VIU INTRODUCTION. 



and opened out a discovery that I at once recognized as 

 being of the utmost interest and importance. I tested 

 its value and found nothing wanting. It withstood the 

 severest trial and maintained itself under all circum- 

 stances. It promised to reform existing methods in the 

 treatment of disease, to expose the errors that have been 

 for centuries in vogue, to simplify human knowledge in 

 fields of vital moment to the health and welfare of my 

 fellow-men. Sweeping in its influence, it was simple in 

 its nature, and calculated to wipe out all the complexi- 

 ties of hygienic and curative principles by its oneness and 

 intensity. 



Ill-health had long held me in its toils. Every cura- 

 tive resource known to medical science had failed to 

 afford me relief. My condition was growing worse, and 

 hope was well-nigh abandoned, when, in the line of my 

 life-long studies, I found something that did what physi- 

 cians and their materia medica had not done. I applied 

 to my own case principles which I had learned were 

 those of Nature herself, and they profited me where art 

 had not availed. As soon as this result was realized, 

 and I had leisure to weigh the full force of my discovery, 

 I began to look backward and to reason from the results 

 of my experience back to first causes. My sufferings 

 had been complex, my ailments had been various, and, 

 according to medical theory, very different in origin and 

 kind. But one form of treatment cured me, and the in- 

 ference was inevitable that, if one method sufficed for a 

 f-ew diseases, it would probably suffice for more, and 

 possibly for all. I recalled the drift of my inquiries and 

 of my knowledge in the plant world, and formulated the 

 idea that all disease might perhaps be the consequence of 

 a single cause. Following up this train of thought, I 

 had no difficulty, in course of time, in strengthening the 

 theory by practical experiment. By observation and in- 

 quiry I soon had the soundness of the suggestion suffi- 

 ciently established to carry conviction to any unpreju- 

 diced mind. But more was needed. If all diseases are 

 traceable to one cause, all should alike yield to one mode 



