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images of disease from taking form in thought, and we
should efface the outlines of disease already formulated in
the minds of mortals.
(Novel diseases)
When there are fewer prescriptions, and less thought is
given to sanitary subjects, there will be better
constitutions and less disease. In old times
who ever heard of dyspepsia, cerebro-spinal meningitis,
hay-fever, and rose-cold?
What an abuse of natural beauty to say that a rose,
the smile of God, can produce suffering! The joy of its
presence, its beauty and fragrance, should uplift the
thought, and dissuade any sense of fear or fever. It is
profane to fancy that the perfume of clover and the breath
of new-mown hay can cause glandular inflammation,
sneezing, and nasal pangs.
(No ancestral dyspepsia)
If a random thought, calling itself dyspepsia, had
tried to tyrannize over our forefathers, it would have
been routed by their independence and
industry. Then people had less time for selfishness,
coddling, and sickly after-dinner talk. The exact
amount of food the stomach could digest was not
discussed according to Cutter nor referred to sanitary
laws. A man's belief in those days was not so severe
upon the gastric juices. Beaumont's "Medical Experiments"
"did not govern the digestion.
(Pulmonary misbeliefs)
Damp atmosphere and freezing snow empurpled the
plump cheeks of our ancestors, but they never indulged
in the refinement of inflamed bronchial tubes.
They were as innocent as Adam, before he ate
the fruit of false knowledge, of the existence of tubercles
and troches, lungs and lozenges.
(Our modern Eves)
"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," says
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