The entire organism is more or 
less infected by the protein decomposition. A feast -day 
comes along; an excess produces a crisis; and th e organism, 
which is enervated and toxemic to the point of no 
resistance, is overwhelmed by septic poisoning. WHAT CAUSES FATALITY   
 
   Fatal cases in all epidemics are food -drunkards who are 
very much enervated, toxemic and infected from 
putrescence in  the bowels. It is a crime to feed anything to the sick. No food should 
be given until all symptoms are gone; then fruit and 
vegetable juices (never any animal foods not for weeks). A 
hot bath should be administered three times daily. Wash out 
the bowe ls by enemas every few hours, until all putrescent 
debris is throughly cleared out; and, when possible, give a 
gastric ravage daily, until the stomach and bowels are 
thoroughly cleared of all putrescence. The life of the patient 
depends upon getting rid of  the putrid food still remaining 
in the bowels, before enough putrescence is absorbed to 
cause death. All epidemic diseases are wholesale food -
poisonings among people who are pronouncedly enervated 
and toxemic. The poisoning by food is on the order of 
poisoning by chemicals. Those who have least resistance 
(are most enervated and toxemic) suffer most and succumb 
the easiest; for the poisoning brings on a crisis of Toxemia, 
and the two nerve -destroying influences overwhelm the 
reduced resistance, and may end  in death unless wisely 
treated. All acute diseases are gastro -intestinal infections 
acting on toxemic subjects. The more enervated and 
toxemic the subject, the more severe the crisis. Certainly 
anyone with intelligence should see the danger in giving 
food when the exciting cause of the disease is food -
poisoning. Keep the patient warm and quiet, and in good air. More 
treatment is meddlesome. Getting rid of putrefaction is 
most important. Such diseases develop only in those of 
pronounced enervation and  toxemic, and those of very bad 
eating habits. TO SUM UP   
 
   To sum up briefly the difference between the toxemic 
methods and “regular medicine”: Toxemia is a system 
based on the true cause of disease —namely Toxemia. Before Toxemia is developed, natura l immunization 
protects from germs, parasites, and all physical vicissitudes. Toxin is a by -product as constant and necessary as life 
itself. When the organism is normal, it is produced and 
eliminated as fast as produced. From the point of 
production to the point of elimination, it is carried by the 
blood; hence at no time is the organism free from toxin in 
the blood. In a normal amount it is gently stimulating; but 
when the organism is enervated, elimination is checked. Then the amount retained become s overstimulating —
toxic—ranging from a slight excess to an amount so 
profound as to overwhelm life. The treatment is so simple that it staggers those who 
believe in curing. Heroic treatment is disease -building. Find in what way nerve -energy is wasted,  and stop it —stop 
all nerve -leaks. Then returning to normal is a matter of 
time, in which nature attends to all repairs herself. And she 
resents help —medical officiousness. In writing and giving advice, I often make the mistake of 
taking for granted t hat the consultant understands what I 
have in mind. Why should he, when I have not given oral 
or written expression to my meaning? In the matter of stopping nerve -leaks, it is easy for me to 
say: “Find out in what way nerve -energy is wasted, and 
stop it—stop all nerve -leaks,” etc. I am appalled at my 
stupidity in saying to a patient to stop enervating himself, 
and allowing the matter to end by naming one or two gross 
enervating habits; for example: Stop worry; stop smoking; 
stop stimulants; control you r temper; stop eating too 
rapidly; stop allowing yourself to become excited. Stopping 
one enervating habit benefits; but dependable health brooks 
no enervating habits at all. The Causes of Enervation  
 
   TO UNDERSTAND disease, it is necessary to know 
cause; and, as Toxemia  is the cause of all diseases, and as 
enervation —an enervated body and mind —is the cause of 
Toxemia,  it behooves those who are sick and want to get 
well, and who want to know how to stay well, to know 
what causes enervation. A norm al, healthy person is one who is poised (self -
controlled), and who has no nerve -destroying habits. A 
self-controlled man is a man who is not controlled, kicked, 
cuffed, or driven by habits. Man is either the master of himself, or his appetite and 
sensual pleasures master him. If the former, he enjoys 
health until worn out; and he should go down at from 
ninety to one hundred and fifty years of age. If he is 
inclined to the latter, yet has his habits more or less under 
control —is moderate —he may live fro m sixty to ninety 
years. But if he is a sensualist —is controlled by habits and 
passions, sits up after bedtime to take a last smoke or eat a 
lunch or gets up in the night and smokes (I knew a 
celebrated physician who used tobacco to secure sleep; he 
died a t fifty-four years of age), or takes a drink to quiet his nerves and make him sleep, or goes the limit venereally —
he becomes irritable, grouchy, and dies prematurely. Excesses transform a man into a disgusting brute. The 
word “brute” is used here to e xpress the state of one being 
devoid of self -control. Those of fine constitutions are often 
converted into neurotics, who have left health and comfort 
far behind. Many know comfort only for short periods, and 
then at the instigation of drugs or stimulants. The youths of our country are fast developing a state of 
multi-inebriety —jazz, tobacco, alcohol, and petting parties; 
are developing a sex -neurosis that will he followed by a 
generation of paralytics, epileptics, insane, morons, idiots, 
and monstrosi ties, embracing all who do not die of acute 
disease. This class live from thirty until the chloroforming age —
sixty years. The majority die early in life. We are fast 
coming to an age of impotence. I knew one of superior 
mind who died of ataxia at thir ty-five. I quote a few lines 
from his own writings concerning his state the last year of 
his life:  
 
Could I but crystallize these midnight tears  
   And gather from their beaded bitterness     A rosary for burning lips to press,  
Some pain -born token of th ese joyless years,  
To teach the faith that saves, the hope that cheers;  
   Then would I bid these fountains of distress  
   Flow fast and free, if their sad floods could bless  
Or murmur peace in some poor sufferer’s ears. My world has shrunk at las t to this small room,  
   Where, like a prisoner, I must now remain. I’d rather be a captive in the gloom  
   Of some damp dungeon, tearing at my chain;  
   For then, perchance, my freedom I might gain. Ah God! to think that I must languish here,  
   Fet tered by sickness and subdued by pain,  
To die a living death from year to year,  
Joy banished from my breast and Sorrow brooding 
there. I often think how once these stumbling feet,  
   That now can scarcely bear me to my bed,  
Were swift to follow, a s the wind is fleet,  
   That baleful beam that to destruction led;  
 
   Thou domineering power, or love, or lust,  
   Or passion, or whatever else thou art,  
How have thy crimson roses turned to dust  
   And strewn their withered leaves upon this heart! Though through my vitals now they venomed dart  
Strikes like an adder’s sting, yet still I feel  
   From Egypt’s flesh -pots it is hard to part;  
 And my weak, wandering glances often steal  
Back to sweet sinful things, until my senses reel. Still o ne retreat is left, to which I flee:  
   Dear dreamy draught, in which I often steep  
Body and soul, I turn again to thee,  
And drift down Lethe’s stream out on Oblivion’s 
sea. Thirty -five years is a short life for a brain to live that can 
conjure the English language as the above snatches 
indicate. Thousands pay the price that this man paid, but 
very few can win so much admiration and sympathy with 
their swan -songs. Few people can read the psychology of 
swan -songs. Often they are an epitome of a lifeti me. ENERVATING HABITS   
 
BABIES   
 
   Babies should not be trundled about too much; should not 
sleep in their mothers’ arms; should not be exposed to 
bright lights, loud talking, noises, too much heat or cold; 
should not be jolted about in baby -buggies, a utomobiles, 
trains, street cars. The very young are made sick by too much excitement of 
all kinds. Very young children should be kept quiet enough 
to favor sleep all the time, except when bathed and when 
clothes are changed. They should not he taken u p every 
time they do any fretting. All that is needed is to make 
them dry and change their positions. Young children should not be fed oftener than every four 
hours, and not that often unless they are awake. To awaken 
a child for food is very unnecess ary and harmful. A human being is a cerebro -spinal dynamo, and should 
be kept as much as possible in a static state, conserving 
nerve -energy for future use. Poise or self -control —teaching 
a child to be contented alone —must be started at birth. Children need no entertainment. When left alone, they 
find entertainment in becoming acquainted with 
themselves. Children that are coddled in the matter of being 
entertained —dancing attendance on them —develop 
discontent and bring on enervation, which fa vors “the 
diseases peculiar to children.”  
 
 CHILDREN   
 
   Children of school age are enervated by being urged in 
school work, exercise, and all kinds of excitement. Play 
should he limited. When hysteria shows up, stop the play. Much study, examinatio ns, exercise without desire, 
competitive examinations of all kinds, causes a capricious 
craving for food. When a growing child is forced to the 
limit of its nervous capacity, nature must conserve in some 
way; and as there is no way to sidestep convention’s  eternal 
grind, the normal desire for food is lost. Forced Feeding to Increase Weight. —The whole system 
of school feeding, is one of destroying health by 
enervating, if not killing the child. The federal government is ruining thousands of our 
young men, teaching them the sick habit. The government 
should give them a pension and turn them loose. The 
present coddling is pernicious, not only for the ex -soldier, 
but also for those who are interested in keeping their 
hospital jobs. Doctors must be  able to detect cunning and craft. The 
sick habit often starts as a joke, an experiment —just to see how those interested will take it —and ends in deceiving the 
deceiver. A common habit, and one that often leads to a sick habit, 
is self -pity—being sorr y for one’s self. Children are 
inclined to play sick to buy what they want. Giving even school lunches enervates by building 
dissatisfaction. It is disease -building. Children must be 
given an independent spirit —pride will save the world. Then, to add to all this routine of nerve -destroying customs 
of our schools, teeth must be straightened; which means 
pressure on nerve and more or less irritation. The tonsils 
and appendix must be removed. This is a pernicious 
medical fad. Feed right, and there will be  no excuse for 
operations. Vaccine and serums must be used to immunize from 
disease that results from the enervation brought on from all 
preceding causes. This is another senseless fad, besides it is 
disease building. People are sick from wrong l iving. Operations remove 
erects. Stop the cause, and disease goes away. Nature cures, 
when allowed to do so, by removing the causes of 
enervation. Children Pampered and Spoiled. —This brings on the bad 
and enervating habits of irritability, wilfulness,  overeating, 
improper eating, and temper. Many of the older children 
use tobacco, coffee, and an excessive amount of sweets and 
pastry. Self -abuse begins early in many, and is the cause of 
stomach symptoms. Adolescence comes with excessive 
dancing, loss of  sleep, smoking, drinking, lasciviousness, 
venereal disease, and the fear springing from the 
contemplation of the consequences. Irritable children are 
hard to do anything for. The reason they are irritable is 
because they are pampered and not made to mind. It is a crime not to control children. They should be 
compelled to obey. But do not wait until they are sick. A 
cranky irritability will help bring on disease and keep a 
child sick. Fear. —Fear is the greatest of all causes of enervation. Childre n are subject to many fears. They are educated to 
fear the dark, the bogy -man, and punishment. Parents often 
keep children in a state of fear by irritably cuffing them for 
the slightest excuse. There are many parents who do their 
“scrapping” before their c hildren. It is a dreadfully 
common thing to do. Outlawry begins at home and at the breast of the mother. A child that cannot respect its parents will not respect the 
laws of the state or nation. No parent is respected who is 
not obeyed at once and wit hout capitulation. Unconditional 
surrender is the discipline necessary for character -building. But children will not obey laws that parents disregard. In domestic infelicity are born disease and crime, and no 
amount of doctoring by doctors of medicine , law, and 
theology can cure; for none of them removes the cause. Those who die of chronic disease have no self -control. There is much fear and anxiety in a child’s life. No child 
can thrive living in a state of fear in home, school, or 
church. Discip line taught by respected parents brings love 
and not fear. Longevity has increased since hell -fire and brimstone 
have ceased to be taught and to build fear. A morality kept 
intact by fear is not health -imparting, and is not a morality 
at all. Remove t he fear, and mob license succeeds it. Fear 
and love are antidotal. Man has been taught to fear God, 
and at the same time love Him. Where the fear is real, the 
love is fictitious. Love being the basis on which ethics is 
built, a love founded on fear builds humbug ethics; and this  is the foundation of all the conventional lies of our 
civilization. Fear in all lines concerning children, from their 
conception to their birth, and on through school life, social 
life, and marriage, leads to enervation. The d earth of worth -
while knowledge of how to feed and otherwise care for 
children keeps up an unnecessary worry with parents 
concerning their health. How to teach the young to avoid 
breaking their health and handicapping their minds by 
excesses in play, eating , drinking, in controlling temper and 
emotions, and in self -pollution is a knowledge sadly 
lacking in nearly all homes. Disease follows these excesses 
in the young. There is not a habit so self -destructive and so 
generally practiced as venereal excitement;  and there is no 
habit receiving so little attention from parents. Ataxia is supposed to be caused by syphilis, but in fact, it 
is caused by cerebro -spinal enervation, brought on from 
sensuality in all forms —particularly venereal. Subjects of 
this dis ease usually begin onanism early in life. Parents 
should teach children to avoid destroying habits. I have had 
locomotor -ataxia cases confess to me that they began their 
self-pollution as early as eight years of age. Ten to fifteen 
are the years when activ e pollution begins. Unless a 
physician is very tactful, youths will not confess. I will say that very few boys have been untruthful to me. This 
practice is not quite so common with the opposite sex. The physical abuse in this line is not nearly so ene rvating 
as allowing the mind to dwell on sex -subjects. Lascivious 
dreaming debauches the victim as much as excessive 
venery. Early pollution, followed by excessive venery, 
often communizes a mind that would shine in the forum 
and in intellectual pursuits. There is a difference, however, 
in garrulity and garrulous parroting, and giving a feast of 
reason. Bright intellects at twenty and twenty -five often 
degenerate into mediocrity at forty -five because of brain -
enervation due to venereal excess. Add to sex - abuse, 
tobacco, coffee, tea, alcohol, and excessive or wrong 
eating, and no wonder man at sixty is fit for little else than 
chloroforming, if nature has not already administered 
euthanasia. ADULTS   
 
   Adults, too, have much fear in their lives. The b read-and-
butter problem gives anxiety; but when enough has been 
accumulated, so that fear along this line is unnecessary, 
fear is felt that something may happen that will put them  back in the breadline. Why? There is no confidence in 
business ethics —there is no God in business. Business Worries. —Business worries are a source of 
enervation. Business —any business —is not the cause of 
worry. A work well done is a delight, and anything that 
delights is character -building. A work slovenly carried on 
dissati sfies; but the worrier never looks within to find the 
cause. This life brings enervation in time, and disease as a 
sequel; then more worries looking for a cure. Business is 
what a man makes of it. A thorough understanding of 
business, with honesty and indu stry, removes all worries 
and saves nerve - energy. Worry does not build efficiency; 
neither is inefficiency removed by worrying. Worry, lack of 
control over the emotions, improper eating, stimulants, all 
build disease. Nothing is so conducive to poise  as a thorough 
understanding of one’s personal habits and occupation. Bluff and bluster may put the idea of efficiency “across” to 
the people for a time; but, as surely as chickens come home 
to roost, the truth will out. Worry, even though presenting a 
smooth exterior, will break through; the worker will break 
down —disease will claim him for its own. Housewives 
who carry a burden of worry become enervated and lose 
health. The cause of their worry is lack of control of eating, lack of control of the emotions , lack of care of the body, 
and lack of efficiency. Instead of resolutely going to work 
to remove all the defects, they are downed by them. An 
uncontrollable temper must be downed, or it will down the 
one who gives way to it. Gossip is not an admirable qua lity, 
and, unless overcome, it will in time drive friends away. Envy and jealousy are cancers that eat the soul out of those 
who indulge them. What is left to love when the soul is 
gone? When anyone, from indolence and health -destroying 
habits, allows  himself to gravitate below the standard 
expected of him by his friends, he must not be surprised 
when they run away from him. Who are the old people who are left alone? Those who 
have lived selfish lives —who have demanded 
entertainment when they shou ld have been entertaining 
themselves. Happiness and entertainment must come from 
within —from a love of service, work, books. If this 
fountain of youth and pleasure is not found before old age 
creeps over us, we shall find ourselves alone. Even in the 
midst  of a throng we shall be alone, forever alone. What 
could be more pathetic? Self-Indulgence. —Self-indulgence is contrary to ethics and brings its condemnation. What about the ethics of 
gluttons —what about their religion? Excess in everything 
follows o n the heels of abnormal selfish indulgence. Coming under this head are self -pity and a desire for cure. Extravagant habits, even if there is an inexhaustible supply, 
builds a self -destructive morale, on the heels of which, like 
a nemesis, runs the trail to  premature death. The causes are 
called heart disease, apoplexy, paralysis, kidney disease, 
suicide, etc. ; but what is in a name? Names are all 
misleading; for the cause —first, last, and all the time —is a 
selfish body and mind —destructive self -indulgence. A study of nature reveals the fact that man must live for 
service; not giving alms, but helping others to help 
themselves. Self -indulgence in the use of stimulants, even in 
moderation, is a constant drain on the nervous system; and 
a time comes w hen the last cigar, the last cup of coffee, the 
last hearty meal, snaps the vital cord; and the contingency 
is always unexpected and a surprise. Overwork is said to enervate; but this is an excuse behind 
which are hidden many bad habits that kill, rat her than the 
work. Work without pleasure in the work is enervating and 
disease -building; an unsatisfied mind —a desire to engage in some other work before efficiency has been attained in 
the work engaged in; more desire for pay than to do good 
work. A work is never well done until it takes on the 
individuality of the worker. We should work with the 
creative instinct. Our work should be created in the image  
of its creator —love of the creator —of the work’ not the 
emoluments. Dissatisfaction and overwork ed emotions are enervating. Worry, fear, grief, anger, passion, temper, overjoy, 
depression, dissatisfaction, self -pity, pride, egotism, envy, 
jealousy, gossip, lying, dishonesty, failing to meet 
obligations and appointments, taking advantage of 
misunderst andings, abusing the credulity of friends, 
abusing the confidence of those who confide in us —all 
enervate and in time build incurable disease. Grief. —Grief is enervating. Those who are very 
enervated and toxemic will be prostrated by grief, and, 
unless put to bed and kept warm and quiet, and without 
food, may die. Food eaten under such circumstances will 
not digest, but acts as a poison. Some people are made 
invalids for life by a great grief. Shock. —Shock, mental or physical, may enervate so 
greatly as to kill by heart failure, or be followed by permanent nervousness. Wrong eating or overeating may 
prevent a return to health. The shell -shock that many 
soldiers suffered during the World War was converted into 
permanent invalidism by tobacco and oth er enervating 
habits. Certainly overeating prevents a return to health. Anger. —Anger is very enervating. A daily shock of anger 
will build profound enervation. A temper that flies at the 
slightest provocation ruins digestion and builds 
nervousness. Un less controlled, epilepsy may evolve, and 
cancer may end life. The chronic grouch is liable to build 
ulcer or cancer of the stomach. Those who cannot control 
their temper often build rheumatic arthritis, hard arteries, 
gall-stone, and early old age. Egotism. —Because of self -love, selfishness, misanthropy, 
and distrust, the egotist sees unfriendliness in all the acts of 
others —every hand is against him. This causes enervation 
and Toxemia, which lead on to many nervous 
derangements, and even insanity. A misanthrope loves self 
above everything and everybody. The moment the nearest 
and dearest friend is suspected, the friend’s head comes off 
figuratively. The egotist hates all who fail to feed his 
vanity. Hate and anger are always on tap, but draped with a 
mocking smile when finesse or stratagem demands. Friendship, honor, honesty, and veracity must go when self-interest is being impinged upon or neglected. Men of 
this type have no gratitude. They demand everything, and 
give nothing without an ulterior motiv e. Where egotism is 
mild, it may not go beyond a disagreeable, overbearing 
selfishness. Selfishness. —A selfish nature always looks after self first. A common type of selfishness is interpreted as love of 
children. But when a son or daughter marries ag ainst the 
father’s wish, disinheritance follows. Why? Because 
ambition is piqued. Love is oftener a selfish ambition than 
affection. Selfishness leads on to enervation and Toxemia. Ambition. —Ambition of a selfish type brings on ill -
health; for it meet s with so many disappointments. Where 
successful, it enables the one who succeeds to gratify his 
sensual nature, resulting in all the so -called diseases 
following in the wake of selfish gratification. A noble 
ambition  goes with self -control and service to mankind, 
and health and long life are two of the rewards. Ambition 
for display, ostentation, gives an evanescent gratification; 
but it costs more in wasted nerve -energy than it is worth. Thousands of semi -invalid women bring on toxemic 
crises as their  reward for giving dinners and displaying 
dress, homes, and furnishings. Women gratify silly, stupid ambitions, and pay for their 
thrills in broken health. Many waste more energy at an afternoon card party than 
they can renew in a week. Envy. —Envy of a low and disease -producing type is of a 
begrudging nature. The man possessing this kind of envy is 
a vandal. He will slip a monkey -wrench into the machinery 
of those whom he envies. He will poison reputations by 
innuendo. Who steals my purse ste als trash; ‘tis something, 
nothing;  
‘Twas mine, ‘tis his, and has been slave to 
thousands;  
But he who filches from me my good name  
Robs me of that which not enriches him,  
And makes me poor indeed. (Shakespeare.) When safe, such a person will go the  limit in doing even 
bodily harm to those whose merits tower over his. Laudable 
envy is that of a desire to equal in success the one envied. To rejoice in the success of others, and try to equal them, 
where the success has been achieved on merit, builds a 
healthy mind and body. Love and Jealousy. —According to Solomon: “Love is 
strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave.” Solomon 
should have known. Shakespeare knew about everything worth knowing up to 
his time. He said:  
 
How many fools serve m addened jealousy! The venomed clamors of a jealous woman  
Poison more deadly than a mad dog’s tooth. The systematic poisoning of overwrought emotions has 
been known since reasoning began; but, aside from 
knowing that ‘`a poison is generated in the sys tem” from 
great anger, love, jealousy, hate, and grief, just what the 
poison is, and the modus operandi of its production, have 
never been satisfactorily explained until made clear by the 
Philosophy of Toxemia. The pathology of jealousy 
Shakespeare knew we ll, as evidenced by the words he put 
into the mouths of some of his characters. Excessive emotion —jealousy, for example, or great 
anger — precipitates a profound enervation, which inhibits 
elimination. This floods the blood with toxin, and brings on 
a malignant Toxemia in the form of toxin drunkenness, 
which in people of a belligerent nature causes them to run amuck. Murder, several murders, are sometimes 
committed. In those with more consideration for others —
those with less self -love—suicide ends the p sychological 
storm. Jealousy and unrequited love, when not malignant —
developing in a viscious, unmoral subject —in time 
undermine the constitution by keeping up a gradually 
increasing state of enervation and Toxemia. Catarrhal 
inflammations and ulcerat ions get better and worse, with no 
hope of final recovery until the causes of enervation are 
overcome namely, enervating habits of mind and body, of 
which jealousy is chief. Overeating. —Overeating is a common and universal 
enervating habit; eating too  much fat —cream, butter, fat 
meats, oils, rich pastries, sweets; eating too often; eating 
between meals, and checking digestion with water -drinking 
between meals. Food -inebriety is more common than alcohol -inebriety. The subconscious is as busy as a h ive of bees substituting, 
antidoting, and in reparation work; substituting one 
stimulating excess for another —demanding whiskey, 
tobacco, opium, etc., for gluttonous eating; thrills, shocks, 
sensual excesses for food -poisoning. Ungratified sense -demands ar e appeased by food excesses or other stimulants; 
and when nature is balked in her demands, the victim runs 
amuck. A French sheep -herder’s daughter, being opposed by her 
father in marrying a lover, killed the parent while he slept 
by their campfire. A short time after the tragedy some men 
came upon the camp and discovered the girl eating her 
father’s heart, which she had cut out and roasted in the fire. When surprised at her cannibalistic feast, she held up what 
was left of the heart, and, with a sardon ic laugh, declared: 
“He broke my heart, and I am eating his.”  
 
   Only a short time ago the overwrought nerves of a jazz -
and alcohol -crazed girl forced her to kill her mother 
because the latter undertook to oppose her in the 
gratification of her subconsci ous demands for more 
stimulation. When enervation and Toxemia have reached the stage of 
inebriety seen in the two girls mentioned above, civil and 
moral laws have abdicated to the subconscious laws, which, 
like cosmic law and order, are unmoral, but r un true to 
necessity. Psychological, like physical, cyclones are out of the 
regular order, yet they are obeying the laws of their nature. They have no scruples to gainsay, but tear through order as 
ruthlessly as fiends. Every human being should know that such phenomena 
are potential to him, and that the road to such catastrophes 
is enervating habits. Prohibition is a beautiful ideal, but it is palliating one 
social disease while it is building a greater. What mother would not rather hav e her son brought home 
from the corner grog -shop drunk than see him escorted to 
jail hand -cuffed to an officer? Enervation and Toxemia focused on the brain bring out 
neurotic states, with all kinds of symptom -complexes. Drunkenness substitutes for ban k robbery and other 
outlawry. So long as food -drunkenness retains its prestige 
with the professions —prescribed by doctors; babbled to us 
Sundays, and deciding our brawls on Monday —it will take 
more than statutes to enforce law and order. Most of our 
laws a re made while the law -makers are drunk on food and 
tobacco. Drunkenness and crime of all kinds are vicarious toxin 
eliminations —crises of Toxemia. Enforcing temperance 
and control of crime must fail In object —namely, causing 
people to be temperate and  law-abiding. The reason should 
be obvious to the student of nature. Our wants are based on 
our subconscious needs; sentiment and ethics have nothing 
to do with it. Our subconscious is not moral nor immoral; it 
belongs to the Great Cosmos, which is systema tic, perfect 
in order, but unmoral. Intemperance of any kind establishes 
a want which, if not satisfied in the usual way, will turn to 
other ways of being satisfied. The surgeon, laws, and 
anodynes perhaps relieve effects, but cures are based on 
removing c auses. Legislatures are quack doctors. Self -
control is the only cure. To develop self -control, the need 
must be understood. The gluttonous build putrefaction in the bowels. Nerve -
energy is used up in resisting systemic infection. The 
supply of blood t o the surface of the body for purposes of 
warmth —radiation —resisting cold and heat, is called to the 
mucous membrane of the gastro -intestinal canal to 
neutralize the septic material that is about to enter the 
system through the absorbents. The mucous membr ane 
becomes turgid with blood, establishing a mucorrhea 
(excessive secretion of mucus). This is what we call 
catarrh. This secretion mechanically obstructs absorption of putrescence, and also antidotes the poison by bringing the 
antibodies from the blood. A battle -royal is on all the time in the intestines of the 
gluttonous. The subconscious musters all the help possible, 
and when the system is drained of autogenerated antidotes, 
the victim is sent by his subconscious to find alcohol, 
tobacco, coffee, tea, condiments, and more food. Moral 
preachments, and prohibitory laws passed by Solons drunk 
on toxin. bowel putrescence, and tobacco, like all 
monstrosities, are abortions. Insatiable desire for food and stimulants means an 
enervated state of the b ody brought on from 
overindulgence —overstimulation. A driving desire for food three times a day means 
enervation; trouble is only a little farther on. The wise will 
get busy and correct appetites. Perverted appetites are built by overeating; eati ng rich 
food until enjoyment is lost for staple or plain foods; 
excessive use of stimulants —alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea; 
excessive use of butter, salt, pepper, and rich dressings, 
eating without a real hunger (real hunger will take the 
plainest foods wit h a relish); eating when sick or uncomfortable; eating at all hours, between meals; eating 
until uncomfortable. Gossips are always slanderers, and slanderers are always 
and forever potential liars. If they do not know that they are 
broadcasting lies, they are criminally careless in not 
endeavoring to find whether the tale they gossip is true or 
not. Gossip enervates the gossiper. Gossips are always enervated, for they live in fear of 
being discovered. Their secretions are always acid. They 
are inc lined to develop pyorrhea and mucous -membrane 
infections. They are slow to recover from catarrhal crises of 
Toxemia. Gossips are empty -headed slaves to their habits of slander 
and spite; they are malignant parasites that feed upon 
carrion. They are th e lowest type of criminals; hell 
monsters that kill with their breath. They often die of 
cancer. Sycophancy. —Flatterers look like friends, as wolves like 
dogs. (Byron.) He hurts me most who lavishly commends. (Churchill.) A real sycophant, like all people who are not honest, lives 
a life that enervates, and which nature condemns early. Dishonesty. —Dishonesty eventually hardens the arteries, 
and cancer ends a miserable existence. Religiosity. —Morbidly pious,  yet practicing the foregoing 
habits and ending in premature death. A saving religion, Christian, Jewish or Mohammedan, is 
one free from mental and physical habits that 
overstimulate, enervate and intoxicate. If Toxemic get rid of enervating habits. Cures —prayers, 
drugs, surg ery—all honest or dishonest cures —will not 
cure. Get rid of cause and stay rid of it, then health returns 
and abides perpetually. Retrospection  
 
   MORE might have been said, and no doubt better said, 
about how we human beings vandalize our minds and 
bodies; but enough has been told for open -minded people 
to see that the only nemesis on our heels is our habits. O. 
W. Holmes, in his “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” 
had this to say concerning habit:  
 
   Habit is the approximation of the animal syst em 
of the organic. It is a confession of failure in the 
highest function of being, which involves a 
perpetual self - determination, in full view of all 
existing circumstances. Autonomy or self -government is met at the threshold of 
life by all the conven tional superstitions, and educated into 
a lot of habits, such as curing without removing cause. This, combined with man’s inclination to hedonism (the 
doctrine that pleasure is the only good), leads to a life of 
failure, in spite of man’s potential desire to rise above the 
forces that hold him down. “Toxemia Explained” will help 
all who study it carefully to understand what disease is, and 
how it is brought on. This knowledge will help the wise. and self - controlled to sidestep disease, and the medical 
octopus that unwittingly vandalizes the sick. The profession is made up of an army of educated men; 
and I believe the majority are gentlemen, and are 
endeavoring to serve humanity. Education and ethics, when 
established on fallacy and given the prestige of  numbers —
given an overwhelming majority —can make the fallacy 
true, so far as the herd is concerned. All I ask of laymen or the profession is honestly to put 
my philosophy to the acid test. Yes, prove, if possible, that 
I am mistaken, and then give me what is coming to me! Man makes his own diseases. This book tells how he does 
it. And he is the one who can bring back health. He and his 
subconsciousness alone can cure. Doctors cannot cure. Only very rarely is surgical vandalism a dernier resort,  
unless bad treatment forces unnecessary emergencies. The body is strong or weak, as the case 
may be, depending entirely on whether 
the nerve -energy is strong or weak. And it should be remembered that the 
functions of the body are carried on 
well or badly ac cording to the amount 
of energy generated. A Few Suggestions   
 
   THE following suggestions may be of assistance to those 
who wish to maintain their present state of good health, or 
help them to bring themselves from their present state of 
impaired health  to that of good health. Those who are badly 
handicapped, and who wish more detailed information, will 
have to have the advice fitted to their particular cases 
through individual instructions. The first thing on awaking in the morning, the Tilden 
system of tensing exercises should be practiced for from 
fifteen to thirty minutes. (See exercises at the end of this 
chapter.) Following the exercise, go to the bathroom and, 
while standing in warm water, take a quick, warm sponge -
bath. Then follow this with plenty of dry -towel or friction -
mitten rubbing. At night, before retiring, give the body a 
thorough friction rubbing again. If not convenient to take 
the warm sponge -bath in the morning, use the dry rub in the 
morning and the warm sponge -bath at night befo re retiring. Eat three meals a day and no more; no eating nor drinking 
between meals. Use the following rules to guide you in 
“when to eat, when not to eat, and how to eat”:  
    Rule No. 1. —Never eat unless you have been absolutely 
comfortable in min d and body from the previous mealtime. Rule No. 2. —Thoroughly masticate and insalivate every 
mouthful of starchy food, and give the rest of your food 
plenty of attention. Rule No. 3. —Never eat without a keen relish. If the bowels do not move  during the day, before retiring 
at night use a small enema —a pint of warm water. Put it 
into the bowels and allow it to remain for five to ten 
minutes; then solicit a movement. Proper mastication, right 
combinations of food, and plenty of tensing exercise  to the 
abdomen will bring about proper bowel action. As to what to eat —For those in ordinarily good health the 
following rules will serve as a guide:  
Fruit Breakfast  
Starch Lunch  
Regulation Dinner  
 
or  
 
 Starch Breakfast  
Fruit Lunch  
Regulation Di nner 
   The regulation dinner may be taken at noon in place of 
the lunch, if it is more convenient. Fruit Breakfast. —Any kind of fresh fruit or berries 
followed with either milk, fifty -fifty (half warm milk and 
half hot water), or teakettle tea (hot w ater with two or three 
tablespoons of cream to the cup). Starch Breakfast. —Toast, Shredded Wheat, Triscuit, Rye 
Crisp, well -baked muffins, corn bread or biscuit, griddle -
cakes, waffles, cooked cereal (any one of foregoing), 
followed with fresh or cook ed fruit, without sugar. The dry 
starches should be eaten with a little butter, and not soaked 
up with milk or cream. This insures thorough mastication. The cereals should be taken with a little cream and salt —no 
milk or sugar. The griddle -cakes and waffle s may be 
accompanied with honey and butter, followed with teakettle 
tea. If desired, the starch breakfast may be followed with 
fresh fruit instead of a beverage. Starch Lunch. —The same as the starch breakfast. Occasionally a piece of plain cake a nd ice -cream. Fruit Lunch. —The same as the fruit breakfast. Occasionally a piece of fruit pie and a piece of cheese, or 
some form of dessert, followed with fresh fruit. Regulation Dinner. —No. 1: Meat, two cooked non - 
starchy vegetables, and a com bination salad. No. 2: Starch, two cooked non -starchy vegetables, and a 
combination salad. Meat: Any kind of fresh meat, cheese, nuts, eggs, bacon, 
fish, or fowl. Starch: Potatoes (sweet or Irish), macaroni, rice, Hubbard 
squash, dry beans a nd peas, tapioca, pumpkin, or any of the 
starches listed above. Cooked Non -starchy Vegetables: Beets, carrots, parsnips, 
cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green corn, 
green beans and peas, asparagus, onions, eggplant, salsify, 
tomatoes,  cucumbers, celery, spinach, greens, summer 
squash, etc. Combination Tilden Salad: Lettuce, tomatoes, and 
cucumber; lettuce, celery and apple; lettuce, apple, and 
orange, or any other fruit. Dress with salt, oil, and lemon 
juice. Regulation Dinne r No. 1 —should be taken every other 
day, and Dinner No. 2 the alternate days. Of course, there are many variations and additions to the 
above suggestions, but details cannot he gone into in this 
book. Those who wish to have more detailed suggestions 
should read the monthly periodical, Dr. Tilden’s Health 
Review and Critique, and his Cook Book. DR. Tilden’s Tensing Exercises   
 
   Begin by tensing the leg muscles from the toes to the 
body, as follows: First extend the toes as far as you can; 
then grip, as it were, by forcing the toes forward toward the 
heels, and at the same time make the muscles of the legs 
hard to the body. Completely relax. Do not repeat the 
tension again until muscles are soft; then tense again, 
repeating the contraction and e xtension. Tense the hands and arms in the same way. Extend the 
fingers as far as possible, making the muscles hard to the 
shoulders; then grip the fingers and shut the fist, hardening 
the muscles to the shoulders. Do this five times; then tense 
the le gs five times; then the hands and arms again. Fold a pillow and put under the shoulders, so that when 
the head drops back it will not touch anything. Lift the head 
forward, the chin to the chest; drop the head back again as 
far as it will go; then lif t. Do this four or five times. Then, 
with the pillow still under the shoulders, lock the fingers 
under the head, allowing the head to rest in the hands. Swing the head from side to side, up and down, and rotate, 
carrying each movement as far as possible. Then push the folded pillow down under the hips and go 
through the leg movements of riding a bicycle. Then, with 
legs extended in the air, move each leg from side to side, 
allowing one to pass the other, scissor - fashion; changing, 
however, each time t hey pass, having first one leg forward 
and then the other. Tense the abdomen, making the muscles as hard as 
possible, and at the same time kneading the muscles with 
the hands. This exercise is necessary for overcoming 
constipation. In women, the uteri ne ligaments will be 
strengthened, lifting and overcoming falling and misplaced 
positions of the womb. The muscles of the bladder and 
rectum will be improved by these exercises. Piles —
prolapsus of the rectal mucous membrane —will be 
overcome. An irritable b ladder and prostate enlargements 
will be benefited by these exercises. Then sit up and turn the face to the right as far as 
possible; then to the left as far as possible; then allow the 
head to drop over, so as to bring the ear close to the 
shoulder, and then carry it over to the opposite shoulder. These movements of the head and neck are necessary to 
remove deposits that take place between the vertebrae, and 
in grooves and openings in bones where the nerves and arteries pass. If the hearing is ba d, these movements will 
improve it. If the sense of smell is not so acute as it should 
be, by keeping up the exercises the olfactory nerve will be 
freed and the power of smell will be improved. The taste, 
too, will be bettered. All the nerves of special se nse will be 
invigorated. The pneumogastric nerve and all the vital 
nerves controlling vital organs are invigorated by this 
exercise. When nerves are pressed upon by organic 
deposits, the movements above described will cause the 
deposits to be absorbed. The  muscles of the neck will 
develop; the muscles of the face will develop, one will 
grow to look and feel younger. These exercises must be gone through with, not only 
before getting up, but every three or four hours during the 
day. You may think that th is is very laborious, but it is the 
price you must pay to get well. So begin at once, and be 
faithful! Sit on the edge of the bed, and sway the body from side 
to side as far as possible, then follow with a twisting 
movement, attempting to look behind over the shoulders. Sit up in bed, and sway backward and forward, compelling 
the spine to bend from the small of the back up to the head, 
forward and backward. This loosens up the spine and  invigorates the nerves that are sent off to the lower part of 
the body. Get on the knees and elbows; then push the body forward 
as far as possible without falling upon the abdomen; then 
push back as far as possible. Go back and forth, while in 
this position, until tired, then drop on either the left or right 
should er while the hips are highly elevated. This is called 
the knee -shoulder position. The knee and elbow position, 
with the movements described, I call the “Irish Mail 
movements.” It is necessary to practice both these 
movements and positions in overcoming con stipation, 
prolapsus of the bowels, rectum, or womb, and piles. Place the forefingers over the closed eyes, and rub gently 
from side to side. Then remove the fingers and rotate the 
eyeballs, reversing the movement to relieve the tire. Place the f orefingers on the wings of the nose; press 
together and move from side to side. When the weather is nice, it is well to walk in the open 
air as often as possible.
Toxemia_Explained_by_John_Tilden.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        The entire organism is more or 
less infected by the protein decomposition. A feast -day 
comes along; an excess produces a crisis; and th e organism, 
which is enervated and toxemic to the point of no 
resistance, is overwhelmed by septic poisoning. WHAT CAUSES FATALITY   
 
   Fatal cases in all epidemics are food -drunkards who are 
very much enervated, toxemic and infected from 
putrescence in  the bowels. It is a crime to feed anything to the sick. No food should 
be given until all symptoms are gone; then fruit and 
vegetable juices (never any animal foods not for weeks). A 
hot bath should be administered three times daily. Wash out 
the bowe ls by enemas every few hours, until all putrescent 
debris is throughly cleared out; and, when possible, give a 
gastric ravage daily, until the stomach and bowels are 
thoroughly cleared of all putrescence. The life of the patient 
depends upon getting rid of  the putrid food still remaining 
in the bowels, before enough putrescence is absorbed to 
cause death. All epidemic diseases are wholesale food -
poisonings among people who are pronouncedly enervated 
and toxemic. The poisoning by food is on the order of 
poisoning by chemicals. Those who have least resistance 
(are most enervated and toxemic) suffer most and succumb 
the easiest; for the poisoning brings on a crisis of Toxemia, 
and the two nerve -destroying influences overwhelm the 
reduced resistance, and may end  in death unless wisely 
treated. All acute diseases are gastro -intestinal infections 
acting on toxemic subjects. The more enervated and 
toxemic the subject, the more severe the crisis. Certainly 
anyone with intelligence should see the danger in giving 
food when the exciting cause of the disease is food -
poisoning. Keep the patient warm and quiet, and in good air. More 
treatment is meddlesome. Getting rid of putrefaction is 
most important. Such diseases develop only in those of 
pronounced enervation and  toxemic, and those of very bad 
eating habits. TO SUM UP   
 
   To sum up briefly the difference between the toxemic 
methods and “regular medicine”: Toxemia is a system 
based on the true cause of disease —namely Toxemia. Before Toxemia is developed, natura l immunization 
protects from germs, parasites, and all physical vicissitudes. Toxin is a by -product as constant and necessary as life 
itself. When the organism is normal, it is produced and 
eliminated as fast as produced. From the point of 
production to the point of elimination, it is carried by the 
blood; hence at no time is the organism free from toxin in 
the blood. In a normal amount it is gently stimulating; but 
when the organism is enervated, elimination is checked. Then the amount retained become s overstimulating —
toxic—ranging from a slight excess to an amount so 
profound as to overwhelm life. The treatment is so simple that it staggers those who 
believe in curing. Heroic treatment is disease -building. Find in what way nerve -energy is wasted,  and stop it —stop 
all nerve -leaks. Then returning to normal is a matter of 
time, in which nature attends to all repairs herself. And she 
resents help —medical officiousness. In writing and giving advice, I often make the mistake of 
taking for granted t hat the consultant understands what I 
have in mind. Why should he, when I have not given oral 
or written expression to my meaning. In the matter of stopping nerve -leaks, it is easy for me to 
say: “Find out in what way nerve -energy is wasted, and 
stop it—stop all nerve -leaks,” etc. I am appalled at my 
stupidity in saying to a patient to stop enervating himself, 
and allowing the matter to end by naming one or two gross 
enervating habits; for example: Stop worry; stop smoking; 
stop stimulants; control you r temper; stop eating too 
rapidly; stop allowing yourself to become excited. Stopping 
one enervating habit benefits; but dependable health brooks 
no enervating habits at all. The Causes of Enervation  
 
   TO UNDERSTAND disease, it is necessary to know 
cause; and, as Toxemia  is the cause of all diseases, and as 
enervation —an enervated body and mind —is the cause of 
Toxemia,  it behooves those who are sick and want to get 
well, and who want to know how to stay well, to know 
what causes enervation. A norm al, healthy person is one who is poised (self -
controlled), and who has no nerve -destroying habits. A 
self-controlled man is a man who is not controlled, kicked, 
cuffed, or driven by habits. Man is either the master of himself, or his appetite and 
sensual pleasures master him. If the former, he enjoys 
health until worn out; and he should go down at from 
ninety to one hundred and fifty years of age. If he is 
inclined to the latter, yet has his habits more or less under 
control —is moderate —he may live fro m sixty to ninety 
years. But if he is a sensualist —is controlled by habits and 
passions, sits up after bedtime to take a last smoke or eat a 
lunch or gets up in the night and smokes (I knew a 
celebrated physician who used tobacco to secure sleep; he 
died a t fifty-four years of age), or takes a drink to quiet his nerves and make him sleep, or goes the limit venereally —
he becomes irritable, grouchy, and dies prematurely. Excesses transform a man into a disgusting brute. The 
word “brute” is used here to e xpress the state of one being 
devoid of self -control. Those of fine constitutions are often 
converted into neurotics, who have left health and comfort 
far behind. Many know comfort only for short periods, and 
then at the instigation of drugs or stimulants. The youths of our country are fast developing a state of 
multi-inebriety —jazz, tobacco, alcohol, and petting parties; 
are developing a sex -neurosis that will he followed by a 
generation of paralytics, epileptics, insane, morons, idiots, 
and monstrosi ties, embracing all who do not die of acute 
disease. This class live from thirty until the chloroforming age —
sixty years. The majority die early in life. We are fast 
coming to an age of impotence. I knew one of superior 
mind who died of ataxia at thir ty-five. I quote a few lines 
from his own writings concerning his state the last year of 
his life:  
 
Could I but crystallize these midnight tears  
   And gather from their beaded bitterness     A rosary for burning lips to press,  
Some pain -born token of th ese joyless years,  
To teach the faith that saves, the hope that cheers;  
   Then would I bid these fountains of distress  
   Flow fast and free, if their sad floods could bless  
Or murmur peace in some poor sufferer’s ears. My world has shrunk at las t to this small room,  
   Where, like a prisoner, I must now remain. I’d rather be a captive in the gloom  
   Of some damp dungeon, tearing at my chain;  
   For then, perchance, my freedom I might gain. Ah God. to think that I must languish here,  
   Fet tered by sickness and subdued by pain,  
To die a living death from year to year,  
Joy banished from my breast and Sorrow brooding 
there. I often think how once these stumbling feet,  
   That now can scarcely bear me to my bed,  
Were swift to follow, a s the wind is fleet,  
   That baleful beam that to destruction led;  
 
   Thou domineering power, or love, or lust,  
   Or passion, or whatever else thou art,  
How have thy crimson roses turned to dust  
   And strewn their withered leaves upon this heart. Though through my vitals now they venomed dart  
Strikes like an adder’s sting, yet still I feel  
   From Egypt’s flesh -pots it is hard to part;  
 And my weak, wandering glances often steal  
Back to sweet sinful things, until my senses reel. Still o ne retreat is left, to which I flee:  
   Dear dreamy draught, in which I often steep  
Body and soul, I turn again to thee,  
And drift down Lethe’s stream out on Oblivion’s 
sea. Thirty -five years is a short life for a brain to live that can 
conjure the English language as the above snatches 
indicate. Thousands pay the price that this man paid, but 
very few can win so much admiration and sympathy with 
their swan -songs. Few people can read the psychology of 
swan -songs. Often they are an epitome of a lifeti me. ENERVATING HABITS   
 
BABIES   
 
   Babies should not be trundled about too much; should not 
sleep in their mothers’ arms; should not be exposed to 
bright lights, loud talking, noises, too much heat or cold; 
should not be jolted about in baby -buggies, a utomobiles, 
trains, street cars. The very young are made sick by too much excitement of 
all kinds. Very young children should be kept quiet enough 
to favor sleep all the time, except when bathed and when 
clothes are changed. They should not he taken u p every 
time they do any fretting. All that is needed is to make 
them dry and change their positions. Young children should not be fed oftener than every four 
hours, and not that often unless they are awake. To awaken 
a child for food is very unnecess ary and harmful. A human being is a cerebro -spinal dynamo, and should 
be kept as much as possible in a static state, conserving 
nerve -energy for future use. Poise or self -control —teaching 
a child to be contented alone —must be started at birth. Children need no entertainment. When left alone, they 
find entertainment in becoming acquainted with 
themselves. Children that are coddled in the matter of being 
entertained —dancing attendance on them —develop 
discontent and bring on enervation, which fa vors “the 
diseases peculiar to children. ”  
 
 CHILDREN   
 
   Children of school age are enervated by being urged in 
school work, exercise, and all kinds of excitement. Play 
should he limited. When hysteria shows up, stop the play. Much study, examinatio ns, exercise without desire, 
competitive examinations of all kinds, causes a capricious 
craving for food. When a growing child is forced to the 
limit of its nervous capacity, nature must conserve in some 
way; and as there is no way to sidestep convention’s  eternal 
grind, the normal desire for food is lost. Forced Feeding to Increase Weight. —The whole system 
of school feeding, is one of destroying health by 
enervating, if not killing the child. The federal government is ruining thousands of our 
young men, teaching them the sick habit. The government 
should give them a pension and turn them loose. The 
present coddling is pernicious, not only for the ex -soldier, 
but also for those who are interested in keeping their 
hospital jobs. Doctors must be  able to detect cunning and craft. The 
sick habit often starts as a joke, an experiment —just to see how those interested will take it —and ends in deceiving the 
deceiver. A common habit, and one that often leads to a sick habit, 
is self -pity—being sorr y for one’s self. Children are 
inclined to play sick to buy what they want. Giving even school lunches enervates by building 
dissatisfaction. It is disease -building. Children must be 
given an independent spirit —pride will save the world. Then, to add to all this routine of nerve -destroying customs 
of our schools, teeth must be straightened; which means 
pressure on nerve and more or less irritation. The tonsils 
and appendix must be removed. This is a pernicious 
medical fad. Feed right, and there will be  no excuse for 
operations. Vaccine and serums must be used to immunize from 
disease that results from the enervation brought on from all 
preceding causes. This is another senseless fad, besides it is 
disease building. People are sick from wrong l iving. Operations remove 
erects. Stop the cause, and disease goes away. Nature cures, 
when allowed to do so, by removing the causes of 
enervation. Children Pampered and Spoiled. —This brings on the bad 
and enervating habits of irritability, wilfulness,  overeating, 
improper eating, and temper. Many of the older children 
use tobacco, coffee, and an excessive amount of sweets and 
pastry. Self -abuse begins early in many, and is the cause of 
stomach symptoms. Adolescence comes with excessive 
dancing, loss of  sleep, smoking, drinking, lasciviousness, 
venereal disease, and the fear springing from the 
contemplation of the consequences. Irritable children are 
hard to do anything for. The reason they are irritable is 
because they are pampered and not made to mind. It is a crime not to control children. They should be 
compelled to obey. But do not wait until they are sick. A 
cranky irritability will help bring on disease and keep a 
child sick. Fear. —Fear is the greatest of all causes of enervation. Childre n are subject to many fears. They are educated to 
fear the dark, the bogy -man, and punishment. Parents often 
keep children in a state of fear by irritably cuffing them for 
the slightest excuse. There are many parents who do their 
“scrapping” before their c hildren. It is a dreadfully 
common thing to do. Outlawry begins at home and at the breast of the mother. A child that cannot respect its parents will not respect the 
laws of the state or nation. No parent is respected who is 
not obeyed at once and wit hout capitulation. Unconditional 
surrender is the discipline necessary for character -building. But children will not obey laws that parents disregard. In domestic infelicity are born disease and crime, and no 
amount of doctoring by doctors of medicine, law, and 
theology can cure; for none of them removes the cause. Those who die of chronic disease have no self -control. There is much fear and anxiety in a child’s life. No child 
can thrive living in a state of fear in home, school, or 
church. Discip line taught by respected parents brings love 
and not fear. Longevity has increased since hell -fire and brimstone 
have ceased to be taught and to build fear. A morality kept 
intact by fear is not health -imparting, and is not a morality 
at all. Remove t he fear, and mob license succeeds it. Fear 
and love are antidotal. Man has been taught to fear God, 
and at the same time love Him. Where the fear is real, the 
love is fictitious. Love being the basis on which ethics is 
built, a love founded on fear builds humbug ethics; and this  is the foundation of all the conventional lies of our 
civilization. Fear in all lines concerning children, from their 
conception to their birth, and on through school life, social 
life, and marriage, leads to enervation. The d earth of worth -
while knowledge of how to feed and otherwise care for 
children keeps up an unnecessary worry with parents 
concerning their health. How to teach the young to avoid 
breaking their health and handicapping their minds by 
excesses in play, eating, drinking, in controlling temper and 
emotions, and in self -pollution is a knowledge sadly 
lacking in nearly all homes. Disease follows these excesses 
in the young. There is not a habit so self -destructive and so 
generally practiced as venereal excitement;  and there is no 
habit receiving so little attention from parents. Ataxia is supposed to be caused by syphilis, but in fact, it 
is caused by cerebro -spinal enervation, brought on from 
sensuality in all forms —particularly venereal. Subjects of 
this dis ease usually begin onanism early in life. Parents 
should teach children to avoid destroying habits. I have had 
locomotor -ataxia cases confess to me that they began their 
self-pollution as early as eight years of age. Ten to fifteen 
are the years when activ e pollution begins. Unless a 
physician is very tactful, youths will not confess. I will say that very few boys have been untruthful to me. This 
practice is not quite so common with the opposite sex. The physical abuse in this line is not nearly so ene rvating 
as allowing the mind to dwell on sex -subjects. Lascivious 
dreaming debauches the victim as much as excessive 
venery. Early pollution, followed by excessive venery, 
often communizes a mind that would shine in the forum 
and in intellectual pursuits. There is a difference, however, 
in garrulity and garrulous parroting, and giving a feast of 
reason. Bright intellects at twenty and twenty -five often 
degenerate into mediocrity at forty -five because of brain -
enervation due to venereal excess. Add to sex - abuse, 
tobacco, coffee, tea, alcohol, and excessive or wrong 
eating, and no wonder man at sixty is fit for little else than 
chloroforming, if nature has not already administered 
euthanasia. ADULTS   
 
   Adults, too, have much fear in their lives. The b read-and-
butter problem gives anxiety; but when enough has been 
accumulated, so that fear along this line is unnecessary, 
fear is felt that something may happen that will put them  back in the breadline. Why. There is no confidence in 
business ethics —there is no God in business. Business Worries. —Business worries are a source of 
enervation. Business —any business —is not the cause of 
worry. A work well done is a delight, and anything that 
delights is character -building. A work slovenly carried on 
dissati sfies; but the worrier never looks within to find the 
cause. This life brings enervation in time, and disease as a 
sequel; then more worries looking for a cure. Business is 
what a man makes of it. A thorough understanding of 
business, with honesty and indu stry, removes all worries 
and saves nerve - energy. Worry does not build efficiency; 
neither is inefficiency removed by worrying. Worry, lack of 
control over the emotions, improper eating, stimulants, all 
build disease. Nothing is so conducive to poise  as a thorough 
understanding of one’s personal habits and occupation. Bluff and bluster may put the idea of efficiency “across” to 
the people for a time; but, as surely as chickens come home 
to roost, the truth will out. Worry, even though presenting a 
smooth exterior, will break through; the worker will break 
down —disease will claim him for its own. Housewives 
who carry a burden of worry become enervated and lose 
health. The cause of their worry is lack of control of eating, lack of control of the emotions, lack of care of the body, 
and lack of efficiency. Instead of resolutely going to work 
to remove all the defects, they are downed by them. An 
uncontrollable temper must be downed, or it will down the 
one who gives way to it. Gossip is not an admirable qua lity, 
and, unless overcome, it will in time drive friends away. Envy and jealousy are cancers that eat the soul out of those 
who indulge them. What is left to love when the soul is 
gone. When anyone, from indolence and health -destroying 
habits, allows  himself to gravitate below the standard 
expected of him by his friends, he must not be surprised 
when they run away from him. Who are the old people who are left alone. Those who 
have lived selfish lives —who have demanded 
entertainment when they shou ld have been entertaining 
themselves. Happiness and entertainment must come from 
within —from a love of service, work, books. If this 
fountain of youth and pleasure is not found before old age 
creeps over us, we shall find ourselves alone. Even in the 
midst  of a throng we shall be alone, forever alone. What 
could be more pathetic. Self-Indulgence. —Self-indulgence is contrary to ethics and brings its condemnation. What about the ethics of 
gluttons —what about their religion. Excess in everything 
follows o n the heels of abnormal selfish indulgence. Coming under this head are self -pity and a desire for cure. Extravagant habits, even if there is an inexhaustible supply, 
builds a self -destructive morale, on the heels of which, like 
a nemesis, runs the trail to  premature death. The causes are 
called heart disease, apoplexy, paralysis, kidney disease, 
suicide, etc. ; but what is in a name. Names are all 
misleading; for the cause —first, last, and all the time —is a 
selfish body and mind —destructive self -indulgence. A study of nature reveals the fact that man must live for 
service; not giving alms, but helping others to help 
themselves. Self -indulgence in the use of stimulants, even in 
moderation, is a constant drain on the nervous system; and 
a time comes w hen the last cigar, the last cup of coffee, the 
last hearty meal, snaps the vital cord; and the contingency 
is always unexpected and a surprise. Overwork is said to enervate; but this is an excuse behind 
which are hidden many bad habits that kill, rat her than the 
work. Work without pleasure in the work is enervating and 
disease -building; an unsatisfied mind —a desire to engage in some other work before efficiency has been attained in 
the work engaged in; more desire for pay than to do good 
work. A work is never well done until it takes on the 
individuality of the worker. We should work with the 
creative instinct. Our work should be created in the image  
of its creator —love of the creator —of the work’ not the 
emoluments. Dissatisfaction and overwork ed emotions are enervating. Worry, fear, grief, anger, passion, temper, overjoy, 
depression, dissatisfaction, self -pity, pride, egotism, envy, 
jealousy, gossip, lying, dishonesty, failing to meet 
obligations and appointments, taking advantage of 
misunderst andings, abusing the credulity of friends, 
abusing the confidence of those who confide in us —all 
enervate and in time build incurable disease. Grief. —Grief is enervating. Those who are very 
enervated and toxemic will be prostrated by grief, and, 
unless put to bed and kept warm and quiet, and without 
food, may die. Food eaten under such circumstances will 
not digest, but acts as a poison. Some people are made 
invalids for life by a great grief. Shock. —Shock, mental or physical, may enervate so 
greatly as to kill by heart failure, or be followed by permanent nervousness. Wrong eating or overeating may 
prevent a return to health. The shell -shock that many 
soldiers suffered during the World War was converted into 
permanent invalidism by tobacco and oth er enervating 
habits. Certainly overeating prevents a return to health. Anger. —Anger is very enervating. A daily shock of anger 
will build profound enervation. A temper that flies at the 
slightest provocation ruins digestion and builds 
nervousness. Un less controlled, epilepsy may evolve, and 
cancer may end life. The chronic grouch is liable to build 
ulcer or cancer of the stomach. Those who cannot control 
their temper often build rheumatic arthritis, hard arteries, 
gall-stone, and early old age. Egotism. —Because of self -love, selfishness, misanthropy, 
and distrust, the egotist sees unfriendliness in all the acts of 
others —every hand is against him. This causes enervation 
and Toxemia, which lead on to many nervous 
derangements, and even insanity. A misanthrope loves self 
above everything and everybody. The moment the nearest 
and dearest friend is suspected, the friend’s head comes off 
figuratively. The egotist hates all who fail to feed his 
vanity. Hate and anger are always on tap, but draped with a 
mocking smile when finesse or stratagem demands. Friendship, honor, honesty, and veracity must go when self-interest is being impinged upon or neglected. Men of 
this type have no gratitude. They demand everything, and 
give nothing without an ulterior motiv e. Where egotism is 
mild, it may not go beyond a disagreeable, overbearing 
selfishness. Selfishness. —A selfish nature always looks after self first. A common type of selfishness is interpreted as love of 
children. But when a son or daughter marries ag ainst the 
father’s wish, disinheritance follows.
Overindulgence in food and wrong habits.
What is the primary cause of enervation and disease, according to the author?
The author advises against giving food to the sick, as it can worsen their condition.
What is the author's stance on giving food to someone who is sick?
The author believes that doctors often do not address the root cause of the disease and instead focus on treating symptoms.
What is the author's view on the role of doctors in curing disease?
The author emphasizes the importance of self-control, self-awareness, and moderation in all aspects of life.
What is the author's advice for maintaining good health?
The author suggests that people should identify and eliminate the root causes of enervation and toxemia, rather than relying on medical treatment or medication.
What is the author's approach to overcoming disease and enervation?