These chapters are written in
order to introduce the reader to this most important branch of therapeutics and
tell him how I have made use of these methods in my own life. The subject has
been touched upon in the foregoing chapters. It will be dealt here. The science
of natural therapeutics is based on a use, in the treatment of disease, of the
same five elements which constitute the human body. To refresh the reader's
memory, these are earth, water, ether, sunlight and air. It is my effort to
point out how they can be utilized for health purposes.
Up till the year 1901, although I
did not rush to doctors whenever I happened to get ill, I did use their
remedies to a certain extent. I used to take fruitsalt for constipation. The
late Dr. Pranjivan Mehta who had come to Natal introduced me to certain drugs
to remove general lassitude. This led me to read literature on the uses of
drugs. Add to this a little put in at a cottage hospital in Natal. This enabled
me to carry on for some time, but none of the drugs did me to carry on for some
time, but none of the drugs did me any good in the end. Headaches and loss of a
sense of general wellbeing persisted. I was very dissatisfied with this state
of things and what little faith I had in medicines began to fade.
All through this interval my
experiments in dietetics were continued. I had great faith in nature cure
methods, but there was nobody to help me with practical guidance in their use.
With the help of whatever knowledge I could gather by reading little of nature
cure literature, I tried to treat myself by diet regulation. My habit of going
out for long walks also stood me in good stead, and thanks to that habit I did
not have actually to take to bed. While I was thus managing to keep going
somehow, Mr. Polak handed me just's book, called Return to nature. He did not
follow just's instructions himself, except that he tried to regulate his diet
more or less according to Just's teaching. But knowing me as he did, eh thought
I would like the book. Just lays great emphasis on the use of earth. I felt
that I ought to give it a trial. For constipation, Just advises cold mud
poultice on the lower abdomen throughout the night. The result was most
satisfactory. I had a natural well-formed motion the next morning and from that
day onwards I have hardly ever touched fruitsalt. Occasionally, I feel the need
of a purgative and take less than a dessert spoonful of castor oil early in the
morning. The mud poultice should be 3 inches broad, 6 inches long and 1 inch thick.
Just claim that mud can cure man bitten by a poisonous snake. He would pack wet
earth all round the body. I mention this for what it is worth. I would like to
put down here what I have tested and proved applied to the head, relieves
headache may be due to several causes, but whatever the cause, as a general
rule, an application of mud poultice relieves it for the time being.
Mud poultices cure ordinary
boils. I have applied mud to discharging abscesses as well. For these cases I
prepare the poultice by packing the mud in a clean piece of cloth dipped in
potassium permanganate lotion. In the majority of cases this treatment results
in complete cure. I do not remember a single case in which it has failed me.
Mud application immediately relieves the pain of a wasp sting. I have used it
in many cases of scorpion bite though with much less success. Scorpions have
becomes a nuisance in Sevagram. We have tried all the known treatments for
scorpion bite, but none has proved infallible. I can say this that the results
of mud application are not inferior to those of any other form of treatment.
In high lever, an application of
mud poultice on the head and abdomen is very useful. Although it does not
always bring down the temperature, it does invariably soothe the patient and
make him fell better, so that the patients themselves ask for these
applications. I have used it in several cases of typhoid fever. The fever no
doubt run sits own course but mud applications seem to relieve restlessness and
abate the suffering. We have had about ten cases of typhoid fever. I have not
used any drugs in the treatment of these cases. I have made use of other nature
cure methods besides mud poultices, but about those in their own place.
In Sevagram we have made free use
of hot mud poultices as substitute for antiphlogistine. A little oil and salt
is added to the mud and it is heated sufficiently long to ensure sterilization.
I have not told the reader what
kind of earth should be used for mud poultices. In the beginning I used to procure
sweet smelling clean red earth. It emits a delicate smell when it is mixed with
water. But this kind of earth is not easy to obtain. In a city like Bombay it
is a problem to get any kind of earth. It is safe to use soft alluvial clay,
which is neither gritty nor sticky. On e should never use of earth taken from
mannured soil. Earth should be dried, pounded, and passed through a fine sieve.
If there is any doubt as to its cleanliness, it should be well heated and thus
sterilized. Mud used as a poultice on a clean surface need not a thrown away
after use. It can be used again and again after drying it in the sun or on fire
and pounding and sieving it I am not aware that mud poultice made out of the
same earth again and again as described above, is any the less efficacious. I
have myself use it in this way and did not find it any the less efficacious for
repeated use. Some friends who regularly used mud poultices tell me that mud
from Jumna's banks is particularly good for this purpose.
Eating Earth
Just writes that clean earth may
be eaten in order to overcome constipation. Five to ten grams is the maximum
does. The rationale is said to be this. Earth is not disgusted. It acts as
roughage and must pass out. The peristalsis thus stimulated pushes out of the faucal
matter as well. I have not tried myself. Therefore those who wish to do so,
should try it on their own responsibility. I am inclined to think that a trial
or two is not likely to harm anyone.
---- By Mahatma Gandhi
