1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1275 



ItOMLS 



byA.I.ROOT 



And thp Lord God formed man of the dust of the 

 ground, and breathed into bis nostrils thp breath of 

 life; and man became a living soul.— Genesis 2:7. 



CONSUMPTION— IS IT CUKABLE? 



From the bcxjk referred to elsewhere, en- 

 titled "Uncooked Foods," I learn that a dis- 

 tinguished doctor, in addressing a gathering 

 of one hundred physicians in the city of New 

 York, spoke as follows: 



"There is nothing dawning upon the profession 

 with more certainty than that medicine as a curative 

 agent is passing. The most learmd men are depend- 

 ing less and less each year upon drugs as a means of 

 combating disease. The best men in thf profession 

 are changing both their views and their practice. 

 For many hundred years consumption has been treat- 

 ed with drugs, and nobody has ever been cured by 

 them. To-day we send patients into the open air, 

 where they are kept winter and summer, sleeping in 

 tents, and they get-w^ell." 



I believe the above is correct. We find 

 our physicians talking it; magazines are full 

 of it; our daily papers and periodicals of 

 every sort have more or less to say in regard 

 to "God's medicines." With this preface I 

 wish to submit to you a letter from a gen- 

 tleman who was cured of a bad case of con- 

 sumption more than thirty years ago. As he 

 is alive and well to-day we shall have to de- 

 cide he knows something of what he is talk- 

 ing about: 



Friend A. I. Root :— It is a long time since I wrote 

 you, but I read your journal just the same, and keep 

 in touch with your sayings and ideas We are in in- 

 tense harmony in many things Keep up your cru- 

 sade against rum and vice and fake advertisements. 



Some thirty years ago I had the consumption, and I 

 am sure my experience will be of much benefit to you. 

 You know nothing succeeds like success, and I surely 

 have that to offer you. I had a severe attack of pleu- 

 risy; and when still ailing I was imprudent enough 

 to oblige a friend (Mrs. Judge O. C. Pratt of Califor- 

 nia) by donning my ' glad rags" ard going to a ball 

 at the Academy of Music in company witn her and 

 my wife. She wished to see some of the sights of New 

 York city, and get introductions to Jim Fisk and 

 Wm. M. Tweed— persons she knew I was acquainted 

 with. There were thousands there. It was one of 

 the Americus Club's most brilliant efforts. It did not 

 save me from an attack of pneumonia, however, which 

 came on with great severity some three hours after 

 we reached the Academy. I kept my bed in a sitting 

 position for weeks, and when I did get up and out 

 my friends thought my days were surely numbered. 

 I will give you one incident for you to judge by. 



Dr. Gilbert H. Todd, a dear friend, a man of ex- 

 tremely robust build, vigorous health, and kind heart, 

 when I went to his office to have a tooth filled said: 



I will simply prepare it and fill it with a tempora- 

 ry filling, and you must come when I am not so very 

 busy, and I will carefully fill it with gold then." 



It was nearly two years before I went there again. 

 I saw he did not recognize me. When his patient left 

 I spoke and he immediately recognized my voice and 

 said. " Why, I did not know you. Where have you 

 been?" I told him. He then told me when I last 

 came to him he was desirous of saving me pain and 

 misery, as he thought I could not poss bly live more 

 than a few months. I If^ft my business in New York 

 city and went to Portland. Ct., to take charge of a fac- 

 tory there. My city doctor was willing I .should go — 

 fresh air, etc. , you know. I made the acquaintance of a 

 doctor thpre namrd Hammond, a man about 50 years 

 of age. I consulted him as to my case. He said I 



would have to follow his instructions to the letter if 

 he doctored me. His examination disclosed the fact 

 that my left lung was in a badly tuberculous condi- 

 tion, and my right lung affected slightly. At the 

 time, I was clad in porous chamois under-clothing. 

 and my nt ck and chest in much the same condition 

 that 1 imagine your sister's is after treatmi nt such as 

 you describe in Gleanings, which induced me to 

 write you. I was using various valuable ointments 

 and internal medicines my city doctors prescribed, 

 and which I then b' lieved were infallible as to selec- 

 tion, atid was shocked when he inform^^d me I was 

 dirty, and that su''h medicines wrre not suited to my 

 case. Consumption is a disease that causes one to 

 think he is not so dangerously ill. / did not. I 

 could not speak a word without its causing me to hack 

 immediately afterward. It was then cold weathtr ; 

 and as I was all bundled up in furs Dr. H said I could 

 not go without them at once, which he much regret- 

 ted He said I should not have put them on early in 

 the fall. "Oh, myl I thought I ot»«< bundle up and 

 not catch cold." I said, ne thought otherwise. 



Now for his treatment, and the only true one. You 

 will believe it bfcause of your baths and the vigorde- 

 rivfd from them as described so graphically by you. 



He said. "Take off those chamois and substitute 

 good warm flannel under-clothing, first using plenty 

 of warm water and soap to cleanse your skin and re- 

 move the ointment, etc., from your pores. Now, eve- 

 ry morning when you g>^t up have a large basin of 

 cold "atf-r and a sponge provided, then bathe thor- 

 oughly your arms; raise the ' goose flesh.' then use a 

 coarse towel until they are wa' m and red; then repeat 

 the same formula with your chest, then the back, 

 etc , until the whole body is gone over. Do this by 

 inatalhnents. as I describe, and not in a bath-tub." 



He said that, in my weak condition, I could net 

 stand the removal of the amount of heat frrm my 

 body that a bath of fresh cold water would take. As 

 to diet he said I might eat almost any food I craved, 

 but he wanted me to try to eat all the fat food I could. 

 He wishrd me to show a gain in flesh, even if but a 

 slight one. When I gained the first pound, he told 

 me if I followed his ins' ructions to the letter I would 

 get well, and I did. I ate as much as I could of the 

 hard white fat in roast beef. He prescribed a good 

 quality of pure cod-liver oil. a tablespoonful after 

 each meal, and I was to follow it with a pinch of salt, 

 as that removes all unpleasant taste, and you can 

 take it much longer before it goes against you (and 

 you stop taking it for a week or two). I asked him 

 if cod-liver oil was good to cure consumption. He 

 said no. "Then why do I take it?" 'To make 

 blood, even if it is poor blood at that, into which it is 

 converted by the system in three or four hours." 



This poor blood is to supply matter readily (which 

 it will do); then when you cough there is but a slight 

 effort required to " raise " this matter, and the lungs 

 are not strained, and can heal. You know those ex- 

 hausting coughing-spells consumptives have. Anoth- 

 er reason for taking it was. I had a meal in me in case 

 my appetite was light. He furnished me with a ton- 

 ic, which he changed from tim^^ to time, to stimulate 

 my appetite, as he informed me. The bowels were to 

 be kept free. I used daily a nasal douche. The liq- 

 uid was a small quantity of crystal carbolic acid put 

 in water. A good portion of this will remain up the 

 nostrils until you lean over, when it will run out. I 

 If ft this there for several minutes to cleanse the air- 

 passages in the head. My throat was in such a bad 

 condition (irritated) he said I would have to stop 

 shaving, and wear all my heard, which I did for a 

 numb -r of years. As I could not do justice to bathing 

 and a vigorous use of the coarse towel at first, which 

 he was desirous of my doing for the exercise and 

 great benefit he claimed I would derive from so doitg, 

 I had a strong attendant do it for me at first. I asked 

 Dr. Hammond how it was that he was so skillful in 

 the treatment of consumption. He said he had a 

 large practice in New York city, and was sent up to 

 Rocky Hill, Ct.. to die. His arduous duties in attend- 

 ing to his patients had about exhausted all his vitali- 

 ty. He was a stout vigorous man when he treated me 

 so successfully. I am now over 68, and have no lunu 

 troubles. 



My daughter, A. R. Austin, is one of your custom- 

 ers. I am no apiarist. I get stung now and then, so 

 you see I do know something about bees, and I read 

 her journals and find them good instructive reading. 



Dr. Hammond said that, in pulmonary complaints, 

 the pores of the skin must do the work of the lungs, 

 and nothing must be done to interfere with their nat- 

 ural functions. You know the darky said, when the 

 minister was reading his marriage ceremony, and 

 came to " honor and obey." " Jus' read dat ober agin' 



