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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
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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
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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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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
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Dublin Core
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Title
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A free state and free medicine
Creator
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Wilkinson, James John Garth
Description
An account of the resource
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.
Publisher
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F. Pitman
John Thomson
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1870
Identifier
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G5385
Subject
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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 (A free state and free medicine), 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
Conway Tracts
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Health Services
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Smallpox
Social Medicine
Vaccination
Vivisection
-
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PDF Text
Text
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,
J
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A
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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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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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
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1863
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Health
American Civil War
Conway Tracts
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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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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-
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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
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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
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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
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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
�30
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
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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
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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
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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
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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.”
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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
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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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In praise of walking : Thoreau, Whitman, Burroughs, Hazlitt
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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.
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Arthur C. Fifield
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1905
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N640
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Walking
Nature
Health
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
NSS
Walking
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35fad86ba0b168eb26372abeb76bf608
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Text
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH,
AND
JOURNAL OF THE TRUE HEALING ART.
Volume n.]
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY, 1867.
[For the Gospel of Health.]
PHYSIOLOGICAL TRANSGRESSION
IN HIGH PLACES.
[Number 8.
Until we learn to know aright,
And knowing, care to do,
Transgression, in the bud will blight
The Noble and the True.
BY MONTADELPHOS.
How foolish are the ways of man !
Since Adam sinned at first,
To kill himself because he can,
By wickedness the worst.
The Parent wonders at the Youth,
Because he’s heedless growD ;
When he, himself, to tell the truth,
Has sins still worse his own.
The Minister, he wonders why
The World he cannot save ;
Whilst his own conduct gives the lie
To the Profession grave.
The Son of Temperance wonders too,
And raves about the same,
Because “ Old Sots” at times get “blue,”
When he’s as much to blame.
He's tipsy, too, from morn till night—
Tobacco’s all the rage ;
And coffee ’s just the thing that’s right
To make him feel so sage.
The Doctor, too, he wonders why
Mankind, so premature,
' Will still get sick, lie down and die,
In spite of Physic-Cure ?
If men transgress the Laws of Life,
And sickness comes at last,
Why should the Doctor, then, in strife.
Their hopes with poisons blast ? ,
[Written for the Gospel ofHealth.J
FIRST PRINCIPLES, NO. I.
BY J. F. SANBORN, M. D.
Many of the readers of the Health journals
know that certain articles in common use in
bread-making, as bi-carbonate of soda, salt,
yeast, cream-of-tartar, are not proper articles for
food. They know that alcoholic liquors, tea,
coffee, and even hard water, are not proper for
drink ; that impure air is improper for us to
breathe : But why they are so, is not generally
understood ; and one reason is, it ig easier to
write an article, that will please even the read
ers of a Health journal, stating that this or that,
is thus and so, than it is to explain why they
are so. The enlargement of the Gospel of
Health will enable us to elucidate some of
these first principles, somewhat at length.
That matter which is endowed with life, is
called organic matter. To sustain life, organs
are furnished ; to animals, lungs, heart, bowels,
kidneys, arteries, veins, nerves, etc.
Vegetables have organs as rootlets, roots
trunks, branches leaves, etc.
Inorganic matter has no life—it has no need of
organs to support its existence, for it exists from
age to age ; it may be subject to change of form
and place, but does not grow old as domen, ani
mals, trees, and all matter endowed with life.
Life must at some time cease, and the organic
matter ot which living bodies are composed,
must return to the earth from which it came—
the organic dies—decays, and becomes inorganic
matter.
The vegetable kingdom subsists on inorganic
matter, and by a process of vitality peculiar to
its organization, changes the inorganic into or
ganic matter.
In animal life there is a continual change of
�50
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
substance, nutritious matter becoming a part of
the living body ; and while this addition is be
ing made, other parts are broken down and re
moved.
This change in animals, and growth in vegeta
bles, are carried on by small structures known
as cells, somewhat analogous to an egg that has
no shell ; their size is very minute, and tlieir
form varies by the pressure of surrounding
cells.
In animals, the materials of these cells are
formed from the food eaten.
Now, can animals take the inorganic ele
ments of earth, and organize them into cells,
form and structure, and add them to their
bodies? Can an animal eat clay or soil, and be
nourished thereby? No one will claim that
such materials are food for “ man or beast
and if one should eat it, it could not be so
changed as to make anything organic.
Vegetables, on the contrary, do subsist on the
inorganic, elements of earth, and decayed or
broken-down cell-structure of plants and ani
mals ; changing them into their own structure,
by cell formation ; adding cells to the end of previ
ously-formed cells, thus increasing in length, or
by placing several around on the outside of others
and thus increasing in size. Thus has God made
the vegetable kingdom to prepare the inorganic
materials of earth, and organize them for food
for the animal kingdom. Animals take of the
cell-formation of the vegetable kingdom, and
build up their own solid structure. Vegetables
furnish food for animals by their growth ; and
animals furnish food for plants by decay, or the
breaking down of their cell-structure.
It is a fundamental law of animal life that it
can in no wise add to its cell-structure any matter
that is not cell-structure. If cell-structure is
broken down, be it animal or vegetable, it can in
no wise become a part of the cell-structure of
animal life. Inorganic matters cannot be digest
ed—they are not cell-structure—they are the
same when they leave the body that they are
when they enter it ; which is not the case with
an apple, or bread, or anything that is food.
Food is digested and by assimilation becomes
a part of the body—a part of the cell-structure
of the living, moving body ; and when it leaves
the body, it does so as broken-down or waste
matter, which is food for plants.
This principle is not generally understood ; if
it was, all matter not of cell-structure would
sedulously be excluded from the vital domain, as
bearing an abnormal relation to the Jiving
tissues.
A statement was made in alate number of the
Dental Cosmos, that a man died for want of phos
phate of lime in his bones, and yet he had taken
large quantities of the phosphates as a medi
cine.
The statement was a part of the report of the
doings of one of the most learned Dental Socie
ties in the United States ; yet no one explained
the mystery. All mineral medicines are inor- 1
ganic matter ; iron, of which such large quanti- i
ties are used as a “ tonic,” by the very learned
Allopathic M. Ds., is an inorganic substance, and
as a consequence, it can never become a part of
the cell-structure of the blood, or of any other
part of the body; but in common with all other
inorganic matters, bears an abnormal relation to
the living system. This is a sufficient reason
why we, as Hygienists, should not use it.
As soon as the cell-structure of our bodies be
comes broken down, it becomes as repugnant ^o
the living system, as dead bodies are to a living,
refined, civilized community ; and if it is retained
in the body, or becomes absorbed from without,
it must be expelled, or death must soon follow.
Broken down cell-structure, taken as food,
bears an abnormal relation to the living tissues,
so that it matters not how good food a substance
may be, in its natural state of perfect develop
ment ; as soon as it becomes decayed or broken
down in its structure, by fermentation, so far as
the change has taken place, so far has the arti
cle of food deviated from its perfect adaptation
to the wants of the system ; and the part sc
changed is no longer food ; it cannot become a
part of the cell-structure of the living body, but
is a poison to be expelled.
Fermented articles, either as food or drink,
are more or less broken down cell-structure,
and bear an abnormal relation to the living
system.
Disease is the effort of the system to rid itself
of obstructing materials.
These obstructing materials are—first, the
broken down cell-structure of the system itself,
and not depurated or removed from the body ;
or, second, those which are received into the sys
tem by absorption, or as inorganic substances in
food, as bi-carbonate of soda, or bi carbonate of
potassa, or common salt used in making biscuit.
Hard water contains carbonate of lime, which is
an inorganic substance, and bearsan abnormal re
lation to the living system. Fermented bread
is made by decomposing the sugar in the meal
or flour, as the case may be, converting it into
carbonic acid gas and alcohol, thus destroying
at least one sixteenth of the nutriment there
was in the flour, and breaking down the cell
structure so that so much of the flour as has
undergone the change by fermentation, not only
does not nourish, but thereby becomes a source
of disease. Alcohol is broken down cell-struc
ture. There is no alcohol in any of the grains
in their natural degree of perfection, but they
all contain both sugar and starch ; the sugar is
first decomposed; then the starch is changed
into sugar, and both sugars are changed into
carbonic acid gas and alcohol. The carbonic
acid gas is used in n aking carbonate of soda
and potassa, which are used in making bread
which the good temperance people use, while
those who make no pretensions to being tem
perate, use the alcohol itself. All of these brokendown cell-structures are poisons to the living
tissues, because being broken-down matter,
they bear an abnormal relation to it. Many
substances that are of cell-structure bear an ab
normal relation to the living system, which it
is not proposed to discuss at this time
Chemical action invariably destroys the cell
structure of all organic matter on which the
action takes place, so that in the chemical prep
aration of medicines from vegetables that are
good for food, as soon as the chemical change
has taken place, they are no longer tolerated by
the vital powers, because their cell-structure
being destroyed, they bear an abnormal relation
�51
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
to vitality. All medicines are poisons. They
all bear an abnormal relation to the living sys
tem, and almost without exception, are, when
taken, but adding inorganic matter or broken
down cell-structure to that already the cause of
the disease ; so that it matters not according to
what school of practice the medicine is adminis
tered, it is but adding broken-down cell structure,
which is obstructing matter, to that already the
cause of the disease, and is but carrying out
the principle of “ like cures like and we read
the “ blind lead the blind, and both fall into the
ditch,” alias the grave.
[to be continued.]
WHAT IS TEMPERANCE?
BY HYGEALTnEUS.
There is probably no subject upon which
less perfect views are entertained, than that of
Temperance. Some persons hold that abstinence
from alcoholic liquors is temperance, whilst
others maintain that the moderate drinking of
the same constitutes temperance ; and upon the
one or the other of these two propositions the
majority of the people are stationed.
Now, to my mind, both positions are, in re
ality, wrong. Temperance is moderation, no
matter to what it be applied; and intemper
ance, immoderation. Persons, too, may be as
truly intemperate in not using enough of a thing,
as in using too much ; as it is the proper quan
tity, or degree, which constitutes temperance—
degree or quantity always entering in as an
element—and not total abstinence, as some sup
pose.
“Well,” says one, “you believe, then, that
the moderate drinking of alcoholic liquors is
temperance, do you not ?” Not by any means.
If they are right who contend against absti
nence because temperance implies moderation,
then it is evident that we would all be justified
in doing what is manifestly wrong; for St.
Paul admonishes us to be “ temperate in all
things,” and as “ all things,” as this class of
persons would have it, necessarily includes a
great many wrong things, therefore we would
be advised to do many wrong things, moder
ately, however. This, though, is too absurd to
be admitted. There must, therefore, be some
other criterion whereby we are to be governed
in our eating and drinking habits, which is sub
stantially the relation existing between our
selves and the universe of matter around us.
Nothing having an unhealthful relation to
man can ever be a subject of temperance. The
use of all such things is qualitatively an evil,
as was the eating of the forbidden fruit by our
first parents; whereas, the use of thingshaving a i
physiological or healthful relation, can only be
an evil quantitively—because of an improper
quantity or degree. Who would ever think of
swearing, lying, or stealing temperately ? Or
who would for a moment contend that fornica
tion and adultery could be committed in mode
ration ? Or where is the individual to be found
who would call the performance of one or all of I
these deeds intemperance ? I venture to say
that no person of intelligence can be found en !
tertaining such an idea, from the simple fact
that all such conduct is wrong in its very na
ture. and hence can have nothing to do with
temperance. Why, then, should we contend
that other things may be done temperately,
which are, in their very nature, wrong or unpliysiological ? Or why should we call absti
nence from the same temperance ? The fact is,
the imbibition of alcohol, and all other poisons,
is a violation of physiological law, because of
the chemically incompatible relation existing
between them and the tissues of the organism,
and hence can have no more to do with temper
ance or intemperance, than stealing or commit
ting murder has.
It may be said, however, that St. Paul would
have you «“ eat and drink whatsoever is set be
fore you, and ask no questions for conscience’
sake but if the “ whatsoever” is not restricted
to such things as bear a physiological relation
to the body, then of course the injunction is
equivalent to a command of self-destruction ;
and we would be entirely excusable for »uicism,
should “ mine kost” chance temptingly to pre
sent a poison.
Temperance, then, is the moderate, use of
things having a physiological or healthful rela
tion to our being ; whilst intemperance is the
immoderate use of these same agencies, and the
immoderation may be because of either excess
or deficiency. The imbibition of things, how
ever, having an unhealthful relation to the or
ganism, is physiological transgression, from the
infinitesimal nothingness of the Homeopath,
up through the ponderous doses of the heroic
Allopath, to the practice of the Suicide, who
takes the same for the purpose of separating the
soul from its tenement of clay.
[For the Gospel of Health.]
DRUG MEDICATION THE CHIEF
CAUSE OF OUR PRESENT PHYS
ICAL DEGENERACY.
NO. I.
BY THOS. W. ORGAN, M. D., CHALFANT, OHIO.
Radical and revolutionary ideas are of slow
growth. The human mind, in its perversion
and depravity, will grasp error quickly, while
truth and right may be unnoticed, or if noticed
at all, only to be opposed and persecuted. The
subject on which I propose to write a series of
articles, is the most radically and aggressively
reformatory in its bearing of any of which I can
now conceive. It anticipates, as the grand re
sults of an enlightenment of the people, the
overthrow of drug-shops, dram-shops, and to
bacco-shops. Could a nobler or grander reform
occupy the human mind, or engage the labors
of the’ philanthropist ? It more deeply involves
both our individual and collective weal or woe ;
our future felicity and destiny, physically, mor
ally, and socially, than any other that can be
named, except the Gospel of Christianity. If
not Christianity itself, it is essentially a part or
element of it. It is not Christianity either to
give drugs or to take drugs. True science
�52
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
based on the unerring laws of Nature, and all
LETTER FROM A SCAVENGER.
experience, properly interpreted, demonstrate
that the administration of drugs is fearfully
destructive of human health, of human life, and
Dr. Trall—Dear Sir: In the December
of human happiness. And if destructive and
detrimental to human interests, is not their use number of the Gospel I asked, in substance,
a fearful wrong ? If wrong, can their adminis the question: Why cannot man be, safely al
tration be in consonance with Christianity ? lowed the same freedom in diet as other ani
True science and Christianity can never conflict. mals that mix their food, without detriment to
The fact that nine tenths of the physicians of health or longevity ? to which you replied : you
our land do not take their own medicines when could not see the pertinency of my reasoning,
sick, is sufficient evidence of another very im- ' and that if the devil could change his habits,
portant fact, “ They do not do unto others as he would become a better being.
Very “pertinent” “if” indeed. An if style
they wish to be done by.” If physicians would
apply the golden rule in all cases, drugging of argument is pardonable when founded on
would soon be extinct. There can scarcely be something within the bounds of possibility;
found an intelligent physician that would not but, when a debater resorts to an assumption,
prefer to risk his life to the efforts of nature, (to illustrate a point at issue) that is utterly
rather than to the remedies of a physician of inconsistent with nature, illogicalyand impossi
his own school. He would also do so with his ble as yours was in “ raising the devil,” it por
patients, but for one “ small consideration.” tends an extreme want of something real or
“ There is not much money in such a course.” | reasonable on which to base an argument.
Why, sir, it is worse than falling back to the
His patient would doubtless recover more speed
ily without his drugs than with them, vet that “last ditch” (for in that there is still hope.) It
would involve him in another fundamental dif is, in fact, going beyond, over the verge, into
ficulty. “ They would quickly perceive that his dark and empty space for impossibilities as
services irere not necessary.” It is therefore ne weapons to defend a one-sided, fanatical theory.
cessary for the existence of the drug medical And, even then, in his blindness, to say he
profession that its practitioners continue the “fails to seethe pertinency” of the logic that
business of dosing and drugging, (no matter I drove him to so extreme a measure, is decidedly
how.) behind an array of technical jargon which cool indeed.
Apropos to your “pertinent” style of reason
they cannot understand, which the people can
not understand, and which, I think, never was > ing and to follow out its absurdity, wonder if it
wouldn’t be better for the rattlesnake to rid
intended to be understood.
This subject not only interests us as individu itself of its venom in some possible way, and be
als, but as a nation. The aggregate of indi come as harmless as a dove.
Wonder if it would n’t be better for God,
vidual existences constitutes a nation. It con man, and the Devd, if the “ Old Nick” had n’t
cerns also the physical and moral growth or
decline, development or decay, of our national been created at all ? Or, if the “ Old Fellow”
existence. It is therefore self-evident that the would commit suicide and thus tempt man, no
destiny of the race is involved in the discussion ! longer to pervert his mind, injure his health,
of this subject. A nation’s character is read by and shorten his life by sinful flesh-eating. Oh,
the health or vigor of its people. If the indi the “ permitted" monster ! why mil he persist in
viduals constituting this nation become dis acting so unnatural a part toward God’s crea
eased and effeminate, the inevitable result must I tures ?
Wonder if it wouldn’t be better for the lion,
be that the nation will be deteriorated in a pro
portionate degree. Whatever affects our indi tiger, Esquimaux, etc., to quit flesh-eating in
vidual existence must, in an exact ratio, modify ■ favor exclusively of corn, potatoes, grass, etc.,
our nationality. The constitutional vigor of and thus hasten on the glorious coming (?) mil
the people determines the physical and moral | lennium ?
condition of our nation. Although we are nu- | By your permission, I would ask a few more
merically strong, yet, comparatively speaking, | questions on this important subject, so vital to
in physical vigor and vital force, we are depio- I the welfare of man immortal.
You claim that all constituted flesh-eaters
rably deficient. It is estimated that fully threefourths of our people are in some way diseased. , were calculated by the wise Creator as scaven
gers to rid the earth of obnoxious offal, and ren
All forms of disease tend to physical degeneracy. I
The average of human life in boasted America der the air more wholesome for the decent por
is scarcely thirty years. Why should it not be tion of animation and man. Now, the Esqui
one century ? One-half of the children born die maux are considered men, and why did God in
before they are five years old. Scarcely one- his goodness consign man to so low an office,
half of tlu' remainder reach manhood or woman- I they being obliged to scavenge, the earth in the
hood. Never was there a time in our nation’s absence of anything else to sustain life ? or are
an exception to Nature s plan?
history when there were more dyspeptics, liver they is fair to presume that ’Mary, the mother of
It
disorders, scrofula, and consumptives, than now. Jesus, was a meat-eater. How do you make
Wherever I go, I see too plainly the evidence of
that compatible
these conditions impressed on those around. ■ her offspring? with the great purity of Christ,
Pale faces, sunken, hollow cheeks, bloodless
And, why
not Christ, the most
extremities, sunken eyes on one hand, or on the ! dipped bread didsop, and divided fishes holy, (who
in
to the mul
other, bloated faces, bloodshot eyes, eczemated : titude,) strike at a prominent root of evil, and by
6kins. Each set of symptoms indicates the his divine precept and example, try to abate the
physical depravity of our people.
sinful practice of flesh-eating ? Or, was he un-
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
53
So stands the common human opinion upon
one of the greatest of all the moral and social
questions which agitate the world. It is easy
to see that prejudice and ignorance are at the
bottom of this ridiculous and cliildish estimate
of woman. The young maiden grows to woman’s
estate under the eye of her mother, who still
persists in treating her as a child, and so it is in
the other case. ’The day has gone by when
woman could be speculated upon as merchan
dise, or treated as one of the effects of the house
hold. She has enfranchised herself by her in
telligence, education, and virtue, and holds the
foremost and topmost rank in the modern civ
ilization. Our literature, -which appeals alike
to both sexes ; our newspapers, which are read
by all. educate all. Slowly 'but surely has the
female element come to a great recognition in
these times. We are beginning to ask ourselves
why she who includes within the boundaries of
her own nature so many noble virtues, and half
the intellect of the world, should be held in
subjection, because one strong-minded female
without a tooth in her .head, has put herself
forward to advocate, in a somewhat unwomanly
manner perhaps, the rights of her sex !
We are proud to own that-we claim for woman
all that she can ask or think, in the direction of
Elkader, Iowa, Dec. 28, 1866.
mental, moral, and social freedom. We claim
it as a right, not at all as a privilege, that she
shall have an equal vote with men upon all sub
jects and upon all occasions. We are ashamed
WOMAN’S RIGHTS QUESTION.
of man’s injustice, and astonished also, at the
One would think, to hear the crusty old bach short-sightedness, that he will give a vote to
every ignorant and degraded serf of Ireland and
elors talk of politics, that womankind lias no the other European countries, and deny it to his
rights at all which mankind has any right to own educated and refined mother, wife, and
respect. Woman, according to their estimate
of her, is a mere appendage to man—is here sister.
upon sufferance and ought to be kept well un I If we are to have a manhood suffrage, and
der. They do not quite sanction the ancient I extend its latitudes and longitudes until it take
traditions of her social status, which record her ' in also the refuse of the colored belts of the
as little better than a household drudge, who tropics who may chance to be “ round” at voting
was cuffed and abused at pleasure by the lords time, including the African, who, poor fellow,
paramount of the family : but they think she is is only two generations removed from the bar
by no means entitled to the same rights and barism and fetishism of his native forests, then
privileges which they possess, or so much as a in God’s name let the suffrage be universal, and
tithe of them. What, they ask, has a woman put it into the power of American women to
to do with the great emprises of human thought, save, by their wisdom and fervid patriotism,
or the affairs of society ? Her proper sphere is this great Republic from being swamped like
the household, and her higher right is the right old Rome by the inflooding of the barbarians.
of doing her duty to her husband and her chil We do not expect to see women in Congress
dren. As to her meddling with politics—they during the next dozen years, although far more
laugh that proposition to scorn. Politics are impossible things have happened in the lifetime
for rough, strong men, not for weak, tender of all now living. But this is one of the great
women. What should they know about the questions which has to be met. It is society’s
functions of office, the business of the state, or biggest egg, and she must hatch it. Already,
the diplomacy of governments ? These are mat we are happy to say, this Woman’s Rights ques
ters beyond the reach of her intellect, and which, tion has received the consideration of some of
even were they not so, would unsex her if she our greatest modern thinkers, and they have
lent their sanction to the fact that woman has
interfered with them.
But the climax of all absurdities in their re inalienable rights, and that the right to vote is
gard, is the idea of giving a vote to women. It one of them. She, being born out of the loins
.so completely upsets all their preconceived no of this great Commonwealth, is fully armed and
tions of public and private decorum, that they equipped for service, and can assuredly as well
are driven almost to their wits’ end at the bare be trusted with the destiny of the country which
thought of it. It is not so long ago that woman she loves, as those ignorant foreigners who go
was a mere chattel ; and even to this day both to the polls like oxen to the market, in obedi
the laws of England and the canon of the ence to the whipper-in of their party. Twenty
Church, recognize her only as the property of years will not elapse before this voting phase of
her husband, whom she is sworn to love, honor, the Woman’s Rights question will be brought
before the whole male people for issue, and itj
and obey.
luckily ignorant (?) of its evil effects on the
bodies and morals of men, and thus failed to put
in His holy and timely protest against its use ?
And, how could He remain so pure and good,
while partaking of so pernicious an article of
fo< >d ?
In sickness, you say, allow the patient to eat
whatever he naturally craves; and why make
meat an exception ? Perhaps you would answer
“ the taste is abnormal!” Then why object in
cases of babes ? Here, again, you would assume
the taste inherited ; Very well, follow the mat
ter back, and, pray tell us, where in the world’s
history did the taste begin ? Who knows, per
haps at the “ fall of Adam thus accounting for
our consequent misery. Perhaps these sugges
tions may lead you to solve the mystery of the
“ Fall of Man
if so, you are welcome to
them.
How do you make your Gospel teachings, on
this question, harmonize with the Holy but
flesh-polluted Bible?
Hoping you may, philanthropically, enlighten
my flesh-polluted mind (?) by answering these
questions, I close, and,
With respect, remain,
Your Purifying Scavenger,
J. M. Snedigar.
�54
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
will be carried in the affirmative. Then we may
hope to see a more Christian courtesy in the
conduct of affairs, and a new public morality
and decorum. Woman, who refines and ele
vates whatsoever she touches, will create an at
mosphere of purity around the foul places where
legislators and aidermen most do congregate.
Her beauty will grow into their manners, and
her wisdom into their work ; ^nd with this new
element infused into the executive of the coun
try, we may look for a new development of our
civilization.—The New Republic.
ITEMS FROM ILLINOIS.
I
with those who would rather help me up than
pull me down. Still I rejoice that you have suc
ceeded in securing a territory where the pros
pect is favorable for a much better life, tho’ I
may never participate in it.
“ The Kingdom of God cometh not with obser
vation, but is within you!” How consoling.
Heaven is a condition. The happiest man I ever
saw, was blind and poor. The wisest man I ever
saw, was the most permanently happy. As to
smartness—we are all about alike, we are like
measures of the same size, (pint tin cups if you
please.) The man that is full of party politics,
is not of necessity or generally, full to overflow
ing of a broad and comprehensive philanthro
py. He who is racking his brain to get up a
perpetual motion, is not the most successful agri
culturist. The great mathematician is often a
great fool, (in a horse trade.} “But the mind
expands by culture and education.” Aye, and
like most other things, becomes thinner by the
operation. Education is the father of pedantry,
and the foe to progress. He who fools away his
time in rummaging over the musty thoughts of
the past, to be consistent, ought to live on
“ hash,” and wear his grandfather’s hat.
The more I think of it, the more I regard the
stomach the citadel of life.
Parents, I see many of your children with
sore eyes, and raw, running sores on their
hands and faces, and I hear them complain of
ear-ache, tooth-ache, stomach-ache ; and I see
that they have a pinched, shrivelled, and some
times a flushed face ; and some of the little ones
lay down and moan, refuse to eat or play. Then
you hunt up the pill-box or phial of worm med
icine, or send post haste for the doctor. In this,
or all of these, it seems to me you are unwise.
You had much better do nothing, let the child
CONSISTENCY.
rest, and for mercy’s ■•sake, let its stomach rest,
Consistency, fudge ! If one should practise it
for here is where the trouble lies. Over-eating,
and eating too nutritious or concentrated food, in any community, Jje would be ridiculed as a
are filling the world with disease and premature dolt, and justly too.
Suppose a doctor, after giving his patient a
death.
dose of physic, should order him to mount a mill
CONFIDENTIAL, SUGGESTIVE, AND BUSINESS.
saw lathe, so as to have it well shook up. This
Friend Trail & Co.: I find that accidentally I seems to me both logical and analogical, and
do once in a while write on both sides of a consistency here would be a jewel (in a hog’s
sheet, and am inclined to all the time, and don’t nose) very much out of place. If I advocate a
see why I may not, for you see it is much more more natural life, must I throw off my clothes,
economical, and I believe in economy, in fact, run to the woods, and climb a tree ?
seem to have been compelled to practise it all
Check any evil, as well as any heavy body
my life. The December number of the Gwspel suddenly, while in rapid motion, or under full
has just come to hand, so the suggestions I headway, and the result is more or less destruc
thought of making are impracticable, or rather tive. *
*
*
uncalled for. I am so glad that you are able or
I hardly dare say there is evil in the world,
encouraged to increase the size of the paper. would rather prefer to use such terms as misfor
I like your decision to have it issued as now time and inliarmony, for what seems to me to be
once a month. I would say, do not change it wrong. Tastes differ ; my Heaven would prob
from a monthly, though it might be necessary to ably be somebody’s hell. I would like to live
tncrease it to five times its present size. Cut, with a people who had no coercive laws, no
trimmed, and stitched, no broad, blank margins, domestic brute animals, fowls, insects or rep
or blank leaves, a plain, neat, compact style—is tiles, and of course no fences, barns, yards, pens,
what I like.
or stables, and no prisons, asylums, or churches,
I hope you will be able to stereotype it, for I no distilleries, poor-houses, or court-houses, and
think it will be demanded in coining years.
where all fashions and customs impose no re
COMPROMISES.
straints upon a joyful, free, spontaneous life. I
My life is, and ever has been, only a sort of do not want to live any longer with a people
compromise. How dearly I would like to live who spank their children, fight, pull hair, take
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
medicine, wear hoops, paper collars, boot and
shoe heels, or shear and shave.
■ Now, readers, it you know of such a place or
people, do tell us where it or they may be found.
“ There is none”—none in this broad world,
why? Must wranglings, and fightings, and
want, and ignorance, and folly, ever sit en
throned in the hearts of men ?
A friend tells me we could not live without
brute-animal force or power. He says we must
have horses or oxen to do our heavy hauling
and plowing, and that by their use we can have
more life, i. e. more people can and will be gen
erated or created, “and the more life the bet
ter.” But these are only assertions, and I think
facts would not sustain them ; and as to life
being desirable under all conditions, is ques
tionable.
I suppose the uncivilized portions of humanity
are generally not as prolific; but such, I be
lieve, cultivate the earth but little, but subsist
mostly or its spontaneous productions and other
animals.
1 doubt even the economy of brute power. I
believe human beings pay in advance for every
ounce of power or moment of labor they get
out of a brute. True, after we have been the
humble servant for three or four years in rais
ing, breaking, and furnishing harness, etc., for
a horse, he can pull about eight times as much
as one of us; but he can do nothing else—not
even provide his own food, harness or curry
himself—and then we don’t need all this extra
labor.
Suppose he does help us to produce more, we
produce of some things too much now. I some
times think over-production is the great foun
dation stone of evil or inharmony.
All machinery, all power, and all contrivances
that enable any healthy human being to live
without their just and equal proportion of labor,
is a curse to the world. But we must get out
of this evil of brute dependence, gradually, I
suppose, or else we shall encounter obstacles
that will put our faith and patience to their ex
tremist test. For a while I might find it more
convenient—if not absolutely necessary—to ex
change my labor for food, fruits, vegetables, and
grain, and some of my clothing, etc., for that
which had been in some manner raised or cre
ated with the use of brute-animal power, for all
our industries are now in some way, directly or
indirectly, interwoven with them. And still I
see no necessity for their continuance after a
short time. Next spring, I should like to com
mence the culture of the earth with a few or
many associates, using nothing but simple hand
55
utensils, aided, it may be, with a few “mechani
cal powers
but these utensils and powers
should be of the best kind. Various forms of
spades and hoes, all made of the right size and
shape, and of polished steel, and kept so; for I
find if all such articles are made and kept in
this way, much more labor can be done in a
given time, and with far greater pleasure too.
If large logs or rocks are to be removed, com
bined human power, aided with wedges, screws,
levers, ropes, and railways, could do it, and
more economically and pleasantly, too, I think.
It is not true that “ man wants but little here
below.” The trouble is he wants too much.
His needs are few and simple. The great de
sideratum is contentment, or a calm acquies
cence in the inevitable. How to attain this
contentment, is an interesting question, and not
so easily communicated, unless one has an or
ganism in harmony with the laws of God or
Nature; and if they have, there is surely no
demand for it.
* * Yes, you must allow me again to insist
upon this general idea. Our highest mission is
not to minister to the sick, give to the poor, or
simply relieve the miseries and wretchedness
around ug. What should we think or say of a
•man who knew of a fallen bridge or a railroad,
when he heard the rumbling of the distant
coming train, should raise no signal to stop it,
but should start off after a load of liniment
and coffins ?
CONFIDENTIAL AGAIN.
I think myself rather smart gifted or talented
in mechanism. Have known, very few, if any,
that excelled me in variety of mechanical pur
suits, including speed and workmanship, and
should like to live where I could be the most
useful in helping get up good tools, implements,
etc., for hand labor, or of making labor easy or
pleasurable. I think, too, I can communicate my
ideas or knowledge of mechanism to others—
rather help give them confidence in their own
abilities. Men like me will no doubt be in de
mand in the “ good time coming,” and perhaps
now in Hygeiana ; but can’t go; am one of the
Moseses, I ’spect—not permitted to enter the
“ Promised Land.”
Hurry up the new Gospel, I want to try and
get more subs.
H. B.
Hath any wronged thee? Be bravely re
venged ; slight it and the work is begun ; forget
it and ’tis finished. He is below himself that
is not above an inj ury.
A CHEERFUL spirit makes labor light and
sleep sweet and all around happy, which is much
better than being only rich.
�56
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
while adhering to some one, or ten, or twenty,
or the whole ninety-nine remaining ones, may
XLI.
be strictly professional, but is not so conducive
to the progress of the temperance reformation
ALCOHOLISMUS.
as it is to the pecuniary interests of the profes
Dr. Alonzo Clark teaches the theory and sion, the apothecary, and the rumseller.
practice of medicine in the College of Phys
“ UNHEALTHY PORK.”
icians and Surgeons in the city of New
This caption we copy from the newspapers
York; Williard Parker, M. D., is Professor
of Surgery in the same school. Both gen We do not believe that pork was ever healthful,
tlemen are eminent in their profession, and en nor that domesticated porkers can be any thing
joy a large and lucrative practice. But we have I but a mass of morbid and disease-producing
thought for many years that, hardly a physi matter.
cian could be named who was more sure kill I Trichinosis, measles, scrofula, diphtheria, car
than either of them, in a simple case of fever. buncles, cancers, leprosy, erysipelas, and cholera
We have known many cases of sudden and un morbus, are not sufficient warnings against eat
expected death under their medication, wherein ing that filthy scavenger, the hog, and so sud
we believe, and have reasons as plenty as black den deaths are occasionally credited to the fear
berries for believing, that, but for their treat ful catalogue of consequences. '
Hardly a week in the year passes away
ment, the patients would have recovered with
out difficulty. We say this with no ill-feeling without some account being published of
toward the learned professors. We wish not to deaths resulting from eating swine-flesh
disparage either their integrity or their intel The last account of the kind comes from
ligence. They are scientific, according to the Louisville, Ky.; and the peculiarities of it
system into which they have been educated, and consists in the statement that the mischief
they practise the Healing Art as it has come chief came from “ choice porkers,” from a “ fine
down to them from time immemorial. And if drove” which produced “ splendid hams!” The
their treatment causes the death of their pa Louisville Journal says:
tients, very frequently, the fault is not in the
'■ One of the most prominent and highly-re
physicians but in their system.
spected farmers living in the vicinity of Crab Or
In their clinics of the present college course chard, whose name we did not, unfortunately,
killed
use,
choice
they have spoken very emphatically against the j procure, from a for his family hogs a few he had
porkers
fine drove of
that
prevalent alcoholic medication, especially as it raised, and sent a few neighboring families a
is in whisky. They have even declared the few splendid hams as presents. Nearly every
present mania for administering whiskv to be family to which the pork had been sent, partook
productive of vastly more injury than benefit, of what they supposed were delicious morsels.
Early the following day the members of the sev
and, indeed, a prolific source of intemperance eral families were taken violently ill, with all
among the people, and of death among the sick. the symptoms of cholera. The best medical
A temperance reformer could hardly have taken skill was at once procured, and every exertion
made to relieve rhe sufferers. The patients suf
more radical and ultra ground against -alcohol, fered, we are told, intensely, and by night five
no, against whisky, as a medicine, than have Drs. of the number had died.
“ The wife of the owner of the hogs has died,
Clark and Parker in their clinical instruc
and there are no hopes of his recovery. Several
tions.
others lie in a very critical condition and are not
But we happen to know that both of these likely to survive.
gentlemen have been among the foremost in ad
“ The same day on which the families were at
ministering some kinds of alcoholic liquors (bran tacked, the remainder of the drove of hogs were
seized with
disease, having some
dy, for example) in typhoid fevers, consump thing of the some strangehog cholera, and nearly
character of
tion, and a variety of diseases of low diathesis. | all have died. The occurrence has caused great
And now we are curious to know whether our | excitement in that section of the state, and is
professional brethren of the school which cures likely to extend its influence to others.”
“ Great excitement!” of course ! But will it
the disease by killing the patient, have really
experienced a change of opinion. Have they i not all end in excitement ? Will anybody sug
abandoned brandy as well as condemned i gest that any thing ought to be done about it
whisky ? Grog-medicine exists in a hundred [ except to be excited ? Will any person propose
shapes, and to tickle the ears of the temperance i to discontinue using the foul carcasses—we mean
folks, and make the thoughtless stare by de- I the “ delicious morsels ”—of the infectious
nouncing one form of alcoholic medication, | beasts as food ? Will not the pork interest
RAMBLING REMINISCENCES.
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
(many millions a year) induce many editors of
numerous newspapers, and diverse agricultural
journals to re-assure their readers that there is
no danger ? And will not medical men again
be found to certify that trichina in the flesh are
the most harmless things imaginable? And,
that, if fifty millions, or fifty thousand million
billions of them are diffused through the head,
heart, liver, lungs, stomach, bowels, kidneys,
muscles, nerves, and blood and bones of the
“ human animal ” nothing at all need be appre
hended ?
That so many who use hog-food freely sicken
and die suddenly of “ acute poisoning,” or rot
away by the slower process of chronic disease,
cannot surprise the true physiologist. He can
only wonder that any body survives the abomi
nable aliment.
ADULTERATIONS OF FOOD AND DRINK.
In a late speech at a reform demonstration
in London, England, Thomas Hughes, M. P.,
«aid, while advocating the extension of the elec
tive franchise, “ Then there is the question of
food and drink. The stories about adulterations
are perfectly true. The food of the people is
abominable.” The poorer classes in England,
as well as in all countries, pay a greater price
for provisions than the rich, while the articles
palmed off upon them are villanously adultera
ted. Few persons who have not fully investigated this subject, can believe to what an enor
mous extent the business of adulterating foods,
drinks, and medicines, is carried. Scarcely a
pure drug can be found at an apothecary-shop.
Nearly all the articles employed as beverages—
tea, coffee, chiccory, chocolate, and the hundred
kinds of alcoholic liquors, are adulterated in va
rious ways ; while a large proportion of the but
ter, cheese, milk, flour, and some other things,
is not far from “ abominable food,” when they
'reach the mouth of the consumer. There is,
however, a very simple and perfectly infallible
remedy for these evils and frauds, and perhaps
some chance reader of the Gospel of Health
may thank us for the suggestion. 1. Take no
medicine. 2. Drink nothing but water. 3. Buy
your materials of food as nature produces them,
and do your own preparing and cooking. We
have followed these rules for a quarter of a cen
tury, and can speak by authority.
sr
altogether too stony for any immediate
fruit. The people are more fixed in their habits
and customs in that country than in this ;
are more conservatively inclined, and are
a quarter of a century behind us on all
the subjects pertaining to Health Reform.
Moreover, they are very disinclined to accept
foreigners as teachers, preferring to be guided
by the advice and opinions of their own coun
trymen who occupy high positions in society, or
great reputation as authors, professors, &c. .
We have no doubt that, in a general sense,
these views are entirely correct. But from a
somewhat extensive correspondence, and a rath
er limited personal observation, we incline to
the opinion that competent lecturers of our
school, could be eminently successful there, at
least in many parts of the Queendom. Among
the middling-classes are many quiet, thinking
men and women, who are unknown to fame as
Health Reformers, for no other reason than be
cause they have, not seen the opportunity to be
useful in that capacity, nor to organize them
selves for co-operative effort. They want a lead
er. They need some one to expound the system
of Hygeio-Therapv in its purity ; some one who
can meet their drug-doctors, cliemico-physiologists, and metaphysical-phvsicits in argument,
and show the fallicies and absurdities of the
prevailing medical system, and the incalculable
benefits to result from its overthrow. We are
of opinion that if either one or half a dozen per
sons we could name, should spend one year in
lecturing in England as opportunity presented,
a large body of Health Reformers would mani
fest themselves, and, probably, establish a Col"
lege of Hygeio-Therapy. Some persons think
that the political agitations of that country so
preoccupy the public mind as to embarrass any
attempt to introduce a new subject for discus
sion. But we think just the contrary. Politi
cal agitation causes the people to think, and
while in the thinking mood, they are the bel
ter prepared for listening to argument ; and
if our system is properly presented, the labor
ing people can hardly fail to see the immense ad
vantages and power its adoption would place in
their hands. It would very soon solve the
vexed question of Labor and Capital by making
the laborer independent.
GREAT BRITAIN NO PLACE FOR REFORMERS.
A gentleman aud his wife, who are graduates
of our school, have recently spent several months
in Great Britain, and bring a discouraging ac
count of the prospect for Health Reformers in
that country. They regard the ground as I
THE WATERS OF VALS.
Some friend in Paris has sent us a small pam.
phlet of 22 pages, with the disproportionately
long title, Memoir Concerning the Acidulous.
Gaseous, Bi-carbonated, Sodaic Waters of Veil :
by Dr. Tourrette. The work is devoted to a
chemical analysis of the waters of the various
�58
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
mineral springs in the Department of the Ar
dèche, and a laudatory and commercial state
ment of their remarkable therapeutic prop
erties. These waters contain, in varying pro
portions, chalk, soda, potash, common salt,
silica, iodine, iron, arsenic, and some other
poisons, with a small proportion of some other
impurities. These are precisely the ingredients
which render water unfit for drinking or cook
ing purposes. Should any one put them in a
neighbor’s well in the same proportions and
quantities in which they are found in “ The
Waters of Vais,” he would almost certainly be
prosecuted for an attempt to kill. But, when the
person is sick he will swallow them in any
quantities his stomach can hold, per advice of
the family physician, and regard it as an attempt
to cure. There are some strange inconsistencies
in this world, and swallowing poisons because
one is sick is one of them.
We quote a specimen of the author’s style :
In the diseases of the digestive organs, gastralgy, dyspepsias, the alkaline mineral water
of Vais impregnates to the digestive mucous
membrane lasting physiological modifications.
Pâtissier, a fellow of the Academy of Medi
cine, traces in a few lines the principal effects :
“ In a healthy state,” he says, “ the water of
Vais, taken as a drink, increases the appetite,
renders digestion easier, regulates the alvine
evacuations, and sometimes produces a pur
gative effect ; the circulation increases, the
skin becomes warmer, there is an unusual
feeling of strength and well-being ; some
glasses of that water are sufficient to ren
der alkaline the sweats and the urine, which
naturally are acid.
“ It has been observed, that .mineral waters,
when well borne by the stomach, stimulate its
vitality, and increase its digestive power. This
influence is especially the property of the gas
eous, alkaline, sodaic, cold waters of Vais.”
Petrequin and Socquet (medical treatise on
mineral waters, a work having obtained a prize
from the Academy) :
“ The influence which the waters of Vais
bear on the digestive organs, as soon as they
are made use of, is most remarkable, and their
effects are so soon felt that it might be said,
without exaggeration, that they present some
thing marvellous.”
This is good advertising, but bad grammar,
and worse logic.
In the “ healthy state,” the appetite should
not be increased. To alter a healthy appetite is
to render it unhealthy—morbid. And, again, in
the healthy state, the digestion is always per
fectly easy, and the alvine evacuations regular.
How can that which is perfectly easy be made
easier? and why should regular evacuations
be regulated ? With all due deference to the
distinguished savans of the French Academy,
we must dispose of their euphonious lingo by
applying to it the uneuphonious epithet—
fudge!
VEGETARIAN
FESTIVAL
LAND.
IN
ENG
Our English exchanges contain an account of *
a festival on vegetarian principles. Says one of
them :
A rather remarkable festival was held at
Blennerhasset, England, on Christmas Day, upon
the farm of Mr. William Lawson. The farm is
conducted upon the co-operative principle—a
tithe of the profits being divided among the
workers, and Mr. Wm. Lawson and his servants
are vegetarians. All the people of the district
who chose to write beforehand for free tickets,
or to pay 4d. on Christmas Day, were invited.
Musicians were requested to take their instru
ments with them, and it was added “ those who
like may bring their own spoons.” About 1,000
people attended. The farm buildings were dec
orated, and in the large rooms, singing and
dancing, and lecturing on phrenology, co-opera
tion, vegetarianism, and physiology, went for
ward at intervals during the day. At noon a
meal of grain, fruit, and vegetables was given,
which rather surprised some of the beef-eating
peasantry, who had assembled to take part in
the festival. There were raw turnips, boiled
cabbages, boiled wheat, boiled barley, shelled
peas, (half a ton of each of these three lastnamed :) oatmeal gruel, with chopped carrots,
turnips, and cabbage in it; boiled horse beans,
boiled potatoes, salads, made of chopped carrots,
turnips, cabbages, parsley, &c., over which was
poured linseed boiled to a jelly. As there were
no condiments of any kind, either upon the ex
traordinary messes, or the table, and all beingcold except the potatoes, it may be imagined
that the guests did not sit down with much rel
ish to their vegetarian fare. Each one had an
apple and a biscuit presented on rising from the
table. Good order was maintained all day, the
farm-servants of the establishment acting as
officers, and Mr. W. Lawson himself performing ■
the duty of special constable, a fact which was
announced by placards posted up on the farm
buildings, bearing the words, “ W illiam Lawson,
sworn constable.”
The Tomb of Semiramis.—It is said that
Semiramis directed the following inscription to
be placed upon her tomb : “ If any king stand
in need of money, let him break open this mom
ument.” On reading this Darius ransacked the
tomb, and found inscribed the following rebuke ;
“If thou hadst not been insatiably covetous, thou
wouldst not have invaded the sacred mansion
of the dead.” He retired with shame and dis
appointment, as will every one who is guilty of a
dishonorable action.
NATURE.
Read nature ; nature is a friend to truth ;
Nature is Christian ; preaches to mankind;
And bids dead matter aid us in our creed.
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
Agricultural gqmrtmort.
POMOLOGY IN HYCEIANA.
BY E. YODER, M. D.
59
in hermetrically sealed cans and jars, for winter
use, and for exportation, than was used for all
purposes, green and dried, ten years ago. And
yet millions of people use it only as a luxury,
not aware of the fact, that human life can be
sustained in its best conditions by making fruit
the staple, if not the sole article of diet.
THE COST OF CULTIVATION.
Settlers in a new “ colony ” intending to
engage in fruit culture, can not over-estimate
the importance of planting largely and atten
tively cultivating small fruits.
The standard fruits, apples, pears, peaches,
cherries, etc., require more time to complete
their growth before bearing fruit; and hence
to persons who need quick returns for small
outlays of capital, are less profitable and incur
greater risks than small fruits.
The expense of raising and marketing of
strawberries, does not ordinarily exceed five cents
per quart. Canning establishments can afford
to pay from ten to fifteen cents per quart.
Therefore settlers in “ Hygeiana ” need not fear
over-stocking the market, even if an acre of
strawberries were planted on each ten acre farm.
A CANNING FACTORY
should be built by the settlers of “ Hygeiana.”
They should organize a joint-stock company,
STRAWBERRIES.
so that the handsome profits realized by can
When well planted and properly cared for, ning establishments would be kept in the hands
strawberries yield a full crop the second season of the fruit-growers, to whom it justly belongs.
of their growth.
FIVE ACRES ENOUGH.
MANNER OF CULTIVATION.
Five acres of land are enough for a family of
Any person who is familiar with the cultiva five persons, if planted to fruit in the following
tion of Indian corn can easily manage strawber order, thus giving the first necessary requisite.
ries. This remark applies equally to the culti
A FIVE-ACRE SYSTEM.
vation of all kinds of fruit.
Prepare the ground as for corn, d’lant in rows
One acre planted to Strawberries,
U li
“
“ Raspberries,
four feet apart, and set the plants 15 inches
Il
Ct
“
“ Blackberries,
apart in the rows. Be careful in planting to give
Cl
CC
“
“ Grapes,
the roots their natural position, (instead of being
crowded into a little hole). Keep free of runners, leaving one acre fol buildings, ornament
except where you wish to propagate plants, and grounds, roads and a grove.
there remove all blossoms and fruit. Cultivate
RASPBERRIES.
thoroughly between the rows and irrigate freely.
The common black cap is the safest, and has
ROW TO PROCURE PLANTS.
the advantage over other varieties in bearing
Obtain plants only of reliable dealers, and transportation better.
Plant them eight feet apart. This will give
avoid all new, untried and consequently high
priced varieties. Do not under any circumstances room between the rows for one row of beans,
take, even as a gift, unknown varieties ; labor, potatoes, cabbages, or other vegetables ; thus
time, and the opportunity to produce good crops, securing thorough cultivation, so essential to
with good plants, are thus lost, and strawberry the production of good fruit.
Dig holes a» foot deep and fifteen inches in
culture called a failure.
diameter. Place six inches of leafmould, or
THE “ WILSON.”
muck, in the bottom of the hole ; fill up with
Of the different varieties, none give better fine loam and cover the roots of the young
satisfaction than that known as the “Wilson’s plants about two inches. Spring planting is
Albany.” The “ Russell” strawberry described best.
in the July number of the Gospel of Health,
BLACKBERRIES.
is perhaps larger in size, and under the manage
The
or
Dor
ment of experienced pomologists, may yield chesterLawton,bestNew Rochelle, and thebeing
are the
varieties. The latter
larger crops, but for amateurs, (and for this class the earliest and sweetest, but not so prolific a
I write,) the “ Wilson ” will prove more profit bearer nor so large in size.
able, because it will flourish under all kinds of
Plant four by eight
but
treatment, better than any other variety. It is four to grow in each hill.feet apart. Allowprop
If you wish to
the best for marketing because it is solid, and agate plants, appropriate a part of your land
beats transporting a long distance.
excep
At Hammondton and Vineland, N. J., this exclusively to that purpose, and, with the ” keep
of a single row of
“ hoed crops,
variety is so decidedly preferred, that fruit tion remainder as cleansome corn-field. Cultiva
growers in these places have almost entirely ' the is equal to a thickas a
tion
coating of “vegetable
discarded all other varieties.
not always
obtained.
Fruit-growers in southern Illinois, say, when ' rubbish,” which can number of thebeospel con
The September (1866)
G
speaking of strawberries: “we mean Wilson’s tains appropriate hints on shortening in, which
every time." So hardy are they that they send I will not repeat.
them to Chicago, Buffalo, Pittsburg, and even
GRAPES.
to New York city.
Grapes will prove among the most profit
THE DEMAND FOR FRUIT
able of all fruits for cultivation in our new “ El
is steadily increasing. More fruit is now put up 1 dorado but, one acre will be enough in con-
�60
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
nection with the plan above specified, which has
been found to give such an admirable succes
sion of employment as well as fruit. The vari
ety which is best under all circumstances is thus
expressed by an experienced grape-grower in
Vineland, N. J. He says, “ If I were to plant a
thousand grape-vines, I would first plant five
hundred of the Concord variety ; 2. I would
plant four hundred Concord grape-vines; 3.
Seventy-five Concords ; 4. Twenty-five Concords,
and, to make up the thousand, I would plant
one good Concord.
Much has been written about trenching for
grapes, until many people actually believe that
to produce grapes deep trenches must be dug ;
these filled with bones, stones, old-leather, and
rubbish generally. This method would neces
sitate an expense of from $1,000 to $1,200 per
acre. But there is a better as well as cheaper
way. Plant the grape-stocks as you would a
young fruit tree, eight by twelve feet apart;
having first cleared the ground and prepared it
as for corn. To insure thorough cultivation,
plant melons, vegetables, or some other * ‘ hoed
crops” between the rows, but not so near, how
ever, as to prevent the free use of the cultivator
every two weeks next the rows ; thus keep the
surface in as good condition the entire season as is
required to make corn grow, and you will not be
troubled with the worms, bugs, and caterpillars,
whose homes are on neglected farms, and who
flourish by reason of the luxuriant growth of
weeds, found too often in vine-yards. Without
thorough cultivation the farmer would not ex
pect to be successful in corn-culture ; but many
who attempt fruit-culture seem to think plant
ing should suffice, and are ready to denounce
grape-raising as a failure, and fruit-growing gen
erally as a humbug, when they are simply get
ting nothing for doing nothing.
VV hen we consider the fact that from $300 to
$700 per acre is realized by fruit-culture, we cer
tainly owe the soil and the plants which pro
duce such results, proper cultivation and care.
•
STANDARD FRUITS.
can be planted among small fruits in the follow
ing order:
Among Blackberries, plant apple-trees, 30 ft.
by 30 feet.
Among Raspberries, plant pear-trees, 25 feet by
25 feet.
Among Strawberries, plant peach-trees, 18 feet
by 18 feet.
Cherries, plums, apricots, nectarines, and all
fancy fruits, with evergreens and flowers, find
their places in the ornamental grounds around
dwellings.
MANURING.
“ Fertilizing” with stable-manure is perni
cious. It impairs the quality of the fruit, and
produces insects, which destroy both trees and
fruit. Eternal vigilance is required, especially
in new settlements, to protect fruit from the
depredations of insects, without adding to their
opportunities to multiply their numbers.
The “ virgin soil ” of “ Hygeiana ” contains
all the elements necessary to the production of
all the fruits in perfection.
Thorough stirring is the secret of success. Ir
rigation and cultivation will enrich even the
most sterling desert on the globe.
THE PLAN OF PLANTING.
This should be such as to give rows extend
ing lengthwise through the entire lot. If less
than an acre of each of the fruits we have men
tioned be planted, the same general plan can be
adopted, extending the rows in the direction of
the land which is to be planted next, giving an
opportunity to extend the rows. Thus econo
mizing the horse-labor required in cultivation.
SOCIAL REORGANIZATION.
The leading problem in Sociology—the re
organization of society on its natural and only
practical basis—is well stated by Francis G.
Abbott in the Radical:
Now the great problem of sociology is the
right adjustment of the relations between the
unit and the aggregate, the part and the whole,
the individual and society. Neither war accord
ing to Hobbes, nor savage isolation, according to
Rousseau, is “ the state of nature,” but, these
being excluded, only one alternative remains,
and that is co-operation. The state of nature is
mutual co-operation, which is the Christian ideal
of society. But co-operation implies a common
end for which all co-operate; and what is that ’?
This is a most important question, and the an
swer to it will effect essentially the character of
every voluntary organization into which men
enter.
The ideal end of society is accomplished in the
highest possible development of all its individual
members, according to the law of their natural
individualities. The individual cannot develop
in isolation, independently of social helps ; and
that is the sufficient answer to the advocate of
pure individualism. From birth to death men
are dependent on each other in countless ways;
there is no such thing as human independence,
except in a very Pickwickian sense. The com
pletes! possible education of all its individuals,
their most perfect development in all directions,
is the grand end and function of society. This
end attained, the highest welfare of all is se
cured in the highest welfare of each. It is the
duty of society to propose this end ; it is the duty
of the individual to co-operate in achieving it.
Society defeats its own end if it violates the
individuality of any one of its members ; the
individual defeats at once his own end, and the
end of society, if he refuses to co-operate with
his fellows. The prosperity of a state depends
on commerce, in a higher sense of that word
than the common one. The free commerce of
intellectual, moral, and religious influences, the
unstinted interchange of ennobling ideas, senti
ments and social helps of every kind, is the verv
condition of true social progress ; and all this is
co-operation, mutual giving and taking, practi
cal outcome and income of all that is best in
humanity. In no other way than by this per
petual co-operation of each with all, can society
attain its ideal end.
How clear, then, is the duty of society to
respect to the uttermost the liberty of the indi
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
fll
vidual! The good of society is at once sacrificed I organization which represses individuality, but
oy any restriction on the individual’s free activ ! only in favor of organization which shall develop
ity, whether of body or mind. How clear, on it. Disorganization is simply anarchy, social
the other hand, is the duty of the individual to [ death. Scrutinize, therefore, the fundamental
work heartily for the welfare of society ! His principles of social organizations as severely as
own highest good, in which that of society is you will; but do not defeat your own end by
also involved, is sacrificed by a selfish refusal to destroying what you seek to reform. Let every
bear his part of the common burden. Private new organization be helped and encouraged
culture and public usefulness are thus recipro which shall tend to accomplish the genuine
cally ends and means; the highest individual object of all organization: namely, the higher
culture is impossible unless dedicated to public development of the individual. That is the
uses, and the highest usefulness to society is touchstone, the test of all beneficial organization.
impossible, except through the most perfect Individual development need not be the direct
culture of the individual. This mutual exist object proposed ; but if it is not the ultimate
ence of the individual for society, and of society object attained, if it is in any way, shape, or
for the individual, constitutes the human race a manner interfered with, then the organization,
single organism, which the immortal Kant de no matter how dazzling its professions, or phil
fines as " that in which the whole and the parts anthropic its intentions, obstructs the genuine
are mutually means and ends.” The more highly progress of society, and should either be re
society becomes thus organized, the richer, freer, formed or abolished. If reform is impossible,
and grander, is each individual life. Let society there is no remedy but abolition.
and the individual be faithful in the perform
ance of these reciprocal duties, and the greatest
THE TEMPERANCE FAILURE.
of human triumphs is achieved—liberty in union,
the unimpeded evolution of every soul accord
ing to the Divine ideal implanted in it, and the
It is refreshing to read, among the intermin
harmonious working of all souls for the highest
good of each. Is not this the true idea of the able nonsense on this subject, a writer on tem
perance who can see to the root of the matter.
kingdom of God ?
It seems quite unwise, then, to object to The majority of temperance writers and speakers
organization per se,-or to hold that it naturally ! are directing all their efforts in mitigating the
and inevitably tends to evil; for social progress evils of intemperance, while a moiety of the
manifestly consists in perpetual movement to
ward a profounder organic integration of the money, time, and brains, expended in the right
whole, and a higher spiritual differentiation of direction would rid the earth of the curse en
the parts. There is nothing antagonistic in j tirely. The Church Union has a pertinent
these two ends; on the contrary, the attain- ; article which concludes with the following para
mentof one depends directly on the attainment I
of the other. The most highly organized plants graph :
and animals are precisely those in which the ■ “ It was found one thing to stop the sale of
individual organs are most dissimilar. To hold rum, but quite another thing to stop the drink
back, therefore, in jealousy of organization as ing of it; very soon no one was found willing to
such, from the great social duty of co-operation i prosecute under the act, when of course it
for human welfare, is to distrust the nature of ' became a dead letter, and to sum up the matter
things and the wisdom of God’s cosmical laws— i in a word—in the whole history of the enter
which is the worst kind of skepticism. Organ- j prise, temperance men never had so much law,
izations crystallize around all great ideas, and and drunkards never had so much liquor, as at
every great idea creates its own appropriate . this present time. This result might have been
form of organization. If a vitally powerful idea ; expected. The Maine Law went on the princi
gets hold of men’s minds, it will organize them [ ple that the evil came from the traffic, but it is
almost in spite of themselves ; it will bring them I just the other way, the traffic comes from the
together as inevitably as the force of gravitation I evil. Intemperance does not come from the
brings together the tiny streams, trickling down tippling-shop, it comes from the heart; it is
the mountain’s sides, into the larger stream of found everywhere. Notv having stated the
the valley. There is no use in fighting against cause of failure, let us at some future time apply
nature. If men keep apart, it is because they the remedy.”
have no common purpose or principle to unite
We are anxious to see the “ remedy ” which
them; continued separation is a verdict pro the writer proposes to indicate. We confess
nounced against their principles—“guilty of
our fears that it will be another compromise
worthlessness in the first degree.”
Least of all should the liberal preacher of to after all. Intemperance certainly comes from
day look askance on organization. For what is morbid appetency—in one sense, “ the heart.”
he preaching? Clearly for reform—political,
social, religious. But he who works for reform, But what is the cause of the morbid appe
must first believe in form, and form is organiza tite? To this cause the remedy should be
tion. The modern prophet of humanity aims applied, or it will never be successful.
not to disorganize society, (though often falsely
accused of that,) but only to re-organize it, on
the basis of love, righteousness, and truth. He
Great men direct the events of their time ;
can only aim to correct the wrong basis of pres wise men take advantage of them ; weak men
ent organization; he protests against every are carried along in their current.
�62
HYCEIANA
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
AGRICULTURAL
LEGE.
COL
One of the institutions that we desire to see
in operation at the earliest practical moment, is
a school where children of both seXes—old or
young—can he taught the most important of all
human avocations, that of tilling the soil. How
earnest we are in this matter may be learned
from our advertising department, wherein we
offer to donate fifty acres of land in Hygeiana,
to any competent person who will purchase as
many acres more, and devote the whole to the
purposes of an agricultural school. The better
plan would be, of course, to combine it with a
general educational institution, where the ordi
nary branches of a college course, as well as all
the branches of the primary school, are taught
in connection with manual labor. The writers
in our educational magazines do not agree re
specting the propriety of connecting the study
of agriculture with a regular college course. A
writer in the American Agriculturist presents
one side of the subject thus :
“ It is a noteworthy fact, that agricultural
colleges and schools, as thus far organized and
conducted in this country, have, with a single
exception, perhaps, proved practical failures.
Students in law schools become lawyers, medi
cal students become physicians, and so on, but
the students in our agricultural schools do not
distinguish themselves as farmers, and time
enough has passed for them to have done so if
they would. How is this to be accounted for ?
We may not be able fully to explain it, but may
point out some of the defects in the plans of the
institutions thus far established.
“ It is a mistake to make an agricultural school
a school also for general education. Our com
mon schools and academies teach the rudiments
of geography, grammar, arithmetic, &c.; why
burden an agricultural school with these ele
mentary and common branches? They cannot
teach them any better or more economically
than is now already done elsewhere, and it only
wastes time and clogs the working of the pro
fessional school to bring them into their courses
of study. It not only takes up the time which
should be devoted to studies strictly profession
al, but it lowers the standard of attainment. It
tends to make a young man’s education super
ficial, and hurries him into practical life at too
early an age. The growing tendency in our
country to shorten the period devoted to
education, is hurtful, and should be resisted.
As the country grows older, the tendency should
be in the other direction.
“ Again, it is a mistake to connect the study of
agriculture with a regular classical college, and
make it a part of a course of general and classi
cal education. This' would tend to divert the
mind too much from the regular studies. If a
young man who intends to be a doctor, should
have the science of medicine taught him in the
midst of his college course, he would be very
apt to neglect the other studies and give his
chief thoughts to medicine. It might, in some
cases, be wise to have an agricultural school in
the same town with the classical college, but
they should be separate institutions. In this re
spect, they should be organized just as our exist
ing schools of medicine, law, theology, and prac
tical science, are—separate and independent.
“ It is a mistake, also, to make an agricultural
school a manual-labor school. The student in
any and every department of knowledge should
have daily exercise in the open air for the pres
ervation of his health. But his exercise should
partake of the nature of recreation, not labor.
No man can well carry on two kinds of work
at once: it may be either brain-work or muscle
work, but not both in the same day. If he toils
with hands the largest part of each day, his
reading, during his hours of rest, should not be
of the nature of study. If he toils with his
head the largest part of every day, he should,
for the remainder, seek some kind of diversion,
amusement, not additional labor of any sort.
For all kinds of labor exhaust vitality. ‘ All
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ ”
To this very superficial and most unphiloso.
phical argument we may oppose all the teach
ings of physiology and a thousand lessons of
experience. A vast majority of the men who
have been truly and originally great in the
world, were in some way laborers when they
were students. It is not true that “ all kinds of
labor exhaust vitality.” It is only excessive la
bor that does it. A certain amount of ^exercise
is essential, not only to the development of an
organic structure, but also to the preservation of
its health. If the brain organs are fatigued,
they can be restored while the muscles are ex
ercised, and vice versa. We are of the opinion
that boys and girls, or men and women, will
make better progress in classical studies by
working several hours in each day. It is stated
that, at the Michigan Agricultural College the
boys all work three hours a day, and those who
are reported by the farmer as the best in the
field, are uniformly the best scholars.
Foreign Beds.—It is curious to notice the
habits of different nations in regard to beds.
However dress, food, manners, cooking, political
conditions may vary in other countries, the beds
differ as notably as anything does. In Eastern
nations the bed is often nothing but a carpet,
and is carried about and spread in any convenient
spot, and the tired native lies down in his clothes.
We remember a child who used to be puzzled
with those miracles of -our Saviour, who, in re
storing an impotent man, directed him to take
up his bed and walk—his idea of a bed consisting
in a four-post bedstead, with its palliasse, mat
tress and feather-bed, besides blankets, sheets,
and pillows. But even in very cold countries
the beds are closely allied to the Eastern carpet.
In taking a furnished house in Russia, on inquir
ing for the servant’s bed-rooms and beds, which
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH
did not appear in the inventory on our surveying
the apartments, it comes out that the Russian
servants are in the habit of lying anywhere—
in the passages, on the floors, on the mats at the
room door, or even on the carpets in the sitting
rooms—generally as near as possible to the
stoves in the winter season. The emperor
himself sleeps on a leathern sofa, in a sitting
room, lying down in a dressing-gown, but not
removing his under-clothing. But in Russia
the houses are kept so warm by the system of
stoves through the walls that much bed cover
ing is no more required in winter than during
the heats of summer. In Germany, the con
struction of the beds gives one the impression
that the Germans do not know what it is to lie
down. The bedstead is a short, wooden case,
there is a mattress extending from head to foot,
but so formed that at the half-way the upper end
is made to slope at an angle of considerable ele
vation, and upon this are two enormous down
pillows, which reach from the head of the bed to
the half-way down to the feet; consequently the
occupant of the bed lies at an angle of at least
forty-five degrees, and is nearly in a sitting posi
tion all night. In some parts of Germany there
are no blankets ; there is a sheet to lie on, and
another over it, which is tacked to a quilt wad
ded with down ; and this is the entire covering,
with the exception of a sort of bed, a thick,
eider-down quilt, but not quilted, which is placed
on the top, and which, unless the sleeper is very
quiet in,his sleep, is usually found on the floor
in the morning. In hot weather there is no
medium ; either a sheet is the only covering, or
one of these over-warm eider-downs.—[All the
Year Rbund.
A PREMIUM FOR CRIME.
63
government. The proposition of Commissioner
•Wellsis simply offering a premium on crime;
and we are glad that a few of the newspapers of
our country are intelligent enough to understand
it, in this light, and honest enough to express
their thoughts in words. The New Republic
well says:
The reasons for the proposed reduction of
the tax are 1st, the ratio of taxation to cost, and
2d, to promote morals.
We insist that the taxation should bear a
ratio to the profits of an article, rather than to
the cost of its manufacture, and it is a wellknown fact, that on every gallon of whisky
there remains a net profit to the trade, of from
$3 to $15 per gallon. In other words, the $2
tax per gallon can be paid, and leave a mean
net gain to the trade of at least $5 per gallon.
This comes from the consumer, a reduction of
tax would be only so much additional gain to the
trade, the cost to the consumer would remain
the same.
Instead of adjusting the ratio of taxation to
the cost of an article, equity requires it to be
adjusted to the profits, and in the whisky trade,
the cost becomes almost 000 compared with the
profit—it is almost all profit. If a man clears
$8 a gallon on whisky, why should he not pay
$2 to the government ? Rather, we say, pay
$5 to the government, for even then his profits
would exceed those of almost every other busi
ness.
But the “ improvement of morals ” to be
secured is a suggestion worthy of the “ Forty
Thieves! ” The distillers are styled “ dishonest,”
they defraud the government, therefore a ‘‘limit
has been reached.” To prevent fraud and dis•honesty, yield to the demands of these dishonest
men, although the deficit must be ‘‘wrung from
the hard earnings of labor! ” Here’s a Daniel
come to j udgment. Here is a sovereign balm
for burglary, and crime of every hue—take off
the tax! Ten years in the penitentiary is too
high a tax on horse-stealing, reduce the tax to
one year! The scaffold is too high a tax on
murder, reduce it to a fine of $11)0 ! I The ques
tion is thus: Is the ratio of tax to profit too
high? Manifestly not. Then enforce the law!
When was the Rum power honest? Under
Washington, they refused to pay the tax im
posed, and raised the standard of revolt. What
was Washington’s remedy to “benefit the mor
als ” of these people? An army of 16,000, each
with a persuasive musket, the logic of which
they saw the force of, and submitted. The
government should legislate in this matter, as
for burglars and thieves. The whole business
begins, progresses, and ends in robbery and
perjury. To succumb to this wicked monopoly
is infinitely worse, than to have yielded to all
the demands of the Confederacy. We respect
fully commend to our Commissioner a study of
the old adage “ The bird that can sing and will
not sing, must be made to sing!” Surrender
to thieves, never!
The whisky makers, having succeeded in
defrauding the Government out of $53,000,000,
Mr. Commissioner Wells proposes to reduce the
tax to the degree that the whisky lords will be
pleased to condescend to pay, with the ulterior
view, probably, of inducing those who amass
wealth in ¿he ruin of their fellow-beings, to
become honest dealers. We are not in favor
of licensing either the manufacture or sale of
intoxicating drinks, nor even of tolerating them.
But the public mind is not yet educated up to
the moral point of distinguishing between prop
erty and poison, nor of understanding that all
vocations which are pernicious to society, are
criminal in the sight of God and all true men.
Hence we must do the best we can in mitigating
the evil of that which the law and public sen
timent permit, and in keeping the fiends in
human form, as near the line of honesty as is
compatible with a dishonest calling. But we
protest, in the name of all that is decent in
morals, or respectable in legislation, against
An editor says the only reason why his house
allowing the makers and traffickers in the drunk was not blown away during this late gale, was
ard’s drink to be above law, and to control the because there was a heavy mortgage upon it.
�64
the; gospel of health.
moral and intellectual world, to be measured by
the literary retailers, and the literary yard-sticks
In the Galaxy for the present month is a ' of our ordinary or average life.”
biographical notice, by Eugenia Benson, of that ■
remarkable and gifted woman, Madame Du[For the Gospel of Health ]
devant, better known in the literary world by
the nom-de-plume of George Sand. The follow NEW YEAR ON HYGIENIC PRINCI
PLES.
ing account of her prodigious labors and the
expansive scope of her genius will interest our
Dear Dr. Trall.—Would your readers like
readers. Is not such a woman entitled to the I to hear how Hygienic New-Yorkers can cele
elective franchise?
brate the first day of the year ? I am sure they
“George Sand has given forth an amazing would, so will give you a short account of “ our
quantity of literary work, and she is at the pres New Year’s.” are aware that some 20 or more of
Perhaps you
ent time either contributing to the ‘ Revue des your students are rooming in one house, corner
Deux Mondes’ or writing a play for the stage, j of 7th avenue and 53d street ; a fine airy place,
It would be impossible for me to enumerate all | only a few blocks from Central Park. A fun
loving class as
her works, still less to analyze them, for I do i life. Well, we well as living earnest workers in
thought to .celebrate the bright
not know them, nor are they accessible to me. new year, with a Hygienic dinner, and a “ good
I propose to express the character, to give the i time” after it, in the rooms of Mr. Stockwell,
drift of, to analyze as I may, certain leading one of the students, who has a wife and baby to
pleasant while
works, which, by common consent, best express make his home hours happy and under Hygeia’s
he is ea rnestly seeking knowledge
the scope and meaning of her prodigious literary own tutelage. New year's morning dawned
activity.
beautiful and sunny. Smiling faces were in
“ George Sand could not be silent; she is the [ each room preparing something for the grand
dinner.
voice of her age ; through her, not France alone, | Those of us 'who eat only one meal per day
but Europe, has spoken. With the people rest omitted our breakfast, and gratified our alimenless, the old order of society broken up, laws, tiveness, in exercising our ingenuity in getting
theologies and creeds from obsolete conditions j up goodies, or something more substantial for
the table that “ Was to be.”
of life and thought—the whole moral and in
Two o’clock, the dinner hour, came, and the
tellectual world detached from the sixteenth ! company assembled, nor do I believe that a
and seventeenth centuries by the disorders and more tasteful or inviting table was spread,
assaults of the eighteenth, yet, restless to reform neither a brighter, happier company assembled
in New York, on that day. Vegetables, pud
itself on an industrial basis, in consonance with J dings, pies, fruits, appeared in many and various
universal benevolence and in accordance with forms. Yet nothing that would not nourish
the Christian idea—it has been the work of the body was to be found there. Every one ate
Madame George Sand to make known all this ; with a relish ; the best feeling prevailed, each
thought more of the comfort and happiness of
she has sought to express the spiritual and others than of his or her own.
moral needs of her age, to unmask established
The dinner passed off to the gratification of
forms of injustice, to expose the pretensions of all concerned. In the evening the company
customs derived from an old and different order assembled again, and spent the time in recita
tions of poetry, speeches, plays, etc., retiring at
of society, to weaken social bonds that retard i an early hour, feeling the better prepared for
aid often paralyze the best impulses, and de life’s work, for the short period of relaxation.
Hoping that ere many years roll around, there
stroy the free activity of men. It was for this
that George Sand, artist in her genius and in i ■will be many Hygienic dinners in answer to your
earnest, hopeful efforts, I am,
her instincts has been the conscience, the moral
Most truly, yours,
“ K.”
sense, and the intellectual protest of her time ;
New York, Jan. 1, 1S67.
it was for this that she has been forced to pro
duce such an amazing quantity of work, as from
“ Do you eat well ? ” asked one of our modern
an inexhaustible source ; it was for this that she
has been animated by a genius at once artistic pill-venders, who was in the process of manu
facturing a patient.
and moral, at once unrestrained and self-pos
“Yes, very well.”
sessed. Madame George Sand, who has shocked
“ Do vou sleep well ?”
“ Yes.”
moral people in England, America, and France,
“ Eh ? you do, eh ? That’s not exactly the
is among French writers an example of purity
thing for one in your condition. I’ll do away
and nobleness. But she is altogether too grand with that for you. Take four of these every
and impassioned a type of woman, too compre morning, and four after dinner. You’ll soon
hensive in her mind, covers too much of the see a change! ”
A “ STRONG-MINDED ” WOMAN.
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN.
ADDRESS OF ELIZABETH
CADY STANTON IN
BEHALF OF THE AMERICAN EQUAL RIGHTS
ASSOCIATION TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE
STATE OF NEW YORK.
Gentlemen of the Judiciary : I appear before
you at this time to urge on you the justice of
securing to all the people of the state the right
to vote for delegates to the coining Constitutional
Convention. The discussion of this right in
volves the consideration of the whole question
of suffrage, and especially those sections of your
Constitution which interpose insurmountable
qualifications to its exercise. As representatives
of the people, your right to regulate all that
pertains to the coming Constitutional Conven
tion is absolute. It is for you to say when and
where that convention shall be held, how many
delegates shall be chosen and what classes
shall be represented. This is your right. The
actions of the Legislatures of 1801 and 1821,
furnish you a precedent for extending to dis
franchised classes the right to vote for delegates
to a Constitutional Convention. Before those
conventions were called the right of suffrage
was restricted to every male inhabitant who
possessed a freehold to the value of £20, or
rented a tenement at the yearly value of 40
shillings, and had been rated and actually paid
taxes to the state ; and yet the Legislature of
those years passed laws setting aside all prop
erty limitations, and providing that all men,
black and white, rich and poor, should vote for
delegates to said conventions. See Session Laws
of 1801, page 190, chapter 69, section 2 : also,
those of 1821, page 83, act 90, sections 1 and 6.
The Constitutional Convention of Rhode Island,
in 1842, affords another precedent of the power
of the Legislature to extend the suffrage to dis
franchised classes. The disfranchisement of
any class of citizens is in express violation of
the spirit of our own Constitution, which says,
art. 1, section 1 : “ No member of this state shall
be disfranchised, or deprived of any of the rights
or privileges secured to any citizen thereof,
unless by the law of the land and the judgment
of his peers.” Now women, and negroes not
worth $250, however weak and insignificant, are
surely “members of the state.” “The law of
the land” is equality. The question of disfran
chisement has never been submitted to the j udgment of their peers. A peer is an equal. The
“ white male citizen ” who so pompously parades
himself in all our codes and constitutions, does
not recognize women and negroes as his equals,
therefore his judgment in their case amounts to
nothing ; and women and negroes constituting
three-fifths of the people of the state, do not
recognize this “ white male” minority as their
rightful rulers. On our republican theory that
the majority governs, women and negroes must
have a voice in the government of the state ;
and being taxed should be represented. “White
males ” are the nobility of this country. They are
the privileged order, who have legislated us unj ustly for women and negroes as have the nobles
of England for their disfranchised classes. The
existence of the English House of Commons is a
65
strong fact to prove that one class cannot legislate
for another. Perhaps it may be necessary, in this
transition period of our civilization, to create a
Lower House for women and negroes, lest the
dreadful example of Massachusetts should be
repeated here, and black men take their places
beside our Dutch nobility in the councils of the
state. If the history of England has proved
that white men of different grades cannot legis
late with justice for one another, how can you,
honorable gentlemen, legislate for women and
negroes, whom, by your customs, creeds and
codes and common consent, are placed under
the ban of inferiority? If you dislike this view
of the case, and claim that woman is your supe
rior, and therefore you place her above al]
troublesome legislation, to shield her by your
protecting care from the rough winds of life, I
have simply to say your statute-books are a sad
commentary on this position. Your laws degrade
rather than exalt woman ; your customs cripple,
rather than free ; your system of taxation is
alike ungenerous and unjust. In demanding
suffrage for the black man of the South, the
dominant party recognizes the fact that, as a
freedman, he is no longer a part of the family,
therefore his master is no longer his representa
tive ; and as he will now be liable to taxation,
he must also have representation. Woman, on
the contrary, has never been such a part of the
family as to escape taxation. Although there
has been no formal proclamation giving her an
individual existence, unmarried women have
always had the right to property and wages, to
make contracts and do business in their own
name. And even married women, by recent
legislation in this state, have been secured in
some civil rights. At least as 'well secured as
those classes can be who do not hold the ballot
in their own hands. Woman now holds a vast
amount of property in the country and pays her
full proportion of taxes, revenue included; on
what principle, then, do you deny her represen
tation ? If you say women are “ virtually rep
resented ” by the men of their household, I give
you Senator Sumner’s denial in his great speech
on Equal Rights in the XXXIXth Congress.
Quoting from James Otis, he says: “No such
phrase as virtual representation was known in
law or constitution. It is altogether a subtlety
and illusion, wholly unfounded and absurd.
We must not be cheated by any such phantom
or any other fiction of the law or politics, or any
monkish trick or deceit or hypocrisy.” In re
gard to taxation without representation, Lord
Coke says: “The supreme power cannot take’
from any man any part of his property without
his consent in person or by representation.”
Taxes are not to belaid on the people (are not
women and negroes people) without tiieir con
sent in person or by representation. The very
act of taxing those who are not represented
appears to me to deprive them of one of their
most essential rights as freemen, and if contin
ued seems to be in effect an entire disfranchise
ment of every civil right. For what one civil
right is worth a rush after a man’s property is
subject to be taken from him without his con
sent.” In view of such opinions is it too much
to ask the men of New York either to enfran
chise women of wealth and education, or else
�66
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
release them from taxation ? If we cannot be
represented as individuals we should not be
taxed as individuals. If the “ white male ” will
do all the voting, let him pay all the taxes.
There is no logic so powerful in opening the eyes
of men to their real interests as a direct appeal
to their pockets. Such a release from taxation
can be supported, too, by your own Constitution.
In art. 2, sec. 1, you say, “ And no person of
color shall be subject to direct taxation unless
he shall be seized and possessed of such real
estate as aforesaid,” referring to the $250 quali
fication. Now a poor widow who owns a lot
worth $100 or less is taxed. Why this partiality
to the black man ? He may live in the quiet
possession of $249 worth of property and not be
taxed a cent. Is it on the ground of color or
sex that the black man finds greater favor in
the eyes of the law than the daughters of the
state ? In order fully to understand this partiality
I have inquired into your practice with regard
to colored women. I find that in Seneca Falls
there lives a highly estimable colored woman by
the name of Abby Gomore. She owns prop
erty to the amount of $1,000. It consists of
village lots. She now pays, and always has
paid, from the time she invested her first $100,
the same taxes that any other citizen paid, just
in proportion to the value of her property, or as
it is assessed. After excluding women, and
“ men of color ” not worth $250, from represen
tation, your Constitution tells us what other
persons are excluded from the right of suffrage.
Article 2, section 2 ; “ Laws may be passed ex
cluding from the right of suffrage all persons
who have been or may be convicted of bribery,
of larceny, or of any infamous crime, and for
depriving every person who shall make or be
come directly or indirectly interested in any bet
or wager depending upon the result of any
election, from the right to vote at such election.”
IIow humiliating! for respectable, law-abiding
women and “men of color” to be thrust outside
the pale of political consideration with those
convicted of bribery, larceny, and infamous
crime, and, worse than all, with those who bet
on elections, for how lost to all sense of honor
must that “ white male citizen ” be who pub
licly violates a wise law to which he has himself
given an intelligent consent. We are ashamed,
honored sirs, of our company. The Mohammedan
forbids a fool, a madman, or a woman, to call
the hour for prayers. If it were not for the invi
dious classification we might hope it was tender
ness rathor than contempt that moved the
Mohammedan to excuse women from so severe a
duty. But for the ballot, which falls like a flake
of snow upon the sod, we can find no such ex
cuse for New York legislators. Article 2,
sections, should be read and considered by the
women of the state, as it gives them a glimpse
of the modes’of life and surroundings of some
of the privileged classes of “ white male citi
zens ” who may go to the polls. “For the
purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to
have gained or lost a residence by reason of his
presefice or absence while employed in the ser
vice of the United States, nor while engaged in
navigating the waters of the state, or of the
United States, or of the high seas, nor while a
student of any seminary of learning, nor while
kept at any almshouse or other asylum, at public
expense ; nor while confined in any public pris
on.” What an unspeakable privilege to have
that precious jewel—the human soul—in a set
ting of irhite manhood, that thus it can pass
through the prison, the asylum, the almshouse,
the muddy waters of the Erie Canal, and come
forth undimmed to appear at the ballot-box at
the earliest opportunity, there to bury its crimes,
its poverty, its moral and physical deformities,
all beneath the rights, privileges, and immuni
ties of a citizen of the state. Just imagine the
motley crew from the 10,000 dens of poverty and
vice in our large cities, limping, raving, cringing,
staggering up to the polls, while the loyal
mothers of a million soldiers, whose bones lay
bleaching on every Southern plain, stand out
side, sad and silent witnesses of this wholesale
desecration of republican institutions. When
you say it would degrade women to go to the
polls, do you not make a sad confession of your
irreligious mode of observing that most sacred
right of citizenship. In asking you. honorable
gentlemen, to extend suffrage to women, we do
not press on you the risk and responsibility of a
new step, but simply to try a measure that has
already proved wise and safe the world over.
So long as political power was absolute and
hereditary, woman shared it with man by birth.
In Hungary, and some provinces of France and
Germany, women, holding this inherited right,
confer their right of franchise on their husbands.
In 1858, in the old town of Upsal, the authori
ties granted suffrage to 50 women holding real
estate and to 31 doing business in their own
name. The representative their votes elected
was to sit in the House of Burgesses. In Ireland
the Court of Queen’s Bench, Dublin, restored to
women in 1804 the old right of voting for town
commissioners. In 1864, too, the government
of Moravia decided that all women who are tax
payers had the right to vote. In Canada, in 1850,
an electoral privilege was conferred on women,
in the hope that the Protestant might balance
the Roman Catholic power in the school system.
“ I lived,” says a friend of mine, “ where I saw
this right exercised for four years by female
property holders, and never heard the most
cultivated man, even Lord Elgin, object to its
results.” Women vote in Austria, Australia,
Holland, and Sweden, on property qualifications.
There is a bill before the British Parliament,
presented by John Stuart Mill, asking for house
hold suffrage, accompanied by a petition from
11,000 of the best-educated women in England.
Would you be willing to admit, gentlemen, that
women know less, have less virtue, less pride
and dignity of character under republican insti
tutions, than in the despotisms and monarchies
of the old world ? Your codes and constitutions
savor of such an opinion. Fortunately, history
furnishes a few saving facts, even under our re
publican institutions. From a recent examina
tion by Lucy Stone, of the archives of the state
of New Jersey, we learn that owing to a liberal
Quaker influence, women and negroes exercised
the right of suffrage in that state 31 years—from
1775 to 1807—when “ white males ” amended
the constitution and arbitrarily assumed the
reins of the government. This act of injustice
is sufficient to account for the moral darkness
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
that seems to have settled down upon that un
happy state. During the dynasty of women
and negroes does history record any social revo
lution peculiar to that period ? Because women
voted there, was the institution of marriage
annulled, the sanctity of home invaded, cradles
annihilated, and the stockings, like Gov. Mar
cy’s pantaloons, mended by the state ? Did the
men of that period become mere satellites of the
dinner-pot, the wash-tub, or the spinning-wheel ?
No! Life went on as smoothly in New Jersey
as in any other state in the Union. Anc^the fact
that women did vote there created so slight a
ripple on the popular wave, and made so ordinary
a page in history, that probably nine-tenths of
the people of this country never heard of its
existence until recent discussions in the United
States Senate brought out the facts of the case.
In Kansas, women vote for school-officers, and
are themselves eligible to the office of trustee.
There is a resolution now before the legislature
of Ohio, to strike the words “ white male ” from
the constitution of that state. The Hon. Mr.
Noell, of Missouri, has presented a bill in the
House of Representatives, to extend suffrage to
the women of the District of Columbia. * w * As
to property and education, there are some plausi
ble arguments in favor of such qualifications, but
they are all alike unsatisfactory, illogical, and un
just. A limited suffrage creates a privileged class,
and is based on the false idea that government is
the natural arbiter of its citizens, while in fact it
is the creature of their will. In the old days of
the colonies, when the property qualification
was £5, that being just the price of a jackass,
Benjamin Franklin facetiously asked, “ If a man
must own a donkey in order to vote, who does
the voting, the man or the donkey ?” If read
ing and money-making were a sure gauge of
character, if intelligence and virtue were twin
sisters, these qualifications might do ; but such
is not the case. In our late war black men
were loyal, generous, and heroic, without the
alphabet or multiplication-table, while men
of wealth, educated by the nation, graduates of
West Point, were false to their country and
traitors to their flag. There was a time in Eng
land’s history when the House of Lords even
could neither read nor write, Before the art of
printing were all men fools? Were the apos
tles and martyrs worth $250? If a man can
not read, give him the ballot, it is a school
master ; if he does not own a dollar, give him
the ballot, it is the key to wealth and power. I
have called your attention, gentlemen, to some
of the flaws in your constitution, that you may
see that there is more important work to be
done in the coming Constitutional Convention
than any to which Gov. Fenton has referred in
his message. I would also call your attention
to the fact that while His Excellency suggests
the number of delegates at large to be chosen
by the two political parties, he makes no pro
vision for the representation of women and
“ men of color” not worth $250. I would,
therefore, suggest to your honorable body that
you provide for the election of an equal number
of delegates at large from the disfranchised
classes. But a response to our present demand
does not legitimately thrust on you the final
consideration of the whole broad question of
67
suffrage, on which many of you may be unpre
pared to give an opinion. The simple point we
now press is this : That in a revision of our con
stitution, when the state; is, as it were, resolved
into its original elements, all the people should
be represented in the convention which is to
enact the fundamental laws by which they are
to be governed the next twenty years. Women
and negroes, being five-eighths of the people,
are a majority ; and, according to our republi
can theory are the rightful rulers of the nation.
In this view of the case, honorable gentlemen, is
it not a very unpretending demand we make,
that we may vote once in twenty years in
amending our state constitution ? But, say you,
the majority of women do not make the de
mand. Grant it. What then ? When you es
tablished free schools did you first ask the ur
chins of the state whether they were in favor of
being transplanted from the street to the school
house ? When you legislated on the Temper
ance question, did you go to rum-sellers and
drunkards and ask if a majority of them were
in favor of the Excise law ? When you pro
claimed emancipation, did you go to slavehold
ers and ask if a majority of them were in tavor
of freeing their slaves ? When you ring the
changes on “ negro suffrage ” from Maine to Cal
ifornia, have you proof positive that a majority
of the freedmen demand the ballot ? On the
contrary, knowing that the very existence of
republican institutions depend on the virtue,
education, and equality of the people, did you
not, as wise statesmen, legislate in all these
cases for the highest good of the individual and
of the nation ? We ask that the same far-seeing
wisdom may guide your decision on the ques
tion before you.
Remember the gay and
fashionable throng who whisper in the ears
of statesmen, judges, lawyers, merchants, “ We
have all the rights we want," are but the mum
mies of civilization to be galvanized into life
only by earthquakes and revolutions. Would
you know what is in the soul of woman ask not
the wives and daughters of merchant princes, but
the creators of wealth—those who earn their
bread by honest toil—those who, by a turn in
the wheel of fortune, stand face to face with the
stern realities of life.
Speculators.—There are a species of idlers
called speculators—I mean visionary speculating
in regard to the future. ’Tis pitiable to see a
strong man live day after day in the shadow of
the sometime; he shuts his eyes, and lo! a
vision, far off on the enamelled plain of the
“ To-come ” appears, then he wiM do so and so ;
when he makes such an acquirement he will
rear himself a fabric of splendor ; then he will
sway the throng with the sceptre of power; then
he will stand on the “ Parnassus of Fame; ”
then he will find ease and happiness! O fool
ish speculator ! that then will never come. Daily
you will rear fair fabrics and dream dreams, and
daily will your fabrics fall, your dreams fade,
till you and your visions will pass into the vale
of the unknown. Rouse the faculties that have
lain dormant 1 Act for the present! Be vigorous,
heroic, and persevering! While the now looms
in strange beauty around you, improve it.
�68
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
THE SMOKE QUESTION.
Few persons, even among those who reside,
“ from the cradle to the grave,” in the smokiest
of smoky places, are aware of the deleterious
substances they are taking into their lungs
with every inspiration. The following article,
from the pen of R Agnus Smith, M. D., F. R.
8., though applied to the large English manu
facturing towns, is equally applicable to many
cities and villages of the United States, and par
ticularly to Pittsburgh, Pa., Cincinnati, Ohio,
and St. Louis, Mo.
Warm interest has compelled me for many
years to attend to the condition of the air of
towns. Habit has no power of rendering smoke
pleasant. Few men living in a smoky town
require to be convinced that they are in the
daily endurance of a monstrous evil. You do
not require details, but it is well to remind you
of some points, as possibly some present might
have long ago given up all consideration of a
sight which during all their lives had taken
the appearance of an unavoidable misfortune.
Many substances make their appearance as
smoke from chimneys ; that kind to be now con
sidered is coal smoke ; all other kinds are com
paratively rare ; and with us here smoke means
generally coal smoke. There are various colors
characteristic of smoke from pale blue to gray,
brown, and intense black. The first comes chiefly
from domestic tires,when the heat is considerable
but the combustion slight. A dark gray or a deep
brown smoke is the product of the distillation
of coal. When the dense hydro-carbons have
been heated highly, but with insufficient air,
we have them decomposed, and carbon of a pure
black is thrown out. The colored substances
in smoke are tar and carbon chiefly; the com
pounds vary with the heat, and may be numer
ous. Some time ago I calculated that sixty tons
of carbonaceous matter were sent off in a day
into the atmosphere in Manchester. A very
small amount affects the atmosphere ; a grain in
18 cubic feet is sufficient to convert good air into
Manchester air, so far as carbon is concerned.
About one half the color is due to tarry matter,
and the other half to black carbon only. This
black matter is the coloring material of all our
smoky towns, and, to a great extent, of the
clothes, as well as of the persons of the inhabi
tants. We live in houses colored by it, and we
walk
roads colored by it, and we can see the
sun, the moon, and the heavens only after they
have been, to our eyes, colored by this universal
tincture.
These are calamities of themselves ; but, al
though some men would look on such a view
of the case as mere sentiment, not one amongst
us can fail to have his spirits tinged with the
darkness of the sky. I found this strangely cor
roborated lately. One of the best men of business
in Manchester informed me that, on an atmo
spherically dull day, no one would give a high
price for goods, no one had the courage to give
it, but on the other hand they could buy goods
at a lower price—the seller had not the courage
to hope for better.
These dull days are caused in part by the cli
mate, but their remarkable oppressiveness is un
questionably due in great part to the smoke. We
do not consider that by the smoke we make wa
are affecting our own spirits and clouding ourt
own j udgment. It is my belief that this effects
on the spirits is the most powerful of all objec-i
tions to smoke, even in the minds of those who!
believe themselves above such feelings. There i
is, however, no denying the next great fact, than
everything coming in contact with a smoky at-|
mosphere is so blackened that cleaning becomesl
difficult or impossible. Smoke gives to every,
household it visits either a greater amount oil
labor, or a lower social appearance. Let us sup ,
pose a housewife only strong enough to do al',j
the work of her house so as to keep it comforta!
ble when there is no smoke plague, she will
break down before attaining the same results in,
a smoky town. We may, however, fairly doubt!
if it is possible by any means to attain the sama
results, and in reality they are not attained!
We areapt to call the people who suffer most
by it indolent, and they sometimes believe them«
selves so, but the cause is rather despair at thtjii
amount of work demanded of them. Even th«
higher wages in towns fail to make them recon*
ciled to curtains blackening in a few days, where
in country places these would have kept theii
windows neat for many months. Nor can th«,
higher wages of town reconcile them to having
their clothes blackened as soon as they arq
washed, instead of being dried when they ar<|i
hung out for that purpose. The poor pay dig
rectly for the smoke, living where it prevails^
and the middle-classes and the wealthy suffeli
proportionately in being compelled to live oup
of the town, and to spend time in going to ani
fro. It is quite true that carbon, tar, and suli
pliurous acids, are disinfectants ; but we do nog;
wish to breathe them constantly—we cannot;
live on medicines. The disinfecting powers oi
smoke have not rid us of disease, nor does it pre!
vent occasional pestilences. If it does good, it doe*
more evil, and much of the mortality of Maur
Chester must be attributed to smoke. It hag
been said that if the carbon was thoroughly
burned, the amount of sulphurous acid woulir
be so great as to be intolerable ; but when th I.
blackness is removed the sulphurous acid seemlr
to escape more easily. We can imagine thd
carbon, soaked with the acid, falling down witlB
double effect upon the town.
One product of the combustion of any carbol»
naceous substance is carbonic acid ; this is iwi
evitable, and must be endured. Another prod«,
uct is carbonic oxide, which has a deadly chart
actor, is invisible, and is not sent out by th k
domestic fire, and only to a small extent b;a
high chimneys. From a sanitary and economic
cal and an a?sthetic point of view, we shall gainb
much by the removal of the carbon, and an adj.
ditional gain will be obtained by removing th*
carbonic oxide. We are not, however, to supl
pose that all is then gained ; we are not entire! 4
safe until we have removed the sulphuroul
acid. To effect this is not a problem which w|
can expect to solve rapidly. The sulphur gasel
collect wherever there is any obstruction t-j
ventilation. Sometimes the smoke is retainer:
in the town as certainly as if a firmament werl
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
.“put over it of impenetrative material. On a
‘still day, with a clear sky and considerable cold,
the smoke lies on Manchester until the streets
' become dark at midday. It is then that the
acids are found painful to the eyes, bad to the
taste, dangerous to the breathing. The black' ness might be removed ; what shall we do with
the sulphur ?
It is the sulphur acids which render the air
and rain of Manchester so destructive to metals.
Iron roofs will not remain there ; even houses
cease rapidly to exist, and become old at an early
period. The lime of the mortar becomes sul
phate of lime, and the rain washes it away. The
very stones decay under the constant action of
acid, and the bricks crumble more rapidly.
Even in places less troubled with smoke, we
j see the decay. The Parliament Houses, built
to remain for ages, are rapidly, before our eyes,
! turning into plaster of Paris and Epsom salts.
Probably some of the evil might be avoided.
The finest buildings in London appear less
handsome than flimsy structures in many Con
tinental cities. With us, the peculiarity of the
climate is a great enemy. On ceriain days the
acids rise rapidly ; but, as a rule, they fall.
Great extremes of dryness and of rain are the
best protectives, and, during heavy showers, the
air of Manchester is not unpleasant to breathe,
because the sulphur is carried down in the rain.
The coal used here contains not less than one
per cent, of sulphur, and one of sulphur makes
, three of vitriol. Some coals contain more. The
. amount of sulphurous acid sent out is enormous
. —it cannot be less than one hundred and eighty
' tons per day. The rain is acid. It falls on the
’living grass, and puts it out. Young plants
! struggle against it, but they cannot do so long.
1 We scarcely know how much of the beautiful
and useful is destroyed by this acid. The fine
i arts could scarcely flourish in an atmosphere
’ which attacks without fear a great building
' which ought to remain sound for centuries.
One of the foremost printers of Lancashire
told me that there were some colors which he
found almost instantly to fade. They were fre
quently sent back upon his hands. He was
annoyed to find that the French sent the same
colors to the same markets without the risk of
/having them returned, and it was only after
^inuch time and loss that he found that the
goods must not be allowed to pass through Man' Chester. One day was enough, but in some
weather two hours were sufficient for their
deterioration. The colors imbibed a poison and
went off to die of it. He now sends such goods
from his works without coming here, and he is
as successful as his rivals in France.
It must be remembered that even if we burn
Chmoke colorless, this sulphurous acid will remain.
¿The rain will be equally acid, but ifwe burn the
[ smoke no particles of carbon filled with vitriol
’will fall upon us. It will more readily diffuse.
■This seems to be the experience, but it is mat?ter for open discussion. We are told on one side
that the sulphurous acid is decomposed by the
♦carbon, and that the sulphur falls down with it
{In a solid state. 1 do not know if this is a fact,
but if it be, the result will be that the sulphur
will be very finely divided, and in that state be
r oxidized by the air and water, forming oil of
69
vitriol where it lies. It will not be less innocent,
although it may change the sphere of its iniqui
ties. This may explain why the black vegetation
is so frequently very acid, as it most surely is
often or always found to be.
The only sure mode we know of diminishing
the amount of acid given out by chimneys is by
burning less sulphur. This can be donej- per
haps, to some extent, by burning less coal, and
burning it more economically ; next by not al
lowing the most sulphurous of the coals to be
burnt in large towns. This latter is a simple
mode of doing some good, and cannot in all
cases be considered too great a demand on manu
facturers. I inquired of engineers the amount
of coal burnt per horse-power per hour in the
best and the most careless establishments, and
was told that it varied from three pounds tc
fifteen pounds. I obtained other answers, which
went lower and higher, but enough if we know
that coal is, in many places, burnt at a wasteful
rate. This is a department concerning which I
am not called on to speak, but it comes as a
part of my subject. If we examine this care
fully, we shall find, in all probability, that the
amount of heat we really use is trifling, whilst
the coal is in amount enormous.
A wasteful management of coal is the perpe
tration of a nuisance not justified by the exigen
cies of manufactures, and the agents can scarce
ly plead that they are following a legitimate
occupation. I shall say little of this ; probably
the change in this branch will be more gradual
than the destruction of the blackness, but we
must not forget it. A great thinker of the time
said to me once. The nation reminds me of a
man who has left a great barrel of wine for long
use; he pulled out the bung to fill his little
glass, and had not sense to see that the most of
the liquid ran off on the floor. The diminution
of the amount of coal burnt without giving out
its equivalent of power, will be a benefit sani
tary as well as economical. How far we have
this in our hands, it is not easy to say ; but it is
so to some extent, and it would be well if the
subject were kept before us permanently. Peo
ple inform us that the selfishness and self-inter
est of manufacturers are sufficient for this. That
is a theory which I never have found reason
to believe in fully. The manufacturers are not
more selfish than other men ; and if they were,
the most selfish man is often blind to his own
interest.
One of the effects of the combustion of coal is
to remove from the air a certain amount of
oxygen, putting in its place the gases and car
bonaceous substances spoken of along with coal
ashes, which are in paft carried upwards. The
removal of the oxygen occurs only to a
small extent, but it is perceptible, and in some
cases considerable. This deterioration of the
air occurs most in places where there is most
carbon floating, and where it is therefore least
pleasant to open our windows. Now, if there
is less oxygen, we require the air to be renewed
more frequently, and this we cannot permit
because of the blackness. The smoke acts like
a prison wall, and we shut windows and cease
| to ventilate. Bad as the air may be, it is better
than that which we manufacture for ourselves
| by shutting our rooms, which remain closed
�70
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
until the bed-rooms, even in the large hotels of
all our town, become unpleasant to the senses.
It is the custom to ventilate by the doors from
corridors only, in London, and elsewhere, in
hotels, lest the blacks should enter by the win
dow, from which the freshest air comes. Private
houses suffer equally. The weavers of SpitalfieldB were glad to be able to open their win
dows when the establishments near began to
burn their black smoke, and this is a powerful
argument against the opinion of those who
would attempt to show that the sulphur is the
only thing to be feared. Bad the sulphur gases
unquestionably are, but it is the carbon which
causes the alarm of housewives and house
maids, and which prevents the needful change
of air in our town houses. The oxygen which
is removed from the air is the whole of the most
active portion. It has long been called ozone
and peroxide of hydrogen; but, by whatever
name, it is a something always found in agree
able air. This is never found in Manchester.
It is for medical men to consider wliat class
of disease may arise from this diminution of
oxygen. Children suffer most in smoky towns,
we are told. They have rapid circulation, they
require much oxygen, and are instinctively fond
of fresh air. It seems to me that the analyses
of the air, showing a diminution of oxygen,
even forgetting the sulphurous acid, explains
why children should suffer so much, and helps
along with other causes, to explain what Mr.
Leigh has called “ the massacre of the innocents.”
The deficiency of active oxidation is equal to a
deficiency of power and of healthy stimulus. If
so, we need not wonder that some persons should
6eek artificial means of stimulus, nor why others
should rather seek the less vigorous oxidation of
a town. I cannot doubt that we have here some
(>f the reasons for a deterioration of race spoken
3f by Dr. Morgan as visible amongst us. Our
trength must be proportionate to the amount
of healthy oxidation. If by any method we
reduce the amount of floating blackness, we
shall increase the purity of the air of the town,
increase the beauty of its buildings, and im
prove the appearance of the inhabitants. We
shall enable the houses to be ventilated more
thoroughly, and we shall diminish the inten
sity of those days of darkness that sometimes
paralyze the whole community. Every day
will be brighter, and I think, happier to every
inhabitant. If we diminish the sulphur by
burning less coal, we shall diminish the amount
of coal dust also, and these two points are not
to be forgotten, although the full combustion
requires first to be settled. *
A conceited young fellow, calling upon an
old lady friend previous to his departure for
China, was taken somewhat by surprise when
the good-natured lady advised him to be careful
of himself in the “ flowery kingdom,” as she
understood “ the Chinese feasted on puppies.”
A Western paper strikes the names of two
subscribers from his list because they were re
cently hung. The publisher says he was com
pelled to be severe, because he did not know
their present address.
LEADING THE VAN.
The Evening Post, in a leading editorial un
der the caption, “ Connecticut Leads the Van,”
says:
“ The republicans of Connecticut deserve suc
cess, and, we doubt not, will gain it. They
have adopted a platform of equal political
rights ; they assert ‘ that the only just basis of
human governments is the consent of the gov
erned ; that in a representative republic such
consent is expressed through the exercise of the
suffrage by the individual citizen, and that the
right to that exercise should not be limited by
distinction of race or color.’ ”
We fail to see the equality or the justice of
this platform. Race and color are very well as
far as they go, but they comprehend only one
half of the human race. Has the Post never
heard that woman claims the elective franchise,
without regard to race, color, or sex ?
CATOPATHY.
That marvelously learned body, the Paris
Academy of Sciences (said to be the most learned
body of men in the world—the earth-world, not
the moon), has made another marvelous discov
ery, and, as usual, through the manipulations
and investigations of some distinguished chem
ist. The learned chemico-dietico-physiological
and categorical therapeutist aforesaid, has pre
sented to the Paris Academy of Science above
mentioned, a report of an analysis of the milk
(the mammary secretion—lac catawaulimeouw)
of that familiar household pet and mousehole
pest, commonly denominated pussy, and has
“ proved” (this word is copied verbatim et litera
tim from one of our exchanges), that it (the
milk aforesaid, not the cat above mentioned,*
but, being, and intended to be, nevertheless, the
milk of the cat or pussy aforesaid and above
mentioned) has (we quote the next three words)
“ extraordinary restorative qualities.” The ex
change hereinbefore alluded to goes on to say
and state and expatiate in manner following:
It would, he argued, be found of great value
in cases of debility and consumption. Two or
three queries naturally suggest themselves : Are
cats to be raised and tended like cows ? Who
is to milk them ? What would be deemed a
sufficient quantity for a daily dose or beverage,
and how many cats would be required to furnish
this quantity ? To those, a fourth question
might not improperly be added, viz.: If the
new beverage is to be generally adopted, what
is to become of all the kittens ?”
O “ scat,” you unhandsome editor! Who cares
for all the kittens, “ to be or not to be,” when
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
the milk of the cat, or the cat of the milk (we
think it does not matter much which) is a great
restorative remedy ? If cat-milk will cure con
sumption, kittens must take care of themselves.
But what if the supply of cats should fail?
What would the thousands of consumptives, all
of whom are cured on cod-liver oil (see weekly
bills of mortality), do in that event ? We have it.
Soon after the expensive cod liver oil came into
vogue, it was discovered that any cheap fish oil
was just as good (witness medical journals).
Should the cat-cure become so popular, and the
remedy in such demand as to alarm the four
legged quadrupeds 60 that they should all run
away and refuse to be milked, it may be found
that the milk of any other animal will answer
all purposes. Perhaps, however, the restorative
qualities of cat’s milk are due to the fact that
the cat is carnivorous. The codfish is, weknow,
flesh-eating. If so, we should only milk for
medicine in the line of the carnivora—lions,
tigers, hyenas, wolves, leopards, dogs, etc. Shall
we not have a specimen of this extraordinary
medicine at the Great Exhibition?
“A DIFFERENT FO OTINC”-QUEER
LOGIC.
The English papers are reporting the sayings
and doings of Dr. Mary E. Walker, and com
menting on her morals, manners, dress, personal
appearance, eccentricities, &c., from their re
spective stand-points of observation. They all
concur in regarding her pants as perfectly awful;
none of them, however, seem disposed to argue
the question of its utility nor even of its propri
ety, but proceed to judge it, and as a matter of
course, to condemn it, by the standard of fash
ion. Indeed they treat the subject very much
as nearly all of the American newspapers did
fifteen or twenty years ago, when women in the
“ Reform Dress,” first appeared “ on the world’s
wide stage,” in this country. Dr. Walker has
lectured to a large audience in St James’ Hall,
London, on which occasion, a lot of young men
of rowdyish proclivities, most of whom are said
to have been medical students of the allopathic
colleges (Dr. Walker is opposed to allopathic
druggery), undertook to interrupt or prevent her
performance by singing, hooting, and other de
monstrations always at the command of rowdy
ism. As a specimen of rather queer logic, we
copy the following concluding paragraph of an
extended, and, on the whole, fair notice of her
lecture in St. James’ Hall:
“As regards physique, it is plain that Dr. Walk
er’s frame has been subjected to hardships per
71
haps in excess of its powers of resistance. That
consideration increased the regret that every
one must have felt that a lady should be exposed
to constant and by no means mannerly interrup
tions. At the same time, a lady who comes for
ward to claim ‘ perfect equality ’ with men,
occupies a different footing from other ladies.”
How different ? This is certainly queer logic,
and seems intended to propitiate the rowdies,
while obliged to condemn their conduct. We
are unable to comprehend how the claim of any
woman to perfect equality with men justifies or
excuses ill-treatment, or places her on any differ
ent footing from “ other ladies.” Is it a crime
to claim equality ? Suppose a servant, or a
serf, or a slave, should honestly believe and
plainly declare himBelf entitled to the same po
litical rights and privileges as his employer,
guardian, or owner, would this fact authorize
any one to abuse him? The golden rule is
beautiful when our fellow-beings apply it to us
—but when we are asked to apply it to others
—a-hem !
Cheese-eaters.—The consumption of cheese
in England amounts to the amazing quantity of
821,250,000 pounds a year. This may be one
of the reasons why Brother Bull is so conserva
tively inclined, for there is not, in our humble
judgment, a more stupifying article of food in
use. It is befouling to the mouth—inflaming
the stomach, constipating to the bowels, obstruct
ing to the kidneys, congesting to the liver, clog
ging to the skin, thickening to the blood, stiffen
ing to the muscles, irritating to the nerves, torpifying to the mental powers, and wholly unfit
for human food—“ only that and nothing
more.”
DRILL FOR VOLUNTEERS.
Fall in ! To good ways and habits.
Attention ! To your own business.
Right Face ! Manfully to your duty and keep
sober.
Quick March! From a temptation to do any
thing which is unmanly.
Halt! When conscience tells you that you are
not doing as you would like others to do unto
you.
Right about Face ! From dishonesty and false
hood.
Present Arms! Cheerfully when your wife
asks you to hold the baby for an hour.
Break Off! Bad habits, and everything that
is likely to retard your advancement in this
world.
TnE following bill was lately presented to a
I farmer in Sussex :
1 “ To hanging two barn doors and myself seven
I hours, four shillings and sixpence.”
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
HOUSES, CHEAP AND CONVENIENT.
By permission of the publisher of
the American Agriculturist, we are
enabled to present the readers of the
Gospel of Health with another
plan for the construction of cheap and
convenient dwelling houses,
think it will be difficult to plan a
house better combining the consider
ations of convenience and economy,
and the design seems well adapted
to many who propose to build plain
and comfortable bouses in Hygeiana
the ensuing season.
In this design, upon the ground
floor, as seen in fig. 2, are a Parlor,
Bed Room and Kitchen ; A, Porch ;
G. Front Entry;
Stairway; A1,
Pantry, connecting by slide with the
sink in the Back Entry (E); C, C, marks the
China Closet. Each room has independent
facilities for warming ; and while the rooms
Fig. 2—ground plan.
are in close communication with each other,
they yet can be quite separate. The bed-room
has a spacious closet. Upon the chamber floor
Fig. 1.
in the roof. This Cottage, if well built, may
be made a comfortable, and as they say, a
“ genteel ” house. It is very compact—not an
inch of room is lost. If desirable, the partition
between the closets over the pantry and back
entry, may be moved a little to one side, making
one of the closets larger ; a circular window may
be inserted in the gable ; and to the room used
for bathing, water may be carried by a force
pump, and even heated by a boiler connected
with the kitchen fire. Few plans of this size
afford a greater amount of convenience than may
be found in this simple design. True, the
economy in side walls, accompanying square
ground plans, is sacrificed to the greater light
and airiness of the structure, but in a snug cot
tage like this that is a small fault.
Poisoning by a Human Bite.—A sad occur
rence has happened at Arth, in France. Lieu
tenant Felchin was some time back bitten io
the thumb by a man named Muller, but he
thought nothing of the wound, and went next
day on a journey on his private affairs. On
reaching Bale he found his hand and arm began
to swell, and a medical man declared that the
case was one of poisoning from a human bite.
He at once returned home in haste, but he
refused to have the arm amputated. The con
sequence was that the inflammation increased
frightfully, and he died some days after in
horrible suffering.
Employment, which Galen calls “nature’s
physician,” is so essential to human happiness,
that indolence is justly considered as the mother
of misery.
Fig. 3.—BED-ROOM PLAN.
He who lives with a good wife becomes
(fig. 3), are three nice bed-rooms and four closets- better thereby, as those who lay down among
Each room has direct access to a chimney flue- violets arise -with the perfume upon their gar
The stairway can be lighted by a glazed scuttle ments.
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
THE
GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY, 1867.
TOPICS OF THE MONTH.
•
The Problem of Problems.—To him who
can “ look through nature up to nature’s God,”
no truth is clearer than that the Health Problem
underlies all reforms among men, and is the
basis of all permanent improvement in the con
dition of the human race. Hence it is the
problem of problems. For this reason it is the
most radical and revolutionary of all problems ;
and its advocates can hardly expect that the
masses of the people, to whom physiology is as
a sealed book, and the great body of the medical
profession—whose physiology is mainly chemi
cal, and hence contains more false principles
than true ones, and whose pathology and thera
peutics are inexplicable dogmas and absurd
errors—will regard them otherwise than as
enthusiasts and fanatics. The world has always
applied these epithets to those who advocated
truths in advance of public sentiment, who op
posed ancient and venerable errors, or who
taught against the current of popular prej udices.
But what was radical a hundred years ago is
conservatism now, and what is ultra to-day may
be conservatism a hundred years hence.
And now, what is the Health P»oblem? And
why should the world be so indifferent to it,
and the medical profession so opposed to it ?
Health is the “normal play of all the functions;
disease is their disarrangement or abnormal
action ; health is happiness ; disease is misery ;
health is power ; disease is disability ; health is
beauty ; disease is deformity ; health is the re
sult of obedience to the laws of the vital and
mental organism ; disease is the consequence of
disobedience to them. Vital laws and mental
laws are God’s laws, as much so as are moral
or spiritual laws. Disobedience to the laws of
our bodily organization is as sinful in the sight
of the Creator of all, as is disobedience to the
laws which apply to our moral powers—what
ever distinctions we may make.
Health Reform means obedience to all the laws
of our being. To have healthy muscles, nerves,
brains, bones, stomach, bowels, liver, kidneys,
skin, etc., we must in all respects conform to the
laws which our Heavenly Father has implanted
in their organization. And to have healthy
73
perception, judgment, conscience, will, passions,
emotions, propensities, etc., we must obey the
irreversible laws which control the organs of
the mental and moral manifestations. In short,
Health Reform means “ cease to do evil and
learn to do well” in all things ; and to do this,
we must “ prove all things and hold fast to that
which is good.”
The basis of all good, all truth, all progress,
is integrity in the bodily structures, which are
“ the temples of the living God.” The immédi
ate source of all error, all falsity, all crime in
the world, is morbid conditions of the bodily
organs. The idiot, the madman, the murderer,
are but extreme illustrations of the principle.
Avarice, gambling, licentiousness, selfishness,
and multitudinous vices and crimes and faults
and foibles, which are so prevalent as to be re
garded by many as “ necessary evils,” and by
some as the normal condition of society, are
more common but not less significant demon
strations of foul blood and bad digestion.
If the Christian would succeed in evangeliz
ing the world ; if the Temperance Reformer
would rid the earth of the terrible curse of in
toxicating drink ; if the Moralist would close
the dens of debauchery and prostitution ; if the
Statesman would purify legislation of party po itics and chicanery ; if the Philanthropist would
shut up the gambling palaces in high places
(witness stock exchanges and produce specula
tors), and if the Sociologist would induce men
to deal equitably with each other, they must go
back to first principles, and teach all classes and
all conditions of human beings that the first
rule of conduct and the highest good of all re
quire a life in accordance with the laws of life.
“ Strong-Minded Women ” in Ohio.—We
have long believed and thought that all licensed
laws, and all statutory’ enactments in any man
ner pertaining to thê regulation of the liquor
traffic, are a curse to the world and ought to be
abolished. No law except that of absolute and
unconditional prohibition ought to be recorded
in the statute books of a civilized nation, and
even this would be superfluous were the whole
subject left to the compion sense of society and
the common law of humanity. A beautiful illus
tration of the doctrine we have indicated, oc
curred a few days ago in the state of Ohio. A
correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial tells
the story :
Some time in July, 1865, the ladies of Green
field, Highland county, took it into their heads
that there should be “ no more whisky sold in
I Greenfield.” The question of abating the nuii sance had been discussed frequently, when an
�74
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
accident occurred that brought things to a crisis.
A young man named Blackburn, highly esteem
ed, only 21 years of age, was the victim of a
whisky brawl. A party of drunken men got
into a quarrel and a shot was fired, and this
young man, who was passing the house, received
his death wound. Shortly after this the ladies,
with a.secrecy unparalleled in the history of wo
man, met and resolved on the destruction of the
spirit. So in broad daylight, about noon, a
posse of about seventy started on the cleansing
expedition, armed with hatchets, axes and
woman’s determination. Some three or four
stores were entered and the bottles made to
dance jigs and the whisky to gurgle down the
gutters before the other wdiisky fiends were
made aware of what was going on. When they
did become cognizant of the situation of things,
they barred, bolted and barricaded their doors.
But nothing daunted, the women quietly de
manded the liquor, and if not admitted into the
house they quickly battered down the doors or
shutters. This was carried on till nearly every
respectable wliisky-sliop was demolished. Suits
were brought, but the verdict of equity said,
“ Served cm right.”
Now the whisky-dealers have combined to
bring suits against the husbands of many of
the ladies for damage to property, but nearly
everybody feels that the slight damage tempora
rily done is nothing to the benefit derived there
from. The most extensive preparations are be
ing made to escort the ladies of Greenfield, sev
enty of whom have been subpoenaed as wit
nesses. Large wagons are to be fitted up, and
their male relations wiil accompany them to
Hillsborough, where the court will be in session
on the 16th of this month. The ladies of Hills
borough are making the most ample prepara
tions to receive them as welcome guests, and
they are to be entertained by the ladies of that
place.
Just imagine seventy women in court! Im
agine the ineffectual cry of “ silence ” from the
stentorian lungs of the sheriff! What will the
judges do ? what will the jury do ?
We care very little what the judges or the
jury do, or all the people of the species mascu
line, in and about the court, or neighborhood, or
state, or nation, provided the women of Green
field and the region round about are true to
themselves. If they will follow up the kind of
“ moral suasion” they have so successfully com
menced, they will do more for the cause of Tem
perance during the year 1867 than the men have
done in fifty years. We would rather have a
grand Temperance army of seventy women,
armed with hatchets, or even broom-sticks, and
“ woman’s determination,” than all the organ
izations of Washingtonians, Sons of Temper
ance, Rechabites, Good Templars, &c., that the
world has ever seen. These may talk, and re
solve, and preach, and sing beautifully, but those
do the work.
Our Cottage Illustrations.—We are in
debted to the politeness of that sterling journal,
the American Agriculturist, for the illustrations
which appear in the present number of the Gos
pel of Health, and also for those which ap
peared in our January issue. It is our duty to
say that these cuts are copyrighted, and cannot
legally be published without permission of the
Agriculturist. We intend, in future issues, to
give a great variety of designs for buildings, and
extensive illustrations of the best fruits of all
kinds, so that our colony at Hygeiana can have
all necessary data on which to predicate success,
both in building Hygienic houses, and in rais
ing the very best varieties of fruits.
Profitable Crops.—Several persons have
written us for information concerning the most
profitable crops that can be raised in Hygeiana
before returns can be had from the growing
fruit trees. We answer, there are many kinds
of vegetables, roots and seeds, which are ready
sale and always command a good price, and
which produce sure crops. Among these are
onions and white beans. Probably it would be
impossible to realize more the first season from
any crops that could be raised than from these.
The best article of small white beans is now
retailing at twenty cents a quart in this city.
There are other kinds of garden beans which
will produce more to the acre, and which find
ready sale ; but, we doubt if anything, unless it
is onions, will yield a greater return of money
for the quantity of land cultivated and the
amount of labor performed, than white or field
beans. Tomatoes, cabbages, sweet corn, and
beets, are usually very profitable crops, but are
more troublesome to preserve and market. Some
correspondents have suggested the propriety of,
raising our own cereals, especially wheat and
corn ; but as these grains are plenty and cheap
in the neighborhood, it is our opinion that we
should find both pleasure and profit, at least
in the infancy of our colony, in limiting our
product ions to a few of the choicest fruits and
vegetables. These crops can be raised without
interfering much in the cultivation of fruit
trees. In this connection, we commend to the
attention of our readers the able article of Dr.
Yoder, in the present number, on the subject of
immediate fruit-raising in Hygeiana. Dr. Yoder
has had much experience in fruit-culture, is a
thorough Hygienist, and a graduate of the Hygeio-Therapeutic College, is well acquainted
with the locality we have selected for our pio
neer colony, has been a practical fruit-culturer
in Vineland, N. J., for several years past, and
has, moreover, sold his property in Vineland
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
and invested the whole amount in the purchase
of five ten-acre farms in Hygeiana. These cir
cumstances evince his earnestness and capacity
in Health Reform movement, and give especial
importance to his suggestions. We have the
pleasure to state, also, that Dr. Yoder will be
among the “ first settlers” of our colony, so that
others may profit by his experience.
Suffrage for Woman.—We publish in
another department, in full, the address recently
delivered by Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to
the Legislature of our state. It covers the whole
ground. And now that the “Woman Question ”
is rapidly assuming form and magnitude, so
that it can and must be discussed in all its
length and breadth, we are sure that the great
majority of our readers will be interested in the
perusal of Mrs. Stanton’s able and admirable
address. We have long regarded the full recog
nition of woman’s rights—her equal, social, civil,
political, and religious rights—as one of the pre
requisites to her full and just influence in the
medical profession and in the great field of Health
Reform. And no one who understands the import
ance of woman’s work in aiding us to revolu
tionize many and reform most of the habits and
fashions of society, which are now rapidly de
teriorating the human race, will regret the
prominence we give to this subject. If we can
correctly read the signs of the times, the day is
not far distant when the greatest and most
beneficial reformation agitated since the dark
days of the middle ages—the enfranchisement
of woman—will be achieved in all the length and
breadth of our land. Every day witnesses the
accessions to her cause of noble, influential,
earnest, practical men ; and whether the “ ma
jority of women” petition, or not, for the right
to vote and hold office, the voice of the Creator,
which endows her inalienably with all the rights
and privileges that pertain to humanity, will be
regarded in the legislation of all intelligent and
Christian states and nations, and then her equal
opportunities for development, for education,
and for avocations, will soon follow as a matter
of course.
Twenty-four Dollars a Gallon.—Several
weeks ago we called upon an artisan of this city
to get a little work done. He was sick of a cold.
In a few days we called again. He had been
better, but had suffered a relapse. Two weeks
later we visited him the third time. He was
now decidedly and fatally consumptive. His
friend informed us that he had just changed his
physician. We saw at a glance the whole state
of the case, and knew from the array of bottles,
75
phials, poisons, plasters, etc., that the poor pa
tient was another illustration of
The deadly virtues of the healing art.
He had been drugged to death’s door. Among
other potent medicines which he had been tak
ing was a very powerful kind of brandy. It
was a rare and choice brand ; so rare and choice
and powerful that it cost twenty-four dollars a
gallon. He was taking a teaspoonful every
hour. The doctor told him he might eat what
ever he pleased, so long as he took the brandy.
The physician gave the patient to understand
that the brandy was so powerful a promoter of
digestion and so infallible a supporter of vitality
that he might safely follow his appetite or fancy
in the matter of victuals. The poor victim of a
murderous medical system was suffocating by
night and by day in a dark, damp, unventilated
bedroom, the door and windows kept con
stantly closed, and the confined air redolent of
typhus miasm from the effete matters of his
own body. Not a word had been said about
bathing or washing ; not a hint had been ut
tered about the necessity of fresh air. Pure
water and wholesome food were never men
tioned. But drug and dose, and dose and drug,
narcotize and stimulate, and stimulate and nar
cotize, brandy and opium, and opium and more
brandy. These were the remedial measures
prescribed by a member of the New York Acad
emy of Medicine in this enlightened 19th century
and the year of grace, 1867. But why need we
dwell on this particular case. He is only one
of the thousands who are killed annually by the
same or similar means. The case, however, has
an unusual significance in illustrating the com
mercial side of the healing art as it is in druggery. The profit on such a gallon of brandy can
not be less than twenty dollars. Suppose (we
admit the case isn’t supposable, but suppose it
was supposable) that the doctor and the apoth
ecary divide the profits between them. The
doctor gets ten dollars (in addition to his pro
fessional fee), for prescribing the brandy, and
the apothecary gets ten dollars clear profit for
dealing it out. And as doctors and apothecaries
must live, and as sick folks, however poor, will
have medicine, why not accommodate all round
in this way ?
The Prince of Wales.—Since our article on
“The Smoking Palace of Frogmore” appeared,
a correspondent has sent us the Philadelphia
Press containing an article from a London letter
writer, in which the Prince is very severely
handled. It is not only intimated but openly
asserted that the Prince is becoming addicted to
�76
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
other bad habits besides tobacco-smoking; in
deed that he is rapidly going the downward road
in various ways through dissolute associates
and evil communications, which so frequently
corrupt both the morals and manners of young
“ Princes of the blood.” We hope these state
ments are not true, or that they, are greatly ex
aggerated. And lest injustice might be done to
some person, or persons, we refrain from giving
any further publicity to the matter.
Wayside Jottings in Great Britain.—
With this number we commence the publication
of a series of extremely interesting articles, under
the above head, from the pen of Mrs. Susannah
Way Dodd§, M. D.,of Antioch College memory.
She has recently returned from a tour through
many parts of the Queendom, and her keen ob
servations, practical views, intelligent criticisms,
and candid statements, cannot fail to instruct and
profit our readers in thSt country and in this.
Vegetarians will be especially pleased with the
assurances that ample provision exists for them
in that part of the “Old World,” and her direc
tions for finding and enjoying them.
Flowers and Plants in Sleeping-Rooms.
—W. M. writes from Maryland : “ My son is a
subscriber to your Gospel of Health. It is
truly what its name imports—a joyful visitant—
and its monthly instructions bring most blessed
instructions. In the November number there is
an important subject named—ventilation. But
the writer says, ‘ Leaves of the trees lake in car
bonic-acid, and emit oxygen.’ Now, some au
thors say that this is only true of the leaf in the
daytime, but not in the night, or during hours
of darkness. Will you be so kind as to give us
the correct chemical process ? Are flowersand
plants in sleeping-rooms conducive to health, or
are they injurious ?”
There is no “ chemical process ” of any kind.
But the vital process that governs the nutrition
—the assimilation and disintegration—of the
vegetable kingdom as a general law is, that
leaves emit carbonic-acid gas to some extent
during the night, and oxygen gas during the
day ; hence, it follows that any considerable col
lection of plants or flowers in a sleeping-room
would be injurious ; and a single one would be
if there was defective ventilation.
Hygeiana and Vineland.—It is known to
many of our readers that the citizens of Vine- j
land. N. J., are, on the whole, a much better 1
class of people—more progressive and reforma
tory—than are “ the generality of mankind in
general,” as we find them in most of the large |
villages and small cities of the United States.
The manner in which the place was settled, the
provisions made for improvements, and the
protection against many of the nuisances to be
found in all other places, were well calculated to
attract a high order of human nature. And
those who have lived there a few years have
experienced the great comforts and advantages
of the precautions which have been so judi
ciously taken to prevent the seeds of vices,
crimes, debauchery, etc., from contaminating
their domain. Yet there are some nuisances
tolerated there. Tobacco is cultivated, drug
shops exist, and we are not aware that rum-shops
are prohibited. And because we prohibit all
nuisances of every name and nature, except
original sin, from entering the domain of Hy
geiana, several residents of Vineland have al
ready purchased farms in Hygeiana, and intend
to remove there early in the season. And more
than a dozen others write us that they will
emigrate Hygeianaward as soon as they can sell.
Indeed we have sold more lots to the citizens of
Vineland, than we have to the people of any
other place. Can there be any more convincing
testimony that our scheme is not only right but
bound to “ go ahead ” ?
Vaccination.—A Jew was lately fined in
London for refusing to allow his child to be
vaccinated. The Jew was right. Since the
days of Moses and the prophets the Jews have
had a salutary horror of pork, scrofula, small
pox, plague, leprosy, and viruses, venoms and
infections of all kinds. And what right has any
one to infect their blood and bones with the
virus of small pox ? If the learned medical gen
tlemen of the Board of Health of the city of
New York should order us to poison our chil
dren, or anybody’s children, with this or any
other infection, wTe should, most respectfully,
decline to do it, and most peremptorily prevent
others from doing it, fine or no fine. Neither
nature, Bible, science, nor common sense, teaches
the absurd doctrine that poisons are remedies
for the ills that flesh is heir to ; but, on the con
trary, each and all teach that cleanliness is the
only preventive of disease. Vaccination is
one of the many curses which the abominable
drug medical system has inflicted on humanity.
The child that is vaccinated has to take the
chance of being infected with humors a thou
sand times worse than “ small-pox the natural
way,” while it is almost certain to be in some
way contaminated. That a large proportion of
those who are vaccinated become affected with
venereal disease, may be learned from the fol
lowing paragraph which we clip from the Med
ical Record of this city:
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
“ Syphilis by Vaccination.—In the ‘Depart
ment du Morbihan,’ France, a great many
children have been found affected with syphilis
after vaccination. The report of the commis
sioners charged by the Academy of Medicine
with the duty of investigating the subject, con
cludes as follows: I. Several of the children
presented to the commission were really affected
with secondary syphilis. II. It seems impossi
ble to account for their contamination otherwise
than by vaccination. III. It appears evident
that the virus was contained in the vaccinal
liquid. M. Ricord gives his assent to these
conclusions, provided they contain (as well as
the report itself does) the mention that primary
syphilitic accidents were also present.”
Hygeiana at Cost.—Since our last issue,
several persons have offered to purchase one or
two hundred acres each in Hygeiana, and im
prove them at once, provided we would sell the
land at a small advance from cost—say ten or
fifteen per cent. We reply that we will do even
better than that: we will sell at actual cost,
as nearly as we can calculate. In a business of
$200,000 or more, we can’t estimate within a
few hundred, nor possibly within a few thou
sand dollars, the exact receipts or expenditures.
Our aim is to make receipts and expenditures
balance ; and if any person or company sees
any chance for a pecuniary speculation, he or
they shall be more than welcome to take the
business out of our hands, provided he or they
will guaranty the enterprise to be carried out
according to our printed programme. We have
to reserve the streets and avenues, and all the
public grounds, which make the land we have
to sell some hundreds of acres less than those
we have to purchase. Then, again, we have
the expenses of surveying, advertising, travel
ing, the commissions to agents, etc., and lastly,
unmarried women (several of whom have al
ready purchased) must have their farms at half
price. If one-half of the purchasers should be
unmarried women, we should be many thou
sands of dollars out of pocket. We shall be sat
isfied if we come out minus one or two thousand
dollars ; and if the result should be plus that
amount, or even more, we should not be very
sorry. But, as already remarked, our plan and
prices are intended to be “ six of one, and half-adozen of the other.” If we make any money, it
will be in the next purchase.
77
velop and reform our mental and moral nature ;
and if all medical sects, who profess to be the
conservators of our vital organisms, would
adopt the platform of principles set forth in
this article, or rather make the principle of tl.e
article their platform, they would be vastly
more successful than they ever yet have been
in saving the souls and preserving the bodies
of men.
Is Salt Necessary for Stock?—The Cali
fornia Rural Home Journal says: “ Some
eighteen years since, while living at Tangier,
in the empire of Morocco, we sent into the in
terior of the empire to purchase of a tribe of
Bedouins, who were famous for their choice and
rare stocks of barbs, or Arab horses, one of their
fine barbs for our own use, which we were so
fortunate as to obtain, after not a little maneuv
ering and diplomacy. As a matter of course, we
made a great pet of him ; and almost the first
thing we offered him, as a condiment to his feed
of barley and straw (the universal food of the
horses of that country), was a handful of salt;
but, to our surprise, he would not touch it, but
turned up his aristocratic nose at it, as if he felt
a big disgust at such, to him, unsavory dose.
On making further inquiry, and experimenting
with several barbs that we owned subsequently,
we found that neither the Moors nor Arabs ever
gave salt to their horses, cattle, or sheep. And
yet there are no horses in the world equal in
healthful vigor, in powers of endurance, or elas
ticity of movement and robust constitution, to
these same Arab horses.”
The Cattle Plague in Holland.—The
Belgian Moniteur publishes the following par
ticulars of the cattle plague in Holland : “ The
cattle plague appears to be making dreadful
ravages among the cattle in Holland. The num
ber of fatal cases do not cease to increase, and
if the progress observed to have been made by
the disease since the end of November con
tinue, the losses of the Dutch farmers will soon
exceed those of the English cattle-owners at
the time when the plague was most violent.
According to the official reports, the number of
cases among cattle were, for the weeks ending
November 3d, 1,443 ; 10th, 1.551; 17tli, 1,592 ;
27th, 3,257 ; and December 4th, 7,162. The last
number is more than double that w’hich is re
corded when the epidemic w-as at its worst in
December, 1865, and everything tends to show
that it does not indicate the greatest height of
the disease. The cattle plague was especially
virulent in the provinces of Utrecht and South
ern and Northern Holland ; but it has also shown
itself in Friesland and Overyssel, and has lat
terly attacked many parishes of Guelderland
Wholeness.—We commend the article in and North Brabant.”
tlie present number from the Spiritual Repub
When the regulations of the Boston and Cam
lic to the careful and prayerful consideration of bridge Bridge were drawn by two famous law
our readers. The philosophy of sociology is yers, one section was written, accepted, and now
stands thus:
stated with a clearness and precision that leave
“ And the said proprietors shall meet annu
nothing to be desired. If all religious denomi ally on the first Tuesday of June, provided the
nations, whose teachings are intended to de same does not fall on Sunday.”
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
78
VOICES OF
THE PEOPLE.
One of Many.—The experience and observa
tions of the writer of the following are similar
to those of a thousand who have written us their
story. But it is on a subject whereon “line
upon line and precept upon precept ” is neces
sary. She writes from a rich agricultural dis
trict in a Western state. “ Dr. Trail—Dear Sir :
although a stranger to you, I am not a stranger
to the great principles so nobly advocated in
your writings. Two years ago I became acquaint
ed with them, and ordered your Encyclopaedia,
Hand Book, Cook Book, Diphtheria, Water-Cure
for the Million, and would have purchased
more of your works had I been able. I have
lent my books to my neighbors and tried to
convince others of the value and importance of
Hygienic principles. But the great majority
seem bound to live as they list, be the conse
quences what they may. Very few ‘ eat and
drink to live.’ It has been more than a year
since I discontinued the use of all animal food,
butter, salt, spices of every kind, and all warm
drinks at meals. In short, I am striving to live
in accordance with the laws of health. My
husband does not sympathize with the Health
Reform, and thinks the idea of a Vegetarian
Colony very unlike the manner of all other
great reformers. He says, that, if they think
they are right and everybody else wrong, it
would be more Christ-like to remain among
the people and try to enlighten and reform them.
But I am thinking it is not easy to work much
of a dietetic reform among those ‘whose God is
their belly,’and ‘whose glory is their shame.’
To explain our principles to them seems very
much like ‘casting pearls before swine.’ For
my part I am tired of living in society where the
people are addicted to such gross habits. It is
all that I can possibly do to live among them
without contamination; and what can I hope
for my children ? I have four now living, and
two in the spirit-land, who, doubtless, would
have been living at this time, if I had not been
in utter darkness as to the proper manner of
training them.”
Tired of Fashionable Life.—S. R. writes
from Ohio : “I intend to look at your location
for a vegetarian colony in Ross county, and if
the scheme suits me to remove there at an early
day. 1 feel, and my wife does also, just about
ready to go into a Hygienic settlement, but, as I
am pretty well circumstanced here, I must ne
sure of making an improvement before pulling
up stakes. I am thoroughly disgusted with
the bloody-boned surroundings here. My finer
sensibilities are continually outraged by the
butchering of the bloated scavengers (swine) and
the grinding of their corrupt carcasses into dis
ease-engendering food. I hear their last and
smothered groans saddening the merry hum of
the balmy breeze, and am almost forced to ex
claim, 0 God, how are thy children sunken in
iniquity! Then, perhaps, before the crimson
blood is dried up, the besotted devotee of the
corner groggery comes staggering along, breath
ing his venomous breath upon all around ; and,
perhaps, before he has disappeared, along comes
the tobacco-smoker, puffing his detestable ex
halation into every passer’s face. I turn from
all these, horribly disgusted, but to meet the
knight of the pill-bags dispensing his vaunted
nostrums to a deluded people ; and then my
heart sickens, and I long for the promised land
where these debasing influences cannot come. I
have a little cherub growing up that I do not
want exposed to all of these morbid and pollut
ing influences which exist all around us.”
Mountain Land for Fruit-Growing.—J.
G. P., writing from North Carolina, near Black
Mountain, strongly recommends that part of
the country as a proper location for a Vegetarian colony. The following remarks are equally
j
applicable to his location and to Hygeiana:
'
“ The great and chief business of colonies, such
as we contemplate, will be that of raising fruits;
and as there is but one kind of locality (in this
country, at least), which never fails to hit (as
the saying is), and as the land hereabouts is
mostly of this kind, so I regard it as of great
value, although for raising Indian corn, which
is considered the neplus ultra of successful farm
ing, it is not as well adapted as the bottom lands
along the rivers and creeks; hence the hilly
lands are considered of little value by people
generally, and can be purchased for a trifle com
paratively. The land I speak of as best adapted
to the purposes of a Vegetarian colony is moun
tain land ; and I have no doubt that thousands
of acres which can be cheaply purchased, are
perfectly adapted to the raising of all kinds of
fruits. I consider a large quantity of this kind
of land a sine qua non to a successful Hygealthic community, and my policy would be to lo
cate as much of it as possible. Mountains were
the ‘ sunny spots’ of earth with our Saviour, and
his most sacred acts were performed upon them.
And why should they not be dearest to us also ?
Besides, the ‘ good time coming,’ according to
Isaiah, will be ushered in on or in the moun
tains. Let us, then, have at least one Hygeal1 thic mountain colony, and call it Montadelphia.
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
79
“ P. S. The above was written before I saw typographical appearance and its doctrines. I
your ‘ Hygeiana.’ You took this word ‘ out pity the man who is so mystified and befogged
that he can read its pages and not be convinced.
of my mouth.’ as the saying is.”
A Good Word from Missouri.—T. S. writes To me, who am one of the most radical believ
ers in the Hygienic system and its philosophy,
from Clinton county, Mo.: “ The Health Reform
seemed to be entirely unknown here when I it is utterly incomprehensible how men can so
settled in 1863. But by circulating your jour often have the truth presented to them and yet
nals among the people, I have made some con see it not. You may or may not recognize my
verts. Several families of my acquaintance are name among the list of your students for 1863—4.
now zealous advocates of the Hygienic system, As I have not been heard from since then, do
and do not employ the drug doctors when they not think I have been a backslider. From my
organization, that I could not be. I am prepar
are sick.”
ing to take the field at no distant day, and work
A Watch for Hygieana.—An unmarried with heart and soul for the cause of Health Re
lady writes from Ohio : “ Dr. Trail—Sir: On form and for all reforms. I have a large vol
noticing in the last number of the Gospel of ume (manuscript) of reports of your lectures,
Health that a whole score of unmarried ladies which I took phonographically, and which I
had entered into your enterprise of Hygienic value far more than any book I have. W ithout
homes, I bid them God-speed, and wished that trespassing further upon your time, believe me
I was among the number ; but not having any
always your
“ Co-worker.”
ready funds, I have delayed sending an applica
tion. I am very desirous to try my hand at
Hogs and Dogs, Tobacco and Drugs.—A.
farming, and have bethought myself of my E. writes from Vineland, N. J.: “My Dear
watch which, perhaps, you will accept in ex Friend Dr. Trail: I am glad that the colony
change for a ten-acre lot in Hygeiana. It is is finally located, for 1 have been waiting and
considered a good gold watch, but there is no working for this for twenty years. I feel that
sale for such property here ; but if you think the time has come to come out from the wicked,
you can dispose of it to advantage, and can afford and to get away' from hogs and dogs, the vile
to take it. Please let me know.”
weed tobacco, and the doctors’ drugs. Hygei
Send on the watch ; the farm is yours. We ana, in a few years, with its fruits and flowers,
will not dispose of the watch, but keep it as col its sweet lawns and beautiful cottages, its hap
lateral ; and when our fair unmarried corre py homes and healthy inhabitants, will present
spondent earns the money and can conveniently the most remarkable contrast with the general
spare the money, she shall have the watch aspect of society that the world has ever seen.
again.
Will it not be a second Eden, or Eden restored ?
Tired of the “Natives.”—C. D. B. writes An influence cannot fail to emanate from its
from Illinois : “ Dr. Trail—Dear Sir: I have green fields and beautiful hills that will extend
missed your teachings very much since you the blessings of the Hygienic system far and
discontinued your connection with the Herald wide. After looking over your programme for
of Health, and did not know what had become colonization, I have no fears that it will be too
of you until I accidentally met with a number radical. I am a gardener and nurseryman, and
of the Gospel of Health a few days ago. I think that I can be a useful man among you.
do not wish to part company, and so send my At all events, put me down for one farm. I
subscription for one year. I am very much in will send the amount in a few days, and shall
terested in your project for a Hygienic settle purchase several lots if I can raise the means
ment, and would like to become a member of soon enough. My family will remove to Hygei
it. This is a fine fruit country, but I am sur ana just as soon as I can dispose of our property
rounded by ‘ natives’ who think that hog and in this place. Myself and wife are getting old,
hominy and strong coffee are the -necessities of but we desire to do good to our fellow-mortals,
and I know no way of accomplishing more, as
life.”
Our New Volume.—G. G., who is principal we are in feeble health, than to settle in Ilyof a seminary for learning near Philadelphia, geiana and take an agency for circulating your
Pa., writes : “ Dr. Trail—Dear Sir: Permit me journal and selling your books, and procuring
to express my great pleasure at seeing the Gos orders for nursery stock—choice kinds of vines,
pel of Health come out in a new and vastly apple, peach, and pear trees, etc. I am willing
improved form. It is now in a style fitted to to exchange property—let you have my houses
go forth and challenge criticism, both as to its and lots in Vineland—and take their value in
�80
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
land in Hygeiana. I would like to take a thou
sand copies of the Gospel ok Health to give
away, but have no means until I sell. The
Gospel ought to be in every family in the
United States.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
A Hotel in Hygeiana.—E. B. B.—Dr. Trail
—Dear Sir: I would like to have you answer a
few question in the Gospel of Health, es
pecially as they may interest others as well as
myself. 1. What is the name of the nearest
town to Hygeiana? 2. What is the nearest
Post-office? 3. Is the Sciota river navigable?
4. Will there be a house or shanty erected by
the first of April, so that persons can have shel
ter for a night or two, till he can construct a shan
ty of his own ? I shall send you the names of
several purchasers in time for the March num
ber.”
1. Hygeiana is bounded on the north by
Chillicothe, and on- the south by Waverley.
2. Waverley is the nearest Post-office. 3- The
Sciota is not navigated, a canal along its banks
doing the freight business, and the railway
transporting the passengers. 4. As to the shanty
we cannot say. Probably a number will be
built before the middle of April. But persons
can get lodgings near by, among the farmers,
for a few nights, or they can live in tents, or
sleep in a covered wagon as thousands of travel
ers do on long journeys.
Buckwheat—Itch—Gripes.—E. O. M.—“1.
Is buckwheat a wholesome article of food ? 2. If
so, why does it give people, cattle, and hogs the
itch? 3. How do you heal gripes and green
discharges in children ?” 1. Yes. 2. It does
not do it. 3. Abdominal fomentations or warm
hip-baths, with proper attention to diet. I&the
child is nursing, the mother’s habits of eating,
drinking, exercise, etc., must be attended to.
Sick-Headache.—A. S. T.—“ What can be
done for one who is subject to what is called
the sick-headache ? It is either constitutional
or caused by the measles when a child, or by
drug medication for the measles. The patient
is thirty years of age ; was in the army three
years, and st ffered much from sickness or from
the prescriptions of the M. Ds. His paroxysms
of headache are much more frequent than be
fore going into the army.” A disordered liver
is the immediate cause of the trouble, whatever
may have been the remote or primary causes.
An abstemious diet, a daily ablution, and occa
sional hip-baths, are the proper remedial meas
ures.
Palpitation.—0. S. F.—Constipation of the
bowels is the most common cause. An enlarged
liver will occasion it. The remedy is plain food,
moderation in the quantity of food, and correct
habits generally. Bleeding affords temporary
relief, but always aggravates the trouble event
ually.
Panting.—S. S. R.—Short breath, panting,
and “fluttering of the heart,” etc., are caused
by obstructions in the livgr or bowels, weak
ness of the abdominal muscles, congestion of the
lungs, and many other causes. Ascertain the
abnormal condition, and medicate accordingly.
Quick Returns.—S. O. wants to know what
are the best crops for immediate profit to raise
in Hygeiana while the fruit-trees are growing.
There are several, and among them are onions,
beans, beets, and sweet corn. These are always
saleable at a remunerating price, are easily cul
tivated, and require no special attention or
preparation.
The Appetite for Tobacco.—T. S.—“Please
give me, in the next Gospel, a plan of home
treatment to destroy the appetite for tobacco—of
long standing, say twenty or thirty years.”
Let the patient discontinue the use of it for
as many days as he has used it years. He must
not touch it again during his life lest the appe
tite return with redoubled fury, and he become
more the child of the devil than before.
Spinal Irritation.—M. A. S.—Tenderness
of some part of the spinal column does not prove
the existence of spinal disease, but in nine of
every ten cases, is merely indicative of disease
or obstruction in some of the internal viscera.
Caustics applied to the back for supposed spinal
diseases, have ruined the health of thousands
who never had spinal disease at all.
Zymotic.—E. S. S.—This term is applied to
such diseases as are more especially occasioned
by foul air, as typhoid fevers. Accumulated
excrement, imperfect ventilation, and too long
retention of the waste or effete matters of the
body, are the causes of zymotic diseases. Clean
liness would be a complete preventive of all
contagious diseases, as measles, small-pox, hoop
ing cough, etc.
Baker’s Bread.—A. L. R.—Physiologically
we regard baker’s bread as a worse article of
diet than lean flesh-meat. We know of no
article that is baker’s manufacture that is proper
food for human beings, nor, indeed, for ani
mals.
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
Plethora.—A.M.—Sugar, butter, starch, etc.,
may be very fattening, but are also very disease
producing. They are in no proper sense proper
food at all. It is not fat but flesh that you need.
You have too much adipose matter already, and
the more you increase it the more you will
diminish the flesh. Avoid sugar, milk, grease,
salt, and seasonings of all kinds.
Books.—A. R. R.—Your letters were answered
and the books forwarded according to order, by
mail Why you have not received them we
have no means of knowing. It is customary for
everybody to blame publishers for all disap
pointments, but we happen to know that the
fault is much more frequently with mail-carri
ers and post-masters, than with publishers or
their clerks.
Eastern IIygeiana. Home.—S. S. C.—We
shall be ready for patients at Florence, N. J., on
the first day of April next. During the summer,
heating apparatus will be distributed through
out the building, so that it will not be closed
another winter.
OUege geiiartmeut.
81
rejoice, as it has not had since the advent of
Hippocrates, when the best Allopathic medical
class is reduced to a Homeopathic dilution of
the tincture of the shadow of a shade of noth
ing at all.
No Summer Term.—In reply to frequent in
quiries, we reiterate the statement we have
often made, that there will be no summer term
of the Hygeio-Therapeutic College in 1867. This
is settled, whether we go to Paris or not. Other
work, which we have delayed for years on ac
count of the college, must now be attended to,
after which we hopo to resume the college
terms under improved auspices. All scholar
ships, outstanding or hereafter purchased, will
be good for the next or any subsequent term of
the college.
A Court Journal on Crinoline.—The
London Court Journal, of a late date, has the
following remarks on this expansive subject:
No beauty of form or splendor of material
in costume can compensate for manifest incon
venience to the wearer. No dress is sanctioned
by good taste which does not permit, and seem
to permit, the easy performance of any move
ment proper to the wearer’s age and condition
in life ; for it defies the very first law of the
mixed arts—fitness. Form is the most impor
tant element of the absolute beauty of dress, as
it is of all arts that appeal to the eye. The
lines of costume should in every part conform
to those of nature, or be in harmony with them.
We must, therefore, regard as the elementary
requisites of all dress, that it be comfortable and
decent, convenient and suitable, beautiful in
form and color, simple, genuine, harmonious
with nature and itself. The taste for the very
wide, full skirts, aDd large jupons, which has so
long prevailed, is now beginning to decline ; and
ladies distinguished for their good taste are
adopting a moderate style of crinoline. Many
persons are apt to run into extremes at the least
indication of a change in fashion, but nothing
can be a greater error. Fashion, as we have
hinted, changes by almost imperceptible de
grees, in accordance with the progress of public
taste ; and every new style which is introduced
must, to become successful, be an improvement
on those which preceded it. It is, therefore,
ludicrous to see a few ladies who have quite dis
carded thejupon without modifying the form of
their skirt, thus leaving the dress to trail on the
ground, and form very ungraceful folds.”
The theory of dress announced by the Court
Journal, is both sensible and true; but the
practice it recommends seems to ignore the the
ory entirely. If the lines of costume are to
conform to those of nature in every part, why
not adopt the “ American Costume ‘I ”
Medical Schools at a Discount.—The
Medical Record of this city imputes the small
- classes of medical students now attending the
Allopathic Colleges to the increase of the lecture
fees. We incline to the opinion that this cir
cumstance has little or nothing to do with the
question. We think it is owing to the obvi
ously diminished demand for their services on
the part of the public. Precisely as the people,
in any part of the world, become more enlight
ened on the subjects of medical science and the
Healing Art, as they exist in Poisonopathy, the
less will they have to do with doctors of the
drugopathic persuasion. Before the war there
was a remarkable diminution of medical stu
dents ; but the war created an opportunity for
some thousands of physicians and surgeons to
find temporary employment. Then there was
a rush to the medical colleges, which did not
♦
end with the war, and the year immediately
preceding the cessation of hostilities witnessed
unprecedented crowds of ambitious young men
en route for the places where diplomas were
conferred. But the “ reaction,” to use the usual
absurd expression of Allopathic friends, has al
ready “ set in.” Students have fallen off like
the subsidence of the hot stage of a quotidian.
Well, we hope the “ subsidence ” will continue
A lady advertises in a Glasgow paper that
to increase, and humanity will have cause to she wants a gentleman “ for breakfast and tea.”
�82
THE
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
CHURCH UNION
ENCE.
ON
INFLU
There are words of wisdom in the following
remarks, which we clip from a religions paper
recently started in Brooklyn. Without assent
ing to or dissenting from its political predilec
tions, we can most heartily recommend the
principle inculcated to all Health Reformers
and especially to those whom the world de
nounces as crazy one-ideaists.
INFLUENCE.
must therefore never be measured by his FifthAvenue Church, and its wealth, quality, and
obsequious obeisance to his flatteries. The
camel’s hair and leather girdle has a revolution
bound up within it, even if locust and wild hon
ey is its meat.
•
George Fox, in his leather-breeches, was more
powerful than archbishops ; yea, popes, when
the whole column of debit and credit shall be
run up some time yet. Wait till the battle is
over, and see if the little corporal isn’t emperor
at last.
•We are induced to commend these reflections
to the consideration of all men in search of pow
er to do good. Power for evil never comes in
this way—that is therefore out of the reckoning.
Power for good is gained by devotion to truth.
He is a “ Brick ” who never worships only at
the shrine of truth ; who hates all sycophancy,
all ceremony of diplomacy, all indecision, all
Chesterfieldian morals, all high-low cliurchi.m,
all vicars of Bray, all mutual admiration, Chris
tian unionism—but loves and fears only God
and his Truth, and he, only, has influence. Such
men are not now in power among the sects, for
sectarianism draws its life from sycophants.
We used to think a man’s, and especially a
minister’s influence, was proportioned to the
number of admirers, imitators, and sycophants
he could gather around him. This is’ the pop
ular idea. We can point to the so-called lead
ing men in the different sects, and the world
will always judge of their influence by this
standard. He who has the most fashionable
congregation, who presides at all social or sec
tarian meetings, who sits in the seat of honor
when Morton Petolias a dinner of notables, who
make the clerical speech when the President, or
Japanese Tom comes, he is the man of in
CFor the Gospel of Health.]
fluence ; so thought we once in Callow’s simple
WHAT THEY HAD FOR SUPPER.
days. So think the crowds yet. A little reflec
tion, and more acquaintance with men, have com
pletely revolutionized our ideas. Jesus of Naz
First, I will tell you something of the family
areth—shall we leave him out of the list of in
It consisted of six persons, father, mother,
fluential characters ? Or, if he be said to have and four children—all boys, respectively, ten,
been divine—Wickliffe, Huss, Galileo, Burns, ' twelve, fourteen, and sixteen years of age. The
Milton, Wilberforce, Garrison—what will we do father was U large, well-formed, intelligent, and,
with them ? None of them were appreciated, I must say, healthy-looking man, about fortynor had they much visible influence.
five years of age. The mother was pale, deli
The man most dreaded to day in this nation, cate, intellectual, and miserable. The boys
the man who has done more to bend this nation, were sallow, cadaverous, and voracious.
give it ideas, shape its policy, nerve it for the
Now for the supper. There was half a bushel,
conflict of the age, is a man of so little personal or a little less, of hot, saleratus biscuit—prop
influence, that he probably could not get elected erly so called, as from their looks I should judge
to the office of hogreeve for the township where they were made of two parts saleratus and
he dwells. He has been President of these I grease,and one part flour; pork sausage, swim
United States these ten years past, and is quite mingin grease ; potatoes fried in grease ; a large
likely to be for thirty years to come, if not long bowl of grease—called gravy ; apple-pie, of which
er, though he couldn’t be elected to Congress the crust was at least one half grease ; dough
in any district in the country. Don’t think we j nuts, or crullers, cooked in grease, and rpplemean Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson ; No 1 sauce, spoiled by spices, of some kind. For drink,
these have been mere clerks of the great leader 1 they had strong, green tea.
of public opinion, who has presided over states
Of all these various abominatione, all the fam
where a vote for him would have been an ear ily (except one of the boys, who was sick with
nest—of tar and feathers, if not a gentle suspen- j headache) partook hugely, and just before retir
sion from the nearest tree. We mean, of course, ing, the sick boy was so far recovered, as to be
Mr. Phillips.
able, at the earnest sol ¡citation of the mother, to
In short, no influence is so absolutely Omnip eat a quarter of a pie, and a handful of the
otent as that of the Truth-teller. Devils fear doughnuts.
and tremble before him ; timid time-servers flee j Now, is not the ignorance, as such a supper
before him as they did before him of the whip I as this displays, of all of God’s laws of health,
of small cords.
perfectly astounding ?
They who judge a man’s influence by the
Yet, as I said before, the parents were intel
flattery the people give him, tremble for fear ligent people, on nearly all other subjects. The
“ he may hurt his influence.” “ You destroy father had held a lucrative position in the army,
your power with leading men by your radical and had just bought and furnished a nice little
ism,” say men with gold spectacles and white home of fifty acres in the country.
chokers. Not a bit of it. Never fear. The
They were well supplied with books, papers,
great truth-teller of Judea lost his life by his &c.
radicalism, but his death was victory over sin
I tried to get them to subscribe for the Gos
and hell. A man’s influence, and a minister’s pel of HEALTH.but no—they could not afford it!
power, whose whole stock in trade is truth, Poor man !—he had better take it if it cost hint
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
•$200 a year, instead of $2. Perhaps some read
er may be ready to inquire, “ Well, what did
you find to eat at such a table?’’ Easily an
swered—nothing. I excused myself from going
to the table as best I could.
In the morning we‘had for breakfast about
what we had for supper, with the addition of
buckwheat cakes. I ate some of the latter, and
a little of the apple-sauce—considering these the
least objectionable of anything I could get.
My business calls me from home a good deal
of my time, and I believe it is no exaggeration
to say that three-fourths of our people live as
does this family. Is it any wonder we are a na
tion of invalids ? Occasionally, I meet with a
family intelligent upon the subject of Hygiene
—and whose practice is in accordance with their
belief. Such a family to me, is like an oasis in
the desert to the lost and weary traveller.
Intelligence upon this subject is generally bom
of much suffering, and untimely death of friends
and relatives.
Let all who have been enlightened, labor to
extend a knowledge of the Gospel of Health.
j. w. M.
WHOLENESS.
Wholeness is completeness. Applied to
things it signifies unity and symmetry of form.
Applied to persons, it supposes power ; a wellbalanced distribution of activity, and a certain
execution of purpose, implied in the constitu
tional functions of our being.
Womanhood and Manhood are the significant
terms for human wholeness. A stone may be
whole as a stone; an edifice may be whole—
complete—as an edifice ; a child may be whole
—healthily performing its emotional functions
as a child ; but more than this, Womanhood and
Manhood, in wholeness enshrines greatness,
which, like a star, sheds its light on all con
tinually, and brightens as there is need for
light.
It must be seen, however, that human whole
ness, as above defined, is not a birth right only
by possibility of attainment.
The fabled ones of old have no corresponding
facts in human experience; we are not born
women and men, bnt babes ; as we are not born
noble and virtuous, but innocent; the latter be
ing a prophesy of the former.
Evidently, the grand purpose of our earth life
is, by a process of culture, to attain human
wholeness. Will persons say the purpose of
life is to glorify God? We answer, the glory of
God is his manifestation, and the highest mani
festation of any divine life on earth is in the
human consciousness of spiritual things. And
the cultivation of human life produces higher
'and higher manifestation of the divine will or
purpose, therefore, the highest cultivated life,
human wholeness, is the greatest glory, and the
highest thinkable end of earthly action.
In the light of this corollary we view all pres
ent aims, methods and institution with this
further provision:
1st. That all thingsand conditions,actually
desirable are attainable by human effort in keep
ing with natural law.
83
2. That the things and conditions attainable
are associates, therefore cannot be legitimately
sectarized. The one cannot be attained, held,
and used successfully, without reference to the
other.
Our first proposition, we presume, will be
readily seen and accepted by all thinking per
sons unless we except some theologians who
will as readily drop it as “ infidel.”
The second is like unto it, in point of fact,
though if involves methods that are not so
readily mastered. Herein we see the waste of
effort, the want of wholeness.
We will take to illustrate our thought, the
process of physiological evolution in the child.
We may supjjose the babe j ust born to be whole
as a babe. Bodily organs, respiration, circula
tion, all complete. There is a perfect adjust
ment of one part to the other, leaving no undue
extremes. Here, then, to our observation, com
mences a struggle upward toward womanhood
or manhood. We know that all things desira
ble are possible, so far as the constitution of the
child is concerned, and the only questionable
ground is the method adopted in rearing the
child. But what are the requirements ? Sim
ply that an equilibrium shall be maintained, as
between the several organs and functions of the
body; that wholeness be perpetuated, and that
no one part feed upon and devour the other, or
in any way rob it of its required vitality or ex
ercise. As the child advances, new functions
will appear, broader scope of action will be de
manded, and therewith the nicer adjustment of
one part to all the rest. If the newly-born babe
be subjected to extremes of heat and cold ; it
it be starved and overfed alternately, and if in
after-years it be subjected to extremes of affec
tion and anger, caressed and beaten ; if extremes
rapidly alternate through life, or if an extreme
in any one direction be taken and maintained ;
we shall hardly fail to see, as a result, some
glaring fault, some insurmountable weakness,
and withal a fretful waste of life’s forces.
May not this process of individual growth find
an exact counterpart, so far as methods and re
sults are concerned, in society ? Society is not
merely a collection of men, women, and children,
any more than the human form is merely a col
lection of bones, muscles, and nerves. One part
of society cannot be fostered at the expense, or
to the neglect of the other, without abating the
action, and impairing the health of the whole.
Witness even the extremes of American society
in this respect. Our appeal to arms in 1861 had
no other cause, primarily, than the persistent
effort of one part of the body politic to usurp the
rights of another part, and socially to make
equals in fact, subservient in use. One can but
see the inevitable consequence of such a course.
It came, and corresponding results will continue
to come, as long as similar causes exist, or until
an equilibrium metes out equal and exact jus
tice to all.
In the religious department of society, we
find excessive turmoil: sect warring with sect,
and in sheer contention for masteiy, wasting
more than one-half their energy ; and the whole
theological or “ orthodox ” school deny the right
of equal Divine favor to others, who, just as no
ble as they, differ in forms of belief. Who can
�84
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
not prophecy that just as certain as authority to
dictate is assumed by the “ orthodox,” and per
sistently urged, that they will be overthrown
by the dissenters; and the extreme measures
employed for their overthrow will be in exact
proportion to the gravity of their assump
tion, and the tenacity of their adherence to
it ?
As between the sexes, the same comparison
can be drawn. Without any inherent right
whatever to do so, man assumes the control of
society. He makes and administers what is
called law, demanding of woman not only obe
dience to it, but also to his wishes, often to her
own destruction, and oftener to her inexpressi
ble disgust. In this respect, the record of wrongs
silently borne, in intensity and depth of mean
ing, exceed, perhaps, that of any other depart
ment of life, at least in the present century, and
it becomes more and more significant. Is there
no remedy ? Yes, it is in the very constitution
of society, and cannot be forever, or long with
held. And, further still, the classes are terribly
unbalanced. Money, even in America, warrants
favor, and gains position, as against brains and
integrity. Capital owns labor, and degrades it
just as the priest degrades the layman, or man
the woman, that thereby its power and rule may
be perpetuated. Now, we affirm that as human
wholeness is the grand aim of individual life,
that as woman and man, physically, mentally,
morally, and spiritually equilibrated, are the
highest earthly expression of Divine wisdom, so
society, which derives its type from them, finds
its highest expression in wholeness, or the ad
justment of all its parts so as to secure activity,
without contentious opposition. All women
and men are created equal, and are endowed
with certain inalienable rights which pertain to
the whole being, politically, religiously, so
cially.
Can it be otherwise than that the same stand
ard and practice shall obtain in society ? Cer
tainly not. We may cry peace! peace! but
there is no peace until the Idea of Wholeness
is practically acknowledged and sought to be
attained by all.
Upon this we base our hopes and labors for
reform in the future, with the full consciousness
that, though there maybe differences of opinion,
and though different women and men are speciallv adapted to certain work and unfit for cer
tain other work, yet all together constitute the
measure of human uses and symbolize industrial
wholeness. The various legitimate means of
life and progress everywhere chime in their
perpetual harmony of purpose. And we rise in
the scale of being just in proportion as we, in our
consciousness and volition, accord with the great
eternal Ideas of Wholeness, and practically bal
ance the scales of justice. The difference in our
illustration of the child and society is nominal.
We assume the child’s equilibrium, and proceed
to perpetuate it. The different departments and
parts of society are not in equilibrium, but by
effort this condition is to be attained, until dif
ferences will not be a synonym for contention ;
then the waste of effort ceases, and the social
and industrial energies produce, where now they
irritate and re-act.
We are not expecting to attain peace and
vigor by merely writing or announcing the con
dition of their existence. The significant words
of Emerson, “ Choose which ye will, truth or
repose,” ring in our ears, and every day we
tighten our armor for continued effort, with the
simple provision that we stand in the breach
and strike for justice and equality. Time will
render an account of persistent’ effort, which
will be effectual in proportion as it is wise.
We have no particular desire that people
should agree. Wholeness is not sameness. It
would be well, however, if we could agree to
disagree, and not stoop to the obstruction of each
other’s way. No one class can far precede the
others ; each must help ; and egotism is a cursed
thing. May it not be that all political, social,
and religious reformers constitute, in three
divisions, the Grand Army of Progress ? It seems
so to us ; and while we sincerely admire indi
vidual Wholeness which, at least, implies vigor,
justice, and virtue, we can but plead for social
Wholeness, which implies unity of effort, to
the end that each may have his or her own.
THE KEY TO KNOWLEDGE.
There is a refreshing philosophy of theology
in the following extract from a sermon lately
delivered by Rev. O. B. Frothingham of this
city :
Once we waited on the theologians to give us
the magic word, at whose utterance the gates
which open from our cavern into the light-of
day would roll back. Now, to understand the
theologians’ word is one of the undertakings
that we are ready to abandon. The difficulty
is to reveal the revelation ; to unveil the veil.
We are getting tired of looking on as at some
grand spectacle that is to be disclosed before
our eyes, by a few workmen who are toiling
behind the scenes to lift a curtain which still
hangs stubbornly before certain majestic but.
dumb statues of antiquity, and are thinking it
is high time to find out some truth for our
selves. The revelations of men who look away
from human life into a far-off literary world—
who take the wings of their imagination and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, are illu
sive and unfruitful. They are productive of
conjecture, and guess, and surmise, and specu
lation, but of little else Their light is at the
best uncertain—it is commonly misleading.
Their teaching lacks authority, and it lacks
consistency—it bewilders more than it guides.
These great seers and prophets had life before
them just as we have. Their object was to get
a solution of life’s mystery—even such as we
desire—but their method was to look away
from life in order to get light upon it; to retire
to their closets in order to get at the secret
which was in the world; to burrow into the
recesses of their own minds in search of the key
which was to unlock the chambers of the ma
terial and human universe, to escape into the
regions of sentiment, that they might hear
the Btill small voice which counsellors and
kings must obey.
Such was not the method of Jesus. No meta
physician, or theologian, or closet-philosopher
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
85
was he, but a genuine child of nature. He lived into its parts, analyzing, pulverizing, blowing
in direct communication with the life of his substances into gas—its optics screwed into a
time, to the consideration of which he brought lens, and boring into a point, it is apt to miss
the keenest of observation, the finest of intelli those splendid combinations which reveal the
gences, the purest and sweetest of hearts. The spirit, movement, and genius of the whole. The
meaning of what he saw was revealed to him. specialists in science seldom throw light on the
The sunbeams were his teachers, and the show purposes and ends of things, The atoms are
ers, the grasses, the lilies, the birds, the pastur more than the eternities to them. The most
ing sheep, the mountain torrents, the harvest famous of them, lacking the sympathy that
fields, the sowers scattering their grain, the blends them with the whole, will deny all pur
fishermen hauling in their nets, the people.pray pose, all end, all design and significance. No
ing or trafficking in the temple, the children heap of information is equivalent to a truth.
playing in the square—in all these things he The physiologist may show us all there is in a
saw God. If he went away alone, it was for human "body, may explain how it is formed out
meditation and prayer—to the end that he of a tiny cell, how it is nourished by the assim
might keep clear and single the inward eye by ilation of food, how the secretions are made,
which he perceived the divine significance in how the condition of the brain affects intelli
gence ; but when he has set up his skeleton,
the common events of his day.
it
Two things of inestimable value Jesus has and clothed the with flesh, and covered it all
breathing garment
bequeathed to us. One is his method of seeking round with shown us a man. Thereof the skin,
he has
are worlds
revelations ; the other is the quality of vision by within not
worlds of meaning there that he has not
which revelations are made possible. This come upon, or guessed the existence of. All
method was the study of life—this vision was that we call affection, intelligence, heart, soul,
the loving intelligence.
spirit, whatever it be, is hidden trom him. That
The first point is obvious. The world is before sphere of fine sympathies and relations in which
us still; and life is before us—real as ever— he touches other beings like himself, higher,
richer than ever. Not a fact of the universe lower, wiser, simpler, better, worse, is to him
has been removed from its place ; cm the con as though it were not. In a word, he sees the
trary, many additional facts have been piled up carnal, lie does not see the divine. He sees the
under our observation. The world we live in, portion that belongs to the dust, not the portion
as compared with the world that Jesus lived in, that belongs to the deity. To see that, requires
is as the city of New York to a country village. an illuminated mind. The unilluminated man
We have new sufferings and new diseases—new sees no revelation of God’s truth or benignity
modes of living and dying; new interests and in the flowers—
new relations—new duties and new responsibili
“ The primrose on the river’s brim
ties. Married life is not the same—home life is
A yellow primrose is to him,
not the same—life of leisure and of business is
And it is nothing more.”
not the same. Men are not the same, nor women,
But the great poet says :
nor children. We have new doubts, beliefs,
<• Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
sentiments, fears, sorrows, aspirations. What
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears,
shall reveal to us the meaning of this life of
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
ours? What can reveal it to us? Can any
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”
thing but study of our life as it is, do it ? There
A mind thus illuminated and turned directly
it is before us, no doubt, full of order, and law,
and beautv, if we could but see it—full of wis upon our human life, not turned away to creeds
dom, too. Every thing in it appointed, arranged, and bibles and theologies, but turned directly
adjusted nicely to every other thing. No acci upon human life, has the revelation of God s
dents, no surprises, no untimely or disjointed will and purpose in human life. The meaning
events. All things well in their place, all things of God is wrought into the substances of things ;
tending upward toward perfection, all things into organic and inorganic matter ; into the hu
doing good service in their time, all things man frame; into the regulation of personal
provided for—every thing ministering to some habits; into private, domestic, social, civil, po
thing else—how are we to know it, to feel it ? litical life; into days and epochs; into events
and histories. If it is revealed to us at all. it
Clearly by looking at it, not away from it.
Let us come to the second condition. The must be revealed there. To the loving eye it
revealer is the Reason, the illuminated mind will be revealed.”
turned on life at any point. The illuminated
mind, I say again ; and by the illuminated mi nd
I mean the mind which is lighted by splendid
Among mere blunders we believe we have
ideas, and warmed by a deep and wide humani met with no richer specimen than this one, per
ty. God’s truth is wrought into the texture of petrated by a bell ringer in Cork :
our common life, and may be found there full
“ Oh, vis'! oh, yis1 Lost somewhere between
and glowing by him who has eyes to see it. But twelve o’clock and M’Kinney’s store in Market
the eyes that are to see it must have behind street, a large brass key. I’ll not be after tellin’
them, not speculation merely, but sentiment, yees what it is, but it’s the key of the bank,
heart, soul. They must be loving eyes, as well sure.”
as keen ones. And so I say that science, in the
A counsel being questioned by a judge to
ordinary sense of the word, is not the revealer.
Science uses the microscope, the spectrum, the know “ for whom he was concerned,” replied,
retort, the crucible—vea, the telescope, with “ I am concerned, my lord, for the plaintiff, but
wonderful skill; but while separating matter I am employed by the defendant.”
�86
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
WAYSIDE JOTTINGS IN
BRITAIN.
GREAT
NO. I.
Said a friend to us j ust before we started on
our tour to Great Britain in August last, “ You
can’t practice vegetarianism in that country
where there are no fruits.” “ Are there no
fruits there?” said I. “ Scarcely any,” was the
reply. “ Peaches and grapes are only grown in
hot-houses, and even apples are a meagre and
indifferent crop. Small fruits are not much at
best ; and, as for dried fruits, they are not in
the market.” Such was the doleful prospect
presented to the frugivorous tourist.
Well, after traveling through the length and
breadth of the country, from almost the ex
treme north of Scotland to the south coast of
England, and visiting, meanwhile, most of the
large cities, I had some little opportunity to
take items on a subject in which I was practi
cally interested, at least two or three times
daily. In the first place, the humidity of the
climate is such that one needs, and therefore
desires, a drier diet there than here. Just as on
sea, one naturally prefers more of “hard bis
cuit” (alias Graham crackers), and less of fruits
and other moist and juicy substances.
But, aside from all climatic considerations,
the vegetarian will experience no difficulty
whatever, as he travels from city to city, in ob
taining the very best of fruits, vegetables, and
farinaceous food. Instead of taking the usual
hotel fare, etc., for some two hours, laboring
through six, eight, or ten courses of soup, fish,
fowl, mutton, beef, dessert, etc., etc., with length
ened pauses between each (for the good natives
are strangers to the dispatch of our American
hotels), and finally finishing off with several
rounds of porter, claret, champagne, etc., the
traveler can go to the “ coffee-room,” order just
what he wants, and haw and when it shall be
prepared. Or, if he doesn’t like the extrava
gant bills at hotels, he can obtain, for a few
shillings per week, excellent private lodgings
(say a parlor and bed-room), with attendance
included, and order his meals as before. This
is really the better way. One is more comfort
able, more retired, better waited upon, and at
less expense than he would be at a hotel. You
can have, if you like (in Scotland at least), su
perb oat-meal porridge—better than you ever
ate in this country—for the imported article
(and that is all we have here) is always injured
by damp and otherwise, together with good
brown bread, excellent vegetables, and the
choicest of fruits.
In no cities in our own country have I ever
seen in the markets a finer supply of fruits and
at so trifling expense. (Think of a great “ Scotch
pint” full of splendid strawberries or goose
berries for three pence, and a pound of good
eating apples for the same money!) Some of
the imported fruits are higher, but we should
think none of them extravagant. Apples, pears,
plums, grapes, gooseberries, strawberries, and
other fruits, are plentiful and cheap. Some of
the large fruit stores in the cities are beautiful
beyond description. The “ small fruits ” con
tinue much longer in summer there than here ;
the climate is peculiarly adapted to them. The
abundant moisture that permeates the soil and
fills the very air, making it at times almost op
pressive, is most favorable to the growth of all
fruits and vegetables native to the island. The
raspberry, gooseberry, and strawberry, grow
much larger than with us; and, instead of that
keen, sharp' acid which people with a “ sweet
tooth ” take such exceptions to, they have a
mild, sweet, and delicious flavor.
In Aberdeen market I sa.w raspberries, goose
berries, strawberries, and currants, as late as the
middle of September; (they were done in Glas
gow some two or three weeks before ;) and I
was informed that these fruits begin to ripen
there almost as early as they do with us. The
berries which I saw were the last of the season,
and the market women called them “ poor
but I thought them very fine indeed. I tried
the experiment of putting a single strawberry
(an extra big one, of course, and rather irregu
larly shaped) into a .common-sized tumbler, and
found that it would not go half way to the bot
tom ! The gooseberries are of several varieties
and of different colors—yellow, green, pink, and
dark red—the green-colored ones being gener
ally the best. They are about twice as large
as we usually grow them here in Ohio, and are
very delicious ; the same may be said of the
raspberry. There were currants and huckle
berries in the market, much the same as we
have them in this country ; and in some of the
cities I saw cranberries, said to be grown, I
think, in the north of Scotland. The blackberry
(or “ bramble-berry,” as they call it—the black
currant is their “ blackberry ”) is only grown in
the wild state, and is very similar to our wild
blackberry.
Grapes, although commonly grown in hot
houses, are very fine, especially those grown in
the southern parts of England. Some of the
white grapes are excellent. Apples are rather
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
plentiful, at least in the cities ; they ripen later
than with us, and are inferior in quality, par
ticularly those grown far north. The Scotch
apples are usually very sour and crisp and rather
small; some of them are very fine cooked. The
best eating apples that I saw in Scotland, that
is, the best native apples, were the Scotch “ pip
pins,” a very small apple, with a mild, sub-acid.
The apples commanding the highest price are
those imported from America. Apples do best
in that climate when the trees are trained up
to i wall or to the side of a house, where they
cai have all the sunlight and heat possible, for
Great Britain is not a land of sunshine. Indeed,
during the three months that we were there,
the island seemed almost constantly enveloped
in mist and clouds ; and I said to the good peo
ple—who think the Americans very dark-col
ored—that it was no wonder they were white,
since the sun never shown upon them.
It is too far north, and there is too little sun
shine for peaches. They can only be grown in
hot-houses; and though they often look very
well, they are rather insipid. I saw at Salis
bury, England, nice-looking tomatoes growing
in the hot-houses, but they are seldom in the
market, imported or otherwise ; and many of
the country people have never seen one. Beau
tiful plums and pears are in the markets and
fruit stores, most of them imported from France
and Germany. Of dried and canned fruits there
are not so many, nor is there so great variety
there as here, chiefly because there is not that
demand for them by the people, who seem
scarcely to have learned either the luxury or
the worth of them. Canned fruits are to be
found in some of the cities (sometimes imported
from New York), but the great masses of the
people have never heard of such a thing. Did
wholesome fruits take among poor people the
place of the pipe and snuff-box, and among the
rich people the place of John Barleycorn, or
some other John (of whom I shall have some
thing to say hereafter), all would be better off.
The vegetables of Great Britain are very fine
indeed. If there are not so many native fruits
as there are in the warmer climates, the lack
of them is greatly atoned for in the abundance
and excellence of the native vegetables. The
jxitato is very much better than ours ; not any
larger, but drier and finer flavored. The turnip
is so far superior to those in this country, both
in size and quality, and especially in the pecu
liar sweetness of its flavor, that there is really
no comparison between it and the article grown
here under the same name. Of parsnips, car
87
rots, cabbage, Scotch cale and the like, there is
no lack, and of the best quality.
The vegetarian will rest assured, therefore,
that Great Britain is the last country in which
he need be compelled in practice to abandon his
faith. (And yet, the people, there as here, ask,
“ Why, what do you live on ?” as if there were
no “ living ” exclusive of meat, tea, and, one
may add—tobacco.) The stranger can obtain,
even on the streets and from the shops, good
brown bread, choice fruits, and plainly-cooked
vegetables. In London, fine large baked pota
toes, hot in the oven, are common on the street
corners.
'
S. W. D.
Xenia, Ohio, January, 1867.
IMPORTANCE OF PROPER FOOD.
[A little girl just entering on her “teens,”
and who has lived in a Hygienic family for sev
eral years, being requested to write an article
for the Gospel of Health, complied without
a moment’s hesitation, and the following is the
result of her first effort in the literary line.
We are of the opinion that many thousands of
full-grown American girls might derive profita
ble instruction by its careful perusal.]
“ People generally eat milk, sugar, and but
ter, and many other things, which are really
not food at all. I have read in some books
about sugar being useful and necessary food ;
but I havesince learned it is not food at all, and
that all kinds of seasonings are injurious. In
deed, proper food never requires anything with
it, and this will nourish the body most perfectly
if nothing is taken with it. If you should take
a handful of salt, or a chunk of butter, and eat
it by itself, it would make you sick. And so, if
persons eat proper food five or six times a day
sickness will be the result. But if proper food,
with no seasonings nor additions of any kind, is
eaten, in proper quantities, twice a day, it will do
all that food cando to give strength and preserve
health. One who has never tried the experi
ment can scarcely imagine what a change for the
better there will be in adopting a Hygienic diet,
and eating only two meals a day. Since I have
lived strictly according to this system, I have
grown stronger, got more rosy cheeks>and am
in better health in all respects.
“ Some folks think that if you eat only twice
a day, you will get so very hungry that you can
not help over-eating. But this is not so : When
you eat too frequently the stomach is over
worked, for it has to labor to get rid of the ex
cessive quantity, and this causes fatigue and
�88
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
weakness. If you wanted your house clean, and “ worst features ” removed. All whose grog
some one kept throwing dirt into it, you would geries are “reasonably respectable” will be
have to work too hard" to get it all out, and tolerated. And then we have the assurance that
might get sick. And this is the way you get the business of rumsellingis not to be diminished.
iick when you eat too much or too frequently. It is only to be placed in fewer hands. The
The stomach must have rest, like all other or same quantity is to be sold.
gans, or it will soon wear itself out. 1 know a
W ell, we fear this is too true, and we are of
little girl about my size who eats five or six the opinion that one “ respectable ” rumshop is
times a day, and she is hungry all the time, more mischievous in society than are ten low
and so long as her mother indulges her in this groggeries. Indeed, the more “respectable,"
way she will feel a continual craving. It is said the greater is their influence for evil. No drunk
to be very hard for mothers to deny their chil ard ever led a human being into habits of intem
dren food when they call for it; but it is better perance ; but moderate drinkers have influence
than to let them become sickly, and grow up fee in that direction. No low groggery ever caused
ble and useless. Some parents say that their a human being to take the first downward step
children eat all kinds of food and seasoning, i on the road to drunkenness; but every respecta
and between meals, and yet are well enough. ble drinking place in the country has turned the
But such children are never in good sound steps of many perditionward. We are of the
health. They are often sick of fevers, inflam j opinion that all the excise laws that ever were
mations, convulsions, &c., and many of them or ever can be enacted only make the matter
die of these or some other diseases. Many per worse. By “ regulating ” the traffic in intoxi
sons think they cannot work without eating cating drinks, and authorizing certain persons
flesh-meat, and drinking tea and coflee. But this to deal in them, they make the traffic, which
*s another mistake, for I know many vegetari in its very nature is infernal—an outrage on
ans who drink only water, and not that at God and man—“ respectable." If the whole
meals, who are always in good health, and work matter were left to common law, a remedy would
very hard. I advise all persons, and young per very soon be found in a “Vigilance Committee ”
sons especially, to adopt the Hygienic manner or something similar.
of living, and when they become old, not to de
part from it.”
Bread Thrown Upon the Waters.—The
President of the Franklin County (Pa.) FruitGrowers' Association writes us : “ Dr. R. T.
REASONABLY RESPECTABLE
CROC-SHOPS.
Trail & Co.—Dear Sirs : Inclosed find $5, for
which please send as many of the January Gos
The comments of our city papers on the Ex pels of Health, including a few copies of
cise law, passed at the last session of the Legis Hygeiana as you can afford for the money. I
lature, since its constitutionality has been am much pleased with the journal. It is not
affirmed by the Court of Appeals, are very too radical for some of us, although it is so far
various, as the papers are or are not in the in advance of public opinion generally, that
interest of the rumsellers, and some of them many will not see even the glimmer of its light.
quite amusing. The following is a specimen of Whatever quantity you send will be for gratui
logic as it is in rum :
tous distribution. I shall consider them as bread
“ It is not the object of the law to suppress the thrown upon the waters, or good seed sown
sale of liquor. It is only intended to prune the
evil of its worst features by closing up the low which may bring forth a rich harvest. I am
and disreputable groggeries where vice and very much pleased with your Hygeiana pros
crime are bred. Dealers who keep reasonably pect, and hope it will prove a success. Permit
respectable places, and who are willing to ob me here to offer a few suggestions, if they have
serve the restrictions imposed by the law, will
be allowed to continue their business. This not already been considered : that the best fea
class ought to be well satisfied, for the natural tures of the Vineland enterprise be laid down
effect of the new measure will be to increase the as a basis to keep out speculation ; and that it
patronage of the better places by the suppression be made obligatory on all property holders to
of others.
sow the road sides in grass lawn, and plant with
Of course it will never do to think of removtrees, etc.”
ini»1 the evil entirely ! That would be radical
and fanatical, and proscriptive, and in divers
“ I have not loved lightly,” as the man said
ways offensive to the knights of the toddy-stick. when he married a widow weighing three hun
The evil is only to be “ pruned ” a little, and its | dred pounds.
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
NEW YORK STATE TEMPERANCE
SOCIETY.
We are glad to record that one more Tem
perance organization has taken a step in ad
vance. At the recent annual session of the
New York State Temperance Society, held at
Auburn, the following platform of principles
was announced:
Resolved, That, in view of the facts : 1. That
domestic wine is intoxicating; 2. That nearly
two-thirds of it is manufactured into brandy ; 3.
That intemperance is on the increase in wine
growing districts, especially among the youth
of both sexes ; we deprecate the production of
grapes for the manufacture of wiue, believing it
has an immoral tendency.
Resolved, That we recommend the vigorous
enforcement of all the restrictive and prohibit
ing provisions of the Excise law, and that we
further recommend the friends of Temperance to
petition the Legislature to extend the Metro
politan Excise Law over the entire state.
Resolved, That the approaching convention to
'amend the Constitution of the state of New
York should be regarded in the good Providence
of God as a fitting opportunity for the people to
declare in the new Constitution, “ that hence
forth no license in any form or under any cir
cumstance shall be granted in this state for the
manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors as a
beverage, and that such permission shall be
submitted by separate article to the voters of
the state for adoption or rejection concurrently
with the new Constitution which may be ap
proved by the convention.”
In view of the facts that the rum trade owes
all of its vitality, directly or indirectly, to the
abominable license system, and that nearly all
of our agricultural journals, and the great
majority of our political newspapers (conspicu
ous among which is the New York Evening
Post) are advocating and encouraging the busi
ness of wine-making, these are certainly import
ant resolutions. We hope they will be endorsed
by and echoed from every temperance meeting
which may be held from this day until the final
consummation of the Temperance Reformation.
True, they do not go quite far enough. But
they are steps in the right direction. The real
root of the evil is alcoholic medication. But
our temperance friends have not yet got their
eyes open wide enough to see this. Possibly,
however, they may in the good time coming.
Cato, being scurrilously treated by a low and
vicious fellow, quietly said to him: “A contest
between us is very unequal, for thou canst bear
ill language with ease, and return it with pleas
ure ; but to me it is unusual to hear and disa
greeable to speak it.”
89
How Paris Wives Get Rid of Their Hus
bands.—La Patrie relates the following start
ling incident : “ M. Sam relates that he was
standing at a ball given at the Tuileries, talking
to the great chemist. Dr. Lisfrank, when he
perceived him suddenly become pale, and move
from his position. M. Sam, fancying that his
friend had been taken ill, followed him out to
the Salle des Maréchaux. There, having re
covered his equanimity, he said,‘ I have just
seen a beautiful young bride waltzing with her
second husband. Now, lam perfectly convinced
she murdered her first husband. It had been a
love match ; but the young man discovered he
had made a fatal mistake, and his health visi
bly declined. One morning he was found dead
in his bedroom, which his wife had filled with
flowers, especially with hyacinths. Their poi
sonous emanations had evidently killed him.
On being summoned to inquire into the cause
of his death, I perfectly remember having re
lated in his wife’s hearing a case of poisoning
produced by these very flowers ; and, on learn
ing that a scandalous intrigue on her part had
been the cause of his misery, 1 have not the
slightest doubt that the wretched woman took
this mode of regaining her liberty. This tragic
anecdote recalls to me another, which one of
the first physicians in Paris related a few days
ago as having occurred to him during the course
of his practice. He had been for some time in
attendance on a wealthy merchant, whose ill
ness, though of a painful nature, was not dan
gerous. Much to Dr. N.’s surprise, the symptoms
became complicated, and M. X. got rapidly
worse. Dr. N. asked to see the mixture his
patient had been taking during the night, and
remarked to the servant that the glass from
which he had apparently drank was not clean.
‘ No one, Sir, touches it but Madame,’ replied
the servant. Pouring a little water into it, Dr.
N. put it to his lips. He then asked to see
Madame X. alone. She was young and lovely.
‘Is my husband worse?’ she inquired, with
great apparent anxiety* ‘Yes, Madame; but
he must improve rapidly.
Do you hear,
Madame ?—in a week he must be cured.’ The
lady’s cheek grew pale. ‘ But, Doctor—’ ‘ You
have understood me, Madame ; good morn’ng.’
The patient recovered within the given time,
and M. and Madame X. gave a ball last week
and looked as jolly a couple as you would wish
to see.”—[Paris Correspondent of the Morning
Star.
One of “ the sex” writes that “ though a few
American ladies live in idleness, the majority as
yet work themselves into early graves, giving
the men an opportunity to try two or three in
the course of their own vigorous lives.”
Two ears, and but a single tongue,
By Nature’s laws to man belong ;
The lesson she would teach is clear,
“ Repeat but half of what you hear.”
A singular innovation was made at a funeral
in Paris the other day. Instead of a laudatory
discourse in honor of the individual interred,
one of his friends read extracts from a newspa
per in his praise.
�90
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
THE LIFE OF A RADICAL.
My father was independent. T do not think
he ever thought of the consequence of any spe
cific act. Was it right?’if so, it must be per
formed. This made him a host of enemies, and
none were more bitter than the clergy. I re
member that he was the member of a Baptist
Association, and not one but were bitterly op
posed to him.
It was at the period when the Liberator began
to be published in Boston, and we took the pa
per, its editor, Mr. Garrison, visited our village,
and of course stopped at our house. He was
regarded as an infidel, and the most trouble
some fellow in the country. He was announced
to deliver a lecture in our church. At the hour
appointed the building was crowded to its ut
most capacity with a throng of noisy town
loafers, who, hearing of the proposed advocacy
of the unwholesome doctrines of “ abolition ” by
the chief mover in it all, came for the express
purpose of breaking up the meeting. This was
easily done with the help of some worthless
boys, and through the connivance of respectable
men of wealth in the town. My father, my
mother, and one or two others, were the only
supporters he had. The roughs made short
work of it, put out the lights, and cleared the
house within ten minutes. We were compelled
to flee for our lives, and were scarcely in sight
of our hopse before we saw the light blazing up
ward against the dark nightsky. Our church
was on fire, and before we reached our house,
the conservatives had been there before us, for it,
too, burst into flames, and we were compelled
to pass the night as best we could, at the hum
ble farm-house of a neighbor. Every thing we
had in the world was consumed, except the
clothes we wore. It was in the dead of winter.
My father was penniless, houseless, and hated
of every man in the town. And yet there was
a certain sort of respect accorded to him, that
showed that the truth was working. My sisters
readily obtained employment at a farm-house.
My mother wrote a little, and got enough to take
care of herself. My brothers and myself sought
and obtained work in various pursuits, one as a
clerk, and I as a farm boy. Father began to ad
dress himself to the work of reform entirely.
Heretofore he had not devoted himself to this
exclusively. Now, however, God had taken
away all hinderances ; so he consecrated his
taients and time entirely to this work. He
went from town to town, and district to district,
teaching the sin of American Slavery. He was
a man of powerful frame, with great black eyes
looking out from under shaggy iron gray eye
brows. His look was as stern and forbidding as
that of Alpine ('rags in winter. There was no
grace or beauty in his style. He spoke plain
truths, and eschewed all ornament and all cir
cumlocution.
As I have said, not a minister sustained him.
There came at last to his net, three only out
of the whole region round about, who might be
called supporters. One vi as a teacher who read
the Liberator, and taught the village school;
another was a long-haired reformer, who lived
a lone, bachelor life, subsisting chiefly upon
vegetables, and talked reform constantly; and
a bloomer-costumed Amazon, who came no one
knew whence or how, and lived chiefly by prac
tice of certain medical arts, phrenological lec
tures, examination of heads, and operating in
the capacity of a medium in spiritual manifesta
tions. These formed the party outside our family,
who sustained my father, and I may say, be^
lieved in him.
The town had a population of one thousand
souls, and there were of course four churches.
Each of them about as prosperous as my father’s
church, save this, lhe Episcopal Rector took
the only persons of wealth ; the Presbyterians,
the timid and middle class ; and the Baptist and
Methodist strove, one with another, to get all
that remained.
The three ministers dragged out a miserable
life of servitude and obedience to public will,
and never dared so much as to notice my father*
lest their constituency should suffer thereby.
It took us all nearly a year to get enough
together to think of having a home. This we
did by combined effort. I putting in my little
earnings with the rest. We built a plain house
of humble pretensions, and all came back again
to the work of rdform.—[Church Union.
THE YOUNG MEN OF OUR CITIES.
Rev. Dr. Osgood, in a recent work entitled
“American Leaves,” gives the following painful
but truthful sketch:
“The number of youth in our cities who are
seeking some kind of employment that allows
them to have a delicate hand, and wear kid
gloves and polished boots, is enormous, and fur
nishes a fearful number of recruits to the army
of vice and crime. What the cause of the disin
clination to the manual arts is, it is not always
easy to say ; and certainly, in the nature of
things, there is far more demand for intellect
and far more exercise of manly power in tilling
the soil or building houses and ships, than in
selling silks and calicoes behind the counter.
It would be a great gain if ten thousand clerks
could at once go into the fields and workshops,
where they are wanted, and leave their places
to ten thousand young women, who have noth
ing to do but to make their poor fingers the
hopeless rivals of the sewing-machine, and
to anticipate the uncertain time when some
young man. not yet able to pay for his own
board and clothes, shall venture upon the enter
prise of taking a wife less thrifty than himself.
It is partly from the false feminine notions of
gentility that much of the rising aversion to
manual labor springs, and much harm comes
from the frequent preference of the dainty swain
of the counter over the far abler worker at the
plough or plane bv sentimental maidens, who
have studied out their ideas of the gentleman
from trashy novels, and not from the good old
Bible and its noble standard of the gentle
heart.”
Thirteen objections were once given by a
young lady for declining a match—the first
twelve being the suitor’s twelve children, and
the thirteenth the suitor himself.
�91
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
Paris a Doomed City.—London Society, in an
article on “The Beaux Mondes of Paris and
London,” utters the following fearful, and we
fear, truthful prophecy concerning the most gay
and luxurious city in the world :
Paris has reached a climax in what is gener
ally called civilization that cannot be surpassed.
She lias adorned and beautified herself with a
rapidity and splendor that are without a paral
lel. She is the most beautiful capital in the
world—the queen of cities ; she has put out of
sight all that can offend the taste of the most
refined critics ; she has driven further and fur
ther back all the signs of poverty and labor
which might offend the eye or suggest a thought
inconsistent with the opulence and gayety with
which it is her desire to impress her visitors;
she is a very Sybarite of cities ; but with all her
magnificence of decoration, with all her lavish
outlay and ever-changing caprice, which consti
tute her the leader of fashion throughout
Europe, she carries within herself the elements
of her own ruin, which cannot be far distant.
No society can last long which is so rotten at
its core, where profligacy reigns, and all sense
of propriety is at a discount.
The history of the world supplies abundant
instances of cities which have reached a climax
of refined splendor, and, being lifted up in their
pride, have overlooked virtue, and have been
dashed to the ground, and have crumbled to
ruin ; nor need France go far to look for such an
example. In the period before the great French
revolution society had become corrupt. They
who ought to have been examples of virtue
made use of their high and exalted position for
the indulgence of their evil passions, and saw in
it only opportunities for a vicious life. Even
now men tremble at the recollection of the aw
ful judgment that fell upon them, which has
left that fair and beautiful country in a state of
ferment from which there seems to be no repose,
and which can only be kept under by the firm
hand of a great military power which is ever
ready to repress the first indication of the pop
ular mind daring to think for itself.
Pure Wines and Temperance.—Dr. Stone,
of San Francisco, says he is fully convinced that
the manufacture and introduction of pure wines
into general use will not diminish intemper
ance, as has been supposed. Full two-thirds of
all the wine manufactured is converted into
brandy, and in the wine districts intemperance
is on the increase, extending to the youth of
both sexes.—Exchange.
The exercise of a little common sense, will
enable any physician in any part of the world,
or any man, woman, or child, who has arrived
at a condition of reasoning, to see that all use
of the alcoholic element, as drink or medicine,
must conduce to intemperance.
Let us give them a very simple illustration.
Mercury is a poison. In all forms and prepara
tions it injures the vital organization, and in
large doses tends to induce the inflammatory
condition of the mouth and salivary glands,
technically termedptyalism or salivation; though
they may not occasion manifest local inflamma
tion, they do, nevertheless, produce some degree
of the same or a similar morbid condition. They
can never be taken without injury exactly pro
portioned to quantity.
Alcohol conduces to intoxication. Large doses
occasion drunkenness. Small quantities pro
duce a slight degree of intoxication, termed
stimulation. But, as the alcoholic element is
always a poison, its use in any form is injuri
ous exactly in ratio of the quantity taken, no
matter whether taken in the form of rum,
brandy, wine, cider, porter, lager, etc., etc.
A Fine Lady.—We clip the following para
graph from the New York Tribune :
“ For the Paris Exhibition.—At No. 544
Broadway is a cooking-stove which cost $1,000.
The boiler, tank, and pot closet, are of German
silver, and the whole is as splendid as a piano.
Of course, it embraces latest improvements. In
cooking, a current of air passes through the
oven, and bread is baked in a brick oven. With
such a stove, a fine lady might be induced to
make herself useful.”
The diabolical innuendo of the writer is that a
fine lady isn’t useful! Was there ever a more
preposterous absurdity ? Half the commerce
of the world depends on her finery for its ex
istence. All of the dry goods’ merchant princes
owe their fortunes to her disposition to display
fine things. Every milliner’s and mantua-maker’s shop in the land may bless her desire to
shine in frills and flounces for their meagre
bread and butter. The Tribune itself is in
debted to the fine ladies for one-half of its im
mense advertising patronage. Indeed, discon
tinue fine ladies, and the controversy between
the Tribune and Post on the subject of “Pro
tective Tariff and Free Trade,” which has raged
for twenty years, and bids fair to continue so
long as they both shall live, would be deprived
of three-quarters of its facts and illustrations.
We doubt if either of these papers could live if
there were no fine ladies.
Carnivora and Herbívora.—An exchange
says:
“ A dinner was given, near Paris, recently, of
which the principal dishes were shark, horse,
dog, and rat.”
A dinner was given, in this city recently, of
which the principal dishes were bread, apples,
potatoes, and beans. Which dinner indicates
the higher grade of civilization?
4
�92
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
A Marvelous Medicine.—A writer in the
Religio-Philosophieal Journal gives a wondrous
statement of a medicine which is greatly relied
on for the cure of mortal or immortal maladies
in one of the “ spheres ” or “ grand divisions of
the spirit land.” We have much faith in the
remedy, and believe that more of it could be
used by people “ in the form ” with advantage :
“ The medicine most in vogue there is that
of Namm oc Esnes, sometimes used on earth.
When well applied and digested, it there, as
here, effects the most marvelous cures. I may
state, however, that the people on earth spell
the name of this great remedy backwards ; for
here the letters are reversed. Every one can
find and use it, and it is already being applied
to the cure of many ills.”
Canada.—Canada subscribers will send 12
cents extra for postage.
More or Less.—Send us whatever sum you
can afford the cause, from ten cents to ten dollars
or more, and we will return its value in the
Gospel of Health.
Clubs.—Is there one earnest Health Re
former in tliis country who cannot send us a
club of subscribers ?
To Editors.—Country papers and magazines
which give the Gospel of Heat.th a proper
notice, or publish its table of contents, will be
entitled to an exchange.
As we Expected.—Many agents who had
sent in clubs to the Herald before they saw the
Prospectus for the Gospel, write us that the
clubs for another year will be sent to the Gospel,
and not to the Herald. Of course.
Our Address.—Recollect that subscriptions
for the Gospel of Health, and all communica
tions relative to it, and all orders for books, or
goods of any kind, to insure prompt attention,
should be addressed, “ R. T. Trail & Co., No. 97
Sixth Avenue, New York.”
Advertising Rates.—Four lines, or less, $1;
each additional line, 25 cents. One column,
$25 ; one page, $40. When advertisements of
half a column, or more, are continued without
change for three or more months, a reduction of
twenty per cent, will be made.
Anonymous.—We can pay no attention to
anonymous communications. We do not desire
to publish names without permission, but, as
an evidence of good faith, and for many other
reasons which could be named, we must have
the name of the writer, or the article must go
into our waste basket.
Specimen Numbers.—Many persons write
Gqspel vs. Herald.—Many of the subscribers
us to send them specimen numbers, and forget
to enclose the requisite dimes. Please read our to the Herald of Health have requested us to
transfer their subscriptions to the Gospel of
Prospectus more carefully.
Health. This is impossible. We have nothing
Canvassers.—We offer special terms and further to do with the Herald, except to run
extraordinary inducements to persons who will “ opposition to imposition.” Those who wish
make it a business to canvass for subscribers. for the Gospel had better subscribe for it.
Send stamps for terms and circulars.
How to Canvass.—The best way to obtain
Our Illustrations.—These will largely in subscribers is, to leave specimen numbers of the
crease our expenses, but we shall confidently Gospel of Health at each of the dwelling
rely on the efforts of our friends to extend our houses, stores, and workshops, in your neighbor
circulation, so that we may continually improve hood for examination. In a few days thereafter
call for them and solicit subscriptions. In this
in this attractive feature.
manner a hundred numbers will enable an agent
Certificates of Agency.—We will send to to canvass a large territory.
any person, on receipt of request and satisfactory
Geometrical Proposition.—We have a plan
references, certificates of agency, authorizing
them to receive money on our account, for for annihilating the drug-medical system in less
than ten years. It is this : Let each subscriber
subscriptions to the Gospel of Health.
send us one new name in 1867 ; each subscriber
The Present Number.—Can our friends do in 1867 send us a new name for 1868, and so
themselves, their neighbors, us, and everybody on to the end of the chapter. A little arithme
else, a greater good, at a small expense, than tic will demonstrate not only its practicability,
by circulating a few copies of the present num but its infallibility. We will wager all Hygeiber among their neighbors, and asking them to ana on the result.
read carefully.
Non-Subscribers.—Pursuant to a request in
Pay Your Own Postage.—We receive our Prospectus, we have received several thou
several letters a day requesting information on sands of names, to many of whom we have sent
a variety of subjects which it is of no earthly ad onr first number. But we learn that, in a few
vantage to us to give, but which may be of instances, those who forwarded the names have
importance to the writer, min ms the stamp for neglected to subscribe for the Gospel, or to
return postage. A three-cent stamp is a small solicit subscriptions, on the supposition that all
matter per se, but several thousands of such names sent to us, as well as all persons sending
letters in a year would impose on us an un them, would receive the Gospel gratuitously.
reasonable tax for the privilege of working for This is a mistake. The only way to be sure of
nothing.
the Gospel is to subscribe for it.
�93
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
WORKS BY DR. TRALL.
GRANITE STATE HEALTH INSTITUTION,
(Prepaid by Mail. )
HILL, N. H.
Hydropathic Encyclopaedia......................................... $4 50
Hydropathic Cook Book............................................. 1 50
Hygienic Hand Book...................... ,.......................... 2 00
Diptheria. .................................................................... 1 60
Sexual Physiology........................................................ 2 00
Sexual Pathology......................................................... 2 00
Home Treatment for Sex-Abuses............................... 50
Uterine Dis. and Displacements................................. 3 50
...................
“
Colored Plates . ... 6 00
Water-Cure for the Million .. ..................................
35
Diseases of the Throat and Lungs ............................ 25
>^rize Essay on Tobacco.............................................. 20
Prize Essay on Temperance.....................
20
The Alcoholic Controversy......................................... 50
The True Temperance Platform....... . .......................
60
Alcoholic Medication ................................................
30
Problems of Medical Science.................................... 20
Principles of Hygeio-Therapy....................................
20
The True Healing Art.................................................
35
Health and Diseases of Woman................................
20
Lecture on Drug Medication........ ..............................
20
Lecture on Nervous Debility.....................................
20
The Complete Gymnasium ....................................... 2 00
Anat. and Phys. Plates................................................. 20 00
Phys, and Path. Charts...............................
12 00
WORKS EDITED BY DR. TRALL.
Fruitsand Farinacea................................................... $2 00
Accidents and Emergencies........................................
30
Hydropathy for the People......................................... 1 50
Theory of Population.................................................. 40
Hydropathic Review ................................................... 3 00
Milk Trade in New York.............................................
50
Mysteries of Nature..................................................... 2 00
Dress Reform (Mrs. Harman)...................................... 20
WORKS IN PREPARATION BY DR. TRALL.
Principles of Hygienic Medication.......................... $12 00
Physiology and Hygiene for Schools......................... 2 00
Philosophy of Human Nature.................................... 3 00
VALUABLE WORKS FOR SALE.
Science of Human Life.................................................$3
Woman and her Era.............................................
4
The Empire of the Mother.........................................
The Unwelcome Child.................................................
Fowler’s Phrenology.. ...........................
1
50
00
80
75
75
COLLEGE TEXT-BOOKS.
(By Express.)
Gray’s Anatomy............................................................ 87 00
Dalton’s Physiology...................................................... 5 25
Youman’s Chemistry................................................... 2 00
Bedford’s Obstetrics..................................................... 5 50
Erichsen’s Surgery..................................................... 6 50
Dunglison’s Med. Dictionary. .................................. 6 75
Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary.................... --....12 00
This institution is located in one of the finest regions
of the “Old Granite State,” on the direct route from
Boston to the White Mountains. The cars bring patients
within a few rods of its door.
The establishment is one of the oldest in the country,
and its physician is one of the most experienced in the
treatment of all the varied forms of chronic disease,
whether of the male or female organization.
For further particulars, please inclose stamp for circu
lar, and address
W. T. VAIL, M. D.,
Hill, N. H.
G. H. SALISBURY,
Manufacturer of All Kinds of Crackers
of
A Superior Quality,
436 Greenwich Street, New York.
GRAHAM
CRACKERS
Prepared on strictly Hygienic principles, according to
directions of R. T Trall, M. D., constantly
on hand.
All orders filled at‘shortest notice.
PHILADELPHIA HYGIENIC INSTITUTE.
Dr. WILSON’S Establishment is now located at 1109
Girard Street, above Chestnut. This Institution is very
favorably located. The situation is central, pleasant, and
healthy. The rooms are spacious, well ventilated and
attractively furnished. Patients receive the personal at
tention of the doctor and wife, and may rely on skillful,
careful, and attentive treatment. We use no drug medi
cation. Our table is supplied with a variety of well cooked
food. Persons visiting the city can be accommodated with
rooms and board. Address
R. WILSON, M. D.,
1109 Girard Street,
PHIL A DELPHIA.
FAMILY PANGYMNASTIKON.
An improved and more convenient apparatus, which
answers all the indications, and costs but one-third as
much as that which has hitherto been sold under this
title, has just been invented. It is simple and durable,
and an admirable contrivance for enabling invalids to
exercise in their own rooms. Moreover, it can be carried
in one corner of a carpet-bag. Price, $5. Send orders
to R. T. Trail & Co.
Dr. N. R. ADAMS,
Physician, and Surgeon,
SYRINGES.
Bridgeport, Gloucester Co.,
(By Mail Prepaid.)
Mattson’s Improved....................................... • - ....... $3 00
NEW JERSEY.
HAND
MILLS.
(By Express.)
Large Size.................................................................
pm all Size........................................................................................
G. W. BACON & CO.,
American Booksellers and Publishers,
$8 00
0®
NO.
48 paternoster row,
LONDON, ENGLAND.
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
94
N. D. THOMPSON, M. D.,
Hygienic Physician.
Swedish Movements for Diseases of long standing.
No. 149 West Sixteenth Stbeet, New York.
A few invalids can find a pleasant home, with skillful
physicians, and favorable surroundings for restoring to
health. Hygienic boarding.
HIGHLAND WATER-CURE.
H. P. Burdick, M. D., and
Mrs. Mart Bryant Burdick, M. D.,
Physicians.
Send for circulars. Address
Alfred, Alleghany Co., N. Y.
J.
F. SANBORN, M. D.,
HYGIENIC PHYSICIAN AND DENTIST,
E. YODER, M. D„
HYGIENIC
PHYSICIAN.
Residence and Office,
Third Street, between Landis Avenue and Elmer Street,
Vinela/nd, N. J.
fi®* All diseases successfully treated without the use of
drugs.
Z. P. GLASS, M. D.,
HYGIENIST.
Address letters and telegrams to Box 1,094, Quincy, IU.
Patients at a distance visited promptly.
Mrs. M. E. COX, M. D.,
HYGIENIC
PHYSICIAN
AND LECTURER,
CHESTER, N. H.,
Desires to enter into communication with Health and
Dress Reformers who would like lectures in their lo
calities.
Mrs. Cox, with competent assistants,will open, for the
summer the “Old Homestead,” lor the reception of a
few patients who are willing to live on strictly Hygienic
diet. Invalids will not find magnificent accommodations,
but good conditions of health. We offer them careful
and judicious attention, and proper diet, with the purest
air in New England. Address
B. T. COX,
Chester, N. H.
ECONOMY IS WISE—HEALTH IS WEALTH.
THE HYGIENIC COOK-BOOK;
OR, HOW TO COOK
Without the use of salt, butter, lard, or condiments.
A book for those who eat to live. Eighty pages. Forty
kinds of bread, cakes, pies, puddings, etc., palatable,
nutritious, and healthful. How to prevent dyspepsia,
causes of summer complaints, etc.
“Just what is wanted in every family.”—E. Yoder,
M. D.
“Will save more than the cost in one day.”—Every
body.
Price by mail, 20 cents ; $1 75 per dozen.
Mbs. M. E. COX, M. D.,
Chester, N. H.
M. AUGUSTA FAIRCHILD, M. D„
HYGIENIC PHYSICIAN,
HANNIBAL, Mo.
PREMIUM DRESS PATTERNS.
Patterns of the Premium Dress for Women will be
sent by mail on receipt of one dollar. Address, Ellen
Beard Harman, M. D., care of R. T. Trail & Co., 97 Sixth
avenue, New York.
PREMIUM DRESS PHOTOGRAPHS.
Photographs of the author of the Premium Dress for
Women, in costume, will be sent by mail on receipt of
25 oents and postage stamps. Send orders to R. T.
Trail & Co.
TABOR, FREMONT CO., IOWA.
All diseases successfully treated with Electricity, Mag
netism, Bathing. Gymnastics, Movement-cure, and other
Hygienic agencies. Positively no drugs given.
WATERS’
SQUARE AND UPRIGHT PIANOS, MELODEONS
AND
CABINET ORGANS, .
The Best Manufactured.
TO LET, and rent allowed, if purchased. Monthly pay*
ments received for the same. Second hand Pianos
at bargains, from $60 to $225. Old Pianos taken
in exchange. liberal discount to teachers
and clergymen. Cash paid for sec ndhand Pianos. Pianos tuned and re
paired. New 7 octave Pianos for
$275 and upward.
Warerooms, 481 Broadway, New York.
HORACE WATERS.
HYGIENIC HOME,
GENEVA, KANE COUNTY, ILL.,
By John B. Gully, M. D.,
Thirty-five miles from Chicago, on the Chicago and
Fulton Air Line Railroad.
APPARATUS FOR LECTURERS.
For $100 we will furnish the following:
Dr. Trail’s Anatomical and Physiological Plates, six in
number; a painting of Powers’ Greek Slave; a painting,
taken from life, of the figure of a woman deformed by
tight lacing, to contrast with the preceding ; paintings of
the male and the female skeletons; paintings represent
ing the vital organs in their normal position, and as de
formed and displaced by fashionable dress; a painting
representing the different kinds of uterine displacements;
and a painting representing the fcetus in various stages
of development. The paintings are all on light canvas,
and with the plates, can be carried conveniently in a
small trunk.
B. T. TRALL & CO.
IMPROVED RUPTURE TRUSS.
We are prepared to supply persons afflicted with Rup
ture or Hernia with a new and improved article, which the
patient can adjust for himself. The Pad-spring is so
arranged as to make upward and inward pressure, thereby
avoiding all injury to the spermatic cord.
Price, only $5.
In ordering a Truss from a distance, send a mea
sure round the body—take two inches below the hip
bone.
R. T. TRALL & CO.
HOUSES TO RENT IN HYGEIANA.
Several persons have proposed to erect a score or two
of nice cottage houses in Hygeiana, early in the season,
and rent them to parties who will furnish good refer
ences as to ability and character for the term of five
years for $50 per year each, payable in advance. If
the parties renting will bind themselves to make cer
tain improvements in fruit trees, vines, etc , which will
be named from time to time, at their expense, they can
have all of the proceeds of the same, and their rent re
paid at the end of fitje years, and have an equal interest
in what the places will sell for ; and it shall be at their
option whether to buy or sell one half interest in the
same.
For further information, address
R. T. TRALL & CO.,
No. 97 Sixth Avenue, New Yqrki
�THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
95
NEW ILLUSTRA.TED
PHYSIOGNOMY; or, ‘SIGNS OF CHARACTER,”
As manifested in Temperament and External Forms,
AND ESPECIALLY IN THE
cc ZEi TT TvT -A- TSJ"
F
C E
DIVINE.”
Large 12mo, 768 pages. Price $5. With more than 1,000 Engravings.
Orders reoeived by R. T. TRALL & CO., No. 97 Sixth avenue, New York.
A SPECIAL REQUEST.
THE CHRISTIAN HERALD,
AU persons who see this advertisement, wiU greatly
oblige us, and probably benefit others, by sending us the
names and post office address of aU invalids in their
vicinity; also of aU friends of Hygeio-Therapy, or
Health Reform • and also of aH who are or have been
subscribers to the “Water-Cure Journal,” “Hygienic
Teacher,” “Herald of Health,” “Water-Cure World,”
“Western Water-Cure Journal,” “Health Journal for
the People,” “Laws of Life,” “HaU’s Journal of
Health,” or the “ Phrenological Journal.”
Devoted to the advocacy of Primitive Christianity, in
Theory’ and Practice, containing twenty-four double
column pages to each number. It acknowledges the
authority of no Creed but the Bible. TermB, $2 per
year ; one number, P2 cents. New vol. begins March,
’66. Address,
J. W. KARR, Publisher.
Eureka, Ill.
• s. H. HUNT, M.D., Hygienic Physician,
r*eoria, Illinois.
CaUs from a distance promptly attended to, either in
person or by letter.
A SEMI-MONTHLY PERIODICAL,
SPECIAL NOTICE.
All communications for R. T.Trall, as weU as for R. T.
Trail & Co., should be addressed to No. 97 Sixth avenue,
New York. Wherever Dr. Trail maybe, his letters will
be forwarded to him, if directed as above.
�96
THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.
BLOOMINGTON
NURSERY.
HYGEIANA AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.
Fifteenth year, Eight large Green-houses, 275 acres
To any person who will establish an Agricultural
Fruit, Ornamental, and Nursery stock—a very large and
School on our domain, we will donate fifty acres of land,
complete assortment, including
with the proviso that the grantee shall purchase as much
500,000 APPLE, 1 to 4 year, $50 to $140 per 1,000.
more, and devote the whole one hundred acres to the
150,000 PEAR, standard grafts, 1,000, $120.
purposes of an Agricultural College. All the emolu
20,000 HARDY CHERRY; also Plum and Peach.
C00,000 GRAPE, on over 25 acres of vines; best leading ments shall be the proprietors. We have no manner of
sorts, as Adirondae, Concord, Catawba, Clinton, Delaware, doubt that this enterprise can easily be made very profit
Diana, Hartford, Ives, Iona, Rogers’ Hybrids, 17 Nos., of able as well as very useful. It can be started with a
small capital. Address
which No. 4 by the 1,000.
R. T. TRALL, M. D.
30,000 each, CURRANT and DOOLITTLE RASP
BERRY.
100,000 STRAWBERRY, over 40 sorts.
500,000 APPLE STOCKS, 1 and 2 year.
GARDENER WANTED.
500,000 APPLE ROOT-GRAFTS, in winter, 10,000, $100.
1,000,000 OSAGE ORANGE, first class, 1,000, $3; 100,000.
A person who thoroughly understands “ Truck Gard
$250.
ening ’’ may find steady employment and fair wages at
2,000 ALTHEA, named double, two feet, 100, $12.
20,000 ROSES, aB classes.
“ Eastern Hygeian Home,” Florence, N. J., after the first
of April next. Address
5,000 PEONIES, etc.
Send two red stamps for wholesale and retail catalogues.
R. T. TRALL, M. D.
F. K. PHCENIX,
Bloomington, McLean Co., Hl.
PRINCIPLES OF HYGIENIC MEDICATION.
By R. T. TRALL, M. D.
Having at length finished all of the books on our desk
catalogue preceding the large work, we are now engaged,
as busily as half a dozen other avocations will permit, in
preparing this for the printer. The retail price cannot be
less than $12. But those who have sent us $6 will have
the work at that price, whatever may be the actual coBt
of publication. We cannot, however, accept any more
advance subscriptions at that rate. The price to the
trade will probably be $8, and all who send us this
amount between this time and the announcement of its
publication day. will receive the work. Many corres
pondents have written us to inquire when it will be pub
lished. But this question, for reasons which will be
obvious on a moment’s reflection, we cannot with pro
priety answer. We can only say that we shall do it as fast
as it can be well done, and no faster. It will be pub
lished in three volumes of 750 pages each, and will be a
complete library of Hygeio-Therapy. Send orders to R.
T. Trail A Co.
HOW TO GET GOOD BY DOING GOOD.
The friends of Health Reform generally, and the prac
titioners of our system especially, who desire to make
the Hygienic System or their business known in their
neighborhoods, cannot do better than distribute (gratui
tously if need be) a few specimen numbers of the pre
sent issue among the people. It will pay, For this pur
pose we will furnish them at something less than actual
cost, say $12 for one hundred copies, and $100 for one
thousand.
BACK NUMBERS OF THE GOSPEL.
We have a few hundred complete sets of the Gospel
of Health (from July to December, inclusive), and
several thousands of the July number, which we will sell
at one-half the cost of publication—that is, $3 50 per
hundred, and $25 per thousand. We will furnish them
in full sets, or such numbers as may be preferred.
Wherever they have been distributed, we have heard a
good account from them ; and if the friends of Health
Reform desire to bring the subject under the notice of
their neighbors, they can have an opportunity to do
much good at little expense.
B. T. TRALL A CO.
HYGIENIC FARMER WANTED.
We wish to employ a Farmer, who is a strict Vegeta
rian, and who understands fruit culture in all its branches.
He must be well acquainted with grape-culture, especially
of the Delaware and Concord varieties. Address
R. T. TRALL A CO.,
No. 97 Sixth avenue, New York.
HEALTH CONVENTION.
The Fourth Annual Session of the World’s Health Asso
ciation will be held in Chillicothe, Ohio, on the second
Wednesday in June, 1867. We hope to see the friends of
Health Reform present in large numbers,
R. T. TRALL, M. D., President.
ELLEN BEARD HARMAN, M. D., Secretary.
HYGEIANA NO. 1.
A pamphlet, entitled as above, has been published, de
scribing the tract of land in Southern Ohio which we have
purchased for founding aVegetarian Colony, and explain
ing the plan of organization, etc. Price 15 cents; ten
copies for one dollar. Send orders to
R. T. TRALL A CO.,
No. 97 Sixth avenue, New York.
FRUIT FARMS FOR SALE.
We offer to sell ten thousand acres of land in Franklin,
Ross county, Ohio, in building lots, and in farms of ten
acres. The price is $200 for each farm of ten acres, with
out regard to location, and $200 for each building lot,
without regard to size. We will sell as many building
lots or farms as above, to one person, as he or she wishes
to purchase, subject, in all cases, to the conditions men
tioned in Hygeiana No. *1. To unmarried women we will
sell building lots or ten-acre farms at $100 each.
R. T. TRALL, M. D.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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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>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The Gospel of Health and Journal of the True Healing Art. Vol. II. No. 8. February 1867
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: New York
Collation: [49]-96 p. ; 24 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed in double columns. Contents: What is temperance? -- Women's rights question --Vegetarian festival in England -- A 'strong-minded' woman -- Suffrage for women - Importance of proper food -- Reasonably respectable grog shops.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
[R.T. Trall]
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[1867]
Identifier
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G5395
Creator
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[R.T. Trall]
Subject
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Health
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<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 (The Gospel of Health and Journal of the True Healing Art. Vol. II. No. 8. February 1867), 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>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Health
Temperance
Women's Rights
-
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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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The extinction of war, poverty, and infectious diseases: containing essays on Home rule and federation; Can war be suppressed?; State remedies for poverty; and The extinction of infectious diseases by a Doctor of Medicine [George R. Drysdale].
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Drysdale, George
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 157 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Printed by A. Bonner, Chancery Lane, E.C. Sold by R. Forder, Stonecutter St. E.C.
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Geo. Standring
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1904
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G4999
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Social problems
Health
Poverty
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 (The extinction of war, poverty, and infectious diseases: containing essays on Home rule and federation; Can war be suppressed?; State remedies for poverty; and The extinction of infectious diseases by a Doctor of Medicine [George R. Drysdale].), 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
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Text
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English
Home Rule
Home Rule-Ireland
Infectious Diseases
Malthusianism
Poverty
War
War;Poverty
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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
PAPERS FOR THE PEOPLE, No. 8.
THE TRUTH ABOUT
VACCINATION.
BY
JOHN M. ROBERTSON.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
1—“THE P1UEST AND THE CHILD.”
2—“THE PEOPLE AND THETR LEADERS.”
3—“GODISM.”
4—“THE BLOOD TAX.”
5—“ SAVING AND WASTE.”
6—“ HOME RULE AND RULE OF THUMB.”
7—“THE VOTE FOR WOMEN.”
8—“THE TRUTH ABOUT VACCINATION.”
9—“WHAT HAS CHRISTIANITY DONE.”
in March.
Ready
*
----------------------
PRICE ONE PENNY.
------ —------BRADFORD : TRUTH SEEKER Co., 36, VILLIERS STREET.
LONDON - R. FORDER, 28, STONECUTTER STREET.
LONDON: A. & H. BRADLAUGH BONNER, 1 & 2, TOOK’S
COURT, CURSITOR STREET.
MANCHESTER : JOHN HEYWOOD, DEANSGATE. .
This series of Pamphlets has already been boycotted
by a large number of News-agents. The Publishers wish
it to be distinctly understood that any News-agent can
get them to order. Customers please take no such
excuses as out of print or not obtainable.
Bishopsgat® Irnstimtad
�BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE
REFERENCE LIBRARY
Mo»
Classification ...............
THE
TRUTH ABOUT VACCINATION.
I.
T
he above title is that given by Dr. Ernest Hart, Editor of the
British Medical Journal, to a pamphlet first published in 1880.
It is an out-and-out defence of vaccination as by law established.
I read it with great care, soon after its publication, in the hope of
finding the value of vaccination proved by it, and it had the effect of
converting me to a decided disbelief in the general power of vaccination
to prevent smallpox. It may be well to explain the circumstances.
I was a journalist, and I had had occasion to write on the case of a man
who refused to have his child vaccinated, giving as his reason the fact that
a previous child had been killed by disease set up through vaccination. He
produced medical evidence for his statement, yet the magistrate, without
disputing the evidence, fined him for his refusal to risk the life of the
second child in the same way. The magistrate said the law gave him
no choice.
This struck me as a monstrous tyranny, which could never
have been contemplated by the parliaments which made vaccination
compulsory. I myself then confidently believed in vaccination ; and I
remarked, in discussing the point, that were an epidemic of smallpox to
occur near me, I should get re-vaccinated, taking what precautions I
could against “diseased” lymph. To my surprise, my editor objected
to any comment on the case I have mentioned, urging that we ought to
do nothing to bring vaccination into discredit.
This, to me, unsatisfactory position set me upon fully investigating
the subject, and I spent many weeks upon it, reading all the literature
I could obtain on both sides. Some of the attacks on vaccination, in
particular the pamphlet by Mr. P. A. Taylor, struck me as extremely
weighty. But, as I have said, it was the zealous defence of vaccination
by Dr. Ernest Hart that convinced me that his side was in the wrong.
In an appendix to his pamphlet he gave the figures of the smallpox
cases and resulting deaths in the army and navy during a number of
years. As all the men in the army and navy are vaccinated on entering
the service, whether or not they were vaccinated before, we have in
their case one of the best available tests of the value of vaccination.
Yet not only had there been, on Dr. Hart’s own showing, a large number of
deaths from smallpox in the army and navy; but in the case of the
latter service it came out very clearly that its measure of freedom from
smallpox was due not to vaccination but to the sailors being usually out
of the reach of infection.
First, as to the simple fact of the failure of vaccination. In the
year 1860, as Dr. Hart shows in his appendix E, there were 2,749
deaths from smallpox in England and Wales. But of these only 638
occurred among adults of 20 years of age and upwards, being at the rate
of 59 deaths per million persons of that age. In the same year there
occurred in the home force of the British navy 84' cases of smallpox,
�3
with 12 deaths. But as the number of men and boys in the home force
was only 23,500, these 12 deaths represented a rate of 5T0 deaths per
10,000 of strength, that is, a death rate of over 500 per million. That
is to say, there was more than eight times as much disease and death, in
proportion to numbers, in the navy, where everybody was officially
vaccinated, as in the ordinary grown-up population on land, where a
number were unvaccinated. Of course the proportion was different in
different years ; and in some years there were no deaths from smallpox
in the navy, though in twenty years there was only one year without a
case of the disease; but in several years, as in 1860, the proportion of
deaths was.higher in the navy than in the general adult population.
And as showing in particular the futility of vaccination, we have
this fact. In the year 1864, with a home strength of only 19,630 men,
there were 199 cases of smallpox in the navy, with nine deaths, or at
the rate of 458 deaths per million persons. And on this year’s figures
Dr. Hart has the following note :—
“ This remarkable return, being so greatly heavier than any other year ” fwhich it
was not, as regards deaths] “ needs a word of explanation. No fewer than threequarters of the cases (151), and two-thirds of the deaths (6), were from infection at
Portsmouth, where the very large number of 228 deaths from smallpox occurred in
1864. Nor was this all. From infection traced to Portsmouth, the disease manifested
itself on board the Duncan, when on its voyage for the North American station ; 38
men were temporarily disabled by it, and one died.”
This note served to satisfy me, and will probably satisfy many
others, that Dr. Ernest Hart is not very well qualified to form a sound
opinion on a question of statistical evidence. Vaccination, in the terms
of the argument, is claimed to be a safeguard against smallpox infection.
Dr. Hart here admits, apparently without knowing it, that when
vaccinated and re-vaccinated sailors, living on normally healthy ships
of war, happen to meet with infection, they catch smallpox wholesale;
and that if the whole of the royal navy had been at Portsmouth, at the
same time, there would probably have been thousands of cases, and
hundreds of deaths. By offering such an “ explanation ” to save the
credit of vaccination, Dr. Hart showed that, in the case of ships that
do not touch at an infected port, and in which, accordingly, the men
could not catch smallpox if they wanted to, he would give the credit
of their immunity to vaccination. To any intelligent reader, these facts
will suffice to show that Dr. Hart’s defence of vaccination, at least, is
childishly fallacious. And the point is one which any intelligent person
can reason out for himself, as well as any doctor. It is purely a
question of figures and logic.
But further, if the figures given by Dr. Hart be accurate, vaccfnitself is an utter fallacy. The case of the navy is what is called, in
a phrase of Bacon, an experimentum crucis, it is a “ crucial test.” Every
man in the navy being vaccinated, we only need, in order to test the
value of vaccination, to bring a few crews within the range of infection:
when we then find them going down like ninepins—38 catching the
disease on one ship while at sea, from one original infection—-we have a
conclusive proof that vaccination does not prevent smallpox.
I wrote a letter pointing out ail this to my old friend Dr. Andrew
Wilson, the editor of Health ; but he, being a champion of vaccination,
declined to insert my communication. Other people, however, must
have shown Dr. Hart what a mess he had made, for in' the second
edition of his pamphlet the note which I have copied above was dropped,
�4
and there was inserted, in its place, one to the effect (I cannot now
procure that edition and am citing it from memory) that there was
supposed to be something wrong with the vaccinations in that particular
year or in the particular ships affected.
Now, I leave it to sensible and practical men to say what they
would have thought of this attempt to save the case if it had been made in
any other dispute. Would they not have said that it was an absurd
subterfuge? Would they not decide that Dr. Hart just caught at any
possible pretence to retrieve himself? If therS had been any doubt
about the vaccinations in question, why was it not heard of before the
second edition of the pamphlet ? It is ludicrously clear that the doubt
was invented only when the significance of the facts was seen. And
that Dr. Hart did not see it when he first published his pamphlet, is a
startling proof of the possibilities of incompetence in men who pretend
to special knowledge and special wisdom in these matters.
II.
One such refutation as the foregoing is logically as good as a
thousand. No statistics whatever can unsay what is proved by those
above cited from Dr. Hart. But let us give vaccination another chance,
and assume that in the year 1864 the 199 sailors who caught smallpox
had all, by a miraculous coincidence, been badly vaccinated. In that
case, we learn that when vaccination is performed even by surgeons in
the employment of the Crown, there is an enormous risk of its being so
badly done as to be of no value whatever. So that people are bullied
by law into submitting their children to an operation which not only
carries a risk of loathsome and fatal disease, but is very likely to be
otherwise badly performed. So be it.
But smallpox continued to occur in the navy after 1864 ; and I
learn from the work of. another champion of vaccination, the Vaccination
Vindicated of Dr. John C. McVail, of Kilmarnock (1887), that after the
law of 1871 (passed in the panic of a bad epidemic), vaccination was
much more carefully enforced. Let us then take the home navy figures
for 1871 and 1872. They are : for 1871, with a strength of 22,100
persons, 67 cases with four deaths, being at the rate of 181 deaths per
million living; for 1872, with a strength of 23,000 men, 62 cases, with
nine deaths, being at the rate of 391 deaths per million living. So that
after the most strenuous measures had been taken to perfect vaccination,
there were more deaths and hardly fewer smallpox cases them before.
After 1872, of course, there were very few cases, but that was clearly
not because of vaccination, but simply because the epidemic had run out.
There was in general no chance of infection. Even in 1871-72, by
simply keeping ships as much as possible away from infected ports, the
disease was kept under much better in the navy than in the general
population. But it is very plain from the above figures that if another
equally bad epidemic came round, there would be just as many cases
and deaths as before, unless some better preventive than vaccination be
found.
III.
The case for vaccination, then, breaks down on the official
statistics themselves. I have used no others. And if it be asked why the
case is not equally clear on the face of other statistics, the answer is this,
�5
that it is a very easy thing to “cook” statistics, by choosing those which
best suit you, and by grouping sets of years in particular ways. Thus
Dr. Hart takes the figures for the years from 1838 (an extremely bad
year) to 1842 (after which for four years the statistics are lacking), and
from 1847 to 1853, when compulsory vaccination was established; then
he takes all the years from 1854 to 1879, a much longer period, with a
number of good years in it : then he divides the total deaths in the two
periods by the number'of years in each, and shows that in the twelve
years 1838-42 and 1847-53 the rate of smallpox mortality was 420 per
million living, while in the twenty-six years 1854-1879 it was only
208’5 per million living. Even by Dr. Hart’s own account, vaccination
would only be a half cure ; but when we go into details we find that
in 1842, without compulsory vaccination, the deaths from smallpox were
only 168 per million living, while in 1871 they were 1,024, almost as
high a rate as that of 1838 ; and even in 1877 they were 175 per million.
Any unprejudiced person can see that it is all a matter of epidemics, and
that vaccination makes no general difference.
But doctors constantly tell you that in epidemics the proportion of
un-vaccinated cases and deaths is much greater than that of the vaccinated.
Observe, the original pretence of Jenner, on which he got his money
reward, was that no one would take smallpox after vaccination; and if
it be admitted that a number of vaccinated people can die of smallpox
the whole theory is put in hopeless doubt. But, passing over that, we
find that it is left to the doctors to decide whether or not the sick and
the dead had been vaccinated, and they often refuse to take the word either
of the patient or of his family. If they cannot see proper marks on a
corpse (through a smallpox eruption!) they will return it as unvaccinated.
What is the value of such evidence as this? For my own part, I believe
that many conscientious doctors get an erroneous idea as to vaccination
in general from the fact (as I believe it to be) that during the few weeks
of the vaccination fever itself patients are inapt to take smallpox. One
fever may in this way exclude another; hence a belief in the special
efficacy of re-vaccination during epidemics. But the naval statistics above
given suffice to show how brief is the protection in adult vaccination as
in that of infancy.
Let us ask, again, who are the unvaccinated? They may be classed
under three heads : (1) children of anti-vaccinators, (2) children who
were too sickly in infancy to stand even vaccination, (3) children of
vagrant parents, or street arabs, who escape the vaccination officer. If
then it can be shown that the children of anti-vaccinators suffer more from
smallpox than other people, there will so far be something of a case for
vaccination. But who has ever pretended to prove this? Who can
pretend to prove it? For many years there were very few anti-vaccinators,
but plenty of smallpox and of vaccinated people, and in those days the
officials said what they say now; if on the other hand the deaths of un
vaccinated persons, young and old, (they are mostly young) be mainly
those of people who had been very sickly in infancy, and of those whose
childhood was one of poverty and bad feeding, there would be nothing
strange in their succumbing rather easily to smallpox. But Dr. Me Vail
tells us there are very few children too sickly to be vaccinated, and he
tries to make out that there are few street arabs. Then, as he cannot
show that the unvaccinated are mostly children of anti-vaccinators, he
does but throw doubt, once more, on the official figures. In all likelihood
�6
many patients described by medical officials as unvaccinated were really
vaccinated.
So notorious is it, indeed, that vaccination does not prevent small
pox, that doctors constantly result to what J must call a very sorry
subterfuge, telling patients that the vaccination has prevented their dying
(though many vaccinated people die of smallpox, and many un vaccinated
patients recovery, or that at least it has prevented their being pitted.
A few years ago I met a hospital nurse who had been so persuaded She
happened to mention that, there being an epidemic at the time, all the
nurses in her hospital had just been vaccinated. “But” I remarked, “you
only entered a few months ago; were you not vaccinated on entering?”
“ Yes, ” she answered, “ but we were all re-vaccinated last week.” I
observed that the doctors did not seem to have much faith in their own
specific, and she assented, adding, “ I have now been vaccinated five
times.” I remarked, laughing, that she ought to be pretty safe. “ Oh,”
she answered, “ but I have had smallpox too !” That would be, I suggested,
before she had been vaccinated ? “ No,” was the answer, “it was after my
third vaccination ; but they told me that but for vaccination I should have
died or been very badly marked!” Thus do men defend error by untruth.
Her own experience as a nurse might have taught her that whether a
patient is pitted or not pitted is a matter either of the virulence of the
attack or of the nature of the treatment. With care, pitting can nearly
always be prevented, whether the cured patient be vaccinated or not.
At this moment, however, there are still a good many pock-pitted people,
though vaccinators tell you that you “ never see them now.” And when
it is admitted that a vaccinated and re-vaccinated man may die of small
pox, it is a little too impudently absurd to say that if he lives and is not
pitted, vaccination has been the cause.
IV.
*
If all this holds good, it may be asked, how is it that the great
majority of the medical profession continue to believe in vaccination?
This is a very important question, going to the heart of the matter, and
I will here answer it. The majority of doctors stand by vaccination,
either passively or actively, for one or more of three reasons :—(1) They
were taught to believe in vaccination as in other current medicine, and
they stand to what they were taught, the great majority never making any
independent investigation of the subject. (2) Even when a medical man
does investigate the subject, if he be young he knows he will be to a
large extent boycotted if he condemns vaccination ; and if he be elderly
his prejudices and his self-esteem are enlisted in favor of what he has
been doing for many years, making him loth to admit that he has all
along been under a gross delusion. (3) Vaccination is a considerable source
of easy income to the majority of medical men ; and among doctors as
among other men, a pecuniary interest sets men against even listening to
arguments which, if accepted, would involve a heavy loss. I may be told
that this last is an unworthy argument to use against an honorable pro
fession. But I am arguing in the case of doctors just as I would in the
case of any other body of men, lawyers, priests, soldiers, policemen, or
authors ; and, what is more, I am meeting professional vaccinators with a
kind of argument which many of them have used against anti-vaccinators.
I think as highly of the medical profession as most men; and I have the
highest esteem for many of its members, knowing as I do their devotion,
�7
their benevolence, and their public spirit. But the question is one of
averages and of average human nature. On the other hand, I find a
medical man, Dr. Howard Barrett, writing in a work on The Manage
ment of Infancy and Childhood in Health and Disease (p. 233) that
“from time to time ignorant people, from a love of notoriety or for their
own selfish ends, try and stir up the prejudices of the uneducated ” against
vaccination. Here is a man who earns money by vaccination, charging
low ends on all anti-vaccinators. Clearly then we are free to retort the
charge, as well as to deny his right to make it. Not one anti-vaccinator
in ten thousand can possibly make a farthing by his propaganda ; and the
rest risk money loss,' persecution, and boycotting by it. On the other
hand, I repeat, ninety-nine doctors out of a hundred know nothing of the
history of the theory and practice of vaccination ; nothing of the facts as
to the changes made in lymph; nothing but the myth about Jenner;
nothing of the statistics but what is officially served out to them. And
it is the strict truth that nearly all we know about the history of vaccination
is due to the anti-vaccinators. If any careful reader doubts this, let him
spend a few weeks in mastering the works of Dr. Creighton, Professor
Crookshank, and the late William White : then let him question all the
doctors he knows and see how much they know on the subject. How
should they be well informed on it ? They are mostly hard-worked men ;
and in their student days they were taught what passes for scientific
truth on the subject. The most thorough research in it has been made
within the last ten years, and the two standard scientific authorities on
the history and nature of vaccination are Creighton and Crookshank,
both of whom were originally orthodox, and both of whom were led by
their studies to give up their belief. And many other competent medical
men have at different times declared against vaccination.
In the face of these facts, it matters little whether the majority of
a Commission who set out on an inquiry with full faith in vaccination
end in the same faith. We are told that almost no physician who was
over forty when Harvey published his discovery of the circulation of the
blood could be got to believe in it. Conversion in these matters is a
question of time. But although nearly all the doctors twenty years ago
insisted that vaccination could not possibly convey other diseases, and
that “ sanitation ” was of no avail against smallpox, it is now proved past
all question that vaccination can and does convey other diseases ; and
many vaccinators now admit that sanitation counts for a very great deal
in checking smallpox epidemics. Year by year the superstition loses
hold. Men see that; other contagious diseases, against which there is no
vaccination (though on the current theory there ought to be), are being
kept in check by sanitation; and that the supposed special results of
vaccination are thus illusions. Were it not for the vested interests,
official and professional, the majority would have seen it ere now.
Nothing else could keep ordinarily intelligent men wedded to the principle
of compulsion when, if they really had faith in the nostrum insisted on,
they would feel that no compulsion is needed, since each man, in the terms
of the doctrine, can protect himself if he will. Compulsory vaccination
is at once an assertion and a denial that vaccination protects from small
pox. The theory is as contradictory as the practice.
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Title
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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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The truth about vaccination
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Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon) [1856-1933]
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An account of the resource
Place of publication: Bradford; London; Manchester
Collation: 7 p. ; 22 cm.
Series title: Papers for the people
Series number: No. 8
Notes: Stamp on p.[2]: Bishopsgate Institute. Reference Library, 17 NOV 1987. Written in reply to a pamphlet of the same title by Ernest Hart, editor of the British Medical Journal, first published in 1880. Publisher's advertisements on back page. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Truth Seeker Co.; R. Forder; A. & H. Bradlaugh Bonner; Joihn Heywood
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[1897]
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N563
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Vaccination
Health
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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 (The truth about vaccination), 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
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English
NSS
Smallpox
Vaccination
-
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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.
�102
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,
�104
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.”
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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.
>
/
/
/
/
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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THE DIETETIC REFORMER
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
�114
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
�116
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
�118
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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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (The Dietetic Reformer and Vegetarian Messenger. Vol. XXXVL, October, 1869), identified by Humanist Library and Archives, is free of known copyright restrictions.
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Text
G-E1TEKAL
AND
SPECIAL RULES
BOR THE
Conduct and Guidance of the Persons acting in the Management
OF THE
SEATON DELAVAL COAL MINE
OR
COLLIERY*'
i
1
BELONGING TO
MESSRS. LAMB,
BURDON & CO.,
AND OF ALL PERSONS EMPLOYED IN OR ABOUT THE SAME.
/
PRINTED BY M. & M. W. LAMBERT, GREY STRSET.
1861.
��GENERAL RULES.
To be observed in every Colliery or Coal Mine and Iron
stone Mine, by the Owners and Agents thereof, as
required by the 23rd & 24th Vic-, cap-151, sec-10-
1. —An adequate amount of ventilation shall be
constantly produced in all coal mines or collieries and
iron stone mines to dilute and render harmless noxious
gases to such an extent that the working places of the
pits, levels, and workings of every such colliery and
mine, and the travelling roads to and from such work
ing-places, shall, under ordinary circumstances, be in a
fit state for working and passing therein.
2. __ All entrances to any place not in actual course
of working and extension, and suspected to contain
dangerous gas of any kind, shall be properly fenced off
so as to prevent access thereto.
3. —Whenever safety lamps are required to be used,
they shall be first examined and securely locked by a
person or persons duly authorized for this purpose.
4. —Every shaft or pit which is out of use, or used
only as an air-pit, shall be securely fenced.
5. __ Every working and pumping pit or shaft shall
be properly fenced, when operations shall have ceased
or been suspended.
6. __ Every working and pumping pit or shaft where
the natural strata, under ordinary circumstances, are
not safe, shall be securely cased or fined, or otherwise
made secure.
�4
7. —Every working pit or shaft shall be provided
with some proper means of communicating distinct and
definite signals from the bottom of the shaft to the
surface, and from the surface to the bottom of the
shaft.
8.—AU underground self-acting and engine planes on
Which persons travel are to be provided with some
proper means of signalling between the stopping-places
and the ends of the planes, and with sufficient places
of refuge at the sides of such planes at intervals of not
more than twenty yards.
9. —A sufficient cover overhead shall be used when
lowering or raising persons in every working pit or shaft
where required by the inspectors.
10. —No single-linked chain shall be used for lower
ing or raising persons in any working pit or shaft,
except the short coupling chain attached to the cage
or load.
11. —Flanges or horns of sufficient length or diame
ter shall be attached to the drum of every machine
used for lowering or raising persons.
12. — A proper indicator to show the position of
the load in the pit or shaft, and also an adequate break,
shall be attached to every machine, worked by steam
or water power, used for lowering or raising persons.
13. —Every steam boiler shall be provided with a
proper steam guage, water guage, and safety valve.
14. —The fly wheel of every engine shall be securely
fenced.
15. —Sufficient bore holes shall be kept in advance
and, if necessary, on both sides to prevent inundation,
in every working approaching a place likely to contain
a dangerous accumulation of water.
�SPECIAL
RULES.
1, In every part of the said Colliery, where the
pillar working or broken is in operation, Stations will
be fixed upon by the Viewer, where each Workman’s
Safety Lamp will be examined and securely locked.
From those stations no Workman is to take a Safety
Lamp for use in the pillar working or broken, without
its having been examined and securely locked by the
Overman, Inspector, or Deputy.
The Overman and Inspectors to have full power to
direct the Workmen how to use their Safety Lamps
during the time of working; and it is particularly en
joined that every Workman strictly attend to such
directions. No lamp to be used on which there is not
a tin shield. None but the Overman, or similar Officer
in authority, to be allowed to carry a lamp key.
2. Should any accident happen to a Lamp whilst in
use, by which the oil is spilt upon the gauze, or it be
in any other way rendered unsafe, the light to be im
mediately extinguished by drawing the wick down
within the tube with the pricker; such Lamp to be
directly taken out to the station where the Lamps are
examined, and not to be again used until after having
been properly examined by the Overman, or other re
sponsible person, on the in-bye side of which station
towards the broken workings, no candles are to be
taken.
�6
3. Should any Workman using a Safety Lamp,
detect, by the usual indications, the appearance or
presence of fire-damp, he is first to pull down the wick
with the pricker, as before-mentioned, and then to re
treat to the Lamp Station and give information of the
same to the nearest responsible person, it being strictly
forbidden for any Workman to continue to work in a
place where such indication has been observed by him;
and should the flame continue in the interior of the
Lamp after the wick has been drawn down, the Lamp
then to be cautiously removed, and no attempt what
ever to extinguish the flame by any other means to be
adopted by the Workman.
4. Every Hewer, Putter, or other person, to whom
a Safety Lamp is intrusted, is hereby strictly prohibited
from interfering in any way whatever with the Lamp,
beyond the necessary trimming of the wick with the
pricker. The Lamp in no case to be hung upon the
row of props next the goaf or old work, and not to be
nearer the swing of the gear, on any occasion, than two
feet.
5. Should any Hewer, Putter, or any other person
whatever, in charge of a Safety Lamp, in any case lose
his light, he is to take it himself to the station where
the Lamps are examined, to be relighted, examined,
and locked by the Overman, or some other responsible
person, before being again used.
6. It is expressly directed that any person witnessing
any improper treatment of the Safety Lamps by any
one, shall give immediate information to the Overman
in charge of the Pit, so that a recurrence of such con
duct may be prevented, by the offending party being
brought to justice.
7. Any person found smoking tobacco in any part
of the said colliery where the Safety Lamp is used, or
a tobacco pipe found in their possession, will be liable
to be taken before a Magistrate. No matches, under
any pretence whatever, to be taken down the pit.
�8. No Putter, Pony-driver, Helper-up, or other per
son, is, under any pretext, to carry a Lamp during his
work, except in special cases, where the parties have
leave to do so from the Viewer. Lamps will be hung
along the going-roads, to afford sufficient light for the
performance of the work.
9. Every person using a Safety Lamp to receive the
bottom part of the same himself from the hands of the
Lamp Keeper then in the pit. The gauze to be taken
home at the end of each shift, by the person using it,
for the puspose of having it properly cleaned before
being again used,/>[
10. Any person acting contrary to the above in
structions will be liable to be taken before a Magis
trate, in order that the lives of the Workmen employed
therein may be duly protected. And any person in
forming against any offending party or parties will, in
every case, be handsomly rewarded. . No riding on
loaded Cages except under special arrangement. Sig
nals, see Act of Parliament.
11. The Hewer that keeps his Safety Lamp in the
best order for a quarter of a year, will be entitled to a
premium of 5s.; and for the second best 2s. 6d. The
Putter to be entitled to 2s. 6d. for the same length of
time.
�OFFICERS’ DUTIES.
OVERMEN.
The Fore Overman to give all necessary instructions
to the Men and Boys in the pit respecting their work,
and to see daily that due respect is paid by the same to
the Rules and Regulations in force upon the colliery.
To visit every working place at least once a day, com
mencing at the starting of the pit. To examine daily
all the various air currents of the colliery, also all stop
pings and air brattices connected with the same; and
should any deficiency in the main or separate air cur
rents at any time be observed, notice of such deficiency
to be immediately given to the Resident Viewer. Also,
in the event of any sudden discharge, accumulation, or
indication of inflammable gas in any part of the work
ings, the same to be immediately reported to him, such
workings to cease working until the said gas be removed.
The Overman in the meantime, to the best of his
judgment, to adopt such means as will effect the same.
To examine carefiilly each day, with the Safety Lamp,
the edge of all the goaves in the broken workings, and
to see that due attention is paid to the Lamps by the
Men whilst at work, giving them at all times suitable
directions respecting them, according to the situation in
which they are placed.
To see that a sufficient quantity of timber, of all re
quisite sizes, is daily supplied to the workings, such being
the earnest wish of the Owners, so that every possible
�9
protection may be afforded to the lives of their Work
men, it being at the same time their particular desire
that a proper care of all materials should be taken, and
none whatever, on any occasion, wilfully wasted.
To see that all tramways and rolleyways are kept in
a safe and working state throughout the colliery.
The Safety Lamp to be used whilst examining all
workings; also any old or suspended workings.
To examine first thing every morning the state of the
barometer, it being provided for the purpose of shewing
when the presence of inflammable gas may, more or
less, be expected, and particularly at the edge of the
goaves in the broken workings.
To see the Resident Viewer every night after the pit
has ceased work, and report to him the general state of
the workings of the colliery and to receive directions
respecting the same.
BACK OVERMAN.
The Back Overman to have full charge of the pit in
the absence of the Fore Overman, exercising in every
thing the same authority and attention as the Fore
Overman whilst in the pit.
To report to the Fore Overman every night the state
of the pit, and what may have transpired through the
day, whether of a usual or unusual nature. Not to leave
the pit at night till all the day-shift men and Lads have
ridden, and to examine the main air currents and the
barometer last thing every night before leaving th e pit.
DEPUTIES.
The Deputies to go down the pit every morning two
hours before the Men, for the purpose of examining the
state of the workings previous to the Men going in.
To examine the state of the barometer, first thing, at
the bottom of the shaft. The face of every working
�10
place to be carefully examined, and on every occasion
with the Safety Lamp.
To have full charge of the workings; also control
over the Men and Lads in their respective districts, in
the absence of the Overman. At all times to report to
the Overman in the pit any deficiency that may be de
tected in the ventilation, also all appearances of danger
from any other cause. To examine frequently through
the day the condition of the edge of the goaves in the
working juds, and should inflammable gas at any time
be observed, the working of the jud to be immediately
stopped until the gas has been cleared away—giving
notice of such immediately to the Overman in the pit.
To put in, on all occasions, a sufficient quantity of tim
ber in every working place, putting in the same in the
best possible manner, for affording the greatest Safety
to the Workmen therein employed. The Safety Lamps
always to be used whilst drawing props, both in the
whole and in the broken workings. The Fore-shift
Deputies to see the Fore Overman the last thing every
night, and the Back-shift Deputies to see him every
morning in the pit, both for the purpose of receiving
instructions relative to the workings of their various
districts.
MASTER WASTEMEN.
The Master Wasteman to go down the pit every
morning two hours before the Hewers. To examine
first thing the state of the barometer, and next the prin
cipal intake air currents. To examine in the course of
the day all the various return air currents.
To see that all the working returns are kept properly
open and of a sufficient size, none of which is to be
under 60 feet area where the whole pit’s air is in a
single current, 70 feet area for two, and 80 feet where
the current has three distinct air courses. The Safety
Lamps, on all occasions, to be used in the waste, all of
which must be examined by the Master Wasteman
before being used.
�11
All doors separating the fresh and return air current,
to be fit up with proper locks, which must be kept con
stantly locked, and only opened by persons authorised
by the “Resident Viewer. To see that proper attention
is paid to the furnaces or steam jets. To report daily
to the Resident Viewer the general state of the waste,
also to give to the Overmen any information they may
at any time require respecting the same. The Over
men and the Deputies to travel with the Master Wasteman the whole of the air courses, at least once every
three months, in order to make themselves thoroughly
acquainted with the same.
LAMP KEEPERS.
The Lamp Keepers to keep in a clean and orderly
manner the bottom part of each man’s Safety Lamp,
and to supply the same daily with a sufficient quantity
of oil and wick. To keep a correct account of who
receives the Lamps, and to report to the Overman every
man who in any way injures his Lamp; also, those
who return their Lamps by any other person to the
Lamp Cabin after being done with the same. To see
that no oil, wick, or anything connected with the Lamp
is wasted. To allow no Lamp bottom to go out for use
that is the least out of repair. Any man persisting to
take it, to report him immediately to the Overman in
the pit.
ONSETTERS.
The Onsetters to allow no person to ride, during
work hours, without having sent to bank the token, as
a signal for such, on the previous cage. Not to allow
more than 8 men, or 6 men and 4 lads, to ride at one
time, and on every occasion the tubs to be taken out of
the cage. To allow every person sufficient time for
getting safely into the cage, before rapping away. To
have a stated number of raps, which must be three
when Men are going to ride. Two Onsetters to remain
at the bottom of the pit after the pit has done work, to
�12
see that all the Men and Lads are safely sent away. To
woik the rapper themselves, and on no account to allow
any other person to touch it. To assist in repaiiing the
shaft, taking charge of the rapper on every occasion—
to pay the same every possible care and attention.
Having a clear and distinct understanding with the
Men employed in the shaft and the Banksman, in order
that accidents may be avoided.
BANKSMEN.
A Banksman to attend at the top of the pit, every
morning, to see that the men and lads are sent safely
down the pit and that not more than the specified num
ber descend at one time in a cage. To give the
directions to the brakesman when all is right, and to
tell him that men are in the cage, and to tell him also
when men are going to ride.
To request the men,
when going down the pit, in the absence of the on
setters, to rap one after having got safely out of the
cage. To examine the pit ropes frequently through the
day, and last thing every night. To examine also the
cage chains, and cages, and on every occasion when
any apparent deficiency in the ropes, chains, or cages,
is observed by them, to report the same immediately
to the colliery engineer. Never to allow during work
hours, when men are going to ride, any man to take
his picks, drills or any other gear, down the pit in the
cage with him, but to see that such are sent down in
the tubs.
BRAKESMEN.
A brakesman to be constantly in attendance at the
machine, the good and safe working order of which he
must at all times attend to. Not to leave the handles
when men are riding in the shaft, or working in the
shaft.
Not to lift the cage from the bottom when men are
going to ride, without being told to do so by the banks
�13
man, being, at the same time, certain himself that the
regular number of raps for such have been given by
the onsetters.
To report any deficiency of the machine immediately
to The engineer, which, if considered of a serious nature
by him, to stand until repaired.
On all occasions to
let down and draw the workmen with the greatest
possible care.
ENGINEER.
The engineer to inspect first every morning and ocqasionally through the day, with a view to its proper
working state, all the machinery and its appendages in
use.upon the colliery. To examine also, at least twice
a day, the pit ropes and cages; also the chains belong
ing to the same, the renewing and repairs of which at
all times to be according to his directions, and in every
respect to his entire satisfaction, both in the joiners and
smiths’ department. To inspect and direct also, at all
times, the repairs both of the engine and coal shafts;
for which repairs, on all occasions, the best of materials
to be used. The repairs of the coal waggons and coal
tubs to be inspected by him, and done also to his entire
satisfaction. A book to be kept by him. in which
must be noted all particulars relative to the repairs or
improvements suggested by him in the aforesaid machin
ery, its appendages, ropes, cages, chains, &c.; and in
the event of any deficiency in any parts of the said
machinery, ropes, &c., occurring at any time, the same
to be by him immediately reported to the colliery officer,
adopting at the earliest opportunity such means as will,
to the best of his judgment, remedy the said, deficiency.
To see that all chains connected with the pit ropes and
cages are annealed, or put through the fire at least once
a month; and no riding permitted till all is in repair.
MINES INSPECTION ACT.
That the wages of each and every person shall be
paid to him or his authorised representative, in money,
�14
at the Colliery Office at Seaton Delaval, such Office,
not being contiguous to any house where spirits, wine,
beer, or other spirituous liquors are sold.
GENERAL REMARKS.
Any person observing any door standing open that
ought to be shut, or stoppings injured, or brattice
knocked down or broken, or any other thing, whereby
the ventilation of the mine may be deranged or ob
structed, is immediately to inform the Overman or De
puty, or other officer then in charge of the pit, so that
it may, with as little delay as possible, be remedied.
No Hewer to commence working in any place until
it has first been inspected by the Overman or Deputy,
or some other authorised person.
No Workman to commence or continue to w^rk in
any place where he may consider the timber insufficient
to support the roof of the mine, or any other cause that
may render the place unsafe, until it is put right by the
Deputy or other person in charge.
Any person wilfully or negligently injuring any Safety
Lamp, or in any way obstructing or deranging the ven
tilation of the pit, or breaking any of the Regulations
or Rules, shall be immediately discharged from his em
ployment, or, at the option of the owners of the colfiery, be prosecuted according to law.
LASTLY.
It is the particular desire of the owners and principal
agents of the colliery, that the various officers, whose
duties have been enumerated, will, at all times, report
to the proper authorities every individual case of neglect
or wilful disobeying of the rules and cautions herein set
forth, in order that the safe and proper working of the
colliery may be duly maintained.
�PENALTIES UNDER THE ACT.
Any Owner, or principal Agent, or Viewer, neglect
ing, or wilfully violating any of the General or Special
Rules, which ought to be observed by him, such person
shall be liable to a Penalty of not exceeding Twenty
Pounds; and to further Penalties, in case the default or
neglect be not remedied with all reasonable dispatch
after notice in writing thereof given to him by an In
spector of Coal Mines. Penalties are also attached if
the Special and General Rules be not painted on a
board, or printed upoD paper to be pasted thereon, and
hung up or affixed in some conspicuous part of the
principal office or place of business of the Coal Mine,
or Company, and maintained there in a legible state,
and a copy supplied to all persons employed in or about
the colliery who shall apply for such copy.
Penalties are also attached if proper Plans be not
kept up every six months; and if loss of life to any
person employed in or about the colliery, or any seri
ous personal injury. from explosion, be not within
twenty-four hours after loss of life, reported to the Secre
tary of State, and to the Inspector of Coal Mines for
the district in which the colliery is situate, every person
(other than the Owner or principal Manager) em
ployed in or about a coal mine or colliery who neglects
or ■wilfully violates any of the Special Rules, established
for such coal mine or colliery, shaft, for every offence,
be liable to a penalty not exceeding Two Pounds, or to
�16
be imprisoned with or without hard labour in the com
mon Gaol or House of Correction, not exceeding Three
Calendar Months; and every person who pulls down,
injures, or defaces any Notice hung or affixed as re
quired by the Act for the Inspection of Coal Mines (23
and 24 Victoria, Chap. 151) shall, for every such
offence, be liable to a Penalty of not exceeding Forty
Shillings.
Any person wilfully obstructing an Inspector in
carrying out the Act, shall, for every such offence, be
liable to a Penalty not exceeding Ten Pounds.
�
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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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General and special rules for the conduct and guidance of the persons acting in the management of the Seaton Delaval coal mine or colliery belonging to Messrs. Lamb, Burdon & Co., and of all persons employed in or about the same
Creator
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Lamb, Burdon & Co. (Firm)
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Place of publication: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Collation: 16 p. ; 21 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
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M. & M.W. Lambert, printers
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1861
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G5398
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<p class="western"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (General and special rules for the conduct and guidance of the persons acting in the management of the Seaton Delaval coal mine or colliery belonging to Messrs. Lamb, Burdon & Co., and of all persons employed in or about the same), identified by <a href="www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</p>
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Text
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English
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Industry
Health
Coal Mines
Conway Tracts
Health and Safety
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Text
LECTURE
ON
VEGETARIANISM.
BY EMERITUS PROFESSOR F. W. NEWMAN.
[Delivered at Gloucester, December 2, 1870; J/r. Price, M.P., in the Chair,
and reprinted from the Dietetic Reformer, January, 1871.]
LONDON:
F. PITMAN, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1871.
Price One Penny, or Five Shillings per Hundred.
�THE VEGETARIAN SOCIETY.
ESTABLISHED A.D. 1847.
$rmtant.
J. Haughton, Esq., J.P., Dublin.
i
Vice^wsi&ents.
i
W. G. Ward, Esq., Ross.
Professor Newman.
i
SrrasuiTf.
John Davie, Esq., Dunfermline.
P^onoratg Sewtsm.
Mr. T. H. Barker, Manchester; Rev. James Clark, 126, Cross Lane, Salford.
g>ecrctarg.
Mr. R. Bailey Walker, 13, Cathedral Close, Manchester.
SLocal specretanes,
i
I
i
London.................
Leeds....................
Glasgow................
Colchester ..........
Dunfermline ......
Hull .............. .
Perth....................
Bury.......................
Plymouth.............
Dublin...................
Bradford.............
Cardiff.................
Mr. G. Dornbusch, 11, Grove-street Road, South Hackney, N.E.
Mr. John Andrew, 14, Bishopgate-street.
Mr. J. Smith.
Mr. John Beach, Military Road.
Mr. J. Clark.
Mr. T. D. Hardgrove, 1, Rutland Place.
Mr. Henry MTntosh, 36, South Methven-street.
Mr. William Hoyle, Tottington.
Mr. E. H. Poster, Homoeopathic Chemist.
Mr. J. A. Mowatt.
Miss M. A. Kellett, Paradise Green, Great Horton.
Mr. J. K. Collett.
^Foreign CTonrsponlRng SwretariYs.
I
Mr. Emil Weilshaeuser, Neustadt, Silesia.
Baboo Keshub Chunder Sen, Calcutta.
Mr. Alfred von Seefeld, Hanover.
Rev. Dr. Taylor, 349, North Ninth-street, Philadelphia.
'
ipHE OBJECTS of the Society are, to induce habits of abstinence from the Flesh |
i
means of tracts, essays, and lectures, proving the many advantages of a physical,
intellectual, and moral character, resulting from Vegetarian habits of Diet; and thus,
to secure, through the association, example, and efforts of its members, the adoption
of a principle which will tend essentially to true civilisation, to universal brotherhood,
and to the increase of human happiness generally.
Constitution. — The Society is constituted of a President, a Treasurer, an
Executive Committee, a Secretary, Local Secretaries, Foreign Corresponding Secre
taries, and an unlimited number of Members in the United Kingdom, and HonoraryMembers abroad, above the age of fourteen years, who have subscribed to the
Declaration of the Society.
Declaration. —“I hereby declare that I have Abstained from the Flesh of
Animals as Food, for One Month, and upwards ; and that I desire to become a
Member of the Vegetarian Society; and to co-operate with that Body in promul
gating the knowledge of the advantages of a Vegetarian Diet.”
The Subscription is Two Shillings and Sixpence per year, which entitles a mem
ber to a copy of the Dietetic Reformer, quarterly, post free.
All inquiries, and applications for information, should be addressed to the
Secretary of the Vegetarian Society, 13, Cathedral Close, Manchester.
i L of Animals as Food, by the dissemination of information upon the subject, by i
.
�LECTURE ON VEGETARIANISM,
BY EMERITUS PROFESSOR F. W. NEWMAN.
[Delivered at Gloucester, December 2, 1870; Afr. Price, M.P., in the chair.]
“ What shall we eat
is really a question of first importance: but it .is seldom so
treated. In general, the rich eat what they like, and the poor what they can;
neither the one nor the other studies what is best. Besides, there is a perverse
influence at work of which few seem to be aware. Rich men are ashamed to give
cheap food to their friends, even when the cheap is better than the^dear. London
sprats are, in the opinion of many, superior to Greenwich whitebait: yet those who
eat sprats in private, and prefer them, dare not offer them to their friends, because
they are cheap. This does but illustrate a pervading principle. It is a baneful
folly to think, that what is rare, what is difficult, and what is out of season, is
best. And when the richer, who can well afford it, aim at expensive food because
it is expensive, the poorer, who ill afford it, imitate them, and get worse food at
greater cost. I cannot treat the subject of food, unless you will, at least for a little
while, consent to look at things with fresh eyes, and refuse to be blinded by fashion
and routine.
I have called my lecture Vegetarianism; but, as the word does not wholly
explain itself, you may justly ask me for its meaning. Many suppose it to mean,
a diet consisting of table vegetables. It is true, that these are an essential part of
Vegetarian diet, yet they are by no means the most important. Vegetarian food
consists mainly of four heads—farinacea, pulse, fruit, and table vegetables.
1. The foremost is farinacea; they are the “staff of life.” They are chiefly
wheat, barley, oats, maize, perhaps rye; also potatoes, yams, rice and sago,
tapioca, and such like. Vegetarians seldom endure baker’s bread; they always
become fastidious about bread, as teetotalers about water; and very often prefer
unleavened cakes, as Scotch scones, or biscuits not too hard; else, macaroni, also
oatmeal porridge. The makers of aerated bread find that four per cent of the
material is wasted in fermentation. Besides, we have delicious Oswego or rice
blancmange, or it may be hominy and frumenty. I guarantee to you all, that no one
loses a taste for nice things, by vegetarian food, however cheap.
2. Under pulse we practically understand peas, beans, and lentils. They have
excellent feeding qualities, but also a particular defect, which is chiefly remedied
by onions adequately mixed,
3. The word fruit speaks for itself; only it may be well to add that the dearer
fruits are j ust of the least importance for food. Apples might be much cheaper
than they are; and no fruit is more universally serviceable. The cheaper figs,
French, Italian, and Spanish, are less cloying and more feeding than the luscious
Smyrna fig of the shops. Raisins and dates are now supplied in cheerful abundance.
But peculiarly, as I believe, nuts are undervalued as substantial food. We do them
great injustice. We put them on the table as dessert, to be eaten when the stomach
�2
VEGETARIANISM.
is full, and then slander them as indigestible, because the stomach groans under
an excess of nutriment. We call them heavy, because they are nutritious. In
Syria, walnuts and coarse dry figs make an admirable meal. Filberts I count better
than walnuts, and Brazil nuts better still. Chestnuts have the disadvantage of
needing to be cooked, and being hard to cook uniformly well; but when rightly
dressed, perhaps of all nuts accessible in England they are the most valuable.
Cocoanuts, when we are wiser, will be better applied, than to tempt a jaded appetite
to hurtful indulgence. Almonds are too dear to be available as food; yet concerning
almonds, a physician who is no Vegetarian gave me interesting information the
other day. “No man,” said he, “need starve on a journey, who can fill his
waistcoat pocket with almonds. If you crush almonds thoroughly and duly mix
them with water, no chemist in Europe can distinguish the substanee from milk,
and milk we regard as the most perfect food.” This suggests moreover, that nuts,
to become wholesome, must be very thoroughly crushed and bitten. As to other
fruits, I barely add; that the delicious grape, noblest of the fruits in our latitude,
will be hereafter redeemed by teetotalers from corruption, and will become a general
food. But no fruit must be eaten for amusement, and taken on a full stomach ; or
it will not be food at all.
4. A few words on table vegetables. Potatoes and pulse I have noticed, and
now pass them by. Mushrooms are by far the most delicious, and abound with
nitrogen ; a rare advantage : but we have them too seldom in the market. On the
whole I regard those vegetables to be most important which supply flavour
or correct defects in other food; pre-eminently the tribe of onions, also celery,
parsley, sage, savory, mint, with the foreign articles ginger and pepper. Onions
and celery we do not cook half enough ; indeed cabbage and cauliflower are eateih
half raw by the English ; on which account we do not know their value. Much
the same may be said of what the farmer calls roots, i,e., turnips, carrots, parsnips,
beet. Do not think that I despise any of these, when I insist that this class of food
stands only fourth. One who confines himself to these four heads of diet is indis
putably a Vegetarian.
Yet in fact few Vegetarians do confine themselves to this diet, and herein
consists my difficulty in definition. We are open to the scoff of being, not Vegeta
rians, but Brahmins, who do not object to animal food, but only to the taking of
animal life. Few of us refuse eggs, or milk and its products. This is highly
illogical, if we seek consistency with an abstract theory. I do not shut my eyes
to it. The truth is, that in cookery we need some grease, and it is hard to eat dry
bread without butter or cheese. Our climate does not hitherto produce oils. It is _
not easy to buy oil delicate enough for food, and oil (to most Englishmen) is
offensive, from tasting like degenerate butter. Cheese, like nuts, is maligned as
indigestible, barely because it is heaped on a full stomach. However, since most
Vegetarians admit eggs and milk, I define the diet as consisting of food which is
substantially the growth of the earth, without animal slaughter. If you prefer to
call this Brahminism, I will not object. It is a respectable name.
We shall all admit that the food which is natural to man is best for man ; but
we are not agreed how to find out what is natural. I cannot wholly accede to the
students of comparative anatomy, that the line of argument which they adopt is
decisive; yet it is well to know what it is, and How far it carries us. They assume
that as in wild animals we see instinct unperverted, and as such instinct is a test
of what is natural, we have to compare the structure of the human teeth and
�VEGETARIANISM.
3
digestive apparatus with those of brutes, and thereby learn what is natural to man.
Since unluckily certain sharp teeth of ours are called canine, superficial inquirers
jumped to the conclusion that our teeth were made to rend flesh; and on discovering
that the alimentary canal, of the sheep is much longer than of the lion, longer also
than of the man, they inferred that we are not naturally herbivorous, but carnivor
ous. Vegetarians easily refute these arguments. They reply, that our sharp teeth
are ill-called canine, for they do not lap over one another. Such teeth are larger
and stronger in the ape than in the man. I believe they are chiefly useful to crack
nuts, of which monkeys are very fond. Be this as it may, no monkey naturally
eats flesh; if even, when tame, some may be coaxed into eating it. And it is
undeniable that the digestive apparatus of the monkey comes very near to that of
the man: hence Vegetarians generally infer that flesh meat is unnatural to us.
The same thing follows from the doctrine of the old naturalists, who thought the
pig and the man to have marked similarities ; but wild swine certainly will not eat
flesh, therefore man ought not. As to the length of the alimentary canal, there
also the Vegetarians are easily triumphant. The length of it in the man, as in the
monkey, is between two extremes, the lion and the sheep; therefore the human
constitution for food is intermediate. Man is neither herbivorous, as the sheep and
horse, nor carnivorous, as the lion ; but is frugivorous, as the monkey.
There is another argument of Vegetarians which I must not omit, though I do
not undertake to say how much it proves. They allege that carnivorous animals
never sweat, but man certainly does sweat; therefore he is not carnivorous. Here
I feel myself uncertain as to fact. Carnivorous animals, made to prowl by night,
have thick loose skins for defence against cold and wet, even in hot climates. In
consequence sweat would not easily relieve them from internal heat. How is it
with the sheep ? can they sweat ? I find I do not know. But in truth this whole
side of argument from the comparison of animals seems to me but of secondary
value. We cannot find by it what is natural to us ; for, universally, you cannot
find out the characteristics of the higher being by studying the lower being. The
assumption that you can is the main cUuse why external philosophy gravitates into
materialism and atheism. The specific difference of man and brute lies in the
human mind; and this, at once and manifestly, has an essential bearing on the
question of human food. No known animal lights a fire, or fosters a fire when
lighted. However tender their affections, however warm their gratitude or their
resentment, however wonderful their self-devotion, however they may deserve our
fond protection and our reciprocal gratitude, there is not one that understands the
relation of fuel to fire ; therefore there is not one that can cook. On this account
the old logicians called man “the cooking animal;” and though, happily, this
description does not exhaust the capacity of our nature, it affords (on the lower side
of nature) a sufficient criterion, distinguishing us from all known brutes. Without
our power of cookery, we could not make half the use that we do of Vegetarian food.
What would a potato be to us uncooked ? I fear it might turn out to be a narcotic
poison, like the potato-apple. Of how little avail would onions and cauliflower,
turnips and beans, or even corn itself, be without fire ? We can no more conceive
of man without power of cooking than of man without power of sowing, reaping,
and grinding. It may fairly be maintained by the advocate of flesh eating that if it
pleased the Creator to develop the gorilla’s brain, and give him a little more good
sense, without altering his digestive organs or his teeth, the creature would begin
by roasting chestnuts and broiling mushrooms, and go on to discover that roast
�4
VEGETARIANISM.
flesh has many of the qualities of those princely fungi, in whose praises enthusiastic
votaries rave to us. Now, if I have to admit that a gorilla might perhaps become
a flesh-eater, if he had only the wit to cook, you may think that I abandon the
cause of Vegetarianism. Nay ; but my cause is so strong that I can afford not to
overstrain a single argument.
If man had not the power of cooking, and had a natural incapacity for eating
raw flesh, his command of food would be so limited, that he could not have over
spread the earth as he has done. He certainly never could’have found food in
arctic regions ; scarcely would he have found it adequate for his sustenance in the
temperate zone, when he alighted on a country covered with forest and swamp.
The operations of agriculture require long time and much co-operation before a
wild land can be tamed ; and meanwhile, on what is the first cultivator to live ?
We know what has been the course of history in nearly all countries. Only in
a few, as China, India, Assyria, Egypt, the banks of the great ^navigable
rivers, with alluvial or inundated land, gave such facility to the sower, that
there is not even tradition of the time when tillage began. But in general,
wild men in a wild country ate whatevei’ they could get,—or get most
easily. In the woods wild game abounded—everywhere something, though
varying from continent to continent. Besides birds innumerable, endless tribes
of antelope and deer in one place, of kine in another,—whether the cow or
the buffalo or the bison—of sheep in a third, allured the hunter; and cookery
made the flesh of all eatable. We certainly can eat uncooked oysters. It
is dangerous to deny that savage stomachs, when half-starved, could live on raw
flesh and raw fish. But whether it be cause or effect, the tribes which have come
nearest to this state have been either very degenerate or very primitive specimens
of humanity. If very primitive, they do but display undeveloped man, and they are
the smallest fraction of the human race. The second stage in human civilization, is,
to rear tame cattle; if there are wild animals capable of being tamed. In the old
world the sheep, the cow, the reindeer, or the buffalo became domesticated, time out
of mind; also the camel; and in South America the llama ; but the bison of North
America, it seems, is untameable, so that the pastoral state did not there develop
itself. The transition from pasture to agriculture is a serious difficulty. To defend
crops is most arduous; in fact, is impossible to the private cultivator, unless he is
armed with formidable weapons of war which the savage cannot get. Agriculture
must ordinarily be, in the first instance, the act of the tribe collectively, and the
crops be their common property, protected by their joint force. Until there is a
powerful public executive, armed to defend private property, agriculture is too
dangerous foran individual. On this account certain tribes have abhorred cultivation
and fixed dwellings, as exposing the industrious man to slavery under marauders.
Thus the Nabatheans of old, thus Jonadab the son of Rechab, forbade their children
to build houses, or sow seed, or plant vines, because it interfered with wild liberty.
Tribes who live by hunting only, need a vast space of land in which their game
may live quietly; from a small area it would quickly be frightened away: hence
such tribes have always been a very sparse population, and insignificant in the
world’s history. Those who live by pasturage, driving their flocks and herds from
place to place, and building no houses, have generally been marauders: indeed the
Tartars and Scythians, who used the waggon as their home, in all earlier ages were
the great military nations, the conquerors of the more civilised. Though they
might begin by living on the flesh and milk of their cattle, they soon learned to
�VEGETARIANISM.
5
obtain grain, either by cultivating it themselves (for they were strong enough to
protect it) or by purchasing it from neighbours by giving cattle in exchange or by
extorting it as tribute from peaceful but weaker cultivators. And in proportion as
they lived on grain, they were capable of becoming more populous ; thus population
became denser, step by step, as flesh meat was superseded by wheat and barley, by
maize and rice. In the far north, where Finns and Lapps dwell almost side by side,
the Lapps feed as of old, on the products of the sea, or on the milk and flesh of the
reindeer; but the Finns have introduced corn culture, and live upon grain. The
Finns are the stronger, larger, and handsomer men. At any rate their diet has
agreed with them, even in that latitude; but I do not mean to say that men may
not retain perfect health and strength on either food, so far as health can be tested
by the surgeon. The ancient Germans practised but little agriculture, says Caesar.
By intercourse with Rome, especially on the Roman frontier, they became cul
tivators. In our own island, as we well know, agriculture has existed before Saxon
times; but at the Norman conquest, and long after, the land devoted to cattle or
left in a state of nature vastly predominated. In those days the poorest ate much
more flesh meat than now. There has been a continual diminution of flesh meat,
and far larger supplies of Vegetarian food. This is neither from unjust institutions
nor from unfair taxation ; but it is a normal result of increased population. It is
inevitable on an island, sensibly limited in size: for to produce as much human
food as one acre of cultivated land will yield, three, or even /owr acres of grazing land
are needed. That era had its own disadvantages. The cattle had then little winter
food ; they were killed and salted down in the close of autumn. Much salt meat
and salt fish was eaten, and fresh vegetables were few in species and scarce.
Parsnips are said to have been long the only root, before there were turnips or
carrots : potatoes, we know, came in from America. Native fruit was very limited,
and our climate was thought hardly capable of bearing more sorts ; foreign fruit
was not in the market. Now, what I want to point out, is this : that the diet of
flesh meat belongs to the time of barbarism—the time of loiv cultivation and thin popu
lation; and that it naturally, normally, decreases with higher cultivation. We see the
same thing in ancient civilisation and modern. The Brahmins in India, who stood
at the head in intellect and in beauty, were wholly or prevalently Vegetarians. I
believe, much the same was true of ancient Egypt. Men of lower caste ate flesh,
and the lowest most: and among these principally foul diseases of the skin prevailed ;
no doubt, because, where population is dense, the poorer classes, if they eat flesh
meatat all, are sure to get a sensible portion of their supply diseased and unwholesome.
And now let me say. what is the true test of anything being natural to man.
He is a progressive being; you must test it by his more mature, not by his
immature era; by his civilisation, not by his barbarism. Flesh meat helped him
through his less developed state; it then existed around him in superfluity, while
vegetarian food was scarce ; moreover, the beasts slain for food were then generally
in a natural and healthy condition. But to attempt to keep up in the later and
more developed stage the habits of the earlier and ruder is in many ways perni
cious. At first each man kills his own game, or slaughters a beast of his own
flock; and long after that time is passed, the animals wander in the field or
mountain, or under the forest. The pig eats beech-nuts and oakmast and horse
chestnuts. The steer browses on soft leaves and on grass. There is no stuffing
with oilcake, no stall-feeding nor indoors life. The beast of the field abides in the
field. When the herds abound, and the supply is easily adequate to the human
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VEGETARIANISM.
population, the market is not likely to be tampered with. Neither roguery, nor
artificial management of the animal is to be feared. Great Oriental communities put
the slaughter of cattle for food under religious regulation. With the Jews, and
indeed with the earliest Romans, the butcher was a priest; and anxious distinctions
were made of clean and unclean beasts, to exclude the eating of such flesh as either
was supposed to be unwholesome or was forbidden for some economic reason. Now
ij in fact,—owing, as I believe, to the great pressure for milk in a populous nation,—
i the cow is of a peculiarly feeble constitution with us. This is manifest in her
liability to suffer severely in calving, which is certainly a striking phenomenon.
But surely it is only what might be expected from the very artificial and unnatural
demand that we make on her, to give us milk in quantity far beyond anything
needed for her calf, and for a length of time so prolonged. So intimate is the
relation of calving to milk-giving that to overstrain one side of the female system
must naturally derange the other. But to this is added stall-feeding and cramming,
instead of the open field and natural herbage. Though these practices may save
money to the grazier and produce more pounds of meat and of unhealthy fat, they
cannot conduce to the robustness of the animal, nor of the man who eats it. A
worse thing is now revealed. I lately read in a newspaper that many farmers
believe they have found out the cause of what is called the foot and mouth disease;
namely, they ascribe it to the fact that the animals are bred from parents too
young. Now I lay no stress on their opinion that they have here discovered the
cause of that disease. Their opinion may be erroneous, but they cannot be mistaken
in what they state as a fact; namely, that in eagerness to supply the meat market,
and gain the utmost return to their capital, they artificially bring about a premature
breeding of the cattle. The moment it is mentioned, one sees what the temptation
must be to a breeder; one sees also that the offspring is sure to be feeble, and
therefore liable to any or every disease. It is well known that in Bengal, for
religious reasons, the Brahmin girls are prevalently married at a very tender age,
so that great numbers of mothers are hardly more than children themselves ; and
to this is ascribed the peculiar delicacy and frequent small stature in such classes.
I do not assume that such offspring need be unhealthy; but unless protected as
only men can be protected, if exposed as cattle must be exposed, one must expect
them to catch any epidemic that may be abroad, and more and more to propagate
feebleness. Municipal law struggles in vain against such tricks of the market.
They go on for many years without the persons who practise them being aware of
their harm. Prohibitions are hard to execute ; they are sure to come too late ; and
after they are enacted, some new artifice equally bad grows up. While the pressure
for flesh-meat is great, unless the Government will take into its own hands both
the slaughtering and the sales, it seems impossible to keep the sausage trade under
control. In last Monday’s Daily News I see there is a man to be brought to trial
for boiling up old horses for sausage meat. There is nothing intrinsically wrong
in that, if it were avowed to be horse-flesh; but since all is done by stealth,
evidently far more horrid substances are likely to enter the market.
The United States have a vast abundance of soil, a very thin population : hence
they might, like our ancestors, have flesh meat and milk of a natural kind. But
they have large towns, to be fed on a great scale by enterprising capitalists ; so that
many of the same evils grow up among them as with us. In New York a distiller
of spirits added to his trade the trade of cowkeeping, having learned that co»vs, fed
upon the refuse grains of a distillery, give more milk. It is true that they do ; but
I
'
.
i
�VEGETARIANISM.
7
the milk is inferior in quality ; and the cows gradually become diseased—whether
by the food, or by the unwholesome confinement in the cellars beneath the distillery,
I cannot say. But the complaints of the milk are bitter : moreover, the cowkeepers
in the country around have followed the evil example ; and it is positively stated
that the mortality of children in New York is enormous; which is a suspicious
coincidence. These are but single instances and illustrations of the evils to which
we are exposed, from the tampering of the grazier with the animals in whose flesh
or milk he deals.
But I return to my point. With the progress of population Vegetarianism
naturally increases. I do not say, which is cause, and which is effect: they react
on one another. When more food is wanted, and the price of corn rises, there is a
motive to break up new land. Pasture is diminished. Perhaps by artificial grasses
and by cultivation of roots the quantity of cattle is nevertheless sustained; yet if
the process goes on, as in China (for an extreme case), the larger cattle will not at all
increase in proportion to the population. Nor indeed among ourselves has it increased
proportionally. The English roast beef that foreigners talk of is rarely indeed the
diet of our villagers. Thirty years ago even our town artizans ate little flesh meat.
Bacon, principally fat, was nearly the sole animal food consumed by our peasants,
whose state has but little altered. They may almost be called Vegetarians ; for fat,
like oil, supplies only animal heat, not the substance of muscle. Nevertheless, it
is now taught, that on animal heat vital force depends, which muscle will not give.
Now lest you should pity our peasants too much, I must state that we have the
decisive testimony of the most eminent scientific men to the sufficiency of a purely
Vegetarian diet; men, not themselves Vegetarians, nor intending to urge the
practice. Our society has printed a handbill, with extracts from Haller, Liebig,
Linnaeus, Gassendi, Professor Lawrence, Professor Owen, Baron Cuvier, and many
others. Hear a few illustrations how those speak, who mean to be our opponents.*
Dr. 8. Brown writes: “We are ready to admit that Vegetarian writers 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.” Dr. W, B. Carpenter writes :
“ We freely concede to the advocates of Vegetarianism, that as regards the endurance
of physical labour there is ample proof of the capacity of [their diet"| to afford the
requisite sustenance.” He adds that if it is sufficiently oily, “ it will maintain the
powers of the body at their highest natural elevation, even under exposure to the
extreme of cold.” Thus the labourer, according to these high authorities, is not at
all dependent on flesh meat. And of this we have abundant proof in foreign nations.
We have no stronger men among our flesh-dieted “navvies” than the African
negroes of the U.S. who were fed, while slaves, on yams, maize, and other vegetable
food. We perhaps cannot anywhere produce a class of men to equal the porters of
Constantinople. The London Spectator., not long back (though it is anything but
Vegetarian in purpose) wondered at the ignorance of men who doubted whether
Vegetarian food was compatible with the greatest strength; for a Constantinople
porter (said the writer) would not only easily carry the load of any English porter,
but would carry off the man besides. Mr. Winwood Reade, a surgeon who has
travelled much in Africa; Mr. A. F. Kennedy, once Governor of Sierra Leone, and
Captain P. Eardley Wilmot, attest that the Kroomen of Western Africa are eminent
in endurance. Mr. Kennedy says “ their power and endurance exceeds that of any
race with which I am acquainted.” Mr. Winwood Reade expresses himself even
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VEGETARIANISM.
more pointedly : “ The Kroomen are, I believe, the strongest men in the world.’’
Yet the Krooman, he adds, lives on a few handfuls of rice per day ; and rice has not
been supposed by our chemists to be at all favourable to human strength. They
depreciated it, as giving too great a proportion of animal heat; but they did not
know that animal heat gives vital force also. It may be said, that these cases
bejong to hot climates ; but indeed Constantinople can be anything but hot. And
we can further appeal to Northern Persia, where the winter is intensely cold. The
English officers at Tabriz, the northern capital,—who for a long series of years had
the drilling of Persian troops,—were enthusiastic in their praises, and testified that
they make the longest marches, on nothing but bread, cheese, and water, carrying
three or four days’ provisions in their sash. These, however, are not strictly
Persians, but of Turkoman race. I did not need to go to Persia for illustration.
The Italians of the north, or anywhere on the Apennines, would have served my
argument. Bread, with figs or raisins, are their sufficient food ; and they were old
Napoleon’s hardiest soldiers round Moscow. Indeed, in every civilised country the
strongest class of men are the peasants, who are everywhere all but Vegetarians.
Dr. E. Smith, who reported to the Privy Council on the food of the three kingdoms,
comes to the conclusion that the Irish are the strongest, next to them the Scotch,
next the northern English; after the southern peasants ; lowest of all, the
towns-man; and that their Vegetarianism is graduated in the same way, the
strongest being the most Vegetarian, and the townsfolk, who are the weakest, being
the greatest eaters of flesh. I do not mean to assert that the diet is the only cause
of strength or weakness : it is sufficient to insist that Vegetarianism is compatible
with the highest strength. The old Greek athlete was a Vegetarian : Hercules,
according to their comic poets, lived chiefly on pease pudding.
But what of health? The testimony of scientific men is here still more
remarkable. Haller, the great physiologist, writes thus: “ This food then, in
which flesh has no part, is salutary, inasmuch as it fully nourishes a man, protracts
life to an advanced period, and prevents or cures such disorders as are attributable
to the acrimony or grossness of the blood.” That eminent physician, Dr. Cheyne
of Dublin, who some forty years ago was at the head of his profession, declared:
“ 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.” A remarkable instance is attested,—
that of Professor Fergusson, the historian,—who at the age of sixty-one had a
dangerous attack of paralysis. He called in his friend Dr. Black, the celebrated
discoverer of latent heat. Dr. Black, though not a Vegetarian, prescribed total
abstinence from flesh-meat. Professor Fergusson obeyed, and not only recovered
entirely and never had a second attack, but was a remarkably vigorous old man at
ninety, and died at ninety-three.* In such cases I think we have an explanation of
the success of some things called quack remedies,—as, the grape-cure of the
Germans. I am ready to believe that it is not so much the grapes that cure, as the
abstinence from a gross and evil diet. Dr. A. P. Buchan teaches that a diet of
farinacea, with milk and fruits, is the most hopeful way of curing pulmonary
consumption : many examples of such cure in an early stage of the disease, says
he, are recorded. He adds: “ If vegetables and milk were more used in diet, we
A gentleman present corrected 93 into 95.
�VEGETARIANISM.
9
should have less scurvy, and likewise fewer putrid and inflammatory fevers.”
Drs. Craigie and Cullen are very strong as to the power of Vegetarianism to preserve
one from gout. Drs. Marcet, Oliver, and other physiologists, declare that human
chyle, elaborated from flesh meat, putrifies in three or four days at longest; while
chvle from vegetable food, from its greater purity and more perfect vitality, may
be kept for many days without becoming putrid. We need not therefore wonder
that Vegetarians are so little liable to fever, or to any form of putrid disease. It is
asserted, indeed, that such a thing is not known, as that a Vegetarian should suffer
cholera. On the other hand, it is also asserted that none but Vegetarians have
attained the age of 100: undoubtedly a majority of centenarians have held to
this diet.
Now I know some persons will answer quick : “I do not want to live to a 100
but remember, I pray you, what such longevity implies. The man who lives to a
100 is generally as strong at eighty, and as perfect in all his faculties, as are the
majority of men at sixty-five ; and he is not as much worn out at ninety as the man
who lives to eighty-two or eighty-three is at eighty. It is not the last seven years,,
of the centenarian which give him advantage, but the twenty years which precede
these seven. However, wish what you please about long life; it remains, that
long life, if it exist in a class of men, implies that that class excels in vital force; is
superior therefore in health, probably in strength ; and health is more valuable than
strength. Once more ; reflect what is contained in the avowal that pulmonary
consumption is best treated, and is sometimes cured, by abstinence from flesh-meat
and wine. Consumption is notoriously a disease of weakness. Hence we must
infer that more strength is given by Vegetarian diet than by that which is called
stimulating. All the arguments converge to the same point. Vital force is
measured by length of life, and by power of recovering from dangerous wounds.
Vegetarianism conduces at once to length of life, and to success in such recovery,
I have mentioned that Dr. Cheyne and Dr. Black trusted in it as a recipe when the
constitution was broken down ; how much more must it be a preservative of
strength to the healthy? Dr. S. Nicolls, of the Longford Fever Hospital, wrote in
1864, after sixteen years’ experience in the hospital, that the success of treatment
by a total withdrawal of flesh-meat and of alcoholic liquors gave him the greatest
satisfaction. The long and short is, that whatever is inflammatory is weakening ;
the highest vigour is got out of that food and drink which gives the maximum pf
nutrition and the minimum of inflammation. We allow ourselves to be cheated by
calling inflammation stimulus. Further, I will ask, of the English race, what
portion is most unhealthy ? Beyond question, the English of the United States.
And they are also the greatest flesh-eaters.
Now let me add a word concerning the North American Indian. It is long
since a few of the tribes introduced the cultivation of maize, ascribed to Hiawatha
in Longfellow’s poem. The Cherokees adopted an agricultural life while yet in
Georgia; but the distant and the roaming tribes continue to dhpend on hunting,
and even their boys and girls must live chiefly on flesh. How solid is the national
constitution is strikingly shown in the strength of the women, who, in the journeyings of a tribe, if visited by child-birth, need but half-a-day’s rest, and then start
on the march, carrying the infant on their back. I lately read a letter from the
well-kno5yn Mrs. Lydia Maria Child, in which she details how an Indian woman
trudged to Mrs. Child’s house through many miles of deep snow, and next day
came the same journey, carrying an infant which she had brought to light in the
i
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VEGETARIANISM.
interval. The vigour and activity of the Indian continues unimpaired till within a
short time (perhaps till within a fortnight) of natural death, when he is made
aware of weakness and death approaching. Now some one might quote these facts as
a clear testimony to the value of a flesh diet; but against it there are two draw
backs. If disease arise in an Indian, it is apt to be exceedingly violent; smallpox
may carry off a whole tribe; they seem to be very inflammatory; but I speak under
correction. Further, no one attributes to them peculiarly long life. They are said
to die worn out at eighty. Again, I do not speak confidently; for it is hard to
be sure of facts. Yet I believe they are less longlived, and recover worse from
disease than the Vegetarian Africans dwelling on the same land; less longlived
also than the Arabs, who live more on milk and less on meat. On the whole, I
think that life in the open air, a cautious choice of healthy places for encamping,
and consequent purity of blood, gives to those men and women their great robustness.
All food comes alike to such stomachs, as regards its power of nourishing ; but if
the flesh meat produces a more inflammable habit, it shortens natural life, as well
as intensifies disease.
I have tried your patience long, in the attempt to develop facts. It remains to
draw my conclusion. I first have to insist, that ever since 1847, we have been
striving to reverse the natural current of affairs—an enterprize which will necessarily
entail disease and a vast train of calamity. In the first 45 years of this century, the
population of the three kingdoms more than doubled itself in spite of emigration.
Great areas of land were broken up for cultivation, partly under the allurements of
a high price for corn, partly to take advantage of the Tithe Commutation Act. But
after the abolition of the Corn Laws in 1847, the increased prosperity of the manu
facturing towns led, not only to an importation of corn, but also to a remarkable
demand of the artizan population for flesh-meat. Cattle were brought from abroad
in great numbers. Prices still went up. A great stimulus was given to cattlebreeding. The markets of England were supplied from Scotland (and Ireland as
well as from foreign ports, until in Ireland land was thrown out of culture, and taken
up for grazing. The clamour for flesh continuing, we bring it from Australia and
from South America, artificially preserved. From importing instead of raising food,
our worst evils are increased. Rustic industry is not developed. The new births
of the country can find no employment there, and flock into towns. Masses of
population become liable to starvation from a displacement of foreign markets, or
from the imprudence of their employers ; and when personal prudence has less
reward, improvidence prevails. Town-life is less robust; sanitary conditions are
harder to fulfil. A nation fed from foreign markets suffers convulsion through
other people’s wars. And when more and more the land is occupied by large
estates, by parks, by wildernesses kept for sheep or deer, while huge towns prevail,
we have the type of national decay. Our statesmen look on helplessly, while a
robust peasantry is supplanted by a feeble and unhealthy town-population. Our
sage sanitarians want to bring water to our cities from Welsh, Scotch, or Cum
berland lakes, for fear we should remember that it is as possible for the country to be
occupied and cultivated by men, as to be grazed by cattle. England will not long
hold up her head in Europe, if she allow the system of empty country and everincreasing towns to prevail. There are other causes of the evil, I am aware, besides
this zeal for flesh meat. We have to open our eyes to more things than one; and
a hard battle perhaps has to be fought. But in regard to flesh-meat, each family has
the remedy in its own hands. The waste of its resources is caused by an attempt to
�VEGETARIANISM.
11
bring back the condition of things belonging to comparative barbarism, and make us
a flesh-eating nation again, when the era of flesh-eating is naturally past. And
what is the consequence ? I repeat a sentence which I have already uttered,
Where the population is dense, the poorer classes, if they eat flesh meat at all, are sure
to get a sensible portion of their supply in an unwholesome state. What said Dr.
Letheby, inspector of the London markets, to the Social Science Association lately?
“The use of unsound meat,” he said, “was more injurious than that of any other
unsound food. In the three city markets there are 400 tons of meat received and
sold daily. With a staff of but two inspectors it was hardly possible to make a
sufficient and satisfactory supervision; but nevertheles they seized from one to two
tons of diseased meat every week. The seizures last year (1867) amounted to no
less than 288,0001bs., or 129 tons.” But he says, in the country at large the case
is vastly worse. Taking all the markets in the country, it had been calculated
“that only one part in every Jive sent to market was sound.” Now, I think the last
statement must be exaggerated. I cannot say that I believe it; yet how very bad
the case must be, to allow of such a statement being made ! If instead of one-fifth
of the meat being unwholesome, it were every day one fiftieth, the case would be
awful enough. For remember, that where one ton is condemned, there is sure to
be a margin of three tons which is suspected, but cannot be condemned; and
importers or graziers, to save themselves from great loss, are driven to disguise
disease as well as they can. This suspected meat is sold at half-price,
and by its cheapness attracts the poor. Hence disease is certain to arise.
Smallpox has surprized us by virulent outbursts; yet what reason is there for
surprize? Do not Pariahs in India, and a like class in Egypt, by eating flesh or fish in
an unwholesome state bring on leprosy and smallpox and other foul con
tagious diseases? How do our doctors suppose that the smallpox arose for
the first time ? They say it came from China, and that it cannot, come to us unless
we catch it from a human being. Was ever anything so imbecile? The first
patient did not catch it from an earlier patient, but brought it on himself by foul
diet or some uncleanness ; and of course, if any of us use the same foulness, he is
liable to bring it on himself without anyone to transmit it to him. Paris is the
city that cooks up and disguises offal; Paris can generate smallpox as well as
China. Our doctors divert us from the true scent. For fear that we should discover
what is our uncleanness of living, they tell us that smallpox comes because we are
not vaccinated—and that also is not at all true. Indeed none are oftener vaccinated
than French soldiers, and no part of the French population suffers worse from
smallpox than the soldiers. Bad diet and unclean herding together must be the
cause. Diet? why, if we are to believe our newspapers, for a fortnight past
gentlemen have been eating in Paris the rats from the sewers, not from any real
deficiency of wholesome food, but from an infatuated determination to get flesh
meat. And at the same time, in the same letter, the correspondent who praises
the flavour of the rat, tells us that the smallpox has broken out again during
the siege; and now, says he, in the week ending November 5th the deaths from
smallpox were 380; in this last week [ending November 12th] they were 419.
Perhaps it is needless to say, why the animals brought to market must be diseased.
It is not natural to an ox to get into a steamer, or into a railway car, nor
to walk through the streets, nor to take his place quietly as in a pew at the
market. A great deal of beating and terrifying him is needed. His
fatigue in a long journey—manage it as you will—is necessarily great; he suffers
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VEGETARIANISM.
also from thirst. The cars and steamers cannot be cleanly. In short, it would be
wonderful if forty-nine in fifty arrived in tolerable health. Ho long as there is a
forced market, the cattle brought from a distance will be like the miserable Africans
carried in slave ships ; and all our cattle will be of a feeble constitution, liable to
diseases from slight cause, because bred artificially and reared artificially. The
poorer classes suffer, first and inevitably, in the squandering of their resources;
secondly, a fraction of them by disease, and many more by infection from the sick.
And those who evade disease do not get more strength, and do get a somewhat
more inflammatory habit from the flesh meat. At the same time, by eating more
expensive food they cannot afford so healthy habitations. Such are the evils on the
side of health and economy.
But besides, the evils of inhumanity in the slaughter of larger cattle are very
terrible. No one has yet found a remedy for the clumsiness of butchers’ boys. 1
cannot now dwell on this acutely painful part of my subject: I will only say, it
quite reconciles me to be called a Brahmin. At the same time, recurring to the
inconsistency of milk and eggs with strict Vegetarianism, I will observe, that by
the avowal of medical science, milk has none of the inflammatory properties of
flesh meat; in so far, it is akin to Vegetarian food. But undoubtedly the pressure
of dense population for milk is an evil, and tends to the adulteration of the milk, to
a deterioration of it by giving to the cow whatever will increase its quantity, and
to an enfeebling of cows generally, by asking too much milk of them, and by breeding
them too quickly. Therefore I take pains to make no increased use of milk since I
am a Vegetarian, nor yet of eggs. We have not yet learned to get substitutes
from oleaginous nuts. We are in a state of transition. A future age will look back
on this as barbarism ; yet we are moving towards the higher and nobler development,
in becoming even thus partial Vegetarians.
Finally, I must not omit one topic, the evils of over-feeding, which flesh-eating
induces. A Vegetarian may eat too much, yet it is more difficult to him, from the
bulk of his food; nearly all over-feeding is practically caused by flesh, fish, and
fowl. The late witty Sydney Smith, wishing to reprove this vice, jocosely said:
“ As accurately as I can calculate, between the ages of ten and seventy I have
eaten forty-four waggon loads of food more than was good for me.” Every ounce
that a man eats more than he needs, positively weakens him, for his vegetable forces
use up his energy in getting rid of the needless food. The gormandizing in great
towns is despicable, from one side, but from another is afflicting ; when one thinks
of countless disease engendered in the classes who eat too much, while there are so
many who get too little. Yet to the poorer a far worse evil than the deprivation
of flesh is, that they are incited to long for it when they see that all who can afford
it will pay any price rather than go without it. Our working classes will not attain
the elevation which is possible to them, until they put on the sentiment of Brahmins
and look down upon flesh-eating as a lower state.
[Reprinted fromfthe Dietetic Reformer, Jan., 1871.]
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�VEGETARIAN
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Published on the 1st of January, 1871, Price 3d., No. XLI. of The
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Contents:—Twenty-second Annual Meeting: Business Proceedings —
Annual Soiree. Only in Heaven (Poetry). Lecture by Professor Newman.
The Return to Nature. Dr. Bellows on the Philosophy of Eating. Follow
Thou Me (Poetry). Correspondence ; Obituary; Intelligence; Reports, &c.
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□THOUGHTS, FACTS, AND HINTS ON HUMAN DIETETICS.
_L Mr. Thomas H. Barker. Reprinted from “ The Dietetic Reformer,” July,
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with them at half price.
REPRINT OF DR. TRALL’S ADDRESS.
Now ready, Price Threepence; or Six Copies sent post free for One Shilling.
SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF .VEGETARIANISM: An Address
O delivered at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the American Vegetarian Society,
by Dr. TRALL, of New York.
Reprinted from the Dietetic Heformer.
Royal 32mo, price Id. per packet, or 13 for Is.; also in Sixpenny packets,
Three Series of
VEGETARIAN MESSENGER TRACTS. These Tracts are adapted
. * for extensive distribution, and any one Tract may be had separately by order
ing a Sixpenny Packet, and stating the number required ; or, if no particular number
be specified, “Assorted” Packets will be sent.
A Fifth and Improved Edition of
ipHE PENNY VEGETARIAN COOKERY : Or Vegetarianism
JL adapted to the Working Classes; containing an Introduction, showing the
economical and beneficial tendency of Vegetarian habits; an Invalid’s Dietary
Table (being suggestions for Dyspeptic patients); a Family Dietary Table; a
Bachelor’s Dietary Table ; a Marketing Table ; a Chemical Table, and instructions
and recipes for upwards of fifty different articles of food.
296 pp., Foolscap 8vo., Reduced price 2s. 6d. (by post 3s.), cloth boards, the Fifth
Edition of
VEGETARIAN COOKERY. By a Lady. This edition of VegetaT . rian Cookery has been carefully revised and entirely re-written. Many new
Recipes have been added to those already published, and the work now contains—an
Introduction, explanatory of Vegetarian Principles; an Exposition of Vegetarian
Practice, describing three Styles of Cookery, which are illustrated by plans of Tables
and Bills of Fare, with numerous references to the Recipes ; upwards of seven
hundred and fifty Recipes, and a copious Index.
PRIZE ESSAYS.
rpHE PRIMITIVE DIET OF MAN. By Dr. F. R. Lees. !
JL
Price Fourpence.
OW TO PROMOTE STABILITY AND ZEAL AMONG THE !
H
MEMBERS of the VEGETARIAN SOCIETY. By R. Gammage.
Fourpence. Tubbs and Brook, Manchester. Caudwell, London.
Price j
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
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>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Lecture on vegetarianism
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Newman, Francis William
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publications: London
Collation: 12, [1] p. 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Signature on front cover: Moncure D. Conway. Delivered at Gloucester, December 2, 1870; Mr. Price, M.P., in the Chair. Reprinted from the Dietetic Reformer, January, 1871. List of publications on vegetarianism on final page. Printed by A. Ireland and Co., Manchester. Objectives and constitution of the Vegetarian Society (established 1847) outlined inside front cover.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
F. Pitman
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1904
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G5299
Subject
The topic of the resource
Vegetarianism
Health
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<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 (Lecture on vegetarianism), 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>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Diet
Health
Nutrition
Vegetarianism