The Same Old Aches and Pains Frequently we hear from a patient in the throes of crises: "These are the same old aches and pains that I had before. It is exactly the same trouble I have been suffering with for many years. This is not a crisis!--I have caught a cold, or I have eaten something which does not agree with me." The patient has forgotten what we taught him regarding the Law of Crises. He loses sight of the fact that healing crises are nothing more or less than a coming-up-again of old disease conditions, an acute manifestation of ailments which had become chronic through neglect or suppression. Of course they are "the same old aches and pains." Nature Cure does not create new diseases. Crises mean the stirring up and eliminating of hereditary and acquired taints and poisons. Under the right methods of treatment, any previous disease condition suppressed by drugs or knife or by mental effort may recur as a healing crisis. They are the same old aches and pains which so often gave trouble in the past, but they are now running their course under different conditions because the patient is now living in harmony with Nature's Laws. Under the natural regimen, Nature is encouraged and assisted in her cleansing and healing efforts. She is allowed in her own wise way to tear down the old and build up the new. The "Old Schools" of healing proclaim Mother Nature a poor healer. But we of the Nature Cure school believe that the wisdom which created this wonderful, complex mechanism which we call the human body knows also how to preserve and to repair it. Every healing crisis passed under natural conditions assisted by natural methods of treatment leaves the body purified and strengthened and nearer to perfect health. Our critics and opponents frequently ask us how we know that our methods are natural and in harmony with Nature's laws. To this we reply: The timely appearance of healing crises, their orderly development and favorable termination constitute the best criterion of the correctness and naturalness of the methods of treatment employed. The prompt arrival and beneficial results of acute reactions are a certain indication that the healing forces of the organism are in the ascendancy and that the treatment is in conformity with the natural laws of cure and with the constructive principle in Nature. Another question sometimes asked of us is: "Do healing crises develop in every chronic disease under natural treatment?" Our answer is: If the condition of the patient is not favorable to a cure, that is, if the vitality is too low and the destruction of vital parts too far advanced, the healing crises may be proportionately delayed or may not occur at all. In such cases the disease symptoms will increase in severity and complexity and become more destructive instead of more constructive, until the final fatal crisis. The end may come quickly, or the patient may decline gradually toward the fatal termination.