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SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 29, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 5.

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SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

David Paulson & W. S. Sadler

AUTO-INTOXICATION, OR HOW A MAN MAY POISON HIMSELF

(See Diagram 4 in Review of Jan. 15, 1901)

HOW THE BODY PROTECTS ITSELF AGAINST MICROBES AND POISONS

Although the body is in continual danger of being poisoned, yet under normal conditions it is able to protect itself. Microbes are continually swarming around the body, seeking a foothold on the inside, yet man has the privilege of living above them. Bouchard tersely represents this condition by saying, “The healthy man is not attractive to the microbe.” Man in his normal condition is stronger than any germ; for in the beginning God made man to have dominion over the microbes; and it is only by wrong habits of living, by allowing himself to become poisoned and weakened, that germs secure the mastery.
The most careful and toilsome research is being carried on in scores of laboratories to discover some new means of lessening the activity of germs, and this work deserves great praise for the results that have been achieved; but there is still a greater work, and that is to study as thoroughly as possible the means and methods of strengthening man so that he may regain his lost dominion over microbes.
1. Germ-Destroying Power of the Body's Fluids.—There is scarcely a tissue or fluid of the body that does not possess germicidal properties. It is only when the tissues become deteriorated and the stomach overwhelmed because of wrong dietetic habits, that the tongue becomes coated. The gastric juice of the dog has power to disinfect decaying meat. The human gastric juice does not possess this power, yet it is of sufficient strength to keep the stomach perfectly aseptic when it has a reasonable opportunity. If the food substances pass out of the stomach untainted, there will be little likelihood of their producing virulent poisons in the small intestine. But, to prevent even this possibility, the bile is a mild antiseptic, as are also the remaining digestive juices.
The serum of the blood is an antiseptic. When pus germs accidentally get through the skin, they are not able to produce boils and abscesses unless the health of the person is below par. The white blood cells are scavengers of the human system, having the remarkable ability to eat up microbes.
2. Vital Resistance of the Mucous Membranes and Other Tissues.—In its normal condition, the whole area of the respiratory tract (lungs, throat, etc.) possesses the power to destroy germs. If it were not for this divinely appointed protection, the system would soon be overwhelmed with disease-producing germs, which would be carried into the lungs through this avenue. A person does not contract tuberculosis until, by wrong habits in diet, or other violations of natural law, he has so weakened his system that he sinks beneath the line that marks him as being stronger than the germs of consumption. Likewise the mucous membrane of the digestive organs does not furnish a favorable soil for the microbes to establish their headquarters, if the body has not been weakened by violations of physical law.
3. Transformation of the Harmful into the Harmless.—The same power that enables the lily to grow beautiful and fair amid the filth and slime of the pools appears to have endowed some organs of the body with ability to transform poisonous substances into elements that are even useful and helpful to the system. The liver is a marked example of this, utilizing, as it does, much of the broken-down blood substances, by transforming them into useful bile.
The liver also stores up certain poisons, gradually releasing them as the system is able to eliminate them. It retains, for a time, a large share of the sugar which is received from the digestive organs, changing it into a form of starch called glycogen, dispensing it to the system with a nicety and accuracy that suggest an unerring consciousness. Even the dropsical condition of Bright's disease is in most cases a protective process. Nature stores away in the tissues of the body poisonous fluids, which the kidneys, in their crippled condition, are unable to carry off, and thus saves the delicate nerve cells from the influence of these poisons.
4. Normal Elimination.—The most important means the body possesses of protecting itself against the dangers of self-poisoning are the various eliminative organs—the lungs, kidneys, skin, and bowels. The lungs are first in importance. The kidneys carry off about two thirds of all the solid materials that are eliminated from the human body. Next to the lungs, they are the most important of the eliminating organs. There is carried off through the skin about one and one-half pints of waste fluids every twenty-four hours, while the kidneys eliminate a much larger quantity. It is a remarkable illustration of the divine intelligence that directs the lungs to carry off the gaseous waste, the kidneys and skin the fluids, while into the intestines are poured many of the poisonous substances made in the body, which are thus removed with the residue that remains in the intestinal tract after each digestive fluid has selected that which can be utilized for the nourishment of the human system.
5. Fevers.—Occasionally, when the poisons accumulate in the system beyond the safety line, nature has a sort of house cleaning for the person's benefit, in the form of a vigorous fever. The appetite is lost, so as to preclude the possibility of taking more harmful food. The patient becomes excessively thirsty, because it requires no tissue activity to care for pure water, which cleanses his tissues on the inside, the same as it would cleanse if it were applied on the outside. Nature takes away his physical strength, so as to put him on the “rest cure,” thus cutting down the amount of poisons made in the muscles. His heart beats faster, so that the blood may be carried more frequently to the lungs, kidneys, and skin. Fever is a sort of safety valve to the human economy, and its successful and rational treatment lies in the removal of the cause of the fever, and not of its symptoms. When the cause of the fever is removed, and the body is properly treated with rational remedies, in ordinary cases the fever will soon abate.
Copyrighted, 1900, by David Paulson and W. S. Sadler.
He always wins who sides with God, To him no chance is lost; God's will is sweetest to him when It triumphs at his cost.
Ill that blesses is our good, And noblest good is ill; And all is right that seems most wrong, If it be His dear will.
When obstacles and trials seem Like prison walls to be, I do the little I can do, And leave the rest to thee.
I have no cares, O blessed will! For all my cares are thine; I live in triumph, Lord, for thou Hast made thy triumph mine.
—Faber.