698 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



for a feeble person to overcome the debility, and fur- 

 nish a new supply of blood. The idea was good, but 

 in such a radical change the process of cure was so 

 effective that it many times killed the patient. ' ' Cured 

 to death ' ' might truthfully be written on a great many 

 tombstones. 



The modern idea that the blood is to be purified by 

 antidotes, is wholly unphilosophical. It is absurd to 

 think that you are going to make the blood pure by 

 putting something impure into it. The blood may be 

 purified, but it must be by getting something out of it. 

 The best way is to set to work nature's five great puri- 

 fiers; the lungs, skin, liver, kidneys, and bowels,— the 

 five great excretory organs of the body. If a man's 

 blood is impure, it is because he has been taking some- 

 thing impure into it, or because he has not been using 

 the excretory organs sufficiently to keep the impurities 

 worked out. The first step would be to stop putting 

 impurities into the blood, if that is what is the matter. 

 People who live grossly, eating flesh meats, pastry, 

 etc., and perhaps swallowing such things as tea and 

 coffee, wine and beer, and may be tobacco, are con- 

 stantly overtaxing the excretory organs. Living a 

 sedentary life is another way to encourage the deposit 

 of impurities in the blood, there not being sufficient 

 muscular exercise in such cases to assist in throwing 

 off' the waste particles of the body. 



To make the skin more active, take a hot bath once, 

 twice, or three times a week. If vigorous, one can 

 stand a Turkish or vapor bath every day for a while. 

 Do anything to get up a sweat; drink hot water, and 

 wrap up in warm blankets. A good vapor bath can 

 be taken in any ordinary bath-tub, by putting a slat 

 bottom in the tub, or a board with holes in it, so as 



