A TALK ON NATURE'S REMEDIES. It is quite probable that there are not a hundred persons in the United States who are familiar with the interesting history of the development of the ideas concerning the remedies that nature has provided for the preservation of health, or the restoration of it. These ideas are not of mushroom growth, nor in any wise resemble the development of Jonah's gourd. On the other hand, their origin may be traced back through many centuries. Some twenty-four centuries ago, there lived in Greece a man whose master mind recognized great truths, and formulated mighty principles the influence of which has grown with the lapse of time, until now their importance is recognized. This man, Pythagoras, numbered among his disciples such men of genius as Socrates and Plato. It was he who first conceived the idea of the rotundity of the earth, and of its revolution around the sun. Pythagoras established a health colony which he called Crotona. There he gathered about him hundreds of disciples to whom he taught the simple rules of life which he himself had followed. These comprised abstinence from all 'unwholesome foods, especially meats, for Pythagoras considered the slaughter of animals as sacrilege. In Crotona there were no slaughter houses or butcher shops. Temperance in all things, an active out-of-door life, simple dress, purity and uprightness in conduct, were strictly enjoined by this prophet of a then newly-taught truth. The decadence of Greece had already set in, and the doctrines of Pythagoras were little appreciated. The members of his health colony were massacred by their ignorant and degenerate countrymen: yet, his philosophy survived. The famous biographer, Plutarch; the noble old Roman, Seneca; the Latin poet, Ovid, and many of the early Christian fathers, followed in after years the teachings of Pythagoras. Byron, during the better part of his career, so also Shelley, Goldsmith, and many other English writers, accepted these teachings. The great Russian writer and reformer, Leo Tolstoi, is also an ardent defender of these doctrines. A little less than a hundred years ago, a fourteen-years old peasant boy of Germany, who was barely able to read and had not been taught to write, while engaged in cutting wood on a mountain near his home, observed a wounded deer bathing its injured leg in one of the numerous springs which abound in that region. Day after day, the deer came and bathed the damaged parts until entirely healed of its injury. The boy (who was afterward known as the philosopher Preissnitz) soon after suffered a severe accident from which the physicians, who were consulted, declared he could not recover. He tried the deer's remedy, applying water by means of wet cloths placed over the injured parts, and in a few weeks was quite restored to health. He induced others to try his remedy, and invented many different ways of applying water by means of baths, douches, packs, compresses, and various other methods. Before he was twenty, he had become famous. During the first half of the last century, the little village of Graefenburg, where he lived, was thronged with invalids from all over the world, including many physicians and notable people of high station, government officials, princes, lords and barons, who sought relief by the employment of water skillfully applied under the direction of this prophet of a new method of healing. Institutions known as "water-cures" sprang up in Germany, France, England and America. For many years they flourished, but failed in some cases on account of want of knowledge and reckless experiment. Half a century ago, there gathered, on a little farm not far from New Haven, Connecticut, the most remarkable collection of men and women who have ever been associated in any community in modern times. George Ripley, the most famous Unitarian minister of New England at that period, was the founder of the community. The practical realization of the Pythagorian philosophy was the central idea of the Brook Farm experiment. Among the one hundred and forty members, many of whom afterward became eminent, were Emerson, the philosopher; Bronson Abbot, the transcendentalist; Thoreau, the interpreter of nature; Margaret Fuller, the educational reformer; Charles Dana, the founder of the New York Sun; and Hawthorne, one of the greatest literary lights of the past century. The Brook Farm experiment failed for lack of financial management, but the ideals survived. Something over thirty years ago, a small group of men organized in Battle Creek, Michigan, a society which recognized the principles taught by Pythagoras and those who have followed his teachings during the last two thousand years; and, in 1876, it became known as the Battle Creek Sanitarium. In addition to the healing by means of the application of water, there has been introduced many other natural remedies, notably the Swedish movement cure. Gradually, by means of observations and researches, an elaborate and carefully perfected system has been developed, and Battle Creek became a Mecca for health seekers who thronged the place, summer and winter. During several years, the number of visitors exceeded six thousand annually. Then came the great fire of February 18, 1902, which consumed the two principal buildings of this Sanitarium. This loss seemed to start a wave of sympathy for these health reformers; and, in the short space of fifteen months, another temple of health has been erected. The new building is five hundred and fifty feet in length, and seven stories high, and, as far as possible, fire proof. Seven hundred patients can be comfortably accommodated. The arrangements for baths are very elaborate, as also applications of electricity, light, heat, and all natural methods, in addition to ordinary medical and surgical means. It is strictly unsectarian and undenominational. The doctors, managers, and nurses, seem to be filled with enthusiasm for the doctrine of simple, natural living. Many similar establishments have started in various parts of the United States, notably in Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Boston, Massachusetts Society is awakening to the benefits of pure air, healthful exercise, pure food, and frequent bathing. The evils of improper clothing now begin to be understood. In spite of the foibles of dame fashion, the evils of tight lacing, long, trailing skirts, and thin shoes, are begun to be appreciated. Members of the exclusive "four hundred" of New York may ridicule the high-neck dresses, loose waists, short skirts, and solid, warm, shoes of the lady members of these medical reformers, but the latter are perfectly contented to enjoy good health, and let them laugh. Even the conservative medicos of the older schools of medicine realize that a change is coming, and the rule of the drug store among many sensible people is passing away. The people everywhere may adopt these health ideas in their homes without sanitariums; and the Latter-day Saints, in the Word of Wisdom, have all the knowledge needful to make life a long day of health and happiness. TIME ENDEARS. [For the Improvement Era.] We have been friends, and shall we part? Still burns my love the same for you. We have been friends-together trod Fair fancy's realm-the poet's dream; When sorrow's vale lay dark between. Discard thy seeming doubts and fears. The touch of hands and love's caress, The soft words breathed through falling tears; The happy smiles, fond kisses' press, Bind heart to heart; for time endears. LYDIA D. ALDER. RELIGION-TRUE AND FALSE. BY JOSEPH R. TUDDENHAM, TWENTY-FIRST WARD, SALT LAKE CITY. The gospel of Jesus Christ-true religion-represents all that is righteous, uplifting and ennobling; represents that which brings light out of darkness, truth from error. It is true religion that fills the heart with charity and brotherly love, and draws man near unto his Maker, in whose likeness he is created; teaches him of the being and attributes of God, his laws and purposes in relation to his being, both in the life that was, the life that is, and the life that is to come. The Apostle Paul describes the gospel as the power of God unto salvation to all that believe. For centuries, the world has drifted away from the laws of God, as laid down by our Savior. The cause of this is false religion; which is the misconceived ideas of men, the inconsistent interpretation placed upon the words of light and life, which leads to narrowness of mind and soul. The natural instinct of man seems to lead him to extremes. It is hard for him to be a zealous worker without becoming filled with the vanity and conceit of his own importance. After the death of the Savior, little by little the dark was substituted for the light, until in religion's name, the foulest crimes, the darkest deeds, the most evil designs, were planned and executed, until all Europe reeked in the blood of God's children. Well might Shakespeare say, "What damned error, but what some sober brow will bless it, and approve it with a text; hiding the grossness with fair ornament." Did the truths enunciated by Christ permit of such worship? From whence did the priests of Rome take their example? Where, in the teachings of God, did they |