p. 240 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 15. (4/21/1914)

NATURE'S BLOOD PURIFIER

By David Paulson, M. D.

Simple and Effective Means for Purifying the Blood — Errors of Diet Responsible for Many of the Ailments So Common in Springtime

By DAVID PAULSON, M. D.

Medical Superintendent of Hinsdale Sanitarium, Hinsdale, Illinois

MOST of us who were blessed with thoughtful mothers can remember how we were regularly compelled each spring to take various blood purifiers. Time has led us to question the efficacy of the blood remedies, but it has by no means discounted their necessity.

A "TOUCH OF SCURVY"

Dr. Evans, formerly health commissioner for Chicago, writes, "This is the season of the year for scurvy." He does not mean the fully developed type, such as sailors used to suffer of when they were absolutely deprived of fresh vegetables and lived largely on salted meat, but rather the A B C of the same thing. As Dr. Evans expresses it: "A large part of the population will have 'a touch of scurvy' between now and May. With some it will go no further than repeated spells of bad breath; with others a multitude of vague aches and pains variously called rheumatism, sciatica, lumbago, gout; with others there will be attacks of sore gums; with others the face will be pale and a little bloated, with dark circles and slight bloats around the eyes; with others there will be patches of skin eruption."

HOG, HOMINY, AND "SPRING FEVER"

This is also the time of year for those popular disorders known as "spring fever." The breaking of winter's icy fetters has set free a multitude of vicious germs, but that in itself would be of little consequence except for the fact that the winter diet of the majority of our population has been such as to break down resistance to disease and thus to encourage the activity of the deadly microbe. As Dr. Evans well expresses it: "The reason is plain. For several months we have lived on 'hog and hominy,' or what is equivalent to it. Certain needs of the body have not been met."

THEY MAKE ACIDITY OF THE BLOOD

Gautier, the eminent French dietetic authority, says: "Bread and meat suffice to nourish man, but they can not maintain him indefinitely in health. They both, as has been seen, have a tendency to acidify the blood. Should vegetables be wanting at any time, the humors will become less and less alkaline, and symptoms of a scorbutic [scurvy] nature will appear."

During winter, people are likely to substitute sugars and various sweets for the deficiency in vegetables, fruits, and green garden truck. This excess of cane-sugar and its preparations tends to increase still further this "touch of scurvy." Coffee and tea, both of which are really "drug drinks," and should therefore be purchased from the druggist instead of the grocer, tend still further to aggravate this same condition.

WHAT COFFEE WILL DO

On this point Gautier says: "Coffee, as every one knows, produces a nervous excitement, which, if abused, may lead to insomnia, hallucinations, troubles of the circulation, and muscular innervation, to precordial [heart] distress, and to dyspnoea [breathlessness]. One may become caffeic just as one can become alcoholic or a morphia maniac. Some people, nevertheless, do not readily suffer from the abuse of it. But it ought to be especially forbidden to arthritics, to uratics [uric acid conditions] — amongst whom it often causes gravel — to gastralgics, to dyspeptics, and to those suffering from Bright's disease."

NATURE'S IDEAL BLOOD PURIFIERS

Fruits, vegetables, and especially such green things as lettuce, raw chopped cabbage, and spinach, contain just exactly the mineral salts that nature needs as her ideal blood purifier; and that is the reason most people instinctively crave something of that sort this time of the year.

But those who live naturally during the winter have neither this craving, nor the "spring fever," nor the "touch of scurvy." On this point I again quote the following vital question and sensible answer from Dr. Evans:

"How can I get through this winter and early spring without skin eruptions, rheumatic pains, puffy face, and the other signs of a touch of scurvy? — The first requisite is to eat fruit for breakfast. Especially should the Southern people substitute fruit for some of the meat in their heavy biscuit-steak-waffles breakfast. Two fruits should be eaten each morning — one raw and one cooked.

"The best raw fruits are oranges, limes, lemons, grapefruit, pineapples, and apples. In addition, cooked apricots, apples, peaches, pears, baked apples, or other fruit should be eaten. As soon as the berries come in the spring, scurvy goes out. This is the season of the year when raw carrots are good for the complexion. Raw carrots, by preventing and curing spring touches of scurvy, may prevent some muddiness, some puffiness, and may cure up some spring blotches."

"Raw vegetables are better than cooked from the scurvy standpoint. There is some reason for thinking there are ferments — delicate chemical substances — present in raw vegetables and essential for health, and that these are destroyed at the cooking temperature."

Potatoes are extremely rich in mineral salts; and Gautier advises, in acid conditions, to replace bread partly by stewed potatoes, on account of their well-known ability to alkalinize the blood.

HE PAYS THREE TIMES

The man who daily eats a large amount of flesh food will generally discover that sooner or later he is paying for it thrice, — first to the butcher, and then to the doctor and the druggist; for as Gautier expresses it:

"A meat diet acidifies the blood and diminishes oxidation. It charges the humors of the system with a superabundance of nitrogenous wastes, uric acid in particular; it increases the urinary alkaloids; it congests the liver; it brings on an obstinate constipation, and causes dyspepsia, gastric difficulties, and enteritis; it leads to psoriasis, eczema, etc; it develops rheumatic, arthritic, gouty, and nervous tendencies."

While vegetables and fruits for the most part contain but a small amount of actual nourishment, the large amount of cellulose they have furnishes bulk that serves to encourage the activity of the alimentary canal; and at the same time their valuable salts not only cleanse the blood, but actually stimulate nutrition. Hence it is advisable always to make them an important part of the regular dietary.

The Uncrowned Hero

By W. R. Patterson

WE'VE praise for the man at the top— We laud him up to the skies, But have little thought for him who fought, And fell battl'ing for the prize. We have garlands for the chieftain Who rides from the field of fray; But who will tell how hard and well He fought who lost the day?

Not written among the great? Unknown to the ranks of fame? If his heart was true, and he dared to do, He was a hero just the same. True Merit often limps afoot, While Fraud rides high in the van. To do one's best is the royal test Of a true and valiant man.

Then hail to the uncrowned hero! Let's toast in a fitting way. With water clear and a hearty cheer, Let's drink to his health to-day. W. R. PATTERSON.

What Alcohol Will Do

An exchange tells what alcohol will do: "It may seem strange, but is nevertheless true, that alcohol, regularly applied to a thrifty farmer's stomach, will remove the boards from the fence, let the cattle into his crops, kill his fruit-trees, mortgage his farm, and sow his fields with wild oats and thistles. It will take the paint off his buildings, break the glass out of the windows, and fill them with rags, take the gloss off his clothes and the polish from his manners, subdue his reason, arouse his passions, bring sorrow and disgrace upon his family, and topple him into a drunkard's grave. It will do this to the artisan and the capitalist, the matron and the maiden."

The Constellation of Orion

By Augusta W. Heald

One of the Most Interesting and Brilliant Groups of the Skies — Some of Its Neighbors

By AUGUSTA W. HEALD

THE winter and early spring skies are surpassingly brilliant, with the great constellation Orion, and the stars that surround it as a body-guard to the "mighty hunter."

Giant Sirius, the dog-star, in the constellation of the Great Dog, shines forth in regal splendor. This, the brightest of all the stars, is fifty trillion miles from the earth. Its gleams of diamond light, which sparkle and scintillate before our admiring gaze, have been more than eight years traveling the immense space which separates us from that far-off sun.

Northeast of Sirius is beautiful Procyon, of Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog. Procyon may be identified by its attendant, a much smaller star some five degrees above it.

North of Canis Minor we find Castor and Pollux, the fabulous twins of the constellation Gemini. Northwest from these is the beautiful first magnitude star the milk-white Capella, in the constellation Auriga. Capella, "the goat," is recognized by three small stars quite near, forming a slender triangle. These stars represent the mythological "kids," which Capella is supposed to nourish.

Looking southwest, we find ruddy Aldebaran, the most beautiful star in Taurus. Further south is Rigel, in the left foot of Orion, and we come again to Sirius.

Orion is the largest and most glorious constellation in the heavens. "When on the meridian, . . . it is visible to all the habitable world, because the equinoctial passes through the middle of the constellation. It has seventy-eight visible stars. Betelguese in the right shoulder and Rigel in the left foot of Orion are very brilliant stars, brighter even than first magnitude. Bellatrix in the left shoulder is bright, but not as large. These three, with a smaller star, form a large parallelogram, which is intersected about midway by a line of three beautiful stars of the second magnitude, uniform in size and brightness, called the 'Belt of Orion,' the 'Three Stars,' or the 'Ell and Yard.'"

The three stars in Orion's belt form a straight line, three degrees in length, divided by the central star into two equal parts. They thus form a scale, or measuring rod, by which may be calculated the comparative distances of the heavenly bodies from one another.

Below the belt hangs the sword, a short row of stars of fourth or fifth magnitude. The middle one of these stars is surrounded by a misty light from the great nebula of Orion, the most wonderful object in the firmament. This nebula marks the locality of the "open space in Orion." More than fifty years ago, we were told that when our Lord shall come to gather His dear people, He will appear through the open space in Orion.

For many years, little seemed to be known of this "open space"; but said the prophet Daniel, in "the time of the end . . . knowledge shall be increased." Dan. 12:4. The photographic plates of the Mount Wilson Observatory have revealed to the eye of man a colossal "cavern in the nebula of Orion, the gigantic opening of a starry corridor leading into inconceivable depths."

Is there not a special significance in the fact that Orion's Belt, the Ell and Yard, the measuring rod for stellar distances, is placed in such nearness to that glorious portal which leads up to God and His throne? To the writer, it is suggestive of God's perfect law, the measuring reed of the prophets, the standard by which God will judge His people. "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14.

"Orion's starry belt" is, in its symmetry and gem-like beauty, the most perfect group in the heavens. "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul." Ps. 19:7, margin. While we, in faith, await the restoring, life-giving touch which shall fit us for translation through the star-gemmed entrance to the realms of glory, let us most earnestly heed the sublime pleadings of the pastoral prophet of Judah's hills, "Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning." Amos 5:8.

A Black Man of the Eighteen Sixties

By William Covert

I SOMETIMES recall the remarkable Christian devotion of a Negro slave who came into our military camp at Old Town Creek, North Carolina, near the close of the Civil War.

General Cox's division of the Twenty-third Army Corps was halted a little by the Confederate troops at Old Town as they were advancing up the Cape Fear River toward Wilmington. We moved on to the place in the darkness of the night, and found ourselves in possession of a little grist-mill stocked with corn to be ground into meal. The writer was detailed to find the miller to set the mill going so as to provide fresh meal for the hungry soldiers.

The miller was found; and after grinding the meal, he came into camp and remained with our company for a time. He had heard of the Yankee soldiers, but he did not even know that they were near his place. It was very difficult to convince him that he was in their camp, because the appearance of our men did not agree with what he had been told about them. He actually thought that he was doing service for and was in the camp of the Confederate soldiers.

His master had fled, but before going, had made him believe that if the Yankee soldiers came they would do him bodily harm. So when he was convinced that he was in their midst, he, in his simplicity, began to plead that they would spare his life. His entreaty was, "Please do not kill me." Of course he was treated kindly, and soon came to know that he was in the hands of good friends.

Then he told us of his calling and work in the gospel ministry. Besides caring for the little corn grist-mill, he preached for the slaves of the place. And a more devoted man in this blessed calling I never met.

His heart seemed set on Jesus and His love, and his conscience was tender, and his exhortations to the soldiers were pointed and good. He could talk of the Scriptures with a fair understanding of their requirements, and the whole tenor of his life comported with their teachings. He reproved the soldiers for their profanity in such a way that his stay in our company had a salutary influence over the men.

I do not now remember his name, but I do hope to meet, in the kingdom of God, the man who was the black miller and Baptist preacher at Old Town, North Carolina, in 1865. WILLIAM COVERT.

The Tongue of the Learned

By Max Hill

To him aweary in the way, The word in season let me speak, As Thou hast taught my tongue, To toiling ones, the lowly, meek, To timid ones, and young.

The learned words that Thou canst teach, Not words of wisdom of the wise That hide a heart of stone; Within me let Thy Spirit rise To speak Thy words alone.

Each morning wake my ear to hear The calls of pilgrims on the way, Hard pressed in galling strife. Let me make light some path each day, And show the way of life. Max Hill.

Cooking Oil for Sale

"Gold Medal" is the highest grade of all cooking oils. It always pleases. Costs a little more, but worth much more. Keeps sweet and pure for years. 5-gallon can, $4.35; 2 cans, $8.50; barrel, $36.00. Freight is low on oil, and two cans cost no more than one. Sanitarium Food Company, 558 Anthony Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota.

For Sale or Exchange

One hundred and sixty acres of unimproved real estate, adjoining Thatuna Academy farm, a flourishing school, at Viola, Idaho. Can be made a good home. Well-watered and timbered, in addition to tillable land. Will consider exchange for a good house and lot in California town, or country tract. Address J. H. Forney, Moscow, Idaho.

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"The Menace of the Feeble-Minded"

By Editor

UNDER the caption of "The Menace of the Feeble-Minded," the Journal of the American Medical Association, in its issue for March, says:

"The economic and social problems connected with the feeble-minded are of far greater importance than the average 'man on the street' realizes. Whatever the cause, the fact is that this class is increasing enormously in all civilized countries."

The Journal then calls attention to the report of the committee of visitors of the State Charities of New York, according to which there are at present in that state 32,000 feeble-minded persons. Part of these are cared for in state institutions, many of them are privately cared for, while still others are without any particular care.

Upon this subject the Royal Commission of England reports that in that country the feeble-minded are increasing at twice the rate of the general population. And Amos W. Butler, of Indiana, makes statements to the effect that feeble-mindedness produces more pauperism, degeneracy, and crime than any other force, and that its cost is beyond comprehension.

The stubborn, indisputable facts are all in harmony with the Bible story, notwithstanding evolutionary theories, as well as the theories of those who claim that the world is growing better and better all the time, to the contrary. This old world is on the verge of a moral breakdown, and this increasing feeble-mindedness is largely the result of the immorality that has permitted the liquor traffic to spread its evils all over the world. We can do much, by reform agitation, to stem this tide that is going downward, and thereby make a way of escape for as many individuals as may desire to avail themselves of the opportunities afforded by the great power of the gospel. But there is nothing that will end this degeneracy until the Lord Jesus Christ comes in person to destroy everything that is evil.

But we should never lose sight of the fact that the same scriptures which have foretold the moral breakdown of the world as a great whole, have also spoken of the heroic and faithful work of the great army who would valiantly combat these evil conditions. At the present time these strong men and women who, to use the graphic language of Ezekiel, sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in the land, are scattered among the great variety of church organizations and other bodies that are aiming to stand for the moral uplift of the world and the propagation of the gospel. These reformers will come closer and closer together until they are finally united in the powerful host that will do valiant service for Christ.

This union of heroic and faithful service will be the opposite of the federation that will seek to cohere without having in their hearts the true sentiments of indissoluble union that bind together the real followers of the perfect Saviour. It is both inspiring and sublime to think of standing with the body of men and women that will follow the true Christ of the living God in the conflicts upon which this world has entered, and which will so soon end in the triumphs of the coming of Jesus in person.

Health and Missions

By Editor

STERILIZING milk by electricity is an experiment that is being made in Liverpool. An electric current of high voltage is passed through the milk while it is flowing. The advantage claimed over sterilization by steam is that the milk tastes the same as when it leaves the cow. Strict tests appear to show that any tubercular or other contamination is removed. Leading bacteriologists are studying the process very closely.

THE decrease in domestic animals used for food since 1910 amounts to 18,000,000 head. Some people are becoming uneasy because of this fact, thinking that our food supply is in danger; but there is no occasion for uneasiness. There are thousands of people who never taste a mouthful of meat from one year's end to the other, and who enjoy better health and are better nourished than their meat-eating friends. The use of flesh as an article of diet savors rather of barbarism and degeneracy than of enlightenment and progress.

WE have been delayed in noticing a copy of the Missionary Calendar for 1914, which came to our desk some time ago. This is a calendar devoted exclusively to the interests of missions. An item of vital interest on missions is given for each day of the year. For instance, the item for January 24 is the following: "Our responsibility never can cease so long as we have a life to live for Christ and a whole world still waiting for the gospel." January 27 has the following: "Less than 10,000,000 of Russia's 163,000,000 population have ever heard a so-called gospel sermon." The cover has two photographs,—one of a group of thirty-three Chinese Christian men, and the happy expression on their faces is in striking contrast to the hopeless and purposeless countenance of the heathen, and is cogent proof that it pays to bring the glad tidings to this hitherto superstitious and devil-worshiping race; the other, a group of African Christian girls, standing as the fruit of the labor of love and sacrifice of the Christian missionary. Those desiring copies of this calendar can correspond with the publisher, A. W. Roffe, 274 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

UPON the recommendation of Surgeon-General Braisted, of the United States navy, Secretary of the Navy Daniels has issued the order that "the use or introduction for drinking purposes of alcoholic liquors on board any naval vessel or within any navy-yard or station is prohibited, and commanding officers will be held directly responsible for the enforcement of this order." Secretary Daniels, in speaking of the order that he had issued, mentioned cases of young men who owe their first drink and their start on the downward road to their connection with the navy. He said, "Experience has shown the wisdom of having no intoxicants on our ships for the young men who enlist."

ONE of the recent news despatches from Florence is to the effect that Signor Ulivi, with an ultraviolet-ray apparatus, exploded two torpedoes charged with black gunpowder, and two others charged with smokeless powder, in the River Arno, about two miles distant from his apparatus. Commenting on this despatch, Harper's Weekly very pertinently asks, "What, then, of the $10,000,000 Dreadnoughts, whose magazines can be exploded by a ray machine a hundred or a thousand miles distant — or of the soldier who carries in his cartridge belt his own annihilation?"

ON April 7 representatives of the United States and Colombia signed a treaty the terms of which give Colombia $25,000,000 in a lump sum as full payment for the loss suffered by that state when Panama seceded and transferred the Canal Zone to the United States. This settlement gives the United States exclusive rights for the construction of the interoceanic canal through Colombian territory, and also allows this country coaling privileges on the Colombian coast.

THE recent elections in Illinois have added sixteen counties to the thirty that already bar the saloons from their borders. It is estimated that this last success of prohibition in that state puts more than one thousand additional saloons out of existence. One of the best things about it is that some of the larger cities of the state, where the saloons are always the most strongly entrenched, are among those which are placed in the dry territory.

DEAN DAVENPORT, of the college of agriculture of the University of Illinois, says that "grotesque fashions are responsible in large part for the increased cost of living." And the dean might also have said truthfully that these same grotesque fashions are responsible for a great deal of the increasing immorality of the times.

UPON taking office recently as surgeon-general of the army, Brigadier-General William C. Gorgas stated that he is in sympathy with the order prohibiting liquor in the navy, and he believes that such an order would do much good in the army.

An Unfortunate Situation Well Stated

By John Orr Corliss

The Los Angeles Express of April 2 carries the report of a recent lecture delivered at the University of California, by Dr. Barton, of Boston. This was the fourth lecture in the E. T. Earl series on the subject "Hindrances to Christianity." The reported speech shows many good things said regarding the general lack of aggressiveness the church has long sustained, and the reason for its deficit, but one of the most potent reasons assigned for this loss was very plainly stated thus:

"One of the causes of this loss of aggressiveness was the alliance, in the fourth century, of the church and the state. The mistake was not in the attempt of Christianity to convert Rome, but in the attempt of Rome to become the protector and propagator of Christianity. Whenever a state has taken over a religion and made rules for it, that religion has begun to decline."

It may not be amiss to suggest here that the very thing which so certainly brought decline to the church in earlier days, will just as surely rob it of spiritual power in the present generation. Moreover, the apparent tendency of the present time to have the state protect and propagate religious dogmas is even now having its detrimental effect, in some quarters, upon personal missionary work. It will be well for the church at large speedily to mend its ways, by looking to the Lord alone for the support needed in its Heaven-appointed work. J. O. C.

Violence Threatened

In a recent interview with a New York World reporter, Emma Goldman says: "Necessity knows no law. Hungry people must demand food; and if it is not given them, they must take it by force. We are now planning a series of demonstrations which will make the people of New York realize the seriousness of the unemployment problem. Hundreds of people are starving and without shelter, both of which they should demand from society as their right. I don't care what methods they use to get them. Force and even bloodshed may follow. But something must be done to provide them with the necessities of life."

The number of people who will applaud sentiment of this kind is growing stronger and stronger every day. The very fact that the United States government was driven to the necessity of appointing an industrial commission to inquire into the causes of the discontented throughout the country shows that there is really trouble and that the people have grievances.

We do not settle these matters by charging the authors of such statements with anarchy and things of that sort. These conditions are here. These utterances are being made and the situation is becoming more and more acute and desperate every day that we live. What will be the end of all of this turmoil and strife?

There are the schools of "economics," each with its theory. There are various government leaders who are struggling to solve the problems. There are numerous kinds of labor and other organizations everywhere, each of which is sure that it has some panacea or specific that will cure the trouble if their plan may only be followed out. But while all these are earnestly, and, without doubt, honestly urging their reforms and plans, the conditions continue to grow worse and worse.

The Bible is the one book in the world that has a message that truly solves the problem. This book says in the clearest language: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3: 1-5.

There are many other passages which show that the last days of the earth's history are to be marked by extreme perils and lawlessness and vice, and that the world will finally be plunged into such scenes of confusion and disorder that the only power that can arrest its course is the coming of the infinite Christ in the clouds of heaven. His coming is abundantly promised in the sacred book, and everything foretells that the great day is very near.

Our new headquarters and publishing house at Seoul, Korea. Two more cottages like the one at the left are behind the main building and do not show in the picture.