Appendix 4 - The Laws of Health

William A Alcott

Why 5 – Restoration (What 1)

Changes in lifestyle lead to healing and restoration of damaged tissues.

Page 13-72 - "Could we be taught to obey all laws, physical and moral, from the very first, we should not only escape premature decline and death; but, under the great law of renovation, we might, in numerous instances, be restored to perfect health.”

Page 14-73 – “If the new particles are just as good as the old ones, the vigor of our constitutions, so far as these changes are concerned, remain the same; if they are worse than the old ones, we must gradually deteriorate; if they are habitually better, we gradually improve.”

Comment – A good lifestyle helps more in prevention than in cure and many health problems are not helped with a change in lifestyle.

Score – Unverified

Why 6 – Breakdown and Repair (What 1)

During life, we are continually undergoing breakdown and repair.

Page 3-12 – “Now as growth is internal ..... it follows, of necessity, that the old and smaller particles must get loose, and new and larger ones take there place.”

Page 3-15 – “Let it then be regarded as an indisputable fact, that, from the time we are born till we die, ..... we are - as animals - continually dying and reviving again.”

Score – Verified

Page 286-1492 – “I abandoned indiscriminate dosing and drugging with medicine”

Comment – The drugs available in 1860 and the knowledge about those drugs was so limited that any use should have been regarded as unsafe. Thus I feel the total prohibition recommended by Ellen White in 1864 was a safer approach.

Score – Minor

What 3 – Medicine and Food

Medicines should not be taken when there is food in the stomach.

Page 152-796 – “when food is in the stomach, medicine should not be; and on the contrary, when medicine is in the stomach, food should not be there. They should be kept entirely separate.” Comment – This applies to some medicines, but many are better with food.

Score - Unverified

What 4 – Anaesthetics

Anaesthetics are too risky in most surgical cases.

Page 249-1292 – “The evil effects of using chloroform, except with the greatest caution, are now generally known. Instead of reserving its use for the severer surgical operations, .... - I might even say the most trifling - operations, such as the extraction of a tooth, or dressing of common wound." Page 250-1297 - "They (anesthetics) are hurtful to the physician and to his patient."

Page 250-1298 - "The exhilarating gas (Page 389-2036 – “exhilarating or nitrous-oxyd gas”), as it is called, .... may be a little less injurious to weak lungs than chloroform; but it were far better avoided. ..... In effects are nearly as bad on the nerves as chloroform.”

Comment – Chloroform was found to be too dangerous to continue its use, but nitrous oxide is still regarded as a safe anaesthetic. All drugs have some risk, but with anaesthetics the value greatly outweighs the risk.

Patent medicines are of little value.

Page 225-1166 – “Though we spend our millions and tens of millions, every year, on various articles for purifying the blood, and perhaps indorsed by men of high reputation, we seldom hear of any cures performed by them which could not be traced quite as easily, and with greater certainty and simplicity, to a change of habits, or of diet and regimen.”

Score – Significant

Venesection or bleeding has validity, eg for heart disease.

Page 223-1156 – “a man .... who being affected with heart disease, came where I was, to be bled in the arm,”

Score - Unverified

What 7 – The Skin

The application of liquids, oils or other things to the skin is dangerous.

Page 294-1532 - "Thus, if we rub spirits, or turpentine, or mercurial ointment over the surface of the body, (and affect the body)”

Page 323-1692 – “All applications to the skin should be made with the utmost caution,”

Page 418-2198 – “But, although a due supply of nature's oil on the surface of our bodies is believed to be highly favorable to the performance of all the healthy functions of the cutaneous system, the application of artificial preparations for the same purpose is objectionable..... it has always done more harm than good.”

Comment – The principle is true, but the application of natural oils, such as lanolin or spirits are not usually dangerous. Mercury on the other hand is dangerous.

Score – Unverified

Why 7 – Absorption through the skin (What 7)

The skin has the power to absorb many of the liquids placed on it.

Page 294-1530 – “The skin has the power of absorption." (1532) - "Thus, if we rub spirits, or turpentine, or mercurial ointment over the surface of the body, .... Even warm water, and other mild liquids, may be absorbed in very small quantities.”

Score - Unverified

Why 8 – Ointments (What 7)

Treating the skin with ointments or poultices has no value.

Page 323-1695 – “The vulgar notion that in plaster is drawing, another cleansing, another scattering, etc., is, in a physiological sense wholly without foundation.”

Comment – Poultices do work to a limited extent so this is not a completely true statement.

Score – Unverified

Why 9 – Colds (What 7)

Colds can be prevented by looking after our skin.

Page 328-1721 – “in order to prevent them (colds), is to keep the skin in proper condition; or, in other words, to keep it under law."

Appendix 4 - The Laws of Health

William A Alcott

1723 – “They (laws) relate to light, air, temperature, compression, irritation, cleanliness, state of the mind and heart etc.

Page 328-1718 – “Whenever the skin fails to do its work, either partially or wholly, a cold may ensue. And this cold may, and will fall on some part which sympathizes strongly with the skin, and is lined by mucous membrane. (1720) - "This is true we have colds on the bowels, colds on the eyes, etc., as well as on the lungs.”

Score – Unverified

Page 322-1689 – “to paint the human face.” (is dangerous)

Score - Unverified

Why 10 – Make Up (What 8)

Most facial creams and powders are poisonous and they may be absorbed.

Page 322-1689 – “to paint the human face. In most cases, the rouge or paint, which is applied is a poison. .... For these poisons, as we have seen may be absorbed, and doubtless often so.”

Score – Unverified

Page 351-1841 – “Tight boots, gaiters, pants, caps, and corsets, should be truly liable to prosecute before the earthly magistrate as highway robbery.”

Score – Minor

Why 11 – Tight Clothes 1 (What 9)

Tight clothes can impede the function of the lungs.

Page 236-1227 – “Now, there should be nothing done in the way of dress ..... to prevent the twofold motion I have mentioned. There should be no pressure upon the sides or front of the body, either above or below the base of the lungs.”

Page 236-1227 – “Such pressure operates as a weight, and greatly impedes the free motion which is so desirable, and without which the lungs can but feebly perform their duty, and the blood be but partly oxygenated.”

Score - Verified

Why 12 – Tight Clothes 2 (What 9)

A mother wearing tight clothes reduces the lung function of her offspring.

Page 235-1218 – “From the beginning of the present century - perhaps earlier - the capacity of the human lung has been diminishing. ....If mothers have small or feeble lungs, the inheritance of the next generation must be immediately affected (1219) - "if the existing state of things (tight dresses) should continue three hundred years longer, the present race of mankind must be extinct.”

Score - Unverified

Why 13 – Tight Clothes 3 (What 9)

Pressing on the skin damages the skin and this causes injury to the whole individual.

Page 300-1564 – “Not one square foot of the human skin - no, not one square inch - can be permanently and greatly compressed, without inflicting more or less of lasting injury on the individual and the race.”

Appendix 4 - The Laws of Health

William A Alcott

Page 300-1566 – “it would be far better for the skin, and even for the general health, if everything in the shape of tight clothing were wholly and forever abandoned; and if we were to substitute, in its instead, such garments as should not press unduly on a single square inch of the surface.”

Page 351-1838 – “With regard to the effects of compression, irritation of the skin, and the exclusion of light and air from it, I have spoken freely in its proper place. The modern taste, which countenances and sustains the fashion of tight clothing, must be wrong.”

Score - Unverified

Even when cold we should wear very little clothing.

Page 357-1867 – “No error connected with the subject of animal heat is more frequent than that of using, both by night and day, too much clothing. ..... But most of us use from one-fourth to onethird more than is best for health, and some of us twice the needful quantity.”

Page 374-1960 – “My custom is, to wear as little clothing as I can, in cold weather, and yet not be permanently chilled.”

Score – Unverified

Why 14 – Warm Clothes 1 (What 10)

Many diseases including TB are caused by wearing too much clothing.

Page 357-1869 – “Which error (too much clothes) is adding most to the general stock of delicacy and sensitiveness, as well as to our dark list of neuralgic, scrofulous, rickety, insane, and consumptive cases,”

Score – Unverified

Why 15 – Warm Clothes 2 (What 10)

By wearing warm clothing, we lose our ability to generate our own heat.

Page 357-1872 – “In general, the more clothing we wear in order to retain heat, the more we think we must wear. And the contrary is equally true, that, the less we wear, the less we appear to require. The reason is, that the more we imprison the caloric by our clothing, the less the calorific powers of the body are called in action to generate it.”

Comment – This is true, but it is not a health hazard and the body will adjust if there is a further change in how we dress.

Score - Unverified

Despite being warmer, we should dress as warmly in spring as winter.

Page 348-1822 – “The mild but damp air of spring, as the severe cold of winter; and both alike demand ..... warm garments.”

Score - Unverified

Why 16 – Warm Clothes in Spring (What 11)

We need warm clothes in spring to stop the conduction of electricity from the body.

Page 348-1822 – “The mild but damp air of spring, being a good conductor of electricity, either robs our bodies of their heat, or weakens their power to generate it,”

Score - Unverified