel
ings. We can by an effort, indeed, transport
ourselves to old and long forgotten scenes, and
then the picture of the mind revives again; but
we forget those that we have just left. It seems
that we can think but of one place at a time. The
canvas of the fancy is but of a certain extent, and
�ON GOING A JOURNEY
85
if we paint one set of objects upon it, they imme
diately efface every other. We cannot enlarge
our conceptions, we only shift our point of view.
The landscape bares its bosom to the enraptured
eye; we take our fill of it, and seem as if we
could form no other image of beauty or grandeur.
We pass on, and think no more of it: the horizon
that shuts it from our sight also blots it from our
memory like a dream. In travelling through a
wild, barren country, I can form no idea of a
woody and cultivated one. It appears to me
that all the world must be barren, like what I see
of it. In the country we forget the town, and in
town we despise the country. “ Beyond Hyde
Park,” says Sir Topling Flutter, “ all is desert.”
All that part of the map that we do not see before
us is blank. The world in our conceit of it is not
much bigger than a nutshell. It is not one prospect
expanded into another, county joined to county,
kingdom to kingdom, land to seas, making an
image voluminous and vast; the mind can form
no larger idea of space than the eye can take in at
a single glance. The rest is a name written in a
map, a calculation of arithmetic.
For instance, what is the true signification of
that immense mass of territory and population
known by the name of China to us ? An inch of
pasteboard on a wooden globe, of no more account
than a china orange ! Things near us are seen
of the size of life ; things at a distance are dimin ished to the size of the understanding. We measure
the universe by ourselves, and even comprehend
the texture of our beings only piecemeal. In
this way, however, we remember an infinity of
things and places. The mind is like a mechanical
instrument that plays a great variety of tunes,
�86
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
but it must play them in succession. One idea
recalls another, but it at the same time excludes all
others. In trying to renew old recollections, we
cannot as it were unfold the web of our existence;
we must pick out the single threads. So in coming
to a place where we have formerly lived, and
with which we have intimate associations, every
one must have found that the feeling grows more
vivid the nearer we approach the spot, from the
mere anticipation of the actual impression : we
remember circumstances, feelings, persons, faces,
names that we had not thought of for years ; but
for the time all the rest of the world is forgotten !
To return to the question I have quitted above—
I have no objection to go to see ruins, aqueducts,
pictures, in company with a friend or a party, but
rather the contrary, for the former reason reversed.
They are intelligible matters, and will bear talking
about. The sentiment here is not tacit, but com
municable and overt. Salisbury Plain is barren
of criticism, but Stonehenge will bear a discussion
antiquarian, picturesque, and philosophical. In
setting out on a party of pleasure, the first con
sideration always is where we shall go to; in
taking a solitary ramble, the question is what we
shall meet with by the way. “ The mind is its
own place ” ; nor are we anxious to arrive at the
end of our journey. I can myself do the honours
indifferently well to works of art and curiosity.
I once took a party to Oxford,| with no mean eclat—
showed them that seat of the Muses at a distance,
“ With glistering spires and pinnacles adorn’d,”
descanted on the learned air that breathes from
the grassy quadrangles and stone walls of halls
�ON GOING A JOURNEY
87
and colleges ; was at home in the Bodleian ; and at
Blenheim quite superseded the powdered cicerone
that attended us, and that pointed in vain with
his wand to commonplace beauties in matchless
pictures.
As another exception to the above reasoning,
I should not feel confident in venturing on a
journey in a foreign country without a companion.
I should want at intervals to hea the sound of my
own language. There is an invol ntary antipathy
in the mind of an Englishman to foreign manners
and notions that requires the assistance of social
sympathy to carry it off. As the distance from
home increases, this relief, which was at first a
luxury, becomes a passion and an appetite. A
person would almost feel stifled to find himself in
the deserts of Arabia without friends and country
men : there must be allowed to be something in
the view of Athens or old Rome that claims the
utterance of speech ; and I own that the Pyramids
are too mighty for any single contemplation. In
such situations, so opposite to all one’s ordinary
train of ideas, one seems a species by one’s self, a
limb torn off from society, unless one can meet
with instant fellowship and support.
Yet I did not feel this want or craving very
pressing once, when I first set my foot on the
laughing shores of France. Calais was peopled
with novelty and delight. The confused, busy
murmur of the place was like oil and wine poured
into my ears ; nor did the mariners’ hymn, which
was sung from the top of an old crazy vessel in
the harbour, as the sun went down, send an alien
sound into my soul. I only breathed the air of
general humanity. I walked over “ the vinecovered hills and gay regions of France,” erect and
�88
’
IN PRAISE OF WALKING
satisfied ; for the image of man was not cast down
and chained to the foot of arbitrary thrones : I
was at no loss for language, for that of all the great
schools of painting was open to me. The whole
is vanished like a shade. Pictures, heroes, glory,
freedom, all are fled; nothing remains but the
Bourbons and the French people !
There is undoubtedly a sensation in travelling
into foreign parts that is to be had nowhere else ;
but it is more pleasing at the time than lasting.
It is too remote from our habitual associations to
be a common topic of discourse or reference, and,
like a dream or another state of existence, does not
piece into our daily modes of life. It is an animated
but a momentary hallucination. It demands an
effort to exchange our actual for our ideal identity ;
and to feel the pulse of our old transports revive
very keenly, we must “ jump ” all our present
comforts and connections. Our romantic and
itinerant character is not to be domesticated.
Dr. Johnson remarked how little foreign travel
added to the facilities of conversation in those who
had been abroad. In fact, the time we have
spent there is both delightful and, in one sense,
instructive ; but it appears to be cut out of our
substantial downright existence, and never to
join kindly unto it. We are not the same, but
another, and perhaps more enviable, individual
all the time we are out of our own country. We
are lost to ourselves as well as to our friend. So
the poet somewhat quaintly sings :
“ Out of my country and myself I go.”
Those who wish to forget painful thoughts do
well to absent themselves for a while from the ties
�ON GOING A JOURNEY
o<
and objects that recall them : but we can be said
only to fulfil our destiny in the place that gave us
birth. I should on this account like well enough
to spend the whole of my life in travelling abroad,
if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend
afterwards at home
I
FINIS
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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In praise of walking : Thoreau, Whitman, Burroughs, Hazlitt
Creator
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Thoreau, Henry David [1817-1862]
Whitman, Walt [1819-1892]
Burroughs, John [1837-1921]
Hazlitt, William [1778-1830]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 89, [7] p. ; 17 cm.
Series title: Simple life series
Series number: No. 20
Notes: Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. Signature on half-title page: 'E.J. Taylor'. Publisher's list on unnumbered pages at the end. Annotations in pencil. Printed by Butler & Tanner, Selwood Printing Works, Frome and London.
Publisher
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Arthur C. Fifield
Date
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1905
Identifier
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N640
Subject
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Walking
Nature
Health
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (In praise of walking : Thoreau, Whitman, Burroughs, Hazlitt), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
NSS
Walking
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NATIONAL SECL’LAT.COCZnT
N)63O
HOSPITALS & DISPENSARIES
NOT OF
CHRISTIAN ORIGIN.
8T
J.
S Y M E S.
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY.
28, Stonecutter Street, E.C.
PRICE ONE
PENNY.
�LONDON:
PRINTED BY ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BRADLAUGH,
28, stonecutter street, e.c.
�HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES
NOT OF
CHRISTIAN
ORIGIN.
A very frequent question put to Secularists is, What
hospitals have you built or endowed? And an equally
frequent assertion is made to the effect that the world owes
all those institutions for the care and cure of the sick to
Christianity. A greater mistake was never made, as I shall
try to show.
In the first place, I make bold to assert that mercy, compas
sion, humanity, and benevolence did not, and could not, spring
from religion. All the Gods, or nearly all, were origi
nally cold, callous, and cruel. They inflicted upon man
(if fables may be trusted) all the horrors he endured, and
then quietly and stolidly looked on while he writhed in
his agony No Gods sinned more in this respect than those
of the Jews, in proof of which I refer to the story of the
Flood, of Sodom and Gomorrah, of the Israelitish march
through the desert, of the conquest of Palestine, and other
tales of the Old Testament. It was only when man became
civilised that the Gods forsook their barbarism, and the very
mercy man learnt in civilised life was by-and-by ascribed to
the Gods. Every kindly feeling man has must have been learnt
in society—must have been produced there, for Nature
knows nothing of kindness, mercy, or compassion. Nature
and the Gods have not only inflicted flood, pestilence,
famine, and fire, upon man and beast, but they never
interfered to relieve the poor wretches of their suffering.
Wherever man, therefore, learnt his humanity and pity,
most certainly no God or religion ever taught him.
Secondly, as most religions have enjoined the belief in
miracles and miraculous cures of disease, their very spirit
has been antagonistic to the founding of hospitals, in
firmaries, and dispensaries. No religion has done moie
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HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES
harm in this respect than Christianity. Look through the
New Testament, and you will not find a single commenda
tion of medicine, surgery, or any other healing art. All
diseases are there to be cured by miracles ; the physician is
dispensed with, and physic is entirely thrown to the dogs,,
and the priest and the elder are exalted as the miraculous,
healers of both body and soul. Had the spirit of Christianity
been carried out successfully there would not have been a
hospital or anything of the sort now in the world. If this
religion had spread first among barbarians, instead of the
civilised nations of the Roman empire, and if her converts
had been docile instead of independent, we should have
seen, long ere now, what a curse she was to man. But
Christianity inherited all the learning, the arts and sciences,
the laws and social institutions of Greece and Rome. All
these (with few exceptions) she did her best to destroy, and
when that proved impossible, she coolly adopted and claimed
them as her own productions.
What has been said above will tend to show that we owe
none of our best sentiments to religion; but I will now
proceed to exhibit a few facts which will set the matter at
rest, and demonstrate that hospitals and kindred institutions
are not the product of Christianity. In doing this I shall
quote from, and refer to, an article in the current number
(Oct. 1877) of the Westminster Review, on “ Pre-Christian
Dispensaries and Hospitals.” The writer says :—“ It is in
the medical officers, appointed and paid by the State,
that we find the earliest germ and first idea of the
v?s.t. network of hospitals which has spread over the
civilised countries of the world. These medical officers
were an institution in Egypt from a remote antiquity, for in
the eleventh century b.c. there was a College of Physicians
in receipt of public pay, and regulated as to the nature and
extent of their practice. At Athens, in the fifth century
b.c., there were physicians elected and paid by the citizens;
there were also dispensaries in which they received their
patients, and we find mention made of one hospital.”
Turn we next to India. “In the fourth century b.c. an
edict was promulgated in India, by King Asoka, command
ing the establishment of hospitals throughout his dominions;
and we have direct proof that these hospitals were flourish
ing in the fifth and in the seventh centuries a.d.”—they
flourished then for a thousand years. “Among the Romans
under the empire physicians were elected in every city in
�NOT OF CHRISTIAN ORIGIN.
5
proportion to the number of inhabitants, and they received
a salary from the public treasury.”
Leaving the Westminster Review for a moment, I will
quote an extract from Tacitus. Referring to the fall of an
amphitheatre at Fidenae, in the ruins of which 50,000
people were killed or otherwise maimed, he says: “Now
during the fresh pangs of this calamity, the doors of the
grandees were thrown open, medicines were everywhere
supplied and administered by proper hands; and at that
juncture the city, though of sorrowful aspect, seemed to
have recalled the public spirit of the ancient Romans, who,
after great battles, constantly relieved the wounded, sustained
them by liberality, and restored them with care.”—“Annals,”
iv. 65. This extract shows not merely what the Romans
did at this date, about 27 a.d., but points back to periods
long past, when their forefathers regularly relieved and healed
the wounded soldiers. Such a nation, though still dread
fully barbarous in some respects, did not require the aid of
Christianity to set it on the path of humanity and mercy ;
the germs of those virtues had been there for ages, and only
required time to develop. Those who wish to see what
the best Romans, in the first century before our era, thought of
benevolence may consult Cicero “ De Officiis,” Bk. I., 14, 15.
Turning again to the Westminster Review, we read that
even the “ancient Mexicans had hospitals in their principal
cities ‘ for the cure of the sick, and the permanent refuge of
disabled soldiers.’” The Mexicans, by the way, and the
Peruvians as well, were working out a splendid civilization
for themselves at the time the barbarians from Spain dis
covered and ruined them. The more we know of those
ancient civilisations the more we must admire them; and it
cannot be denied that Spain herself was, at the time of the
conquest, more superstitious and less civilised than Mexico
or Peru; the eruption of those Christian savages into
Central America threw back the civilization of the continent
for four or five hundred years. I have nothing to say in
palliation of either Mexican or Peruvian religion; but I
must say that the Spaniards, in destroying those ancient
creeds, put nothing better in their place.
It is remarkable, viewed from the Christian standpoint,
that the Mohammedans were the first people known to
have had asylums for lunatics. As Mr. Lecky says, “ Most
commonly the theological notions about witchcraft either
produced madness or determined its form, and through the
�6
HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES
influence of the clergy of the different sections of the
Christian Church, many thousands of unhappy women, who
from their age, their loneliness, and their infirmity, were
most deserving of pity, were devoted to the hatred of
mankind, and, having been tortured with horrible and
ingenious cruelty, were at last burnt alive.”—“ Hist.
European Morals,” ii., 93. While this barbarity, the
genuine and legitimate fruit of Christ’s own action towards
the “possessed,” was practised wholesale among Chris
tians, the Mohammedans were, as early as the seventh
century, housing and nurturing the insane in asylums
at Fez, and they founded another at Cairo, probably about
a.d. 1304. The first Christian asylum for insane persons
was erected at Valencia in Spain, in a.d. 1409, or 700
years later than those first built by Mohammedans. Thus,
it was in the very country which the Mohammedans had
conquered, ruled, and partially civilised, that the first
Christian lunatic asylum was founded, and it is not difficult
to recognise their influence in this humane act. It should
also be remembered that the kind-hearted monk who
founded the asylum in Valencia, did it to shelter the poor
lunatics from the insults, jeers, and other persecutions of
their Christian neighbours, who never allowed them to pass
through the streets in peace.—(See “Europ. Morals,” ii.,94-5.
See also ii., 92).
To quote again the Westminster Review—li The most
remarkable instance of a military hospital was one in Ire
land. The palace of Emania was founded about 300 b.c.,
by the Princess Macha of the golden hair, and continued to
be the chief royal residence of Ulster until 332 a.d., when
it was destroyed. To this palace were attached two houses,
one, the house in which the Red Branch Knights hung up
their arms and trophies, the other in which the sick were cared
for and the wounded healed; this latter was called by the
expressive name Broin Bearg, the House of Sorrow.”
What has been put forward above will be sufficient to
show that we owe neither medicine nor hospitals to Chris
tianity ; indeed, I am not aware that any one ever ascribed
the former to this religion, though it would be just as
rational as to ascribe the latter to it. Neither Judaism (as
found in the Old Testament) nor Christianity (as found in
the New) shows any favour to medicine. The spirit of the
Old Testament may be found in the following passage :—
“ And Asa, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was
�NOT OF CHRISTIAN ORIGIN.
7
diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great;
yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the
physicians.” (2 Chron. xvi., 12.) The context tells us he
died; the inference is plain—he lost his life because he pre
ferred medical attendance to miraculous power. The Jews
could not more strongly have condemned medicine than
they have done in this passage, for not only did the patient
die, but the physicians are set in direct rivalry with Jehovah.
And here I may ask how it was that the Jews, who were so
favoured of God, had to learn all their medical knowledge
from other nations ? Their God revealed to them all those
senseless ceremonies found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy, but never told them how to heal one
single disease ! Four books, filled for the most part with a
burdensome ritual or instructions in the art of worship,
were vouchsafed by their divinity, but not a word about
healing ! Large portions of those books, too, are occupied
in directions for finding leprosy, but not a word about the
cure of the disease (See Levit. xiii., 44-46). The whole
dress of the priest was prescribed, colour, shape, texture, and
everything—these were of supreme importance, and involved,
of course, the weal or woe of the world—so momentous
were they that their chief divinity went out of his way to
reveal them ; but human suffering was of no concern at all,
and their divinity forgot to reveal the art of healing. Indeed,
he himself claimed the sole right to kill and make alive, to
inflict or to heal disease. All this was fatal to the study of
medicine.
The same remarks, slightly modified, will apply to the
New Testament, where miraculous agency is the only
recognised mode of healing. This may be due to the fact
that the Jews went into captivity in Babylon, rather than in
Greece or Rome, for “ the Babylonians and Assyrians alone,
among the great nations of antiquity, had no physicians.
The sick man was laid on a couch in the public square, and
the passers-by were required to ask him the nature of his
disease, so that if they or any of their acquaintance had
been similarly afflicted they might advise him as to the
remedies he should adopt.” (West. Review, ibid.') How
much this resembles the Gospel story of the pool of Bethesda,
leaving out the angelic descent 1 (John v., 2.) The Baby
lonians were also fond of charms, for they mistook diseases
for devils, as Jesus did. Mr. H. F. Talbot, in his “Assyrian
Talismans and Exorcisms,” quotes a tablet as follows :—•
�HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES.
“ God shall stand by his bedside ; those seven evil spirits
He shall root out and expel from his body; those seven
shall never return to the sick man.” This superstition re
appears in the Gospels :—“ Then goeth he, and taketh with
himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and
they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man
is worse than the first.” (Matt, xii., 45.) Jesus actually
cast this number of devils out of Mary Magdalene. (See
Mark xvi., 9.) In face of this most debasing superstition,
people still worship Jesus as an almighty and omniscient
God ! And though he, beyond all men, taught the mira
culous causes and cures of disease, his professed followers
claim for him and his religion all the credit of originating
the scientific treatment of human ills. For certain, science
never met a more determined foe than Christianity; but
science no sooner gains a victory than Christianity turns
round and claims all the merit of inventing the very thing
she did her utmost to destroy.
That people bearing the name of Christ have, in modern
times, built and founded hospitals, I cheerfully acknowledge;
it matters not to me what names men bear so long as they
do good. But this I fearlessly affirm, that every hospital
ever erected has been built on or by principles which Christ
condemned, so that if he was right, the founders of
hospitals must have been wrong. Not only did Jesus teach
that diseases were to be healed by miracles (Mark xvi., 17,
18), but he strictly forbade the laying up of treasure : as
pointedly as he forbade murder or adultery, he also forbade
the accumulation of wealth. Without the wealth, hospitals
could not have been built, nay, all must have been paupers.
Religion and religious teaching, had they been obeyed,
would have made the world bankrupt; but in Secular
principles lies the salvation of man. Religion points to
another world, to reach which we must renounce this;
Secularism teaches to make the best possible—in money,
intelligence, humanity, and morality—of this world, and to
leave the next—a mere dream, most likely—to look out for
itself. I admit there are good things in the Bible ; but all
the good it contains would have been outweighed a thousand
times by a simple and effectual remedy for only one disease.
Why did divine mercy omit such a remedy ? Let Christians
explain.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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Hospitals & dispensaries not of Christian origin
Creator
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Symes, Joseph [1841-1906]
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 8 p. ; 17 cm.
Notes: Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Date of publication from British Library record. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Freethought Publishing Company
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[1879]
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N630
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Health
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English
Health
Health Services
Hospitals
NSS