more firmly to the conclusion that most of its
symptoms are a part of, or at least incidents in, the fight of the body
against the invading army. The flushed and reddened skin is due to the
pumping of large quantities of blood through its mesh, in order that the
poisons may be got rid of through the perspiration. The rapid pulse
shows the vigor with which the heart is driving the blood around the
body, to have its poisons neutralized in the liver, burned up in the
lungs, poured out by the kidneys and the skin. The quickened breathing
is the putting on of more blast in the lung poison-crematory. It is
possible that even the rise of temperature has an injurious effect upon
the invading germs or assists the body in their destruction.

In the past we have blindly fought all of these symptoms. We shut our
patients up in stove-heated rooms with windows absolutely closed, for
fear that they would "catch cold." We took off the sheets and piled
blankets upon the bed, setting a special watch to see that the wretched
sufferer did not kick them off. We discouraged the drinking of water and
insisted on all drinks that were taken being hot or lukewarm. Nowadays
all this is changed. We throw all the windows wide-open, and even put
our patients out of doors to sleep in the open air, whether it be
typhoid, tuberculosis, or pneumonia; knowing that not only they will not
"catch cold," but that, as their hurried breathing indicates, they need
all the oxygen they can possibly get, to burn up the poison poured out
in the lungs and from the skin. We encourage the patient to drink all
the cool, pure water he will take, sometimes gallons in a day, knowing
that his thirst is an indication for flushing and flooding all the great
systems of the body sewers. Instead of smothering him in blankets, we
put him into cold packs, or put him to soak in cool water.

In short, we trust nature instead of defying her, cooeperate with her in
place of fighting her,--and we have cut down the death-rate of most
fevers fifty to seventy-five per cent already. Plenty of pure, cool
water internally, externally, and eternally, rest, fresh air, and
careful feeding, are the best febrifuges and antipyretics known to
modern medicine. All others are frauds and simply smother a symptom
without relieving its cause, with the exception of quinine in malaria,
mercury, and the various antitoxins in their appropriate diseases, which
act directly upon the invading organism.

Und