What is the Cause of Disease?
An Extract from What Is The Cause Of Disease? by Kenneth S. Jaffrey (deceased) 1973
The short answer will be found in a little booklet which I wrote about fifteen years ago. As this booklet is now out of print I quote from page ten of that booklet where I state quite categorically that the primary cause of most disease is toxaemia, and not the deficiency of some element in the diet. I stated further on page fifteen: "I believe that only in rare cases of starvation does true deficiency disease occur".
In order to compare the opinions of various eminent pioneers in the field of natural health, I am listing briefly those factors which they thought were the cause of disease.
Let us begin with the discoverer of Nature Cure, Vincent Priessnitz. In 1829, he said: "Various causes engender vicious juices (meaning body fluids). The principal are: food of bad quality, the excess of good food, the suppression of perspiration, the want of exercise, and mental affliction acting violently upon the system such as anger, sorrow, care and melancholy. The causes of bodily disease, which do not proceed from external injury, are material, and consist of foreign matter introduced into the infected system." Today we would call this condition toxaemia.
Now let us turn to Dr R T Trall in 1880. He attributed disease to toxaemia. In his book The True Healing Art he said this: "There are, aside from accidents - mechanical injuries - but two sources of disease in the world, viz, poisons or impurities taken into the system from without, and effete or waste matters retained."
Three years later, the German naturopath Louis Kuhne, stated in his book The New Science of Healing, that disease was caused by the presence of foreign matter in the body causing what he called an encumbrance.
In 1918, Hereward Carrington stated in his book Fasting, Vitality, and Nutrition that disease was caused by poisonous waste material.
In his book Fundamental and Requirements of Health and Disease, Dr Thomas Powell stated that disease was caused by a poisonous substance which he called a Pathogen. This word is synonymous with toxaemia.
In 1913, Henry Lindlahr in his book The Philosophy of Nature Cure stated that the primary cause of disease is an abnormal composition of the blood and lymph.
In 1916, James C Thomson and Stanley Lief accepted and promoted Lindlahr's definition of the cause of disease.
In 1926, Dr John H Tilden wrote his book, Toxaemia Explained, in which he stated that the primary cause of all disease is an impaired composition of blood and tissues called toxaemia.
In 1928, Dr Herbert M Shelton adopted Dr Tilden's definition of toxaemia.
In 1930, Professor Edmond Szekely stated that the lack of internal and external cleanliness was the primary cause of disease.
In 1950, K Lakshmana Sarma of India adopted Louis Kuhne's encumbrance theory.
On reflection, we come to the conclusion that these eminent authorities all said virtually the same thing, each in his own way - "The primary cause of every disease is an impaired composition of body tissues called toxaemia."
Toxaemia is the name given to the abnormal presence in the blood, lymph, body secretions and cells, of any material which is detrimental to the normal healthy functioning of the human body. If this material is present in sufficient quantities it will impair or degrade the function of organs and essential parts.
As there is a normal amount of toxic material in the human body at all times, we can say that when the amount of toxic material is excessive, toxaemia is in existence. Toxins are being generated every second of our lives and only become hazardous to health when we allow them to accumulate beyond the normal limit of tolerance.
Toxins are caused by the normal breaking down of body tissues by the process called catabolism. Catabolism is the degradative or destructive phase of metabolism which occurs in our normal everyday activities. The normal processes of urination, respiration and perspiration expel this toxic material as fast as it is produced. This elimination of potentially poisonous material keeps the body tissues clean and fresh, thus maintaining good health.
If this normal metabolic activity is impaired or degraded in any way, the elimination of this toxic material is checked or restricted and these toxins are not expelled as quickly as they are produced. They tend to be retained in the body tissues and accumulate there. This abnormal retention leads to toxaemia.
We can say without fear of successful contradiction that toxaemia represents the poisoning of the body by its own abnormally-retained excretions. Efficient and prompt elimination of body wastes is maintained by an ample supply of nerve force or nerve energy, which we now know to be electricity. This nerve force can be lowered by anything in our lifestyle which uses up nerve force in excess of the ability of the body to replenish. Anything in our way-of-life which causes a state of lowered nerve force produces enervation. Enervation means a weakness or reduction of normal nerve strength. This lowered nerve force interferes with the normal elimination of toxic wastes and this results in the body poisoning itself. Self-poisoning is caused by retention of body wastes. Enervation is a state of functional weakness and diminished nerve force.
Every function of the human organism and its many organs is under the direct control of the nervous system. The organs function weakly or strongly depending upon the availability of nerve force. Normally, the flow of nerve force alternates and varies in strength from day to day and from hour to hour depending upon the nature of our activities and the condition of our environment. All of our physical, chemical, emotional, and mental activities influence the availability of nerve force. Our nervous energy is dissipated by all of our human activities and it is conserved and replaced by rest and sleep.
Under normal healthy conditions the body ensures that it gets sufficient rest and sleep in order to recuperate itself after the daily expenditure of nerve force which our lifestyle demands. This is how it should be, but under the pressure of modern civilisation not everyone is able to exist in such perfect conditions. Today, mankind strives for financial gain, social position, political power and eminence in sport or profession. This often leads to people ignoring the signals which the body supplies to tell us that we have exceeded the point of tolerance and that rest is needed. In many cases we ignore the monitor which is warning us. Fatigue is ignored and stimulants are resorted to. These stimulants have two effects. One is intended to spur us on and urge us to continued efforts while the other, the side-effect, causes enervation with its inevitable decreased efficiency and toxaemia. We cannot have one without the other. Every stimulant eventually produces depression and impaired function. Impaired function always follows enervation.
When anything in our lifestyle causes enervation it is followed by impaired function, and gradually we deplete our reserves of nervous energy. The function of our organs gradually deteriorates and their efficiency is lowered.
Naturally, the weaker organs suffer first and most, but inexorably all organs must suffer. Inefficient elimination of toxic wastes, impaired digestion of food, slowing-down of glandular secretions, and inhibition of glandular activity will occur following excessive expenditure of nervous energy. Functional impairment of some kind always follows enervation.
It has been wisely observed that good health depends upon nutrition and drainage. By this is meant an efficient supply of suitable food material coupled with efficient and speedy drainage of body wastes and toxic material from the body cells. By this means internal cleanliness is preserved.
The vital importance of efficient drainage is demonstrated when we reflect upon the fact that if the voiding of urine is suppressed for about two days we can succumb to self-poisoning. Similarly, with the lungs, we must expel carbon dioxide regularly and if this is inhibited for only a few minutes death can ensue.
The normal activities of a human being produce toxic wastes which can poison the body if retained for a long period. Most illnesses are caused by the abnormal retention of body wastes and their absorption into the tissues. If the kidneys, skin and lungs fail to excrete their normal metabolic wastes regularly the accumulation of this autogenic toxin occurs with all of its dire consequences. It will be seen that drainage as well as nutrition is vital for our survival in normal good health.
All organs and consequently all functions are under the control of the nervous system. The efficiency of our organs is dependent upon the supply of nerve force, so it is essential that the nervous system shall function efficiently.
Elimination of body wastes is a normal and fundamental function of the human organism, and as long as nothing hinders it, drainage will keep up with the production of wastes. It is only when the eliminative functions have become impaired by some factor in a faulty lifestyle that the body risks being intoxicated.
Not only does enervation impair the ability to eliminate wastes, it also lowers the ability to digest food. The food, which normally undergoes a process of decomposition called digestion, contains some unessential materials and there is consequently a production of waste products which serve no useful purpose and must be discarded. Malfunctioning of the digestive system leads to poisoning of the tissues and lays the foundation for future disease.
Not only is bad food unwanted and undesirable, but good food, if eaten to excess or if imperfectly digested, can lead to toxaemia and ill-health. It is regrettable but true that our modern lifestyle embraces practices which tend to destroy health. Over-eating, eating too quickly, eating too often, imperfect mastication of food, eating when in a state of discomfort, or when we have a fever, can all cause enervation and toxaemia.
This state of affairs cannot continue indefinitely. Eventually, the point of tolerance will be exceeded and the organism will make a special desperate effort to violently expel the offending material.
This special effort or exertion greater than the normal which was first noted by Vincent Priessnitz is the Healing Crisis, which is also called an acute disease or fever, is therefore to be seen as a healing and normalisation process.
If the victim fails to heed the warning and persists in observing a faulty lifestyle, a vicious circle may be employed by the body itself and a series of acute diseases will occur in order to restore normality. If we fail to listen to the voice of the organism and fail to give it the most favourable conditions for recovery, further deterioration may occur. The toxic wastes may now be laid down in places where they will do least harm to and interfere least with vital organs and processes. The functions of the body may deteriorate and we will then have what is known as a chronic disease.
In chronic disease we not only have the toxic material which has been retained excessively, but we may also have any medical drugs which may have been used in a vain attempt to cure the acute disease. These acute diseases have therefore not been cured but have been unnaturally suppressed.
The main sources of toxaemia, apart from wrong foods and wrong eating habits, are retention of body wastes and accumulation of medical drugs. Added to this we have all of the negative and potentially destructive mental attitudes, sexual excesses, overwork, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, and accidental mechanical trauma.
Often unsuspected causes of enervation are the chiropractic subluxation, the osteopathic lesion and the naprapathic ligatight. Anything which causes an impingement of spinal nerves can cause interference with the normal flow of nerve force, blood and lymph, and cause enervation and toxaemia.
Since it is a fundamental tenet of Natural Health philosophy that toxaemia is the mother and forerunner of all disease, we should do everything in our power to prevent or at least mitigate enervation. Only a healthy lifestyle can do that.
We should listen to the voice of the organism and rest when the body tells us that it is carrying out an acute process of cure. Then if we mend our ways by adopting a healthy lifestyle we will avoid the necessity for the body to institute acute diseases in the future. In this way our future well-being will be assured.
But if on the other hand we disregard the warnings, and persist in the wrong eating habits and other factors in an unhealthy lifestyle, we will inexorably lay the foundation for chronic and potentially malignant diseases.
If we allow self-poisoning to continue unabated, degeneration will occur in various organs. The weaker organs will be affected first, followed later by the stronger ones. As one organ after another breaks down, Latin or Greek names will be given to the visible external symptoms and the patient may be told that he or she has Grave's disease, Bright's disease, Hansen's syndrome, and so on ad infinitum. The usual practice these days is to name a disease after the organ which breaks down first or after the doctor who first noted it.
What is generally overlooked or completely disregarded is that the primary cause of every disease is toxaemia caused by factors in a faulty lifestyle.
Secondary causes arise from the impaired function of vital organs, thus adding to the misery of the patient.
If the case is further neglected or if medical procedures are employed we can have a tertiary cause of disease. There are iatrogenic diseases which are, as is now well-known, directly caused by the administration of medical treatments or surgical interference which have been mistakenly employed in an effort to benefit the patient without removing the cause.
Intelligent people must come to the conclusion that diseases do not arise without a cause. Instead of removing the cause, modern sufferers generally employ remedies. The treatment, whether medical, homeopathic or botanic is directed at the external symptoms and effects. Seldom is any effort made to remove the underlying cause.
If we "kill" pain with drugs we do nothing to restore health. Pain is the monitor telling us that something is wrong. It is alerting us to the presence of faults in our lifestyle or environment. If we take a drug, homeopathic remedy or a herbal remedy solely to assuage the pain we may destroy the monitor which is trying to protect us. It is tantamount to shooting our guard-dog when it barks at a burglar. Present-day methods of treatment do not address the fundamental causes of disease. They all seek to give relief by suppressing the external symptoms.
If we believe the theory I have set out, we know that all disease is caused by wrong living habits. That being so, we have at our disposal the key to the rational and successful treatment of disease. That key is called Nature Cure. Correction of a faulty lifestyle, provision of the body's normal biological requirements, and rest, constitute the only valid recipe for the restoration to health of a sick person.
What about bacteria and viruses. Do they not play a role in disease causation? None whatever! The germ or virus, no more cause disease than a garbage-collector creates garbage. Germs and viruses, along with garbage-collectors, are simply waste-disposal agents. If we do not care for our body in away which ensures prompt and efficient disposal of its normal waste products, then inevitably, somebody or something must do this work for us. Microorganisms are Nature's waste-disposal agents. How they perform their task is seldom pleasant, but potentially-harmful material must be removed in order to prevent disaster later on. If we wish to avoid an unpleasant visitation by a bacterium or virus, or if we wish to spare our organism the necessity for institution of a Healing Crisis, the solution to this problem is obvious. We should cease causing a toxaemic condition.
Only by adopting and maintaining an appropriate lifestyle will we be able to live in such a way as to avoid ill-health.
To conclude, I can do no better than to quote verbatim from the pen of Dr John H Tilden. He defines toxaemia thus:
"In the process of tissue-building (metabolism) there is cell-building (anabolism) and cell-destruction (catabolism). The broken-down tissue is toxic, and in health, when nerve energy is normal, it is eliminated as fast as evolved. When nerve energy is dissipated from any cause, physical or mental excitement or bad habits, the body becomes enervated. When enervated, elimination is checked, causing a retention of toxin in the blood, or toxaemia. This accumulation of toxin, when once established, will continue until nerve energy is restored by removing the causes. So-called disease is Nature's effort at eliminating the toxin from the blood. All so-called diseases are crises of toxaemia."
This priceless truth was discovered in 1829 by Priessnitz and espoused by others such as Tilden. How long will it take for mankind to become aware of it?
