CONSUMPTION: ITS CAUSE AND CURE. 117 



Almost every consumptive person will tell us that the 

 iirst symptom of his trouble was a cough, caused by 

 catching cold, followed by a discharge of fermented mat- 

 ter. This fermented matter is nothing but masses of 

 microbes. In fact, all fermentation is caused by microbes. 

 Sudden changes of temperature in the human body 

 cause a rapid interruption in the circulation of the blood, 

 as they do of sap in plants, and that process prepares 

 a certain seed bed and temperature necessary for the 

 development of microbes. Hence fermentation is the 

 result. To illustrate : If a setting hen sits continually, 

 she will hatch chickens ; but if she leaves or is driven 

 from her eggs very often, they will become cold, fermen- 

 tation will ensue, and the eggs will rot. 



Seed planted early in the spring, when the ground is 

 warm, will germinate and grow ; but if a cold spell 

 should set in the seed will decompose or the plants 

 become yellow. Greenhouse plants suddenly exposed 

 from warm to cold also get sick. This clearly demon- 

 strates that there is no difference in that direction be- 

 tween animals and plants. The cause and result are 

 always the same. 



As soon as microbes enter the system the blood be- 

 comes stagnant in the affected parts, the coats of the 

 stomach begin to ferment (in plants the roots ferment), 

 and the patient loses appetite, color, flesh, and weight 

 from excessive expectoration. 



As water full of slime (see Plate II.) clogs up small 

 pipes, so blood filled with microbes is retarded in its free 

 circulation, and when this takes place (but not before) 

 ^Hubercle bacilli" find their proper seed bed and the 

 temperature congenial to their propagation and exist- 

 ence prepared and aided by other microbes, and in com- 

 pany with them they assist in destroying the lungs. 



This demonstrates that ^^ tubercle bacilli" do not 

 cause consumption, but merely accompany the disease. 

 We have never heard of healthy men and women losing 

 their lungs. 



Consumption occurs in man, animals, and plants. It 



