Von Liebig says
Our vegetables, grain, meat and milk contain too much
phosphoric acid and sal ammoniac, and this is due to the use of artificial and animal
fertilizers, while the sulphurics are very often entirely missing.
Von Liebig says: When we consider that the sugar refineries of Waghausel have an
annual output in the market of 600,000 lbs. of potassic salt, which is taken from the
soil by the turnips of the Baden fields without being replaced, and that there is
cultivated in Northern Germany, year by year, with the assistance of guano, an
immense amount of potatoes solely for the manufacture of spirits, and that these
potato fields are consequently robbed of the essential ingredients which potatoes
should contain, and as these elements are only partially replaced by the insufficient
component parts of the guano, we cannot be in doubt as to the condition of these
fields.
The ground may be ever so rich in ingredients, but it is exhaustible. The
analysis of our blood indicates that, in order to remain healthy, it must contain
twice as many sulphuric as phosphoric salts.
We talk glibly about a natural mode of living, a simple diet; but where in our
civilized countries can we find food that really serves healthy sanguification?
The crux of the question is this: Why do we propose to
heal naturally and not also to nourish naturally ?—
The latter is, to say the least of it, just as important as the
former. But if both were practiced conjointly, a beneficial object might be more
quickly and surely gained.
It is true, we are taught to eat more vegetables than meat; that our bread lacks the
chief nourishing qualities, and so on; but we have hitherto been in no wise
informed as to the substances that are relatively harmful or beneficial to us.
Why is it then that the science of the sanative power of nature, as well as medical
science, is still in doubt in regard to the relation that must absolutely exist between
the separate component parts of our nourishment in order to obtain normal healthy
sanguification?
The reason is that the application of a real chemistry of life has never been
comprehended until now.
According to my judgment it is Von Liebig and Julius Hensel who showed us the
paths we are to take to the field of enquiry most important of all; for without a
sound body all the coveted acquisitions of modern times are worthless to us.
The solution of the question how to prevent the degeneration of mankind would be
a simple and natural one, if history and proverb had not taught us that as often as a
new truth appears "the very oxen butt their horns against it."
They cannot help this, the "disposition" is natural; for when Pythagoras had found the Master of Arts,
Mathesios, he was so overjoyed that he sacrificed one hundred oxen to the gods,
and ever since that time oxen are attacked with an hereditary fright whenever a new
truth appears,—the human ox is no exception.
Of what use to us, for instance, are the Roentgen X-rays in diseases of the nerves
when there is a generally diseased condition of the blood, which, as we now know,
is also the primary cause of lung, liver, stomach and kidney troubles, cancer,
scrofula, rheumatism, gout, obesity, diabetes, and the rest?
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