The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1915-03-05
Copyright. 1914. by A. S. Gray>
PROTECTIVE SUBSTANCES.

was unknown, AL the protective sub
stances which were involved in the
cure of disease were to be regarded
as produced by the internal secre-
tons" 1T should be recognized he
added, that chronic or local infection
was symptom of defective internal
secretions and that those secretlons
could be elaborated in the body when
there was youth, strength and health
by the application of the appropriate
stimulus given in proper quantities.
Naturally the mind of thinking man
instinctively turns to the search for
this appropriate stimulus" Other
things being equal, 1t is quite signlh-
cant that the highest degree of i'm
munity to infection is generally to be
found among those people most close
ly approximating primitive living con-
ditions, and it is among this class that
the highest number of breasted in
fants will be found Also it is signifi-
cant that hay fever, neurasthenla and
the other neurotic disturbances are
more prevalent among the refined and
the educated than among the litter
ate and the poorer classes.
Inasmuch as we all begin as a sin
gle cell and every particle of change
beyond that state must come as the
result of the absorption of external
matter, we are inevitably forced to a
consideration of the building material
out of which the body must be con-
structed as being the only logical
point of departure from the normal
state of health 1t is impossible to
build a substantial and durable build
ing without sound and suitable founda-
tons, lumber, brick and mortar, and
it is impossible also to build nor
NAL, healthy human body without suit.
able building material. If building
disintegrates and falls down we know
the cause must have been inferior ma
terial and workmanship. Likewise
premature physical collapse or dis
ease or abnormal conditions in the
human body must come from the
same cause. Nature does not make
mistakes, but adjusts each thing &C.
cording to it's correct relationship with
everything else.
In the past the value of food has
been estimated by it's contents in fats
carbohydrates and proteins, as esti
mated by rather crude chemical analy
sis and the caloric equivalent of the
food. The demonstration of the ne
cessity of certain inorganic salts fol
the maintenance of body metabolism
q proposition which Is still being
strenuously fought in many quarters
marked forward step of vast impor
lance to human health and happiness
but 1t fell far short of solving the
most serious problems confronting
modern civilization. Further compre
hensive efforts to reach this solution
resulted more recently in the discov
cry that individual proteids consist O
numerous amino acids nitrogen hold
ing compounds) and that each proteit
differs in the quality and the numbe
of these amino acid building stones.
This discovery opens our understand
= ing to comprehension that protein.
which are deficient in certain of thes'
y amino acids will not alone suffice t,
maintain an equilibrium of nitrogen
metabolism.
The work Of Hoist, of Funk and 0
the later investigators of the differen
deficiency diseases gives to medicin,
an entirely new conception of .foot
requirements.
The discovery of these substance
(the vitamines) is certain to produce
a revolution In existing theories O
metabolism and of disease, becaus
such substances have been undreame,
of by psychologists and pathologists
They are the key necessary to unlocl
the doors to the unexplored region
that the comprehensive and brillian
work of Brown-Sequard, Sajous an
numerous other keen minds hav
opened to wondering humanity. Tn
significance of the discovery is no
grasped until We come to understan
that in these numerous and compl
Gated amino acid bodies we undoubt
eddy have the appropriate stimulus
sought for; the mother substance,
according to Funk, out of which ar
made the wonderfully effective "oI
sonins," 'hormones," or whatever W
may choose to call them, the chemica
compounds manufactured by the con
plicated cooperative system of due,
less glands that have automaticall
regulated and carried forward al
mans vital functions since the begir
ming of time, and are fully able t
continue the operation normally an
In accordance with the laws of tn
universe to the end of time-provide
man acquires sufficient intelligenc
not to interfere with the operation @
the functions.
A brilliant red card is probably a
distinct an entity as one can imagine
and yet in the light of the sun fror
which only the red wave rays ar
eliminated such red card viii b
black. There must be red In an