homeopathic to the general pathogenetic condition, and of course be of most value as an aid to Nature, but another remedy may be able to render good service in some particular work, and thus help to relieve Nature's embarassment, though it does not directly affect other involved tissues and organs and is not, strictly speaking, the homeopathic remedy.

We all know from our own observation that the results obtained in acute diseases depend to quite an extent upon the time that has elapsed since the disease process began; that the homeopathic remedy will show better results the sooner we are able to apply it.

Nowhere is this more marked than in toxic diseases; this is equally true in the use of anti-toxin, and explains the well recognized fact that in diphtheria the earlier the first dose is given, the smaller the dose that is required, and the less liability that repeated doses will be needed.

This rather rambling discussion is not in any sense a statement of how our remedies act, but is meant simply to call attention to the many points of similarity between the observed facts in the action of the homeopathic remedy and of diphtheria anti-toxin; to emphasize the fact that anti-toxin is one of Nature's remedies, and to throw the burden of proof that anti-toxin is not a homeopathic remedy either on the man who does not believe in the value of anti-toxin in the cure of diphtheria or on the man who does not believe that the homeopathic law is one of Nature's laws of cure.

C

CONSERVATION OF ENERGY *

BY CARL CRISAND, M.D.

Worcester, Mass.

LINICAL Medicine concerns itself with the multitudinous ills to

which human flesh is heir, and applies itself very conscientiously and unceasingly to the study of means for their relief. From time immemorial all sorts of things have been devised for the restoration of that normal equilibrium which we call health, and new methods of treatment are constantly being discovered and introduced to the medical profession. To-day their number is legion, and it makes one's head swim as they pass by in mental review.

At present the physical culture star is in the ascendency, and thousands of people, young and old, are working hard night and morning to develop a few muscles here and there on their bodies in the vain hope of gaining strength thereby.

Although electricity is dragged into the mire of commercialism by the charlatan, it is a wonderfully potent remedy in the hands of the conscientious physician. Our old school friends, with their

* Read before the Bureau of Clinical Medicine, of the Mass. Homeopathic Medical Society, April 13th, 1904

empiric, and we with our small doses and high potencies, attempt simply to restore the normal functions of the body; no sane man pretends to give strength with medicines.

The osteopaths, with their delicate tactus eruditus, discover sensitive areas and irregularities in the spine and other parts of the body, and by careful, skillful and persistent manipulation, they reduce congested areas, relieve neuralgia, remove nerve and bonepressure, which causes atrophy, and they do their share toward relieving the sufferings of mankind.

The Christian Scientist, the faith-healer, the hypnotist, the powower and the Indian medicine-man, through the operation of their minds upon the minds of their clients, affect physiological changes in their patients. Our frame of mind certainly has much to do with our physical condition.

That the foregoing statements are true no one can deny, and every honest man must admit. But it is equally true, that all methods of cure are simply dealing with causes and effects, and if we, as physicians and conservators of the public health, would be true to the highest ideals of our calling, we should go to the bottom of things, strike at the root and not at the branches. We should dig down even deeper than the cause of disease; prevention by the conservation of vital energy and directing it into useful channels should be our aim. In this way we can do our sacred duty toward the evolution of a race of human beings which shall eclipse our present generation, as does the brilliancy of the sun's rays far outshine the faint reflected light of the moon.

This is an age of feverish restlessness and fierce competition. In the market-places, on the highways, in social, political and even professional life, I'm sorry to admit, men are jostling and crowding their neighbors, trampling upon each other in the oftentimes vain. attempt of supremacy of position and chimerical glory.

Our American people are fast becoming, in fact are now a lot of nervous wrecks, and if like begets like, what shall we be in in two or three generations from now. Our insane asylums and penetentiaries will have doubled their present capacity.

Every motor and every engine has a certain capacity for speed or power. Every animal body, also, has a limited capacity for storing up and expending physical or mental volts. When worked within their capacity, they perform their duties normally and easily; when worked up to their limit or beyond it, it is done at the expense of the mechanism and sooner or later it breaks down. You

may repair the machine or treat the body which has been invaded by disease, but you cannot make the machine nor the human body as perfect again as they were before the breakdown. They can be restored to usefulness and be made to last for a long time with proper management, but they will never again be as good as new. All the foregoing statements lead finally up to the thought which the heading of this paper presents, i. e., that we as physicians should sound the note of warning and teach the world by example, as well as by precept, that by conserving our energy (call it the inherent vital force, if you will), instead of wasting and using it recklessly, we may live out our allotted time in greater usefulness and happiness.

It is really startling to observe the preponderating amount of wasted, as compared with the conserved energy in this world. From the kitchens in our homes up through the great industries of the world; from the kindergarten to the highest educational institutions, the dross is greater than the product, the chaff piles up higher than the wheat. The very writing and presenting of this and other papers at this meeting represents wasted instead of conserved and useful energy, unless we can thereby inspire our colleagues and assist them in some way.

Rest, absolute rest, is necessary for all forms of life, and even for metals, as has recently been demonstrated. Many animals hibernate and thus fast for a long time, and all animals sleep a good deal. All plant life has its season of rest and season of activity. In the temperate and frigid zone, winter is the season for rest and summer the time for growth. In the tropics development is at a standstill during the dry season, and goes on with renewed vigor when the refreshing rains descend. Where there is no proper rainy season, the dews of night furnish the stimulus for growth, which languished during the scorching heat of the day.

Rest is the only means of properly conserving energy, of regaining and storing it up for future use. The child that rests much and sleeps quietly, thrives far better than its nervous, restless companion; and why? Because the good sleeper properly recharges his storage battery, while the other one is constantly spending his energy; his recuperative and reconstructive powers diminish in diametrical ratio. The one is a savings bank, and the other a prodigal spend-thrift.

Man alone is the one creature in this great universe who does not conform to this wonderfully protective plan of the all-wise Creator, but strenuously opposes it and thereby lessens his days,

lowers his vitality, profligates his opportunities in life and falls far short of being that high ideal which God intended him to be.

Although man styles himself the highest of all animals, the acme of creation, there is much that he can learn about proper living from his horse, dog and cat, and even from the wild beasts. They obey the fundamental laws of life and health, which man ruthlessly disregards, and consequently he suffers self-inflicted penalties. When an animal is injured or sick it seeks a quiet retreat, and refuses all food no matter how temptingly it may have been prepared. It wants to be let alone and may resent even kindly intentioned interference from master or friends. Animals rest body and brain and give nature a chance to assert herself; man, on the contrary, reasons like this: I am sick, I must try to work off this disease; I must eat in order to give the body strength with which to drive out the invader. This sounds logical, but is it? Let us see. One of the immutable laws of life is, that the greatest bloodsupply is sent to the organ in greatest activity for the time being. Immediately after a meal the digestive tract receives an extra flow of blood to facilitate its function, so also the brain during mental activity in study, becomes surged with the vital fluid. One cannot study immediately after a hearty meal; why not? Because Dame Nature is working hard in her laboratory assorting, appropriating and preparing the material which has been given her for constructing and reconstructing the body over which she is presiding. After this has been done; after she has separated the chaff from the wheat, she is ready and willing to assist in other functions of our inner economy. During all this time the brain is more or less anemic, and consequently cannot functionate properly. Several hours after a meal, or even on an empty stomach, the brain is clear, and mental work is a delight. The same law holds true when our bodies have been invaded by disease. Nature makes a grand effort to oust the invader; give her a chance; do not hamper. her endeavor by inflicting upon her the double duty of fighting disease and digesting food which she neither needs nor has time. to prepare; she is too busy with more important matters; she can rely for a long time upon stored-up energy. The eliminative processes demand her attention just now, and after the enemy has been driven out, after all waste product has been cleared away, she will quickly restore her battlements to their normal condition. Nature never wastes but conserves her energies.

The so-called "sluggish" liver is not in reality sluggish nor lazy, but simply lagging because it has been over-worked. So also

the congested kidney is engorged with effete products, which it has not had time to filter and carry off through the ureters. Instead of piling more work upon the secretory organs by stuffing in more food, give them a chance to catch up with their work; give them a breathing spell.

What is the practical application of our theme to the needs of our patients? It is simply this: that so long as we observe and conform our lives to the simple law of demand and supply, we shall maintain that perfect physiological balance called health. We may live on the interest, but should never draw on the capital, for just so sure as we do, we shall sooner or later be bankrupt; and a physical brankrupt is in a much more pitiable condition, and recovers more slowly, oftentimes, than a financial wreck. To live two days in one results in being fifty years old at twenty-five, and many such people are seen in our streets.

All viscera require the alternate condition of activity and rest to keep them vigorous and in health. If this condition be not observed or attended to, structual changes and deterioration of function are sure to follow. Indeed, in reference to the etiology of the disease of individual organs, it may be asserted that a large portion of these diseases originates in circumstances which deprive the organs of that rest which nature has rendered necessary for the performance of its healthy function.

For example, the heart, over-tasked by constant over-strain, as in disease of the valves or the larger vessels, or excessive athletic exercise, and thus deprived it of its appropriate rest, becomes prone to the various alterations of its structures, which post-mortem examinations daily reveal. The liver, unduly stimulated by excessive potations, by unnecessary amount of food, or by habitual irregularity of diet (its physiological harmony with the other organs of digestion being thus constantly disturbed), glides into disorganization for the same reason. The kidney too, if its function be disturbed by the use of alcoholic drinks which entail an unnatural and continued stress either upon its Malpighian or tubular portion, obeys the same tendencey to structual decav as a consequence of its loss of due rest. (Hilton, "Lectures on Rest and Pain," pp 10 and 11).

Von Noorden, in speaking of diseases of the kidneys, says:

In estimating to what extent we are justified in sparing the organ, we must remember that in acute diseases of the kidneys we can and must carry the protective principle further, and may at the same time expect more rapid and better results than in chronic forms of nephritis

and we know from our clinical experience, besides, that if we do not treat acute forms by sparing the organ, this neglect is fraught with more serious results than in chronic disorders. (Von Noorden "Diseases of Metabolism and Nutrition," "Nephritis" pp. 19, Par. 1).

Conservatism of our vital forces is by far better than an attempt to restore it after it has been lost. Protective, preventative and conservative therapy is much more scientific, useful and necessary than reconstructive therapy. Protective therapy, however, should never be directed toward one organ only; the condition of one affects the