Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1859-06-09
FwMe Fayetteville Otse,rel
HEALTH AND DISEASE.

OBSERVER OF April list the pre-reqnl-
sites to the preservation Of health
are Get forth as follows, viz: the use
of proper food, drink, air and exer.
else in due proportions, and at prop
er intervals. Now it would be prof
liable inquiry on the part Of the PEG.
pie; what is proper food? What is
proper drink? What is proper air
for breathing? What is proper exer.
else for both body and mind? How
shall we regulate our passions?-
Each Of these questions would re-
quire long article to elucidate it,
| therefore propose to pass them for
the present, and attend to a question
more directly connected with first
principles. If we can get proper
understanding Of FIRST principles, it
will be an easy matter to arrive at
truth. The question is, what is
health? This may seem to be very
simple affair. But many Of the wis.
est sagss Of the Medical Profession
have been unable to answer if; and it
is doubtful whether one In hundred
of the readers Of the OBSERVER can
give a proper solution Of it. Is it
tangible something occupying the
h,man system till dispe ssessed by
disease? Surely no one will con.
tend for such an idea. 1t has al
ready been shown what the pre- -requi-
sites Of health are, and it only re-
mains to determine bow they pro.
duce it, to see. lis essential nature
Food does not act on the stomach,
but the stomach acts on t,and digests
it; and this lie healthy action. Wa.
ter does not act On the system, but
the system uses or appropriates it to
its own use. So with all other Hy-
genie agents; they are not agents at
all in the true sense Of the word, but
the living system is the grand agent
that does all that is done. Therefore,
Health is vital action upon, or in re-
llation to, things disable in building
up and repairing the wastes Of the
organism. But it does not follow,
that all action in relation to such
things is healthy action. A person
lin a state ofheal,h may overload the
stomach with the very best Of food,
and gastritis with cholera morbus or
some other disease may follow. The
action thus set up in relation to the
food is not healthy, but moIbific.-
The action is abnormal, not because
the food is abnormal in quality, but
because it is abnormal in quantity
Honce the absolute necessity Of u.s.
ing all things that are disable in their
proper quantities. We have now
the essential nature Of Health fairly
before the reader, and will direct bis
attention to the opposite side of the
picture, to the Investigation Of dis
ease. This is subject which has
been under Investigation, by learn
ed profession, for nearly three thou.
sand years. And strange to tell, they
have never been able to give it a
definition. True the AIopathic
School gives as definition, "Any
deviation from health" But that is
telling what it is not, instead Of what
it is. 1t is either something that
has a positive being or something
that has NOT. If it has positive
being what is it? If it has no posi-
tive being, then it is a blank nothing
A name without meaning. know
the Botanics or Physiomedieals say
that, "Disease is inability" Then,
as death is complete inability, so
death would be perfect disease. This
is taking the effect Of thing for
the thing itself. These are the only
theories Of disease / am acquainted
with, except the correct one. There
are, however, many eminent medical
men, who have no theory of disease
1t all, and who also have the candor
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