12 



THE BEE-KEEPERS REVIEW^ 



" almost constantly for 4 weeks. " When he 

 says "Only those who have pasFsd through 

 such experiences know how terrible, terrible 

 they are, " his many friends will know how 

 to feel for himself and family and sympa- 

 thize with them. 



Now, I am strongly impressed that no 

 article I could write on any branch of bee- 

 culture would be half so useful or do half as 

 much good as an article on hygienic and 

 physiological living. 1 must, therefore, fol 

 low my better judgement and best moral 

 sense in this matter. But such an article is 

 out of place in a bee-journal, says the reader 

 and possibly the editor. I beg to say it is 

 not out of place. Nothing anywhere is out 

 of place which is at the time needed in that 

 place and useful in that place. A lower 

 view of the matter also justifies the article. 



It is this : If the editor of the Bee-Keep- 

 er's Review is half the time " under the 

 weather" more or less, and some of the 

 family the other half, how can the readers 

 and supporters of the Review get the valu- 

 able services from their editor they look for 

 and are entitled to ? Of course I know they 

 would quite unanimously sympathize rather 

 than murmur, but that is not just here the 

 point. " A touch of Nature makes us all 

 akin ; " and there will be no complaint ; but 

 the editor of the Review will feel so much 

 better mentally and morally when he is phys- 

 ically able to perform the full editorial du- 

 ties which he is so willing to perform, and 

 which in health, he is so well able to perform. 



And that is not all. Here are the other 

 editors down too. There must be something 

 wrong. What is it ? And as these other 

 editors all read the Review the advice I pro- 

 pose to give will reach them all. It will also 

 reach the whole constituency of the Review 

 — a select constituency no doubt, but liable 

 to sickness all the same, and needing hygie- 

 nic light all the same. Need I argue further 

 that this article ought to be written ? But. 

 says the reader, " you are not a doctor. 

 Why should you assume to instruct and ad- 

 vise us out of your line ? Why should we 

 have confidence in you and follow your 

 advice ? " Hold on a bit ! I will tell you 

 why. And I must be a little personal here, 

 but that will be overlooked in a good cause 

 and with good intentions. It is true I am nc t 

 a doctor, that is, I am without the parch- 

 ment. It is, however, also true that 1 know 

 more about hygienic living than three- 

 fourths of the doctors — perhaps nine-tenths 



of them. This is not egotism : it is simple 

 fact. If the doctors understand hygienic 

 living they don't practice it. Their business 

 is to cure sickness, not to prevent it. My 

 aim is to prevent it, and when it does come, 

 to cure it in a natural, physiological way in- 

 stead of by drug poisons which " do but cure 

 one disease by producing another, " so one 

 of the most eminent of them tells us. Be- 

 ginning at the age of 15 I made a special 

 study of how to live hygienically, avoid sick- 

 ness, and prolong life. The result was I 

 saved myself, when the doctors failed to save 

 my brotherf — all of whom died premature- 

 ly, between the ages of 10 and '2r>. I know 

 whereof I speak. I had the strongest kind 

 of motive to study these subjects thorough- 

 ly — the motive of self-preservation. The 

 deceased brothers were, some of them, 

 stronger constitutionally than ever I was, 

 and had I depended on the doctors as they'did 

 I should have gone with them. But I hap- 

 pened to have youthful sense enough, and 

 resolution enough, to turn my back on the 

 drug shops and face the light of nature, and 

 drink deeply at the fountain of Hygiea. I 

 also turned my back on many of the popular, 

 though unphysiological, habits of living so 

 common everywhere. ( Remember sickness 

 is common everywhere too. ) I did all this, 

 not on the advice of a doctor, but at the 

 suggestion of a physiologist and hygienist 

 whose equal I have never since met — who 

 understood the whole human organization 

 mentally and physically — who warned me 

 that I would never reach maturity unless 1 

 studied the laws of health and obeyed them. 

 I was then about 14 or 15 : am now about 55. 

 The reader will thus see how and why I 

 came to make these vital questions a special 

 study. I acted on the advice, which was of 

 infinite more value to me than Vanderbilt's 

 millions would have been. I eagerly ab- 

 sorbed Physiology, Hygiene, and kindred 

 subjects. I studied the whole human organ- 

 ism from head to foot — mind and body — not 

 even neglecting the occult, psychological 

 side of human nature — whicli explains the 

 reference at the outset to 'mental telegra- 

 phy. " I also went into the different medi- 

 cal systems to decide which one I should 

 select — intending to adopt one as a life pro- 

 fession. I had no hesitation in selecting the 

 " Hygieo-Therapeutic " system as embrac- 

 ing more truth than any of the others, and 

 studied it. It is really hygienic treatment 

 without drug poisons except as antidotes to 



