Under the old conception the mind fell readily under the control of the body and became the abject slave of its physical conditions, swayed by fear and apprehension under every sensation of physical weakness, discomfort or pain.  The servants lorded it with a high hand over the master of the house, and the result was chaos.  Under the new conception, control is placed where it belongs.  It is assumed by the real master of the house, the Soul-Man, and the servants, the physical members of the body, remain obedient to his bidding.

This is the new man, the ideal progeny of a new and higher philosophy.  Understanding the structure of the body, the laws of its being and the operation of the life elements within it, the superman retains perfect poise and confidence under the most trying circumstances.  Animated by an abounding faith in the supremacy of the healing forces within him and sustained by the power of his sovereign will, he governs his body as perfectly as the artist controls his violin and attunes its vibrations to Nature’s harmonies of health and happiness.

Chapter V

The Unity of Acute Diseases

In the last chapter I endeavored to explain the three primary causes of disease, namely:  (1) Lowered Vitality, (2) Abnormal Composition of Blood and Lymph, (3) Accumulation of Waste, Morbid Matter, and Poisons in the System.

We shall now consider some of the secondary manifestations resulting from these primary causes.  Consulting the table on page 18 (Chapter 2, internet version), we find mentioned as the first one of the secondary causes or manifestations of disease, “Hereditary and Constitutional Taints.”

On first impression, it might be thought that heredity is a primary cause of disease; but on further consideration it becomes apparent that it is an effect and not a primary cause.  If the parents possess good vitality and pure, normal blood and tissues, and if they apply in the prenatal and postnatal treatment of the child the necessary insight and foresight, there cannot be disease heredity.  In order to create abnormal hereditary tendencies, the parents, or earlier ancestors, must have ignorantly or wantonly violated Nature’s Laws, such violation resulting in lowered vitality and in deterioration of blood and tissues.

The female and male germinal cells unite and form the primitive reproductive cell—­the prototype of marriage.  The human body with its millions of cells and cell colonies is developed by the multiplication, with gradual differentiation, of the reproductive cell.  Its abnormalities of structure, of cell materials and of functional tendencies are reproduced just as surely as its normal constituents.  Herein lies the simple explanation of heredity which is proved to be an actual fact, not only by common experience and scientific observation but also in a more definite way by Nature’s records in the iris of the eye.