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First published January 1950 Made and printed in Great Britain by the Lewes Press, Lewes, Sussex. NATURE CURE EXPLAINED BY ALAN MOYLE (Member: British Naturopaths Association) LONDON: HEALTH FOR ALL PUBLISHING CO. 17/18 HENRIETTA STREET, STRAND, W.C.2. NATURE CURE EXPLAINED I wish to take this opportunity to express my profound appreciation and thanks to my severest critic—my wife; and to the many patients and others whose kind help and co-operation have made this book possible. ALAN MOYLE FOREWORD I was once asked, "What is Nature Cure?" To the best of my limited capacity I replied, ending with the words: "It is really only ordinary common- sense." " But you're wrong," was the rejoinder. "It's not ordinary common-sense— it's extraordinary common-sense!" REFERENCES Body Mechanics . by Drs. J. E. Goldthwait, Lloyd T. Brown and Lang T. Swain Allergic Man. .by Erwin Pulay Report from the Zoology Department of the Dr. Barnet Woolf and University of Birmingham Mr. John Waterhouse The Living Soil. .by Lady Eve Balfour The Newer Knowledge of Nutrition . by McCollum and Simmonds Human Physiology . .by Furneaux and Smart Physiological Economy in Health . by Professor Chittenden Iris Science. .Dr. W. H. Andershou The Schroth Regeneration Cure . by A. Pitcairn-Knowles The New Bedrock of Health by Richard J. Ebbard and F. W. Vogt Nature Cure. .by Ernest Lindlahr My System and Fresh Air Book . .by Lt. J. P. Muller Actinotherapy Technique . .by Sollux Publishing Co. Textbook of Massage. .by L. L. Despard The British Medical Journal Principles of Osteopathy . by Dain L. Tasker, D.O. Coffin's Botanical Journal Herbal Manual. .by Harold Ward Dr. Schuessler's Biochemistry . by Dr. J. B. Chapman CONTENTS FOREWORD REFERENCES CHAPTER I THE MEANING OF NATURE CURE CHAPTER II NATURAL LAWS CHAPTER III MEDICINE AND NATURE CURE CHAPTER IV GENERAL NOTES CHAPTER V DIET COMMERCIALISM AND FOOD CHAPTER VI SPECIAL DIETS CHAPTER VII THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION CHAPTER VIII WHY FAST? CHAPTER IX SPECIAL FASTS THE GUELPA FAST CHAPTER X THE HEALING CRISIS CHAPTER XI HYDROTHERAPY CHAPTER XII SUN AND AIR BATHING CHAPTER XIII MASSAGE AND EXERCISES CHAPTER XIV THE PROBLEM OF REST CHAPTER XV OSTEOPATHY AND NATURE CURE CHAPTER XVI HERBALISM CHAPTER XVII BIOCHEMISTRY CHAPTER XVIII DIAGNOSIS CHAPTER XIX CONCLUSION CHAPTER I THE MEANING OF NATURE CURE WHAT is Nature Cure? Briefly, it is a method of curing disease without the use of drugs or surgical interference. But that is too simple an explanation, for Nature Cure is not merely the negative approach to disease—it is a positive way of life. By positive life is meant the full abundance of life, which can be appreciated only by those who know what real, vital health means. Some of us have experienced this. We remember the years, probably between seventeen and twenty-one, when we cared little for anyone or anything outside our own intimate circle, and life was lived to the full. The lack of material cares and woes form only half the secret of that joie de vivre which is the normal attribute of that period—the other half is the health that goes with it. We sigh for those days to return, thinking they are beyond our grasp. Yet they are within the reach of everyone when once we have realised that health is not a commodity to be bought over the counter, but that it lies within each one of us. Nature Cure or Naturopathy is an art—a philosophy. As a science it is not new, nor has it been re-discovered, though it is experiencing a renaissance. This renaissance is due principally to the long-term failure of orthodox medical methods, to which we shall refer later. Curiously enough, the world acclaims Hippocrates as the Father of Medicine. A small excerpt from the Encyclopoedia Britannica's allusion to the Hippocratic Collection (i.e. medical works written or attributed to Hippocrates and his followers), demonstrates how far modern medicine has diverged from the true path. the physician attends cases of every type. He is no specialist. But the mass of his practice lay with cases to which instrumental treatment was inapplicable. In these cases he tended to adopt the "expectant" line of treatment. Realising that the tendency of the body is to recover, he contented himself with "waiting on Nature." This does not imply that he was helpless, for much could be done by nursing, regimen and diet to aid the patient in that conflict which he alone must fight. For the conduct of that great battle wise and useful directives are recorded. But believing in the healing, power of Nature—the phrase is characteristically Hippocratic—the physician was not eager to administer drugs. We record this with a view to demonstrating that the true descendants of Hippocrates are not medical doctors but naturopaths. For the medical man must interfere and suppress the inherent healing power with drugs, while the naturopath assists the healing power of Nature by the application of natural methods. Nature Cure, therefore, is the art of assisting Nature to overcome disease and to maintain health. Medicine, on the other hand, can mean (and very often this is all it literally constitutes) a bottle of highly coloured fluid. It is the dissatisfaction with allopathic methods that has caused the resurgence of Naturopathy. Nature Cure recognises that there exists within the body the power to overcome disease. Cognisance of this factor, together with the proper use of knowledge and experience gained through the centuries, has evoked the philosophy of Naturopathy. It is still being added to, but the basic laws are the same immutable natural laws which have stood the test of time. And it is the violation of natural laws that produces disease. Man was created a healthy unit; so long as he obeys the natural laws that his body was designed to observe, then he remains a healthy unit—even unto death. Unfortunately, as civilisation progresses, so the observance of natural laws recedes. Two instances of this face us every day. These lie in the refining of flour and sugar. It is an indisputable fact that health has decreased as the refining of food and the lowering of the "natural" value of food has increased. Food is refined and made "palatable" but loses its quota of vitamins and mineral salts; nerves (jangled by the myriad problems of civilisation) are stimulated by drugs, fresh air is neglected, speed demands quicker locomotion than the legs can provide, our pleasures are the artificial stimulation of senses, work is concentrated, industrialisation causes neuroses. In short, Man has become the slave of the machine he constructed. With the regression from natural laws, we must inevitably find that Man is a sickly being. His sickness grows with each violation of the laws he was constructed to observe. The resilience of Man is one of his virtues and his weaknesses. Without this inherent tendency to be healthy Man would probably have rendered himself extinct by this period. Yet it is this very power which orthodox drugs suppress, and which the naturopath encourages. Naturopathy recognises that disease is the result of the violation of natural laws. Individually we eat too much, drink too much and have the same indulgences in pleasure and tobacco. We concentrate our lives into patches of sub-health and illness because of our pandering to the senses. And in sub-health we subsidise with drugs which, unfortunately, suppress the symptoms of disease. Then, when we fall really ill, the symptoms of disease only are treated and, with a combination of suppression and the assertion of healing power, we are deluded into assuming that health is once more with us. But this is not so, and no one is more aware of it than the naturopath. The medical profession also should be cognisant of the fact that real health is on the down-grade. The yearly statistics revealing the growing incidence of rheumatism, arthritis, nerve disorders, heart diseases, etc., point to the failure of Medicine. Nature Cure, therefore, insists that disease is created by the departure from such natural laws as govern diet, exercise, sun, fresh air and environment. When these natural laws are obeyed, health follows. The cure of the disease, obviously, calls for the correction of the non-observance of natural laws and for the application of such methods as will assist the healing power of the body to overcome disease. Such methods are fasting, diet, water treatments, the use of sun and air, herbs, bio-chemical medication, exercises and manipulation, electrotherapy, etc. Naturopathy differs from Medicine in many ways. Diagnosis follows largely the same lines, but its most sharp contrast is in the interpretation of disease. For it is this divergence in interpretation that culminates in opposing methods of treatment. Disease, briefly, is classified as acute or chronic. Naturopathy recognises that acute diseases—i.e. colds, fevers, tonsilitis, skin eruptions—are merely attempts by Nature to overthrow disease. Acute diseases are healing crises. It is, so to speak, a condition whereby the system endeavours to throw off the accumulation of poisons caused by wrong living over a period of time. Acute diseases, therefore, are beneficial. And it is in the manner of treating acute diseases by fasting, diet, water treatments, etc., that the naturopath observes and assists the process of self-cleansing. Naturopathy, then, hinges upon the theory that disease is the result of non-observance of the laws of Nature and that acute disease is a beneficial effort on the part of Nature to eliminate pent-up waste products. The medical treatment of acute disease consists of suppressive measures, since the main object of medical treatment is the recognition and suppression of symptoms only.

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