Bodily harm

“ Disease, which consists in an unnatural condition of the bodily organs, is in most cases under the control of fixed laws, which we are capable of understanding and obeying. Nor do diseases come by chance; they are penalties for violating physical laws. If we carelessly cut or bruise our flesh, pain and soreness follow, to induce us to be more careful in the future; or, if we take improper food into the stomach, we are warned, perhaps immediately by a friendly pain, that we have violated an organic law. ”

“ They may be varied and diversified a thousand ways, by the change or addition of numberless circumstances. And his very diversity and variety make it more difficult to guard against them. Among these we may rank all bodily disorders: particularly acute diseases, and violent pain of every kind, whether affecting the whole body or the smallest part of it. ”

“ All then that I mean to insist upon, on this occasion, is, that the most general obstructions to bodily health are to be found in the mind, or spirit, of man, and that if the virtues of faith and repentance cannot entirely remove them, they may still remove them partially, so as to render bodily disease slighter and more tolerable than it would otherwise be. ”

“ What do the people know of the kidneys, lungs, liver, as conditions of their physical life? But every one feels the stitch in the lungs, or a pain in the kidneys or liver, and understands the warning which it conveys to him. Physical pain is the signal of a disturbance in the organism, of the presence of an influence inimical to it. It opens our eyes to an impending danger, and compels us, by the pain which it causes, to oppose it in time. The very same is true of the moral pain caused us by intentional injustice, by arbitrariness. ”

“ There is no account to be given how a disease, a fall, a blow, a debauch, poisons, violent passions, astral and aerial influences, much application, and the like, should possibly alter or destroy these intellectual operations without this supposition. It is evident, that in nervous distempers, and a great many other bodily diseases, these faculties and their operations are impaired, nay, totally ruined and extinguished to all appearance ”

“ It has been proved over and over again by everyday experience that mental and emotional conditions positively affect the chemical composition of the tissues and secretions of the body. The destructive emotions of fear, worry, anger, jealousy, revengefulness, envy, etc., actually poison the fluids and tissues of the body. The bite of an angry man may cause blood-poisoning and prove as fatal as the bite of a mad dog. ”

“ The physical effects.—Perhaps the most noticeable effects of this vice are to be found in the physical system. The eyes become hollow and lusterless, complexion sallow, cheeks haggard, lips and ears pale, muscles soft and flabby, the breasts shrink, the bodily form is stooped and weak. Every time the life-giving blood is caused by this sin to rush in undue quantities to these organs, it returns to the heart with less of life and more impurities. Such girls will grow up to be weak, puny women and will suffer from dyspepsia, consumption and nervous troubles. ”

“ Neither would I wish to insinuate further, that human medical skill is of no avail, and consequently is unnecessary to be consulted in the affair of bodily health, inasmuch as some obstructions to health are of the body as well as of the mind, and it is possible that the bodily obstructions may require for their removal the aid of bodily medicine. ”

“ Disobedience to the imperious commands of Nature will draw down upon us her revenge and punishment, and ailments and disease, and bodily and mental misery, may be the consequences of the complete suppression of the functions of 398these glands in adults. There may be exceptions, and certain women or men may pass a lifetime in such an unnatural way without any apparent ill consequences to their health ”

“ For they regard bodily ailments as the more venial in proportion as they have been produced by causes independent of the constitution. Thus if a person ruin his health by excessive indulgence at the table or by drinking, they count it to be almost a part of the mental disease which brought it about, and so it goes for little, but they have no mercy on such illnesses as fevers or catarrhs or lung diseases, which to us appear to be beyond the control of the individual. ”

“ From ill-filled lungs, which signify ill-repaired blood, arise year by year an amount not merely of disease, but of folly, temper, laziness, intemperance, madness, and, let me tell you fairly, crime—the sum of which will never be known till that great day when men shall be called to account for all deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil. ”

“ During the past four years there has been conducted, in the Harvard Physiological Laboratory, a series of investigations concerned with the bodily changes which occur in conjunction with pain, hunger and the major emotions. A group of remarkable alterations in the bodily economy have been discovered, all of which can reasonably be regarded as responses that are nicely adapted to the individual’s welfare and preservation. ”

“ Our corporeal frame has its laws—beneficent and God-ordained; and bodily health and comfort can be enjoyed only on condition of the strict observance of these laws. They cannot be transgressed with impunity. If we overwork our bodies or our brains, if we indulge our appetites to excess, if we take poison (be it food or drink) into the system, if we breathe a vitiated atmosphere or neglect all bodily exercise for a considerable time, we must suffer the penalty of every such infraction of the body's laws,—a penalty always proportioned to the extent of the violation. ”

“ Secondly, the pain in consequence of the ideas or bodily diseases above described is to be removed, first, by evacuations, as venesection, emetics, and cathartics; and then by large doses of opium, or by the vertigo occasioned by a circulating swing, or by a sea-voyage, which, as they affect the organs of sense as well as evacuate the stomach, may contribute to answer both indications of cure.
Where maniacs are outrageous, there can be no doubt but coercion is necessary; which may be done by means of a straight waistcoat; which disarms them without hurting them ”

“ Modern science teaches us that disease is not a thing, but a state. When our food is properly assimilated, the waste matter promptly excreted, and all the organs work in harmony, we are well; when any derangement of these functions occurs, we are sick. Sickness is discord, as health is concord. If we abuse or misuse any instrument, we impair its ability to produce a perfect harmony. A suffering body is simply the penalty of violated law. ”

“ Worry impairs appetite, disturbs sleep, makes respiration irregular, spoils digestion, irritates disposition, warps character, weakens mind, stimulates disease, and saps bodily health. It is the real cause of death in thousands of instances where some other disease is named in the death certificate. ”

“ The simplest forms in which bodily illness is expressed are the various rashes that appear upon the skin. These result directly from stomach-abuse—from inability of that organ to carry on its work because of overwork or of food improperly supplied. Elimination through bowels, kidneys, and lungs is by nature continued to the limit of the power of these organs. ”

“ Approved Crib, Scales, Nursery Table. Holding the Baby, Supporting Head and Back.
The mother is influencing the child during the entire nine months, through the blood supply. If she indulges in fear, anger, melancholy (dark emotions that develop [Pg 75] poison in the blood) , if she over-eats, or takes alcohol, if she neglects deep breathing, daily bathing, elimination, exercise, she is impoverishing and poisoning the blood supply, and the quality of her child’s bodily and mental characteristics will suffer. ”

“ In anger the eyes are fiery and the pupils contracted; in modesty the cheeks are suffused with blushes; in fear, and under a sense of infamy and of shame, the face is pale, but the ears burn as if for the evil they heard or were to hear; in lust how quickly is the member distended with blood and erected! But, above all, and this is of the highest interest to the medical practitioner,—how speedily is pain relieved or removed by the detraction of blood, the application of cupping-glasses, or the compression of the artery which leads to a part? ”

“ My contention is, that the direct influence of emotional states upon bodily organs and functions has been greatly exaggerated; that it is exceedingly doubtful whether, for instance, any individual in a reasonable condition of health was ever killed by an imaginary or even an emotional shock; that there is surprisingly little valid evidence that the hair of any human being turned white in a single night, or was completely shed within a few hours, under the influence of fright, terror, or grief ”

“ Diseases of the body, if not cured, work a steady impairment of health, and bring pains and physical disabilities. If their assaults be upon nervous centres, or vital organs, the danger of paralysis or death becomes imminent. Now, as to this disease of intemperance, which is a social and moral as well as a physical disease, it is not to be concealed that it has invaded the common body of the people to an alarming degree, until, using the words of Holy Writ, "the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint." ”

“ In thousands of cases the result is seen in a low stature, contracted chest, weak lungs, and liability to sore throat. Tendency to cold, indigestion, depression, drowsiness, and idleness, are results distinctly traceable to this deadly practice. Pallor of countenance, nervous and rheumatic affections, loss of memory, epilepsy, paralysis, and insanity find their principal predisposing cause in the same shameful waste of life. The want of moral force and strength of mind often observable is youths and young men is largely induced by this destructive and deadly sin. ”

“ Nothing—absolutely nothing, aye, even worse than nothing, i.e., positive injury to the organs, for, in nine cases out of ten, these cheap, clap-trap potions, by over stimulating, imitating and often inflaming the organs, do them actual harm, hasten and aggravate the disease and leave the patient in a much worse condition than if he had taken no treatment at all. ”

“ Blood is made from food; but it may be lost by careless hemorrhage, or poisoned by deficient elimination. When frequently and largely lost or poisoned, as I have too frequent occasion to know it often is, it becomes impoverished,—anemic. Then the brain suffers, and mental power is lost. The steps are few and direct, from frequent loss of blood, impoverished blood, and abnormal brain and nerve metamorphosis, to loss of mental force and nerve disease. Ignorance or carelessness leads to anemic blood, and that to an anemic mind. As the blood, so the brain; as the brain, so the mind. ”

“ A bodily disease, which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part. ”

“ Teach them to shun all children who indulge in this loathsome habit, or all children who talk about these things. The sin is terrible, and is, in fact, worse than lying or stealing. For, although these are wicked and will ruin their souls, yet this habit of self-abuse will ruin both soul and body.
14. "If the sexual organs are handled, it brings too much blood to these parts, and this produces a diseased condition; it also causes disease in other organs of the body, because they are left with a less amount of blood than they ought to have. ”

“ These organs are, fortunately or unfortunately, provided with a large factor of safety and can stand a great deal of abuse, but the cumulative effect of this abuse, especially when combined with an unhygienic life in general, sooner or later leads to disaster. Our tastes have also been perverted. ”

“ Till then, however severe may be the disease, however sharp the pang, we are only sick or wounded, as the case may be.
—————- * Dhatu—the seven principal substances of the human body—chyle, flesh, blood, fat, bones, marrow, semen. —————-
This explains the cases of sudden deaths from joy, fright, pain, grief or such other causes. The sense of a life-task consummated, of the worthlessness of one's existence, if strongly realized, produced death as surely as poison or a rifle-bullet. ”

“ The body is not such a rigid piece of mechanism that the breakage of one wheel can arrest the action of the whole. Within certain limits, any damage done to individual groups of cells can be repaired by the compensating powers of the organism. It is only when this compensating faculty fails, when the body can not successfully resist an unfavorable influence, that a disturbance arises which we call disease. This definition enables us to understand how external violence, improper or insufficient food, poisons, and other unaccustomed influences, can produce disease. ”

“ Not but that blood is as necessary as breath for respiration, and food for nourishment of the body; but too much blood is as dangerous to the life of the animal body, as too great a piece of food, which cannot be swallowed down, but doth stick in the throat, and stop the breath, or so much quantity as cannot be digested, for too great a fulness or abounding makes a stoppage of the blood, or which is worse, causes the veins to break, and an evil digestion, makes a corruption, or at least such disorder as to indanger the whole animal Figure. ”

“ The ulcerated surface and open vessels increase the facility with which the poison finds entrance into the circulation. The microbes, blood clots, necrosed tissue and pus, furnish abundant supplies of toxic matter, which, saturating the system, over-power and stop the activity of the functions of all the organs of the body, causing degeneration of tissues. Death is said to take place from heart, lung or brain failure, but the failure involves every other organ as well. ”