The Arizona champion., 1890-09-06
NATURES HEALING POWER.

Abstract of Lecture By J. 1T. Kellogg,
 M. D., of Battle Creek sanitar!um.
 There is no class of men who have so little faith in remedies as really scicn- tif1c physicians. The people who have the most implicit confidence in medi- cines are those who know the least about them. The important thing for every one to know is that nature cures sick people, not doctors. Suppose a man accidentally cuts of the end of his thumb; the doctor puts the piece on quickly, fastens it with a few stitches and says he thinks it will soon be well He may put on at the same time little salve or iniment which he assures the patient has great healing qualities, but intelligent people know that noth ng can effect healing; that nature must take up the broken stitches gradually and knit the thumb on. This of course is plain case, but it is analogous to the process by which any part which has been damaged must be repairel. It is not done by medicines or by magic but by the healing power of nature-by the inherent Uis medicatriE ndturG.
 In the lower orders of animal life this power of return is much greater than in human being. Take a polyp and cut it into pieces and each piece will develop new polyp; cut an earth worm in two and the part containing the head will grow new tail and the tail will grow 8 new head. Some fishes can supply themselves with a new fin if one has been lost, and crabs and Holsters grow on new legs. Lobsters are very reckless with their legs and throw them of or pull them off on slight provoca- tion. But Holsters moult every six weeks and deep in the body are what may be called leg buds which are cap able of developing to replace a member which has been lost. The supply has limit and can be exhausted if a lobster is too prodigal. These leg buds well represent the reserve force and curative properties of the body. Nature has given us intelligence so that we are ex- pected to take better care of ourselves than these lower creatures whose power of self-protection is very small If, with our greater intelligence, We neglect to take care of ourselves, we are punished, and greatly punished. If a man abuses his stomach by putting into it all sorts of indigestible compounds at hours sea- sonable and unreasonable, after while he will reach the limit of it's cts medica- tTEr nature. He may have thought and declared that it did not make any differ ence what he ate, he could digest any thing, just as the lobster may have thought his supply of leg buds was in- exhaustible, and acting upon that sup position, have found himself legless some day.
 The same principle applies to other organs of the body. Livers are fre- quently overtaxed with tea, coffee, con ailments, fats and sweets, and by taking medicines Probably no organ of the body is so abused by medication as the liver Others are continually whipping up their nerves. Nature would repair and recuperate the nerve force if al- lowed rest and quiet. A lawyer has an important case in court; his nerve tone is almost exhausted. He goes to a doc- tor and wants some medicine. The doctor advises a few weeks rest The lawyer says: Rest is impossible: give me some medicine to make me feel bet ter" So the doctor gives the man a tonic which makes him feel better when he is no better and excites his nerves to still greater abnormal activity, enabling him to dip little deeper into his cap ital of reserve vitality. A tonic does not supply any thing, and by and by there will be general crash and break ing down.
 Let chronic invalid sit down and consider his case. He has bad stomach, for instance, which refuses to digest