Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, BY ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Southern District of New York. "HERALD OF PROGRESS" PRINT, 274 Canal St., New York. H710H 126 1865 LANE יהיה ז PREFATORY QUESTIONINGS. THE author would confer a few moments with every one who proposes to take refuge in this HARBINGER OF HEALTH The present work is, perhaps, a vestibule to some new temple of life, health, and happiness. It is, however, deemed judicious to ask and answer a few practical questions in the presence of the reader, so that the aims and objects of this volume may be fully understood: QUESTION. What is the chief end of the earthly life of man? ANSWER. To individualize his spirit, and prepare it for the Q. What is the first condition of such individualization and preparation? Q. In what does physical health consist? A. In symmetry of development, energy of Will, harmony of function, and bodily purity. Q. How can these results be obtained? A. First, by inheriting a sound constitution; second, by obeying the law of temperance in regard to foods and drinks; third, by giving free play and equal exercise to the muscular system; fourth, by exerting the Will-power to keep the passions in subjection; fifth and lastly, by sleeping and working and living in accordance with the requirements of Nature's Laws. Q. What are the penalties of disobedience ? A. Angular development, physical weakness, pains, aches, discord, decrepitude, and disgust. Q. What is this condition called? A. It is called Disease. Q. What are the physical and mental consequences of Disease? Q. In what does Disease consist? A. In an excess, misplacement, or deficiency. Q. How can an excess be overcome? A. By supplying the deficiency of some unfulfilled want. Q. What is the first condition of restoration? A. Purification of both the skin and the digestive system. Q. How can these ends be accomplished? A. By thoroughly washing the body and lightly anointing the entire cuticle; the second result may be obtained by fasting for several days. Q What is the immediate cause of Disease? A. Exhaustion of the vital forces (i. e., the spiritual dynam ics of the soul;) also excessive impurity, in some particular organ or fluid. Q. What are the most prominent causes of such exhaustion and impurity? A. The causes in this country are, first, badly prepared food and rapid eating; second, deficient or excessive exercise; third, uncleanness of the skin; lastly, unhealthy respiration. Q. What is the immediate cause of impurity? A. The retention of inappropriate matter in the system. Q. Why is such foul matter retained? A. Because of the ignorance or negligence of man. Q. What are the proper channels for the expulsion of foul matter? A. The channels are six: The skin, the nerves, the lungs, the liver, the kidneys, and the bowels. Q. What is the process of expelling the impure matter which produces Disease? A. The process is called excretory, because the blood sends off its feverish exhalations, in the form of perspiration, through the skin; the mind sends off its surplus magnetism and electricity, in the form of activity, through the nerves; the blood. making organism sends off its poisonous smoke, in the form of carbonic acid, through the lungs; the fluids of the entire body discharge their most acrid portion, in the form of urine, through the kidneys; the entire organ-building mechanism expels its broken-down material, its cinders and ashes, in the form of bile, from the liver; and lastly, the inappropriate and refuse matter of the whole body is thrown off through the intestines. It therefore follows that, if any one of these excretory processes be neglected, or obstructed in any degree, the consequences are physical derangements and some form of acute Disease. Q. What is an acute Disease? A. It is a sudden and violent effort of Nature to expel impurities from the system. Q. What is a chronic Disease? A. It is a less violent and more tedious effort to restore the conditions of health. Q. What are the sources of nervous power and energy? A. Healthy diet, pure air, ample exercise, and a good digestion. Q. What conditions are necessary to a good digestion ? A. Simple food, well masticated; a clean skin, and contentment of mind. Q. What is simple food? A. An admixture of healthy substances, not to exceed threc solid articles, for one meal; and a very temperate use of butter, salt, vinegar, sugar, pepper, tea, and coffee. Q. What will produce mental contentment? A. A full and complete realization of the truths of the HARMONIAL PHILOSOPHY. Q In what way may we obtain pure air in a sickly district or low country? A. By breathing habitually through the nose, with the mouth closed; at night, hang a wet sheet or blanket near the open window of the sleeping apartment. Q. What is the effect upon the air of breathing it through the nose? A. Its temperature is immediately raised, which acts upon impure air just as boiling acts upon impure water, thus preparing the air for the uses of the lungs. The wet sheet unloads the air of its diseasing miasm, such as carbonic acid and various animal emanations, by which the lungs are depressed and the vital system poisoned. Q. Should the common air always enter the lungs through the nose? A. Yes, unless while taking violent exercise, such as running and jumping, when the heat of the mouth and throat is sufficient to purify and prepare the air for the lungs. It should be remembered that the nose is to the lungs what the mouth is to the stomach. As you would not think of swallowing food unmasticated, so you should not permit yourself to inhale air unpurified. The teeth and mouth, with their juices, accomplish the one; and the nose, with its various compartments and fluids, performs the other.. Q. Besides air, what is the next most important agent of health? Q. What is the evidence that water is thus important? A. It completely pervades the earth outside of man, and forms over four-fifths of his physical constitution; it forms more than ninety per centum of his blood; is absorbed by every membrane in his body; is the element on which all the particles float from part to part; is essential to all digestion, secretion, breathing, perspiration, and purification. |