Soil and Health Library This document is a reproduction of the book or other copyrighted material you requested. It was prepared on Monday, 29 March 2010 for the exclusive use of kamlesh, whose email address is [email protected] This reproduction was made by the Soil and Health Library only for the purpose of research and study. Any further distribution or reproduction of this copy in any form whatsoever constitutes a violation of copyrights. EVERYBODY'S GUIDE TO NATURE CURE By HARRY BENJAMIN, N.D. Author of Better Sight Without Glasses Your Diet—in Health and Disease Adventure in Living—Autobiography of a Myope Commonsense Vegetarianism Unorthodox Healing versus Medical Science Basic Self-Knowledge How to Become 100% Healthy HEALTH FOR ALL PUBLISHING CO. GATEWAY HOUSE, BEDFORD PARK, CROYDON CR9 2AT, SURREY FIRST IMPRESSION (2,000) 1936 SECOND IMPRESSION (2,000) 1936 THIRD IMPRESSION (5,000) 1937 FOURTH IMPRESSION (4,000) 1941 FIFTH IMPRESSION (4,000) 1943 SIXTH IMPRESSION (4,000) 1944 SEVENTH IMPRESSION (4,000) 1945 EIGHTH IMPRESSION (4,000) 1946 NINTH IMPRESSION (4,000) 1947 TENTH IMPRESSION (5,000) 1949 ELEVENTH IMPRESSION (5,000) 1952 TWELFTH IMPRESSION (5,000) 1955 THIRTEENTH IMPRESSION (5,000) 1958 FOURTEENTH IMPRESSION (5,000) 1961 FIFTEENTH IMPRESSION (5,000) 1964 SIXTEENTH IMPRESSION (5,000) 1967 DEDICATED TO STANLEY LIEF, N.D., D.O., D.C. FOUNDER OF " HEALTH FOR ALL " who did more to forward the work of Nature Cure in Great Britain than any other man. Made and Printed in Great Britain by The Lewes Press Wightman & Co, Ltd., Lewes, Sussex C O N T E N T S PART I—NATURE CURE IN THEORY AND OUTLINE INTRODUCTION ix I. WHAT IS " NATURE CURE " ? 1 II. THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURE CURE 8 III. NATURE CURE VERSUS MEDICAL SCIENCE 13 IV. WHAT MEDICAL TREATMENT DOES 21 V. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEDICAL AND NATURAL TREATMENT 29 VI. HOW NATURE CURES 39 VII. THE METHODS OF NATURE CURE : FASTING 45 VIII. THE METHODS OF NATURE CURE : DIET 56 IX. OTHER FORMS OF NATURAL TREATMENT 69 X. THE NATURAL ROAD TO HEALTH 8l PART II—DISEASES AND THEIR NATURAL TREATMENT INTRODUCTION 89 I. AILMENTS OF CHILDREN 93 II. DISEASES OF THE SKIN (AND SCALP) 125 III. DISEASES OF THE JOINTS AND RHEUMATIC AFFECTIONS 141 IV. DISEASES OF THE BLOOD AND BLOOD-VESSELS (ALSO CIRCULATORY DISORDERS) 157 V. DISEASES OF THE NERVES AND NERVOUS SYSTEM 177 VI. DISEASES OF THE GLANDS AND GLANDULAR SYSTEM 200 VII. DISEASES OF THE EYES 213 VIII. DISEASES OF THE EARS, NOSE, MOUTH, AND THROAT 228 IX. DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES 260 X. DISEASES OF THE HEART, LUNGS, BRONCHIAL TUBES, AND LARYNX 301 XI. DISEASES OF THE LIVER, GALL-BLADDER, KIDNEYS, BLADDER, AND PANCREAS 336 XII. DISEASES OF THE MALE AND FEMALE SEX ORGANS 371 XIII. FEVERS (ALSO INFLUENZA) 404 XIV. MISCELLANEOUS 424 PART III—APPENDICES A. GENERAL TREATMENTS, DIETS, ETC. 435 B. FIRST-AID SECTION 465 INDEX 482 PREFACE TO FOURTEENTH EDITION OW that another large edition of this book is required, it is N opportune to review the situation since the first edition was published twenty-five years ago. During the quarter of a century in question Nature Cure methods have not changed one iota, and the measures outlined in this book when it was first published are still as effective as ever in the treatment of disease of all kinds. But what a difference we find when the orthodox medical scene is viewed. New methods of treatment follow one another in bewildering array, yet the sum total of disease is not one whit less than it was before. Indeed, it continues to mount steadily, as witness the data supplied by what is called the National " Health " Service. Since this scheme was first put into effect, in 1948, the total spent each year on drugs alone has increased so much that patients are exhorted by those in medical and governmental authority to think less about the medicine bottle and more about common-sense health measures in the treatment of their ailments ! Yet, by every publicity avenue, i.e. press, radio and TV, the public is regaled almost daily with the new marvels of medical science, with its latest " wonder drugs " , sera, and the like. It is not surprising, therefore, that the public still believes that drugs can cure disease, and that only along that path can health be restored to the sick. It is often only after years of disillusionment at the hands of orthodox medicine that people come to realise the truth that the drug way is not the way to health. But it is a hard and bitter lesson for most to learn, and they are fortunate whose steps are then led in the direction of Nature Cure, and, perchance, to the acquisition of a copy of this book. It has led many thousands the world over to the better health which they sought in vain at orthodox medical hands when they were the victims of a wide variety of diseases, often regarded as incurable by the best medical authorities. An important point that should be noted in regard to many of the newer methods of treatment that are in vogue nowadays in orthodox medical circles is the dangerous side-effects or after-effects which they produce. In a book entitled Diseases of Medical Progress, the author, an American Doctor, indicates the trend towards the development of a wide range of new diseases which have been brought into being by the very types of medical treatment that are so much exploited in publicity value through the press and over radio and TV. The antibiotic drugs alone, such as penicillin, streptomycin, etc.,* have a wide range of harmful side-effects to their " credit " , which are causing increasing concern to the more thoughtful members of the medical profession, but very little of this information gets into the press. It is reserved for the medical journals which contain regularly, in almost every issue, accounts of the harm that such drags are doing to patients under medical treatment. Deaths from the use of antibiotic * The term antibiotic means anti-life, in the sense of destroying germs. That is, indeed, all that this type of drug can do. It destroys the germ, but leaves the basic causes of disease quite untouched, so that further and more serious disease is bound to arise later in the body of the person so treated. drugs are by no means rare, either, and so the trend towards physical bankruptcy goes on apace under orthodox medical guidance. The effect of such methods on the mental health of the community should also be considered. It is just as bad as, if not worse than, the deleterious effect on physical health and well-being. All this makes a sorry picture, and so it is a matter of the greatest urgency that the truths which Nature Cure is seeking to inculcate into the minds of diseased and suffering humanity should have an increasingly wide appeal. It is in this respect that this book has played, and we hope will continue to play, an important part. That is why the author is glad to see that a further large edition is needed to satisfy the demand all over the world for its explanation of the Nature Cure view of disease causation and cure. The truth will always be the same—today or a thousand years hence—and the truths which Nature Cure has to reveal are, and always must be, identical in content, no matter what new discoveries are made in regard to man and the universe of which he is a part. That more skill will be attained in treatment by practitioners is to be expected, of course, but the basic principles of Nature Cure cannot alter. If, therefore, further editions of this book are needed, even one hundred years hence, there is no reason to suppose that anything need be altered of the text, except for possible minor changes here and there. It is with these thoughts, therefore, that the author commends this latest edition of his book to new readers throughout the world. May they derive as much help from it as the many thousands who have already benefited from its contents. In gratitude, it is to be hoped that they will pass on the good news to others who have not yet come in touch with the basic truths about disease causation and cure that are contained in the following pages. This information can be a boon and a blessing to countless people suffering at present under the well-meaning but misguided efforts of the medical profession. HARRY BENJAMIN. INTRODUCTION HAT there is a very great necessity for a popularly written book T on Natural Healing—or Nature Cure, as it is called—in this disease ridden world of ours has been only too obvious to the writer for several years. The present volume may be taken, therefore, as his attempt to meet this long-felt need. For everyone who knows anything about Nature Cure, and has realised through personal experience what its methods of treatment can do for suffering humanity, there are tens of thousands still completely ignorant as to its very existence in the world of healing, and who continue to rely implicitly on orthodox medicine, even though in many instances they have had ample evidence of its inability to help them in their own particular cases. In the course of his daily experience as a Naturopath—or practitioner of Nature Cure—the writer is being brought continually into contact with scores of people, drawn from every rank of society, who have passed from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist, hospital to hospital, in the vain hope of being cured of the diseases from which they had been suffering, only to find these same diseases becoming worse, not better, at medical hands.