To all, then, to whom the ever blessed triad of health, hope, and happiness on earth, are dear, the sanctity of child-life and the improvement of the race; and especially to those whose clearer mental vision can grasp the stupendous fact of eternal Universal Unity--the oneness with that mighty Primal Cause, the great Life Principle, immanent and active throughout all nature; can grasp and assimilate the idea that everything that has life is, each in its separate form and degree, but a medium through which the Infinite Universal Source of Life--that vast, ineffable power which we, blindly, designate as God--or Good--seeks expression in the scheme of evolution whose aim sublime is pure perfection, as its ultimate, attainable, though far off goal. Directed and attracted by an intelligence we call divine, it is a hope, instinct with ability, implanted by that Power in the soul of man, as patent in his ceaseless struggle upward toward the light of fuller knowledge; it is a power, restricted, only in degree, by that individual sense of human limitations fostered by false prophets and grounded in the vitals of the race. To you all, this brief precis is presented, as a guide, with the author's benediction, coupled with the fervent hope that, reading the scientific deductions and precepts therein contained you, too, may see Regeneration's Light and seeing, may "_Dare to be Healthy._" LOUIS DECHMANN, _Christmas, 1918. Seattle, Wash._ "Dare to be Healthy" FORE-WORD _To the Reader_: The volume, shortly to be published, and to which the ensuing pages are designed to serve the purpose of stepping-stone or forecast, has been compiled for the purpose of placing before the public the experiences of thirty-five full years of my life as a biologist and physiological chemist, devoted to the sifting and solution of vital problems of health and eugenics and in the practice of the resultant knowledge of the laws of life discovered in the course of my research. I would beseech you, in your own vital interest, to peruse these pages thoughtfully and with an open mind. There are throughout America already, thousands of steadfast disciples who are daily reaping the benefits of the teachings contained therein; and I would that you also may be added to that goodly multitude, to enjoy together with them the best advantages emanating from systematic study along the most advanced lines of modern thought and science. The facts are correlated and simply expressed with the earnest desire to bring within the scope of the layman the good that may accrue. It is, however, not for the laymen alone that this work is undertaken, but for unprofessional and professional alike, be he medical student or practitioner or other interested person; for to each and all I present herein the best that a lifetime of research has enabled me to wring from nature's secret store for the betterment and conservation of human life and the help of human kind.