Omaha daily bee., 1881-06-16
A GREAT REVELATION.
Some Valuable Thoughts Concern
ing Human Happiness and
Timely Suggestions
About Securing it,
Synopsis ola Lecture Delivered
by DR.. Chas. Craig Before
the Metropolitan Scien-
tifc Association.

"The free and independent thought
of this age accepts statements only
where they are proven to be truth,
while the development of mental
power seems equally great i'll every
other department of life. The valu-
able inventions of the day are counted
by thousands. The increase of scicn.
titic study is universal. The spirit of
inquiry in all fields is So marked us to
cause
COMMENT on EVERY SIDE,
while people seemed investigating and
advancing in every direction which
can help them morally, mentally or
physically. This is specially true of
the human body and everything which
it, and the truths which the
people have found, even i'll the last
fifty years, are simply marvellous.
How really ignorant some cultured
and supposedly scientific people were
only "A few years ago, as compared
with the present day, may he better
understood from a few illustrative
facts. A prominent writer pre-
pared an elaborate essay to
prove that the steamships could never
cross the Atlantic, and his pamphlet
was issued Just i'll time to be carried
by the first steamer that went to
England. People once believed that
the heart was the seat of life and
health. 1t is now known that this
organ is only a pump, simply keeping
III motion what other and more inn
portant organs of the body have ere
ated and transformed, 1t vas once
supposed that if a person felt a pain
in the back, the liver was derangcd;
if a pain came in the lower chest the
lung we're affected and consumption
was near: it is now known that a pain
in the back indicates diseased kid
neys, while troubles in the lower
chest arises from n disordered liver
and not imperfect lungs. A severe
pain in the head was once thought to
come from some partial arrangement
of the brain; it is now known that
troubles in other parts of the body
and away from the head, cause head
aches and that only by removing the
cause can the pain be cured. 1t is u
matter of
PRIVATE HISTORY
that Gen. Washington was bled to
death. His last illness was slight, and
caused principally by WEAKNESS. A
physician was called "who bled him
copiously." Strange to say, the pa
tient became no better. Another
doctor was called, who again took
away n large amount of the vital
fluid. Thus in succession four physi-
drew away the life of a great
man who was intended by nature for
an old age, and who prematurely died
murdered by malpractice-bled to
death. That was the age of medical
bleeding"
The speaker then graphically de-
.cribedanother periodwhich came upon
the people, in which they assigned the
origin of all diseases to the stomach,
and after showing the falsity of this
theory, and that the kidneys and liver
were the causes Of disease, and that
many people are suffering from kidney
and liver troubles to-day who do not
know it, but who should know it and
attend to them at once, continued:
"Let us look at this matter a little
more closely. The human body is the
most perfect and yet the most deli
cate Of all created things. 1t is capa-
bic of the greatest results and 1T Is
liable to the greatest disorders. The
slightest causes sometimes seem to
throw its delicate machinery out of
order while the most simple and COM
nonsense care restores and keeps
them in perfect condition. When
it is remembered that the amount of
happiness or misery we are to have in
this world is dependent upon a perfect
body, is it not strange that simple pre-
cautions and care are not exercisedt
This is one of the most vital questions
of life. People may avoid it for the
present, but there is certain to come
a time in every ones experience when
1T must be faced.
"And here pardon me for relating a
little personal experience. In the
year 1870 / found myself losing both
strength and health. | could assign
no cause for the decline, but it con
tinued, until finally | called to my aid
two prominent physicians. After
treating me for some time they de-
clared | was suffering from Bright's
disease of the kidneys, and that they
could do nothing more for me. At
this time / was so weak ] could not
raise my head from the pillow and l
PAINTED REPEATEDLY.
My heart beat so rapidly it was with
difficulty / could sleep. My lungs
were also badly involved; | could re-
tain nothing upon ~my.stomach, while
the most intense pains in my back
and bowels caused me to long for
death as a relief. 1t was at
this critical Guncture that a physical
longing which l felt land which
Illnost firmly believe was an inspira-
tom caused me to send for the leaves
of a plant / had once known in medi-
cal practice. After great difficulty
at last secured them and began their
use in the form of tea. / noticed a
lessening of the pain at once; ! began
to mend rapidly; in five weeks 1 was
able to be about and in two months
| became perfectly well and have so
continued to this day. 1t was only
natural that such a result should have
caused me to investigate most thor
oughly, | carefully examined fields
in medicine never before explored. |
sought the cause of physical order and
disorder, happiness and pain, and l
found the kidneys and liver to be the