Enjoying Freedom.


"It is said that when the Czar of Russia goes for his outing in Denmark, he may be seen almost every morning, by those who rise early enough, tramping across the meadows, with osier basket on his back, in quest of mushrooms for his breakfast. For a short time he is a free man. Very generally the poor peasant with frugal fare, a thatch to cover his head, a strong arm, and a free heart, knows more of the real enjoyment of life than those who wear soft raiment and are found in kings' palaces. Even this natural life is a great leveller, and we have the poor rich and the rich poor breathing the same free air. "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith." Prov. xv. 17.


 

March 8, 1894 


EJW, PTUK 160.2} 



 



"Professor Bunge, of Basel, in a recent article on "Alcoholic Poisoning and Degeneration." 

The article in question is devoted chiefly to statistical and physiological proof that the consumption of alcohol by the father leads to such physical degeneracy in the daughter that she cannot nurse her offspring, and that the artificial feeding thus made necessary tends to still further physical degeneracy, laying the foundation for many diseases. Through the use of alcohol the tissues of the body lose their power of resistance to the noxious bacteria that are continually lying in wait to devour. "How is it that the tissues have lost their power of resistance?-For the simple reason that they have without ceasing, day in and day out, year in and year out, from generation to generation, been deluged with a particular poison, the poisonous excretion of a fungus, the yeast fungus." 

Under natural conditions the yeast fungus could do us no harm, for the digestive juices have power to destroy them; "but the issues are very different when these fungi are cultivated in enormous numbers by purely artificial means outside our own bodies, their poisonous secretion collected, and the organs of our body deluged by it. Nature has not armed us against such attacks as these."  

Bunge continues: "Let us for a moment pause to realize the madness of such a proceeding as this. Every year gigantic loads of our most valuable food products, various grains, fruits, berries, are sacrificed to provide nourishment for these yeast fungi. A tenth of the whole working power of the civilized nations is devoted to this service. The fungi eat up of our best, and what they leave us in return-their poisonous excrement-is collected in enormous quantities, put into casks and bottles, sent to all lands, and distributed among mankind in general. And then begins the daily swamping of all the organs, all the tissues, of the human body with this poison-among the tissues those also which separate the germ cells, and hence arises the general debility, the general lack of resisting power, which is passed on as an inheritance to all the following generations. 

"I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not assert that the alcoholic poisoning of the individual or of relations is absolutely the one and only cause of all known suffering and infirmity. Above all, I should not wish to affirm this with regard to tuberculosis; for we know for certain that this disease is due to many other causes. Everything which tends to lessen the power of resistance at the time, gives the advantage to our worst enemies in the struggle for existence, the bacteria, and makes it easier for them to enter into possession. But what I do assert is: that alcoholic poisoning is one of the causes-I go further, and say, that it is a chief cause."  

Then, after mention of the task which the total abstinence movement has before it, Professor Bunge makes this most remarkable statement:- 

"Let us not forget that we are the last of the reserve forces."




July 17, 1906 EJW, MEDM 19








  "The Daily Mail makes the assertion on the authority of a Chicago correspondent, that the American tinned meat furnished the English Government for its forces in the Transvaal is subjected to processes which "deprive the meat of all its valuable qualities; that without fear of discovery putrid meat can be mixed with the good, and that workmen are often detected in the act of introducing putrid meat;" and that sulphuratted hydrogen is generated in one of the processes of manufacture, and pervades every particle of the flesh." 




February 8, 1899 

EJW, PTUK 94





 "Three hundred waifs and strays were given a treat at Bradford one day last week, and immediately afterward two of the number who ate of tinned beef were seized with violent fits, and soon died, the indications being that death was due to irritant poison. The tinned beef was taken possession of by the sanitary authorities for the purpose of analysis." 




February 8, 1899 



EJW, PTUK 94