SCRIPTURAL CODE OF HEALTH, WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE MOSAIC PROHIBITIONS, AND ON THE PRINCIPLES AND BENEFITS OF THE MEDICATED VAPOUR BATH. BY CHARLES WHITLAW. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 30, ARGYLL STREET, REGENT STREET, AND SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS. PREFACE. AMONGST the numerous accounts of the creation of the world, none is so worthy of notice, as that of Linnæus's, as he followed the views of Moses, Thales, and Seneca, with regard to his Mineral, Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms, and his lucid description and classification of the various productions in the three Kingdoms of Nature far transcends any other work on the subject. This will I hope be a sufficient apology for my re-printing the prefaces to his three works, trusting that the perusal of these prefatory remarks may induce enquiries after truth, and lead to the investigation of the whole of his works. To rear a super-structure on the foundation he has laid can never fail of producing health and happiness. 66 We have the authority of Scripture for asserting that the proper aliment of man is vegetables, " And God said, behold I have given you every herb, bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." This most conclusive evidence needs no comment; and as disease is not mentioned as a part of the curse, we have reason to believe that the antediluvians were strangers to this evil. Such a phenomenon as disease could scarcely exist among a people who lived entirely on vegetable food raised from primitive earth, consequently all the individuals made mention of in that period of the world, are said to have died of old age; whereas since the days of Noah, when mankind were permitted to eat animal food, such an occurrence as a man dying of old age, or a natural decay of the bodily functions does not occur probably once in half a century. The principles of diet, as regards health and disease, have been the origin of as much controversy among physicians as the great doctrine of fever; and notwithstanding many ingenious works have been published on the subject by men of eminence in the profession, yet I defy any person, after perusing the whole of their works, to say what regimen is calculated to prevent or cure disease. After having reviewed many writings on the principles of diet, without any satisfaction to myself, I was led to enquire into the laws of life and health contained in the sacred records, where truth in all its purity may be found. I have but just touched on the different subjects contained in the Mosaic law, the limits of this small work not allowing me to enlarge on them. Sufficient has I trust, however, been said to justify the superior policy of the Jewish and Roman method of agriculture, which furnishes a fine example for the British nation to follow. With respect to the composition of this work, I am aware that inaccuracies may be met with; and that many might have been prevented if I could have commanded sufficient time to superintend its more perfect revision. As I have not studied elegance of style, I shall not blame those who may detect a too familiar mode of expression, which cannot injure either the object or merit of the work. I cannot boast of a classical education, and therefore lay no claim to the embellishments which it imparts. My reading has been chiefly confined to the ever-living book of God; to me the book of nature has furnished an ample field of enquiry, and in which I have found a sufficiency for the sustenance of my body in health, and remedies for the relief and cure of all my pains and diseases. Twenty years of my life were spent in collecting and examining the structure of plants,-in searching into the laws by which they are governed, and the purposes for which they are created in that all-neglected volume of inspiration, without the study of which man can have but an imperfect conception of God, as the creator of the universe, and in which I have found unceasing satisfaction and delight, and has left no inquietude behind; even the "meanest flower that scents the gale" has often called forth my admiration and gratitude towards that Being who hath granted me all this indulgence of seeing, in the formation of every plant, the marks of Almighty power and consummate wisdom. In his works there is no errata,-the rose which blossomed in the bowers of paradise, is still blooming far and wide over the surface of the earth; its beauty unimpaired, its odour unexhausted, and its healing virtues undiminished. In the corrupt vegetable and animal kingdoms, also, we trace the seeds of moral depravity and bodily disease; for however men may cavil, I am bold to assert that there, and there alone, are to be found the laws of life and health, and of moral good and evil; and the man who denies this is ignorant of the nature of his being, and of the laws by which it is governed. It is with the best intentions I commit this treatise into the hands of the public: if it is instrumental in promoting the good of my species I am abundantly rewarded; therefore, whatever may be said against the doctrines I have endeavoured to establish, in this I shall rest satisfied and assured, that what I have written is founded on truth, and will stand secure when the hand which has recorded it is withered in the dust. I have to return my most grateful thanks to the respectable members of the medical profession who in defiance of medical etiquette, have come forward boldly and adopted my views in the treatment of disease, and have shown themselves the friends of truth more than the friends of Plato. To Mr. Rankin of Hastings, Mr. Winzar of Salisbury, Mr. Lewis of Manchester, Mr. Coleman of Wolverhampton, Mr. Mackness of Northampton, Mr. MacBean of Hanley, Dr. Robinson and Mr. Bedwell at Cheltenham, Dr. Godfrey of Liverpool, and Dr. Purday of Edinburgh, Surgeons, as well as Dr. Fairbanks of Behie, in the Brazils, I am indebted for their candour and liberality in having established my baths in the face of the most deter |