Nature Cure: Philosophy & Practice Based on the Unity of Disease & CureLindlahr, Henry
Philosophy
Nature Cure: Philosophy & Practice Based on the Unity of Disease & Cure
Lindlahr, Henry
Naturopathy
The frontal brain or cerebrum contains the centers for the sensory
organs, also the motor centers which supply the driving impulses for
the muscular activities of the body, and in the occipital and
frontal lobes, the centers for the higher and highest qualities of
mind and soul, which constitute the governing and restraining
faculties on which depend the powers of self-control.
Thus we see that the development of the brain has been in a forward
direction, from the upper extremity of the spinal cord to the
frontal lobes of the cerebrum, from the low, vegetative qualities of
the animal and the savage to the complex and refined activities of
the highly civilized and trained mind.
It is an interesting and most significant fact that paralysis of
brain centers caused by alcohol and other stimulants, or by
hypnotics and narcotics, proceeds reversely to the order of their
development during the processes of evolution.
The first to succumb are the brain centers in the frontal lobes of
the cerebrum, which control the latest-developed and most-refined
human attributes. These are: modesty, caution, reserve, reverence,
altruism. Then follow in the order given: memory, reason, logic,
intelligence, will power, self-control, the control of muscular
coordination and equilibrium and finally consciousness and the vital
activities of heart action and respiration.
When the conscious activities of the soul have been put to sleep,
the paralysis extends to the subconscious activities of life or
vital force. Respiration and heart action become weak and labored,
and may finally cease entirely.
In order to verify this, let us study the effects of alcohol, the
best-known and most-used of stimulants. Many people believe that
alcohol increases not only physical strength, but mental energy
also. Regular medical science considers it a valuable tonic in all
cases of physical and mental depression. It is often administered in
surgical operations and in accidents with the idea of prolonging
life. I have frequently found the whisky or brandy bottle at the
bedside of infants and on it the directions of the attending
physician.
Watch the effect of this tonic on a group of convivial spirits at a
banquet. Full honor is done to the art of the chef, and the wine
flows freely. The flow of animal spirits increases proportionately;
conviviality, wit and humor rise by leaps and bounds. But the
apparent joy and happiness are in reality nothing but the play of
the lower animal impulses, unrestrained by the higher powers of mind
and soul.
The words of the afterdinner speaker who, when sober, is a sedate
and earnest gentleman, flow with unusual ease. The close and
unprejudiced observer notices, however, that what the speaker has
gained in eloquence, loquacity and exuberance of style and
expres-sion, he has lost in logic, clearness and good sense.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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