The Great Delusion

Article #3: The Great Delusion By Dr. Robert Walter

Out of this principle of irritation grows the most important delusion that ever afflicted mankind. Irritation means increased action of the part irritated, and consequently of all parts sympathetically connected therewith, and increased strength. Tonics, nervines, and stimulants produce their effects only through this principle. It is in the this way that alcohol and tobacco increase the action of the brain and nervous system; that calomel and podophyllum apparently improve the functions of the liver; that all other drugs produce their effects; that arsenic and strychnine, nitric, muriatic, hydrochloric, prussic, sulphuric acids, etc., increase the apparent vigor of the whole system, largely through its sympathy with the stomach, which has been termed the great organ of sympathy. For this same reason men often feel more than ordinarily vigorous just previous to a severe attack of sickness: they sometimes retire to bed feeling well, only to wake up in another world. For this reason sudden and violent ailments often follow the most apparently robust health. It is the same delusion that tempts the physician to dose his patient with violent poisons until exhaustion and death close the scene. It is the basis of alcoholic consumption, just as it is the cause of the fearful and monstrous drunkenness, whether by alcohol, opium, or tobacco, which deluges the land. Increased action, apparently increased strength, supposed improved function, the result of the use of irritants deceive both physician and patient, and cause them to become victims of a monstrous delusion.

The delusion pervades all ranks of society, and is the chief explanation of the frequent diseases and sudden and untimely deaths that are everywhere chronicled. When we consider the immense quantities of irritants which are being introduced into human organisms in the guise of food, drink, medicine, etc., the only wonder is that the human constitution endures as long as it does.

But irritation produces a secondary effect, which is quite as important as the primary one, and this is increased flow of blood to the part irritated. Normal exercise does the same thing. Thought induces increased flow of blood to the brain, and labor, to the feet or hands. If this flow be beyond the power of the vessels to send it forward, as in the case of irritation, the blood accumulates, the vessels relax, and we have congestion. This increase of blood at one point of course necessitates a decrease at another point, and hence unbalanced circulation is a concomitant of all diseases.

Reprinted from The Nutritive Cure