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MEDICINE
TO-MORROW
Introduction to Cosmotherapy
with Guide to Treatment
By

EDMOND SZKELY
Translated and Edited by

PURCELL WEAVER

THE C. W. DANIEL COMPANY LTD.

Ashingdon, Rochford, Essex, England

WORKS BY EDMOND SZKELY

(Translated into English by L. Purcell Weaver)
Cosmos, Man and Society: A Paneubiotic Synthesis
Medicine To-morrow: Introduction to Cosmotherapy with Guide to
Treatment
Sexual Harmony and the New Eugenics
The Therapeutics of Fasting
Medicine and Dialectics
The Future of Medicine
Sleep and the Will
The Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ by the Disciple John
The Teaching of Buddha
The Living Jesus
Yoga in the Twentieth Century and The Meaning of Christmas
Zoroaster, the Master of Life
Man, Art and World-Conception
Sermon on the Mount: An Essene Interpretation
Genesis: An Essene Interpretation
Cottage Economy

First published : : 1938

Second (Revised) Edition : 1951

FOREWORD BY THE TRANSLATOR

From 1930 to 1940 Dr. Edmond Szkely, the author of
this volume, directed the International Cosmotherapeutic
Expedition, which studied the therapeutic application of the
cosmic, solar, terrestrial and human radiations in different
parts of the world.
In 1937 Dr. Szkely paid a visit to England, where he
gave a series of lectures at Lawrence Weaver House,
Leatherhead, Surrey, a centre for making known the laws of
natural health and healing. These lectures form Book I of this
volume, and are intendedas their title showsto be a
general introduction to the system of natural therapeutics
known as cosmotherapy.
Book IIGuide to Treatment, originally published as a
separate volume, is more technical in character and is
addressed to practitioners and others concerned with the
practical application of natural methods of healing. Using the
dialectical method, it lays the foundations of a scientific
natural medicine firmly based on the sum total of the natural
sciences.
The reader who wishes to study the wider implications of
Dr. Szkely's work should read his Cosmos, Man and Society,
published as a companion to the present work.
PUECELL WEAVER
Toronto, Canada.
March 25th, 1949.

CONTENTS
CHAP.

PAGE

Foreword by the Translator

BOOK ONE:

INTRODUCTION TO COSMOTHERAPY

I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.

IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.

PART I
THE THEORY OF COSMOTHERAPY
Dialectics and Evolution
The Origins of Matter and of Life
Man's Adaptation to Nature
The Laws of Longevity
Man and Vegetation
The Progress of Thought
Man at War with Himself
Life and the Energies of the Cosmos
PART II
THE PRACTICE OF COSMOTHERAPY
The Natural Forces in Time and Space
Measurement and Calculation of the Natural
Forces
Treatment of Local Symptoms
The New Eugenics and Natural Birth
Control
External Cosmotherapy: Air, Sun and
Water Baths
Internal Cosmotherapy: Foods as Medicine
Modern Dietetics in a Nutshell

11
16
26
35
47
60
70
82

101
110
124
130
137
143
188

PART III
COSMOTHERAPY AND THE PROBLEMS OF SOCIETY
XVI.
Agriculture and Public Health
219
XVII.
The Symbiosis of Men and Trees
234
XVIII. Civilisation and the Simple Life
249
BOOK TWO:

GUIDE TO TREATMENT
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.

Introductory
The Cosmovitalist Movement
The Rhythmic Life of the Cosmos
Unity of Man, Cosmos and Therapies
Cosmovital Radiations and External CosmoTherapy
External-Internal Cosmotherapy
The Cosmovitalist Calendar

263
270
279
283
290
295
297

VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.

Harmony with the Rhythmic Cycles of the

Year
Harmony with the Rhythmic Cycles of the
Day
Diet in Harmony with the Rhythmic Cycles
Diet in Harmony with Individual Organism
Cosmic Radiations and Embryonic
Development
Diseases and their Cures
The Cosmovital Forces in the Organism
Model Questionnaire and Instruction Sheet
Sexual Life in Harmony with the Rhythmic
Cycles
Paneutherapy and Paneubiotics
Terrestrial and Cosmic Life
Glossary
Index to Book I.
Index to Book II

299
311
318
328
331
335
338
349
351
361
366
374
377
395

CHARTS AND DIAGRAMS

in pocket at end of volume
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.

Cosmovitalist Calendar
Synthetic Helioanthropophysiological Chart
Heliophysiological Chart
The Four Rhythmic Cycles of the Day
during Cycles of the Year I and VII
The Four Rhythmic Cycles of the Day during
Cycles of the Year II and VI
The Four Rhythmic Cycles of the Day during
Cycles of the Year III and V
The Four Rhythmic Cycles of the Day during
Cycle of the Year IV
The Four Rhythmic Cycles of the Day during
Cycle of the Year VIII
Embryochronological Chart of Gestation
Correlations between Cycles of Menstruation,
Ovulation, Sterility, Conception
Cosmovital Bath Chart 'A'
Cosmovital Bath Chart 'B'
Cosmovital Bath Chart 'C
Cosmovital Bath Chart 'D'
Cosmovital Bath Chart 'E'

BOOK ONE
INTRODUCTION TO COSMOTHERAPY

PART I
THE THEORY OF COSMOTHERAPY

Chapter I
DIALECTICS AND EVOLUTION
THIS book is divided into three sections. The
fundamental, theoretical part forms the material for the first
section, while the material for the second is the general,
practical and technical application of the natural and
cosmotherapeutic systems of medicine. The material for the
third section is the inter-relation between medicine, nature,
and cosmotherapy on the one hand, and society on the other
hand, together with the future both of medicine and of human
vitality and its sciences.
First of all, it is necessary to explain a little the method to
be used in approaching these various problems. The method is
the so-called dialectical method, which to a large degree
differs from the methods with which the majority of readers
will be familiar.
Let us begin with the problem of evolution. If we go back
some thousands of years and examine the first systematically
written documents of human culture, as represented by the
Vedas of India, we shall find in them a hymn which deals with
the last problem of existence and the origin of the world. It
asks: 'What is the essence of the world and of existence? How
did the world come into being? Who created the world? And if
there is a creator how was the creator himself created?' And it
gives the answer: 'Only the gods can answer that, if they know
how.' So the Vedas are the first solemn confession of human
ignoranceand it is a sincere confession. We can say that the
world concept of the Vedas, the first systematic world concept
in human culture, can be characterised by two words,
pantheism and agnosticism. They give us the conception of the
unity of the world and of man, together with the recognition
that we can never know the final cause of existence.
Now, if we advance several thousands of years in time
and examine the attitude of modern philosophy in relation to
these fundamental problems, we shall find no great difference.
It is not so many years ago that Du Bois-Reymond enunciated
his famous ignoramus et ignorabimus. We know not and shall
never know. And if we go from philosophy to the positive
sciences, if, for instance, we ask this same question of a
distinguished representative of astronomical scienceSir
James Jeanswe find that he gives practically the same
answer in his book The Mysterious Universe, where he writes
that we only know a tiny part of the universe, a minute
fragment which is a negligible quantity of the universe, and
that it is not within the scope of astronomical science to affirm
any positive conception concerning the origin of matter or the
formation of the known stellar system. He says that later,

when we have more and more perfect telescopes, and can

progressively come to know an increasingly large part of the
universe, it is possible that we shall learn more about its
structure and mechanism.
And if we go on to ask the same question of a
representative of biological science, Professor Carrel, we find
that in his book, Man the Unknown, he entirely affirms the
agnosticism of the Vedas; in fact, he goes much further, as he
not only says that we do not know much about the universe,
but also that we do not know much about the human organism.
If his view is right human knowledge does not seem to have
made much progress from the Vedas to the present day, but
this lack of progress is more apparent than real, for in the
thousands of years which have passed since they were written
masses of experience have been gained. And this great period
of time provides us with a key, the key of evolution. If we
examine evolution from every point of view throughout the
last seven thousand years we have a method at our disposal
which can serve as a key to open the lock of the unknown
mansion of the universe and existence.
We will examine evolution from three points of view:
first, from the standpoint of nature; secondly, from that of
human society; and thirdly, from that of thought.
We must concede that during the last seven thousand
years there have been many changes in the natural
environment of our planet, that many lands have risen from
the sea, while certain parts have sunk beneath the ocean. We
can see that many species of the animal world have
disappeared, and many new species have appeared by
intermixture. Similarly, we find that many new fruits and
vegetables have appeared, from which we see that nature is
not always the same. In nature there is perpetual movement
and evolution; the different species of the vegetable world
exhibit clear and characteristic signs of evolution, so in spite
of the shortness of this period in comparison with the age of
the earth, we can, none the less, observe the process of
evolution in earthly nature.
Now let us examine human society from the standpoint of
evolution. In antiquity we find a number of isolated cultures
appearing one after the other, but there was little contact
between them and little opportunity for interchange of their
values. Travel was practically the sole means of intercourse.
The few records which remain show us the great difficulties
and dangers attending travel in those times. The next best
sources of knowledgemanuscripts and bookswere
similarly very rare and only accessible to a very tiny fragment
of humanity. In general, antiquity was a period characterised
by small, isolated tyrannies without any freedom for the
individual. In the majority of these societies we find a social
system based on slavery, where the master had the life or

death of his slaves in his hands. In general, neither slaves, nor

children, nor women had even a minimum of liberty, so if we
examine the present state of human society and culture,
compared with that of antiquity, we must recognise that there
is change and evolution in society too.
The two sources of the interchange of human knowledge
(travels and the contents of books), are not, as in antiquity,
limited to a privileged few, but are becoming available to
increasingly wider masses of society. Similarly, there is
infinitely greater individual liberty in present society 1 than in
the societies of antiquity. So we must recognise the evolution,
movement, and change of human society.
Now let us examine the third factor: human thought. Has
there been an evolution of human thought? If we compare the
mental capacity of Homo Neanderthalensis with that of the
average man of to-day, or if we wish to make a still greater
contrast, with that of Einstein or of Bernard Shaw, we must
admit that there is movement, evolution and change in the
sphere of human thought.
So while we have no exact knowledge of mankind's path
or of its end, we can, nevertheless, see that the path is a path
of progress, and that is worth much, particularly when we
consider the third aspect of evolution: the evolution of human
thought. In the words of Pascal, 'Face to face with the universe
man is nothing, a mere reed, yet a thinking reed.' Human
thought is a passing gleam in the unknown night of existence,
and the gleam is all, but it is that which can and does illumine
existence.
We see that the motion and evolution of nature, society,
and thought constitute the common basis of all the sciences.
So the material of our studies will be the science of the motion
and evolution of nature, society, and thought. And this
science we call dialecticsa science which gives us methods
that produce results. The method shows how to take advantage
of the forces of nature, of the individual, of society, and of
thought. We are able to use these forces as sources of energy
and knowledge even if we have no perfect knowledge of their
metaphysical roots. It may be objected that this involves a
limitation of our capacities, to which we can answer with the
words of two philosophers of antiquity. Protagoras was the
first to say that for us here and now 'man is the measure of all
things'. So from the standpoint of man the practical
application of the forces of nature is more important than the
metaphysical knowledge of their origin. And Buddha, the
most profound oriental philosopher, said to one who asked
whether there is existence after death and similar metaphysical
problems: 'A man was walking in the forest and was wounded
1

In 1949 this sentence perhaps needs qualification. (Ed.)

unexpectedly by an arrow. Instead of drawing the poisoned

arrow straightway from the wound to save his life, he began to
ask himself "Who shot the poisoned arrow?" and then "Who
was the father of the man who shot the arrow?" "And who was
his grandfather?" And while he meditated on these things the
poison reached his heart and he died.'
So unproductive, metaphysical speculation should not be
our guide, but, on the contrary, we must concentrate on the
most urgent and pressing problem of humanitythe problem
of human suffering. Before all else we must extract the
poisoned arrow from the wound; we must struggle with and
conquer human suffering. When we have conquered and
overcome suffering, then will it be time enough to meditate on
the metaphysical roots of life and solve those abstract
problems.
We are of the opinion that this conception is clear and
logical; and in spite of the fact that we do not know the origin
of the cosmic and natural forces, experience shows us that we
can very well employ them for healing diseases, and for
improving individual and racial vitality, and put them at the
disposal of the human race and of society. So in the following
pages we shall deal chiefly with practical questions, and only
in the course of the first section shall we deal with the
theoretical foundation and methodological parts of our study.

Chapter II
THE ORIGINS OF MATTER AND OF LIFE
WE have now to consider the most difficult problems of
science: the problems of the origin of matter and the origin of
life, and also that activity which science calls psychism, which
is something above organic life, a kind of superstructure of
organic matter. In the immense edifice of the natural sciences
we have three breaks in continuity. First we have the great
void before the appearance of physical matter, of which we do
not know the origin. Secondly we have a great void between
inorganic and organic matter, or more simply between dead
and living matter. Third and lastly we have the great void
between living and thinking matter.
First we will examine what is the answer given to this
problem by the religions and philosophies of antiquity and
then we will examine what is the answer of the modern
sciences.
The oldest traditions concerning cosmogony and
cosmology, which deal with the origin of the universe and the
structure and organisation of that universe, are the Vedas.
They do not give us a concrete scientific answer, but they
answer us in their own manner, enfolding the truth in a
complicated structure of theology and theogony. But if we
take the essence of the Vedas and eliminate all their
complicated hierarchy of Gods and Divinities, it amounts to
the following: There are two universal cycles, the night and
the day of Brahma. Brahma is a sort of universal essence,
causa finalis, which later religions identify with divinity. But
in its earliest form this conception was pure pantheism. So
Brahma is a universal being having neither beginning nor end,
who has alternately his nights and days. When Brahma sleeps
nothing exists in space or time; neither matter exists, nor life,
nor movement; but when Brahma wakes he radiates into
cosmic space, and thousands and millions of new suns, stars
and planets awake, and so does life on the planets, with the
appearance of plants, animals and manthe second cosmic
cycle begins. According to the old Hindu tradition we are now
in the second cycle, the day of Brahma. In brief and in essence
that is what the old Hindu tradition teaches us.
Later on this conception is repeated in different forms in
all later religions and philosophical systems. According to
Buddha there is an absolute, which has neither beginning nor
end, which was not created and will never disappear; this is
'Nirvana'. And there is another existing material world which
begins and disappears, while the eternal flow and circulation
of these things is 'Samsaro'.

Afterwards we see the same thing repeated in the

philosophy of Plato when he speaks about the world of ideas
and the material world ('Shadows of Ideas'). We see it also in
Aristotle when he speaks of the world of form and the world
of matter. And the same thing is repeated in various mediaeval
and modern philosophical systems.
In our modern philosophical terminology we should
express it in the following way. We have something which is
absolute, which has neither beginning nor end, and we have
something else which from time to time appears and
disappears, which consists always of two opposite parts, one
completing the other, and without one of which the other is
incomprehensible; for instance, existence and non-existence,
life and death, day and night, and so on.
Now having examined what the religions and the
philosophies have to say, let us examine the contemporary
sciences.
According to the latest results of astrophysics, astrochemistry and cosmology, to find the essence of things we
must get back to radiations as causa finalis of matter and
energy.
We classify radiations in two categories. If the radiation
has a straight line we say that it is force or energy, but if it is
concentrated round a point then we have whirling radiations,
like an atom, which we call matter. So the ultimate constituent
source of energy and matter is radiations.
Now if we examine what truth there is in the ancient
traditions about the cosmic cycles we find the following fact.
According to the most recent results of astronomy and
cosmology, we find revolving in cosmic space huge systems
of planets and cosmic nebulae where that which we call matter
is still in process of formation, and there we find that direct
line radiations are being transformed into circular radiations,
that matter is now appearing. And we have also discovered
huge systems of planets and cosmic nebulae where matter is
disappearing; that is, where whirling radiations are being
transformed into straight radiations, and there is the source of
the various cosmic radiations. So we see that some parts of the
universe radiate radiations while other parts of the universe
absorb them, and in the boundless universe there is an endless
series of transitory states between the straight-line and
whirling systems of radiations. So we can see that the universe
contains both cyclesthe day and night of Brahma. In certain
immense parts of the universe we have simultaneously the
origin of matter and the disappearance of energy; in other
immense parts of the universe we have the disappearance of
matter and the origin of energy.
Naturally, one or the other form is merely predominant in
either, for always and everywhere we have both forms. Thus
in one part we have a predominance of new formations of

worlds, and in the other a predominance of the disappearance

of worlds, but not a complete separation of the two processes
as the ancient traditions tell us.
The ancient tradition intuitively found a true direction as
did also the various philosophical systems, and now by means
of our perfect telescopes and other instruments we are able to
confirm analytically and empirically the great synthetic
intuition of the great religions and philosophies.
Next let us examine the second problem, the problem of
the appearance of life. Naturally, in our empirical researches
we are limited to the examination of the appearance of earthly
life, so we are confined to a very small fragment of the
universe.
From a logical point of view it would be a very broad
hypothesis to attribute alone to ourselves in the infinite
universe the capacity of life, to imagine that only our planet
has organic life upon it, for we are only a very small speck in
infinite cosmic space, constituting a negligible quantity from a
universal point of view. So I repeat that we should not
attribute only to ourselves the privilege of life. Probably life
does not exist on the other planets of our own solar system, for
on the other planets there are lacking various preconditions of
life, both physical and chemical; but it is certain that if not in
our solar system, then at any rate in many of the innumerable
solar systems of cosmic space organic life must exist, only it is
inaccessible to our imperfect instruments.
Before asking what is the answer of the sciences about
the origin of life, we will first see the answer of the old
traditions, which represented science in the past ages.
Generally, in ancient theological systems we have a sort of
Olympus, the dwelling-place of the gods who created life.
From time to time the gods descended from the heights of
Olympus and created new beings. In the more obscure of these
traditions life is simply an amorphous thing which seems to
come down from the mountain heights and no very clear
information is given as to the origin of this Olympus. So, as
we see, these traditions tell us practically nothing from a
logical or scientific point of view, and it is the same with
philosophy which has simply repeated various empty notions
during the thousands of years of civilisation, notions without
logical or empirical foundation. So the only solution for us is
to consult the contemporary sciences.
If we wish to know precisely the preconditions of organic
life we must reconstruct and examine the environment of the
processes operative before and during its appearance.
If we go back to former geological periods we find that in
the primitive state of the earth there was too high a
temperature for the appearance of life, the whole globe of the
earth being a fiery mass from which the preconditions of life
were absent. Little by little this fiery mass cooled down, and

in this way with the change of temperature the various

elements of the earth appeared through precipitation,
processes on so great a scale that we cannot reproduce them in
our laboratories.
Little by little we can see the progressive appearance of
the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere, the appearance
of air, water, and an increasingly rigid earth. The process of
cooling still continues to-day. The lithosphere, the exterior
rigid zone of the earth, grows constantly thicker and thicker;
the interior fiery mass of the earth always becomes smaller
and smaller.
Now terrestrial life only appeared when the temperature
had become favourable to life. We know that life is only
possible between two limits of temperature, that a too high or
too low temperature will destroy life or make its appearance
impossible, so with this consideration in mind let us see in
what environment life first appeared.
It is certain that it could not be on the lithosphere, for in
the pre-geological state it had too high a temperature and was
still a fiery mass. The primitive waters which covered this
fiery mass were themselves a semi-fiery mass, which also had
too high a temperature for life to exist. But above these
exceedingly warm masses of water existed a great zone of
vapour which was not as hot as the water and not as cold as
the encircling cosmic space. It was only there, then, that life
could appear. This pre-geological vapour consisting of water
and air did not of itself contain all the preconditions of life,
but it is certain that in this dense vapour, which lasted for
millions and millions of years, there existed in almost
imponderable form certain chemical elements necessary for
primitive life. And this vapour also received the solar and
cosmic radiations which together with air, water, certain
mineral elements, and a favourable temperature seem to be the
preconditions for the appearance of life. One day organic life
appeared in that environment; naturally not in its evolved
form, but appearing as ephemeral amoebic, semi-amorphous
forms, whose life was very short, for immediately they
descended into the warm zones they were killed, and
immediately they were carried by currents into the higher
colder zones they were also killed by the excessive cold.
Millions and millions of years passed until the earth itself
cooled down sufficiently for the great masses of water to
quieten down and form the oceans.
When these great zones of vapour little by little
disappeared and united with the oceans as the process of
cooling continued, then life itself also descended with these
vapours into the oceans and began a second phase of organic
life.
The water of the oceans in dissolved form contained even
more chemical elements than the vapour-filled atmosphere.

We know that the water of the oceans contains some thirty

chemical elements in dissolved form, so it has all the chemical
elements necessary for life, and has a chemical constitution
analogous to that of the blood of man and of various living
animals.
Naturally, this enrichment of the preconditions of life
produced a greater variety of the forms of life; new species
appeared and little by little there appeared a great variety of
forms of life in the oceans.
This second form of life, this second station of life in the
hydrosphere, following upon life in the vapour-laden
atmosphere, was characterised by the eating by animals of
their own species; by carnivorism. In other words, one form of
animal species represented the foods of the others: the larger
fish eating the smaller ones. This period represented the period
of the great sea monsters, and the period of war of all against
all.
Little by little the outer part of the solid earth itself cooled
down and became rigid to such an extent that it in turn became
favourable for life; and when this occurred, life left its second
station in the oceans and extended over the earth. So the third
station of life is the lithosphere. Little by little appear the
different forms of vegetation and of animal life. The
respiratory system of all those animals which lived in the sea
and came to live upon the earth was gradually transformed,
and little by little there appeared the different pulmonary
systems. And instead of instruments for swimming there
appeared differentiated limbs for moving upon the earth.
Little by little the vegetation became more abundant and
the roots of plants and trees absorbed from the atmosphere and
from the inside of the earth various chemical elements which
were accumulated in the leaves and fruits of the plants and
trees, and thus constituted new forms of food for animals
herbs, cereals and fruits. Nevertheless, the dominant character
of animal life during this period remained carnivorous in the
constant struggle for existence.
Terrible races of monsters followed one upon another.
We can reconstruct their forms, and we can see that they had
organs chiefly for attacking and destroying one another. These
races existed for a very long time and afterwards they
disappeared. These races of monsters disappeared because
their life was not in accordance with laws of nature. They
developed large muscular forms through their activity, but
they could never acquire any nerve system capable of
evolution. This was the achievement of another race, the race
which began little by little with the species that started to
consume herbs, cereals, and other vegetable products of the
earth. Certain vertebrate animals, among them the mammals,
began to evolve pure vegetarian races, whose food was

primarily herbs and grains. This race was the ancestor of the
dominant species of our planet.
Little by little certain species among them came into the
environment of the forests where to the herbs and cereals were
added fruits, growing higher on trees. These species had to
develop their limbs into organs for climbing up the trees to get
the fruits.
In this way there appeared among these vertebrate
mammal races new speciesthe simianswhich little by
little became differentiated in the environment of the forests.
We have come to the last but one station of life, to the
different simian species living in the forests. Now we shall
find new differences in species for various reasons. Little by
little certain species began to descend from the trees, and
arboricolous species became earth-dwelling species. Those
species which left the trees for the earth little by little assumed
an increasingly vertical position of the body; their feet became
stronger and stronger and more differentiated, and their two
front feet were little by little differentiated into hands,
becoming more and more flexible and elastic.
It is among these species that we must look for the
ancestor of Homo Sapiens. The fact that the dominant race of
our planet comes from these species leads us to attribute great
importance to the vertical position of the nervous system and
the vertebral column in man.
As we know, the capacity and response of a wireless
aerial depends on its vertical, horizontal, or intermediate
position. Now the vertical position of the human nervous
system and also of the anthropoids seems to have certain
superior capacities which no other animal species possesses.
The vertebral systems and nervous systems of other species
are in a horizontal position, so we know that the superior
psychism of anthropoids and of man resides in the cerebrospinal system. So this new station of life, the last
differentiation of life up to the present, is marked by the
change from the horizontal to the vertical position.
Here an important point must be mentioned. The works of
Darwin are often cited, but very seldom read, which explains
why it is very often said that, according to Darwin, man is
descended from monkeys. Darwin does not state this in any
part of his works, but says that man and the present existing
simian species have a common origin and common ancestors,
but neither is descended from the other.
Now the anthropoids which, after being arboricolous,
became earth-dwellers, little by little exhibited a higher phase
of evolution in accordance with their developing cranial and
nervous systems. We can see this from an examination of the
various species of anthropoids, of Homo Neanderthalensis and
of Homo Cromagnonensis, who mark different stations in this

last phase of evolution, the penultimate phase of the evolution

of the dominant race upon the planet.
We know from various factors, from climatological,
anthropological, archaeological, and ethnological facts, that
the last dispersion of the human race had its origin in Central
Asia. The various remains of the periods before this dispersion
prove that there was in Central Asia a tropical and subtropical
climate. Witnesses to this are the mammoths and other
animals and various vegetable species such as palms, which
have been found in various rivers in Siberia and are now in the
museums of Leningrad and Moscow. Certain climatological
changes caused by geological factors compelled our ancestors
to emigrate and leave this environment so ideal for life. And
life was dispersed to the West, to the South-west, to the South,
to the North, and to the East. If we follow the various
ethnological prehistoric migrations we find that the ultimate
dispersion point was Central Asia.
The catastrophic influence of the pleistocene disaster,
know to the various ancient traditions as 'The Flood', was
survived only by those groups who remained on the high
mountain ranges which stretch from Asia Minor to the
Behring Strait, constituting the longest and greatest mountain
chain in the world. And after the subsidence of the flood these
groups little by little descended from the high mountains, and
scattered over the Asian continent to the four points of the
compass. All ethnological, archaeological, and climatological
studies affirm this fact. They also affirm the fact that parallel
to these races of man there existed certain other less evolved
human species living in certain parts of Europe, Africa, and
Australia.
These species were chiefly a European variety, a cavedwelling race enjoying less favourable conditions of life, but
there were other races in Central Africa and in what is now
Australia, who were related races, but not races from which
Homo Sapiens is descended. These secondary races are
definitely in correlation and in biological affinity with Homo
Neanderthalensis; while the principal branch of the human
race, of which we form part, has an affinity with Cromagnon
man.
Generally, these less evolved secondary races are seen
little by little to disappear and superior emigrants from Central
Asia occupy their place.
Now we must examine the last important moment in the
evolution of the dominant race when, after the cataclysm, the
various groups which survived the cataclysm little by little
descended from the mountains. The great forests and the
vegetation were in large measure destroyed. The climate
became colder and less favourable, so these people did not
find the favourable preconditions of life and were thus
compelled to take up hunting instead of, as formerly, existing

on fruits and vegetables, and to rely on certain vegetables of

an inferior quality which remained. They had to cook and use
fire to transform these into edible form, and they were also
forced to use fire to warm their bodies, for the pleasant
temperature of the antediluvian climate had disappeared. And
thus we can mark the appearance of carnivorism, and the
appearance of fire, and the origin of the cooking of foods; for
it is quite natural that these races unaccustomed to eating meat
should have felt a repulsion for eating raw meat, which can
only be changed into edible form by cooking.
All anthropologists affirm that the chief foods of our
ancestors were nuts, fruits and certain cereals, and not meat.
The biologists, including Darwin, Huxley and Cuvier, say the
same.
Now afterwards, due to the factors already mentioned, a
new period began in the history of the dominant race: the
beginning of the eating of meat, and of cooking, and also the
habit of people enclosing themselves in primitive dwellings
for protection against cold. And according to the various
documents and traditions which we have, these unnatural
conditions of life of the dominant races little by little
shortened the span of life.
Contemporary macrobiotes with a life of more than a
hundred and twenty years are, in ninety per cent of cases,
people who eat no meat at all: this supports the thesis that
meat is not the natural food of man.

Chapter III
MAN'S ADAPTATION TO NATURE
THE history of the evolution of the dominant race on our
planet is very important to us, because 'cognoscere est
cognoscere causas'. We must always follow the various
changes which accompany the evolution of life and examine
what factors create and sustain life throughout this evolution,
for only those forces which were capable of creating and
sustaining life are favourable to life and are alone able to cure
the various diseases of the organism. Only those forces ought
to be, and can be, the basis of medicine. For this reason
correlations and laws derived from the study of the evolution
of life have very important practical and therapeutic
consequences.
Now we must examine what are the preconditions and
principal factors and forces which create, sustain and evolve
life on our planet. As we have seen they are the following:
atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), cosmosphere (solar and
various other cosmic radiations whose nature we do not yet
perfectly know), lithosphere (the earth's crust with all its
chemical elements), and later the botanosphere (steppes with
the grasses, the different seed-bearing plants, the forests and
trees, particularly trees with fruits). These are the factors, the
forces, the preconditions of the appearance of the evolution
and of the maintenance of life. We have a heredity which
scientists call ontogenetic experience in the organism. These
factors have an influence on our organism; they have a very
important hereditary influence, constituting the ontogenetic
heredity which we inherit from our various ancestors. The
older the phase of our ancestor's life the weaker is its influence
on our life, while the nearer it is to us in time, the greater is
the force which it exercises upon us.
Let us take some examples. Customarily present man is
carnivorous, having eaten cooked foods for the last few
thousand years. Our ancestors have transmitted these habits to
us and so they exercise a hereditary reflex on our nervous and
muscular systems. On the other hand, the structure of the teeth
and the digestive system of man have a close affinity with the
fruit-eating simian races and are totally different from those of
the carnivorous animals. These hereditary factors always have
a great force or influence in our organism. We can say that the
structure of our organism is inherited by us from remote
ancestors who were fruit-eating and living in forests; while the
functional activity of these organs is inherited from our
ancestors of the last few thousands of years who had the
custom of eating meat and cooked food.

So there is a contradiction in the present human organism.

Structurally we are vegetarians, while functionally we are
carnivorous and omnivorous. This contradiction in the human
organism necessitates a solution. For contradictions in the
human organism destroy life just as contradictions in human
society cannot continue for long without causing the
destruction of the social organism. There are therefore serious
biological reasons and facts which necessitate that we should
solve the grave biological and physiological contradiction in
our organismthe contradiction between its structure and
function.
In the second part of this book, when we are dealing with
the practical and therapeutic material, we shall speak about the
solution of these contradictions by means of the
cosmotherapeutic diet which takes into consideration the place
to be assigned to the various hereditary ontogenetic forces in
our organism, and consequently lays down what proportions
of the various natural foods are needed by the present human
organism so as to be in harmony with the ontogenetic forces
which present man inherits from his ancestors living through
the various phases of evolution.
We find that the evolution of the dominant race begins
and ends with carnivorism, but has as its intermediate stations
the eating of plants, cereals and fruits.
The greatest ontogenetic force in our organisms is
frugivorism and is represented structurally in our organisms.
For this reason the cosmotherapeutic diet specifies fifty per
cent of fruit as an ideal for the diet. And having regard to the
ontogenetic forces which we inherit from our herbivorous
ancestors, who are further from us in time, it prescribes
vegetables for thirty-five per cent of the diet; and taking into
consideration the grain-eating phase of our ancestors it
specifies ten per cent of cereals in our diet.
So, as we see, the diet of contemporary man should be in
harmony with the various ontogenetic hereditary forces which
are manifested both structurally and functionally. It is
important to achieve this harmony. We can show that the
recent short period of carnivorism of the human races was
only produced accidentally and is not in harmony with the
natural laws of evolution, for if the ancestors of our dominant
race had always been carnivorous, then the human race would
have disappeared like all the other inferior races which fed on
meat.
For only certain foods, notably fruits and vegetables,
contain accumulations of the specific solar and cosmic
energies, which are favourable for the evolution and
development of the superior psychic capacities of the nervous
system.
But the contradiction between the structure and the
function of the human organism is not the only one existing in

the human organism. It is necessary to say something of

certain other contradictions.
If we examine the life of Homo Sapiens Sylvanus and also
the lives of the races between Homo Sapiens Sylvanus and the
present time, we can see and establish other contradictions.
For instance, our ancestors were nomads. Stabilised life has
only existed for some thousands of years, from the time of the
primitive civilisations of antiquity. But the life of the human
species is many hundreds of thousands of years old, so we can
see that the human race is predominantly nomad, and this
nomad heredity manifests itself in our present organisms, for
we have inherited nomad instincts for many hundreds of
thousands of years.
In spite of civilisation these nomad instincts lie latent in
us and are variously manifested. In man there is the instinct
for travel and change of environment, for making excursions,
for going into the mountains, and these manifestations spring
from our ontogenetic experience, from our heredity. And this
dominant instinct of nomad life has also been manifested in
large measure in human history. We can see that the whole of
human history has consisted of various migrations of nomad
peoples, and this has also been the case in civilised periods as
well. If we examine antiquity in certain periods we find
interesting examples. For instance, in the period of the
greatness of the Roman Empire we have in the West a great
civilised empirethe Roman Empire; and in the East another
great civilised empirethe Chinese Empire. It is strange that
there should have been hardly any contact at all between these
two great empires. The one did not know the other, and
between the two and north of the two there existed a great
ocean of nomad peoples and tribes who, during hundreds and
hundreds of years, attacked one or other of these two great
empires.
The Eastern Empire defended itself by the famous
Chinese Wall which made it impenetrable, and so the force of
the nomadic peoples was diverted to the West, and after
struggles carried over some hundreds of years they destroyed
the Western Empire. A similar thing occurred afterwards in
the days of Tamerlane and Genghis Khan. The former
destroyed the great Ottoman Muslim civilisation, while the
latter almost destroyed European Christian civilisation. If we
go back into history we see this process repeating itself.
And it is likewise thanks to this nomad instinct in man
that we have the discovery of new continents and lands.
Columbus, Cortez, Captain Cook and Bougainville are living
examples of these nomadic instincts dwelling in us. But these
instincts also exist to-day in the ordinary man. We have only
to look at the inhabitants of great cities; when summer comes
there is an instinctive urge to make excursions to the country.

However, if we examine our present civilisation we find

that it suppresses these instincts in man. We have great
agglomerations of people in small areas and this nomadic
instinct cannot manifest itself freely. So the present
environment of man, our civilised environment, is in
contradiction with the heredity of man, with the nomadic
instincts and forces dwelling latently in us and manifesting
themselves from time to time.
There is also a very serious contradiction between the
psycho-physiological organism of man and his present
civilised environment.
But there are still others. It is not necessary to go as far
back as the life of Homo Sapiens Sylvanus; we have only to
look at the life of many various primitive peoples in the
historical period of antiquity which we know, and also in our
present age. We can observe certain rhythms and cycles in the
life of nature. We see, for instance, that present nomadic
peoples in Central Asia have a rhythmic life throughout the
year and always follow the sun. Take, for instance, the last of
the existing nomadic peoples in Siberia. In recent years
Russian ethnologists from Moscow have organised very
interesting expeditions among them, and have come to strange
conclusions. In spite of every encouragement and persuasion
by the Russian Government that they should become
sedentary and remain in one place, it has been found
impossible to alter their nomadic life. In certain exceptional
cases it was possible, but in the majority of cases, in spite of
very logical arguments, they followed their instincts and
continued the nomadic life of their ancestors. For instance,
during the summer they go northward with all their animals,
their tents, and their families. Afterwards, with the approach
of autumn and winter, they return to the south. There are tribes
which during the year travel five hundred or a thousand miles
in the course of their travels north and south. This life has
been going on for thousands and thousands of years according
to the seasons of the year. The nomads always travel
according to the sun, which looks strange to our civilised
notions, but if we look we shall see that the sun and the solar
forces direct earthly life, and consequently vegetable, animal
and also human life, and so we must recognise that there is
some logic in their actions.
We can also observe that primitive man followed the sun
in the various cycles of the day, for when the sun sinks he
goes to sleep, and when the sun rises he wakes up, so his life
follows the rhythms of the sun. Primitive natural life is
adapted to the cycles of the year and to its rhythms. It is also
adapted to the cycles of the day.
Now let us examine our civilised life. When the sun goes
down, then we light our electric or oil lamps and work at

night; very often when the sun rises we go on lying in our

rooms, and very often we sleep during the day.
So there is a contradiction between the rhythms of nature
and the rhythms of our life, a very serious contradiction, for if
the rhythm of our life coincides harmoniously with the
rhythms of the natural forces, then the natural forces
strengthen and augment our vitality. On the other hand, if the
artificial and unnatural rhythms of our life are contrary to the
rhythms of the forces of nature, then the natural forces, instead
of strengthening our vitality, weaken it, just as, if we swim in
a river with the current, the current represents a source of
energy to us; while if we swim against it, it represents a
resistance and a source of expenditure of our forces.
The contradiction between the civilised life of man and
the rhythms of the natural forces and the heredity of our
organism which demands adaptation to this rhythm is a
serious one. For this heredity is suppressed by modern
civilisation.
Let us consider some examples of this. This rhythm exists
in every activity of organic life, according to the rhythms of
the year and of the months. For instance, those scientists who
have examined the life of wild animals have observedand
this is true of domestic animals as well, though they are
somewhat deformed by the artificial environment of man
that their sexual life shows certain rhythms and in certain parts
and seasons of the year is more intense, and in certain parts
does not exist at all. Now the most intense part of the year
from this standpoint is the spring, and it is in this period that
their sexual life is most active. In the life of our ancestors, in
more evolved and modified form, there existed the rhythm of
sexual life. If we examine the lives of contemporary savage
people we find it is always in the spring that there are special
feasts and ceremonies which have a strict correlation with
sexual life. We can see in the same way that the waves of the
ocean, under the influence of the rhythmic movements of the
moon, are in ebb and flow. Similarly, in the female organism
we see the periodical and rhythmically repeated process of
menstruation. We can see that the human organism is in a
large measure a function of the natural forces. Natural forces
have determined man both functionally and structurally and
the natural forces are always manifested in certain rhythms,
creating certain cycles in time. In this way the human
organism, being subject to the laws and forces of nature,
cannot neglect or make itself independent of these cycles and
rhythms, but must adapt itself to and live in harmony with
them. So from the viewpoint of the rhythms of life and nature
there is a great contradiction between the natural laws and
forces on the one hand and our present artificial civilisation on
the other.

And now we must ask the question: how are we to solve

these contradictions? For we must solve them. The adaptation
of the organism to the natural forces is a question of existence
or non-existence. We cannot transform the universe or nature
so that they adapt themselves to us; on the contrary, we must
adapt ourselves to nature and her laws.
Now comes the second question. In view of the
contradictions between the natural forces as manifested in the
rhythmic cycles of the days and year and our present artificial
civilisation, which can we change more easily the universe
and nature or our present society and civilisation? It is clear
that we are not capable of changing the universe and nature.
With our greatest efforts we cannot change the laws and forces
of gravitation. With our greatest efforts we cannot change the
periodic movements of the sun in cosmic space, nor can we
change the periodic movements of the earth upon its axis or
the movement of the moon. So the natural and cosmic forces
are fundamental forces and we must adapt our civilisation and
life to them because we cannot transform them. We must
adapt ourselves to them in order to solve the present
contradictions in the human organism itself, the contradictions
between the human organism and nature, and the
contradictions between our present civilisation and society on
the one hand, and nature and the universe and all their laws on
the other hand. It is natural and evident that being unable to
transform the cosmic and natural forces, we must transform
our own artificial life as well as our artificial civilisation and
society. It is the only solution of these contradictions.
It is not a question of philosophy whether it pleases us to
change our life or not, but a compelling necessity; for if we do
not do so, then the individual and the whole human race
composed of individuals will become more and more ill. And
its vitality will become less and less in spite of the fact that we
have inherited immense sources of vitality and forces from our
ancestor Homo Sapiens Sylvanus, and in spite of the natural
fruitarian and vegetarian life of our ancestors during hundreds
of thousands of years. Their natural lives have left us a huge
capital of vitality in the form of heredity, and although in the
last thousand years we have spent much of that capital, it is
nevertheless still great. And it is due to this great capital of
vitality which we have inherited from our natural-living
ancestors that we still exist and resist disease to the extent we
do, notwithstanding our unhealthy and unnatural lives. But our
capital is not so great that it will not eventually disappear if we
always spend it and never add to it.
Hitherto heredity has collaborated with us and aided us,
for the present is the effect of the past. But let us not forget
that the present is also the basis of the future, and for the
future the present will become the past. So that if we leave a
bad inheritance of vitality to our descendants we are creating

bad hereditary forces for them. If we do this, the prospect for

the future of the human race is a sad and hopeless one. There
will be degeneration and disappearance of the race.
So we must repeat that the basis of civilisation is nature
and the natural laws based on the natural forces. These natural
laws determine the correlations of civilisation and society, for
our civilisation and society are only the superstructure built on
the foundation of nature. The foundation determines the
superstructure, while the superstructure only modifies and
influences.
So we cannot afford to neglect or ignore the natural
forces, when we organise our life, whether individual or
social.

Chapter IV
THE LAWS OF LONGEVITY
WE have already mentioned the correlations and laws of
the evolution of nature, society, and human thought. What
conclusions can we draw from the analysis of this evolution?
Firstly, we find that in nature, in the human organism,
and also in society we have constant movement; that nothing
is rigid or fixed.
Secondly, we see that everything is in correlation with
everything else, that there is a single unity, and that we cannot
isolate certain phenomena from the great dynamic totality.
Thirdly, we see that evolution always exhibits two
contrary forms: that there are progress and regression, action
and reaction, thesis and antithesis. Without opposites there can
be no life and no evolution; yet we see that evolution is not
simply an automatic repetition of the same opposites, for after
thesis and antithesis always comes the synthesis, which
represents a higher phase than the original thesis. And the
synthesis becomes the thesis of a new evolutionary series. So
evolution is not a constant repetition, but is always raised to
increasingly higher phases with each successive cycle of
thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.
Finally, we see that there is an affinity between man's
capacity for knowledge and the mechanism and constitution of
the universe. If this affinity did not exist we should not be able
to know the universe and nature and her laws. So the principle
of correlativity obtains in the universe, in nature, in- the
human organism, and in human society. It indicates to us
certain methods of investigation, which in their totality form
the common basis of all the sciences. And this totality we call
the dialectical method. In general, the classical sciences have
not hitherto used the dialectical method, but a static method.
They always examine the phenomenon or group of
phenomena as they exist, but do not examine the phenomenon
in correlation with the totality of phenomena. Nor do they
examine the origin of the phenomenon, thereby neglecting the
dialectical principle of totality in time and space. When we
consider a phenomenon as something fixed and rigid and not
in correlation with its environment and disregard the
conclusions to which a study of its origin, motion, and
evolution leads us, then this static undialectical method of
investigation and world concept lead to insoluble
contradictions. I will give an example of what I mean.
Suppose we examine the problem of life, the problem of its
appearance and evolution. According to the dialectical method
we examine life from its origin and during its evolution and
consider the correlation between all the factors of its

environment. We can thus understand the laws of life. The

classical sciences applying rigid and undialectical methods of
investigation conclude that the origin of life is completely
unknowable, and that the solution of the problem of its origin
can only be hypothetical. Naturally, this concept cannot satisfy
us, for there is nothing mysterious in the origin of life.
Organic life, like electricity, magnetism, and similar qualities
of matter, is an inherent essential quality of matter. When its
preconditions appear, then life also appears, and inorganic
matter is simply transformed into organic matter. When a
favourable temperature and the other preconditions of life
appeared on our planet, then organic life also automatically
appeared.
By rigid anti-dialectical methods it is not possible to
solve the problem of life, for the universe and life are in
permanent evolution and movement. If our methods have not a
similarly moving and evolving basis, we shall never succeed
in solving the problems of the universe and of life.
This dialectical method is not only of theoretical
importance to us. We do not, for instance, examine the origin
of life out of theoretical interest, but because we cannot
understand the laws of life unless we employ the dialectical
method. In view of the fact that life is the essential quality of
our own organisms, understanding of these laws is an urgent
and vital necessity for us.
After the laws of life we must examine the laws of
longevity, which are of great practical importance. And we
will use the same methods in our study of longevity that we
used in our study of the laws of life.
First of all we must draw our conclusions from the field
of facts and of empirical realities. So we will not begin to
study the laws of longevity with the various theories of
chemistry, physics and biology, but will examine in their
reality and actuality the lives of those who have enjoyed long
spans of life. For us facts are important and not authority. For
instance, the practical and real example of simple peasants
who have lived to be one hundred and fifty or one hundred
and sixty years old, despite their being only simple peasants, is
a greater authority for us than the theories of professors of biochemistry in cities who die of disease at the age of forty or
fifty years.
We will deal now with the special science which is called
macrobiotics, the science of living long. This science appeared
at the beginning of the present period of culture, when the first
documents began to be collected about individuals who lived
to be more than one hundred and twenty years old.
These individuals were called macrobiotes, and great
pains were taken to establish and verify their ages and their
manner of living, so as to reconstruct the laws of longevity
and health on the basis of their experience.

We will deal first with the macrobiotes of the past and

then with the macrobiotes of the present time. Various Greek
writers speak of the Pelasgians who preceded the Greeks in
Greece. They say that the average span of life among them
was from a hundred and ten to a hundred and sixty years, and
they describe the life of the Pelasgians generally. They write
that they lived on fruits, particularly on figs, grapes, oranges,
and other so-called Mediterranean fruits, and that they also ate
honey and a little cereal and the milk of various animals.
Approximately thirty authorities who deal with the Pelasgians
describe their mode of living as a completely natural and
simple life. They always lived in the fresh air and in the
sunshine; they swam a lot and climbed mountains and
practised many games and sports; they used no artificial
drinks or foods. When afterwards in Greece the people of
Athens and Sparta began to drink hydromel, which was a
popular Greek drink, many Greek statesmen and philosophers
who were the champions of their ancient patriarchal customs,
even denounced this quite harmless drink on the ground that
their Pelasgian ancestors had taken no artificial drinks or
foods. In general, the Pelasgians showed great endurance in
long-distance running and in swimming, and all the authorities
agree that they represented an ideal muscular and athletic type.
Apart from accidents among the mountains or wounds
received while hunting, they were never ill. So in general,
these authorities are also documents which prove that the
preconditions of health and longevity are a simple and natural
life. No need for a mysterious or complicated science. We can
sum up what is necessary in three words: simple, natural life.
Let us now leave antiquity and travel to the end of the
Middle Ages and beginning of the new age. When the great
navigators of the Pacific Ocean, like Bougainville and Captain
Cook, discovered the Polynesian Islands, they found there a
magnificent human race, the Maori race, which belonged to
the Caucasian race. In appearance the Caucasian race is
generally not black, but brown, with the colour we acquire
after much sun-bathing in the summer. They saw with great
astonishment this people's athletic forms, the extraordinary
muscular strength of the men and the beauty of the women.
Bougainville and Captain Cook both describe how when they
saw their men talking with the natives, they could not help
noting that the Europeans were like pygmies and pale, sickly
weaklings compared with the natives of the Islands.
When at Tahiti, Bougainville wished to carry some boxes
weighing 400 lbs. or more from one part of the island to
another, and he saw with the greatest surprise that cases which
needed four white men to carry them, were easily lifted by a
single native and carried some hundreds of yards.
Both Bougainville and Cook describe the life and
appearance of these Polynesians. They say that their teeth

were more perfect than any to be found in Europe, and in

general the various physiological qualities of the natives
awakened the interest of the scientists accompanying the
expeditions of Bougainville and Cook. The natives lived in
houses, but very simple houses made of leaves and vegetation.
There were some tribes who lived on the sea coast and others
who lived among the mountains in the interior of the island.
The majority, living in the mountains, ate exclusively fruits
and various native vegetables grown in the island. Those who
lived by the sea caught and ate fish as well, but Bougainville
observes that those who lived among the mountains were
taller and stronger than those who lived by the sea.
Meat-eating was the privilege of the tribal chiefs, but was
taboo for the people, which meant that they could not eat meat
at all. And it is interesting to note that whereas they found
various diseases among the chiefs, they found none among the
people.
Bougainville had difficulty in establishing their ages, for
there were no registrars of births. But he got over it by finding
out how many generations of descendants an individual had
living and so establishing their minimum possible age. He
found that the mountain people's age varied from one hundred
to one hundred and thirty years, while those by the sea and
eating fish lived from eighty to one hundred years.
These observations were of great value to the science of
macrobiotics, for the reason that not long afterwards these
native and untouched populations came into contact with
civilisation and all its disadvantages. Until Europeans came
among them they went almost naked, wearing a simple pareu
made of vegetable cloth, and were thus always in contact with
fresh air and with the rays of the sun. Bougainville noticed
that they never ate until the sun reached its zenith; that
whenever they crossed rivers and streams they always bathed
and swam in them; and, incidentally, that they ate only once or
at most twice a day. And when the sailors offered them
alcoholic drinks they refused them with repulsion, as they did
tea, coffee and all other artificial foods. They knew nothing of
money or working for a living, as the fruits growing in the
woods were at the disposal of all, as were trees for building
their houses. They lived a carefree life.
New explorers appeared and civilisation slowly planted
itself in this island paradise. Next traders arrived and brought
alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, opium, and other high values of
our civilisation, and thus little by little the people of the
islands grew accustomed to eating our foods and practising
our habits. They had to pay for these products with coconuts
which were transported to Europe and there sold.
When the International Cosmotherapeutic Expedition
came to these Islands some years before World War II we did
not find at all the same natives as those found by Captain

Cook and Bougainville. The size of the population a hundred

and seventy years ago in the time of Bougainville and Cook
was two hundred and forty thousand, calculated by the number
of their canoes. Now after three or four generations there are
only ten thousand inhabitants in Tahiti instead of two hundred
and forty thousand. So we can see that changing their natural
life to our own artificial ways of life has resulted in the virtual
extinction of this magnificent race in less than two hundred
years. And of the present ten thousand inhabitants one-third
are immigrant Chinese; there are also many white people, so
the real number of the natives is even less than ten thousand.
But they have not diminished only from the point of view of
quantity. Let us now examine the quality of their vitality.
We had occasion during a year and a half to study the
diseases among the peoples of these Islands. We treated
approximately two thousand natives and came to the
conclusion that relatively they were suffering from more
diseases than the European. First, they had tropical diseases:
leprosy, elephantiasis, malaria, etc., and then on top of them
diseases imported from Europe, like tuberculosis, syphilis, and
various diseases of the digestive system, which have
decimated the natives of these Islands.
What is the cause of this great change in a hundred and
seventy years? If we examine the foods they eat, we see, first,
that all of them eat white bread baked by Chinese bakers,
instead of eating their own breadfruit which grows on a tree
and is an ideal form of starch, superior to any white bread
whatever.
Secondly, they buy various tinned meats packed in
America. Though they have fat in ideal form in the coconut
and in a variety of nuts which abound on the island, they eat
tinned meats. They take tea or coffee every day, while the
consumption of alcoholic drinks imported from America and
Europe is habitual. So we can see how the consumption of
chemicals, toxins and poisons can destroy the strength and
vitality of a magnificent race which formerly enjoyed long life
and permanent health. And this has been lost in three
generations. The example of these Islands and their
inhabitants is a very clear and good example, for the
Polynesians represent the last natural-living race and we can
see well the consequences of contact between them and
civilisation. We can see all these facts not in ancient historical
periods, but in our own age and time. So the facts are
indisputable.
Naturally, they have altered not only in the matter of
food, but also in their mode of living. Now they live in the
town of Papeete in houses made of corrugated iron instead of
living in houses made of coconut and pandanus leaves, which
make them a cool and ideal house from the point of view of
hygiene. Then they have almost forgotten how to walk with

their feet, for now they walk with bicycles and motor cars.
And they no longer swim and climb the mountains like their
ancestors, but work in the factories of the various commercial
enterprises. So we can see that their simple and natural life has
been completely transformed. Instead of wearing the pareu or
loincloth, they are clothed up to the neck, and so suffer great
discomfort in a tropical climate. So we see that the bad
influence of the instinct of imitation has led to the complete
transformation of their life and to the complete degeneration
of the race. The history of these Islands shows us in miniature
the whole history of the human race. For the same
transformation has occurred in the human race during the last
few thousands of years, represented in evolution from the time
of Homo Sapiens Sylvanus to that of present Homo Sapiens
Faber.
So these two examples of the Pelasgians and of the
Polynesians show us that the secret of a long and healthy life
is nothing but a natural, simple life. We do not need a
complicated science to sustain health and attain longevity. We
do not need the operations of Steinach and Voronoff and the
transplantation of monkey glands into the human organism to
achieve rejuvenation.
We need simple and ordinary common sense. Is it not
simpler to acquire youth, health, and longevity by a natural,
simple life than through these artificial practices? For how do
the glands of the monkey get their vitality? Through the
monkey's living a natural and simple life in the fresh air and
sun, and eating fruits and vegetables. So we must simply lead
a natural and simple life and then we shall have the same
healthy and vital glands as the monkeys have, and shall not
have to torture these unhappy creatures in order to transplant
certain glands into ourselves. For this operation is vain. I have
on several occasions spoken with Professor Voronoff and I
asked him whether it was not a fact that after these operations
the patient was very vigorous and vital for a year or two, but
that afterwards there was a terrible reaction, and he became
much older than before. He replied, 'Yes, that is a fact, but it is
better to have one or two years of youth than none at all.' But I
objected to that, for there is a possibility of regaining youth
not only for one or two years, but permanently. What is the
source of the temporary success of these operations? The
glands represent a certain capital of vitality, because the
monkey had a healthy life and a strong organism. But they
have quite a different rhythm to that of the other glands in the
organism, for the other glands of the individual's organism are
old and not vital, while the transported gland is young and
vital. Thus there is no equilibrium between the old glands and
the new. The old glands are not able to adapt themselves to the
rhythm of the new one, so little by little the new gland has to
adapt itself to the old ones, and the individual simply grows

old again. But this adaptation of the new gland consumes a

great deal of energy of the organism, for nature does not
tolerate irregularities, and after one or two years of
youthfulness old age returns, and the patient is ten or fifteen
years older than before the operation.
If we live a simple and natural life, eating fruits,
vegetables, cereals, milk and milk products, and other simple
and natural foods, if we do various physical exercises, if we
take water baths and sun baths and if we live in the fresh air,
we can rejuvenate our organism with the same intensity as is
possible by transplantation of a gland. But such rejuvenation
will be permanent and instead of consuming the energy of the
organism it increases it, and instead of shortening the
individual's life it extends it. We have many concrete
examples of this rejuvenation having occurred even at the age
of sixty, seventy or eighty and it has prolonged life greatly.
When we speak of longevity we must make it clear that
we mean not length of life with disease, but longevity without
disease, with a strong and vital organism. Of those who have
lived to a really advanced age, only about five per cent ate
meat or toxins; ninety-five per cent did not eat toxins. The five
per cent who ate meat or toxins lived to be a hundred and ten
or a hundred and twenty, but also had diseases; while the
macrobiotes who did not eat toxins not only enjoyed a longer
span of life, living to a hundred and thirty, a hundred and forty
and a hundred and fifty years of age, but also enjoyed a life
without disease.
There are many other examples of long lives. Since I
write in England, I will quote an English example. Thomas
Parr lived to be a hundred and fifty-eight and was never ill. In
his work he was superior to the young and also outdid them in
vitality. I must disclose certain discreditable secrets of his life.
At the age of a hundred and twelve, again at the age of a
hundred and twenty-five, and thirdly at the age of a hundred
and thirty-four he was condemned by the judicial authorities
for immoral sexual assaults. So we can see that longevity even
at the ages above a hundred and a hundred and twenty is not
longevity with diseases, but longevity in full possession of our
vital forces.
There is also the well-documented case of Jenkins, who
lived even longer than Thomas Parr, for he lived to be a
hundred and seventy-eight. If we examine the lives of Parr and
Jenkins we find that they ate only once or twice a day, eating
only milk, fruit and wholemeal bread (not our present artificial
white bread which was quite unknown in their day), that they
worked in the fields in the fresh air and led a simple and
natural life. All these macrobiotes without exception have one
thing in common: their sobriety. None of them was a large
eater, but all were very frugal, eating only once or twice a day

and very little in quantity. This is a general rule without

exception in the life of the macrobiotes.
There is another interesting example of recent times: that
of Zaro Aga, who some years ago was giving lectures in the
United States of America. An American business man visiting
Constantinople engaged a porter at the station who took his
baggage and carried it to his car. It was a heavy package as it
contained samples of machinery which he was trying to sell,
and generally he was accustomed to have two men to carry it.
When he saw that an old man with a long beard was able to
lift it on to his shoulder and carry it with the greatest of ease,
he asked him: 'What is your occupation?' The man said: 'I am
a porter as you see.' 'How old are you?' 'I am a hundred and
sixty-two.' Then the business man became a little alarmed as
he thought the man must be dotty. So he did not ask him any
more questions, but simply followed him. When they came to
the car his curiosity got the better of him. So he said: 'Can you
verify that you are the age you say?' Being a practical business
man and an American he wanted some verification. The man
said: 'Yes, if you like to come home with me I will show you
my birth certificate, but if you want me to go home you must
pay me for the whole day, for I am a very poor and busy man;
I have a family and children to support.' The American
thought perhaps it was worth while going with him, for his
story was a curious one. So he went to the house of Zaro Aga,
who introduced him to his wife and his thirteen or fourteen
children, some of whom were not more than three or four
years old. Then the American went to the town hall to see if
the document was in order, for he already had in his head a
brilliant scheme in case he should find that the man really was
a hundred and sixty-two.
Having made sure he was, he made the following
proposition: 'I will pay you two thousand dollars a year and all
travelling expenses if you will come with me round the big
cities of America. I will speak about your history and show
you to the public, and the income from the lectures will be
mine.'
Naturally the old fellow was glad to sign the contract, as
he was so poor that he could only eat once a day. His fare was
black bread and onions, as he had no money for anything else.
However, he did not know that he was signing his death
warrant when he signed the contract. He visited New York,
Chicago, and other cities and for two years attended lectures,
while the business man gained a great fortune. Naturally in the
various restaurants and hotels of the United States the poor
Turk had to eat meat and all the toxins that are eaten there. It
is true he had a great capital of health, but after two years of
living on toxins he one day became ill and after a few weeks
he died. Perhaps if he had stayed where he was he could have
lived some dozens of years more. When his organism was

examined it was established that, with the exception of certain

toxins accumulated during the last two years, all his glands
and organs were intact.
It would be possible to cite a hundred similar cases, but it
is not necessary. We can conclude that the basis of health,
perpetual youth and longevity is a healthy, natural and simple
lifejust that which we do not have in our present artificial
and unnatural society. The great contradiction between our
mode of life and the natural biological laws is the cause of all
our diseases and also of our old age, for old age is nothing but
a disease, quite superfluous and in no way necessary. So the
essence of all our studies must be the laws of a natural and
simple life, the technique of this natural and simple life, and
how to avoid the complications and unnaturalness of our
present existence.

Chapter V
MAN AND VEGETATION
WE must next consider certain biological laws governing
the vegetation of our planet, for this is absolutely necessary
for an understanding of the laws of life and longevity.
After our examination of the macrobiotes among men we
must also mention those various animals which also enjoy
longevity. Animals which in their own manner adapt
themselves perfectly to their environment attain a very high
age; for instance, certain amphibians, birds, and mammals.
Elephants, crocodiles and crows live to be a hundred or a
hundred and fifty or even for some centuries. Fish also live
long as certain experiments have proved. Fish have been
caught and fitted with rings showing the date of their capture
and then put back in a pool. These same fish have been caught
one or two centuries later and have been found to be in very
good health and condition. So we see that very often species
of the animal races are superior to the dominant race in span
of life. The long life of these species is not exceptional, but is
in accordance with the laws of nature. The organisms of
amphibians and fish have a very slow metabolism and so they
grow old very slowly in proportion. Thus their span of life is
longer. In the case of elephants and other vegetarian mammals
who enjoy a long life, their longevity is due to their food and
to their adaptation to their environment, which ensure their
harmony with the laws of nature. But important as these
animal examples are for us humans, it is still more important
to examine the longevity of plants of the vegetable world, for
our chief source of energy is vegetation. Vegetation
constitutes the foundation of our energy and the source of our
life, and not only the source of our life, but also that of all
living animals. For in final analysis all the vital energies of
animals come from plants, even the energies of the
carnivorous animals. The only difference is that carnivores get
the natural energies stored in plants second hand, while the
vegetarian animals get them directly. Man also, whether he
eats vegetables or animals, draws his energy from the same
vegetable world.
Interesting experiments have been made with certain rose
trees by gardeners in Germany. With special care it has been
possible to keep rose trees alive for two hundred or more
years. We also know trees which are centenarians, or even
millennarians. So we find trees living some thousands of
years; yet man, the dominant race of the earth, the crown of
evolution of life on earth, lives only a few score years. From
this fact we must draw the following conclusion: that the
longest and most perfect life is represented on our planet by

trees, which are incomparably superior both to animals and to

man in this respect. So these trees living for thousands of
years must represent the most perfect adaptation to the laws of
nature on our planet.
Let us therefore examine the biological function and
correlations of these trees, for they will certainly reveal to us
the most precise laws of longevity.
If we examine the life of a tree we can see that trees
which are apparently simple things are really very complex
and exhibit every process and law of life. We see that the roots
of the tree are in the lithosphere, in the earth; their upper parts
are in the atmosphere, in the air; their foliage receives
radiations from the stratosphere, the rays of the sun; and their
roots are in constant contact with the hydrosphere through the
circulation of water on the earth, while their foliage is in
contact with water in the atmosphere which comes to them in
the form of rain. They also absorb all the minerals which are
in the earth. The preconditions of their life are thus the
following: certain chemicals in the earth; the earth itself in its
various forms of humus, sand, and clay; water either absorbed
from the earth or in the form of atmospheric humidity, or in
the form of rain; the air surrounding the vegetation of the earth
which the trees absorb by respiration and the process of
metabolism; the rays of the sun which surround the foliage of
the tree; and also all the other cosmic rays falling on our
planet.
As we can see, a tree is in natural contact with all the
preconditions of life. We saw what these preconditions of life
were when we examined the origin of life, and we can see that
it is precisely those forces and sources of energy and life
which feed trees; so trees enjoy the totality of the sources of
energy in nature.
Now let us examine what function trees fulfil upon our
planet. The physiology of trees is very interesting. When we
look at a tree, an apparently rigid thing without much activity
going on within it, we cannot imagine what a great activity
goes on inside. A forest of trees has a thousand times greater
activity than the largest factory in New York or London. The
factory of nature is incomparably superior to all the factories
of our civilisation. First of all the roots work unceasingly to
absorb the various chemical materials from the earth, and also
absorb a large amount of water. Experiments and observations
made by botanists prove that in the course of a day trees
exhale as much as two hundred gallons of water into the
atmosphere, and there are trees which even exceed this
amount, particularly after a rainy period when the earth is a
great well of water. Thousands and thousands of leaves of
every tree constantly evaporate and breathe out water into the
atmosphere, while the immense surfaces of these hundreds
and thousands of leaves on a tree are constantly absorbing the

maximum quantity of solar energy, nitrogen of the

atmosphere, and various other elements and materials and
many different radiations which they accumulate and
elaborate, by means of millions and millions of chlorophyll
cells.
So we can see that the work of a single tree during a
single day is very considerable. If we measure this great
activity over a whole year then we cannot fail to be impressed
by the vast amount of work done by a single tree. And if we
examine and measure this intense activity which goes on in a
whole forest consisting of many thousands of trees, we get
truly astronomical figures in calculating the energies and
amount of work performed by the accumulated materials and
different energies which play a part in the intense and vast
work done by forests during the year. The output of the
greatest factories of the world is as nothing beside the work of
the forests, not only from the point of view of quantity, but
also from that of quality; for the products of nature from a
biological, chemical point of view are incomparably superior
in precision to all the products of our factories. If we examine
a simple leaf or fruit of a tree through a microscope we shall
be truly impressed by the perfect architecture of the work and
of the value which it represents from a qualitative point of
view.
If we examine the activity of trees from the point of view
of the economy of nature, we can see how in the organisation
of their work they achieve the greatest results with the
minimum sacrifice. The work of trees and of forests is
superior to the best work of rationalised factories. We can see
this best if we consider the results of the work done by trees
and forests.
First the trees take the various chemical elements from
the interior of the earth, and carry them up into their leaves
and fruits where they are transformed into organic form and
made more perfect by the addition of various radiations and
chemical elements of the atmosphere. The trees give back
these elements to the surface of the earth in the shape of fallen
fruits and leaves. In that way trees constantly create and renew
the humus which is the true source of life on our planet.
Without humus there would be no vegetable life, no animal
life and consequently no human life. But this does not exhaust
the activity of trees. Where there is a dangerous excess of
humidity on the earth, which would cause plants to rot and
putrefy if it persisted, then the trees of the forest work with an
increased rhythm and increased energy with the result that
within a relatively short time, in a few days or a few weeks at
the most, they drain away with their great perfect pumps all
the excess humidity in the earth into the atmosphere. This is
their second great function.

They are first perfect fertilisers of the earth, bringing the

necessary minerals from the interior of the earth to the surface
and also creating humus; and secondly, they pump out the
excess of humidity in the earth. So we can see that the
machines of nature work perfectly and very precisely.
We must, however, examine their activity a little further.
What happens if there is drought? When the earth cannot get
sufficient humidity in the form of rain, then the trees do just
the opposite to what they do when there is too much. First, by
their shade they help the earth to conserve the water and
humidity which it contains; and, secondly, all night long they
accumulate humidity and water on the surface of their leaves
through precipitation of the humidity of the atmosphere. In
order not to exhaust the reserves of water in the earth they take
it from the atmosphere. So we can see that their adaptation to
their environment is the most perfect possible, and they are in
truth guardian angels of the earth, which protect the earth from
excess of humidity and dryness, and from the exhaustion of
mineral materials. They steadily increase the porosity and
elasticity of the earth and prevent its becoming too rigid.
Rigidity impedes metabolism and would finally make organic
life impossible. But trees do more than this. They also protect
the surface of the earth from excessive sun. We can best
understand the importance of this function if we examine
those regions where there are no trees. In the absence of trees
the sun dries up the ground and afterwards, when the rain
comes, it dissolves the chemical elements of the earth and
carries them away, so that the earth is left without any
chemical elements and so little vegetable life is possible, or
none at all. And next come storms and hurricanes which
sweep away the little humus which remains and the
destruction of the earth is complete.
Let us recapitulate the good work of trees. They protect
the earth from excess of sun; their roots bind the humus and
give it cohesion in the face of winds and hurricanes; their
trunks and branches break the force of the winds and
hurricanes, one tree protecting another and at the same time
protecting the surface of the earth from the destruction
wrought by hurricanes; they also protect the earth from the
dissolving forces of the rains, for their roots absorb the excess
of water in the earth, while their leaves absorb much humidity
from the atmosphere. They thus very quickly eliminate the
excess of water and prevent it dissolving the chemical
materials of the earth; so truly we can see that their work is
perfect and every-sided. They protect the earth from every
destructive influence and work differently according to the
various meteorological or climatological circumstances
prevailing. They always react to the various changes in the
natural forces of their environment and always in the best and
most perfect form.

The adaptation of the trees and forests to their

environment is the most perfect of all the adaptations of our
planet and so trees are rewarded by nature with the greatest
longevity. We can see that they deserve this reward as the
result of their perfect adaptation and work, for their function
and activity on our planet are of more value than the work of
any other creature on the earth. Without trees life would not
exist.
Thus we see that the vegetation covering our planet,
particularly vegetation in the form of trees and forests (the
botanosphere), is the most fundamental basis and precondition
of life and furnishes us with the most perfect example of
complete adaptation to the natural laws and forces. If we
analyse the metabolism of the life of trees and forests from a
biological point of view, we can draw the conclusion that on
our earth vegetation (the botanosphere) represents the natural
laws in their most pure and perfect form. We can say that the
life of vegetation is natural law itself. This is a very important
law.
It may be objected, however, that there are many trees
and plants which are diseased. We find diseased plants in our
gardens and also in the purely natural state where man has no
influence. There thus seems to be a contradiction. If plants and
vegetation represent the laws of nature in perfect form, how
can diseases in plants exist? A plant or tree can only exist as
long as every precondition of its life exists. This is a
dialectical and natural law from which neither trees nor plants
are exempt. For instance, if the chemical content of the region
of the earth is exhausted then the plants and trees will lack one
great precondition of their life. As a result their life will be
progressively shortened, their vitality will be attacked, their
resistance both to bacterial life and various other destructive
influences in their environment will be weakened and little by
little they will become diseased.
We know that our planet has great reserves of
accumulated chemical materials, yet these great reserves are
not inexhaustible. If we examine the dimensions and wealth of
the vegetation on the earth we see that it must exhaust a great
deal of this reserve of mineral forces. If we compare the size
and wealth of our present vegetation with that of preceding
periods we can see that the mineral reserves and wealth of our
planet are diminishing. The vegetation of a region is an index
of the chemical wealth of the earth. The greater the mineral
wealth, the more rich and varied the vegetation.
So we can see that in former geological periods the
mineral wealth of the earth was much greater than it is to-day
and that this wealth has been progressively diminishing, just
like the thermic energy of the earth.
It is a natural law applicable to every planet in cosmic
space that the energy of every planet is limited and is

progressively diminishing; for everything which appears, first

evolves, next regresses, and finally disappears. This is the
general cosmic law. After its disappearance, other forms of
life appear. Birth follows death, and death follows birth and
the different forms of energy of one being are afterwards
transformed into another form and give birth and life to
another being.
The earth and its thermic and chemical energies are also
subject to this law; so in spite of the fact that plants and trees
represent the most perfect adaptation to their natural
environment, to the laws of nature, they are limited by the
cosmic laws, which set a limit to their longevity and existence.
For the time certainly will come when the surface of the earth
will not contain all the preconditions of vegetable life, and
then vegetation will not exist at all upon the earth just as now
it does not exist upon the moon. The disappearance of the
vegetation will mean the end of life on earth. So we can see
that the vitality and longevity of plants have a natural limit
and there is thus regression in the evolution of vegetable life,
which is manifested in diseases and in the death of the
vegetation and of the trees. But their death is a natural death
and their diseases do not spring from non-adaptation to the
natural laws, but are simply due to the fact that the natural
preconditions and the natural forces have limited their life in
time and also the intensity of their vitality.
So the causes of disease in wild vegetable life are quite
different to its cause in human life. On the other hand, if we
examine the health and longevity of plants cultivated by man
we shall learn very interesting lessons, for we shall find that
many diseases and shortened lives of trees and plants are not
necessarily due to limitation of the natural energies, but to the
mistakes and faults of man. For instance, the trees which live
longest are trees planted by nature and not those planted by
man, for man does not follow the laws of nature in the
planting of trees. I will explain what I mean. When we plant a
tree we dig a hole and put in the seed or the seedling.
However, this procedure is rather an artificial one and not
based on observation of the natural laws. What happens in
nature where there is no interference by man? Do the natural
forces dig a hole and put the seed in it? I am very doubtful
about it. We find that the wind carries the seed till it falls into
the soil. Naturally if it does not fall on the humus, but on stone
or rock, it does not grow. If we walk among trees growing
naturally in the mountains we have always to take care as we
walk along not to fall over their roots which are above the
ground. In nature the upper roots of the trees are above the
ground in contact with the atmosphere and with the sun. Such
trees planted by nature are always huge, strong and healthy
trees which live for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Now what do we find if we examine our fruit trees which

are planted according to our methods? They are very small
and weak and they live a very short time in comparison with
the trees of the forests in nature. Why? Because when we plant
trees we do not follow the natural laws, but put the seeds or
seedlings too deep in the earth. Experience proves that certain
upper parts of the roots must be in contact with the
atmosphere and with the sun, which is just what we prevent by
our artificial methods of planting, with the result that the span
of life of our planted trees is only a tenth of the span of those
planted by nature. Our trees are also much more exposed to
disease, for experience tells us that trees living in nature are
less diseased than the trees which we plant and are also bigger
and stronger, thus representing a very perfect form of
vegetation.
Just as we sometimes change for the worse the animals
we domesticate, so do we transform the trees which we plant.
But our true role should not be to degenerate but to perfect
them, for instead of hindering nature we can help her. How
can we do this?
First we can help by following the natural procedure
when we plant a tree. We should avoid planting it too deep.
Secondly, when we have planted the tree, we must assist its
metabolism. We must make the earth porous round the tree
once a year so as to make it easier for the roots of the tree to
absorb water and the chemical materials from the earth. We
should also periodically wash with water the bark of the trunk
of the tree, for dust and other dirt accumulate on the sides of
the tree and bacterial life accompanies this accumulation on
the tree trunk. This is particularly important in dry seasons
when there is not sufficient rain, for we then help the
perspiration of the skin of the tree just as we help the
transpiration and absorption of air through our own skin if we
wash it. There is an analogy between the natural laws of trees
and man.
We have the same needs, the same preconditions of life,
as vegetation. Plants and trees are the brothers of man. We
spring from the same sources of life and are nourished by the
same energies of nature. Plants and trees are truly useful to us.
They do us great service and deserve some service in return. It
is also to our interest to help their metabolism rather than to
hinder it. If there are diseases of plants and trees, it is not the
result of maladaptations of the plants or trees, but they are
simply caused by limitations of the natural energies of our
planet or else by the unnatural intervention of man.
So the objection which I raised does not touch the great
law we establishedthat vegetation represents natural law
itself. We must not look for the laws of life in books and in
theories, but in the great book of nature which is always
unrolled before our eyes and which always speaks to us.

Unfortunately our denatured senses are no longer able to

understand the language of nature which our natural-living
ancestors were able to understand. Nature is the primordial
source of every truth and also its proof and verification. If we
want to see whether a truth is really true or not, we can never
prove it by speculation or by authority, but only by real facts
represented by nature, by our environment. The greatest and
most profound source of knowledge for us is nature, and the
most perfect guide through the path of the complicated
phenomena of truths and falsehoods is always nature and her
manifestations which represent the natural laws.
Similarly if we wish to learn the laws of health and
longevity, we can learn them simply by observing nature
around us.
The macrobiotes of human history who enjoyed perfect
vitality, good health and a long life were simple peasants and
mountaineers who learned the science of health and longevity
in the school of nature. They could neither read nor write, but
could read in the great open book of nature. We who live in
great cities and in an artificial civilisation are incapable of
doing so, but if we wish to save our vitality and acquire
longevity we must give up for a while our printed books and
return to the great book of nature and begin to learn the
alphabet of her great language, its grammar and its syntax.
Thus we shall understand the work and the teachings of
nature, and so be able to live in harmony with the natural
forces and laws and acquire health and longevity.
The laws of health and longevity are only to be
discovered and explained through examination of the course
of evolution of earthly life. We have seen that man represents
the highest phase of animal evolution. We have also
established that trees represent the highest phase of vegetable
evolution, and in accordance with the facts of this evolution
we have seen that the products of this highest form of
vegetable evolution are fruits, which constitute the most
natural form of food for the highest form of animal evolution.
Examination of the evolution of earthly life proves this. We
have also established that the best and most natural
environment for man is provided by trees and forests. Thus the
most recent phase of the evolution of animal and vegetable life
on earth has its culminating point in men and trees.
Now we will examine what are the significance and
practical value of trees in the internal metabolism of the
human body. We have already examined the value and
meaning of trees in the metabolism and economy of the
planet. We shall find that their practical utility and value for
the human organism are no less great.
We see that the best preconditions of life are the rays of
the sun, water, air and the different chemical elements on the
earth and also a favourable temperature. It is on these pillars

that human health and longevity rest. We shall see how the
trees transform all these natural forces from their original state
in which they are unsuitable for human consumption into a fit
state.
Trees represent a great filtering machine for the human
organism. First, they improve and transform the air in such a
way that it has the most favourable effect upon the human
lungs and organism. If we breathe the air among trees we can
immediately observe a great difference between such air and
that of treeless regions.
Secondly, trees accumulate in their fruits those parts of
the solar rays which the human organism cannot capture and
absorb, and thus transmit those parts to the human organism
consuming the fruits. The human organism is thus enabled to
absorb those radiations of the sun which it cannot absorb
directly through the skin. Similarly the trees filter water for
the human organism. Water as it comes from the earth
contains many inorganic materials which have an
unfavourable influence when accumulated in the human
organism. So the tree's organism transforms the water with
inorganic minerals into water with organic minerals. In the
form of their fruits, trees present the human organism with the
highest form of water free from inorganic material and
improved by accumulated solar radiations.
Trees thus filter the water, just as they make ready the
solar rays and the air for the human organism. The chemical
parts of the earth are also transformed by trees into organic
state. So, as we see, trees filter and transform into the most
favourable state all the four elements for the human
organismair, water, earth and solar energy.
The metabolism of trees thus represents a synthesis of the
lithospheric, hydrospheric, atmospheric and stratospheric
forces. These different spheres of the cosmos contain the
sources and preconditions of life, and their energies are
contained and accumulated in trees and are thence transmitted
to the human organism. Trees and the fruits which they
produce thus represent the last state of all the cosmic energies,
in a form favourable for human vitality. So we call these
energies cosmovital energies, and we call the radiations which
are the basis of these energies and the form of their
propagation cosmovital radiations. Thus we see that the
different cosmic radiations to be absorbed by the human
organism have first to be transformed into cosmovital
radiations, because the human organism is not in general able
to absorb directly the cosmic radiations in their physical form;
while even if it is capable of absorbing certain among them
they are not best and most favourable in that form for the
human organism. The environment of man represented by
trees transforms the cosmic radiations into cosmovital
radiations. Hence we see that the form of the highest evolution

of life upon the earth is the harmonious symbiosis of man and

trees.
Trees do not therefore in reality represent for us simple
economic values as they do in the present social system under
which the greater part of the forests are destroyed for
economic reasons. We must regard this as the suicide of Homo
Sapiens, for by destruction of the trees we are destroying the
sources of human vitality. Nor have trees merely an aesthetic
value, as they have in the form of the parks in our great cities.
Trees represent very much more for man. They represent life
for man among the totality of the elements and preconditions
of life.

Chapter VI
THE PROGRESS OF THOUGHT
WE have now considered the evolution of earthly life
from the standpoint of the last few thousand years, using
certain dialectical methods. We have also spoken of the
fundamental laws of this dialectical method.
The originator of the dialectical method is generally said
to be the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, but we cannot
understand the philosophy of Heraclitus without an
understanding of the Milesian school of philosophy which
nourished before Heraclitus and which has great importance
from the standpoint of dialectics and of nature. Nearly all
authorities on the history of western philosophy are agreed
that the first true philosopher of western culture was Thales of
Miletus. Thales was the first to try and explain things on the
basis not of religious considerations, but of the simple
observation of phenomenaon the basis of simple
observations and the drawing of deductive conclusions from
them, thereby creating a synthetic view of phenomena. In
order to understand the thought of Thales we must go back to
his age and environment. We must remember that philosophy
did not exist before him, that no notion or expression of
philosophy existed before him, so that he had no precursor on
whom he could base his work. The thought of Thales
represents the first attempt of human thought to get into
movement in the West. There were no previous paths of
human thought existing which were known to him, though in
the East they did exist. However, we are concerned here with
dialectics which is a product of western culture, which we will
consider as an independent product of thought, though only
for the purpose of explaining and considering the stages in the
evolution of dialectics. In other respects we cannot consider
western thought as an independent evolution, for in its latest
phases we see the intermixture of western and eastern
philosophies.
What was the conception of Thales? He lived by the sea
in Miletus. While walking along the seashore he observed the
immensity of the ocean and how it encircles us, so for him
immensity was represented by the sea. And besides the
billowing sea he saw rains falling from the heavens above, and
he was impressed by the fact that not only was there water all
round, but also water above. He also observed that after rain
the vegetation and the whole life of the earth manifested itself
in a more vital rhythm. So he conceived water as being the
basis of life, as its chief promoter. He likewise considered that
the transmission of human life was secured by a liquid in the
form of the sperm of man, so he regarded water as playing a

great part not only in the origin, but also in the maintenance of
life. He also observed that blood flows from the human
organism, so he regarded water also as the sustaining element
of the human organism. These ideas seem strange to us, but
we must not forget the primitive methods of investigation at
the disposal of these early thinkers.
The title to nobility of Greek thought lies in its tendency
to explain phenomena. Greek thought likes clarity. The Greeks
lived in a climate full of sunshine; their nervous systems did
not tolerate obscurity in the field of thought or elsewhere, and
we see that it was Greek thought which made the first and
greatest efforts to understand nature and evolution through
thought. Thus Greek thought forms the basis of western
culture in its original form, in its Latinised Roman form, in its
renovated form in the culture of the Renaissance and in its
more perfected form of the modern philosophies and sciences.
Greek philosophy exhausts every method and logical process
in thought, and the following periods only repeat in different
forms the methods and process of Greek philosophy.
Thales being a Greek and a thinker who liked clarity, felt
the internal necessity for making clear and explaining nature,
existence and the life around him. So after long meditation he
laid down as the basis of his philosophy that water is the
essence of all things. We only have a few fragments of his
works extant. Eighty per cent of them are lost. Perhaps he
established about water more precise correlations than we
know from what remains, but to-day we have only his
fundamental thesis that water is the essence of everything.
In the age of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, many
fragments of the works of Thales were still extant.
Hippocrates himself was greatly influenced by his thought, so
we must attribute great importance to Thales, not only from
the standpoint of philosophy and human thought, but also for
his influence upon the genesis and growth of medicine, of the
first medical system founded by Hippocrates.
After Thales came Anaximander and Anaximenes, who
were also philosophers of Miletus. They had slightly different
conceptions to those of Thales. They observed that we were
surrounded by a vast expanse of air in the form of atmosphere
and that this air came into the human organism in the form of
breath. So for them immensity was represented by the air.
They saw also that air was a source of life, for without breath
there is no life; hence they considered air as being the essence
of life.
Thus did western thought begin to make its first primitive
efforts to explain phenomena. In spite of their primitive
character we must recognise the grandeur of these early
thinkers, for they had no predecessors and had to tread a
hitherto untrodden path.

After them came Democritus, who observed that, though

phenomena appeared and disappeared, yet something
remained. He attempted to explain the apparent contradiction
between the appearance and disappearance of phenomena in
the following way. He said the phenomena which appeared
and disappeared were only combinations of fragments which
agglomerate and disaggregate. This process of agglomeration
and disaggregation causes the density of phenomena. Yet
according to Democritus the tiny fragments, the atoms, which
formed the combinations always remain the same.
After Democritus we have the appearance of two great
antagonists, Heraclitus and Zeno, who represent a new phase
in the evolution of human thought, the appearance in
pronounced form of two opposed methods of thought, the
dialectical and the static, metaphysical method.
Zeno was of the opinion that the phenomena which
appear and disappear are not the essence of existence, but are
only illusions. He held that movement does not exist at all, but
that what exists is simply unity and immobility. Unity and
immobility are the essence of existence, while appearance and
disappearance and phenomena with their variations and
motion do not exist at all, but are only appearance. In proof of
his thesis he instanced that an arrow shot from a bow
apparently moves, but in truth does not move, for at each
second in time it occupies a certain point. So from the
standpoint of that moment it does not move. Since time
consists of a succession of brief seconds, then if the arrow is
not in motion at each one of these seconds, it does not move in
the succession of seconds, so the arrow flying through the air
does not move. It is very strange that this thesis could not be
confuted by his contemporaries. It was not until the empirical
philosophers of the new age began to criticise his thesis that
his argument was disproved. Zeno also gave another example.
According to him, if Achilles, the fastest of runners, were to
race with a tortoise, then if the tortoise had even a little start
upon Achilles, the latter with all his speed could never pass
the tortoise. For by the time Achilles had caught up with the
tortoise's starting-point the tortoise would have moved on a
little bit, so Achilles would have to start again to get up to the
tortoise, and during that time the tortoise would have moved
on again, and so on to infinity. Thus Achilles could never beat
the tortoise in the race if the tortoise had even the slightest
advantage at the start. Zeno provides us with an example of
static anti-dialectical methods of thought, which consider
phenomena as rigid, as not being in evolution and movement.
When we consider a phenomenon as isolated and not in
dynamic inter-relation with all other phenomena, then verily
monsters of thought are born, which can only be justified by
hypothetical deductions and syllogisms. It does not matter to

the static and undialectical way of thinking that in reality the

arrow moves through the air and Achilles beats the tortoise.
Unfortunately western science is for the most part based
upon static and undialectical modes of thought, whence the
large number of contradictions and insoluble problems;
insoluble that is to say by static and undialectical methods of
thought, but always soluble by the dialectical method which is
based upon reality. We can only understand and solve these
problems of moving and evolving phenomena by always using
evolving and moving methods of thought.
Greek thought seems with Zeno to come to a cul-de-sac
from which there is no exit. But at the same time as Zeno there
appeared another philosopher, by name Heraclitus, who came
to the opposite conclusion. He said that everything flows and
reflows, everything is in motion, nothing is without
movement, movement is the essence of everything. He said
that the cause of movement is always the dynamic existence of
two opposite forces, that there is constant struggle between
opposite forces, that struggle is the father of everything and
that the struggling and opposed forces direct all the changes of
phenomena and that in every second of existence everything
changes. We are not the same as we were a second ago, nor is
nature the same as it was a second ago. As an example he said
that if we go twice into the same river, the second time we
enter it the river is not the same as when we entered it the first
time. So, as we see, the dialectical way of thinking in its
pronounced form appeared first with Heraclitus in the history
of western thought. It was Heraclitus who formulated the
principle of motion and the principle of dynamism and of
antagonistic forces which form the essence of dialectics.
After Heraclitus came a long series of thinkers whose
methods of thought were half static and half dialectical. Then
came Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Epicureans,
Plotinus and Philo, and afterwards came the scholastic and
patristic philosophers of the Middle Ages, then appeared
modern philosophy with Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz. At this
moment appears a German philosopher who takes up the
dialectical idea of Heraclitus and begins to explain it, adding
something to it. This philosopher was Friedrich Hegel, whom
we can consider as the philosophic founder of evolutionism.
Hegel was very strongly influenced by the philosophy of
Heraclitus; he agreed with Heraclitus that everything is in
movement, and also that this movement occurs in the form of
contrary forces, but he attempted to formulate the simple idea
of Heraclitus in an architectural systematic way and in an
evolutionistic form. Hegel thus enriched the history of
dialectic thought with the principle of thesis, antithesis and
synthesis. He said that the antagonistic forces of Heraclitus are
not simply antagonistic forces which come and struggle with
one another, but that they follow one another in such a

sequence that the new phase always represents a higher phase

than the preceding one. He said that the original force was
always thesis, that the original force produced antagonistic
forces which was the antithesis, and that afterwards, as the
result of the struggle of the two forces, there appeared the
synthesis which contained both the thesis and antithesis, being
as it were a component of the two struggling forces and
always representing the original thesis in higher and superior
form. Then the process begins again, and the already realised
synthesis becomes a new thesis, which in turn provokes its
antithesis and the new synthesis again appears, and so on.
Thus Hegel perfected the thought of Heraclitus, by giving
precise forms to universal movements, explaining the opposed
forces and giving an evolutionistic interpretation of the
movements and antagonisms.
Hegel's architectural structure with its precisely
proportioned forms gave us a method and guide for
understanding the general movement of phenomena, for
understanding their correlations, their antagonism and their
evolution.
But Hegel also introduced a great error. Whereas
Heraclitus with the Greek genius for clarity saw phenomena
clearly and took simple examples from nature, from the river
which flows, from the fire which burns and so on, Hegel,
living under the cloudy skies of Germany, introduced
obscurities. The German climate seems to lead to
complications, as Hegel and Schelling are the most obscure
philosophers in the history of human thought. These
philosophers represent so-called idealism, philosophical
idealism, not idealism in its normal sense. When we speak of
idealism or materialism in philosophy, we do not mean the
same as when we use the words to express human
characteristics. Materialism in philosophy means that the basis
of phenomena is material forces and that ideas are produced
by matter in the same way that the human nervous system
produces thought. The pre-Socratic Greek philosophers were
materialist philosophers; they spoke of water, air, movement
and natural motions and so on. On the other hand, the
philosophies of Hegel and Schelling were so-called idealist
philosophies which said that it was not matter which produced
ideas, but ideas which produced matter. Thus the philosophic
system of Hegel was called 'absolute idealism', while later the
philosophies of Fichte and Schelling were respectively called
'objective idealism' and 'subjective idealism'. These idealist
philosophical systems are terribly obscure and I must confess
that after reading Hegel's Phnomenologie des Geistes I was
in greater confusion than I was before, and my colleagues,
including my German colleagues, had the same experience.
What did Hegel say and why is he obscure? He says that there
is an 'absolute idea', which absolute idea exists as the basis of

all phenomena. This absolute idea moves like a gigantic

serpent. Its successive movements made in accordance with
the logical principles of thesis, antithesis and synthesis
subsequently create nature, society and man. Unfortunately
the description of the idea which creates nature, society and
man consists of the most obscure and complicated collection
of thoughts to be found in the evolution of human thought.
There is not space to go into details, and even if there
was, we should be little wiser than we are now. So we must
appreciate only what is of value in the philosophy of Hegel. Its
value consists of the systematic formulation of the dialectical
thought of Heraclitus by means of the logical principle of
thesis, antithesis and synthesis. The framework of the
philosophy of Hegel is true: universal evolution on the
principle of thesis, antithesis and synthesis, but the material
with which Hegel fills the framework is the obscure absolute
idea which we shall not stop to explore.
In spite of his errors Hegel represents a dominant force in
western philosophy and his philosophy fertilised a great
number of thinkers who followed him. His philosophy divided
into two parts, some of his disciples interpreting it in one way,
and others in another. Thus there appeared the new young
Hegelians and the orthodox Hegelians. Among the former
school appeared an interesting thinker, Feuerbach. He said that
Hegel was right in saying that there is a universal evolution
and that this evolution progresses according to the principle of
thesis, antithesis and synthesis, but that what evolves is not a
mystical idea, as Hegel conceived, but something quite
different. According to Feuerbach the idea cannot be absolute
and incomprehensible, for the idea is a product of man, a man
who sees with his eyes, who hears with his ears, who feels
with his hands, so it is the human senses which determine the
idea. In the place of the absolute idea of Hegel, Feuerbach put
man who sees, hears and feels, man the producer of ideas and
not the product of ideas.
Thus Feuerbach turned the whole Hegelian system upside
down; what was beneath he put on top, and what was on top
he put beneath. He produced a great revolution in German
philosophy. But he was not the only one among the
philosophers who followed upon Hegel to make a revolution.
For not long afterwards came the great revolution of Marx and
Engels, who extended both the dialectical evolutionism of
Hegel and also the humanism of Feuerbach. What did they
say? They said that Feuerbach was right, for man is indeed
determined by his senses, by his sight, hearing, touch, etc.,
which lead to the production of ideas in the human organism,
and that it is not the ideas which produce the human organism.
They said Feuerbach was right when he turned the whole
Hegelian system upside down, making the ideas of man
determined by the senses of man himself, but Marx and

Engels added that man who sees, hears and touches, lives in a
social environment which determines his ideas. Marx and
Engels thus not only enlarge the idea of Hegel as turned
upside down by Feuerbach, but also formulate with precision
the manner in which the social environment determines man,
and the explanation which they gave constitutes the first
systematic explanation of the principles of dialectics.
We can follow the evolution of dialectical thought
through Milesian philosophy, Heraclitus, Hegel and Feuerbach
up to Marx and Engels.
Let us consider the way in which Marx and Engels
formulated dialectics as the foundation of the sciences. They
held that it is not the absolute idea of Hegel which evolves and
moves and not simply man and his senses as Feuerbach said,
but the totality of existing matter. It is therefore moving matter
which is the foundation of the dialectics of Marx and Engels.
This system is called materialist dialectics, for according to
the definition of Marx and Engels, dialectics is 'the science of
the general laws dealing with the motion, and evolution of
nature, society and thought'. The important thing to
understand is that according to materialist dialectics it is
matter which moves and evolves and itself creates the
evolution of nature, society and thought.
The conception of Marx and Engels represents the
penultimate stage in the history of dialectics, for the last stage
of its evolution is represented by the most recent results of the
sciences which deal with matter. The sciences dealing with
molecules and atoms, with electrons and ions, with the
association and dissociation of matter and with the different
radiations in the form of which these associations and
dissociations of matter occur, and dealing with matter in
general, prove the dialectical system of Marx and Engels, for
it is matter in permanent motion which is the source and basis
of phenomena. In the light of the modern sciences dealing
with matter, matter is identified with movement. Matter is
whirling movement in the form of atoms and agglomerations
of atoms, while energy and force are straight line movements.
The contemporary natural sciences thus affirm the thesis of
Heraclitus and the thesis of Marx and Engels, for in final
analysis the ultimate source of phenomena is movement.
So it is movement which created the various forms of
matter and energy. The Greek word from which the word
'dialectical' is derived means 'in movement'. We see that the
last word of the contemporary sciences upholds the dialectical
way of thought and condemns to death the former static ways
of thinking. This new conception is leading to a great
transformation of the existing sciences which are based on
static, undialectical ways of thought. This great revolution is
approaching rapidly and will lead to the solution of all the

insoluble problems and of all the contradictions, whether in

nature, in society or in human thought.
We can claim to live in the most important age of human
history, the age in which the dialectical method of thought will
dethrone the static, undialectical way of thinking, and so guide
Homo Sapiens to the higher forms of his evolution at a much
more accelerated tempo than has been the case on the basis of
a static and undialectical conception.

Chapter VII
MAN AT WAR WITH HIMSELF
AFTER this brief study of dialectics, let us return to man,
since man is the measure of all things. We have already seen
that the highest form of food value is supplied by trees and
that the highest form of animal evolution is man. Now we will
apply the method of dialectics and study certain correlations
between the physiology of trees and the physiology of man.
We came to the conclusion that the life of vegetation in
general and of trees in particular represents the natural forces
and laws themselves, the organisms of trees and of vegetation
being in complete accord with the natural forces and laws and
forming a harmonious part of nature. Now let us examine
Homo Sapiens as he is at present. In what measure is he
inharmony with the natural laws of his environment? The
physiological examination of the human organism shows us
that one part of the human organism is in complete accord
with the natural forces and laws, like the physiology and life
of the vegetation of the earth. This part of the human organism
is the organo-vegetative system. We know from physiology
that the organo-vegetative system of man governs and directs
all the automatic reflex functions of the organism, such as the
pulsation of the blood, the beating of the heart and the
breathing of the lungs. All these physiological functions are
independent of our will, they are involuntary reflex functions
of the human organism which always without exception act in
harmony with the natural laws. So this part of the organism,
like the vegetation and trees of the earth, lives in optimal
adaptation to the natural forces. But if we examine the other
part of the human organism, the so-called cerebro-spinal
system, which directs our voluntary acts, our thoughts and
conscious actions, then we find that it does not function at all
in harmony with the natural laws and forces. The source of all
our bad actions, for instance, is the cerebro-spinal system, and
if we have inharmonious thoughts, the source of them is
always the cerebro-spinal system. Inharmonious thoughts
influence the glandular activities of the organism, causing the
glands to secrete an internal poison which greatly lowers and
attacks the vitality of the organism. We will consider this
question in further detail later on.
Likewise when we deviate from our proper diet, it is the
cerebro-spinal system which is the source of the deviation. If
we think with hate of other people it is always the cerebrospinal system which is the source of the evil. The heart which
beats, the lungs which breathe and the blood which circulates,
in other words, the organo-vegetative system, never wish any
harm either to themselves or others. So we can see that the

unconscious activity of the human organism is in perfect

harmony with the natural laws and forces, while the voluntary
conscious activity of the human organism is not in harmony.
So one part of the human organism, being in complete
harmony with nature, has all the superior characteristics of the
vegetable world, but the other half of the human organism
works against these natural laws. The greatest contradiction in
the human organism is the division of the organism itself. The
organo-vegetative system always wishes to follow and does in
fact follow the natural laws, while the cerebro-spinal system
nearly always acts contrary to these laws. This great
contradiction of the human organism is the cause of disease,
of old age and of the shortening of life.
We should remember that animals generally live at least
five times longer than the time necessary for their complete
evolution. Some animals live eight or ten times longer than the
period of their development; five times represents a minimum.
Now if we examine the time required for the complete
development of the human organism, we find it is not only
twenty-two years as the classical theory believes, but fortyfive years which are required for the complete development of
the human organism. Now if we multiply forty-five by five we
get two hundred and twenty-five as the minimum span of
human life if the whole human organism were to follow the
laws of nature. Why is it that Homo Sapiens, the highest and
dominant race of the earth, should have the shortest life of all
the animals? The reason for it is that the cerebro-spinal
system, which is the most completely developed in man,
causes the organism to go against the laws of nature. The
influences of the cerebro-spinal system are greater in man than
in animals. In man we have the most intense conscious and
voluntary activity, animals have less of it, while lastly plants
and trees have no voluntary activity at all. This explains why
plants and trees living in complete harmony with nature live
longest, animals next longest, and man the least long of all in
proportion to the length of the period of development. Length
of life is therefore directly proportional to the importance of
the role played by the organo-vegetative system in man,
animals and plants respectively.
On the other hand we can see that a diseased and short
life is directly proportional to the influence of the role played
by the cerebro-spinal system in man, animals and plants.
Plants have only an organo-vegetative system, animals have
both an organo-vegetative system and a cerebro-spinal system,
but the latter does not play a very large part; finally man has
both systems, but his cerebro-spinal system has the larger role.
It is for this reason that proportionately man has the shortest
life, animals a longer life and plants the longest life of all.
The conclusion to be drawn is that for the elimination of
illness and old age (itself a disease) and for the achievement of

longevity, we must solve this central contradiction in the

human organism, the contradiction between the opposing
organo-vegetative and cerebro-spinal systems. As we see, the
dialectical principle of thesis and antithesis holds good also in
the human organism. We know that the organo-vegetative
system of the human organism is much older than the cerebrospinal system. The organo-vegetative system comes down
from very many hundreds of thousands or even millions of
years, while the cerebro-spinal system is only a hundred or
perhaps two hundred thousand years old. So we can regard the
organo-vegetative system as thesis and the cerebro-spinal
system as antithesis. Now what must be the future synthesis?
At present the organo-vegetative system is in harmony with
the laws of nature, while the cerebro-spinal system is out of
harmony with it, so the synthesis of man of the future must
have both systems in harmony with the laws of nature. In
order to get rid of the great difference between the two
systems, the organo-vegetative and the cerebro-spinal system,
man must reach the state of being able to awaken now latent
and dormant capacities. If these latent energies are aroused
then the cerebro-spinal system will also come into harmony
with the laws of nature, like our unconscious actions, and in
this way the natural forces and laws will become conscious in
man himself. Hitherto, and at the present time particularly, the
natural forces and laws are unconscious in the human
organism. The virtualisation of these latent higher capacities
will also bring the organo-vegetative system into
approximation with the perfected cerebro-spinal system. This
virtualisation and approximation will be the synthesis.
This consideration is very important, for the human
organism is like a cart drawn by two horses, one of which
wants to go to the right and the other to the left. One part of
the human organism wishes to obey and does obey the natural
laws and forces, while the other part constantly wishes to
disobey and does disobey the natural laws and forces. The
greater part of the energy of the human organism is
consequently paralysed and lost in this internal battle, with a
resultant shortening of human life and impairment of vitality.
The first effect of the biological disequilibrium is a series of
diseases. Just as human society cannot evolve harmoniously
until it can solve its inner contradictions and antagonisms, no
more can the human organism. There is a state of the human
organism when the latter is in complete harmony with the laws
of nature. This occurs when the cerebro-spinal system is at
rest and is not working, when the organo-vegetative system
governs all the activities of the body. This is the case when the
human organism is unconscious during sleep. Some hours of
sleep in harmony with the natural laws and forces are capable
of entirely refreshing and revitalising the human organism.
When after a day's work by the cerebro-spinal system and

conscious activity we feel tired and depressed, then if we sleep

for some hours we shall wake up entirely new beings. Such is
the profound significance of sleep in the human organism.
Some hours in harmony with the natural laws and forces
represent a very great source of harmony and energy for the
human organism. Sleep is often more important for the
organism than food. It is proved that man can live without
food during some weeks, but no one can live without sleep for
some weeks, not even for some days. So we can see that
harmonious contact with the natural forces is the most vital
and important source of energy for man.
At this point I wish to say something about the Yoga
system of exercises which have a certain vogue in Europe and
America at the present time. The aim of the Yoga exercises is
the attainment of a state of the human organism in which the
organism shall be in complete harmony with the natural forces
and laws. The result is achieved by the practice of a certain
technique over a course of years, by the realisation and
awakening of certain latent capacities of the nervous system.
Those who practice Yoga succeed in achieving the
harmonious synthesis between the cerebro-spinal and the
organo-vegetative systems during a certain time. The present
psycho-physiological state of man does not yet allow this state
to be achieved permanently, but allows us to achieve it
temporarily for a certain time. For a certain time there is thus
established a harmonious balance, a synthesis of the two
systems. This is a great source of energy, harmony and
knowledge. The source of knowledge of the oriental
philosophers, we may see, therefore, is quite other than it is in
the West. It does not consist of thinking notions, but of the
intuitive concentration of the essence of the natural forces and
laws, a concentrated intuitive living of the truth in place of
theories and notions. In extensiveness western culture is
superior, but in intensity it will never be superior to eastern
culture. Naturally when I speak of eastern culture I mean the
ancient period of that culture, for in the East no less than in the
West there has been progressive regression in this field. We
must not suppose that the present Hindus, for instance, possess
the same capacities as their ancestors who lived in the time
when the Vedas were created. We can see that since the time
of the Vedas and Upanishads there has been a decline in the
value of eastern thought. Eastern thought to-day is not what it
was in the past. It is therefore vain to look in the East for
individuals who have these higher capacities of the nervous
system possessed in the time of the Vedas and Upanishads. It
is true that one can find Orientals who are more evolved in
this respect than Europeans, but not Orientals who possess the
same higher capacities as their ancestors.
Let us now return to the problem of the opposing systems
in man. If we wish to achieve health and longevity we must

concentrate on the elimination of the contradictions in man

himself. First, we must know the natural laws which govern
our organism. We must know that the organo-vegetative
system does everything possible to correct the harm done by
our cerebro-spinal system. For instance, in accordance with
the impulses of our cerebro-spinal system, we introduce
unnatural substances into the human organism in the shape of
food. The organo-vegetative system thereupon produces
intensive automatic respiration and introduces oxygen into the
lungs and blood to burn up the toxins. Likewise the heart and
the circulation of the blood work to dissolve these
accumulated toxins. Our glandular system also does
everything possible for their chemical elimination. In like
manner the artificial tension of our thoughts which have not
followed the natural laws, but have dealt with unnatural
things, leads to a certain tension and fatigue of the nerves
which are refreshed and renewed during sleep by the action of
the organo-vegetative system. But this work of the organovegetative system cannot continue without end. It continues to
exert its revitalising influence for days, weeks, months and
even many years, but if the cerebro-spinal system continues to
make the organism lead an unnatural life, then finally the
organo-vegetative system itself becomes a victim of this
unnatural life. If the pulmonary cells become covered with a
layer of nicotine they cannot absorb as much oxygen from the
atmosphere as the organism needs. If the amount of poisons
introduced into the organism is greater than the eliminative
capacities of the organo-vegetative system, then little by little
the destructive influence of the cerebro-spinal system will
paralyse even the organo-vegetative system. There is a gradual
weakening of the organism; it can no longer resist disease and
there comes a series of illnesses which finally result in death.
As a verse in the Bible which is derived from old heliolithic
sources says, 'the wages of sin is death.' This is a simple
physiological truth.
Now the cerebro-spinal system not only leads the
organism into an unnatural physiological life, but also
introduces into the organism other psychic toxins which are
far more dangerous than chemical toxins. Why? The finest and
most superior, energies of the human organism are thought.
Thought is a form of energy like electricity, magnetism or
optical or acoustic energy. Certain psychological laboratories
have measured the intensity of the force of thought, and in
recent times particularly there has been much progress in this
direction. We can observe the influence of thought indirectly
by the reagents of thoughts just as we can observe warmth by
its reagent, mercury, in the thermometer.
We can observe man. There are men who have optimistic
and agreeable thoughts in which case the lines of their faces
exhibit a certain form, characteristic of the individual. On the

contrary there are individuals whose nervous system irradiates

disharmonious and pessimistic thoughts, and if we examine
the faces and the movements and attitudes of these people we
can observe a great difference the physiological action of
the face and of the whole organism reflects the psychic force
of the individual. Very often we see that under the influence of
great catastrophes provoking great fear, the colour of the hair
is changed in the course of a few minutes. We can similarly
observe individuals in a moment of joy and can see that under
the influence of the harmonious forces of joy superior currents
of thought are introduced into their nervous system, and their
faces and whole organism seem to be completely transformed
for a certain time.
I will continue with the enumeration of other factors. We
know many cases of so-called telepathy. Generally telepathy
is regarded as something supernatural, but it is not
supernatural at all. In the same way that the energies of nature
are propagated according to certain laws in harmony with their
preconditions, so is human thought, which is a form of natural
energy, quickly able to propagate if the preconditions exist. It
must not be imagined that there is anything mysterious or
supernatural in this, for thoughts and the energies of thoughts
are always produced by the nervous system in accordance
with the psycho-biological laws of nature and are propagated
similarly in a purely natural way. We must not imagine that
there are psychic forces which have not a natural source and
which can act contrary to the laws of nature. There are no
exceptions to all the laws of nature, there are no so-called
miracles. As Poincare, the French philosopher, said: 'The
greatest miracle of all is that no miracles exist.' There is a
universal causality which does not tolerate miracles; there are
only rare phenomena and more frequent phenomena.
Generally the more frequent phenomena are regarded as
natural phenomena, while the rare phenomena are regarded as
super-natural miracles. Everything which is not understood or
is not known is regarded as a miracle. So when I speak of
currents of thought as a form of natural energy I do not speak
of them from a mystical or spiritist standpoint, but I speak of
them as simple natural phenomena like electricity, magnetism
or chemical energies.
If we enter a room where there are many people, then
even if we do not speak to the people we feel the effect of the
currents of thought which are in the room. Similarly if we go
into a place where there is a crowd of people who are united in
thought, this unity creates such a strong force and current of
thought that we are immediately captured by it. If we examine
human history, for instance, certain subjective factors of
revolution are explicable by this psychic force. The
enthusiasm which we find as a collective manifestation at the
outbreak of revolution, uniting the currents of thought of great

men, represents an elementary force. Similar currents of

thought represent force in a contrary direction, opposed to this
elementary manifestation. For instance, if we go into a great
cathedral we capture its influence, which is not a strong
influence like the one in the case of revolution. It will rather
be a completely tranquil influence, a component of all the
similar thoughts which are released in the place. So we can see
that the forces of thought have a psycho-physiological
influence on the human organism and also on the environment
of man.
The forces of the currents of thought depend on our
cerebro-spinal system, on ourselves alone. It depends on
ourselves alone whether we create destructive or antagonistic
forces in our organism. Harmonious currents of thought
strengthen the vitality of the human organism by their
harmonious influence, and the physiological influence of our
glands becomes increasingly superior. We can very often
observe that men who occupy themselves in certain
intellectual activities for which they feel enthusiasm live to the
age of seventy, eighty or even a hundred and conserve the
vigour, spirit and the elasticity of their organisms, despite a
relatively unhealthy physical life. On the other hand we can
observe that individuals who have no intellectual activity and
lack these forceful thoughts are old at fifty and they become
sick and weak and so die sooner than the others. So we can see
that harmonious currents of thought have a preservative force
for the human organism, and that activity of thought, provided
it is harmonious, results in biological equilibrium, vitality and
longevity.
We know that the glandular system of the human
organism is influenced directly by the cerebro-spinal system.
When, therefore, we have inharmonious, destructive thoughts
which are not in harmony with the natural laws and forces,
these, by their influence on our glands, secrete a form of
poison. Very often a person may lead as healthy a life as
possible physically, yet if he does not have a psychic diet in
his thoughts, then, nevertheless, his organism will not be in
equilibrium.
We need harmony in our thoughts no less than in our diet
or in physical activity. If someone has an inharmonious, illintentioned thought against others, he is punished for it in the
moment of its creation, for the inharmonious thoughts
immediately have a destructive influence on the human
glands. So in the form of glandular activity the poisonous
secretion always represents an immediate physiological
sanction and punishment of the sin. The passages of the
Gospels which say that we should not sin in thought, for to sin
in thought is as serious as to sin in deed, are very true and
profound from the point of view of human physiology. There
exists a superior tribunal of the cosmic and natural forces

which punishes offences at the moment when they are

committed. We can deceive the laws of human society; we can
commit crimes and escape punishment, but we can never
commit a single sin against the laws of nature for which we
are not punished immediately in the moment of its
commission.
In the human organism there is a miraculous
collaboration of every cell and every organ; they display a
great collective solidarity. The heart labours not only for itself,
but for the whole organism, and gives blood to all the organs.
Likewise the lungs introduce oxygen not only for themselves,
but for other organs, and the digestive system sends chemical
energies to every part of the organism. So the human organism
represents the natural laws through the organo-vegetative
system; it represents altruism, collective solidarity. This law is
written large in the human organism, if we are able to read in
the great book of nature. I do not consider solidarity and
altruism as just moral, theoretical considerations, but as an
iron law of the natural forces, as a dynamic reality in the
human organism and in nature. It is a law and a force, and
when we act against that law and force, then immediately and
inevitably comes the punishment. If we do not follow the
example of solidarity and altruism represented by the human
organism (and also by the vegetation of the earth and by
everything which is in harmony with the natural laws and
forces), then we are punished. There is, so to speak, a great
higher tribunal of the natural forces which formulates and
issues higher laws which are valid for everything which exists
in nature or in man himself; this power punishes and rewards
immediately those who are in disharmony or harmony with
the biological laws and forces of life.
When we deal, therefore, with the laws of health and
longevity in practice, we shall attribute a certain, even a great
importance, to psychic harmony; to the elimination of the
internal contradictions of man, as an inescapable precondition
of health and longevity and harmony. And this consideration
forms the true basis of cosmotherapy. We use material forces
of nature, but we also use all the forces of nature which are not
material, but form the superstructure of matter, for they react
upon the material foundation and are capable of improving or
impairing it. So not only do we take our therapeutic forces
from the sphere of nature, but also from the sphere of human
consciousness. For it is not possible to solve the internal
contradictions of the human organism simply on a material
basis. If there remains a psychic disequilibrium of the forces
of thought, then it is in vain that we may have achieved
chemical equilibrium, for the human organism is not only a
chemical and physiological being, but also a psychological
being. As man's name of Homo Sapiens indicates, the essence
of man lies in his psychic forces, which give him his

superiority over all the other creatures of the earth, provided

that his forces and thoughts are used in a superior way, for if
not, they can lead to destruction instead of to progress. It is
also a natural law that the higher and finer forms of energy are
always stronger than the inferior and grosser forms. Finer
radiations and forces always traverse the coarser radiations,
having a greater force and penetration. For instance, there is a
force of rigid matter, a force of cohesion, a physical material
force; there are electrical and magnetic forces which are finer
forces, having a great power of penetration, and in spite of the
fact that they are not so observable as the forces of cohesion of
a solid body, nevertheless they penetrate and traverse the solid
body. Similarly currents which are even higher and finer
penetrate the electrical currents and so on. There is an infinite
hierarchy of the forces of nature which succeed one another in
force, intensity and superiority. And the finest and strongest
energy of the human organism is the force of thought.

Chapter VIII
LIFE AND THE ENERGIES OF THE COSMOS
WE have hitherto examined the laws of the evolution of
vegetable, animal and human life, concentrating particularly
on the human phenomena of our planet. We should not be
faithful to the principle of the unity of space and to the
dialectical method, if we did not now examine cosmic space
and its phenomena, and the metabolism of the cosmic energies
in cosmic space, for cosmic space is the environment of our
planet. Our planet constantly plunges in cosmic space,
constantly absorbs its energies and also transmits them. The
so-called cosmic radiations or cosmic rays are now very much
in fashion. They are very often mentioned, but seldom is there
any real knowledge of them. We are indebted to journalists for
the false conception of them prevailing.
Before we examine the cosmic energies, we must deal
with the essential problems of cosmology, with the
correlations of matter, force and radiations. As mentioned
already, there are two ways of looking at the world, that of the
materialist and that of the idealist. According to the
materialists matter is the basis of all phenomena of existence,
phenomena other than matter being only super-structural
phenomena, just as psychological phenomena are only
superstructures of our nervous system. In their view there is
no phenomenon whatever which does not have a material
source. The idealist on the other hand supposes the existence
of an ultimate essence which is not material essence and
which they identify with a particular idea or something
similar. They affirm that it is this non-material essence which
created matter. So matter is the superstructure and nonmaterial essence is the foundation.
The two points of view are as old as human culture itself
and their struggle persists throughout every period. In general,
the results of the contemporary sciences prove the conception
of dialectical materialism which considers moving matter as
the foundation of all phenomena. But we must understand that
it is dialectical materialism, not vulgar materialism, which is
supported. It is not matter, but moving and evolving matter,
which is the foundation of all phenomena. Certain modern
philosophers have naturally tried to interpret the results of the
sciences in such a way as to justify the idealist world
conception. For instance, Mach's so-called empirio-criticism
says that the modern sciences show that the energy of an atom
consists of movement and that the ultimate form of existence
is therefore movement. Matter thus disappears and there is
only movement. The materialist world concept consequently
loses its right to existence, according to the Machists, who by

this means try to dethrone the materialist world concept and

replace it with the idealist one. Outwardly this seems so, but
not in reality. For no fact of the contemporary sciences proves
that movement can exist without matter; there must always be
something which moves. If we examine either the central
nucleus of the atom or the parts moving round it, it is always
moving. Thus there is always something existing which
moves.
If we examine the propagation of light, of optical
energies, for instance, there appears to be something nonmaterial which is propagated. But if we examine the optical
rays then we shall find that they are not at all non-material.
The discoveries of Einstein show us that the propagation of
light is not in straight lines as classical energetics supposed.
Rays of light come in curves. The curves are due to the
influence of gravitation, thus showing that the rays of light
have material parts which are subject to the laws and forces of
gravitation. The contemporary natural sciences thus affirm
that there is no movement without matter. The thesis of those
who claimed the existence of movement without matter was
based on radiations. They thought that radiations were some
non-material thing, but it is not so. Naturally, radiations are
not identical with matter. Radiation is the common form of
matter and energy, a source of matter and energy. Matter is
whirling radiations while energy is straight line radiations, and
the different states of space between the material and energetic
forms represent the various intermediate radiations between
straight line and whirling radiations. Radiations are at the
same time matter and energy. So radiation is not only energy
or matter, but is at the same time matter and energy.
Accumulation of radiations forms matter, while
disaggregation of radiations forms energy, but the radiations
always contain both energy and matter. These experiments of
modern philosophy which try to steal materiality from
radiations are thus found to be entirely unscientific and
undialectical.
We must add, therefore, that all energies have a material
basis, for energy comes from the disaggregation of matter,
which is itself an accumulation of energy. Quantities are
transformed into quality and qualities are transformed into
quantity in cosmic life. If we examine the metabolism of
energies of radiations and of matter on our planet we always
find that energies or radiations exist as long as their source
exists. For instance, if I have an electric torch and switch on
the light, the rays of the light exist, but the instant I switch it
off, the light also disappears. Similarly, as long as a wireless
transmitter emits electrical energies, those electrical energies
exist, but as soon as the radio station closes down, the
electrical energies also cease to exist.

We have naturally the principle of the conservation of

matter and of energy. Different forms of energy are
transformed, united and dispersed. Neither energy nor matter
is lost. But this does not contradict the fact that energy in its
special form can only exist if its source is in existence. We
shall find this to be so if we examine the metabolism of energy
on our planet. But if we examine the metabolism of energy in
cosmic space, the law is a little different. Why? For earth is
limited in space, but the universe is not limited in space. We
shall see shortly how this changes the law a little. We know
from astronomy that many rays of light come to our planet
from planets which emitted the light now arriving millions and
millions of years ago. So very often the stars which emitted
this light have disappeared and been destroyed, but their light
emitted into infinite space is always on its road. We can thus
perceive light coming from stars which disappeared millions
of years ago, though their light only now begins to reach us.
The boundlessness of space permits the existence of currents
of energy whose sources have long ago disappeared. So if we
work with space and time in cosmic dimensions, there is a
modification of the laws which are valid on our planet. Hence
the reason for the theory of special relativity and the theory of
universal relativity in the system of Einstein. This applies to
time as well as to space. The moving systems of co-ordinates
have separate different times. Time is not the same on our
Earth as it is on Saturn or some other planet. Time always
depends on the speed of movement. This is a very important
principle in the theory of relativity of Einstein.
This conception can be made more clear by a practical
example. Let us imagine a railway track. At either end there is
a lighthouse. On the railway line, at its middle point, there is
an observer. Naturally when the two lights flash out at the
same moment from the two lighthouses at either end, the man
who is at the middle spot exactly between the two will see the
two lights simultaneously, because their distance from him is
the same and the propagation of light is the same in the air.
But if there is an observer at the central point in a moving
train he will see them at slightly different times. He will see
the light from which he is receding a fraction after he sees the
light from the end he is approaching. The difference is only
some millionths of a second, but there is nevertheless a
difference. So the phenomenon which is simultaneous when
looked at from the earth is no longer simultaneous when
looked at from the moving train. The moving earth has its
special time and the moving train has its special time. This
theory of universal relativity is also valid in larger dimensions.
A moving system has its own special times, for time is a
mathematical function of movement. We can see this very
clearly also on the earth. The movement of the earth upon its
axis gives us the changes of day and night, while the

movement of the earth round the sun causes the changes of the
various seasons. If the path of the earth round the sun were
longer, then the earthly year would also be longer; if the path
were shorter, then the year would also be shorter. So we can
see that phenomena from the point of view of earthly time are
simultaneous, while from the point of view of their moving
systems they are not simultaneous. This is the law of the
relativity of time and this universal law of relativity changes
the laws of energies, of matter and of radiations.
Let us leave our planet and go into cosmic space. On our
planet there do not exist currents of energy without existing
sources of them, but in cosmic space there exist currents of
energy whose material sources have already disappeared
millions of years ago. For instance, we have light reaching our
planet only now, while the sun or planet which emitted the
light disappeared millions of years ago.
Over short distances we find currents of energy whose
source exists simultaneously with them while in the longer
distances of boundless space, as a consequence of the
relativity of space, of energy and of time, we find currents of
energy whose source has already disappeared. We can thus see
that cosmic space is an ocean of the different energies in the
form of radiations which traverse this cosmic space, coming
from the various innumerable planets and solar systems and
nebulae, and which are permanently radiated and united in
boundless cosmic space. The sources of the cosmic energies
are always planets or suns or cosmic nebulae, and these
energies are united in cosmic space, where many special forms
of cosmic energies exist in the form of currents even when
their source, be it planet or sun, has ceased to exist or has
cooled down and no longer acts as a source of energy or no
longer possesses a special form of energy.
Not only optical energies come from the various planets.
We know that the constitution of matter, of the atom, is
electro-magnetic, so also electro-magnetic energies abound in
cosmic space. Also the cosmos has gravitative forces, for the
material of cosmic space always possesses gravitative energies
and also the thermic energies. For instance, the sun radiates
large amounts of thermic energy into space. Cosmic space is a
great dynamic unity, an infinite ocean of all the energies
which are radiated from every planet, sun and cosmic nebula,
and to them, vice versa, from cosmic space.
In the life of the universe which we call cosmic life,
planets, suns and cosmic nebulae appear and disappear, and
likewise with all the manifestations of phenomena which exist
on the planets. Planets, suns and nebulae appear and
disappear, but all cosmic energies and radiations always
remain. Energies are absorbed by cosmic space from the
appearing and disappearing suns and planets, and newly
appearing suns and planets are formed from it, but the

boundless and eternal ocean of the cosmic radiations is

permanently in existence. When we look at the sea the waves
appear and disappear, but the ocean remains. The same
process is followed in the life of the cosmos. There is
something common to all phenomena of the universe; there is
a dynamic totality in the motion of energy, matter and
radiations.
Now this is the final limit to which science can reach, but
it is sufficient to explain the life of the cosmos. Everything
which is above or beyond this scientific world outlook must be
considered as pure hypothesis.
The various philosophical systems give different names
to this eternal boundless ocean of cosmic radiations, and
ancient theogonies give it the name of divinity and attribute
certain human qualities to this boundless oceanthis is
anthropomorphism.
Man is capable of perceiving cosmic infinity only after
his own image, and so he conceives this eternal source of
existence and of life in the form of the various divinities of the
different religions. And the philosophers imagine it after their
manner. But that which the sciences have established about
cosmic life, about the metabolism of the energies, radiations
and matter and cosmic space is simply and purely what I have
mentioned. So from the point of view of the scientific world
outlook we must consider as an hypothesis anything further
about the eternal source of the various phenomena. This is the
conception of science, free from any mysticism and free from
dogma, about existence and cosmic space.
Now I want to explain an essential question. The words
'vibrations' and 'radiations' appear very often in modern works
and articles, but there is great confusion about them. I have
generally noticed that the words 'vibrations' and 'radiations' are
used synonymously, so I wish to say something about this.
Vibration is not the same as radiation. When two radiations
meet and form a whirling movement, vibrations are formed, so
vibrations are a stabilisation of radiations round a system. I
must protest therefore against the two words 'vibrations' and
'radiations' being used as if they were synonymous.
There is a further important question. What role is played
by life, meaning organic life, in the metabolism of the
universe? Certain astronomers consider organic life as a
superior phase of the evolution of universal matter. Other
astronomers and scientists regard it as a local degeneration of
cosmic energies and say that we are quite wrong in regarding
organic life as a superior phase of universal matter. We must
examine the life of our planet, using the dialectical method, to
receive an answer to this problem. What is there in common
between the various manifestations of life of our planet? Let
us begin with vegetation. We see that vegetation grows from
below upwards, that plants absorb vivifying energies, and

these vivifying energies and the natural environment of the

atmosphere give to vegetation the force and vitality which
enable it to conquer gravitation and to grow upwards and
contrary to gravitation. So we can see that vitality is a force
which works in a contrary direction to earthly gravitation.
Vitality acts in the same way with animals. Animals by
their motion constantly overcome gravitation. A lifeless stone
remains always in the same place, but the living animal
organism moves, conquers and overcomes gravitation by its
physical movement and also by the radiations of its organism.
The common quality of the manifestation of life in animals is
an activity in the opposite direction to that of gravitation.
Gravitation has the role of drawing all the materials of our
planet in the direction of the centre of the earth. Organic
matter exercises a controlling influence and impels all living
matter to move in a contrary upward direction, thus
controlling the forces of gravitation. The newly sprouting seed
or plant is the triumph of organic life over gravitation, while
the death of an animal or vegetable is the triumph of inorganic
gravitation over vitality, over organic life. Birth is the triumph
of vitality over gravitation, while death is the triumph of
gravitation over vitality.
Life springs from the struggle of two opposite forces, the
forces of gravitation and vitality. So the dialectical principle of
the antagonism of two opposite forces is true. We can see that
life is a synthesis of two antagonistic forces, the forces of
gravitation and vitality. The evolution of life on earth shows
us endless different forms of life, but all these forms of life
spring from the struggle of these two antagonistic forces, the
forces of gravitation and vitality.
Now if we examine the subsequent different phases of
life upon the earth we shall see that, in increasingly superior
phases, life upon the earth conquers gravitation in a more and
more accentuated form. For instance, the inorganic stone is
entirely a victim of gravitation; grass overcomes gravitation a
little, while the tree overcomes it still more and grows up
higher and stronger. The bird which flies in the air overcomes
it still more, while, finally, man by his currents of thought
which traverse the sphere of gravitation of the earth and
extend to the various planets in cosmic space, conquers
gravitation in an even more accentuated form.
We can thus see that the further forward we go in the
evolution of earthly life, the different forms of earthly life
always achieve a greater and greater triumph over gravitation.
This shows us that the tendency of the evolution of earthly life
is towards a more and more complete triumph over
gravitation. Naturally each generation of life becomes a victim
of gravitation, but each succeeding generation is able to
overcome gravitation in a superior form. Generations follow
one after the other in the battle of gravitation, but vitality

itself, organic life, which evolves through the progressive

generations, always triumphs more and more over gravitation.
An examination of the phenomena of our planet shows us
in miniature a picture of the universe. Inorganic matter is not
the exclusive privilege of our planet. On other planets there is
also matter as on the earth. Possibly there are other chemical
elements and other forms of matter, but there is matter.
Likewise we cannot claim that organic matter is an exclusive
privilege of our planet. It is very-probable that there is not
organic life in the rest of our solar system, for up to now
science has not discovered it, but in the infinity of millions
and millions of planets and solar systems in cosmic space
there must also be organic matter as on our earth. We are not
an exceptional and privileged planet in cosmic space. We have
no right to suppose that our planet is the centre of the universe
and that it is only on our planet that we have the chemical
element of organic matter. This would be a very proud
hypothesis on our part, for the universe does not exist for us,
but our planet is a very tiny speck in cosmic space and exists
as a simple part of the universe.
So we see that gravitation and all the inorganic materials
in cosmic space create a boundless ocean of gravitative forces
and every planet or solar system plunges in this great ocean.
Vitality is nothing else but organic gravitation. The same
role which is played by inorganic gravitation in inorganic
matter is played by vitality as organic gravitation in organic
matter. Organic materials exercise between themselves the
influence of organic gravitation, which is vitality. So it is not
only the inorganic materials of cosmic space, but also the
organic materials of cosmic space, which send out forces into
cosmic space. In addition to inorganic gravitation with its
currents and radiations, we have organic radiations, vitality
with its currents and radiations. Organic matter is the
superstructure of inorganic matter and in the same way
organic gravitation is the superstructure of inorganic
gravitation. In this way there meet in boundless cosmic space
all the radiations of inorganic gravitation and also all the
radiations of the organic matter of our planet.
We thus see that in cosmic space there exists a great
solidarity of gravitative forces coming from every planet, and
in the same way there exists a great solidarity of all organic
gravitative forces, forces of vitality, whose sources are the
organic matter of every planet. The radiations whose source is
inorganic matter we have called 'cosmic radiations' in cosmic
space. Those radiations whose source is organic matter of the
various planets we have called 'cosmovital radiations'. In this
way the role of the cosmic radiations in the genesis of life of
the various planets becomes evident. Without gravitation there
would not be life, for it is gravitation which keeps matter on
the surface of the earth. Likewise, if vitality (organic

gravitation) did not exist, then matter would remain in the

state of inorganic matter, and thus life would never be able to
appear and evolve on the planet, and life would never have
evolved higher than the inorganic state. We must establish
clearly the role of organic life and of organic matter and the
role of vitality in cosmic and planetary life.
In this way we see that the dialectical method does not
know contradictions between the various forms of life and of
existence. These only exist from an undialectical, static point
of view. When we have studied the correlations between
organic and inorganic matter, we can then understand the
origin of matter and the origin of the life of the planets and of
the universe. If we consider everything in a great dynamic
totality in constant movement and evolution, then there are no
contradictions and no breaks in continuity between cosmic
space and the inorganic matter of the planets, between organic
life and inorganic matter, and between psychic life and the
organism. Everything is a total dynamism and everything has
its role and everything influences the other parts.
Let us now return to man. The human organism possesses
vitality in developed form. If the human organism absorbs in
optimal forms the vital energies of our planet, then the human
organism withstands the destructive influence of gravitation,
but as soon as the human organism isolates itself from the
vital forces of our environment, then gravitation increasingly
governs the human organism. The various diseases and
progressive senescence indicate less and less resistance to
gravitation, which finally causes death, and the organic matter
of the human organism is dissolved into inorganic matter and
the human organism returns to the kingdom of inorganic
gravitation. It dies.
The more vital the organism is, the more it is capable of
overcoming gravitation. The less vital the human organism is,
the less capable it is of overcoming gravitation. The period of
youth in the human organism during which the vital forces are
developed and perfected, signifies progressive triumph over
gravitation, the progressive growing vigour of the human
organism. Old age and decline of the human organism
represent progressively diminishing resistance to the forces of
gravitation. We must not forget that at every moment our
organism is making efforts against gravitation. Our
movements, our walking, even the circulation of the blood in
our organism, every cell, every atom of our organism are
constantly struggling against and overcoming gravitation. So
human metabolism at every moment is constantly struggling
against the forces of gravitation. In this way the optimal
absorption of vital energies assures to our organism
permanently new forces which enable us to triumph over and
resist gravitation. The human organism must take advantage
of the sources of energy to be able effectively to struggle

against gravitation and preserve the vigour of youth of the

organism. For instance, the organic matter of trees producing
fruits has accumulated vital energy. This accumulated form of
the vital energies assimilated by the human organism
represents a source of energy to counterbalance gravitation. If
the human organism were not at every moment to absorb vital
energies, it would not be able to overcome and struggle
against gravitation. It is an imperative necessity for the human
organism to absorb organic energies from our natural
environment, but not inorganic energies. If we introduce into
our organisms inorganic matter, we then strengthen the forces
of gravitation over our organism, for all inorganic matter is
governed by gravitation. Organic matter is subject to
gravitation, but it also contains the contrary forces, the forces
of organic gravitation, the forces of vitality, so we should
always introduce into our organism organic matter which
corresponds to our organism, and which also contains vitality
and struggles against gravitation, and not inorganic matter
which only contains gravitative forces and is subject to
gravitation, and does not possess the contrary forces of
organic vitality. For this reason cosmotherapy is against the
consumption of inorganic matter. For instance, instead of
consuming inorganic salts, we should always eat salts in
organic form in fruits and vegetables, for in this superior form
they dispense organic vitality. If we introduce inorganic
elements into our organism we strengthen the forces of
inorganic gravitation over our organism. If we introduce
organic matter into our organism we introduce a source of
organic vitality, a force resistant to gravitation.
As we see, these apparently theoretical problems, the
relations between organic and inorganic matter, between
gravitation and vitality, have important practical consequences
for the human organism and determine, for instance, the diet
of the human organism, taken in conjunction with other
factorsontogenetic and phylogenetic factors, structural and
functional factors.
Our planet plunges in boundless cosmic space every
moment, absorbing the various energies coming from the
different parts of cosmic space. Similarly the human organism
is in its natural environment and in every moment of its
existence absorbs different radiations, currents and forms of
energy which come to it from the different parts of nature.
There are cosmic factors and planetary natural factors
which determine natural life, and medicine must consider all
these factors and correlations. Only then can medicine be
effective and complete.
We find a great wealth of different energies in cosmic
space. We find that every planet, solar system and cosmic
nebula emits a great variety of different energies and
radiations, and the infinite ocean of the energies and radiations

of cosmic space is the greatest and most intense source of

energy in the universe, so for human science the discovery and
utilisation of the extraordinary wealth of cosmic energy
signifies a completely new horizon and a new age in human
progress. Let us not forget that the utilisation of the energies
of our planet is limited. We know that the amount of thermic
energy and also the chemical energy in the form of minerals
on our planet exist in a limited quantity, so it is vitally
important for mankind to have a knowledge of the cosmic
energies residing in cosmic space, for the limitation of our
planet and of man can be remedied by the illimitability of the
cosmic energies.
These cosmic energies are divisible into two classes.
There are the radiations which traverse the atmosphere of the
earth and which as a result of their specially great intensity
and energy have suffered only very little transformation.
These cosmic energies are all of an inorganic nature:
gravitative energies, electro-magnetic energies, optical
energies and so on. We have seen that the organic life of the
various planets and solar systems is also a cosmic source of
energies, and these various sources of cosmic energy represent
sources of energy for the human organism also. The science
dealing with this is still quite a new one, but the immediate
direct utilisation of the organic forms of the cosmic energies
has very great significance for man.
There is also a second category of the cosmic energies
which undergoes transformation in the earth's atmosphere. For
instance, we know that when light comes to us from cosmic
space, it is transformed in the earthly atmosphere. In cosmic
space it is pure radiation, and is propagated as pure radiation,
while in the earth's atmosphere it is dispersed into various
colours which are perceptible to the human eye. So without
the earth's atmosphere we should not have any colours, for
there would only exist optical radiations in their cosmic purity.
We see that the rays of the sun are also transformed by
the earth's atmosphere, according to the resistance of the
earth's atmosphere and according to its purity, and according
to the temperature of the various seasons and to the climates.
The sun is completely transformed in the atmosphere in such a
way that it is available to the human organism. So we can see
that the earth's atmosphere functions as a vast transformer of
the cosmic rays coming to the earth. It transforms these
various cosmic rays arriving, to make them consumable by the
human organism.
Let us take another example. If the earth's atmosphere
were less thick, then the sun's rays would reach the surface of
the earth with such force that everything would be burnt up on
the earth and life would not be possible. Likewise if the
atmosphere of the earth were thicker, then the solar radiations
would become so much less intense that they would not be

sufficient to ensure the necessary temperature for life. So we

can see that our earth in its present state represents the optimal
form for organic life and in particular for human life. It is for
that reason that organic life and human life exist, for on the
earth are the most favourable preconditions for that life. We
know that the present age is not limitless. It is not very long
ago since this age began, for we know that in the primitive
geological periods the extreme heat of the lithosphere caused
various sudden changes in temperature, volcanic eruptions and
all kinds of destructive meteorological phenomena provoked
by these sudden changes in temperature. For this reason life
did not have the most favourable preconditions at this period,
and similarly the time will come when the chemical and
thermic energies of our planet will progressively diminish and
will not be sufficient to ensure the most favourable
preconditions of life. For this reason it is very important for
man to study and to come to know the cosmic energies and
their source, and to consider the possibility of utilising them
for the human organism.
If mankind takes advantage of the time at his disposal
during which the favourable preconditions of life exist, then
mankind will be able progressively to substitute the different
sources of cosmic energy for the missing planetary energies.
But if humanity does not utilise the time at its disposal, then
man will not be capable of replacing the diminishing planetary
energies with the cosmic energies. And in this consists the
special significance of a united cosmic science for mankind.
There is yet another point of view. The sciences are the
product of successive generations, so we must consider the
individual as a perfect scientific instrument which absorbs the
different experiences of preceding generations. So for the
effectiveness of the progress of the sciences the superiority of
the instruments represented by the individual is a prime
necessity, a precondition of human progress. This gives a
special significance to medicine. Human life is at present very
short; hardly has an individual acquired the experience of the
preceding generation in the form of accumulated values,
cultures and civilisation, and hardly has he done this toward
the middle of his life, when the biological decline of his vital
forces begins, old age and disease come, leaving him a very
short time to utilise all his knowledge. While the youthful
individual organism is strong and vital, it does not possess
sufficient experience from preceding generations and when it
is at its best and has accumulated the experience of the past
generations, then its vital forces are already diminishing. This
is a great obstacle to human progress. If science were able to
double the span of human life, this would result in a great
wealth of scientific discovery, and the progress of the sciences
would be accelerated as never before in human history. For it
is the second part of human life, when the individual has

acquired the whole wealth of culture, which is the most

important to scientific progress. We must therefore ensure that
this period of the individual life occurs when there exists the
greatest wealth of the vital forces of the individual. In this way
the individual would not merely be doubled in value, but
would be made a hundred times more valuable for human
progress, representing an infinitely greater source of the
creation of values for human culture and progress. In this way
the elimination of disease and old age, and the prolongation of
the span of life are not simply an individual problem, but are a
vital problem of society and of human progress.
It is thus a bounden duty towards humanity and towards
human progress to take part in this struggle. I have heard
many people say: 'Yes, if I eat toxins perhaps I shall only live
to be fifty, while if I live healthily, perhaps I shall live to be a
hundred and twenty, but I prefer to live with toxins and be
fifty.' This consideration might be justified from the point of
the individual, for the individual has a right to do as he
pleases, and we must respect the freedom of the individual.
But there are also other considerations. This individual
transmits his diseased, unhealthy disposition to the succeeding
generation and thus becomes a factor in the biological
degeneration of humanity, contributing to the lessening of the
span of human life. We are therefore entitled to regard such an
individual from a moral point of view as an enemy of mankind
and of human progress, for health and longevity are not only
individual values, but are factors in human progress. So health
and longevity become our duty vis--vis human society and
human progress, and represent not only an individual problem,
but also a problem of the whole of humanity.

PART II
THE PRACTICE OF COSMOTHERAPY

Chapter IX
THE NATURAL FORCES IN TIME AND SPACE
WE will begin by reviewing the arsenal of the natural
forces at our disposal in our struggle against the various
diseases. These forces we classify according to their source.
The first source of curative force for us is the pyrosphere,
the earth. This is the internal, fiery, gaseous part of the earth
which represents a great store of the thermic energy of the
earth. We must not forget that the earth is a child of the sun,
and the pyrosphere represents a fiery mass broken away from
the mass of the sun, as we know from the theory of the origin
of our solar system. Consequently the most important source
of thermic energy for the earth is the pyrosphere. Yet it is not
only the source of thermic energy, but also of electro-magnetic
energies. In view of the preponderant size of the mass of the
pyrosphere in relation to the external cover of the earth, we
can consider the pyrosphere as the seat of the electro-magnetic
forces of the earth.
Next comes the lithosphere, the rigid stratification of the
earth. The lithosphere contains many very valuable chemical
elements which we shall use in organic form for the cure of
the organism. The lithosphere is not only important as a
source of chemical energies, but also the earth has an
important practical role in the form of clay, of mud, used as
external compresses upon the symptoms of the organism. The
lithosphere, the solid part of the earth, has the same role in
nature as the skeleton of the human organism. We shall see
later that in many diseases of the bones we use earth
compresses in the form of mud, clay, sand, etc. Practical use is
thus made of the correlation between the bones of the
organism and the lithosphere of the earth.
Next comes the hydrosphere of the earth, water in the
form of oceans, rivers, lakes and rains. The circulation of
water in nature plays the same part as the circulation of the
blood in the organism. Just as the circulation of the blood in
the organism absorbs certain materials, cleanses and
eliminates, so the circulation of water in nature likewise
absorbs chemical elements and cleanses, representing the
same metabolic processes in nature as the blood in the human
organism. Just as the human organism cannot live without the
circulation of the blood, so there would be no organic life
without the circulation of water.
The next sphere is the atmosphere. The atmosphere has
the same part in nature as the skin and the lungs of the
organism, and the interconnection between the atmosphere
and the skin and the lungs represents an important point of
contact between man and nature. Where there is life, there is

breath, and where there is breath, there is life. Breath is the

biological function which unites man and nature. The various
natural forces in the atmosphere enter the human organism
either through the respiration of the lungs or of the skin. As
we shall see later both are very important.
After the atmosphere comes a very important sphere, the
botanosphere, comprising the vegetation of the earth. The
botanosphere has a very important dialectical role, not only in
the form of fruits and vegetables which we eat, and of the
various curative plants and herbs which we use, but also in its
capacity as an accumulator of the various natural and cosmic
energies. As accumulators of the radiations of the sun, as
transformers of inorganic minerals of the earth into organic
minerals for the consumption of the human organism, as
transformers of hard water into soft water, as creators of rich
oxygen round it, as purifiers of the atmosphere, the plants and
trees of the botanosphere are a source of natural energies for
the organism.
There remains the stratosphere which likewise has
importance to the human organism, for across the stratosphere
come to us the rays of the sun, which are accumulated by the
vegetation. We can see that the vegetation of the earth has the
same role as the musculature in the human organism.
Vegetation is something which unites together the rays of the
sun, water, air and minerals of the earth. Similarly the
musculature concentrates the blood and holds together the
various tissues and nerves of the human organism.
The stratosphere is a great filter of the sun's radiations. I
do not think it necessary to say much about the therapeutic
value of the sun. The sun is not only important in the form of
sun baths, and in the form of local applications of its
concentrated rays, but also as a great regulator of every natural
energy of the earth. And the other natural elements depend for
their value upon the sun. For instance, water without the sun's
rays is dead. For therapeutic applications sun-exposed water is
always superior. Similarly, the therapeutic value of the earth,
which also absorbs solar rays, depends on the sun's rays which
it has absorbed and contains.
The sun is the regulator, as it were, of all the natural
energies of the earth. The air which we breathe has quite a
different value if it is full of solar rays to what it has if it
contains no solar rays. Thus we see that the therapeutic value
of the air, like that of the earth or water, depends always on
the sun, on its quality and intensity. We know that the
intensity and quality of the solar rays are different at the
various hours of the day. If we take a sun bath in the morning,
the therapeutic value of the sun bath will be quite other than if
we take a sun bath at midday, or in the afternoon, or at sunset.
We know the spectral analysis of the sun. This divides up the
natural rays of the sun into different colours, which, however,

do not exist except relative to our eyes. Instead of the different

colours, there really exist different lengths and breadths of
radiations, and at the different times of the day the rays of the
sun represent different lengths and breadths of its radiations.
The angle at which the sun's rays fall upon the earth is
different in the morning, at midday, in the afternoon, and in
the evening. We know that the force of an energy depends on
the angle at which it reaches us and naturally the intensity of
the sun's rays is different at midday when it comes to us
perpendicularly to what it is when it comes to us at an angle of
twenty, thirty or forty degrees. Also the sun has a different
influence at each season. During the spring the influence of
the sun's rays is quite other to what it is in the summer or in
the autumn. The distance between the earth and the sun is very
different, for instance, in summer to what it is in winter, and
so this fact also makes a difference in the quality and intensity
of the solar rays. The sun's rays in spring have a great
influence on vegetation; everything begins a new life,
everything germinates and grows. In autumn the sun's rays
have another influence as we can see from the vegetation. So
the intensity and quality of the sun's radiations vary at every
time of the day, and in every part of the year, and this
oscillation which changes the quality and intensity of the sun
also alters the therapeutic value of all the elements of the
earth, air, water and other elements. From this we can see that
the periodic, rhythmic, cyclic changes in the quality and
intensity of the solar energies divide the day or the year into
various regular cycles which return rhythmically every day
and every year. So it is natural that, if we wish to administer
the natural forces for therapeutic purposes, we should know
well the quality and intensity of the sun and of the solar
energies and of the different earthly energies and their effect
upon the human organism during the various cycles of the day
and during the various cycles of the year. We must measure
them, must apply them always according to the changed
circumstances. Thus we see that our environment in time
consists of rhythmic cycles of the day and of the year, just as
our environment in space is the various spheres of the cosmos:
the pyrosphere, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the
botanosphere and the stratosphere. The human organism must
adapt itself to its environment in space, for each cosmic sphere
represents a source of specific energy which the human
organism absorbs. Similarly every cycle in time represents
different intensities and qualities of the forces which radiate to
us from the various spheres of nature. So the cosmic spheres
in space and the cosmic cycles in time represent a framework
for all the therapeutic forces which we apply to the human
organism.
The various spheres of space and the various cycles of
time are important, because the life of the human organism is

nothing else but permanent adaptation to these various spheres

and cycles. We must consider the human organism as living in
a field of forces, and from every part of this field come
various currents and forces. At every moment in time these
currents change in intensity, so the human organism is forced
to adapt itself permanently to all these modifications.
For instance, the adaptation of the human organism to the
atmosphere occurs through breathing. If we stop breathing, we
stop adapting ourselves to the atmosphere and our life ends.
Maladaptation to the other forces does not lead to such
immediate punishment, but leads to other serious punishments
progressively. We adapt ourselves similarly to the various
cycles of the year. For instance, in winter we wear different
clothes to those which we wear in summer, on account of the
changes of the thermic energies of the earth. And if we do not
adapt ourselves, sanctions are imposed in the form of a
predisposition to chills and other complications.
We must, therefore, consider the life of the human
organism as consisting of the permanent adaptation to all the
forces of its environment produced by every sphere, as
changed and modified by every cycle. It is this adaptation
which determines human metabolism. The human organism is
a great receiving apparatus like the aerial of a wireless set, and
it absorbs all the radiations, currents, energies and forces
coming to it. We have a great arsenal of cosmic forces and
energies, and we have only to study their nature and the
regularity in their change and their specific influence on the
human organism.
The cause of every disease is a bad adaptation either to
the forces coming from a special sphere or to the changes in
these forces in the special cycles. We must always find what is
the cause of the disease, that is, what form of maladaptation
exists. We must then put back the organism into the right form
of adaptation with the sphere or cycle concerned. If the cause
of disease is suppressed, the equilibrium of the organism will
be re-established. Cosmotherapy represents a quite different
standpoint also in the diagnosis of illnesses. In the case of
disease it immediately searches for the form of maladaptation
causing the disease. To establish this we must examine the
whole life of the patient in every detail to be able to find the
cause or causes, for generally there are more than one.
Very often the causes of the disease are not due to the
maladaptation of the individual, but to the maladaptation of
the ancestors of that individual. This is manifested in the
shape of hereditary diseases, for the organism transmits to its
descendants all the dispositions, either favourable or
unfavourable, which it has acquired through its bad or good
adaptation. We find that precise and right adaptation always
leaves a perfect vitality, even an immunity against diseases,

while bad adaptation to the cycles and spheres always results

in illness and in diminution of vitality and of the span of life.
If we examine the life of the macrobiotes who lived more
than a hundred or a hundred and twenty years, with vital,
healthy organisms, we find their daily life was precise
adaptation to the various cycles of the day and year and that
they had permanent natural contact with the different sphere
and their forces.
Individuals living in great cities are much more ill than
country folk for the reason that they live in a contrary
direction to the cycles of the day and year and have a
completely unnatural contact with the spheres and other
forces. Can inhabitants of great cities have a natural contact
with an atmosphere which is full of chemicals and poisons?
Do they have natural contact with the sun when they are
enclosed in great stone buildings? Do they follow the
rhythmic cycles of the day when they work throughout the
night with electric light and sleep in the morning when the sun
is shining? No, they live a life quite opposed to the cycles of
nature. And so we have widespread diseases in great variety in
our great cities. For great cities are artificial insulators
between the human organism and the spheres of nature, and
the rhythm of life in great cities is just the opposite to the
rhythm of life in nature.
We divide radiations into various groups according to
their source. Those radiations whose source is in cosmic space
we call cosmic radiations; those whose source is in the sun we
call solar radiations; and those whose source of emission is in
the earth we call terrestrial radiations; and those radiations
whose source is the human organism we call human
radiations; and those radiations whose source is the human
cells we call cellular radiations.
Now if we examine the surface of our earth and the
propagation of the different energies and the directions of that
propagation, we shall find that the direction of the propagation
of the solar forces is from East to West. This has a great
significance. If we examine the origin of all our plants,
animals, etc., we find that the majority of them come from the
East, from Central Asia, and that they afterwards disperse over
the different parts of the earth from the East. If we examine
the different human historical migrations, we see that the
majority of them have been from East to West. There are
certain natural forces operating from East to West, and the
permanent reason and motive for these currents is the
propagation of solar energies from East to West.
Similarly if we examine the origin of the great cultures,
arts, philosophies and religions, we shall likewise find that
they came from East to West. We can see that the basis is
always a material energetic factor and the superstructure
always follows the direction of the foundation. And we can

see in our example that the evolution and migration of plants

and animals were followed by the migration of the human
species, which was in turn followed by the migration of
human culture. If we go back to the root reason, we find as a
permanent factor the propagation of the solar energies from
East to West. The ancient proverb 'light from the East' must be
modified to include not only light but solar energy in general.
Having examined the direction of the propagation of
natural forces from East to West, we must also examine the
North-South system. We can see that our earth is divided into
different zones. We have the Arctic climate which is created
by a predominance of the terrestrial radiations in the region of
the Poles, with a minimum force of solar radiations. This is
natural, for the angle at which the sun's rays fall on the Poles
is less favourable than in other zones, and thus round the Poles
the predominant part is played by the terrestrial radiations and
not by the radiations of the sun. If we examine now the
equatorial zone of the earth we find that the sun's rays fall
perpendicularly and have the greatest intensity of all the
zones, so the equatorial climate has the greatest predominance
of the sun's radiations. This zone is at the greatest distance
from the North and South Poles and also from the magnetic
poles of the earth. The terrestrial radiations have the smallest
influence in the equatorial zone, and it is there that the solar
rays have the greatest intensity.
If we examine the temperate zone which lies between the
Arctic and equatorial climates, we shall find that there the
solar and terrestrial radiations have a natural equilibrated
proportion of intensity. This zone has the most equilibrated
forces, a balance of the solar and terrestrial radiations. We
shall also discover that the North and South temperate zones
contain the greatest amount of dry land on the earth. The
temperate equilibrium of the various radiations is the most
favourable precondition for intellectual activity of the nervous
system. The predominance of terrestrial radiations somewhat
paralyses cerebral activities owing to a predominance of
terrestrial gravitation. The human species living in the Arctic
climate have not contributed much to human culture, nor have
they played a great part in human history. Similarly if we
examine the human species living in the equatorial climate,
where the excessive intensity of the solar radiations paralyses
cerebral activity, these peoples, likewise, have not contributed
much to human culture and have not played a dominant part in
human history. But if we examine the inhabitants of the
temperate zone we can see that these peoples have in the
largest measure created human culture. They have played a
dominant part in human history in the past and in the present.
The zone lying between the Arctic and equatorial regions has
produced the greatest geniuses of the human race, the
magnificent creations of the philosophies, of the arts and of

the sciences, and in human history also these peoples have

always occupied a predominant role. But what interests us
chiefly about the different zones is that the curative forces of
the various spheres and energies also change according to the
climatic zones of the earth. So our practical therapeutic
procedure must be quite different in the temperate climate to
what it is in the equatorial climate or the Arctic climate. So the
different charts and tables used in cosmotherapy consist of
practical therapeutic calculations changing according to the
zones of the earth. We specify which chart must be used for
the different climatic zones. The fundamental framework of
the therapeutic forces changes with the spheres, with the
cycles and with the climatic zones of the earth.

Chapter X
MEASUREMENT AND CALCULATION OF THE
NATURAL FORCES
IN the preceding chapter we referred to the different
cycles of the year. The calendar we are accustomed to is based
on a simple chronological point of view. If we wish to use the
various natural and cosmic forces for therapeutic purposes, we
need a special calendar designed from a therapeutic point of
view. Time needs to be divided from the point of view of the
various changes and modifications of the natural and cosmic
forces. Considering that the natural and cosmic forces are
changing according to the various parts of the year, a
therapeutic calendar is indispensable for our purpose, for if we
make the same application in summer as in spring the
therapeutic effect is not the same. Let us remember the
principle of Heraclitus that if we go into a river and then
afterwards into the same river, the river is not the same.
On the Synthetic Helioanthropophysiological Chart at the
end of the book you will find an ellipse with the sun as its
focus. This elliptical line represents the path of the earth round
the sun in the course of the year. You will notice that the
distance of the earth from the sun changes at every point on
the ellipse. In the same way the solar forces which reach the
earth likewise change at every point along the line. We must
not forget that every point of this elliptical line indicates a day
of the year, so the constantly changing solar forces also
change the physiological effect of the earth's atmosphere,
hydrosphere, and vegetation. From this we can see clearly the
great regulating role of the sun, how it governs the whole of
earthly nature. For this reason the physiological value,
significance and influence of the various heliotherapeutic,
hydrotherapeutic, aerotherapeutic, and dietetic applications
vary with the different points of this elliptical line which
correspond to the different days of the year. As the reader will
see, the ellipse is crossed by four lines and divided into eight
parts. This division is made on the basis of the calculation of
the changing influence of the solar radiations on our planet.
These four lines divide the elliptical path of the earth round
the sun into eight parts. The eight parts of the line of the earth
round the sun indicate eight cycles of our chronological year.
The therapeutic influence of the solar rays, and consequently
of the atmosphere, botanosphere and hydrosphere changes
according to these cycles. We call this the 'heliodynamic' line.
'Helios' means 'sun' in Greek, so this word means the dynamic
changes of the solar forces in accordance with the path of the
earth round the sun and corresponding to the various cycles of
the year. We see here the heliodynamic lines of the changing

solar energies of the whole year. At the top of the Synthetic

Chart there are the human trunk and head. To make easier the
various therapeutic calculations the human organism is
divided into certain parts, taking the length of the human trunk
and head as equal to the length of the legs.
In our therapeutic calculations we shall concentrate on the
calculations respecting the trunk and head, for both the
organo-vegetative and the cerebro-spinal system have all their
various senses and their receptive organs which receive the
natural and cosmic forces in the trunk and head of the human
organism, while the legs and arms play only a secondary role.
Men who have lost limbs often survive, while a man whose
trunk or head is paralysed completely cannot survive. The
chief capacity of the human organism for receiving the natural
and cosmic energies is placed in the trunk and head. For
making therapeutic calculations simple we divide the head and
trunk together into 64 parts. Why exactly 64 parts? This
number is chosen for the practical reason that the AngloAmerican system of measurement, the twelve months of the
year, the eight cycles of the year and the four principal cycles
of the day, are all numbers linked by the number of four or by
multiples of four. So we have chosen 64 as the number which
makes most easy the various calculations involved with the
cycles of the year, using English lineal measures.
Along the bottom of the diagram will be found a
chronological division of the day, like a clock in a straight
line. The division of time on this line is projected by broken
lines on to the four solid lines which divide the ellipse into
four parts. This diagram is designed to project the
heliodynamic lines of the solar forces on to the axis of the
human organism and to correlate them with the chronological
clock for measuring the time. Now this projection shows us
that the dynamic influence of the solar forces varies with each
line which crosses the ellipse, that is, with each cycle of the
year. We call the axis which traverses the human organism the
'anthropophysiological line'. Why? There is a correlation
between the changes of the solar forces during the various
parts of the day and those during the various parts of the year,
and this specific influence of the solar forces acts upon
different parts of the human organism according to the
different times of the day and according to the different parts
of the year, and the modality of their action similarly changes
according to the different points in time whether of the day or
year.
We can establish certain dynamic correlations between
the changing solar forces, the various points of the human
organism, and the different hours and minutes of the clock.
What is this dynamic correlation? In what way does this
reciprocal correlation work? This is most easily explained by
reference to another chartthe 'Heliophysiological Chart'.

This chart represents to us the different correlations in

temporal and spatial succession between the change of the
solar forces and the successive points of the human organism.
The sun rises and moves up to its zenith, its highest point, and
then sets each day. We know that this is only an apparent
movement of the sun, for it is the earth which moves and not
the sun, but from the point of view of the angle at which the
sun's rays fall upon the earth at the various times of the day it
is all the same to us whether the sun moves or the earth
moves. The geometric angles of the falling rays remain the
same and the changing forces of the solar radiations are also
the same. So we are able to represent the path of the sun by a
symbolical line on which the starting-point is sunrise and the
finishing point is sunset, and the highest point, the zenith,
corresponds to 12 o'clock in the day.
It may be asked why different parts of the human
organism absorb the sun's radiations according to the time of
day. Naturally the whole organism always absorbs radiations
even when there are clouds, though these modify the influence
of the sun a little. It is a physiological law of ontogenetic force
that the oldest parts of the human organism have the most
intense capacity of absorbing the solar rays. The youngest
parts of the human organism which developed millions of
years later have a weaker capacity for absorbing the sun's rays.
The digestive system of the human organism represented by
the lower third of the trunk, which is fundamentally and
structurally the oldest part of the human organism, has the
greatest and most intense absorptive capacity. After the
abdominal system of which I am now speaking comes the
thoracic system of the human organism, and finally comes the
upper cranial system of the human organism. Now what
happens? That part of the organism which is the oldest and has
the most intensive capacity for absorption is the first to satisfy
its hunger for sun, so until that organ has satisfied itself it has
the dominant role in the organism. When it has finished, then
comes the second which has the next strongest capacity and
satisfies its need for sun. And lastly comes the third system of
the human organism, which in the absorption of the solar
energies is structually and functionally the youngest and the
weakest. So we see that sunrise accords with the abdominal
system of the human organism which predominates during
that part of the day in the absorption of the solar energies, for
the reason that the eliminative functions of the human
organism are the strongest in the morning and in the forenoon.
Hence comes the consideration which will be noticed in the
chapter about diet, that we should not upset the eliminative
functions of the sun's energies by eating before midday. The
sun's rays, according to the successive points along the
heliodynamic line, represented by a semi-circle on the chart,
influence successively and predominantly different parts of

the human organism, and finally at 12.0 midday when the

sun's rays are perpendicular, the solar energies influence
particularly the solar point of the human organism, which is
by the solar plexus. The most recent research in the field of
human physiology shows there is a physiological and dynamic
correlation between the solar forces at 12 o'clock and the
physiological processes of the solar point in the human
organism. We see that in the decline of the helio-dynamic line
towards sunset, higher parts of the human trunk and head are
the points which absorb predominantly the solar rays.
There is also a dynamic correlation between the solar
forces and the terrestrial forces. If we examine the motion of
the earth, we can see that during the morning the movement of
the earth creates a field of terrestrial forcesgravitative,
electro-magnetic and similar forces, and the direction of these
terrestrial forces is naturally in the same line as the movement
of the earth. On the other hand the direction of the forces of
the solar energies in the morning is contrary, and in this way
the revolving energies of the earth have just the opposite
direction to that of the solar energies. The motion of the earth
is such that the direction of the solar forces at sunrise is
contrary to that of the earth's own forces. This opposition
continues all through the morning until the sun reaches its
midpoint, so during the morning the terrestrial and solar
energies are antagonistic. During the afternoon, when the sun
begins to set it sends its radiations from another direction and
this direction is now in the same direction as the line of the
earth, from the relative point of the earth which is its day. So
we can see that during the afternoon the direction of the
terrestrial forces and solar energies is the same. This also has
important consequences for the human organism. The human
organism absorbs both terrestrial and solar energies. During
the morning when there is opposition between the solar and
terrestrial forces, the former exercise a destructive influence.
(There is no need to be afraid of this expression
destructivefor in the past millions of human organisms have
adapted themselves well to this destructive force. In fact, if
this destructive influence were to cease that indeed would
mean the destruction of the human organism!) Of what does
the destructive influence consist? It consists of the following
three functions of the three solar energies: a bactericidal
function, a vermicidal function and a toxicidal function. What
does this mean? The destructive function of the sun kills
bacteria in the human organism, and it counter-balances and
eliminates fermentation and toxins. So during the morning the
physiological influence of the sun is the greatest in the
exercise of these three functions. The human organism by its
adaptation in the course of millions of years takes advantage
of the destructive function of the sun during the morning, and
so we conclude from this that it is the morning which is the

period of strongest elimination for the human organism. It

must not be imagined that there is no elimination at other
times during the day or during the night; but during the
morning cycle elimination is predominant. And that is why
cosmotherapy does not recommend interrupting and halting
this eliminative function by breakfast. This point will be
referred to again when the question of diet is being
considered.
During the afternoon, on the other hand, instead of
opposition of the solar and terrestrial forces, there is a
conjunction of these energies, and instead of struggling with
each other they help one another and strengthen one another.
For this reason the physiological function during the afternoon
is constructive and is manifested by the construction of new
cells in the human organism. It has a constructive and
accumulative influence. So when the solar and terrestrial
energies help one another and strengthen one another, this
helps the accumulation of these energies in the human
organism. During the afternoon it is the accumulative
constructive functions which are predominant in the organism.
It is for this reason that we advise having a meal in the middle
of the day, for then during the afternoon the accumulative and
constructive forces of the organism assimilate and accumulate
into every cell the energies which come from the foods which
we eat. (Naturally if we eat toxins, the organism also
accumulates toxins.) So this accumulative constructive force
of the human organism is our friend, if we take advantage of
it, that is, if we introduce healthy, vital foods into our
organism at lunch, but it is a great enemy of our organism if
we introduce unhealthy, poisonous toxins. This accumulative
constructive function of the solar energies in the human
organism accumulates with the same precision during the
afternoon both toxic and healthy energies.
Now I wish to draw attention to the solar point of the
human organism. The solar point of the human organism is
determined by the meeting point of the seventh cartilages of
the thoracic system and the base of the sternum. One can see
these cartilages well in thin people. From this point
downwards the consistency of the sternum becomes
increasingly softer and this softer part of the sternum ends in
the solar plexus. This point has a very important role in the
human organism, for it has a special correlation, as the middle
point of the human organism, with the midpoint of the daily
path of the sun, with the sun's zenith expressed
chronologically by the twelfth hour of the day. For just as in
the heliodynamic line the eliminative influence of the sun ends
at 12.0 midday and the constructive influence begins, so
similarly with the human organism the predominance of the
eliminative function ends at the solar point and then begins the
predominance of the constructive functions.

If the human trunk and head are divided into 64 parts we

shall have 64 sections of the human organism. This division is
purely practical for the purpose of determining with ease the
point of local symptoms of the human organism. Now those
parts of the human organism which are below the solar point
we mark with a minus sign to indicate the predominantly
eliminative part of the organism. And those points which are
above the solar point we mark with a plus sign to distinguish
those points from the minus ones below. So the minus
anatomical points always represent the predominant
eliminative functions, while the plus abdominal points always
represent the constructive functions of the human organism.
If we examine different human organisms we shall find
that the solar point is not always in the same place with every
individual. The dimensions of the human organism are not the
same with every individual and similarly the proportions are
not the same.
There are 32 minus points and 32 plus points on the
Synthetic Chart. The dividing central point is the solar point,
but this is on the supposition that in the organism the solar
point is in the middle. But we find many patients whose solar
point is not precisely at the middle point of the trunk. It is
possibly at plus 1 or plus 2 above, or at minus 1, or minus 2,
or minus 3 below, etc. So we see that the
anthropophysiological line of each individual changes with the
individual, just as the heliodynamic line in every cycle of the
year also changes in its proportions. The natural forces and the
individual factors are thus in constant change. Now the chief
object of the cosmotherapeutic calculations is to establish
precise interrelations between the various constantly changing
systems of the cosmic forces, solar forces, terrestrial forces
and the internal factors of the human organism. For this reason
we have to project the anthropophysiological line on to the
different heliodynamic lines of each cycle of the year if we
wish to be precise in our calculations and in the therapeutic
application of the cosmic and natural forces. We must be
precise. The heliodynamic line determines the different
influences of the qualities of the natural and solar energies
during each cycle. It is only by this means that we can
introduce precision into the utilisation of the cosmic and
natural energies in therapy. Natural laws and forces do not
tolerate anarchy; they demand order and precision. Thanks to
the present state of mathematics, astro-chemistry and astrophysics, we can precisely calculate all the correlations of the
natural and cosmic forces, whether from a gravitative, electromagnetic or chemical point of view.
These charts are the result of these precise calculations,
arrived at through the use of differential and integral calculus.
The calculations demand special mathematical knowledge, so
the results of these calculations are given in the form of charts

in order to make it easier for those practising cosmotherapy to

use the natural cosmic energies and administer them to the
human organism of various individuals without being
compelled on each occasion to make fresh, complicated
calculations of the different correlations of the solar, earthly
and human energies. The charts and tables used in
cosmotherapy express the general and total correlations of the
cosmic, solar, terrestrial and human forces and their
parallelograms ready for practical use.
This system of charts and tables has been introduced to
make possible the practice of cosmotherapy by everybody and
not only by mathematicians, for there are very few
mathematicians on our planet, but very many sick in need of
help. If only mathematicians could practise cosmotherapy,
then it would not do much to improve the collective health and
longevity of society.
It is outside the scope of this book to give practical
illustrations of how to use the charts for the cycles of the year.
Precise instructions will be found in Book II. Suffice it to say
that from these charts can be calculated the most favourable
hours for air bathing, sun bathing and alternate water bathing
for patients with varying solar points during each season of the
year. Also the most favourable times for the treatment of local
symptoms can be calculated. Book II also gives detailed
instructions as to the manner in which the various applications
are to be made.
When the calculations are made for each cycle of the
year, it will be found that there is a considerable difference in
the times indicated for each cycle.
What is the significance of the difference of these times?
This difference of time always indicates a difference of quality
of the solar energies, with quite a different intensity in their
thermic and chemical influence. The times also have a
quantitative significance, showing the duration of the sun
baths and other applications. The calculations have a great
significance in determining the quality and quantity of the
natural energies which we administer to the organism. Just as
allopathic medicine prescribes so many grammes of drugs or
so many pills, so cosmotherapy prescribes for patients such
and such a quantity, quality and intensity of natural forces. For
instance, in the case of sun baths, the above-mentioned
principles determine the duration of the bath, which in turn
determines the quantity of solar energy absorbed. And the
determination of certain hours of the day for the bath also
determines the quality of the solar energies according to the
various cycles of the year, according to the hour of the day,
and according to the anthropophysiological measurements of
the individual. There is a triple dynamic united correlation in
the figures given by the charts. In general the instructions
given by naturopaths to their patients are vague. They tell the

patient to take sun or water baths, but give little indication

what should be their duration and time, how they should be.
taken and how the baths should be modified according to the
various seasons of the year. This must be remedied. Natural
medicine must be as precise and exact as mathematics,
chemistry or physics. We are working with chemical and
physical forces and must know precisely the duration, quality,
and quantity of these forces. We must give the patient exact
and precise instructions about each of these applications, and
in this way the anarchy which exists among the various
naturist systems can be eliminated. Until naturopathy becomes
exact and precise, it can never replace official medicine and
can never have such pretensions, for it is only an exact and
precise science which has the right to replace a less effective
science.
The charts are valid for zones of the temperate climate,
where there are periodical changes in the various seasons
where we have four seasons. For the equatorial and arctic
zones a different chart is required. When the charts are used in
the northern hemisphere of the temperate zone they must be
read as printed, but if used in the southern hemisphere for the
temperate zone, the cycles must be reversed, as the seasons are
just the opposite in the northern and southern hemispheres.
CYCLES OF THE DAY

It was stated at the beginning that there were also cycles

of the day. These cycles determine the best, favourable or
possible times for sleeping and eating and other occupations
and activities. The times depend on the cycles of the day for
various theoretical reasons which are described in Book II. For
instance, the favourable time for sleeping is the fourth cycle of
the day and the favourable times for meals are the beginning
and end of the second cycle of the day. In the rare cases where
people eat only once a day, then the favourable time is the
middle of the second cycle. These favourable or optimal times
are determined by the various cosmic and terrestrial forces and
their physiological influence on the human organism. The
state of the individual influences these times, so we see that in
certain cases of great intoxication we have to give the patient a
longer time for sleep than the time of the fourth cycle. So on
the charts, placed at the end of the book, the reader will see
the limits of the possible modifications according to the
factors and needs of the organism marked by dotted lines.
Similarly we find that children and old people need more sleep
than middle-aged people. In this case, too, we must indicate
the times according to the dotted lines in the charts.
It will have been noticed that the hours for sleeping given
by the charts differ greatly in' the different cycles of the year. I
draw attention to sleep as a process of detoxication and to the
relativity of the times for sleeping. Ill and intoxicated people

need a long time for sleep, while those who have not got
intense accumulations of toxins need very little time for sleep.
From practical experience in different climates with thousands
of patients, it has been found that the same individual who
before treatment needed ten or eleven hours sleep every day,
needs only half that time after treatment when detoxicated,
five or six hours of sleep a day being sufficient. So we cannot
speak of time for sleeping as a fixed rigid time. We must
distinguish between detoxicated and intoxicated organisms,
and to mark this distinction we have the favourable and the
possible times. The favourable times concern detoxicated
organisms. From practical experience in different climates and
zones, it has been found that detoxicated organisms generally
follow automatically without special instructions the times for
sleeping which you see under the heading 'favourable'. And
when we examine the various parallelograms of the cosmic,
solar and terrestrial forces during the various cycles of the
year, we find that the calculations give exactly the same times
as favourable for sleeping. So it is this convergence of the
inner needs of the human organism and of the parallelogram
of the external and natural forces which are the factors which
determine the favourable times for sleeping.
Now the other possible time for sleeping marks the limits
between which we can modify the favourable times for
sleeping. In the case of very intoxicated organisms,
particularly during treatment, when the organism experiences
a strong elimination of toxins and in the case of childrenin
whom the constructive work of the organism is heavymore
sleep is required. Similarly in the case of sick old people
whose weakness demands more rest and relaxation. For all of
them the possible times are indicated, marked by the dotted
lines outside the favourable times. To go beyond these times is
necessary only on very rare occasions, only in very rare
pathological cases. In general these possible limits of time
mark the maximum limits of sleep, for if the organism sleeps
more than necessary it is just as unfavourable as if the
organism eats more than necessary. Excess of sleep instead of
refreshing and strengthening the organism leads to tiredness
and depression. So generally we should not let people go
beyond the possible limits of time marked for sleeping.
With regard to the duration of the possible times for
sleeping, we can see that the duration changes according to the
various cycles of the year. For instance, we can see that the
minimum time for sleeping is from midnight to 4 a.m. If we
examine the life of the various animals living in nature and of
nature in general in summer, then we find that there is very
intense activity owing to the intensity of the solar terrestrial
energies. For this reason the time for rest for animals and man
during the summer is minimal. But if we examine the winter
cycle of the year, we shall find that it represents a general rest

and relaxation of plants, animals and man. It is the time when

the forces of nature are latent and is the. rest and sleeping time
of animals. So during the winter the time for sleeping is
double what it is in the summer. This is in harmony with the
diminishing solar rays during the winter, as the solar energies
are the great regulator of human activity on our planet and
also of the activities of plants, animals and of every part of
nature. The times vary in the other cycles, too, but always in
direct proportion to the increasing or diminishing solar
energies operating on our planet.
Similarly there are people who experience strong
elimination during treatment and who, if they had to wait until
twelve o'clock to eat, would have a strong elimination in
excess of the strength of resistance of the organism. For these
people, too, we must fix the possible times of eating before the
beginning of the second cycle of the day. These limits of
individual modification are also marked by the dotted lines.
As we see, the cosmic, solar and terrestrial radiations
determine the proper hours for sleeping and eating, while the
human organism as superstructure modifies and influences
them. So the unbroken lines indicate the time according to the
foundation, while the dotted lines mark the times according to
the superstructure. As the reader will see, the charts are
divided into four principal cycles by the unbroken lines. He
will also notice that there are several charts for the cycles of
the day varying with the cycles of the year. The cycles of the
year are determined by the elliptical path of the earth round
the sun, while the cycles of the day are determined by the
motion of the earth upon its axis, by a spiral motion. So in this
case the foundation is the elliptical path of the earth round the
sun, which is the determining factor, while the superstructure
is the motion of the earth upon its axis, which influences and
modifies. So the length and time of the cycles of the day
always depend upon the cycle in which the day we are
concerned with falls. As will be seen, the length of the cycles
of the day varies a great deal according to the particular cycle
of the year.
A study of the charts will show that the different cycles of
the year very strongly influence the cycles of the day. For
instance, the first cycle of the day during the fourth cycle of
the year is from 4 a.m. to midday, while during the eighth
cycle of the year it is from 8 a.m. to midday So we can see
there is a hundred per cent difference Similarly with the other
cycles.
The purpose of the charts is to make it easier for us to
adapt ourselves to the natural rhythms of the day and year.

Chapter XI
TREATMENT OF LOCAL SYMPTOMS
IT should be mentioned that the calculations of the
favourable times for hydrotherapeutic and heliotherapeutic
applications, etc., in accordance with the various cycles of the
year, and also the calculations of the favourable and possible
times for sleeping and eating are only concerned with general
treatment. For determining the favourable time for local
treatment of the different organs or parts of the body we have
a different system of calculation. The times vary according to
differences in structure of different individuals, according to
the varying positions of the solar point and the general
anatomical proportions of the individual. These structural
differences are very important but not so important as the
differences we are going to study now which relate to the
functional differences of different individuals. There are no
two individuals alike, just as there are no two leaves alike in
nature. There are great structural and functional differences
between different individuals, which necessitate differences in
treatment. Similarly the various organs of the human organism
according to their special function and structure also demand
special local treatment. I am not at all in agreement with the
simplistic naturist systems which draw up certain schemes of
general treatment and wish to fit every individual and every
disease into this rigid scheme and cure them all in the same
way. This is extremely unscientific and undialectical. A
medical system which does not take into account structural
and functional differences between different individuals and
the differences between the various organs of the organism
cannot be considered as a serious medical system. I hope that
this is only an infantile malady of naturopathy which it will
grow out of.
According to the fundamental principle of dialectics, if
we wish to understand something well we must examine and
study it in its origins. It is only thus that we can properly
understand its various correlations. We must not look at it as
something rigid and fixed, but must examine its origin, seeing
what factors and forces contributed to the beginning of the
thing, what forces created it, and what sustain it. We must
regard that thing as being in the midst of correlative forces
which determine and modify it, the forces which created,
sustained and developed it. In our study of the laws of organic
life we enquired into the origin and evolution of life. When we
wish to understand individual organisms well and the laws
which govern them, and also the causes which determine the
differences between individual organisms and the differences
in the various organs of the organism itself, we must begin and

examine the human organism from the very beginning. We

must begin our study at the moment of the conception of the
individual organism, at the beginning of its embryonic
development. We know that it is the spermatozoon and the
ovum which determine the genesis of the embryo structurally,
depending on their chemical and physical quality. And the
spermatozoon and ovum are themselves determined by
hereditary factors of the parents, so ontogenetic hereditary
factors play a large part from the point of view of the unity
and continuity of time. But after these determining factors we
must examine the special factors, the natural energies which
collaborated during the embryonic evolution of the human
organism. We know that during embryonic development the
embryo itself does not receive the direct influence of the
various natural forces and energies, but only gets them
indirectly through the organism of the mother. Now, if we
study the various cycles and spheres we see that varying
natural influences come from the hydrosphere, lithosphere,
atmosphere and stratosphere according to the various seasons
of the year. For instance, if the first weeks of embryonic
evolution are in winter quite different influences determine
embryonic evolution than if they are during the summer.
Similarly there are other influences in spring, and others again
in autumn. Embryonic development between conception and
birth continues for approximately nine months of the
chronological year so that every individual has three-quarters
of the year as his time of embryonic development and onequarter of the year during which he did not have embryonic
development. These three-quarters and one-quarter of the year
vary with different individuals. This is an important source of
differences between different individuals. We know that at
different seasons of the year different natural forces and
energies influence the organism, and in the different seasons
of the year different groups of forces are predominant. So each
individual has three months of the year which did not give
their energies during his embryonic development. For
instance, generally during embryonic development we can
distinguish three phases. During each of these three phases
there is a predominance of development of different organs,
structurally and functionally, particularly functionally. In the
first three months of embryonic evolution we have the
functional predominance of the cranial system in the evolution
of the embryo; in the second three months of embryonic
evolution we have the functional predominance of the thoracic
organs, and during the third three months of embryonic
evolution we have the functional predominance of the
abdominal organs. Now, what happens during the fourth three
months, during which the individual does not have an
embryonic evolution? Every individual has a preconceptional
period of three months before the collaboration of the

spermatozoon and ovum, which is very important, for these

three months are the time when structurally and functionally
the ovum and spermatozoon are evolving in the parents prior
to conception. So the life of the parents for three months
before conception determines qualitatively and quantitatively
from a chemical and physiological point of view the quality of
the ovum and spermatozoon. Recent research in this field tells
us that it is precisely during this period that the chemical and
physiological qualities of the spermatozoon and ovum are
determined, for the spermatozoon and the ovum have their
environment in the organism and it is this environment during
the three months which determines their quality. So the three
months before conception have a very great significance in the
embryonic development which comes after them. It is not at
all indifferent in what season these three months fall, for
natural and cosmic forces influence the organisms of the
parents during these three months. Whether they live healthily
or unhealthily during these three months, what material they
introduce into their organisms during these three months and
what are the constituent materials of the spermatozoon and
ovum which afterwards will form the embryo, all these factors
are important. These three months of the preconceptional
period coincide exactly with the first three months of the postnatal period. What is the significance of the three months of
the post-natal period? It is these three months which determine
from a functional point of view the evolution of the nervous
system, according to the first impressions received by the
optical organs, auditory and sensory organs, etc. The first
three months represent the first contact between the new-born
and his environment, and in this period there is the
predominant role of the development of the senses and organs
of the newborn from a functional point of view. So we see that
in addition to the three cycles of embryonic evolution every
individual has a double fourth cycle which consists of the
three months before conception and after birth, so it is a
double pre-conceptional and post-natal period, the decisive
one in the psychic development of the individual.
During every cycle of the year we have specific active
cosmic and natural forces according to the various succeeding
cycles. Now, it is not indifferent which specific cyclic
energies exist and collaborate in the formation of the various
organs of the embryo. For instance, if the evolution of the
abdominal organs of the embryo occurred during the three
winter months or during the three summer months, then there
would be quite different factors in each case, which determine
physiologically the abdominal system of the individual. And
similarly with the cranial and thoracic systems. (Vide Diagram
IX).
Those natural and cosmic forces which collaborated in
the embryonic evolution of certain organs are the most

favourable for curing diseases of those different organs. Just

as in general those forces which created and sustained the
evolution of life upon the planet are the most favourable for
curing diseases in general, so similarly the same factors which
collaborated in the origin and functional evolution of certain
organs are the most favourable for curing those organs. If, for
instance, a patient has a disease of the cranial system, then the
favourable cycle of the year for the local treatment of the
cranial system will depend upon the date of his birth.
Similarly, if instead of speaking generally of cranial,
thoracic and abdominal organs we wish to know the
favourable time for local treatment of each special part or
organ of the human body, that can be established. It is for this
reason that we have divided the trunk and head together into
sixty-four parts. In the study of anatomy the body is divided
into eight cross sections, but this is not sufficiently accurate
for our purpose. We must study sixty-four cross sections of
the human organism to be precise in the location of symptoms.
Cosmotherapy has introduced a special anatomical
topography which divides the human organism into sixty-four
cross sections, made simply for practical ends, in order to
enable us to have greater precision in the diagnosis of local
symptoms and to facilitate for us the various practical
calculations. The sixty-four divisions of the circumference of
a circle represents the sixty-four cross sections of the human
organism. If we have special local diseases in any
topographical cross section of the organism we can find the
favourable time for the treatment of that particular section.
This capacity has great important practical consequences, for
if an individual wants to treat certain organs locally then we
can choose and indicate the most favourable period of the year
for doing so. During this cycle the treatment can be effected
more rapidly than during the other cycles, with less effort and
less loss of time. Similarly if the individual starts treatment on
any given date, we can determine what part of his organism he
should concentrate on at that moment, according to the
parallelogram of the cosmic and natural forces at that time. If
the individual lives in harmony with the cycles of the year for
a year this is sufficient to cure his organism generally. But if
he has a special and severe local disease, then we must use the
optimal forces at the optimal times to obtain the optimal
results. We can indicate to the patient what special organs he
should pay attention to during such and such a cycle of the
year.

Chapter XII
THE NEW EUGENICS AND NATURAL BIRTH
CONTROL
PEOPLE pay great attention to the improvement or
perfection of the various species of domestic animals. Great
attention is paid to breeding increasingly superior horses and
dogs. There is a great specialist literature on the subject. It is
very strange that man pays the least attention to himself; much
less time and thought are devoted to the improvement of the
human race and future generations than to the improvement
and quality of animals. This is very sad, but true.
For instance, at present the time of birth of children is
entirely a matter of chance. We know that it is not indifferent
to the health of the child, whether its time of lactation
coincides with the warmest months or whether it is during the
colder months. Nor is attention paid to climate in the selection
of a favourable time for the birth of a child. Such an important
thing as the conception and birth of a child should be planned
and systematic. Then the physiological lives of the two parents
before conception and after conception should be considered.
If before the birth of the child the parents live completely in
harmony with the natural laws and do not intoxicate their
organisms, then they can leave a perfect physiological
heredity to the child. Even if the parents' physiological
inheritance is not favourable it can be improved and
counterbalanced. The complete vitality of the new-born child
depends simply on a few months and yet these very important
laws are completely ignored and no attention is paid to them.
Sexual life in common with every other function of the
organism depends on the various cycles and forces of the year.
For instance, just as a physiological activity such as sleep
follows the rhythm of the day and night, so does the process of
menstruation follow the rhythms of the month. Between the
waning and waxing of the moon and the process of
menstruation in woman there is a special correlation, for the
female organism follows the forces which are in strict
correlation with the rhythm of the moon. Naturally in the
course of our artificial civilisation man has lost all the natural
rhythms of his life. To-day we find abnormal differences in
the lengths of menstrual cycles. We do not now always find
the normal menstruation cycle of twenty-eight days, but also
have unnaturally longer and unnaturally shorter menstrual
periods, for instance, periods of twenty-seven, twenty-six and
twenty-five or twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one and thirty-two
days. And these irregularities which are generally regarded as
natural are not natural, but are a disease. These irregularities
are the punishment for not living in accordance with the

natural cycles and this inharmony with the natural cycle is the
cause of various serious irregularities in sexual life. Now, in
these cases, the first and most important thing to be done is to
make the menstrual cycles regular by a special diet and by
living in harmony with the rhythmic cycles of the year. It is
possible in a fairly short time to normalise the menstrual
cycles. This is very important, for without the regulation of the
menstrual cycles it is not possible to calculate accurately the
fertile and sterile days of the individual, and this is very
important, for there is a possibility of calculating those days. It
is even possible to calculate the days on which there is a
hundred per cent probability of conception and those on which
there is a seventy-five per cent and fifty per cent of
probability. This calculation is also very important, for the
knowledge of these correlations gives us the possibility of
controlling and governing in accordance with our own will the
time of birth of the child. Man must become the master of his
destiny in every manifestation of life, and particularly in such
an important matter as birth and the eugenic improvement of
the human race. It is possible for us to calculate the time
which is the most favourable for the child to be born and for
lactation. And we can arrange that the conception of the child
shall take place when our organism is sufficiently perfect and
healthy, so as to leave our children a heredity of high value,
which is worth more than any inheritance of money. We can
ensure the new-born a perfect vital organism which will give
him such a capital of vitality that he will never be ill. This is
our moral duty and our biological responsibility to the human
race and to its future. This ensures that each succeeding
generation is more perfect and healthy than its predecessor. I
consider this to be a very important branch of medicine. Man
rationalises all his industrial activities, but he neglects to deal
with the improvement of his own race. We must get rid of this
contradiction.
We need to be able to calculate the sterile and fertile days
of a patient (woman) so as to be able to give precise
instructions for two cases: (1) in case the patient wishes to
have children and wishes to determine the date of birth of the
child for various practical reasons, and (2) in the case where
for certain reasons the patient does not wish to have children.
This calculation has two purposes and in both cases it
concerns the good of the new generation. There are a number
of systems for calculation of the fertile and sterile days. There
are, for instance, the systems of Ogino and Knaus. I am very
appreciative of the work of Ogino and Knaus in this field, but
as a result of experiments with many thousands of patients in
various climates and continents I have found certain practical
disadvantages in their systems. When I gave instructions to
patients in accordance with the system of Ogino I found that
the time defined by Ogino for the fertile days was too long and

very often when I indicated certain favourable days to those

patients who wished to have children they did not get results. I
looked for the reason and I found that the period indicated by
Ogino was too long and that the first and last days of Ogino's
period were not fertile days. The error was caused by the fact
that Ogino only studied these correlations in one region and
afterwards he generalised that what was valid in Japan also
held good in other climates. This is not true, for sexual life
varies according to climatic zones. For instance, we know that
the sexual maturity of the woman is much earlier in the
tropical-equatorial climate than in our climate. So before
generalising a system, we must study its application in every
climate and region and it is only on the basis of such
observations that we can generalise any rule.
I also experimented with the system of Knaus and in
many cases when I marked the fertile and sterile days in
accordance with his system, there occurred disagreeable
surprises. Those days which Knaus indicated as sterile days
were not sterile at all. Just as Ogino gave too many fertile
days, so Knaus underestimated them. This led me to examine
this problem in different climates and in different continents
and the conclusions I have drawn are based on the observation
of over four thousand patients in different climates and
continents. On the basis of these calculations we can establish
with mathematical precision, not only the fertile and sterile
days, but also the degree of probability of conception on
certain intermediate days. For there is a seventy-five per cent
probability of conception on certain days, a fifty per cent and
twenty-five per cent probability of conception on others. So
the fertile and sterile days do not follow one another abruptly,
as supposed by existing systems, but, as in every field of
nature, there are transitory successive phases. We prefer to say
frankly to the patient that there are days when there is a
hundred per cent probability of conception and also certain
days when according to the statistics so far obtained there is a
seventy-five, fifty or twenty-five per cent probability. So when
we define the fertile and sterile days, we also define the
various percentages of probability on the intermediate days.
I will now ask the reader to turn to the 'Table of
Correlations Between Cycles, Menstruation, Ovulation,
Sterility, and Conception' at the end of the volume. I do not
wish here to go into details of the way in which this method is
established and calculated. We will assume that it is possible
to calculate the length of life of the male spermatozoa in the
female organism, to calculate how the spermatozoa change
their position in the various organs of the female organism and
how they adapt themselves to the various processes of the
female sexual organs, for these biological considerations alone
would take some pages to explain. We have only space for
making the practical calculations, and practice is more

important than theory. There is a very important thing to

which I wish to draw attention. First one must prepare the
menstruation calendar of the patient, but not just a calendar
based on memory. It should always be based on precise notes
kept of the dates on which menstruation began. I stress this,
for generally I have found in practice that people base their
calculations on memory and in eighty per cent of cases I have
found that memory has played them false. They say that they
have such and such an exact cycle of menstruation with such
and such a regularity and when they have afterwards written
down the dates they have found that the regularity was not
regular at all, and sometimes when they thought it was
irregular it was really regular. So first of all the most
important thing is to be precise in keeping the menstrual
calendar. The next important thing is: never base the
menstruation calendar on one, two or even three or four
menstruations. It is necessary to have eight or ten
menstruations as a minimum in order to be absolutely precise
and certain. I have very often noticed that menstruation
calendars prepared only on the basis of two or three
menstruations have been false and not at all precise. Now I
wish to draw attention to the third very important practical
consideration: never make the calculation beginning with the
past menstruation. Once a precise cycle of menstruation is
established and we know exactly how many days there are
between two menstruations, we must then project ahead the
day of the coming menstruation, and take that as the basis of
our calculations. These are the three fundamental mistakes
which are usually made and they must be avoided. First,
people compose the menstruation calendar relying on
memory; secondly, the calendar of menstruation is based only
on two or three menstruations, instead of on a minimum of
eight or ten; and thirdly, the calculation is made on the basis
of the last menstruation instead of the next ahead. Having
stressed these three important rules so as to avoid these three
most common errors, we will proceed to the calculations.
When we have projected ahead the coming menstruation, we
must then calculate back from it fifteen days, which gives us
the day of ovulation on which there is a hundred per cent
probability of conception. Next we must go back two days
from the day of ovulation. These two days and the day of
ovulation itself together form the three fertile days with a
hundred per cent probability of conception. Now we must add
one day before and one day after those three days, which will
be the days on which there is a seventy-five per cent
probability of conception. Then we must add a further day
before and after those five days, on which there will be a fifty
per cent probability of conception. And finally, we must add
one day before and after those seven days, on which there will
be a twenty-five per cent probability of conception, while all

the other days are absolutely sterile with absolute certainty

and precision. For detailed instructions how to use the table,
the reader is referred once more to Book II.
It will be seen that the table contains the various
menstrual cycles, both the twenty-eight day cycle and also
longer and shorter menstrual cycles, which makes it possible
to calculate the sterile and fertile days precisely in every
individual case. Generally it is preferable to regularise the
menstrual cycle if it is too long or too short. Regulation of the
menstrual cycle comes fairly quickly if the appropriate diets
are followed and if the patient lives in accordance with the
rhythmic cycles of the year. Now what are the symptoms
which show us that the patient's treatment is well on the way?
At the beginning of a natural diet we shall find certain
irregularities; sometimes menstruation will come prematurely.
Sometimes it will disappear and there will be nothing at all
during some months of treatment. Generally successive
menstruations change in colour and each is lighter in colour
than the previous one. The progressive lightening of the colour
means that the treatment is progressing satisfactorily, with
detoxication of the organism. When the colour finally
becomes completely natural, then the menstrual cycle will be
regular and it is then possible to determine what shall be the
day of birth of the child.
Pre-conceptional treatment is most important where the
parents feel biological responsibility for the life and health of
their children. It is particularly in the field of obstetrics and
gynaecology that cosmotherapy obtains the best results. In the
United States we obtained better results than ever before. As a
result of preconceptional and pre-natal treatment, the date of
the birth was precisely determined when the parents followed
all the instructions. The birth of the child always occurred
practically without pain and without any complications
whatsoever. In no case at all have we had complications, and a
few hours after birth the mother was in a completely natural
condition, without any exhaustion of her forces. And apart
from that a child born in this way never has the usual childish
ailments. Its weight at birth is more favourable than usual and
during its first months it is possible to see great differences in
the child's development compared with that of a contemporary
child inheriting various unfavourable dispositions from
parents with intoxicated organisms. So I consider gynaecology
and obstetrics as two of the most important branches of
medicine both from the point of view of positive eugenics and
from the point of view of the improvement of the human race.

Chapter XIII
EXTERNAL COSMOTHERAPY: AIR, SUN AND
WATER BATHS
WE have hitherto been concerned with the various
calculations of times of the external cosmotherapeutic
applications. We will now say something about the
applications themselves. The various heliotherapeutic and
hydro-therapeutic applications first appeared in the history of
modern natural medicine in the last century, being applied by
the German pioneers of nature cure. The chief characteristic of
these applications is that they are separate local applications
and are almost always carried out indoors in rooms and not in
the open air. These local external applications are indubitably
of great value, and an objective history of medicine would
certainly admit that from the time of Hippocrates, the father of
medicine, to the present day, medicine owes more to simple
laymen such as Priessnitz, Kneipp, or Rickli, than to official
practitioners. And we find that the early pioneers of
heliotherapy and hydro-therapy, who, when they were living,
were more or less excommunicated by official medicine, have
little by little been rehabilitated. For great truths have a
common fate. When they first appear, the official authorities
of the period say they are absurd, and do not even deserve
attention. After some years they admit that there is some truth
in the matter, but that it is not as important as is claimed.
Finally they say: 'Undoubtedly this discovery is of immense
importance, but we have always known and applied it
ourselves.' After a few more years comes the definite assertion
that the application in question is part and parcel of official
medicine. Such is the fate of great pioneers like Kneipp, Rickli
and others. If we examine the manuals of medicine used by
universities these applications occupy only a very small place
and they are attributed to much later official authorities who
servilely copied what had been established years before.
Another characteristic of official medicine is that even when it
has appropriated these values, they always remain simply and
theoretically considered as certain chapters of the manuals
which are very often mentioned but very seldom applied.
Neither hydro-therapy nor heliotherapy are really practised
very much by allopathic medicine.
I must here say something of the various local
applications. In many diseases these lead to good results in a
short time. Unfortunately the naturist systems consider one
application or a group of applications as the sole basis of
medicine and in general there is great antagonism between the
disciples of Kuhne, Schroth, Rickli, Priessnitz, Platen, etc. If
we examine the cause of these antagonisms, we find that it

was one-sidedness. For instance, the basis of the system of

Kneipp and Priessnitz was hydrotherapy; the basis of Rickli's
system was heliotherapy; the basis of Schroth's system was the
drying up of the organism, etc. Each system has undoubted
value and what they said or say is good and true, but it is not
sufficient, for they always become exclusivist systems and do
not wish to recognise the value of other systems than their
own. If the reader studies German naturist literature, he will
find a series of great polemics between the various naturist
schools. Each asserts that his own system is the only good one
and that the others are not worth much. So I consider onesidedness to be the weakest point of the various naturist
systems. Rickli, for instance, took no account of the laws of
diet and hydrotherapy, for to him the sun's rays were
everything. Priessnitz and Kneipp paid no attention to diet,
letting their patients eat whatever they liked, for they thought
that hydrotherapy was everything. Schlickheysen, author of
the famous book Obst und Brot concentrated exclusively on
diet and attached no importance to hydrotherapy or
heliotherapy. All these pioneers had some value, but all were
one-sided. We must learn from their mistakes and avoid the
greatest sin which exists in the world, the sin of one-sidedness
and dogmatism. We must take advantage of all true values in
every therapeutic system, whatever that therapeutic system
may be and whoever its author may be, even if it is mistaken
in many respects. We should none the less accept and profit by
those parts which are right and which have value.
Cosmotherapy applies and recognises the various applications
of these great pioneers even if now they or their disciples are
in conflict with one another, for within the bounds of
cosmotherapy the various applications live in peace together.
With regard to practical local applications we use the
most successful applications of Kneipp, Kuhne, Priessnitz,
Rickli, etc., leaving on one side those applications which in
practice have not proved efficacious. As may be seen from
Cosmos, Man and Society, and Book II of this volume, there
are various external local applications which we use. We use
them only in a certain way according to certain qualitative and
quantitative prescriptions. These applications only concern
local treatment, but the principal thing is always the general
treatment, the general renovation of the whole organism. But
the local treatment is also important, for it forms a dialectical
superstructure to the therapy. The general treatment
determines, while the local treatment influences and modifies.
Both have their right to existence and their importance. The
great discussion between various therapeutic systems whether
general treatment is the important thing or local treatment, is
like the problem as to whether the hen or the egg came first.
Both are very important and without the one the other is

without value and one must always apply both the local and
the general treatment together.
So far as external applications are concerned,
cosmotherapy has simply performed a work of synthesis.
From the various ancient therapeutic applications of the
Persians we have taken the various applications of mud
compresses. From the systems of German naturopathy we
have taken the various forms of hydrotherapy, and also vapour
baths, air baths, etc. We have grouped these on a certain
quantitative and qualitative system with reference to their
intensity and duration and we apply them in harmony with the
various optimal, favourable and possible times. We thus have
these applications in harmony with the cosmic and natural
forces. We synthesise their values and get rid of their onesidedness, at the same time putting them in a certain specific
correlation with diet (internal cosmotherapy). But
cosmotherapy has not only a synthesising and perfecting role;
it has also introduced two new synthetic applications which
are quite original: the cosmotherapeutic exercises and the
cosmovital bath. These two applications simultaneously unite
all the separate applications and administer them to the human
organism simultaneously with the dynamic, chemical, thermic,
optical and other forces. The former of these two important
applications is described and explained in Book II.
External cosmotherapy and its applications are in
completely correlative harmony with the diet (internal
cosmotherapy). These internal and external applications are
always simultaneous, complementary and correlative. The one
without the other can even have unfavourable results. For
instance, if by a very radical eliminative diet we create very
strong elimination in the organism, then provided the
eliminative organs, among which we number the skin, can
follow the accelerated and intensive rhythm which is dictated
by the eliminative forces of the diet, etc., all will be well. But
if the eliminative organs are not able to follow the rhythm
which is dictated, then the strong elimination provoked can
bring about very serious consequences in the organism. I have
observed hundreds and hundreds of accidents in the practice
of naturopaths who did not co-ordinate simultaneously the
internal chemical (dietetic) treatment with the external hydro-,
helio-, and rotherapeutic applications. In these cases a
representative of official medicine is apt to come along and
say: 'Now you can see the value of naturopathy. If the patient
had been following our treatment, he would still be alive. See
what the radical diet did; look at the result of sun bathing and
water bathing and so on.' And official medicine takes
advantage of such accidents to disparage natural medicine.
The incomplete practice of naturopathy endangers and
prejudices naturopathy. It is a prime necessity of naturopathy
that it should become really complete and precise and not be

one-sided. As long as naturopathy fails to grow out of its

infantile disorders of one-sidedness and dogmatism, it will
fail, but if it will form a united front and weld all the good
results of every system into a complete and practical system of
naturopathy, then (and not till then) will there be an end to
anarchy in medicine. Allopathy is already incapable of curing,
and naturopathy is also incapable. Between the two
incapacities hundreds of thousands of sufferers will continue
in misery and suffering. This state of affairs gives rise to a
very urgent and very important problem. It is our duty to solve
it.
In general what is the purpose of external cosmotherapy?
We can answer that on the one hand it must collaborate with
the internal cosmotherapy to facilitate the work of those
chemical forces which we introduce into the organism in the
form of food, while on the other hand it must accelerate the
general metabolism of the organism. Hence its role is a double
one. First, the elimination of toxic accumulations is more
intense and rapid. Secondly, the construction of new cells of
the organism is also more rapid. We know the physiological
law by which the cells of the organism are renewed every
seven years. If we can accelerate and intensify this general
renovation of the colls of the organism, then we achieve the
greatest results of the treatment. We can help nature. We need
not wait for a period of years in order to bring about this
renovation of cells. We can achieve this general renewal of the
cells in one or two years instead of seven years and in cases
where the individual strength of will and perseverance permit,
even in a shorter time. Naturally, if unfavourable hereditary
dispositions are present, then it can last a somewhat longer
time, but in very many cases we have found the general
renewal of the cells of the organism occurring in a year or
even ten months. So this is the chief purpose of the various
external and internal applications. As we see, nature works
through renewal and not through repair. It is much simpler to
renew cells than to repair them. Sometimes when the process
of renewal of the cells is impeded for various reasons, then if
the organism is compelled, it simply repairs the cells instead
of renewing them, but this repairing takes a very long time,
often a longer time than the renewal, and from the point of
view of its physiological value the repair is only ephemeral.
Renewal is far more permanent. Generally the classical
treatment of diseases consists of repairing, by balancing the
toxins by antitoxins. However, this equilibration is ephemeral
and not permanent, so equilibrium gained by renewal and not
by repair, by the elimination of toxic substances and the
construction of new substances, from a biological point of
view ensures a longer term of life to the organism. The basis
of cosmotherapy is thus renewal and not repair. Between
elimination and reconstruction, between the various

parallelograms of the different forces which play a part in this

process in the organism there must be a perfect automatic
equilibrium, for if there is not, this can result in severe
irregularities in the organism. So we co-ordinate all the
general and local applications of external and internal
cosmotherapy in accordance with certain quantitative,
qualitative and modal correlations that are expressed by the
various charts.

Chapter XIV
INTERNAL COSMOTHERAPY: FOODS AS MEDICINE
DIET is an extremely important subject, and in no field is
there greater chaos. First, we shall deal with diet from the
point of view of radiations, vitamins and calories; then we
shall say something about the problem of protein and the
problem of organic minerals in foods. After that we shall deal
with juicy fruits, vegetables, cereals, milk and milk products,
dried and oleaginous fruits, etc. We shall end with the general
and particular laws of diet and shall include the various
external cosmic and natural factors, paying due regard to
various individual differences. In this way all the main
problems of dietetics will be touched on and the various
contrary theses of the different naturist systems explained,
giving the solution of these problems from the
cosmotherapeutic point of view.
RADIATIONS

Let us begin with the problem of radiations. When the

various forms of cosmic energy come to the earth's
atmosphere they are transformed in the atmosphere, as we can
see in the case of the radiations of light. In this way the cosmic
energies reaching the earth are united with the organic life of
the earth and become cosmovital energies. First we have the
active pure form of the cosmic energies and then, when they
reach the atmosphere and botanosphere, these active forms of
the energies are transformed into accumulated form in various
fruits and vegetables, etc. Now when the fruits and vegetables
come into contact with the human organism and are
assimilated and digested, the accumulated energies in the
foods are re-transformed into active energies and these active
radiations influence our various glands and consequently the
whole metabolism of the human organism. The organism has
the role of a receiving apparatus of radiations and the fruits
and vegetables have the role of a broadcasting station which
emits radiations. Now our various organs assimilate these
various radiations during the process of digestion, and the
radiations being assimilated by the cellular vibrations of the
organism, the body then uses them to complete or refresh the
various substances of its tissues and cells and to create new
cells in the organism. In this way these active radiations are
re-transformed into accumulated radiations, as specific
cellular substances or energy. So we can see that there is a
great process of transformation between active and
accumulated forms of radiations. First, we have the active
form of radiations coming from cosmic space; secondly, we
have the accumulated form in the substance of various fruits

and vegetables, and thirdly, we again have the active form of

radiations becoming active on contact with the human
assimilative system, while, finally, having been assimilated by
the human organism they become once more in accumulated
form and constitute the specific energies of the various cells of
the organism.
VITAMINS

Parallel with this question we must examine the problem

of vitamins, for there is also a good deal of chaos in this field.
The classification and definition of vitamins is purely
hypothetical and is made according to the effect of these
hypothetical vitamins on the human organism. Their
classification states that the presence of such and such a
vitamin in the organism creates such and such an activity in
the human organism, while its absence causes such and such a
disease. But this vitamin has never been met with in any
material form, in any chemical retort or in any chemical
analysis, so it is an un-material enigmatic force which we
cannot demonstrate quantitatively. We can classify it,
however, by establishing that diseases arrive if it is lacking
and by establishing what activity occurs in the organism if the
vitamin is present. Such is the actual state of the problem of
vitamins. We cannot deny the existence of vitamins, though
we cannot demonstrate them quantitatively. Why cannot we
demonstrate them quantitatively? Because vitamins are not
substances, but simply certain modalities of the accumulation
of various radiations and certain modalities of the
disaggregation of these radiations. So from the point of view
of cosmotherapy the role of the vitamins is identical and
coincident with that of radiations. It will never be possible to
demonstrate quantitatively the existence of vitamins simply
because they do not exist in substantial form, as the official
point of view supposes. Without an analytical study of the
correlations of the transformation of the active forms of
radiations into accumulated forms and from accumulated
forms of radiations into active forces, the function of vitamins
can never be precisely known and they will always remain on
a hypothetical basis. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see what
official science has established with regard to vitamins.
Everything which it is essential to know about vitamins is
contained in the following table. Since the classification of
vitamins into vitamins A, B, C, D, etc., is in common use, we
use the same classification in our dietetic chart, but we stress
the cosmotherapeutic conception of vitamins which identifies
their function with the radiations, specifically with the
cosmovital radiations accumulated in fruits, vegetables, and
other natural foods. We therefore have a different
classification to that of official science, but before speaking of
that, we must know the official classification.

VITAMIN CHART
VITAMIN A

Functions
1. Promotes tissue formation
2. Increases blood platelets
3. Promotes growth and feeling of well-being
4. Promotes appetite and digestion
5. Prevents infections, notably of eyes, tonsils, sinuses, air
passages, lungs, and gastro-intestinal tract
Results of Deficiency
1. Loss of appetite
2. Retardation of growth and development
3. Physical weakness
4. Susceptibility to disease of the eyes (night blindness)
corneal ulcers, ears (otitis media), kidneys (renal calculi)
5. Disease involving the air passages, lungs, skin, bladder,
stomach and colon
6. Influences reproduction by failure of ovulation
7. Secondary anmia
8. Excessive growth of the lymphoid tissue
9. Dullness or perversion of special senses
Results of Absence
1. Xerophthalmia (eye inflammation and ulcers)
2. Cessation of growth
3. Failure of appetite and digestion
4. Formation of pus in ears, sinuses and glands at base of
tongue, pyorrhea
5. Prevents conception by failure of ovulation
Most Reliable Sources
Whole milk, butter, cheese, egg yolk, glandular organs
(especially liver, heart, kidney and fat), thin green leafy
vegetables, yellow corn, yellow sweet potatoes, carrots and
other naturally yellow and green foods.
VITAMIN B

B-l, pellagra preventing factornot destroyed by heat

B-2, growth promoting factornot destroyed by heat
B-3, nerve nourishing factordestroyed by heat
All cooked foods are deficient in this nerve and brain
nourishing element, depending on the degree of heat and the
time the food is exposed to the heat.
Functions
1. Increases appetite
2. Promotes digestion
3. Promotes growth by stimulating metabolic processes

4. Protects body from nerve and brain disease and certain

painful infections
5. Increases quantity and improves quality of milk lactation.
Mothers who do not have enough milk usually lack vitamin
B
Results of Deficiency
1. Impairment of appetite and digestion
2. Loss of weight
3. Loss of vigour
4. Constipation
5. Emaciation
6. Subnormal temperature
7. Enlargement of adrenals
8. Increase in size and weight of the thymus, pancreas, testes,
ovaries, spleen, heart, liver, kidneys, stomach, thyroid and
brain
9. Various manifestations referable to the nervous system,
leading to paralysis of groups of muscles
Results of Absence
1. Beri-beri (paralysis of certain groups of muscles)
2. Peripheral and other forms of neuritis
3. Atrophy of certain lymphoid tissues throughout the body
Most Reliable Sources
Whole grain cereals, milks, peas and beans, raw fruits,
buttermilk, vegetables, egg yolk, honey, and many other
foods.
VITAMIN C

Functions
1. Regulating substance
2. Prevents scurvy Results of Deficiency
1. Tendency to bruise easily, producing 'black and blue' marks
on the skin
2. Loss of weight
3. Physical weakness
4. Shortness of breath
5. Rapid heart action
6. Rapid respiration
7. Tendency to hmorrhage
8. Reduced haemoglobin
9. Increase in weight of adrenals
10. Reduced secretion of adrenals
11. Decrease in weight of spleen, liver, stomach and intestines
12. Necrosis of pulp of teeth. Pyorrhea and most cases of tooth
decay are due to vitamin C deficiency
13. Friability of bones
14. Swelling and redness of gums

15. Tendency to disease of blood vessels and heart

Results of Absence
1. Scurvy
Most Reliable Sources
Oranges, lemons, tomatoes, bananas and other raw
vegetables, sprouted grains, green leafy vegetables, potatoes,
milk, raw cabbage and other foods.
Vitamin C is not stored in the body; a fresh supply must
be had every day.
VITAMIN D

Functions
1. Controls calcium equilibrium and regulates mineral
metabolism
Results of Deficiency
1. Muscular weakness
2. Instability of the nervous system
3. Lack of resistance against tuberculosis and other infections
Results of Absence
1. Rickets
2. Deformation of bones
3. Tuberculosis
Most Reliable Sources
Egg yolk, whole milk, exposure of naked skin to
sunshine. Few foods contain vitamin D. Nature expects the
animal to get this vitamin from the sunshine by the short wave
length rays changing the ergosterol in the skin into vitamin D.
VITAMIN E

Functions
1. Exercises a determining role in reproduction by failure in
placental function
2. Probably concerned in the metabolism of iron; has to do
with preventing anaemia
Results of Deficiency
1. Glandular disorders
2. Tendency to anaemia
3. Rheumatic and gouty tendencies
Results of Absence
1. Sterility
2. Pancreatitis, hypertrophy of the liver, diseases of the spleen
3. Anaemia

Most Reliable Sources

Whole grain cereals (whole wheat, whole corn, maize,
etc.), milk, vegetables and raw fruits, and other foods.
The table given above is a summary of the official
conception with regard to vitamins. As we shall see later, it is
right in many things it establishes and wrong in many others.
For instance, it establishes the existence of various very
important vitamins in various animal organisms and
recommends them as a valuable source of vitamins. Even if
we were inclined to admit the existence of vitamins in
substantial form in the various parts of animal meat, we
should nevertheless object. For toxins exist alongside the
vitamins in the meat. We must consume those vitamins which
are not connected with toxins in preference to those which are
indivisible from toxins. If we examine the source of these
vitamins, it is certain that they cannot be created in some
mysterious way in the inside of the animal. The animal must
absorb these forces of vitamins from somewhere. It gets its
supplies of vitamins by assimilating vegetables or by direct
absorption of them from the sun or atmosphere. Why should
we not introduce these matters at first hand into the human
organism in their original form, instead of in their altered form
accompanied by toxins? The conception that the liver contains
valuable vitamins and the recommendation of it for a food is a
specific example of undialectical, static ways of thinking
which are based on the assumption that 'A is equal to A', that
one vitamin is equal to another without any correlation with
the other factors in time and space. Toxins exist alongside this
fictitious vitamin. These fictitious vitamins must have an
origin somewhere. We must examine this origin and take
advantage of the forms of vitamins which are superior in
origin. These very simple dialectical considerations are very
important in any effort to solve the problem of vitamins.
When cosmotherapy speaks of vitamins it does not speak
of them in the same exclusive sense as the official point of
view. We speak only of the predominant vitamins, so the
vitamins we specify are not the exclusive vitamins in a
particular food, but simply predominant ones, for generally
there is a coexistence of the various forms of vitamins with
one predominant. The atmosphere contains the totality of the
various specific natural energies, but in certain specific
accumulations of these energies a particular form of vitamin
predominates, but not to the complete exclusion of the others.
CLASSIFICATION OF FOODS

We must next explain how cosmotherapy classifies

various foods according to the various radiations they contain.
Those foods whose form of special existence is beneath the
earth, like the various tuber vegetables, carrots, turnips, beets,
etc., have a predomination of the terrestrial radiations, for in

their special environment the energetic forms of the

lithosphere predominate. In those vegetables whose spatial
position is on the surface of the earth, as, for instance, the
various green leaf vegetables, we say the solar radiations
predominate. In those fruits which grow on trees above the
ground the accumulation of cosmic radiations predominates.
Now this spatial classification is not complete, for we must
also classify them from the temporal point of view. Those
vegetables and fruits whose evolution to a large measure
happens in a certain cycle of the year contain the specific
natural and cosmic energies predominating in that particular
cycle. Classification is necessary both from a temporal and
spatial point of view. Always when we wish to analyse and
define the value of the radiations of this or that fruit or
vegetable, we must examine its environment. We must see
whether it is in the atmosphere or in the lithosphere, we must
consider it from the spatial and from the temporal standpoint.
We must see what specific energies accompanied its growth
during the particular cycle of the year when it was developing,
and also whether it grew below or above ground or on a tree.
These two considerations together will define the
characteristics and values of the radiations of the food. But
there are also foods which contain not only cosmic, solar and
terrestrial radiations, but other radiations as well. For instance,
milk and milk products, honey and eggs have a different
environment to that of the plants from which these products
are derived. They also contain animal radiations and their
value depends on the vitality of the animal organism which is,
on its part, determined by the specific energies of its cellular
vibrations. The vibrations are transmitted by the animal to the
milk and this can be either favourable or unfavourable to the
human organism. Similarly human milk contains human
radiations by virtue of the cellular vibrations of the mother's
organism. Naturally, the dietetic effect upon the organism of
the different foods which contain various specific radiations
will not be the same in every case. We know that the human
organism represents a special vital equilibrium between the
external cosmic and natural radiations and the internal cellular
vibrations. This equilibrium is what we call health, vitality.
When this equilibrium is disturbed for any external or internal
cause we call this a pathological state of the organism and
from the nature of this disturbance we say that the person has
such and such a disease, and the most important thing to be
done is the re-establishment of this equilibrium between the
internal cellular vibrations and the external natural and cosmic
radiations. The human organism moves in a field of various
forces and energies coming from all the various spheres which
provide different specific forms of energy from without to the
inside of the organism, and also by the assimilation and
digestion of food the organism accumulates in an indirect way

the various and specific energies of the various spheres

atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, etc.which are
accumulated in the various fruits and vegetables. The chief
purpose of the cosmotherapeutic diet is thus the establishment
of such a proportion between the various foods, such
quantitative and qualitative proportions as will guarantee the
maintenance of this special vital equilibrium which we call
vitality or health. So in cosmotherapy the proportionality, both
quantitatively and qualitatively, between the various
categories of foods which accumulate various different
categories of radiations is very important. As we shall see,
cosmotherapy lays down these various proportions with far
greater precision than any other dietetic system. Having regard
to the coincidence of vitamins and radiations, this is really a
very important consideration.
CALORIES

Next to the problem of vitamins, it is the calorie theory

which causes the greatest chaos in dietetics. What is this
theory of calories? The classical definition of calories by
which the energy value of food is measured is well-known. A
large calorie is the amount of heat required to raise one
kilogram of water one degree Centigrade. I have no objection
to this, for to define or measure a quantity is quite a scientific
conception. To define the system of measurement of the
specific energy is all right, and so is the next step in the calorie
theory which is the appearance of the calorimeter in which the
substance of various foods is burnt and in which the energies
produced by this burning are measured. I have no objection to
this either. So far all is in order. But now comes a great hiatus
in the theory of calories. The calorie school confound the
human organism with a calorimeter and thinks that the energy
which is produced in a calorimeter by the burning of a
particular food is the same as that produced by the process of
digestion, assimilation and combustion in the human
organism. This great logical (?) jump is truly one of the most
ridiculous and unscientific errors of official dietetics, and is
another very accentuated example of undialectical, static
methods in thinking. First, in the human organism we have far
more complicated processes than in the calorimeter, for if we
burn particular food in calorimeters every calorimeter gives
the same result, but not every organism. For instance, an
organism doing muscular work and another organism leading
a sedentary life take quite a different advantage of the various
calories, the process of oxidation and assimilation being quite
different in the different organisms. Similarly they are quite
different in children and in old people, in the female organism
and in the male organism. The process differs according to
different climates and zones: it differs with the various
seasons of the year and lastly it depends on the digestive

function of the individual and there are not two individuals

with the same digestive system. For instance, certain defects
of the digestive organs can have the result that the organs
cannot take advantage at all of the calories, while a favourable
state of the digestive organs of another individual can make it
possible for him to take far more advantage of the calories. So
this identification of the calorimeter with the human organism
is one of the greatest of scientific absurdities.
It is sufficient for us just to glance at the various calorie
systems to see immediately their absurdity without any logical
analysis. The greatest authorities on the calorie system and
theory are diametrically opposed to one another with regard to
the practical fact of how many calories the human organism
needs during the day. Some say 1,800, others 2,400, others
2,800, while others say 3,200 or as much as 3,600 and 3,800.
So we can see that between 1,800 and 3,800 there is a
difference of nearly three hundred per cent. There is really
great chaos and it is natural that there should be, for if the
fundamental theory is false, practical consequences must also
be false. One scientist makes his observations upon an
organism whose special organic state makes it possible for
him to take more advantage of calories, so that he needs less
of them. Another scientist makes experiments with other
individuals whose organisms for certain internal organic
reasons cannot take such complete advantage of the calories,
so those organisms need more calories. So we can see that
individual differences are the measure of all things,
particularly in relation to calories, and really it is laughable to
see that even to-day great authorities prescribe for their
patients so many calories per day on the basis of the holy
trinity of fat, protein and carbohydrates. They carefully define
how many calories the individual should consume each day
and ordain a certain special proportion between protein, fat
and carbohydrates. In view of the fact that in the
cosmotherapeutic diet foods play the part of medicines, it is a
very important consideration that prescriptions should be
accurate. A mistake in diet is as serious as making a mistake
in the quantity of morphine in a prescription. Contemporary
medicine has gone very far from the father of medicine,
Hippocrates, who said 'Let food be your medicine and let
medicine be your food'. But Hippocrates gave much superior
dietetic advice in spite of the fact that in his time there did not
exist modern chemistry and biology. He is much more precise
than the whole system of calories or than the theory of the
holy trinity of protein, fat and carbohydrates and other
scientific absurdities.
The calorie affair supports the classical definition of
Voltaire, the most brilliant spirit of Western culture, in his
criticism of medicine: 'Doctors introduce medicaments of
which they know very little into patients of whom they know

even less, against diseases of which they know nothing at all.'

If we examine objectively the true scientific foundations of the
most popular theories of diet, we must recognise that Voltaire
is right. If in practice we examine what healthy people in
various climates and continents eat, then we find that,
according to the calorie theory, they would long ago be dead
of starvation, for they do not have the necessary amount of
calories or the proteins that the official system prescribes. Yet
we see, as I have myself in Asia, Africa, and also in America
and the Polynesian Islands, that everywhere men exist in very
good health and enjoy great strength in spite of the fact that
they live quite out of harmony with the theory of calories and
protein. So how is this? It is that the theory is not in
accordance with the facts. What is the answer of official
science to this? Another story gives it. When Hegel in his old
age gave his famous lecture at the University in Berlin on the
most fantastic construction of idealist philosophy, young
Schopenhauer was present and called out to Hegel: 'Master,
your theory is not in accordance with the facts.' Hegel with
immovable tranquillity answered: 'So much the worse for the
facts.' And that is the answer of official science, particularly in
the field of dietetics. But there is a very dialectical Latin
proverb which says: 'Contra factum nihil argumentum.' We
must consider the science of dietetics on the basis of facts, of
empirical facts, proved everywhere and always by
experiments. We must base dietetics not on theses, theories,
hypotheses and fictions, but on the firmer and more solid basis
of the empirical facts of reality which can always be
experimented with and proved.
THE PROBLEM OF PROTEIN

A few words are necessary upon the protein problem.

Here too, as with the other problems, there are two extreme
standpoints. According to one conception, as was mentioned
in speaking of the holy trinity of protein, fat and
carbohydrates, as much as a hundred grams of protein are
required each day. The official conception demands about
fifty grams of protein, but this ration of protein does not seem
to be demanded by practical experience. The theory of
proteins is very hypothetical and artificial and is rather
schematic for every individual. As I mentioned, I have seen in
various climates and continents great masses of people feeding
on much smaller amounts of protein who enjoy much better
health than we do eating this large amount of protein. Indeed,
excesses of protein seem to provoke rather dangerous
illnesses, so we consider the official ration of protein to be too
high. And in addition the official conception specifies meat
protein for the majority of the amount of protein. We protest
against this for the same logical reason that I mentioned in the
case of vitamins. We must take the protein from sources

where it is not accompanied by toxins, as is the protein of

meat. The proteins of oily fruits, of cereals and of fresh cheese
represent superior forms of protein for us.
At the other extreme stand certain naturist systems which
say that it is sufficient to eat fresh fruits and vegetables alone
in order to satisfy completely the needs for protein of the
organism. We must similarly protest against this conception. If
we examine the protein content of the human organism, we
can establish quite clearly that juicy fruits and vegetables
cannot satisfy the protein needs of the organism and this
certainly leads to a deficiency of protein which also causes
severe diseases, no less than excess of protein. So we must
declare that fruits and vegetables contain an insufficiency of
protein, even if for this heresy we are excommunicated by
certain naturist systems. Unfortunately this constant repetition
is not supported by scientific facts and proofs, and even if it is
accompanied by certain pseudo-scientific explanations, they
are false.
The cosmotherapeutic diet specifies a certain just
proportion between protein and the other elements of the diet;
it advises taking five per cent of dried fruits, nuts, cheese, etc.,
for these foods represent the most valuable source of protein,
and also ten per cent of cereals which complete the source of
protein. The quantity of protein which cosmotherapy specifies
is approximately in between the ration of official allopathic
system and that of the extremist naturopathic systems.
ORGANIC MINERAL SALTS

We must now consider the various organic minerals like

potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur,
silicon, chlorine, etc. These materials play a very important
part in human metabolism. Until recent years these mineral
constituent elements of the diet, the Cinderella of dietetics,
were completely unknown. This was unfortunate, because
they play a large and very important part in the functioning of
the human organism. We know that these mineral elements
form the elements of the lithosphere in our diet. These
different mineral elements are absorbed from the earth by
plants and trees. They are transformed into organic form by
the plants and thus introduced into the human organism. Just
as the source of alimentary energies for the human organism is
the vegetation of the earth, so the source of energy for earthly
vegetation is the lithosphere (the earth) and also the
hydrosphere and atmosphere and the solar energies. So it is
not indifferent for the human organism what is the state,
quality and wealth of the earth, for the vegetation of the earth
nourishes man, and here is the importance of the hygiene of
the earth. Without a healthy earth there cannot be a healthy
race.

Here I must stress the error of the official allopathic

systems and also of the various naturist systems, who, when
they speak of a tomato, carrot or apple, speak of these fruits as
if they were always the same. Unfortunately, in practice they
are not the same. Each soil differs from another according to
its mineral content, and similarly every fruit varies from
another according to the mineral content of the earth. I speak
not of the difference between different fruits, but of the
difference between two fruits of the same kind. If we examine
tomatoes growing in fifty different places, we shall find that
the dietetic value of the tomato is different in every case,
simply for the reason that the mineral content of the various
regions is different. I repeat that we consider foods as
medicines and so we must be as precise in the dosage of foods
as we should be of drugs. So I consider it a great error on the
part of allopathic medicine and also of the various naturist
systems to speak undialectically and statically about tomatoes,
carrots and apples, for these names do not always indicate the
same substance. I have found in my practice a series of grave
illnesses due to deficiency of these mineral elements among
naturists and naturopaths who were vegetable and raw food
eaters of ten, twenty and thirty years standing and who
claimed to have the most healthy diet existing. I have found
that many naturopaths consequently lose faith in natural
medicine, for they themselves become ill and they see their
patients becoming ill and do not understand the reason. Their
diet, they think, is perfect; they eat fruits and vegetables; they
sun-bathe and water-bathe; they live in the fresh air, and yet
from time to time they become ill themselves. This is a very
dangerous thing for the naturist movement, for it gives an
opportunity for calumnies by official medicine and also gives
certain naturopathic systems doubts concerning the value of
natural medicine. The first mistake provokes the second, the
second the third, and finally we have a great chain of
erroneous statements. For instance, a fairly large number of
naturist systems in America specify the eating of a certain
amount of fish, for in their practice they have found that fruits
and vegetables are not sufficient as medicine for the human
organism. These people say that fish contains a great deal of
organic minerals absorbed from the water of the sea, an
amount which fruits and vegetables do not contain. Therefore,
in order to avoid a deficiency of these mineral materials, we
should eat fish. But they forget two facts. In addition to this
rich mineral content, the fish also contains toxins which
produce various diseases of decomposition and fermentation
in the organism. Metabolism in the organism of the fish is
even more imperfect than it is in other animals, so the toxins
of the fish are even more unwholesome than those of other
forms of meat. I mention this for generally it is suggested that
fish is less harmful than meat. And the second fact which

these naturopaths forget is that if one produces the fruits and

vegetables in such a way that they contain all the necessary
organic materials, and if one completes them with cereals and
dried fruits, nuts and fresh milk products, then there is no need
at all to eat fish. Every organism is completely satisfied by
fruits, vegetables, cereals and the other more concentrated
foods enumerated, both from the point of view of organic
minerals and also from that of protein and of other numerous
nutritive elements.
This brings us to another very important problem. Not
only do our fruits and vegetables not contain the necessary
organic minerals owing to the deficiencies of the earth itself,
but they contain various chemicals, which are introduced into
them in the form of various fertilisers introduced into the
earth, or else of sprays turned directly on to the plant or added
afterwards to keep the fruit or vegetable in good condition. It
is in these three ways that fruits and vegetables absorb
chemical poisons. First we have mineral deficiencies in our
fruits and vegetables, and secondly we have the addition of
various minerals and poisons. Thus on the one hand, the
organism does not receive all it needs, while on the other, it
receives chemicals and poisons which it does not at all need
and which are even dangerous to it.
There is a third problem also. Generally fruits and
vegetables are picked unripe, before their natural sugar has
evolved. Thus these fruits and vegetables also contain
deficiencies, for they are not allowed to mature. The various
chemical processes which ought to go on in the fruits and
vegetables are cut short, so the human organism has not the
energies in the form of the constituents of these fruits and
vegetables which it needs in their perfect form.
We have five chief problems. First the hygiene of the
soil; secondly that we should not gather green fruits and
vegetables; thirdly that we should take care that the earth
which produces the food should contain no artificial mineral
elements; fourthly that we should not add chemicals and
poisons to the earth; and fifthly that we should not spray the
fruit with poisons either on the plant or during storage. I
consider these five problems as fundamental problems of
dietetics and of naturopathy, for our medicines are fruits and
vegetables. If the medicines are imperfect and have a bad and
dangerous effect, then our whole system is false and bad. So
the problems of dietetics begin with the earth and continue
with the rational hygiene of the plants and with a rational
preservation of the fruits and vegetables. Only afterwards can
we speak of the various other problems which are now being
discussed by naturist dietetic systems. We must look at these
problems of dietetics in a dynamic totality and examine all the
various factors. It is only then that we can have the possibility

of laying down a really scientific diet, which will be effective

not only in theory, but in practice.
It is an urgent necessity, first, to determine how we can
maintain the health of the soil and ensure the best possible
metabolism of the earth and its maximum fertility. We must
ensure that the earth will contain all the different mineral
elements which are necessary for the plantsand this without
using chemicals and poisons for the fertilisation of the earth.
Next we must consider how we can produce and develop
plants and trees in the best form so that they can absorb all the
maximum sources of energy from the earth, air, water and sun,
and how we can ensure that our plants will contain all the
necessary mineral matters without adding chemicals and
unnatural fertilisers and without spraying the plants with
chemicals. We must ensure the health of the plants and their
immunity to disease without the use of chemicals and other
unnatural products. Plants living in healthy soil are immune to
every disease and it is completely superfluous to use
chemicals against disease, for the vitality of the plant and its
natural source of energy and its natural environment assure it
sufficient strength to resist the disease. Just as the organism of
a healthy vital individual is able to resist disease, infections
and microbes, so the healthy organism of a plant produced by
optimal methods in healthy soil is always capable of resisting
those diseases which now destroy a large part of our products
and which oblige us to use various chemicals.
Lastly there is the problem of how we can mature fruits
and vegetables until their natural process of development is
fully accomplished and how we can preserve them (naturally
within the limits of possibility) in a completely natural way
without the aid of useless and dangerous chemicals. If we
cannot achieve all the preceding preconditions, then there
never will exist a perfect diet, for all the other problems of diet
are only derivations of these fundamental considerations.
Existing dietetic manuals, whether official or naturist, in
ninety-nine per cent of cases ignore this fundamental problem,
for they do not examine the correlations in their dialectical
totality. They do not follow the origin and various
transformations of the various energies and they do not
observe what transformations they are subject to before they
are ready for human consumption. They examine these facts
only in their last form, fruit as fruit and vegetable as
vegetable. Whence it comes, where it was produced and in
what soil it grew, with what fertilisers it was nourished, how it
was picked, and how preserved: these things seem to play
quite a secondary part. They simply give a classification of
different names of fruits, with suggestions for their use. This
state of things is very sad and is the reason for all the present
contradictions and errors in dietetic science. The best
agricultural methods and the way to obtain them are such

important subjects that something must be said about them in

the third part of this volume.
DIETETIC CHART

In the next chapter will be found a dietetic chart

containing the various correlations of the radiations, vitamins,
calories and mineral matters which are accumulated in the two
hundred foods which form the cosmotherapeutic dietetic
system. The various products of various climates have been
selected in such a way that the inhabitants of every climate
and zone can choose according to their taste those products
which are available in their region. Generally most dietetic
manuals are based on the products of one or another climate.
Dietetic manuals published in the northern temperate zone
contain predominantly, though not exclusively, the products of
that region. Dietetic manuals published round the
Mediterranean contain the Mediterranean products, while in
sub-tropical countries the manuals contain generally the local
tropical products. But this is not right, as we should collect all
the fruits, vegetables and other products which are at our
disposal from every climate and zone, for they form our
arsenal in the struggle against disease, and in many cases we
can make very good use of certain products which are not the
products of our own climate. This is so, in spite of the fact that
generally local products are advisable, but in certain cases and
for the treatment of certain diseases the products of other
countries can also be very useful. Dietetics must be based on
all the wholesome products of every climate. Our arsenal must
be complete, for it is only then that we can ensure triumph
over disease.
The reader can compare on the chart the various
proportions of the constituents of every food with the same
proportions and constituents in the human organism. We must
always relate the various correlations of the various products
to the human organism, and must see in what proportion all
the different chemical elements, vitamins, radiations, etc.,
exist in the human organism and in what proportion they play
an active part in the various organs and parts of the human
organism and in its general metabolism. In this way we can
use according to preference the various foods, taking into
account the various local deficiencies of the organism. This is
also an important consideration which is often neglected by
dietetic systems.
It will also be noticed that a certain proportion is laid
down for each of the various categories of food. This
quantitative proportionality is also very important, for between
the proportions of the human organism and its constituents
and the proportions of the various categories there should be
harmony and agreement. This quantitative determination must
not be dogmatic or fixed, but must vary according to various

individuals and also according to the various biological states

of the same individual, according to the individual's weight,
sex and age, to his muscular or intellectual activities, to the
climate where he lives and to the seasons when he is using the
diet. Similarly the way in which to prepare the foods, the way
to eat them, in what co-ordination, how to masticate, etc., are
all fundamental correlations of dietetics, and if we examine
the various dietetic manuals we must admit that eighty per
cent of these fundamental correlations are almost always
neglected. Each system specifies certain considerations, but
each of them neglects the majority of the other considerations,
so each dietetic system is based on a group of principles which
are not complete, and in consequence they cannot be effective.
Hence it follows that their practical therapeutic value is also
imperfect, and from this spring also other dangers. When
people have finished with allopathic systems and in the
urgency of their illnesses look on all sides for something else,
they begin to study the various unofficial therapeutic systems.
They study a manual and begin to follow it, but owing to the
incompleteness of the system it does not bring the desired
results. They then begin to study another system and with
great astonishment they find that this system almost always
says exactly the opposite to the other system, so then they go
on and examine a third, fourth and fifth system to see which is
right. Then they are surprised to find that the directions given
by these various systems are diametrically opposed or
contradictory in many essentials, for those foods which one
system considers as dangerous are recommended by the other
as very good dietetic foods, and vice versa. With regard to the
various foods there is great chaos with regard to their
compatibility and incompatibility. Each system lays down
artificial and completely unscientific laws and each
contradicts the others, with the logical consequence that the
patient loses his head completely and throws away all the
manuals, abandons the possibility of finding a precise diet and
goes back to the traditional diet, beginning again to eat
everything which he was eating before.
The result of the one-sidedness of these various systems
constitutes a great danger which can be fatal to the interests of
the naturist movement as a whole. The masses have already
lost confidence in the official allopathic diet, but have not yet
got confidence in the naturist diet, and the responsibility for
this lies largely with the various onesided naturist systems. It
is necessary to have a dietetic system uniting all the scientific
facts and the true dietetic laws contained in the various
systems and free from all their various errors and
imperfections. By what method this is possible we will now
consider.
If the reader observes carefully the method by which we
have examined the various problems of dietetics, he will see

that first the extreme conservative viewpoint of official

science with regard to the problem has been examined, and
afterwards the other extreme represented by the various
exaggerated naturist systems. The one is put against another:
first thesis, then antithesis and finally the synthesis containing
the true and good parts of the thesis and antithesis which gives
the solution. Sometimes, however, this synthesis contains new
elements which are touched by neither of the extreme
conceptions. This is the case where both are erroneous and
where both lack various scientific facts.
We will now consider in turn the various categories of
foods, fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products, oily and
dried fruits, eggs, honey, etc., and examine the various
contrary conceptions and favourable and unfavourable
criticisms of all these various categories of foods. By this
method of putting against one another the various points of
view we can see the problem more clearly, and this also helps
us solve it.
FRESH JUICY FRUITS

We will begin with the first category of foods, with fruit.

The official medical system regards fruit as a very suspect
food. It issues warnings against certain fruits, saying that
sometimes fruit has a very bad biological effect upon the
organism and can even prove fatal in certain cases of disease.
It protests with great vehemence against the admission of
fresh fruits to the table, particularly in their raw state. If it
allows fruit at all it must be cooked. This extraordinary
precaution against fruits is not justified. On the other hand the
extreme naturist says that we should feed exclusively on fruit,
that fruit is the natural food of man and we have no need to eat
any other foods. As we shall see this conception also is not
justified. Both systems are right to some extent, but both are
wrong in certain respects. To what extent is the official
conception right? It is true that when fresh, particularly raw,
fruit is eaten by over-intoxicated organisms, the fruit certainly
effects a formidable revolution, but this is not the fault of the
fruit, but of the toxins accumulated in the organism. So one
should not exclude fruit from the diet, but on the contrary
eliminate the toxins from the organism, for like fire and water,
fruit and toxins are incompatible. Sometimes fruit does
produce very disagreeable effects in the organism, even if the
organism is not too intoxicated, but if we look for the cause
we shall almost always find either that the fruit eaten was
green and unripe or else was fruit of a bad quality, badly
cooked and taken in excessive amount, and mixed up with
other toxic foods which produce very complicated chemical
decompositions in the organism. Even in those cases it is not
the fruit which is to blame, but the other food eaten alongside
the fruit.

In other cases the fruit contains certain chemicals, and

these have bad effects. In these cases, too, it is not the fruit
which is responsible but the chemicals, just as in the previous
case it was not the fruit to blame, but its unripeness and bad
quality, or possibly the way in which it was eaten, either being
insufficiently masticated or taken in too great quantity.
Generally fruit does not deserve the bad reputation it has
in official circles. It is indubitable, as anthropology and
biology show, that our ancestors the anthropoids and also
Homo Sapiens Sylvanus had fruit as their diet just as
contemporary monkeys, our nearest relatives, have a diet of
fruit.
Now let us consider the other conception which would
regard fruit as the exclusive diet of man. Some exaggerated
naturist systems specify fruit alone, but they forget certain
facts. They forget that some thousands of years have passed
since the time when our ancestors ate exclusively fruit and a
long series of generations has accustomed man to eat milk,
milk products, cereals, etc. This ontogenetic heredity of
present man does not allow a sudden change of diet, for the
alimentary basis of our ancestors during many generations has
been cereals, milk and milk products, and without serious and
bad effects we cannot change a diet too suddenly and demand
that people eating meat and cooked foods, and absorbing
various toxins like alcohol and tobacco, should immediately
become extreme naturists living on fruits alone. We must
make no compromise as far as toxins like meat, nicotine and
various denatured ferment-producing foods, such as white
sugar, white flour, vinegar and various tinned foods are
concerned. These we should not admit, but as we shall see
later there are other categories of foods which are not toxic
and contain very necessary elements for the human organism.
We cannot exclude from our diet the second, third and fourth
categories of foods (vegetables, cereals, dried fruits, etc.)
without risking serious complications. On the other hand, fruit
under present conditions, picked unripe, when full of
chemicals and when preserved in an unnatural way cannot
provide an exclusive diet, but must be completed by the other
three categories for reasons which will be dealt with shortly.
So the cosmotherapeutic diet specifies fruit as fifty per cent of
the daily ration, justifying this by reference to ontogenetic
hereditary factors derived from our fruit-eating ancestors and
secondly by the organism's need for liquid. Fruit also supplies
the need of the organism for the various organic minerals
which it contains. Fruit contains water in its highest form,
water which contains accumulated solar energies. The juice of
fruits of the first category is water in its most organic form.
Fruit has the greatest solvent capacity, is the most eliminative
food and is the most favourable food for intellectual work and
in warm climates and seasons. Fruits are the highest form of

food which we can consume, provided they are eaten in their

natural state.
We protest against every exaggerated system which seeks
to exclude the various vegetables, milk and milk products,
cereals, dried and oily fruits from the diet. In every case an
exclusive diet of juicy fruits would inevitably result in
deficiency of protein, in extreme thinness and exhaustion of
the energies of the organism and in a series of grave illnesses.
If the human race in the course of successive generations
progressively gets accustomed to a fruitarian diet and
reacquires the lost capacities of its fruit-eating ancestors, then
after many generations it may be possible for man to eat
exclusively fruits and to exclude all other elements from the
diet. But even then he will need not only juicy fruits, but oily
and dried fruits also. But I stress that with the present artificial
factors of the human organism, this is only a vision of the
future.
For these reasons cosmotherapy specifies fruit as fifty per
cent of the diet, so that the organism can take advantage of the
highest form of water which is contained in juicy fruits, of the
most organic form of the various minerals which these fruits
always contain, and of the valuable alkaline parts of the fruits
and similarly of the capacity for dissolution possessed by the
fruits, which does a very valuable service in the elimination of
toxins; and also of the various radiations which the organism
absorbs, and of the various vitamins which the fruits contain.
SALADS AND RAW VEGETABLES

Now we will consider the second category of foods

(vegetables). Vegetables contain very valuable minerals of the
lithosphere in organic form. They complete the first category
of juicy fruits; they also supply the organism with a higher
form of water and in conjunction with the first category of
juicy fruits they completely satisfy the liquid needs of the
human organism. Similarly they also contain other valuable
elements in more accentuated form than fruits. From a certain
point of view they are more nutritive than juicy fruits.
Generally we advise eating them in the form of raw salads, the
very best form of such a salad being one containing three
kinds of vegetables. One of them should be a juicy vegetable
like the tomato or cucumber, the second should be a root
vegetable like the carrot, beet or turnip, while the third should
be a leaf vegetable like lettuce or cabbage. These three forms
of vegetables together are the best combination of the second
category. We also advise a little oil or lemon as condiments
for it and those who like onion can add a little chopped onion.
In this form a salad is really a rich store of organic minerals
and is a very nutritive food. Now, generally, the official
standpoint favours cooked vegetables. We must protest against
this, for we cannot see what new value is given to vegetables

by cooking. Do some new vitamins or radiations appear in

them to increase the value of their organic salt? On the
contrary cooking reduces their value, destroys certain minerals
and radiations and their most valuable part, the liquid
containing the various organic minerals, is evaporated by the
fire and is replaced with the inferior form of water used in
cooking. If we examine a certain amount of raw vegetables
before and after cooking we shall find that vegetables which
before cooking occupied the whole dish, become a little
handful after the operation. So instead of increasing their
value, cooking reduces the vegetables both in quality and in
quantity. Apart from these considerations, the ancestors of the
human race in preceding periods of civilisation, in the stage of
vertebrate mammals, ate various grasses as their exclusive
food and this herbivorism exists in our organisms in the form
of an ontogenetic hereditary factor and demands its rights. On
the basis of the previous considerations, cosmotherapy advises
vegetables in the form of various salads as a third part of the
diet, as thirty-five per cent of it.
If we examine certain extreme naturist systems they say
that vegetables are the true natural food of man and they even
prefer vegetables to fruits. We must regard this as exaggerated
and extreme, for they neglect the aforementioned ontogenetic
factors in favour of fruits and they also neglect the fact that
fruit represents the highest form of vegetation in the evolution
of earthly life. So there is no reason for preferring vegetables
and excluding fruits from the diet. I should also add that in
certain cases very intoxicated organisms are incapable of
digesting raw fruits and vegetables, and in such cases we
recommend a transitional diet beginning with cooked fruits
and vegetables and gradually increasing the percentage of raw
food, till finally the diet consists entirely of crudities. For
example, for the first five days one eats only cooked pears, for
the second five days ninety-five per cent cooked pears mixed
with five per cent raw pears, and so on. In this way little by
little without a sudden change we can accustom the organism
to digest the raw fruits and vegetables. In certain other serious
cases of structural defect of the digestive system we must use
the so-called mono-diet, which means eating only one kind of
food at a certain meal and at the following meal another sort
of food and so on. Only one sort of food must be taken at a
time and it must be completely masticated and mixed with the
saliva until it is a liquid. The work of the digestive organs is
facilitated to the maximum.
CEREALS

The third category of foods, cereals, has played a great

part in the alimentation of mankind, particularly during the
last few thousands of years. When I speak of cereals I mean
cereals in their natural form and not denatured flours made by

various indigestible processes. The latter are not cereals, but

are denatured starch with which we are not concerned. Cereals
contain very valuable organic minerals, are very calorigenic
foods and give much energy to the organism. They are very
nutritive foods and indubitably valuable. Now if we consume
them in greater amount than is necessary they become acidformers to an excessive degree and cause scarifications in the
organism and various inferior processes of decomposition and
fermentation. But if we take them in the right amount, then,
particularly in the case of those doing muscular work and in
cold seasons and climates, cereals are a very valuable food.
Cereals form an exception to the various vegetable products,
for they form a unique category in that they become more
valuable and more digestible in the cooked form. There are
some exceptions to this. For instance, we can eat young maize,
and wheat germinated in water beneath the sun, completely
raw. Generally speaking, other forms of cereals are better
cooked, but not overcooked. They should be cooked for the
minimum of time and with a minimum of water. It is enough
simply to soak many forms of cereals in warm water. For
instance, certain kinds of rice which the Indians in America
eat simply have to be put into warm water and then become an
excellent and tasty food. Many cereals can also be utilised in
the form of conservatively baked bread, naturally made
without salt and without unnatural ferments. Others can be
made into polenta or porridge, when they should be cooked as
little as possible and in the minimum of water. When bread is
cooked a crust is formed which is a kind of insulator which
prevents the destruction of the internal vegetable substance
which contains the valuable vitamins. So we cannot consider
bread as a food whose vitamins are killed by cooking,
provided it is not cooked too much.
Various attacks have been made upon cereals which need
consideration. The first and most serious accusation made
against cereals in the name of holy bio-chemistry is that
cereals are acid-forming foods. Let us therefore examine the
scientific basis of this accusation. Cereals undoubtedly contain
certain parts which are alkaline and other parts which are acidforming. This is a fact and must be recognised by any one who
knows the laws of physics and chemistry. But we must
examine the food, not by itself, isolated from the human
organism, but must see what happens in the human organism,
in the various digestive systems and in the circulation of the
blood.
There is a fundamental chemico-physiological law which
is ignored or unknown by all modern food chemists. The
electro-chemical process called electrolysis is well known. In
a container there is placed liquid in which acids or salts are
dissolved, and we connect on one side a positive electrical
pole and on the other side a negative electrical pole, placing

them in the liquid. We call these poles 'cathodes' and 'anodes'.

What happens? The salt or acid in the liquid decomposes and
one part goes to the positive pole and accumulates there; the
other part will accumulate round the negative pole. We call
them 'ions' and 'anions'. The salts and the acids, decomposed
chemically by the electrical current, become 'ions'. This is a
well-known law of electro-chemistry which shows the
reciprocal inter-influence between the chemical and electrical
energies. The same inter-influence exists between the other
energies and chemical energies, by the concentration of the
other forms of energy. Even chemical elements are similarly
decomposed and their molecules and atoms. The chemical
elements are not the last units in the universe, but the last units
are the radiations, because these radiations are the only final
units which we cannot decompose. We must always go to the
roots of all processes and phenomena and base our system on
the foundation of ultimate causes and not on the effects or any
derivation of those causes.
Hitherto we have been speaking of external electrolysis in
the laboratory, but now I will explain what happens in the
human organism. The contraction and expansion of the human
muscles creates constant electrical radiations and currents in
the muscles. The functions of the human musculature are
similar to the functioning of the Volta batterysimilar
processes happen there. Between the positive electricity of the
surface of the muscles and the negative electricity of the
internal section of the muscles there is a dynamic
physiological and chemical correlation. What is the
physiological correlation? We know that the contraction of the
muscles always causes local concentration of the blood. The
rhythmic contraction and expansion of the muscles cause a
rhythmic inflow and outflow of negative and positive
electricity, and similarly cause a rhythmic inflow and outflow
of blood. As for the chemical correlation, we know that the
blood is composed of different chemical materials which are
brought there through the elaboration of the various processes
of the digestive system. We find in the blood acids, bases,
salts and so forth. We know that the value of the influence of
the food is always accomplished through the circulation of the
blood; it is the circulation of the blood that distributes the
nourishing elements to the various parts of the organism that
need them. So the influence of foods depends, not only on
their chemical content, but also on their subsequent
transformations in the blood. And these chemical
transformations in the blood are not determined alone by the
chemical composition of the original foods, but they are
determined by a series of different forces which influence the
diverse transformations of the blood during its circulation.
Among these diverse forces and factors one is the electricity

of the organism. I will not speak now of other factors, but will
limit myself to this oneelectricity.
The rhythmic inflow and outflow, concentration and
distribution of the blood caused by the contraction and
expansion of the muscles, brings rhythmically into the blood
the positive electricity which is located on the surface of the
muscles and the negative electricity from the internal crosssection of the muscles; these act as cathodes and anodes, and
they decompose acids and salts in the blood, effecting an
electro-physiological electrolysis similar to the chemical
electrolysis of the laboratory. This physiological electrolysis
in the human organism, and chiefly in the blood, decomposes
the acids and salts in the blood itself and transforms the purely
chemical effect of the foods. This is a most important
fundamental law because biochemistry and food chemistry
must be anthropocentric; they must study the chemical
processes of the foods in the internal medium of the blood in
the centre of a series of various energies, which, on a large
scale, change the interrelations of the purely chemical
processes and factors by the dynamic correlation of countless
physiological energies in the form of diverse radiations in the
human organism. The consequences of this law will easily be
appreciated. For instance, modern food chemistry asserts that
cereals are acid-forming foods. As a chemical fact that is true.
If the chemical factor were the sole deciding factor in the
human organism, then in a few years the consumption of
cereals would cause serious illness to the consumer, especially
to those who use cereals as the basis of their food. But the
acids formed by cereals in the organism are chemically
decomposed by the physiological electrolysis of the blood,
through the internal electrical influence of the organism. So
many acid-forming foods condemned by modern food
chemistry must be exonerated, because not only the chemical
factors decide, but also the many other forces in the organism,
as, for instance, the electrical radiations in the organism. That
docs not mean that we can consume in any unlimited quantity
the acid-forming foods, and especially cereals, because the
physiological electrolysis of the blood decomposes only a
small quantity of acid in the blood, but not an unlimited
quantity. The latest physiological researches show that the
physiological electrolysis of the blood is capable of
decomposing the acids in the blood only if the acid-forming
foods comprise a certain percentage and not the entire ration
of food. There is a certain limit, and this limit in the amount of
cereals is approximated according to concrete cases and varies
between ten and twenty per cent. The electrolytic processes in
the blood, by their natural functions, decompose the acids in
the blood, but only in cases where the acid-forming foods
constitute no more than ten or twenty per cent of the total diet.
We can see that the chemical constitution of foods represents

the foundation, and the various physiological processes of the

blood (directed by the radiations of the internal energies of the
organism) represent the superstructure. The foundation
determines in seventy-five per cent of the cases, as we have
seen in many previous examples, and the superstructure
influences in twenty-five per cent of the cases. In the chemical
dissolution of food in the organism, through the circulation of
the blood, the chemical composition of foods has no exclusive
role, but is influenced by many other factors, among which I
mention one. This fundamental physio-chemical law
unhappily is unknown to, or disregarded by, modern food
chemistry, and by the various dietetic systems based on
chemistry. These systems have complicated tremendously the
classification, rules and regulations regarding the
physiological influence of various foods, regarding their
compatibility or incompatibility, thus creating an enormous
and useless complication in natural dietetics. The effect of diet
is not determined by chemical factors, but by the total
dynamic correlation of all forces in the human organism, in
the diverse radiations of the cells and the different currents
formed by those radiations.
It is now possible to understand why cosmotherapy fixes
the approximate quantity of cereals to be taken as ten per cent
of the total diet and no more, for if we keep cereals down to
ten per cent of the total diet, then the acid-forming quality of
the cereals cannot be manifested as an unfavourable effect on
the human organism. For we must not forget that the
circulation of the blood dissolves the acids by physiological
electrolytic processes. Those who do much muscular work
every day can consume as much as twenty per cent of cereals
without disadvantage as by more and more intense muscular
work the dilation and contraction of their muscles produces
greater physiological electrolysis in the circulation of the
blood. If we consume the right proportion of cereals, then the
accusation against cereals that they are acid-forming is not
justified.
It is further alleged (1) that cereals taken with acid fruits
cause fermentation, and (2) that cereals are incompatible with
protein. It is also said that two proteins together are
incompatible. Various dietetic systems have developed a long
series of so-called incompatibles and have greatly complicated
dietetic science.
These and other fads and quackeries have been very
adequately dealt with in the 1936 Year Book of the American
Public Health Association, from which the following extract is
taken.
'One of the most common and extensively proclaimed
nutritional fallacies is that proteins and starches are
incompatible and should be separated into distinct and
separate meals. Based largely on this idea a system of dieting

has been developed and features in books and syndicate

newspaper columns. A monthly magazine is devoted to this
system. It is maintained that because starches require an
alkaline medium for their digestion and proteins an acid
medium, an antagonistic effect is developed when both are
taken together which seriously interferes with the digestion of
each of these classes of foods. One can look in vain through
the writings of authorities in textbooks and journals for any
scientific experimental data in support for this idea. The
proponents ignore the fact that a large proportion of our staple
articles of food contain both starch and protein. Adherence to
this system would necessarily eliminate from the diet
practically all products made from cereals and grains. It would
also exclude potatoes, beans, peas and many other important
foods. The cereal grains, wheat, rye, barley, oats and corn,
range in their protein content from nine to twelve per cent or
higher, and contain also about sixty per cent of starch. Rice
contains about seven per cent protein and upwards of eighty
per cent of starch. Beans and peas are rich sources of both
protein and starch, containing from twenty to twenty-five per
cent protein and forty to fifty per cent starch. Chestnuts range
from eight to ten per cent protein and twenty to thirty per cent
starch.
'Investigators and authorities in the field of nutrition are
practically unanimous in the opinion that there is no
incompatibility between starches and proteins in the diet.
'Faddists have hit upon the idea that we should not eat
starches and proteins at the same meal because starch
digestion is interrupted in the acid stomach, acid being
essential to peptic or stomach digestion of proteins. This is a
fallacy. There is no significance in this interruption. The cat,
dog and cow have no starch-digesting ferment in their saliva,
but they thrive on foods rich in starches. All their starch
digestion takes place after the food has left the stomach and
reaches the small intestine. Nature did not put these animals at
a disadvantage in this respect. (McCollum and Becker).
'Studies by Rehfuss, Hawk, and others on human gastric
digestion in the stomach involving more than a thousand
studies on two hundred normal men, in which a great variety
of protein and starch combinations were used, failed to
produce any evidence whatever of the incompatibility of these
two classes of foods. In order to meet criticisms of the food
faddist, that different results would have been obtained had the
studies been made with chronic invalids instead of normal
individuals, Rehfuss has more recently extended the
investigations to include a cross-section of medical invalids
representing almost every variety of chronic illness
encountered in a medical work service.
'We are told to eat one kind of starch at a time and one
kind of protein. This is obviously so devoid of any scientific

reason that it merits but a passing reference. All starches yield

on digestion the same simple sugar, glucose. The end product
is the same irrespective of the source of the starch. As to
proteins, to eat one at a time is just what one should not do.
Proteins differ in their nutritive value, depending on their
amino acid composition. Some proteins are lacking or
deficient in certain amino acids which are nutritionally
indispensable.
'Nutritionally deficient or incomplete proteins should be
supplemented with other proteins so that the amino acids
lacking in the one will be supplied by the others in order to
have an assortment of amino acids adequate to meet the
requirements of the body. For example, the endosperm
proteins of the cereal grains in general are deficient in lysine
and trytophane, two amino acids indispensable for growth and
normal nutrition. The proteins of milk, eggs and nuts (also the
soya bean) on the other hand, are excellent sources of these
amino acids. The value of the cereal proteins in the diet is
enhanced by inclusion of the latter protein foods in the diet.
Instead of an incompatibility we have a supplementation.
'Another fallacy which finds a prominent place in the
armamentarium of the nutritional quack is that acid fruits
should not be eaten at the same time with carbohydrate foods,
including breads and cereal products, potatoes, and sugars of
every kind. These foods, we are reminded, require an alkaline
medium for their digestion, and without the alkaline reaction
of the saliva they would never be digested at all. This view
ignores the well-known fact that only a part of the digestion
occurs in the mouth and stomach as a result of the action of
the ptyalin of the saliva, and that there are active starch
digesting enzymes in the intestines where carbohydrate
digestion proceeds to completion. In fact, starch digestion can
proceed favourably in a medium that is practically neutral.
The relatively small amounts of the weak organic acids in
fruits can have little or no significance in any interruption of
starch digestion in the stomach where the hydrochloric acid of
the gastric juice is many times stronger than the acid fruits.
'The statement that white meat is less harmful than dark
meat has no basis in fact. This belief goes back to the days
when gout was confused with other forms of arthritis, and that
foods rich in purines yield uric acid with resulting gout,
rheumatism and acidosis. With the exception of the glandular
organs, liver, sweetbreads, and kidneys, dark meat contains no
more purine bases than does white meat. Fish and fowl
contain as much, or more, uric acid-forming bases as beef,
veal, lamb and pork.
'It has been proved by numerous investigators that the
white of eggs is much less digestible when raw than when
cooked. There is even evidence that raw egg white when fed
to experimental animals will invariably produce toxic

symptoms. Nevertheless, it is still not uncommon to find

physicians and nurses prescribing raw eggs for invalids in the
belief that they are more digestible and more easily
assimilated than when cooked.
'Mixtures of incompatible foods explode in the stomach;
fish is a good brain food; garlic "purifies" the blood, etc., are
some of the other absurdities of the nutritional quack.'
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
It is a scandal that dangerous and absurd ideas about
compatibilities should be spread abroad, as they work to the
prejudice of the naturist and naturopath movements.
It may be thought that such theories are too absurd to be
noticed. Yet they are beginning to spread and are gaining
inherents. Remember Hitler. When first the figure of Hitler
appeared everybody laughed and said his ideas were too
absurd and unworthy of attention. We know that his absurd
racial theory has no scientific basis. Yet it governed eighty
million people. So we must not consider absurd theories to be
without danger. We must pay attention to them before they
become a collective danger. Whether the danger be biological
or dietetic it is all the same, for both dangers can be fatal to
man, and the dangers of these dietetic absurdities can
contribute to the progressive biological degeneration of
mankind. At the moment there are only some thousands of
people who propagate these absurdities, but after ten years
there may be some hundreds of thousands, and after fifty years
there may be millions. If these dietetic absurdities represent
naturism and naturopath, then I prefer to declare myself an
allopath. Official medicine is certainly dogmatic, but
dogmatism is preferable to anarchy.
MILK AND MILK PRODUCTS

What is the official view of milk and milk products?

Official medicine says that they are very valuable foods, but
that they should be pasteurised because of the various
possibilities of illness from the state of the cow and from
microbic infections. In general, milk and milk products are
liberally prescribed. In the various sanatoria which I have
studied in Germany, Switzerland and other countries, a terrible
amount of milk and milk products was being given to patients,
sometimes five or six times a day. A quart or more of milk
daily was often given, together with a large amount of butter,
cheese and cream, at nearly every meal. I have found a great
tendency to overnourish patients with milk products. And the
milk products given were nearly always cooked and made
with salt. There can be very few organisms healthy enough to
withstand fermentations caused by these mixtures. The official
systems abuse milk products. They abuse them quantitatively
by giving too large an amount, and qualitatively because they
always give products of an inferior quality. I do not mean that

they are not very rich foods, they are too rich, but they are
cooked and salted and mixed with other unhealthy ferments.
Now, let us see what the various naturist dieticians have
to say about milk and milk products. In the past few years,
particularly, there has been a great movement against milk and
milk products. It is said that milk and milk products are very
unhealthy foods, that they cause mucus in the organism, that
they are a very inferior form of food and that in view of their
animal origin they are dangerous to the human organism. They
are even forbidden to quite young children, who have to take
Soya Bean milk instead of cow's or goat's milk. The
conceptions about milk and milk products are really very
extreme.
Now what is the truth with regard to milk and milk
products? First, we must condemn the official dietician who
overfeeds the sick person with milk and milk products, giving
products of inferior quality and in too great amount. We must
also reject the extreme thesis of the naturists who say that milk
and milk products are unhealthy foods. The chaos in the field
of milk and milk products is due to undialectical, static ways
of thinking. The official conception thinks of a standard milk
the same at all times and in all places, but in reality such an
abstract milk does not exist. There is a great variety of milks
of different values. There is the fresh raw milk of the cows of
the Swiss mountains which live in fresh mountain air, eating
the grasses full of vitamins on the sides of the hills. The cattle
live out in the open air and have healthy organisms. This milk
is nothing else than accumulated solar energies and vitamins
of valuable grass transformed in the internal parts of the cow,
as if in a container, at the natural body temperature of the cow.
All the vitamins and radiations accumulated in the grass are
thus left intact.
If the substance from which the milk is elaborated is
superior, like the grass of the Swiss mountains, and if the
receptacle represented by the organism of the cow is perfectly
healthy, then the milk will be a vital fluid of high dietetic
value. If this is completely assimilated by the organism and
not taken in excess, it will not do any harm.
Now let us examine other forms of milk. Let us see for
instance, how we get milk in our great cities. The unfortunate
cattle are shut up in cattle sheds, they do not move freely
during the day, they have not got good fresh air like their
Swiss cousins, and they are given to eat various products in
which there are very often harmful chemicals and garbage
thrown out of the kitchen. First, the source of this milk, the
food of the cow, is in this case inferior; secondly, the
organism of the cow, owing to its unnatural life and unnatural
food, is also inferior, so naturally the milk also becomes
inferior. Then this milk of inferior quality is pasteurised and
cooked and very often put afterwards into a refrigerator where

it is completely frozen. Finally, in this completely denatured

state and tortured form it is ready for consumption. We give
this to children and sick people and there is a great
propaganda campaign to persuade people to drink lots of milk
as being the healthiest food.
Milk is not just milk; it is equal to all the correlations of
the origin and environment where the milk is found, and
depends on the various processes through which the milk
passes until it is consumed. And then there are various
unnatural methods of feeding by which the cows are induced
to produce the greatest possible quantity of milk. The greater
quantity is naturally at the expense of quality. In these
disputes about milk, the trouble is due to different things being
meant by the one word 'milk'. Instead of thinking in terms of
realities, people think in terms of words, and this is always
dangerous.
We must realise that milk is not an abstract
personification of milk, but that there is good milk and
unwholesome milk, and various forms between the two, and
then there will be no contradictions and no battles between
various dietetic systems. Cosmotherapy accordingly advises
consuming wholesome milk and rejects the use of inferior
denatured milk, and in particular stresses the importance of
paying attention to the amount of milk consumed, for in larger
amounts than necessary it produces mucus and fermentations.
But if milk of good quality is consumed and in the right
proportions, we consider milk as a really healthy food. During
many thousands of years it has been an alimentary base of
mankind, and in the organism of present man there is a call for
milk. We consider that milk and milk products, provided they
are natural and fresh, are very good nutritive sources for the
human organism. For instance, fresh, natural cheeses of good
quality represent a high quality of protein for the human
organism, and this source of protein is indeed necessary in the
vegetarian diet, for the foods of the first and second categories
(fruits and vegetables) and even of the third (cereals) cannot
assure to the human organism the necessary amount of
protein. The foods of the fourth category we therefore
consider indispensable to the human organism as a source of
protein and of fat. Naturally we must take this source of
protein and fat in the right amount, so cosmotherapy lays
down the quantity of the fourth category (nuts, dried fruit,
milk products) as five per cent of the total diet, for abuse of
this category does indeed cause the unfavourable effects of
which the enemies of milk accuse it. But there is no danger
from milk of good quality consumed in the right amount. On
the contrary, it is dangerous if the foods of the fourth category
are not taken, for if they are not, there is a deficiency of
protein and fat in the organism. Very often, in different
continents, I have come across vegetarians and fruitarians

eating raw fruits who were so excessively thin that they were a
bad advertisement for fruitarianism. They were just skin and
bone and not very attractive examples of a natural mode of
living. On the other hand I have come across vegetarians who
ate fruit, vegetables and various milk products in such a
quantity, that they represented veritable monsters. This is also
not a good recommendation for natural living. So it is
important to pay attention to the various quantities of the
various foods, for neither excessive thinness nor excessive
fatness are healthy. If the right proportions between the
various categories are observed, we shall never reach either
the one or the other extremity.
There is another myth which must be dispelled. Professor
Metchnikoff wrote that yoghourt contained a certain bacillus,
called bacillus bulgaricus, which favours longevity and
counterbalances the toxic effects of meat. Trusting in his
authority many naturists eat meat, but also at the same time
take yoghourt, being of the opinion that the bacillus
bulgaricus will put things right and balance the toxic effects of
the meat. These naturists are very numerous and the bacillus
bulgaricus has become almost a cult, particularly in France.
Once an error is introduced it gets repeated automatically.
Being unable to understand how the bacillus bulgaricus could
counteract the effects of meat, at a time when I was
experimenting with various dietetic systems, I prescribed
bacillus bulgaricus for my patients along with their meat, but I
found that the results were not at all satisfactory. So I began to
study the experiments of Professor Metchnikoff and I
established the following. Metchnikoff himself took the
bacillus every day with meat, but at the age of fifty-six or
fifty-seven he had the appearance of a very old man and he
was unhealthy. He died fairly young. So the bacillus
bulgaricus does not seem to favour longevity. Metchnikoff
wrote that he studied the whole question in Bulgaria and that
he found that the people there consumed yoghourt
systematically every day. He says he saw a strong, robust and
healthy people, and that the longevity of the Bulgarians
according to statistics was the highest in the whole world. This
was the foundation on which he based the whole theory of
bacillus bulgaricus. Finally I visited Bulgaria to study the
whole question, where I established the following facts. First,
the Bulgarians are indeed very strong and healthy and I found
incomparably more strong and healthy old people in Bulgaria
than in any other country in Europe, with the exception of
Russia. This seemed to affirm the thesis of Metchnikoff, but
unfortunately there were alternative reasons for it. First, the
Bulgarians do not consume yoghourt every day at all, but take
plain sour milk. What Metchnikoff took to be yoghourt was
plain sour milk which the Bulgarians do take every day in
large quantities. But they take it not with meat, but with

cereals, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and various vegetables.

They very seldom eat meat at all. They are usually fairly poor
and have not enough money for meat. And I found another
thing. Generally they followed the Orthodox Greek faith and
they had approximately one hundred fast days during the year,
so almost every third day was a day of fasting. It must not be
imagined that on those days they fasted completely, but they
ate very little, either some fruit or a vegetable or a glass of
sour milk, and nothing else during the whole day. I found that
this had more to do with the longevity of the Bulgarians than
the fictitious yoghourt. Also they generally lived a natural,
healthy and simple life among the mountains and had constant
fresh air and sun. They bathed a great deal in the rivers and
lived a tranquil natural life. I found centenarians there with
long black beards and black hair, with perfect teeth and with
the muscles of an athlete. At the age of a hundred they went
into the mountains and cut down trees and carried them home
on their shoulders. This was the result of their simple natural
life, of their simple natural wholesome diet and of a life in the
fresh air, in the sun, among the mountains and rivers. It was
quite natural that longevity should be greatest in Bulgaria, but
I did not find this mythical yoghourt. Perhaps Metchnikoff
saw sour milk and confused it with yoghourt. He cannot have
gone into the mountains and seen their way of life, or have
lived with them for long. Thus he drew false conclusions and
on his authority this youngest legend has spread abroad. But it
has no right to existence.
There are objections of another kind to milk and milk
products. There are those who say that we steal milk from
animals and that this is an immoral act. This is the objection of
certain humanitarian vegetarians. Unfortunately these
moralists feed on the ideas of printed books and not on the
ideas written in the book of nature. I very much doubt if some
of them have ever seen a cow, or if they have, they have never
studied them. If they had, they would know that when milking
time comes for the cow and she is not milked, it is very
disagreeable for her and she becomes seriously ill. When
sometimes the time for milking comes and we do not milk
cows they become very restless, and wait impatiently to be
milked. So if we follow the advice of these moralist
vegetarians, we cause terrible suffering to the cow, which is
just the opposite to what they wish. Why? For through the
course of generations we have already degenerated cows.
Cows do not eat what they wish to eat, nor do they eat at the
time they wish to eat, but at the time we wish them to eat. And
they do not walk about when they wish to but when we let
them go free. In the course of generations we have
accustomed them to systematic milking and so have produced
the present situation. Now it is the not milking them
systematically which is unnatural for them. Similarly, if a

person who has fed for a long time on intoxicating foods

suddenly changes to natural foods, it is the natural foods
which are unnatural for him.
At the other extreme are those who say we ought to eat
the flesh of animals, as otherwise they would become so
numerous that they would become a menace. This represents
the amoralist outlook. Let us consider why we have so many
domestic animals. We have them because we constantly
multiply them. If we did not multiply them continually we
should not have such a large number, so in general the
moralist and amoralist objections are rather illogical. We
consider it immoral to kill animals, for it is against the law of
nature and is not worthy of Homo Sapiens. But to milk a cow
is not to kill it, and, since we have the artificial and unnatural
situation in which we have denatured cows, then it is better to
milk them. I do not regard milk and milk products as the
eternal diet for man, for we see that our ancestors lived very
well without milk and milk products. But we must reach
through a series of generations such a vital perfection of our
organisms as to be able, like our natural-living ancestors, to
absorb and assimilate all the necessary constituents from juicy
fruits, sweet fruits and oily fruits. If by progressive
improvement of our diet and by progressive improvement of
each generation our digestive system awakens its higher
capacities and is capable of getting all the necessary elements
from the juicy, sweet and oily fruits, then we can follow an
exclusively fruitarian diet. But we can never do so with our
present organisms. It is not possible to do so without having
various deficiencies in our diet. We must also not forget that
man is not only a physiological being, but is also a
psychological being. At present, ninety per cent of people eat
toxic foods, terribly complicated and unnatural foods, and
cooked foods. Habit is a great enemy to dietetic reform. The
majority of people have weak wills, so if we say to them:
'Don't eat meat, don't eat white bread, don't eat white sugar,
don't drink alcohol, don't smoke, don't eat tinned foods, don't
use various unwholesome condiments, don't eat milk and milk
products, don't eat cereals,' then they will ask: 'What can we
eat? we shall die of hunger.' And even if they accustom
themselves to this extreme fruit diet for two or three days, they
will then return to toxins and will say that a natural diet is not
practicable. So we must consider not only the chemical and
physiological correlations, but also the psychological and
economic correlations. In cold climates and during the winter
particularly, it is very hard for people to produce good fresh
fruits, and also they are expensive. So if we demand such a
strict diet for every one, for psychological reasons owing to
deficiency of will, and for economic reasons owing to the
inability to procure the necessary fruits, the masses will never
follow a natural diet. We must always consider every

correlation. On the other hand to follow the diet based on the

four categories of foods is easier and does not need such
strength of will as eating only apples and oranges, for it is
sufficiently nutritive when it includes the third and fourth
categories. And economically it is quite practicable. I have
found that given system and exercise of care, it is possible in
any country and climate to obtain the necessary foods easily
and cheaply. And, in general, a healthy, natural diet tastes
better than an unwholesome toxic diet. It is also more nutritive
than an unnatural diet and cheaper. There is nothing to prevent
the realisation of our system based on the four categories, but
the various extremist diets are impossible, for various reasons,
to ninety per cent of the people. We do not propagate a
naturist diet for one or two privileged people, but for the
whole of humanity, for every climate and for every country
and for every class of society without exception. So for
various reasons, chemical, physiological, psychological and
economic, as our experience in different countries and
climates has shown, the cosmotherapeutic diet based on the
four categories gets more results, is always satisfactory and is
always easily realisable, which cannot be said of the extremist
dietetic systems.
FOOD AND METAPHYSICS

There is a further objection to the diet on the part of the

moralist philosophers. They say that it is not worthy of us
thinking men to pay attention to such bagatelles as food. Man
is a superior being, they say, and it is unworthy for us to pay
attention to these little items. Even if we live ten, twenty or
even thirty years less, we should rather live well and free and
not bother about such things. On the face of it this objection
seems all right. But we must examine it more closely. It is true
that man is not a stomach, but it is an indisputable fact that
every man has a stomach. And if we have a stomach, we must
satisfy its demands, for not one of these superior philosophers
can live even a week without eating. In general, we have to eat
every day and if we must eat, why not pay attention to what
we eat? So although the stomach may not be an important
thing and metaphysics and the arts may be superior,
nevertheless when we have pains in the stomach we cannot
study the philosophy of Hegel or the works of Victor Hugo. I
should like to see how these brave philosophers behave when
they have a severe pain in the stomach and indigestion. Would
they then listen to the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, or read
the poetry of Edgar Poe? They would not! If we were to visit
these great philosophers, we should find them in bed with a
hot water bottle and with bottles of medicine by their bedside
in a very deplorable condition. We might then remark: 'Why
do you pay attention to such a small thing as a stomach ache?
It is not worthy of Homo Sapiens.' We see that their

philosophy of life is completely false. If we live healthy and

simple lives, then we do not bother about stomachs and do not
even know that we have stomachs. It is when we begin to
know we have a stomach that things begin to be bad. But if we
eat simple natural foods every day, then our stomachs give us
no trouble and we never bother about them. On the other hand,
with an unnatural diet our stomachs always compel us to take
notice of them and we lose much more time with a bad
stomach than if once for all we adopt a natural simple diet and
follow it every day.
With regard to their assertion that they wish to live well
for a short time and do not wish to deprive themselves of the
pleasures of various foods, we can truly claim that natural
foods have a much better taste than denatured foods. To live
well means living with healthy, natural organs and to take
pleasure in all the flavours and all the tastes of natural foods,
but an unhealthy and intoxicated stomach can eat the most
tasty foods and never take any pleasure in them. So it is the
natural diet which represents to us a good life and not what the
philosophers understand by a good life.
Let us see what Epicurus meant by pleasure. Generally at
the present time we misunderstand Epicurus and consider him
as a crude hedonist, just as we misunderstand Buddha and
regard him as a pessimist. Epicurus said that the purpose of
life is pleasure, and that there are two classes of pleasure;
natural pleasures which do not lead to suffering, and unnatural
pleasures which afterwards lead to suffering. He said that true
wisdom does not live in chasing after pleasures, but in
avoiding suffering, for the greatest pleasure is the absence of
suffering. So we must seek that category of pleasures which
consists of pleasure without suffering: the pleasures of a
simple, natural life; the pleasures of fresh air, of sun, of
swimming in rivers, of walking in the forests, of watching the
rising and the setting of the sun, of climbing mountains, of
listening to the song of the birds, of planting flowers and
plants and trees, of eating the savourous gifts of nature, of
travelling, of reading beautiful and profound books, of
listening to beautiful music, of enjoying all the higher
pleasures of friendship, of doing good to others and the
pleasures of a natural and active life. We will then always
enjoy the true superior pleasures of life and avoid suffering
and misery. Such is the noble philosophy of Epicurus.
Epicurus did not propagate sensual pleasures, but propagated
simplicity and naturalness and the superior true pleasures of
life. He lived in a little garden where he planted fruits and
vegetables for his table; he walked in the garden with his
disciples and taught them under the trees. And by the door of
his house there was a notice which said: 'Everyone is welcome
here who likes fresh water and fresh thoughts.' We must
consider our ideal of a natural life and diet as being in the true

Epicurean tradition and dissociate ourselves from the pseudoEpicureans who distort the ideas of Epicurus. By a good life
they mean a sensual, denatured life against which Epicurus
spoke. On the contrary, we must seek the superior pleasures of
life which Epicurus taught.

Chapter XV
MODERN DIETETICS IN A NUTSHELL
THE optimal dietetic utilisation of the radiations,
vitamins, calories, mineral matter and other physico-chemical
properties accumulated in two hundred cosmovital foodsthe
pillars of human longevityis set out under five categories in
the charts on pages 190-198.
Category I (raw juicy fruits) is the richest in vitalising
properties. In this pure form it contains in perfect synthesis the
unified cosmovital radiations of the four elements: sun, air,
earth, water. The foods of this category are the best conservers
of perennial youth. They are the ideal food for the intellectual
and sedentary worker and ideal for everyone during warm
seasons and in warm climates.
Category II (salads and raw vegetables) complements
Category I, corresponding likewise to the liquid content of the
human organism.
Category III (cereals) consists not of eliminative, but of
building foods. They are chiefly muscle builders, while their
organic minerals contribute to the formation of the bones.
They are an excellent food, particularly for manual labourers
and sportsmen and for all in general in cold seasons and
climates. Through muscular activity they are transformed into
muscle; through inactivity they become fatty tissue; taken in
larger amounts than necessary they scarify the organism. This
category is the only one which it is permissible to use either
raw or cooked. To minimise and shorten the cooking of all
cereals they should be soaked in water before cooking.
Category IV (dried, sweet and oily fruits, milk products,
eggs) contains the most concentrated and heat-producing and
exceptionally nourishing foods. In larger amounts than
required they hinder the process of elimination and create fatty
tissue in the organism. They are excellent in cold seasons and
climates, and for hard manual labourers, in whose organisms
they are transformed into muscle fibre. Sedentary and
intellectual workers need very little of them, and much less
during warm seasons and in warm climates than in cold.
Category V (cooked vegetables) has no therapeutic value.
The foods listed in it cause no elimination, but contribute only
building elements of an inferior character, as most of them
have to be cooked. Considering that these vegetable products
are not particularly toxic, and as a compromise for persons
with unmanageable appetites it is permissible, but not
recommended, to eat them once a week. They are not so
disadvantageous to manual labourers as to sedentary and
intellectual workers. The dry legumes (pulses) should only be

used rarely, as their constant use greatly scarifies the

organism.

FOOD AS THE CHIEF INSTRUMENT OF HEALTH

'Let food be your medicine and let your medicine be
food.' -HIPPOCRATES, The Father of Medicine.
12 RULES OF A PERFECT DIET
1. Eat only raw foods, because a too high or too low
temperature destroys life, and consequently food. If you wish
to remain young all through your life, feed life and not death
to your organism. So reduce cooked food to a minimum.
2. Eat only fresh natural foods, and not cooked, sterilised,
or pasteurised foods, or foods mixed with chemicals. All these
processes either destroy the life in the foods or load them with
poisonous chemicals.
3. Eat simply (1, 2, 3, 4 or at the most 5 kinds of food at
one meal). Our gastric juices easily digest 2 or 3 different
substances, but digest complicated combinations with
difficulty, incompletely or not at all.
4. Eat only compatible combinations, to avoid harmful
fermentations. All cereals are compatible with milk, milk
products, all fruits and vegetables, eggs and fresh egg
products. The following combinations cause destructive
fermentations: milk with milk products and milk with eggs.
The following foods are compatible with everything: cream,
butter, whey, oil, egg yolk, honey, apples, lemons, nuts, onion,
wholemeal bread. In case of severe digestive disorders follow
a mono-diet. The cosmotherapeutic diet does not recognise
any incompatibility between the following combinations:
proteins and starches, two kinds of protein or two kinds of
starch, acid fruits and cereals or other carbohydrates. It
THE

regards the hypotheses of their incompatibility as arbitrary and

lacking scientific experimental data in support of them.
5. Eat only 2, 3 or 4 pounds a day, including drinks,
according to individual needs, mode of life, season and
climate. Always listen to the voice of your organism.
Everything superfluous in the organism causes harmful
fermentations, intoxication and disease. A thousand times
more people die of over-eating than of starvation.
6. Eat only twice a day, and never before midday. The
stomach needs the daily forenoon rest to eliminate the
superfluities deposited in it. Morning appetite is simply a
matter of habit, which, once it is lost, never reappears. Young
children, old persons and sufferers from certain digestive
complaints may require a light breakfast.
7. The fruits or vegetables should be chosen according to
what is in season. They are best when cheapest and most
plentiful in the markets.
8. The fruit or vegetable should also be the product of the
climate and region where the person is at the time. Local
produce is the best suited to the organism.
9. Food should be masticated very thoroughly. It is
important (a) to put very little in the mouth at a time; (b) to
chew every mouthful 30 or 40 times till it is a liquid before
swallowing; (c) not to take a fresh mouthful until the previous
one has been swallowed; (d) to mix foods very thoroughly
with the saliva in the mouth, this applying equally to liquids
which cannot be masticated. These rules are very important,
because foods not sufficiently masticated or mixed with the
saliva ferment in the stomach and scarify the organism,
serving as nests for the bacteria of disease.
10. Never eat without appetite; never eat in a bad
humour; never eat when tired. If your nerves are not in
equilibrium owing to fatiguing and discordant thoughts,
feelings or actions, they cause your glands to secrete poisons
during digestion. Therefore, if you are tired, perturbed or
emotionally upset, refresh yourself before eating with a rest,
walk, breathing exercises, bath, reading, etc., until you regain
the state of calm most favourable to healthful eating. Eat
nothing that you don't like, but don't eat everything that you
do.
11. Fast one day a week. Complete abstention from food
is the most efficient remedy for all illnesses, the strongest
eliminator of toxins and the greatest force for the regeneration
of the organism. During fasts you must keep the body at a
good normal temperature; you must be active; you must
exercise in the sunshine, air and water; breathe rhythmically;
refresh yourself by external washing of the skin and internal
washing of the intestines, using an enema every day of the
fast. The fast should continue until the return of normal

appetite, that is, until disappearance of the white coating of the

tongue.
12. The 200 cosmotherapeutic fruits and vegetables of
Categories I, II, III, IV and V contain and concentrate all the
cosmovital radiations accumulated in the lithosphere (earth),
hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air) and stratosphere (solar
rays, etc.). In consequence, if you respect and follow the
foregoing rules you will, after some months of perseverance,
reach the stage of establishing a balance between the internal
(human) radiations of your organism and the external (cosmic,
solar and terrestrial) radiations of your environment. In other
words, you will gain health, rejuvenation and longevity by the
renewal of all your cells and the cure of every disease.
HOW TO PREPARE AND TAKE THE FOODS

All the juicy fruits may be taken as they are, or else their
juice squeezed out, according to taste.
The raw vegetables (Groups A, B, C, D) may be eaten
either each item by itself or in salad formfinely chopped or
grated and mixed with lemon juice, oil and any one condiment
from Group F.
Milk: Use the raw, unpasteurised product.
Sour (clabbered) milk: Let the fresh milk stand two or
more days till it sours naturally.
Germinated grains: Put the grain needed in a pan, cover
with water and let stand for 1, 2 or 3 days according to
temperature. The warmer the temperature, the sooner it will
germinate.
Germinated wheat paste: Pass the germinated wheat
through a food chopper.
Sun-baked germinated wheat paste: Knead the
germinated wheat paste and roll it out as thin as possible.
Place it in the sun for a whole day, exposing each side for half
the day.
Oven-baked germinated wheat paste: Knead the paste,
make into rolls of convenient size and shape, preferably not
more than 1 in. thick, put it in the oven and bake lightly.
Wholemeal bread: Use 100 per cent wholemeal flour
(preferably stone-ground). Moisten with water, knead and
place in an oven and bake lightly.
Boiled germinated grains: Use the whole germinated
grains, cooking them as conservatively as possible.
All the other cereals can be prepared in the various ways
indicated for wheat.
Eggs: The germ of the egg affects the human organism in
the same way as meat, so the germ must be extracted from the
egg before it is fit for human consumption. Eggs may be
cooked for 1-2 minutes in oil.
Curd (cottage) cheese: Let the sour milk stand for 1-2
days till it clabbers; drain off the whey; put what remains in a

cheesecloth bag and hang it up for several hours to drain

thoroughly.
Cream: Syphon it out from the top of the milk bottle or
skim off sour milk.
Butter: Whip cream for a few minutes and it will turn into
butter.
The cooked vegetables of category V should be cooked as
little as possible and revitalised by the addition of oil, lemon
juice, onion and other condiments.
HARMONY WITH NATURE ' S CYCLES : DIET
ACCORDING TO THE SEASONS

Milk and milk products (of Categories II and IV): March,

April, May; salads and vegetables (of Category II): June, July,
August; juicy fruits (of Category I): September, October,
November; cereals, dried and oily fruits (of Categories III and
IV): December, January, February.
Note. (1) The foods indicated above are not the exclusive
foods for the period, but simply the foods favourable for each
season from the point of view of the temporary equilibrium of
the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and human radiations.
(2) Naturally the foods should also be modified in
accordance with the demands of the organism.
THE ACQUISITION OF IMMUNITY TO EVERY DISEASE

Foods prohibited To be replaced respectively by

1. All meats
Nuts, pulses and milk products
2. All fish
Nuts, pulses and milk products
3. All Crustacea
Nuts, pulses and milk products
4. Tobacco
Fresh oxygen
5. Alcohol
Fresh natural fruit juices
6. Coffee
Fig, cereal, soya bean or dandelion coffee with warm milk and
honey
7. Tea
Natural herb teas (e.g. mint,
camomile, lime blossom), with
honey and lemon juice
8. Chocolate
Dates, figs, raisins, etc.
9. White biscuits
Biscuits made of wholemeal flour
10. White sugar
Honey and natural raw sugars
11. Salt
Onion, garlic, celery, dill, etc.
12. Vinegar
Lemon and grapefruit juice
13. White bread
Germinated wheat, wholemeal
bread
14. Chemicals
Unnecessary
15. Canned, tinned and Fresh foods
preserved foods
16. Medicaments and Natural forces (sun, air, water,
drugs
exercises, fruits, vegetables, etc.)

Why these Foods are Forbidden

They fill the organism with toxins, cause fermentation by their
decomposition in the organism, are very hard to digest, greatly scarify the organism
and introduce many parasites into it, have a bad influence on the nervous system,
create harmful acids in the organism, furnish a favourable medium for the culture
of the bacteria of disease, destroy the resistance of the body to disease, decrease the
capacity of absorption of the pulmonary cells, prevent the blood from obtaining
enough oxygen, lower the quality of the blood, progressively and increasingly
weaken the heart, hinder mental work, injure the eyes, degenerate the character of
the individual, are so much dead matter in the organism, cause arterio-sclerosis,
destroy the elasticity and vitality of the bones, provoke unnecessary thirst, form a
gluey paste in the stomach, fill the organism with useless material containing no
vitamins, are devitalised and too concentrated, prevent the natural elimination of
toxins and increase their accumulation, and, finally, shorten life.

The table opposite contains 55 different diets whose use

in suitable combination makes possible the cure of every kind
of disease and every organism. The diets are made up of 200
different fruits, vegetables and cereals arranged in five
categories of foods. The combination, quality, duration and
succession of the diets are of great importance and vary
according to diseases, organisms, weight, age, climate, season
and many other circumstances. (See and follow the various
tables given on pp. 190-198.)
TWENTY SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOE THE USE OF
DOCTORS AND SANATORIA

1. For intellectual and sedentary workers, for those

without much appetite and for the obese, and for all in warm
climates and during warm seasons prescribe 50 per cent of
Category I, 35 per cent of Category II, 10 per cent of Category
III and 5 per cent of Category IV.
2. For muscular types and those doing physical work, for
those with large appetites, for the thin, and for all in cold
climates and during cold seasons prescribe 40 per cent of
Category I, 30 per cent of Category II, 20 per cent of Category
III and 10 per cent of Category IV.
All the above can also have cooked vegetables of the fifth
category two or three times a week, and they can add from 2030 per cent to the daily ration indicated by the Self-regulating
Weight Chart.

3. In case of serious complications of the digestive

organs, prescribe a mono-diet with three regular meals equally
spaced throughout the day, together with perfect mastication,
the maximum amount at each meal not to exceed 1 lb.
4. In case of nervous diseases use appropriate
psychological treatment parallel with the diet, viz., rest,
walking, contemplation of the beauties of nature, good books
and good music.
5. In case of hyperacidity mark the acid-forming foods
with the letter 'M' (meaning 'take in moderation').
6. In case of hypoacidity mark the foods containing acids
with the letter 'F' (meaning 'favourable foods').
7. In case of excessive fat or long confinement to bed
mark the foods in the categories containing a lot of fat,
starch and carbohydrate with the letter 'M'.
8. In case of thinness or much muscular activity mark the
foods in these categories with the letter 'F' (favourable),
together with the recommendation that the patient should often
take foods containing protein (particularly cottage cheese and
the various kinds of nuts).
9. In case of demineralisation mark the foods containing
minerals with the letter 'F' (favourable).
10. In case of avitaminosis mark the foods rich in
vitamins with the letter 'F'.
11. In case of diabetes mark the foods containing sugar
and carbohydrates with the letter 'M' (moderation).
12. In case of lack of protein mark the foods containing
protein, especially cottage cheese and nuts, with the letters 'FF'
(very favourable).
13. In case of excess of albumen no special indication is
necessary.
14. Nor is any special indication required in case of
general intoxication.
15. In case of fermentations and gas mark the acidforming elements and the foods containing them with the
letter 'M'.
16. If in the course of years of unnatural feeding the
patient's digestive organs have become so denatured that they
are unable to digest the raw foods, then begin the diet with
cooked foods, but introduce 10 per cent of raw foods with
each week of treatment. In this way during ten weeks of
transition the digestive organs will gradually get accustomed
to the raw foods, as progressively they become revitalised.
17. Parallel with the diet apply the cosmotherapeutic
applications (aerotherapy, hydrotherapy, heliotherapy,
geotherapy) of appropriate temperature and intensity,
eventually introducing the cosmotherapeutic exercises and
cosmovital baths. (See Book II.)

18. In case of wounds or sores needing local treatment

prescribe parallel with the diet the appropriate solutions of
volatile oils.
19. In order to calculate the length of dietetic treatment
required in any particular case add the number of the patient's
years to his weight in kilograms and divide the result by ten.
This will give the number of months necessary for the
detoxication of his organism, the renewal of his cells and the
elimination of superfluous material. The quantity of the toxins
accumulated in the organism is directly proportional to the
increase in weight of the body and the time of accumulation.
For instance, if the patient's weight is 70 kilograms and his
age 50 years, the length of dietetic treatment required will be
70 + 50 = 120 10 = 12 months. This result is naturally only
approximate, as many other factors (heredity, vitality,
glandular activity, mode of life, environment, etc.) have a
modifying influence.
20. When the above-mentioned irregularities and
symptoms have disappeared and cure has been effected,
advise the patient, if he wishes to maintain the health he has
regained, to follow the general instructions given on the chart
in order to prolong his life and to acquire immunity to the
various diseases.
Note.The use of the dietetic table together with these
twenty instructions makes it possible for doctors to give their
patients precise and complete instructions in a few minutes,
which will ensure the most rapid and best results. Without the
table such instructions would take them several hours.
THE HYGIENE OF THE BODY AND MIND

(Air, Water, Sun, Exercises, Respiration, Altruism,

Culture, Harmony)
1. Spend as much time as possible in the fresh air.
2. Always take a cold or lukewarm shower in the morning
when you wake and in the evening before you go to bed.
3. Devote one half-day a week to alternate sun baths and
water baths (swimming where possible).
4. Go for 30-50 minutes walk in the fresh air after lunch and
supper every day, breathing deeply and rhythmically.
5. Do some simple physical culture exercises for 10-15
minutes every morning on rising.
6. Always sleep in a cool, airy and quiet place.
7. Follow the middle path of moderation and naturalness in all
things, particularly in food, rest, work, recreation and sleep.
8. Beware of psychic toxins (inharmonious thoughts and
feelings) even more than of chemical poisons. Be an
optimist and have confidence in yourself, in human
progress and in the forces of nature.

9. Be a sincere altruist, love and help others. Appreciate

people's good qualities and forgive their bad ones.
10. Enjoy the beauties of nature and the masterpieces of
literature, the arts and philosophy.
11. Study and observe the natural and cosmic laws and live in
complete harmony with the natural and cosmic forces.
12. Do everything possible to propagate knowledge of the
laws of natural living and of nutritional hygiene in order to
lessen the suffering and chaos around you.
THE REGENERATIVE
PROCESSES IN THE ORGANISM UNDER THE
COSMOTHERAPEUTIC MODE OF LIFE

If the cosmotherapeutic mode of life is followed for one

year (eight cycles of the year), it achieves the following
results:
I. In the general condition of the organism:
(1) eliminates from the organism the toxins and
superfluous matter accumulated through following an
unhealthy diet;
(2) rejuvenates the organism beginning to lose its vital
force through age;
(3) assures deep, quiet and refreshing sleep in case of
chronic insomnia;
(4) strengthens the organism in case of general weakness
caused by disease or exhaustion of the physical forces;
(5) refreshes the body in case of fatigue due to an
exaggerated activity;
(6) eliminates all excess of liquid from the organism in
increased measure through the urine and by perspiration;
(7) eliminates all excess of fat from the organism through
internal dissolution;
(8) reduces in case of excess weight, in a healthy manner,
without weakening the body and without disagreeable
consequences;
(9) in case of weakness following on defective diet
strengthens the organism by creating new muscular cells and
builds up again the natural weight of the body;
(10) eliminates all excess of acidity from the organism by
accelerating the internal and external secretions;
(11) eliminates gases from the system by rhythmical
movement and perspiration;
(12) relieves acute and chronic pains by dissolving and
eliminating accumulated morbid matter;
(13) diminishes and gets rid of fever by expulsion of
excess heat;
(14) gets rid of chill and fever by restoring the normal
internal heat of the organism;

(15) in case of local paralysis progressively revitalises the

paralysed organs by means of the external and internal
cosmovital radiations;
(16) eliminates and stops all fermentations and
putrefactions in the organism through one radical and
complete internal cleansing;
(17) eliminates scarification, sclerosis and all excess of
inorganic minerals in the organism by means of an internal
dissolution and external elimination;
(18) cures all troubles and deficiencies of the processes of
metabolism, accelerates and intensifies all the metabolic
activities in the organism, restoring its elasticity;
(19) refreshes and strengthens the nervous system by
eliminating diseased nerve cells and creating healthy nerve
cells;
(20) relieves, lessens and progressively puts an end to
nervous troubles and tensions and blunting of the nerves;
(21) ends passivity, pessimism and lack of will, giving a
new healthy, robust and harmonious life rhythm to the
organism;
(22) stops exaggerated appetite by introducing external
cosmovital energies into the organism and making alimentary
excess internally unnecessary;
(23) gets rid of abnormal or exaggerated sexuality by
eliminating excess of energy and internal sensorial excitants;
(24) ends sexual debility (impotence or frigidity) by
reactivating the sexual organs and revitalising the sexual
glands;
(25) completely renews the blood, changing it into a
vitalising liquid which regenerates the whole organism by its
circulation;
(26) cleanses, revitalises, rejuvenates and makes more
elastic the cells, tissues and intercellular substance of the
organism;
(27) establishes a harmony between the internal
vibrations of the organism and the external cosmic solar and
terrestrial radiations, and similarly establishes an equilibrium
between human activities and the rhythmic cosmic, solar and
terrestrial cycles;
(28) by transforming the organism into an apparatus
capable of absorbing the cosmovital radiations, makes the
organism permanently more perfect.
II. In the epidermis:
(29) it makes the skin finer, stronger and more elastic,
and a healthy skin with perfect respiration and perspiration
facilitates the functioning of the lungs and kidneys.

III. In the lungs and respiratory system:

(30) it increases the capacity of absorption of the lungs
and the circulation of the blood, and by this means accelerates
all the metabolic processes of the organism.
IV. In the heart and circulation of the blood:
(31) it detoxicates the chemical composition of the former
blood saturated with toxins as a result of an inaccurate diet
and makes the new detoxicated blood carry out a permanent
activity of dissolution, purification and elimination, thus
putting an end to all fermentations in the blood and ensuring
that there is no unnatural pressure; it also makes the pulse and
movement of the heart easier and more regular.
V. In the digestive and excretive system:
(32) it detoxicates, purifies and revitalises the cells and
appropriate glands of the stomach, liver, pancreas and
kidneys; it makes perfect the dissolution, assimilation and
distribution of foods in the organism; banishes excess or lack
of stomachic acidity, stomachic and intestinal fermentations,
intestinal gas and intestinal sluggishness.
VI. In the muscular system:
(33) it makes stronger and more elastic the muscular
cells, fibres and membranes; it builds new muscular cells;
makes the contraction and dilation of the muscles and the
whole circulation of the blood rhythmical.
VII. In the sexual and reproductive organs:
(34) it gets rid of local inflammations, swelling and ulcers
of the male and female sexual organs, making the vital activity
of the organs elastic, vigorous and periodically rhythmical; it
frees menstruation from all disagreeable accompaniments,
making it regular and definitely dividing days when
conception is possible from those that are sterile, and by this
means it makes birth-control easy, certain and natural without
the use of artificial, harmful contraceptive appliances; it
assures the most favourable development of the processes of
conception and gestation; it reduces the pains of child-birth to
the minimum and eliminates all the usual complications; it
increases the vital strength of the embryo and assures a
favourable heredity to the newborn; it gives revitalising and
constructive force to the mother's milk and assures the infant a
perfect constitution and immunity from the usual ills of
childhood.
VIII. In the bony system:
(35) it frees from toxins the bony matter of the skull,
skeleton, back-bone and extremities and revitalises them,

making them more elastic; it eliminates waste matter, lime

accumulations and fermentative and putrefying processes and
local deformities.
IX. In the nervous system:
(36) it increases sensibility of nervous reception and
intensity of nervous reaction; it puts an end to nervous pains
and tensions with all their diseased symptoms and reflexes; it
improves the nerve cells and the specific capacities of the
nerve centres and nerve endings of sight, hearing and feeling.
X. In the internal and external system of secretory glands:
(37) the revitalisation, detoxication and bringing to a state
of mutual equilibrium and harmony of the endocrine and
exocrine secretory glands; rejuvenates the whole system and
by the development of maximum vitality ensures a strength
that can stand up to infection and give complete immunity to
disease.
Note.The above life-processes and practical results are
based on the statistics of the researches and experiments of the
International Cosmotherapeutic Expedition 1930-1940, made
in all parts of the world and tried out on large numbers of
people of many different races.
PRACTICAL ADVICE

Follow all the various instructions given above with equal

precision, for everything is necessary and nothing superfluous.
Read them through carefully several times and follow
everything completely and without exception. If, in spite of
setting out to do this, you cannot for one reason or another
follow everything completely, do not lose heart, but do as
much as you can. It is better to do a little than nothing, for
results are always obtained in proportion to the number of
rules observed, and always arrive sooner or later in every case
with mathematical precision.
To start with, this diet provokes unpleasant symptoms,
due to the general elimination of old accumulations of toxins
in the organism. It is usual for the old symptoms of past
illnesses to be renewed. However, the individual who does not
let himself be alarmed by them, but understanding the natural
laws and trusting in the healing powers of the natural forces,
perseveres in following the diet, will be abundantly rewarded
by the complete cleansing and regeneration of his organism
and the cure of his diseases. So do not forget: Every disease is
curable, but not everybody; only those who have strength of
will and perseverance. Do not let yourself be influenced by
passing symptoms of the cleansing process or by the opinions
of ignorant people round you.

Part III
COSMOTHERAPY AND THE PROBLEMS
OF SOCIETY

Chapter XVI
AGRICULTURE AND PUBLIC HEALTH
THE production of healthy fruits, vegetables and cereals is
the foundation of health and of natural medicine. If our fruits
and vegetables are deficient and unwholesome, the whole
therapy and diet are illusory. From a biological point of view
the earth is the foundation of human society, for the main
source of everything that we have in society comes from the
earth. In this chapter we shall deal with horticultural and
agricultural problems, showing the best way possible to fight
against various diseases of plants and to avoid unnatural
chemical fertilisers and sprays upon plants. This is a
fundamental problem of naturism, but it is one of the most
neglected.
Most of us to-day are suffering from various dangerous
dietetic deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the
depleted soils from which our foods come are brought into
proper mineral balance.
The alarming fact is that foodsfruits and vegetables and
grainsnow being raised on millions of acres of land no
longer contain enough of certain needed minerals and are
starving us, no matter how much of them we eat.
Realisation of the importance of minerals in food is so
new that the textbooks on nutritional dietetics contain very
little about it. Nevertheless, it is something that concerns all of
us, and the further we delve into it the more startling it
becomes. Laboratory tests prove that the fruits, the vegetables,
the grains, the eggs and even the milk and meats of to-day are
not what they were a few generations ago. (Which doubtess
explains why our forefathers thrived on a selection of fruits
that would starve us.) No man of to-day can eat enough fruits
and vegetables to supply his system with the mineral salts he
requires for perfect health, because his stomach is not big
enough to hold them. And we are running to big stomachs.
No longer does a balanced and fully nourishing diet
consist merely of so many calories or certain vitamins or a
fixed proportion of starches, proteins and carbohydrates. We
know that it must contain, in addition, something like a score
of mineral salts.
Ninety-nine per cent of the English and American peoples
are deficient in these minerals and a marked deficiency in any
one of the more important minerals actually results in disease.
Any upset of the balance, any considerable lack of one or
another element, however microscopic the body requirement
may be, and we sicken, suffer from illness and shorten our
lives. We must make soil building the basis of food building,
in order to accomplish human building.

Minerals are vital to human metabolism and health, and

no plant or animal can appropriate to itself any mineral which
is not present in the soil upon which it feeds. In the past, little
attention has been paid to food deficiencies and even less to
soil deficiencies. Men eminent in medicine denied there was
any such thing as vegetable and fruits that did not contain
sufficient minerals for human needs. Eminent agricultural
authorities insisted that all soil contained all necessary
minerals. They reasoned that plants take what they need, and
that it is the function of the human body to appropriate what it
requires. Failure to do so, they said, was a symptom of
disorder.
Some of the respected authorities even claimed that the
so-called secondary minerals played no part whatever in
human health. It is only recently that such men as Dr.
McCollum of John Hopkins, Dr. Mendel of Yale, Dr. Sherman
of Columbia, Dr. Lipman of Rutgers and Doctors H. G.
Knight and Oswald Schreiner of the United States Department
of Agriculture have agreed that these minerals are essential to
plant, animal and human feeding.
Nor does the layman realise that there may be a
pronounced difference in both foods and soils. To him one
vegetable, one glass of milk or one egg is about the same as
another. Dirt is dirt too, and he assumes that by adding a little
fertiliser to it, a satisfactory vegetable or fruit can be grown.
The truth is that our foods vary enormously in value, and some
of them are not worth eating as food. For example, vegetation
grown in one place of the country may assay 1,100 parts, per
billion, of iodine, as against 20 in that grown elsewhere.
Processed milk has run anywhere from 362 parts, per million,
of iodine and 127 of iron, down to nothing. We have been
systematically robbing the poor soils and the good soils alike
of the very substance most necessary to health, growth, long
life and resistance to disease. The most direct approach to
better health is to find a method of restoring those missing
minerals to our foods.
We know that rats, guinea pigs and other animals can be
fed into a diseased condition and out again simply by
controlling the minerals in their foods. A ten year test with rats
proved that by withholding calcium they can be bred down to
a third the size of those fed with an adequate amount of that
mineral. Their intelligence, too, can be controlled by mineral
feeding as readily as can their size, their bony structure and
their general health. Place a number of these little animals
inside a maze after starving some of them in a certain mineral
element. The starved ones will be unable to find their way out,
whereas the others will have little or no difficulty in getting
out. Their dispositions can be altered by mineral feeding. They
can be made quarrelsome and belligerent; they can even be
turned into cannibals and made to devour each other. A

cageful of normal rats will live in amity. Restrict their

calcium, and they will become irritable and withdraw apart
from one another. Then they will begin to fight. Restore their
calcium balance and they will grow more friendly; in time
they will begin to sleep in a pile as before.
Many backward children are 'stupid' merely because they
are deficient in magnesia. We punish them for our failure to
feed them properly.
Our physical well-being is certainly more directly
dependent upon the minerals we take into our system than
upon calories or upon the precise proportions of starch, protein
or carbohydrates we consume.
It is now agreed that at least sixteen mineral elements are
indispensable for normal nutrition, and several more are
always found in small amounts in the body, although their
precise physiological role has not been determined. Of the
eleven indispensable salts, calcium, phosphorus and iron are
perhaps the most important. Calcium is the dominant nerve
controller; it powerfully affects the cell formation of all living
things and regulates the nerve action. It governs contractility
of the muscles and the rhythmic beat of the heart. It also coordinates the other mineral elements and corrects disturbances
made by them. It works only in sunlight. Vitamin D is its
essential counterpart.
Doctor Sherman of Columbia asserts that fifty per cent of
the American people are starving for calcium. A recent article
in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that
out of four thousand cases in New York Hospital, only two
were not suffering from a lack of calcium. What does such a
deficiency mean? How would it affect your health or mine? So
many morbid conditions and actual diseases may result that it
is almost hopeless to catalogue them. Included in the list are
rickets, bony deformities, fatigability, and behaviour
disturbances such as incorrigibility, assaultiveness, nonadaptability.
To take a specific example. The soil around a certain city
is poor in calcium. Three hundred children of this community
were examined and nearly ninety per cent had bad teeth, sixtynine per cent showed affections of the nose and throat,
swollen glands, enlarged or diseased tonsils. More than onethird had defective vision, round shoulders, bow legs and
anaemia.
Calcium and phosphorus appear to pull in double harness.
A child requires as much per day as two grown men, but
studies indicate a common deficiency of both in our food.
Researches on farm animals point to a deficiency of one or the
other as the cause of serious losses to the farmers, and when
the soil is poor in phosphorus these animals become bonechewers. Doctor McCollum says that when there are enough
phosphates in the blood there can be no dental decay.

Iron is an essential constituent of the oxygen-carrying

pigment of the blood; iron starvation results in anaemia, and
yet iron cannot be assimilated unless some copper is contained
in the diet. In Florida many cattle die from an obscure disease
called 'salt-sickness'. It has been found to arise from a lack of
iron and copper in the soil, hence in the grass. A man may
starve from a want of these elements just as a cow or bullock
starves.
If iodine is not present in our food the function of the
thyroid gland is disturbed and goitre afflicts us. The human
body requires only fourteen-thousandths of a milligram daily,
yet we have a distinct 'goitre belt' in various parts of the world,
and in certain regions of both Europe and America the soil is
so poor in iodine that the disease is common.
Each mineral element plays a definite role in nutrition. A
characteristic set of symptoms, just as specific as any vitamindeficiency disease, follows a deficiency of any one of them. It
is alarming, therefore, to face the fact that we are starving for
these precious, health-giving substances.
It may be said that if our foods are poor in the mineral
salts they are supposed to contain, then we should resort to
dosing. That is precisely what is being done, or being
attempted. However, scientists assert that the human system
cannot appropriate those elements to the best advantage in
any but the food form. At best, only a minimal part of them, in
the form of natural medicaments, can be utilised by the body,
and certain dieticians go so far as to say it is a waste of effort
to take them. Calcium, for instance, cannot be supplied in any
form of medication with lasting effect.
But there is a more potent reason why the curing of
dietetic deficiencies by drugging is not very successful. There
are sixteen indispensable elements and certain others which
presumably perform some obscure function as yet
undetermined. Aside from calcium and phosphorus, they are
needed only in infinitesimal quantities, and the activity of one
may be dependent on the presence of another. To determine
the precise requirements of each individual case and to
attempt to weigh it out on a druggist's scale would appear
hopeless.
It is a problem and a serious one. But there is a hopeful
side of the picture: Nature can and will solve it if she is
encouraged to do so. The minerals in fruits and vegetables are
colloidal; i.e., they are in a state of such extremely fine
suspension that they can be assimilated by the human system;
it is merely a question of giving back to nature the materials
with which she works. We must rebuild our soils; put back the
minerals we have taken out. That sounds difficult, but it is not
hard in fact. Neither is it expensive. Therein lies the short cut
to better health and longer life. The textbooks are not
dependable, because many of the analyses in them were made

many years ago, perhaps from products raised in virgin soils,

whereas our soils have been constantly depleted. Soil analyses
reflect only the content of samples. Any analysis may be
entirely different from another ten miles away.
Crops grown in a properly mineralised soil are bigger and
better; the seeds germinate quicker, grow more rapidly and
make larger plants; trees are healthier and put on more fruit of
a better quality.
By increasing the mineral content of citrus fruit, its
texture, its appearance and its flavour are improved. By
mineralising the feed at poultry farms we have more and better
eggs; by balancing pasture soils, we produce richer milk.
A healthy plant, however, grown in soil properly
balanced, can and will resist more insect pests. That very
characteristic makes it a better food product. You have
tuberculosis and pneumonia germs in your system, but you are
strong enough to throw them off. Similarly, a really healthy
plant will more or less take care of itself in the battle against
insects and blights, and will also give the human system what
it requires. For instance, in an orange grove infested with
scale, when the mineral balance was restored to part of the
soil, the trees growing in that part became clean while the rest
remained diseased. By the same means, healthy rose-bushes
have been grown between rows that were riddled with insects.
Similarly tomato and cucumber plants have been grown,
both healthy and diseased, when the vines interwined. Insects
ate up the diseased and refused to touch the healthy plants.
'Healthy plants mean healthy people.' It is impossible to
raise a strong race on a weak soil.
The following extract is taken from a report of a
subsidiary of one of the leading copper companies in the
United States: 'Many States show a marked reduction in the
productive capacity of the soil ... in many districts amounting
to twenty-five, to fifty per cent reduction in the last fifty years.
. . . Some areas show a tenfold variation in calcium. Some
show a sixty-fold variation in phosphorus. . . . Authorities . . .
see soil depletion, barren live stock, increased human death
rate due to heart disease, deformities, arthritis, increased
dental caries, all due to lack of essential minerals in plant
food.'
It is neither a complicated nor an expensive undertaking
to restore our soils to balance, and thereby work a real miracle
in the control of disease. As a matter of fact, it is a moneymaking move for the farmer, and any competent soil chemist
can tell him how to proceed. First determine by analysis the
precise chemistry of any given soil, then correct the
deficiencies by putting down enough of the missing elements
to restore its balance. The same care should be used as in
prescribing for a sick patient, for proportions are of vital
importance.

Advancement in chemistry, and especially our ever

increasing knowledge of colloidal chemistry makes it now
possible by the use of minerals in colloidal form, to prescribe
a cheap and effective system of soil correction which meets
this vital need, and one which fits in admirably with the plans
of nature.
Soils seriously deficient in minerals cannot produce plant
life competent to maintain our needs, and with the continuous
cropping and shipping away of these concentrates, the
condition becomes worse.
A famous nutrition authority in America recently wrote:
'One sure way to end the American people's susceptibility to
infection is to supply through food a balanced ration of iron,
copper and other metals. An organism supplied with a diet
adequate to, or preferably in excess of, all mineral
requirements may so utilise these elements as to produce
immunity from infection quite beyond anything we are able to
produce artificially by our present method of immunisation.
You can't make up the deficiency by using patent medicines.'
Prevention of disease is easier, more practical and more
economical than cure, but not until foods are standardised on a
basis of what they contain instead of what they look like, can
the dietician prescribe them with intelligence and with effect.
There was a time when medical therapy had no standard,
because the therapeutic elements in drugs had not been
definitely determined on a chemical basis. Pharmaceutical
houses have changed all this. Food chemistry, on the other
hand, has depended almost entirely on the government
agencies for its researches, and in our real knowledge of
values we are about where medicine was a century ago.
Disease preys most surely and most viciously on the
under-nourished and unfit plants, animals and human beings
alike, and when the importance of these obscure mineral
elements is fully realised the chemistry of life will have to be
rewritten. No man knows his mental or bodily capacity, how
well he can feel or how long he can live, for we are all
cripples and weaklings. It is a disgrace to science. Happily that
chemistry is being rewritten and we are on our way to better
health by returning to the soil the things we have stolen from
it.
The public can help; it can hasten the change. How? By
demanding quality in its food. By insisting that our doctors
and our health departments establish scientific standards of
nutritional value. The growers will quickly respond. They can
put back those minerals almost overnight, and by doing so
they can actually make money through bigger and better
crops.
It is simpler to cure sick soils than sick peoplewhich
shall we choose?

The foundation of cosmotherapy is the various energies

coming to us from the various spheres: botanosphere,
hydrosphere, lithosphere, etc., and it is based on the utilisation
of these various natural energies. The earth, the vegetation, the
air, the water, and the sun are the essence of cosmotherapy,
which consists of the total and optimal application of these
energies and of the technique of perfect adaptation to all the
energies of these spheres. As things are, we adapt ourselves to
all these spheres very badly. For instance, we adapt ourselves
very badly to the atmosphere when we shut ourselves up in
large houses of our great towns, where there is hardly any
fresh air at all, and where the sun's rays penetrate with
difficulty.
We also adapt ourselves very badly to the hydrosphere,
which consists of natural sun-irradiated water. In our cities we
cannot have such water for bathing and drinking. We can only
have the denatured, dead water out of pipes. Similarly we
adapt ourselves very badly to the botanosphere (vegetation).
Instead of plants and trees and flowers round us we have only
stone walls and metal machines. But of all these
maladaptations the worst is our bad adaptation to the
lithosphere, to the earth, for we allow all the vital forces of the
earth to be exhausted and wasted and thus destroy the vital
and chemical energies of the earth. Unhealthy soil results in
unhealthy vegetation, in unhealthy fruits and unhealthy
vegetables, and unhealthy vegetation results in unhealthy
animals and men and this general sickness results in the
degeneration of the race. Disease, weakness and passivity
constitute a very great danger. This is proved by statistics.
To take one example out of many. The United States
Board of Education reported before the war that fifteen
million children in the United States were in some manner
defective. Some had more than one defect. The statistics
issued from the United States Board of Education,
Washington, D.C., are as follows:
400,000 children have organic disease.
1,000,000

tuberculosis.
1,000,000

,, spinal curvature.
4,000,000

are mal-nourished.
6,000,000

have enlarged tonsils, adenoids, and

other gland diseases.
10,000,000

have defective teeth.

15,000,000

have need of attention for physical

defects.
Fifteen billion dollars is estimated to be the annual
economic loss due to ill health expense of sickness, hospitals,
hospital maintenance, lost wages, inefficiency of workers and
premature death. Heart disease is the chief cause of death in

the United States and is steadily becoming more destructive.

In 1928, in the United States it caused 237,649 deaths, a rate
of 207.7 per 100,000 of population. Pneumonia was next with
a rate of 98 and cancer third with 95.9. Kidney disease was a
close fourth with 95. Then came cerebral haemorrhage and
softening of the brain, 88; next accidents and tuberculosis each
79.2; congenital malformations and disease of early infancy,
65.6; influenza, 45.2 and diarrhoea and enteritis, 26.8.
These statistics are a lesson for all who see the highest
ideal for mankind in the highest perfection of technique and
machines. We can see that in the United States where
technical perfection has attained its most evolved form a high
price is paid for this perfection. We can see that the people are
destroying themselves as a result of this great adoration of the
idol of machinery. Their energies are concentrated on
machines and on productive energy and not one per cent of
their energies are concentrated on the most vital problem of
man and of societythe problem of how to save humanity
itself. If the present tendency towards a denatured life
continues for another two generations in the United States,
then the whole continent will become a vast hospital for every
kind of disease. And the same can happen in every country of
the world. Even if by a rationalisation of methods of
production and distribution every form of exploitation of man
by man is eliminated, there will always remain the most
dangerous form of exploitation, the self-exploitation of man
by himself. There will remain the destruction of the vital
energies of man and the destruction of the race in our factories
and in our great cities. So the achievement of a perfect means
of production and of a perfectly just distribution of
commodities and the total abolition of every form of
exploitation is not complete and cannot be sufficient without
the abolition of our exaggerated urban and factory life. To the
ideologies of the various movements which wish to transform
society into a more perfect form we must add these ideas upon
a natural and simple life. We must struggle that people shall
come to know the fundamental laws of a healthy, simple and
natural life which will always be the foundation of human
health, human longevity and human happiness in every age
and in every society whatever, as long as the human race and
our planet exist.
Society must adapt itself to nature, for nature is the
dialectical foundation of society. The natural forces and laws
determine man, while the social laws and forces modify and
influence man. Consequently, every sociological system must
adapt itself to the laws and forces of nature; without this every
social system will remain Utopian and its ideology imperfect.
We cannot choose what sort of social system we shall
construct and what forms of collective life we shall establish,
for these are dictated to us by the natural forces and laws. It is

quite vain and useless to show that such and such an industrial
organisation can satisfy the needs of the people in New York
or London. For if we do not live in a natural environment, in
fresh air, in the sun, among plants and trees, and if we do not
eat natural foods, man will always remain sick and unhappy,
even if all his economic needs are satisfied, and even if his
standard of living is the highest and most perfect. Behind the
stone walls of our great cities and among the machines of our
great factories, despite his great material wealth, man will
always remain poor, poor in vitality and poor in harmony, and
will always be the victim of maladaptation to the natural
forces and laws. It is important that we should know the laws
of health and life. A knowledge of the technique of a healthy
and natural life is the most essential science, for as the Latin
proverb says, 'Learn first and then philosophise.' If we are sick
or dead, we cannot solve any of the problems of society by
philosophy. We must first be healthy and then we gain time,
time for living instead of for dying. If we concentrate our
energies on gaining this time, then we can solve all the other
problems of life. But health and time are the two essential
preconditions, for we can attain nothing without them. We
struggle to spread our ideas. Among those ideas must be the
idea of a natural, rational agriculture, for there cannot be a
healthy society anywhere where the fundamental occupation
of mankind is not agriculture. The fundamental profession of
man must always be agriculture, for every other industry is
simply a superstructure of agriculture. If agriculture does not
give us the fundamental materials necessary for life, then no
other industry or superstructural branch of industry can exist.
So the most urgent and essential economic problem is a
rational, natural agriculture. If this problem were solved and
the most fundamental needs of society were satisfied, then it
would be possible to rationalise and make natural by a similar
method the other spheres of production. One of the most
fundamental parts of the cosmotherapeutic programme is
therefore giving a knowledge of natural agriculture.
It is a problem of individual health and of the collective
health of society. It is also a fundamental problem of the
economy of society.
By intelligent and intensive culture of the soil and
utilisation of all the natural resources in an economical way,
the world can easily supply at least twenty times its present
population, giving health and happiness to all, without making
war on neighbouring countries.
As we see, the principles of natural medicine are clear
and logical, yet we still have the predominance of the classical
allopathic chemical medicine. Similarly, the fundamental
principles of natural agriculture are also clear and evident, yet
we still have the predominance of classical, unnatural,
chemical agriculture. Our official institutions of agriculture

yearly publish thousands and thousands of books and

pamphlets which constantly propagate the old false ideas of
agriculture. Everything produced is now chemicalised and
deficient in the most necessary materials, so we must not be
surprised to read the statistics of disease in different countries.
Everything is in a chain of cause and effect in strict
correlation. The most fundamental activity of man,
agriculture, is contrary to nature, and unhealthy, so the whole
social superstructure is also unhealthy, unnatural and diseased.
Now this has great significance, not only from the
standpoint of human health and that of the economy of human
society, but it also gives us the clue to the understanding of the
enigmas of universal history which hitherto have remained in
obscurity. The application of dialectics to the understanding of
history has arrived at the historical materialist conception that
economic factors have been predominant in the history of
various societies. Now what are these economic factors? In the
present contemporary period the foundation of our society is
technical, industrial production, but this has only been the case
during the last two centuries. During thousands and thousands
of years in history economic factors signified agricultural
factors, for agriculture was always the basis of human society
both in antiquity and in the mediaeval feudal period. When
there have been great disequilibriums and dangers, they have
always coincided with various irregularities and interruptions
of agricultural production and distribution. For instance, when
the Mediterranean pirates stole all the wheat which was being
carried by sea to Rome, there was serious disturbance and
revolution in Rome, for the reason that without wheat life was
not possible. It was therefore necessary to organise a strong
navy at sea and to send a strong expedition to get rid of the
pirates. It was necessary to raise new taxes to be able to create
this fleet, it was necessary to organise an expeditionary force,
it was necessary to take dictatorial measures and to make large
scale alterations in the senatorial and governmental powers in
Rome.
Other nations provide similar examples. For instance,
when Hannibal waged the great war upon Rome he almost
won the war before the walls of Rome. But because he did not
receive supplies of wheat and other necessities from Carthage
he had to retire from Italy and lost the whole war. What would
have happened if Hannibal had conquered Rome? Instead of
the Roman Empire there would have been a great
Carthaginian Semitic empire in the Mediterranean, and,
instead of the various countries derived from the descendants
of the Roman empire in all the Latin countries of Europe and
America, we should have quite different countries with quite
different languages and culture. We know that the greatest and
most glorious period of Rome was when the Romans were all
agriculturists, when every one had his little piece of land and

cultivated it, and when even for the election of a consul it was
necessary to go to look for him in the country, working on his
estate. The reader will remember the story of Cincinnatus.
During that period Rome was the master of the whole known
world. In the simple and natural life of Latin society there was
a strong vitality which enabled the Romans to conquer the
whole known world of antiquity. If we follow history we shall
find that the natural simple life was changed in Rome. The
rich colonies in every part of the world sent all kinds of
unnatural products to the metropolis. If we read the lists of
foods at the great banquets of Lucullus we find that there were
eight hundred different foods which came from forty different
countries of the world, from North and East Africa, Asia
Minor, Persia, Arabia, Palestine, Greece. Petronius Arbiter
tells the same story of luxury in food. In the period of
Lucullus and of the Roman Csars foods were terribly
denatured and were extremely unwholesome. Instead of the
simple, natural life of their ancestors their soft descendants led
an unnatural degenerate life, in the midst of disease and
epidemics. There were no longer small owners of land, for all
the agriculturists went as soldiers in the army, going to every
part of the world to maintain order in the colonies. Instead of
the small owners appeared the large landowners with great
latifundia, worked by slaves imported from the colonies. As
Tacitus wrote of that period, 'the latifundia have destroyed
Italy'. Soon afterwards came the revolution of the imported
slaves under the leadership of Spartacus, and at the same time
the progressive degeneration of the whole population
accompanied by great political chaos. One politician fights
against another and there are constant civil wars and
revolutions. Julius Csar against Pompey, Crassus against
both. And then Augustus against Antonius. Later all the
colonies revolted against the Roman State, and one Roman
emperor after another was killed by poison or by the sword.
One tyrant succeeded another in quick rotation. The whole
Roman Empire was destroyed by new young races coming
from Asia whose life was simple, natural and healthy like that
of the early Romans. These new vital peoples overthrew Rome
and the great empire came to an end.
We can trace the gradual disappearance of the small
landowners, the disappearance of natural agriculture, the
disappearance of a natural and simple life. And with this
disappearance we find social, political and vital biological
degeneration as the logical causal consequence.
If we examine the history of Greece, of Persia, of Egypt,
and of all the great empires of human history we shall always
find the same. Human history teaches us very serious lessons.
In our present age we are the actors on the stage, so it is very
important and urgent for us to learn the lessons of history.

Chapter XVII
THE SYMBIOSIS OF MEN AND TREES
THE history of medicine follows a great elliptical path.
Medicine began with Hippocrates as an entirely natural
medicine, then with Galen medicine became entirely
denatured and has remained so until the present day. Now we
can observe a great tendency in medicine to return to
naturalness. We can say the same of agriculture. Agriculture
as a science appeared first in ancient Persia. The first and most
perfect manual of agriculture and arboriculture is certain
chapters of the Zend Avesta of Zoroaster, which catalogue
about ten thousand fruits and vegetables; telling how to grow
them, how to improve them and ennoble them by crossing and
other processes. If we examine the origin and evolution of all
our present products we shall find that the most noble and
perfect fruits, vegetables and cereals are of Persian origin. The
agriculture of Zoroaster was perfectly natural, like the
medicine of Hippocrates. According to his ideas agriculture
was a very simple, clear and precise affair. He told all who
followed his teaching to work two hours a day in the garden,
regarding this as an indispensable precondition of health. For
in gardening there is co-operation with all the forces of nature,
with the sun, with the rains, with the water, with the earth,
with the air and with plants. Gardening is co-operation
between man and nature and there is no more perfect
occupation for man, and there exists no more favourable
influence for the human organism than work in the open air, in
nature among flowers, plants and trees. And indeed the
contemporaries of Zoroaster were very strong, robust, healthy
and long-living individuals. If we examine certain laws of
Zoroaster, if we examine how he placed agriculture as the
basis of society, we shall find perhaps some strange
considerations from the standpoint of the men of the twentieth
century. For instance, the laws of Zoroaster prescribed the
following: he who has one child must plant one tree a month,
he who has two children must plant two trees a month, and he
who has ten children must plant ten trees a month and as soon
as the children themselves have grown to an age when they
can occupy themselves with arboriculture, they must
themselves multiply these trees so that, when the trees grow
old new ones are there to take their place. For according to
Zoroaster the aim of society upon the earth is to afforest the
whole earth so that the whole earth may be a great and lovely
garden of flowers, plants and fruit trees. Such is the essential
teaching of Zoroaster with regard to practical life. If we
examine this from the point of view of dialectics we must
recognise that it is not as strange as it appears at first glance,

and it contains profound truths. For in truth the destiny of

mankind and of human society depends on natural
arboriculture. This is the true dialectical foundation of man
from a biological standpoint and also of society from the
economic point of view. The essence of this doctrine is the
exploitation of the earth directly by man instead of the
exploitation of man by man as we have in our present society.
With regard to the practical ideas of Zoroaster, how to
produce plants and trees, no contemporary manual of
agriculture can surpass his work in value. His ideas on the cooperation of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and
botanosphere are completely justified from the point of view
of contemporary science. In the present age are appearing the
first signs that arboriculture must return and is returning to the
principles of Zoroaster. Arboriculture is returning to the
original form in which it appeared in human history in the
same way that medicine is returning to the original natural
form in which it appeared in the shape of the medicine of
Hippocrates. Some years ago I received some books by an
author named Gifford who is a Professor of Tropical Forestry
in the University of Miami. His extremely interesting works
are a sign and symptom of a return to the arboriculture of
Zoroaster. Indeed they have much in common with his
teachings. The one lived and the other lives in a sub-tropical
climate and their ideas, too, coincide. The following
aphorisms give a clear picture of the first and last forms of
agriculture, the agriculture of Zoroaster and the agriculture of
Gifford.
SILVICULTURAL APHORISMS

We should remember that a tree is worth more in dollars

and cents standing, for the protection it affords, than cut down
for lumber. Keep the ground covered. Save the humus. Leave
seed trees. Use the natural sources of fertility. There are plenty
of substitutes for forest products, but no substitute for the
forest. It is wrong to mutilate a forest tree for turpentine,
rubber or other products unless it is mature or it is time for its
removal in the process of improvement cutting. Unless the
primary object is public welfare, the forest is in the same class
as any other ordinary industry. Civilisation is marked by many
stages, but none more important and modern than the care of
the wild forest for public welfare purposes.
Bear in mind that the forest is not merely a collection of
trees. It is a society of living things, animal and plant, working
together for better or for worse. There is a sociology of the
woods, just as there is a sociology of humans. There are
mutualism and parasitism in the forest just as there are in
human society.

Forestry properly understood is the intelligent use of the

axe and spade.
Northern foresters working in the tropics must eliminate
from their minds the idea of summer and winter. This means
the elimination of the annual ring upon which so many depend
for the determination of annual increment.
Improvement cuttings should be conducted for
silvicultural and not mathematical reasons. Cutting to a
diameter limit or only as fast as trees grow is a means to an
end, but not necessarily forestry. A tree is ready to be cut
when it is time to cut it, regardless of whether the amount cut
is more or less than the rate of growth.
The idea that plants must have a season of rest or
hibernation like northern animals and plants is foreign to the
tropics, the world's biological headquarters. The idea that field
crops alone feed mankind belongs also to temperate zones.
The tropics can produce all the essential needs of man
from tree crops.
Forest trees have an advantage over the field crops in that
there is no annual planting and no necessity for fertilisers or
sprays.
Any soil will grow trees in the tropics if there is sufficient
moisture. The tropics are a tree country. The tropics are the
place for perennials.
There is an excess of sunshine in all tropical countries.
Shade for man species is necessary. Owing to lack of
seasons the snowline is usually the timberline in the tropics.
Large areas in the torrid zone are covered with ice and
snow throughout the year.
In the north agriculture is agriculture, horticulture is
horticulture, silviculture is silviculture, but in the tropics all
may be advantageously combined.
When you give a crop of trees an abundance of the right
kind of humus you are giving it a balanced ration just as the
tree took it from the soil and air.
Leaf-fall and planting in the tropics are not confined to
any season.
There is no advantage in cultivating a soil which is
already too loose and porous. The only thing that helps the
capillarity of loose soil is humus. This applies as well to a soil
that is too hard and compact.
Tree roots reach down deep into the soil to garner
fertility. Tree roots grow in salt water in the tropics, but not in
temperate regions.

The place to study trees and forests is where they are not
restrained and hindered by lack of water and warmth.
If there is a science of forestry it should be based on
tropical data. The tropical out-of-doors is an all-year museum,
best suited for study.
A thing is of little interest by itself. A plant should be
studied from a use-association standpoint, always in
connection with the place and with the people.
Man is fighting many troubles produced by his own
unnatural systems of cultivation. We should always work with
and not against nature.
The extinction of a rare plant is a world-wide calamity.
There is usually a good substitute at home for the things
we buy abroad. There is no reason why things from a distance
should be better than home products. The reverse is for several
reasons nearer the truth.
There is no reason why each region should not be so far
as possible self supporting.
If each region is self-supporting the whole will take care
of itself. Trade should be reciprocal between countries of
unlike capabilities. The section that buys more than it sells is
on the road to the poorhouse.
Many of our industries are obsolete; some are destructive,
some constructive and some neutral.
A forest tree can yield fruits, other foods, fibres, oils and
other products as well as wood.
A wood should never be discarded because it is hard to
work. This is usually offset by other good qualities. In time it
may not be the kind of wood, but wood of any kind.
Hardwoods are not always the slowest growers.
A weed is merely a plant out of place. The weed of to-day
may be very useful to-morrow. A weed in one place may be
useful in another location.
Tropical tree culture has hardly begun, and many species
may become extinct before it gets started.
In judging forest soil look up not down, since the
character of the vegetation which covers it is the test of its
capabilities.
If every family owned five acres of diverse tropical forest
bearing various useful products for home use, there would be
more people with a soil and tree conscience and more selfsupporting and patriotic citizens in the community.
Avocational schools are needed to show what can be
produced from a tropical soil, how to produce it and what

industries can be fostered for the manufacture of those

productions.
All wealth comes from the sea and the soil.
Any man who converts a piece of unused land into a
productive unit not only adds to the national wealth, but with
the help of nature is creating a real life insurance for himself.
(Actually the farmers eat what they cannot sell instead of
selling what they cannot eat.)
Many tropical fruits are not perishable and are cheaply
transported.
There is nothing that can have a greater educational,
health-producing and gratifying effect than a five-acre forest
garden in the tropics. A man is filling a very praiseworthy
niche when he produces something that is of use to the rest of
us.
One moving to the tropics must forget northern nations.
The tropic is not, as usually supposed, the land of siesta and
maana. It is a land of intensity.
If the lumberman had left one seed tree per acre and
cleared up his mess like the other industries are required to do,
there would be many fine forests in this country (the United
States).
The way to fight excessive sun, wind and rain is with the
forest. The earth must not be deprived of its protective
covering.
The export of raw materials to foreign lands in exchange
for cheap, unnecessary manufactured articles is a poor trade.
A big export trade means a subsidised merchant marine which
in turn demands a big navy which in turn tends to war.
Our greatest asset is beauty exemplified in all kinds of
art. The nearer natural this art the better.
Vegetation is the dress that adorns the earth. Landscape
can be produced with vegetation on the face of the earth just
as a painter works with a brush and colours. This vegetarian
can yield useful products as well as beauty.
The man who leaves his inheritance in better shape than
when he received it has not lived in vain. The man who
introduces a new plant, develops a new plant or discovers a
new plant or a new use for an old plant may add millions of
wealth to future generations. A man may drop a single seed
accidentally which in time may completely change the
landscape and the industries of a people.
The best pumps are trees, they work for years without
repair or expense.

Plant deep-rooted, wind-resistant trees. Plant trees that

are fire-proof because of thick bark, gummy sap or those that
sucker from the stump and root. Use native trees or trees that
have long been naturalised and survived. Let nature do your
experimenting.
Climatic disturbances cling close to the earth and are
unquestionably in many ways influenced by a forest covering.
Forestry is a process of cultural operations that cannot be
accurately measured in feet and dollars.
Useful trees are usually ornamental. Use and art are not
incompatible.
The prosperity of a country depends, not so much upon
its natural resources, as upon the way those resources are
handled. Even the hurricane that uproots a tree may spread its
seeds.
Exchange of products is superfluous in a country which
can produce everything it needs.
Almost every tropical region can be made selfsupporting.
The final adjustments between living things and their
environment is the most puzzling thing characteristic of
nature. Too heavy and continuous fruiting may be a distress
signal.
****
There is very great affinity between the ideas of Zoroaster
and Gifford. The explanation lies in the similarity between the
two periods. In the time of Zoroaster the forests were almost
in a state of disappearance and in general arboriculture was a
vital necessity of the time. It is the same to-day. Our forests
are disappearing with terrible rapidity, and our climate
becomes worse and worse. We have too much cold, too much
heat, too much dryness, too much humidity, as a practical
consequence of the destruction of the forests. Gifford is in the
true Zoroastrian tradition when he recognizes the forests as the
greatest treasure of man and of human society.
The climate depends on the forests, and on the climate
our health, and on our health the economic welfare of society.
The reconstruction of our forests is truly an urgent task.
Unfortunately it is a problem neglected alike by politics and
by agriculture.
Public health cannot profit very much from a system of
feeding which is based upon our present system of agriculture.
The predominant and often excessive consumption of meat
and denatured cereals and the consequent craving for
stimulants and narcotics are the chief causes of the almost
universal toxic condition and social unrest of the people,

frequently intensified by over-production and unemployment

in the industrial fields. To-day we are devoting over two
million acres to the cultivation of the different cereals. The
total harvest is approximately five billion bushels, most of
which goes to the feeding of twenty million animals. Only a
comparatively small portion of the developed agricultural land
is devoted to the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and nuts.
Cereals and meat are not the best food for man. In fact, he
could live much better by reducing their consumption to a
minimum and by-eating more fruits, nuts and vegetables
instead, supplemented occasionally by small amounts of dairy
products, such as buttermilk, clabbered (sour) milk and
cottage cheese.
In the progress of civilisation fruit and nut trees will
always be a necessary and important element, not only for
providing wholesome and ample nourishment, but also for
enhancing man's love for the beauties of nature. Mineral food
can be brought from greater depths by fruit and nut trees than
by cereals, as the strong roots of the tree are capable of
reaching the deeper, richer strata of the soil, permitting,
therefore, a more intensive cultivation of a given area of land.
Agriculture and horticulture are the most natural and
wholesome occupations of man, the foundation of all other
occupations. In a nation wishing to achieve a healthy
organism about seventy-five per cent of the labouring masses
should occupy themselves largely with progressive and
wholesome agricultural and horticultural activities, and
twenty-five per cent with trades and commerce.
For health and delight the garden and the orchard are the
universal and supreme ideal of man. In every human heart
there is an ever-present yearning for the day when he may
own an acre of land and plant it with trees that will blossom
and bear fruit. This love of country and orchard is the one
abiding memory of an almost forgotten paradise. How
beautiful is the sight of an orchard, with its blooming trees
sending their roots deep down into the soil, drinking the
heavenly light with its millions of blossom and bringing forth
the luscious fruits in which the hidden treasures of the earth
and the life-giving forces of the sun are so wonderfully
combined!
The natural laws and forces determine human society.
There would be a natural human society if seventy-five per
cent of the people occupied themselves with arboriculture and
agriculture and of only twenty-five per cent occupied
themselves with other occupations. And for their health the
twenty-five per cent should work for one or two hours every
day in the garden in order to avoid the destruction of their
health and longevity and to keep their strength and vitality.
But what do we see? We see just the opposite. In the most
civilised and progressive countries it is not seventy-five per

cent of the inhabitants who occupy themselves with

agriculture, but the proportion is inverse and only twenty-five
per cent occupy themselves with agriculture and seventy-five
per cent occupy themselves with quite other things. We
concentrate in great cities and on various unhealthy
occupations, and this concentration is in a large measure
responsible for the biological degeneration of the race. We do
not wish to abolish technique; we only wish to put it back in
its place and not to exaggerate it; we wish to produce
everything which is necessary and nothing which is
superfluous.
The twenty-five per cent who occupy themselves with
agriculture use thoroughly bad methods. The agricultural
workers and peasants work ten times more than would be
necessary, if they knew the natural laws. If they knew them
they could obtain the same results with ten per cent of the
work.
Let us examine what they produce. To a very large extent
they produce cereals to feed animals and afterwards eat the
animals, instead of producing products which man can
consume directly. If, instead of raising animals and cereals to
feed them with, our peasants were to raise fruit and nut trees
by rational methods, they could get five times as much money
with a quarter the work, not to speak of the improvement in
public health which would result.
The twenty-five per cent minority of agriculturists work
with old and bad methods and produce things which are
superfluous, providing a minimum of the things which are the
most necessary, such as fruit and nut trees. Agriculture, which
is a fundamental occupation of human society, is in very great
chaos from every standpoint, and this chaos of the foundation
naturally extends to the superstructure. We can see clearly the
origin of the world's economic crises, contradictions and
problems, if we realise that in ninety per cent of cases we
produce things which are unnecessary and harmful to health,
both in agriculture and in industry.
Trees, that is, fruit trees, and forests may be regarded as
the foundation of human health and human society. I do not
wish to induce people to produce in any large measure trees
which do not produce fruits. It is always possible to combine
beauty and utility, for fruit trees are as beautiful as trees which
do not produce fruit. For instance, the great nut trees are very
impressive. In England it is not possible to produce oranges
and bananas and tropical fruits, but it is possible to grow
scores of temperate fruits. There are about fifty different
species of apple trees which can all grow very well in
England, twenty or thirty other species of fruits and a long
series of vegetables and cereals. Every climate has almost
unlimited possibilities for producing products suited to it.
Similarly there is the possibility of creating new species of

fruits, always more and more perfect. If we examine our

present fruits and vegetables, we find they were not edible
thousands and thousands of years ago, but little by little they
have become ennobled and perfect and now they are edible.
Likewise many fruits and vegetables exist now which are not
yet edible, but which by the evolution of nature on the earth
for some hundreds or thousands of years will become edible
and perfect. It is not necessary to go to the tropics and plant
trees there, for each must live his life in the place where he is.
It is possible to live everywhere naturally and in harmony with
the natural laws and forces. Every climate has its advantages
as well as its disadvantages. Our temperate climate, with the
changes of winter, summer, autumn and spring, gives very
favourable possibilities indeed for a natural life and for the
production of a large number of fruits and vegetables.
Arboriculture and agriculture should be, and will always be,
the basis of human society. If they are not, social
disequilibrium always results with a series of crises in human
society and in human economy.
Life is not as complicated and difficult as it is generally
thought. With the necessary knowledge of a rational and
natural arboriculture quite a little piece of garden, a single
acre, is sufficient to satisfy the needs of an individual, and
with only two hours work a day. And these two hours' work
are a necessary precondition of health. This agricultural
activity is in accordance with the laws of nature, and is
necessary to assure perfect vitality and health. But it is not
only a question of perfect health and vitality; it is also a
question of economic and consequently moral freedom. If we
look back at the preceding centuries, we see that when
something was needed for cooking, people went into the
garden and took it. Everything which was consumed was
simple and, before all else, fresh. There was no necessity for
these simple and natural foods to be transformed by a series of
machines and factories into a denatured condition. It would be
a very good thing to restore these good old customs. If each
family could have just a small garden of not more than one
acre, it would supply all the requirements of fruits and
vegetables, for it is not the size of the plot which determines
the quality and quantity of produce, but the knowledge and
method of production. Even in our climate it is possible to
have three crops a year if one knows how to apply the
principles of natural rational agriculture. This is the sole
solution to the problem of having fruits and vegetables which
are natural and without deficiencies. Only natural homegrown
products can satisfy the needs of the human organism.
Everyone obviously cannot leave his profession and become a
gardener, but everyone should know the laws of agriculture
just as he should know the laws of healthy living. All should
study cultivation and agriculture as a second common

occupation, for agriculture is a precondition of health. Daily

contact with fresh air and sun for two hours, with the
necessary muscular movement and respiration and in the
environment of plants and trees, is the most effective and at
the same time the most useful preserver of health and vitality.
So just as it would be good if everyone had a second common
language, so everyone should have a second common
occupation, gardening. This would free us from our artificial,
technical and degenerated civilisation which cannot assure to
us any of the preconditions of a healthy lifelife with healthy
vegetables and fruits, with healthy milk, with fresh air and
sun. This programme is easily realisable by those who live in
the country. Naturally for those who live in great cities it is
realisable with difficulty, but it is possible also for them to do
it progressively. It is possible for them to acquire a little piece
of garden not too far from the town and to spend the week-end
there. Instead of indulging in various superfluous occupations
they can do a little gardening and so assure the necessary
preconditions of health. Everyone can improve his health
according to his possibilities. Health depends only upon
ourselves. There are those who can do it very radically and
rapidly and those who can do it less rapidly, but all of us can
do it in some measure.
We consider three activities as the most fundamental in
human society: agriculture, medicine, education. If we can
have centres where the practical laws of agriculture and of
health are taught, they can do immeasurable good to society.
We have innumerable institutions and schools teaching what is
ninety per cent superfluous, the dates of kings and the names
of battles; they teach useless theoretical knowledge which we
cannot utilise at all in our practical life. When we finish with
the high school or university we have a great mass of
theoretical knowledge accumulated, of which we can use less
than ten per cent in practice. Ninety per cent of it is forgotten
and that which is most necessary and vital for man cannot be
learnt, for there are no institutions and schools to teach it. The
true laws of health cannot be learnt in our schools, nor can the
laws of a natural and rational way of producing fruits,
vegetables and flowers. And if we do learn about them we
only learn the old bad methods which are better not learnt at
all.
Many things are out of order in our present civilisation, in
agriculture, in medicine and also in education. We have
everywhere schools and institutions for improving the
mechanical memory and not for educating the will and
intelligence and independence of spirit. Intelligence and will
are the greatest values in human progress and the lowest value
is mechanical memory. If mechanical memory were the
important thing in man then man could be replaced by simple
gramophone records and by volumes of an encyclopaedia.

Very many individuals with encyclopaedic erudition, holding

four or five diplomas of various universities, cut a sorry figure
in practical life. It is sad but true that our schools do not
prepare us for life.
There exist sciences which we do not know at all and
which have a vital importance in life. One of these sciences is
the science of the simple and natural life. Simplicity is an
almost forgotten notion. If we walk in London or in New
York, or even in small towns, and look in the shop windows at
all the things which are produced, we shall find that ninety per
cent of them are completely superfluous. We can live very
well and very healthily and satisfy all our needs, material,
intellectual and cultural, and never see or use these
superfluous articles. Indeed, the greatest part of mankind
sacrifices health and time to be able to acquire and purchase
these superfluous things.
From this point of view human society has not evolved
very much. Plato and Xenophon, two disciples of Socrates, tell
this story of the master: His friends once wanted him to come
and visit the great markets of Athens, so that he should know a
little about a part of the city which he had never visited. He
acceded to their wishes and went with them. From morning to
evening his friends showed him all the riches of Athens and of
the market, pointing out the various products which came
from Africa and Asia and from various countries with which
Greece had commercial relations. When evening came and
when his eyes were tired with looking at the variety of all
these things, they said to Socrates: 'What do you think of all
these things?' 'Are we not very rich and privileged in living in
Athens?' 'What is your opinion of all these treasures?' Socrates
answered very shortly: 'What a lot of things exist in the world
that I do not want.' And then he turned round and went home.
If we were to take Socrates to the various department
stores of London and New York he would say the same. The
source of all our economic difficulties and conflicts lies in
this, that we sacrifice true values for pseudo-values. We
sacrifice health for superfluous things which we do not need.
We sacrifice our free time, which is of great value in the
acquisition of superfluous things. What is the value to us of all
the things accumulated in museums and libraries if we have
not the time to take advantage of them? We have not the time
to read the thousands and thousands of books accumulated in
libraries. There is a great chasm between institutions and the
masses. We have everything; we have bigger libraries than
ever existed before in human history. We have all the
masterpieces of literature, of the arts, of music and of painting,
but we have not the necessary time to contemplate them, so
they do not exist for us. And even if we have the free time the
majority of mankind lacks the capacity to appreciate them. For
instance, in the United States, even in the small towns, there

are perfectly arranged, well equipped libraries, but they are

almost always empty. In their homes the people read detective
novels, while the volumes of Shakespeare and Goethe stay
untouched in the libraries. With our civilisation we are at once
very rich and very poor. If we weigh up what we pay for our
present civilisation and what we receive from it, then the
balance will be a very negative one. We give our health, free
time, quiet and the possibility of reading and studying, not to
speak of fresh air, sun and other natural values. In the other
balance we receive toxins, tinned foods, completely
superfluous objects, a completely unnatural environment,
stone walls and machines and an education of minimal value.
We also receive various diseases destroying the nervous
system, constant restlessness and a series of insoluble
problems and contradictions. So the balance is very negative.

Chapter XVIII
CIVILISATION AND THE SIMPLE LIFE
WE have examined the fundamental occupations of
human society, agriculture and arboriculture, and afterwards
the various superstructural activities of that society, and we
have found that there is not equilibrium or order among them.
Now we must examine a little the origin of this chaos. Our
present society is generally called 'capitalist system', but it is
preferable to call it chaos, for the word 'system' implies some
sort of order. The present system is lunacy, it is not a system.
We must accordingly examine when this chaos appeared first
in embryonic form and then see how the monster grew and
grew until it finally reached its present gigantic size. If we go
back some hundreds of years we find another social system,
the so-called mediaeval feudal system. It would be untrue to
say that this feudal system was a good system, for it was
neither a just nor perfect social system, but nevertheless
compared with the present chaos we cannot say that it was
inferior. The injustice of the feudal system consisted in the
fact that certain great landowners exercised power over great
masses of peasants working on the land who had to give a
tenth of their produce to the feudal lord. This was already a
form of primitive exploitation, but not as dangerous as the
present exploitation. Why? They only had to pay a tenth of
their wheat and other produce, which was as much as the
feudal lord and his family and his servants could consume.
The exploitation was never very exaggerated, for wheat and
produce over and above what the lord could eat was of no use
at that time. But when money appeared, taxes had to be paid in
the form of money instead of in the form of produce. Then
exploitation became cruel and increasingly intolerable. While
the possibility of consumption of natural produce was limited,
the possibility of acquiring money was unlimited, and the
periodic exploitations began to become more and more
unbearable. This symptom also coincided with another
symptom. The first machines appeared in the towns. To begin
with there were primitive manufacturing workshops where
twenty, fifty or perhaps eighty workers worked together with
the new machines. These new machines permitted the owners
to buy raw materials and to transform them at once into
industrial products. And they enabled them to repeat this
operation ten or twenty times, always producing and selling
fresh industrial products.
In this way the possessors of primitive workshops could
turn over their capital ten or twenty times a year, while the
feudal lords could only use their capital once a year at the time
of the harvest. The first possessors of the first machines thus

became more and more rich in the towns; little by little the
small workshops became great factories; and little by little the
economic power passed from the feudal lords to the owners of
the factories. And parallel with this we have another process
going on. The owners of factories needed more and more men
to work in order to get profit, so it paid them to give a daily
wage in money to the labourer. As time went on the factories
needed an increasingly large number of workers. According to
mediaeval law the peasants belonged to the estate of the feudal
lord, but the owners of the factories began to demand that the
people should come into the towns to work for them. To
facilitate this, they also took political power out of the hands
of the feudal lords as well as economic power. They favoured
the development of the central power of the state, supporting
the king. They were ready to pay bigger taxes and to have a
large central army in place of the previous situation where
nearly every feudal lord had his own army. In this way
parliaments were formed in the towns and the freedom of the
serfs was voted. This marked the end of the feudal system.
But the serfs were not freed on any moral principle, but
simply so that they might come into the towns to work, and
that the feudal lords might not have the right to oppose this. In
this way little by little more and more people came into the
towns and were transformed into urban workers. Thus there
was born a new class, the class of the proletariat. The present
social system is thus based on two things, first on machines as
a means of production, and secondly on the great masses of
workers, on the proletariat. It is based upon the exploitation of
these two factors. We can see that the previous equilibrium in
the distribution of population between industry and agriculture
has been turned upside down. Previously seventy-five per cent
of the people were agriculturists, but after this process of
transformation there were only twenty-five per cent of
agriculturists and seventy-five per cent became urbanised and
became engaged in industry, commerce, machines, etc.
Such is the origin of our present chaos. Such is the cause
of all succeeding disturbances and crises. So long as man lives
in an unnatural, artificial environment where there are no fresh
air, sun or natural foods, and no quiet and freedom, man can
never know harmony and happiness. So long as there exists
the exploitation of man by man there will never be social
peace and social tranquillity. We shall always have diseases
and epidemics, revolutions and wars. For present society is not
in harmony with the natural laws, and if present society is not
in harmony with the natural laws this implies the existence of
two antagonistic forces: the force of nature, and the force of
present society. Which is stronger? Undoubtedly nature is the
foundation of society. The whole of human society is only a
little superstructure Jiving on the surface of our planet, which
planet with the solar system obeys natural and cosmic laws

and forces of universal life. And these natural and cosmic laws
in the course of endless evolution always destroy everything
which is not in harmony with them. In the same way no
individual can have health and longevity if he lives contrary to
the natural laws, but will be destroyed by disease and death.
Similarly no social system can exist for long if it is not in
harmony with the natural and cosmic laws; it is destroyed just
like the individual.
The role played by epidemics, diseases and death in the
destruction of individuals who do not obey the natural and
cosmic laws, but walk in the path of ignorance, violence, and
egotism is played in human society by revolution, wars and
crises. This will be so long as human society is based on
ignorance, egotism and violence. It is not the natural and
cosmic forces and laws which are destroyers, but individuals
and societies destroy themselves. Just as the individual
destroys himself by an inharmonious and unnatural life, so a
chaotic society destroys itself if it is not in harmony with the
natural forces and laws. It is therefore a completely natural
consequence that the great disequilibrium existent in present
society which is based on ignorance, egotism and violence
should lead us to crises, revolutions and wars. We must not be
Utopian dreamers and suppose the few idealists and pacifist
movements which exist can prevent the next world war. It is
not possible. For the thoughts represented by these few
idealists are like a little seed in the turmoil of a cyclone. The
general world armament and preparation for war will provoke
very speedily a vast world catastrophe. It will provoke it
before the constructive forces working for peace prevent it.
This great destructive work is more rapid than the constructive
work, so the approaching great catastrophe is inevitable. Yet
we must continue to work, for out of the ruins of the
catastrophe will rise a new society which must be created and
established. If this new society is based on the natural laws
and forces and works in harmony with them, then will come a
new age for humanity.
This is the sad truth about the present situation. We must
be objective and sincere; we must be realists. The law of
causality does not permit present society to live longer. This
destruction is coming in accordance with the laws of cause
and effect and cannot be avoided.
There is one very serious matter which deserves attention.
All the people with higher ideals, working for humanity in the
faith that this great catastrophe can be avoided, live in cities
and it is the cities which will be the first to be destroyed in the
coming world war. This is a great danger. The vanguard of
humanity, the true values of the human race, are in peril. A
realistic analysis of present military strategy leaves us in no
doubt that the first and strongest attacks will be made on the
great capitals and industrial centres. These will be the first to

be gassed and bombed. Bombs cost a great deal of money, so

they will be dropped, not on country cottages, but on great
industrial centres of the enemy country, for it is only by
paralysing the industrial centres that the war can be won. In
this war the vision of the apocalypse will be realised and in
truth great monsters will appear in the air, which will deal
death round them. Military technique to-day is more perfect in
offence than in defence. There can be no defence against a
modern aerial fleet. Even if one or two thousand planes are
destroyed, there will still be thousands more which can
destroy completely the greatest cities of the world.
Unfortunately present ignorance, egotism and violence are
leading present mankind rapidly towards the destruction of the
great capital cities. The danger is a menacing one and a great
one.
There is a further reason why we are against life in big
cities. Cities not only destroy health and individual freedom,
but they destroy themselves. What we see to-day happening to
Madrid is only an overture to what may be enacted to-morrow
in Paris, London or Berlin. Big cities represent great dangers,
particularly in the present moment of universal history. It will
be truly a great pity if those very people who are working for
human progress and struggling against egotism, violence and
ignorance should be the ones to be destroyed in this great
cataclysm. The collaboration of all who have higher ideals and
who wish to work for social justice and for peace will be
needed in the construction of the future society. If by the
destruction of our great capitals all the constructive and
superior individuals are destroyed, then who will be left to
create the new world? We must lead mankind back from the
great towns to the country, just as the peoples of the Bible
were led out of Egypt. Disease and death and destruction are
close at hand, and the new society can only be constructed if
the fundamental equilibrium of human society is reestablished and seventy-five per cent of people return to the
fundamental occupations of a simple, natural life, to a natural
agriculture, to freedom, and to harmony with the natural laws
and natural forces.
We owe it to human society to restore the equilibrium of
human society. A healthy society can only exist on the
foundations of agriculture. And it is a biological no less than a
social necessity, for the whole human race is threatened. It is
also our duty vis- vis human culture, for all the values of
human culture are concentrated in great cities and likewise
menaced with destruction. The three fundamental pillars of
human progress must be first a natural and rational agriculture,
secondly the science of a natural life and medicine and thirdly
the science of education.
As things are, humanity rests on the pillars of ignorance,
egotism and violence. That is why I call the present society by

the single word 'chaos'. I do not call it technical civilisation or

capitalist civilisation, for there is only one word which can
express the present state of mankind on its path of progressive
suicide and that word is 'chaos'.
It could be objected that my thesis is rather a savage one,
involving the abolishment of civilisation and technique. To
this I answer that technique is of very great value to mankind
and does not deserve to be abolished. I only wish to put
technique in its place and I speak only against an exaggerated
technique. I do not speak against those technical products
which are necessary, but only against those which are
superfluous and dangerous. Unhappily, now, ninety per cent
of technical products are superfluous and dangerous and
uselessly complicate life. And it is this exaggeration of
technique which leads us into wars and economic crises.
Technique intervenes between man and nature and isolates
man from nature, and that is a very great danger. Technique
should exist for man and not man for technique. Unfortunately
technique has become the end instead of the means, and this is
a very great danger. I am in no way against technique, I am
only against its exaggeration. Technique and machines have
the noble mission of freeing Homo Sapiens from unworthy
and monotonous occupations, but now exaggerated technique
has resulted in just the opposite. Instead of freeing man it
enslaves him, and it is only that to which I am opposed.
Another objection may be raised to our leaving the great
towns and retiring to nature in the country. Is it not egotism to
leave the great centres where we may be needed and to
withdraw into a simple, natural and agreeable life in the
country? Is it not egotism and is it not immoral? To it that may
be answered that we can accomplish our purpose wherever we
may be. Its fulfilment does not depend on the place where we
are, but depends upon ourselves, upon the individual. Emerson
said that the strong man would always find a hundred times
more work than he was capable of. We can always be active
and useful and help those around us whether we are in towns,
in a tropical forest, or in the snowfields of Siberia. For our
activity depends upon ourselves, upon the individual, and not
upon the place where we are.
Secondly, if we remain in the chaos and destroy our own
health and strength, we become weak and sick. How can we
then work for others if we ourselves are weak and sick and in
need of help? If we get involved in chaos we destroy ourselves
and cannot help others. The simple and natural life gives us a
hundred times more energy and a hundred times more time
and liberates a great fount of energy in us, so that we can
become a hundred times more active points in the universe
than before, and can accomplish a hundred times more
valuable social work. The first precondition of useful activity
is that we should be healthy and strong in order to help those

who are weak. We must consider vitality and health and

longevity simply as a means, not as the end. If we do not put
our vital forces and our long life and our free time at the
disposal of the weak and suffering in the service of society
and of humanity, then our health and vitality and length of life
are worth nothing. If we do not, we are no better and represent
no greater value than a healthy animal. For the mission of man
is active love. In these two words I can sum up all the old
teachings of the prophets of mankindactive love. I do not
agree with those naturists who consider health as the sole aim
of man. If those individuals whose sole idea is physical health
call themselves naturists, then we prefer to call ourselves nonnaturists. Vitality can become a danger if it becomes the end
instead of the means.
It may be objected further than to leave the great cities
means hard work in the country and means a lack of the
comforts of life in the towns to which we are accustomed. To
that I can answer as follows. First, if one knows the principles
of a natural, good and rational agriculture and arboriculture,
the work is not hard at all. With two hours' work a day we can
produce all the fundamental necessities of life on quite a small
piece of land, not more than one or two acres in area.
Agricultural work is hard only when it is not based on a
knowledge of the natural laws. Our role is not hard physical
work. We have only to direct in a rational way the forces of
nature: sun, rains, the earth, water, and then plants work for us
instead of our working. We have only to collaborate
intelligently with the natural forces instead of working against
them. But unfortunately in present agriculture we struggle
against the natural forces. Our ideal is not anti-natural
agriculture whose source is ignorance, but a true natural and
rational agriculture which is not hard work, but a recreation
and a pleasure. Natural agriculture is a series of true natural
pleasures in constant contact with and contemplation of the
beauties of nature. On the other hand the daily commodities
which we enjoy in towns are not as useful as we think. They
soften our organisms and isolate us from the natural forces,
and this paralyses our vitality and suppresses our individual
will and energy. All the great conquering peoples in universal
history lived a simple and so-called hard life. They began to
degenerate when the so-called comforts and luxuries in life
appeared. Is there any greater luxury than being able to dip in
the river each morning, to bathe in the sun, to breathe fresh air
in the countryside, among the trees? Natural life in the country
is more pleasant and agreeable than artificial life in towns.
Secondly, we must not forget that the complications of life in
towns suppress our individuality and transform us into
machines. In the monotony of daily life the towns follow the
artificial, unnatural rhythm of machines and factories, and of
all unnatural works and occupations.

Yet another objection is that to leave our great cities is to

leave culture behind. It means leaving libraries behind, leaving
concerts behind and the values of intellectual and cultural life.
In appearance this is so, but not in reality. If we have a good
wireless set in the country we can listen to all the symphonies
of Beethoven and the Passion music of Bach. It is not
necessary to remain in cities on that account. During concerts
in towns we have to breathe the bad air of the concert hall,
when we can hear the same symphonies sitting under the trees
in the open air in the country. Similarly the thousands and
thousands of books in libraries are only illusory values for us,
for in the hustling life of great cities we have not the time to
read them. How many books do we read in a year if we work
in a big city? Not more than one or two books a month. We
can read them quite well in the country, where there are
various facilities for buying and borrowing books. And if we
live simply and naturally in the country we can read two or
three times the number of books and read them undisturbed. In
the country we can concentrate on what we are reading and
can assimilate better the thoughts of the authors of the books
than in the rapid life of the town. Also we learn to read in
another book, in the book of nature, which was not printed by
machines in the town. For all the cosmic and natural laws are
written in trees, in flowers, in grass, in the shining of the sun,
in the flow of rivers, in rains and in wind, in the singing of the
birds, in the work of the insects and in all the beauties of
nature. These reveal to us the natural and cosmic laws much
more perfectly than all the masterpieces of human culture. The
morning and evening concert of the birds in the trees is much
more beautiful than the Pastoral Symphony of Beethoven. The
great book of nature, if we learn its alphabet and if we can
read it, will reveal to us all the laws and secrets of nature and
of universal life much better than all the works of the various
natural sciences. So the school of nature is more valuable than
all the universities of our cities. This superior school does not
give us degrees and diplomas like the universities of our cities,
but gives us knowledge, an immense source of energy and
harmony. It teaches us the most fundamental laws of life. It
gives us freedom of body, economic liberty and moral liberty;
it gives the profound values of a rich inner life which it is
impossible to find in the chaotic life of the town.
Now a further objection can be raised: to leave the great
cities is a reactionary attitude. Instead of remaining in the
great cities and there organising the masses to destroy this
great artificial system, you retire from the struggle and you
hide in the country. You are a reactionary and a fascist. So I
wish to answer this objection too. At first sight this objection
is valid. But if we consider how we can most effectively do
our duty to human society from a biological point of view, we
find this objection cannot be sustained. For if we remain in the

chaos we consume all the superfluous and capitalist toxins, we

collaborate with the social system and become a cog in the
machine. If we examine the great revolutionaries in their daily
life, we find they nearly all worked in a factory or office and
remained a part of the apparatus of the social system they
were seeking to destroy. They thus lost the greater part of their
free time, their health, their vitality and their energy, and
could only devote a very small amount of time and energy to
the socialist movement.
When I have visited the socialist parties' headquarters in
various places I have always found men who were giving their
spare time and energies with enthusiasm to the movement.
When ten years later I have returned to the same place, I
always find quite different people in the office and when I ask
where so-and-so is, I am told he is in a sanatorium or is dead,
or has been crippled by a machine at work. It is very seldom
that I can find one of the former workers in the movement.
And if I do happen to meet them again I find individuals with
completely destroyed nerves, in complete physical and
psychic disequilibrium. They have sacrificed themselves to the
movement, but for that very reason they cannot continue their
work, for their vitality is exhausted and they have no energy
left. So other young strong people come and continue their
work. In our towns we can only work some years for our
ideals, but by a natural and simple life in the country it is
possible to work for our ideals all our life, and with increased
energy and vitality.
It is not only in great cities that one can work for a social
movement. Not at all. It is a very great error of the various
progressive movements to concentrate on the towns and
neglect the countryside. This has serious consequences. The
masses living outside the towns will always remain
instruments of reaction as long as they are left untouched and
are ignored by the various social movements. An important
task of the progressive political parties is to win over these
great masses which hitherto have always been the instruments
of reaction. It is a very important mission to go to the country
and do a work which has hitherto been neglected, thus
withdrawing the foundations from beneath the feet of the
reactionaries. So far from its being a reactionary attitude to
retire to the country, the progressive worker will be able better
to accomplish his social mission there than if he remains in the
big cities and in some years destroys his own health and
strength. He can accomplish very valuable work for his
movement if he spreads the movement around him where he
lives. The value of our work does not depend on where we are,
but always depends on who we are, on our individuality and
upon our activity. If we have superior ideals, if we have love
of mankind and of progress and if we are active, we can
quickly be useful to human society wherever we may be. In

great cities we see that ideals are spread by spoken words or

by written pamphlets or books. It is necessary, but not enough.
For we must propagate our ideals always by the most effective
weapons of propaganda, by practical example, by our own
life, by our own simple, natural and unselfish life. Only then
can our work be truly effective and complete. If we give an
example by our own life, then words and books are not
necessary. They are only substitutes. The life we lead is the
foundation of successful propaganda, so active individuals
who have social ideas have very large and unlimited
possibilities in the country as well as in the town.
Furthermore, by our collaboration with nature we
progressively improve the earth. With the return of each
person to a natural, simple and active life, fresh acres of land
become more fertile and productive and fresh fruit trees and
nut trees are planted. Our climate will become more and more
perfect, and man will become more and more independent and
free, economically and morally. An ever increasing number of
people will become active and new individual energies will
constantly be liberated to create new values of human culture
and new higher forces in human society. Thus our ideal does
not have any drawbacks, but only has advantages. It represents
no loss of any value, but, on the contrary, represents new
creative values in every field of human and social activity.
'Hitherto,' wrote Marx, 'the philosophers have only
interpreted the world; the point, however, is to change it.'

BOOK TWO
GUIDE TO TREATMENT

Chapter I
INTRODUCTORY
1. UNITY AND DYNAMISM IN NATURE AND THE COSMOS
UNITY and movement are found in every law of nature
and the cosmos. In the perpetual change of atoms movement is
transformed into heat, light, electricity (Lavoisier, Laplace,
Rumford, Joule, Hirn, Lippmann, Einstein, etc.), and it is
certain, from the researches of Berthollet, Dumas, Berthelot,
Thomson, Becquerel, Ramsay, Rayleigh, Millikan, etc., that
bodies are simply modalities of a single simple body. Through
every degree of the scale of living beings in living nature we
find the same functions and the same organs developed to a
greater or less extent. To be is to act; everything moves;
nothing is fixed. Our bodies, agglomerations of milliards of
molecules, are continually being transformed. And they are all
being carried along by the earth in its rotation.
The earth turns about itself, takes the moon along with it
in its travels and gravitates round the sun at a speed of 34 km.
a second, while the sun itself rushes at a speed of 20 km. a
second towards the star mu () in the constellation of
Hercules. This latter star is in turn borne away into boundless
space and oscillates round other worlds which turn round yet
other worlds and bear the star upon the endless path of the
ether, in the course of eternal duration.
What, then, are "nature", a "world", a "universe"
(cosmos)?
"Nature" is the totality of the specific energies
constituting organic and inorganic life upon a planet.
A "world" is an ensemble, a "system" of heavenly bodies,
of bodies united by an attraction strong enough to keep them
at their respective distances from one another, in spite of the
action exercised upon them by other more distant stars, and an
attraction regular enough to make them gravitate round a
central star which is the "sun" of this "world".
The ensemble of all the worlds constitutes the "cosmos".
In accordance with this triple division into (i) planet
(nature), (ii) world (solar system) and (iii) cosmos (universe),
we also divide the cosmic ocean of single, original energy into
three groups, after the manifestations which each exhibits.

1. Energy of masses:
(i) Masses in movementkinetic energy;
(ii) Elastic bodies, in phasic state;
(iii) Gravitation, energy of attractive masses;
(iv) Sound, kinetic and potential.
2. Energy of molecules and atoms:
(i) Heat;
(ii) Molecular and atomic energy;
(iii) Chemical action.
3. Energy of ether:
(i) Electrical and magnetic phenomena;
(ii) Light and radiation.
This classification is naturally only made to facilitate
understanding of the cosmic, solar and terrestrial processes,
because essentially masses, atoms, ether and all their
combined energies are only different manifestations of the
same single cosmic energyeternal and infinite movement.
When this movement starts whirling round a centre, it is
transformed into ether, atoms, matter.
When it is propagated in a straight line, it forms specific
manifestations of cosmic, solar and terrestrial energy
(electricity, magnetism, light, heat, sound, etc.).
When this movement is transformed into specific vital
energies capable of creating and sustaining the different forms
of life (vegetable, animal, human, etc.) on the planetary
surfaces (where all the preconditions of life are met with), we
term these energies cosmovital radiations.
When all the necessary preconditions of life in the form
of terrestrial nature appeared on our earth, the cosmovital
radiations created terrestrial life in all its progressive specific
forms (vegetable, animal, human).
The human organism is nothing else than a single and
dynamic system of cosmovital radiations in which each cell
has its specific radiationthe totality of which constitutes the
human radiations.
The human organism is simply an apparatus of great
precision prepared in the perfect laboratory of nature. It serves
to maintain an equilibrium and harmony between the human
radiations (formed by the totality of the radiations of the cells)
and all the other forms of cosmic radiations surrounding it
(cosmic, solar, terrestrial, and human).
This harmonious equilibrium between the internal human
radiations and the external cosmic radiations is human vitality,
and its manifestation is health.
When this specific equilibrium of the radiations (vitality)
is disturbed by other external radiations unfavourable to itself,
vitality begins to diminish.
This diminution of vitality which also lessens the
resistance of the organism to unfavourable external influences

is disease or old age under their various specific forms

(different general and local symptoms).
If this diminution of vitality continues the disease or old
age becomes chronic, the resistance of the organism to
unfavourable influences becomes increasingly weak, until the
state is reached where it is unable to maintain the cohesion of
its vital radiations round its central organs (brain, heart, lungs,
etc.). In this event its vital radiations are transformed into
other forms of energy and its organs decompose under the
influence of inorganic terrestrial gravitation; the process of the
decomposition of the physiological organs and vital energies
is death.
The sole precondition for the maintenance of the specific
vital equilibrium or the re-establishment of this diminishing
vitality (in case of disease or old age) is the creation of a
permanent harmonious equilibrium between all the internal
human radiations and all the external cosmic radiations.
This state of permanent vital equilibrium with all the
cosmovital radiations maintaining it is cosmovitality. It is
preserved by the most favourable absorption (reception) and
irradiation (emission) of the cosmovital radiations.
The entire ensemble of knowledge of the laws of
cosmovitality and the cosmovital radiations constitutes a new
science called cosmovitalism, whose preventive employment
ensures the preservation of health and youth.
The diagnostic and therapeutic use of this knowledge
constitutes therapy by the cosmovital (cosmic, solar, terrestrial
and human) radiations and is termed cosmotherapy.
Those who practise cosmovitalism to preserve their
health and youth are called cosmovitalists, while those who
practise cosmotherapy are called cosmotherapists.
2. THE ADVANTAGES OF COSMOTHERAPY COMPARED WITH
OFFICIAL MEDICINE AND THE VARIOUS NATURE CURE
SYSTEMS

Cosmotherapy is not a so-called "nature cure" system; all

these nature cure systems are incomplete, the individual
creations of a one-sided author, based on one or several truths
and ignorant of all others. Consequently, even these few truths
are transformed into petrified dogmas, without any possibility
of development or perfection. Owing to their dogmatism and
their incomplete knowledge of the natural and cosmic laws,
they only obtain partial results and only spread over a
restricted field cultivated by a group of more or less fanatical
disciples who by their dogmatism excite against themselves
both official medical bodies and the partisans of the various
nature cure systems which are no less incomplete than official
medicine.
Nor do their practitioners desire to make any radical
change in the existing medical system, to eliminate

commercial practices and exploitation or institute general

collective education in the practice of healthy life. In eighty
per cent of cases they are content to be the heads of a local
movement, of a health camp or sanatorium, or of a business
for selling health literature and foods, and jealously guard the
particular economic interests which are bound up with their
activity.
The naturopaths are no less dogmatic and materialistic
than the selfish representatives of the old medicine organised
for the protection of their vested interest in disease, who
transform medical activity into a business based on profit.
Cosmotherapy is not the work of a single individual like
other incomplete nature cure systems. It is the sum total of the
results of the researches, experiences and experiments
obtained by the co-operative labour of a group of international
specialists united in the International Cosmo-therapeutic
Expedition 1930-40 for the psycho-physiological investigation
and therapeutic application of the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and
human radiations between latitudes 45 N. and 30 S. (193031, the Carpathians; 1932-33, the Riviera; 1934-35, Polynesia;
1935-36, Mexico; 1937-38 The Caucasus; 1938-39, Pamir).
Cosmotherapy is the collective synthesis of the individual
analytical researches made by these international co-operators.
Cosmotherapy is complete as compared with other
incomplete nature cure systems. It is also very simple, so that
everyone can understand it. It is practical, in that anyone can
follow it himself at home, without any external aid. Nor does
it take up much time. It is rapid in results. It uses no harmful
drugs and medicaments, but only natural medicaments which
can only do good. It is extremely economical, as leading a
simple natural life costs less than leading an unhealthy life
with many artificial wants and appetites. So it is a medicine
for all classes of society. It not only heals but educates. The
patient comes to know the natural and cosmic laws on which
human life depends. It is the most discreet therapy, as anyone
suffering from an unpleasant disease can follow the treatment
in absolute privacy. It cures not only one disease at a time, but
all the diseases from which the organism is suffering, and
there is no question of conflicting treatments. It has the
advantage that patients can be treated by correspondence just
as well as under the personal supervision of a doctor. It has
been verified upon some thousands of patients who have been
treated with success in various parts of the world, as compared
with other systems based on a restricted number of
observations and experiences of a single author.
Cosmotherapy is in a permanent state of improvement, of
dynamic evolution, as compared with other dogmatic systems,
which have come to a standstill and are petrified. The
permanent collective collaboration of the members of the

Expedition produces results which are constantly undergoing

improvement.
Naturopathic medicine before cosmotherapy was simply a
chaotic collection of innumerable little systems, incomplete
and dogmatic, and diametrically opposed to one another.
With cosmotherapy, naturopathic medicine becomes an
original science, exact and completethe medicine of the
future, for it is based upon the study and application of the
totality of cosmic and human energies.
In ninety per cent of cases the instructions given by
practitioners of the different nature cure systems are vague
and qualitative. They say: "Eat such and such a food,
sunbathe, waterbathe, airbathe, etc." But mode, quantity, time,
duration and change, etc., are totally unknown conceptions.
At the opposite pole, the instructions given by the
practitioners of official medicine are almost one hundred per
cent quantitative, but unfortunately dogmatic and petrified, as
they work schematically with chemicals and drugs, neglecting
a natural diet, water baths and sun baths, exercises, fasting,
etc.
Thus naturopathic medicine represents anarchy, while
official allopathic medicine represents fanatical tyranny.
With cosmotherapy the character of medicine is
completely changed, and the two preceding tendencies
eliminated. By introducing astronomy and mathematics into
medicine, medical science becomes as exact as those two
sciences themselves. Its instructions become precise and
quantitative.
Before the appearance of the natural sciences, people
spoke qualitatively and vaguely: "I am hot, cold, etc." With
the arrival of the natural sciences, people spoke quantitatively
and precisely: "I have a temperature of 35 or 39 C."
Science begins with the passage from the qualitative to
the quantitative.
This holds true of medicine. Cosmotherapy fixes what
each individual shall eat, what kinds of foods, what amount of
each, in what combination, when, how, in what state, how
prepared, etc., and all these instructions are varied according
to individual states, weight, height, season, and climate.
It also determines the times favourable for each human
activity, their modality, quantity, quality, and the temperature,
duration and time of every cosmotherapeutic application,
varying them too, according to individuals, seasons, and
climates.
Science likewise also begins with the passage from the
static and schematic to the dynamic and changeable.
The old medicine always had the same schematic medical
prescriptions for the same symptomatic diseases, taking no
account of the constantly fluctuating, oscillating and changing

differences in the rhythmic cycles of the cosmic, solar,

terrestrial and human radiations.
Cosmotherapy, by introducing correlativist dialectics into
medicine,1 is constantly varying, modifying and changing its
operations according to the changing processes going on in the
same individual, to the difference between one person and
another, to differences of climate and season, to the rhythmic
cycles of cosmic and natural life, and to the constantly
changing correlations of the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and
human radiations.
These two qualitiesthe application of the methods of
quantitative mathematical precision and that of dialectical
qualitative changethese two original and revolutionary
qualities in conjunction with the new therapeutic basis (the
cosmic, solar, terrestrial and human radiations) constitute the
superiority of cosmotherapy over all other previous systems,
both official and naturist, and qualify cosmotherapy to become
the medicine of the future.
1

1937).

See Edmond Szkely: Medicine and Dialectics (C. W. Daniel Co. Ltd.,

Chapter II
THE COSMOVITALIST MOVEMENT
1. THE MOVEMENT'S EDUCATIONAL MISSION
COSMOTHEEAPY is not, however, only medicine. It is
before all else a steadily growing movement which through
collective education will spread a knowledge of the technique
of a healthy life through all classes of society, and will thus
make diagnostic and therapeutic medicine superfluous,
replacing them with a system of collective preventive hygiene.
The role of the medical profession will likewise be
transformed into that of providing this collective education,
and it will thus become progressively impossible for the profit
system in medicine and its commercialisation and exploitation
to continue.
This revolutionary social activity thus assures the moral
superiority of the cosmovitalist movement over other
individual movements and tendencies.
Of what, then, does the cosmovitalist movement consist?
We do not propose here to go into details, but simply to give
an analysis of the problems in the field of medicine and their
causes, and then to suggest the remedy. We chiefly wish to
stress the principal characteristic of the cosmovitalist
movement, which is its educational activity.
The movement seeks to get rid of what is bad by
strengthening what is good, and not by attacking what is bad.
Thus cosmotherapy gets rid of disease simply by
strengthening the vitality of the organism, and not by attacking
the disease. Similarly it ends ignorance by extending
education, and not by violent attacks on ignorance. It fights
egoism with altruism, not with selfishness. It gets rid of
misery by the progressive elimination of the chief individual
and social causes of misery, by giving everyone progressively
the possibility of gaining and extending individual and
collective well-being, and not by violent attack on the existing
laws of society. In short, the movement seeks to create a better
future by the constructive amelioration of the present, and not
by the destruction of the past. It brings about a peaceful inner
revolution, rebirth of the individual, with the aim of ensuring
the unlimited progressive education of man for citizenship in a
constantly improving and developing society.
2. ANALYSIS AND CRITICISM OF THE CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL
SCIENCES

What are the facts with which we are confronted? Ninety

per cent of humanity is sick and diseased, as can be verified
from official statistics or from personal experience. One has

only to look round among one's friends or family to see this is

true.
Likewise ninety per cent of humanity only attains half or
even less of the natural span of human life.
Mankind suffers in this cauldron of disease, regardless of
age, sex, race, nation, class, or religious or political
conception. The victims of disease are found impartially
among young and old, rich and poor, among white men and
coloured, among male and female, Communists and Fascists,
poets and peasants. Christians, atheists, Buddhists,
Mohammedans all suffer alike. Disease and premature death
are common to them all.
This universal suffering is a dangerous menace to the
human race and calls for an immediate and effective universal
movement to end it. The need is urgent. The methods hitherto
employed by official medical sciences and institutions are
impotent, yet human life and human health and longevity are
the most important of all the problems with which mankind is
faced.
Let us consider for a moment the causes of this serious
situation. We can divide them into medical, educational and
social causes for clarity of treatment.
(i) Medical Causes. The official medical sciences and
institutions are false, imperfect and one-sided for the
following reasons:
(a) They regard symptoms as diseases (false
diagnosis);
(b) They treat symptoms, neglecting the real
diseases (false therapy);
(c) Instead of aiding the natural forces to act, they
are ignorant of them, neglect them, and generally hinder
their operation (false methods of a false system);
(d) Chemical and artificial medicaments do far
more harm than good (false medicaments);
(e) Instead of employing the totality of therapeutic
factors, they only employ some of them, and employ
those badly (danger of one-sidedness);
(f) The official sciences and institutions use their
great influence and authority to force the ignorant masses
to follow a completely false and erroneous and even
dangerous path (danger of ignorant authority and power);
(g) The official sciences and institutions use their
power and authority to hinder and persecute all reformist
tendencies seeking to improve this situation. They are not
only incapable of providing effective remedies
themselves, but are unwilling to allow others to attempt to
do so (danger of official influence impeding progress).
(ii) Educational Causes, (a) The official sciences and
institutions are almost entirely diagnostic and therapeutic,
whereas the best cure is prevention. If it is known how to

prevent diseases and the necessary preventive measures

are taken, all diagnosis and therapy is superfluous. The
prevention of disease is much easier, quicker, cheaper and
less painful than its diagnosis and cure. It is quite easy by
simple and natural means of detoxication to ensure the
immunity of the organism to disease. The only effective
protection against diseases and premature death is
afforded by the natural vitality of the organism and not by
vaccines and anti-toxins (the error of employing curative
and not preventive methods).
(b) The medical sciences and institutions are
statically isolated from the masses; they do not penetrate
dynamically into every class of society by means of a
collective and universal education. It is only by such an
education in the technique of healthy and natural living
that disease and premature death can be prevented, and it
alone can finally save the human race from the present
chaos of universal suffering. Without this education the
finest specialists and laboratories are valueless (danger of
isolation and static organisation).
(c) The official medical sciences and institutions
have transformed the science of life and particularly
human physiology into a system of grco-latin
philological terminology that is theoretical, static, useless
and extremely complicated, instead of making it the
practical and preventive application of a simplified
technique of healthy living and of the natural healing
forces, which is the true medicine worthy of the name,
and which ought to be accessible to the whole of
humanity and to every class of society without exception
and without the necessity for preliminary studies which
are quite useless, cost a great deal and are inaccessible to
ninety per cent of human beings (danger of grco-latin
philology, etc.). Medicine must not remain a static and
complicated science, the jealously guarded privilege of a
small dogmatic group and isolated from the masses by
exclusivist barriers, "higher studies" and diplomas (danger
of the degeneration, petrification and the spirit of
exclusive privilege in sciences and institutions).
(iii) Economic (Social) Causes, (a) Existing
institutions have attached medical science and activity to
commercial enterprises (manufacturers of drugs,
medicaments, chemical products, canned foods, health
foods, medical apparatus, etc.), based exclusively on
profit. These enterprises use their power, organisation and
propaganda to induce the ignorant masses to buy and
consume articles which in ninety per cent of cases are
harmful rather than helpful (danger of the
commercialisation of the sciences).

(b) The medical sciences and institutions

exaggerate the use of drugs, medicines, chemical products
and all kinds of other "specialities" which in at least
ninety per cent of cases ought to be replaced by simple,
natural dietetic foods and by the natural forces (water, air,
sun, etc., and their combined application). Hence it is that
the medicine of to-day is excessively expensive and
consequently almost inaccessible to ninety per cent of the
people. Medical science should be made generally
comprehensible and able to be learnt, taught and used by
every social and economic class regardless of economic
position or individual erudition (danger of economic
inaccessibility of the medical sciences).
(c) The existing medical sciences and institutions,
together with the commercial enterprises attached to
them, are organised on the basis of commercial
exploitation and the economic defence of their jealously
guarded rights and position. They therefore have every
motive for struggling bitterly against every idea,
movement, tendency, science or organisation which
wishes to make the sciences and knowledge of healthy
living and natural preventive medicine available among
the wide masses of society. For from the moment that the
simplified technique of healthy living and of natural
medicine is widely available and put into practice, they
will lose their privileged position and rights and all their
economic profits. The false sciences and institutions
together with their economic enterprises for the
exploitation of the ignorance of the masses are forced to
fight with all their authority and economic power against
the true sciences and institutions which teach the truth,
because the realisation of their revolutionary doctrine
spells the doom of the former (danger of the corrupt
exploitation of medicine and the sciences and the
irreconcilable contradiction of their exploitation with the
sciences themselves).
(d) In view of the facts that (1) ninety per cent of
humanity is ill, (2) ninety per cent of society is in poverty,
(3) existing medicine is expensive, (4) existing medicine,
instead of being preventive and collective, is based on
individual profit, and (5) ninety per cent of humanity is
ignorant, without any knowledge of physiology and
incapable of leading a healthy life or giving itself proper
treatment in case of illness, the commercial exploitation
of disease, of suffering and of the ignorance of the masses
is the most widespread, the most inhuman and the most
immoral of all forms of the exploitation of man by man
(danger of the immorality of the general exploitation of
medicine).

(e) Medicine is at present exclusively taught in

universities which are excessively expensive and
consequently inaccessible to ninety per cent of society,
which is thus compelled to remain in ignorance and suffer
from diseases and from the economic exploitation of
suffering and ignorance. The people at the same time pay
very dear and beyond their economic capacities for
treatment and medicaments throughout their lives,
because, instead of obtaining a radical cure and
knowledge of how to live healthily, they only receive the
relief of symptoms and fall ill periodically through the
course of their lives. And so we find patients remaining ill
for five, ten and fifteen years, or even longer. Diseases
which are curable in a year at most remain a long time or
even throughout life, and very often the whole income of
an individual or a family is insufficient to cover the
excessively high expenses of long illnesses baptised with
the name of "chronic". In addition, the poor masses who
constitute ninety per cent of humanity, cannot even accept
the philanthropic aid offered by a few, very rare, idealist
naturopaths employing natural means and giving their
services gratuitously, because the "medical" activity of
persons outside the privileged official castes is prosecuted
as "illegal medical practice". Jesus and his apostles would
to-day be sent to jail for their works of healing, on the
ground that they were practising medicine illegally,
notwithstanding that the whole of the western world
pretends to be Christian and recognises the moral ideal of
the imitation of Christ whose activity was essentially
nothing but healing the sick and teaching altruism (danger
of the jealous monopolisation of medicine).
These facts and causes give rise to urgent problems. The
health and life of humanity are in danger, while sciences and
institutions are becoming increasingly petrified and degenerate
along with the whole medical profession which is beginning to
lose its authority among the masses, as they observe its
growing professional incapacity and its exploitive character.
The masses increasingly turn in the direction of various
conflicting branches of medicine that are either completely
illegal or else semi- or pseudo-legal in character, as for
instance, hypnotism, magnetism, autosuggestion, herbal-ism,
vegetarianism, fruitarianism, Fletcherism, water cure, sun
cure, physical culture, massage, oriental cures, mystical cures,
etc. Unfortunately most of these are equally onesided and just
as incapable of healing as the official sciences. And generally
they are just as exploitive, as costly, and as inaccessible to the
masses.
Professional incapacity and the legal exploitation of
medicine have created distrust among the masses and a state
of general chaos. In its midst there flourish and multiply like

mushrooms after rain, countless systems illegally or pseudolegally exploiting the ignorance of the masses. In final
analysis this state of affairs is the fault of the official medical
sciences and institutions.
This situation raises a series of urgent and important
problems, both for doctors and patients, and also for all active,
intelligent and sincere people who wish to solve these
problems and help in the work of saving humanity from the
general chaos of suffering, ignorance and egoism. The most
important problems are these:
(i) How are we to replace official medicine, a
medicine that is complicated, costly, dangerous, onesided, incapable, petrified, degenerate, commercialised
and monopolised, with a true medicine that is effective,
every-sided, natural, simplified, preventive, inexpensive,
educative, collective and freely and equally accessible to
all classes of society.
(ii) What means and what organisation must we
adopt to rescue medicine from dogmatism, commerce,
exploitation and from every species of shark and
charlatan working outside or just within the law and so
rescue medicine from the curse of legal corruption and
illegal swindling.
(iii) And lastly and most important, the problem of
how to realise the foregoing principles and spread
effective and rapid collective education in the technique
of healthy living and of true preventive medicine in
order to save the whole of humanity from chaos, from
suffering, from ignorance, from egoism, and above all
from every form of disease and from premature death.
And in their place progressively to create general
health and longevity, the first precondition of individual
happiness and collective progress.
What are the remedies for this serious state of affairs?
What is the solution of the problem?
The first remedy is scientificthe adoption of a new
simple natural and preventive medicine. This medicine we
term "cosmotherapy" and the technique of its application is
explained in the following pages. And apart from a
specifically therapeutic remedy, there is the necessity for
practising the rules of healthy and natural living at all times, in
sickness and in health. Such a way of living, in harmony with
the natural and cosmic laws, we call "cosmovitalism".
The second remedy is organisational and social. We must
create an international collective organisation for the study,
application and propagation of this simplified cosmotherapy,1
1

Information on cosmotherapy and cosmovitalism may be obtained from the

Bureau of Cosmotherapy, Lawrence Weaver House, Leatherhead, Surrey, England,
or from the Essene School of Life, Tecate, California, U.S.A.

whose object will be the ending of disease and premature

death, and the progressive prolongation of the span of
individual life with each succeeding generation, to the
maximum of possibility.
We are not so Utopian as to imagine that our programme
is an easy one or that it will obtain rapid results or be crowned
with immediate success. We realise that the collective and cooperative efforts of several generations of unselfish men and
women will be necessary for our objective to be achieved. But
we know that, while the work may be impeded, it can never be
prevented, because it is based on the laws of nature, on forces
which are stronger and more permanent than any possible
obstacles in our path.
We know well that we shall encounter difficulties. The
new ideas will meet with resistance and their propagation will
be attacked by those who flourish on corruption and
exploitation at the expense of diseased and suffering
humanity. We have also to reckon with the indifference and
hostility of the masses whom we seek to help, since they will
be influenced against us by these corrupt and exploiting
elements.
Nevertheless we are certain of eventual success, for we
struggle to win elementary human rights which may be denied
to none. We struggle in the name of intelligent and altruistic
will against ignorant and selfish violence, fighting for a better
heritage for future generations of mankind.

Chapter III
THE RHYTHMIC LIFE OF THE COSMOS
1. RHYTHMS IN THE COSMOS
WHATEVER aspect of the cosmos is considered, whether it
is the world gravitating in space or the most tenuous particle
of the atom, and whether it is a question of visible things (inert
matters, organisms) or of immaterial forces (electrical energy,
psychic force, etc.), all, in final analysis, is simply a
perpetually rhythmic movement.
In Nature, too, every propagation of forces takes place in
form of undulations, that is to say, in sinuous lines
decomposable into high and low parts which succeed one
another according to more or less rapid rhythms (light waves,
sound waves, electrical waves, radiations, rhythm of the tides,
etc.).
Terrestrial life, in its vegetable and animal aspects, has
evolved and progressed by undergoing the same alternations
of rise and fall of individuals and races in the midst of
alternating external circumstances (carboniferous period,
glacial period, seasons, etc.).
It is the same in our contemporary life. We go through the
rhythms of periods of dryness and humidity, of warm and cold
seasons, of day and night, etc.
In vegetable life, we have the budding and fall of leaves,
sleep and awakening of vegetation, sterility and fertility, etc.
Man, too, manifests particular rhythms, the most
important of them being the following:
Systole of the heart
Inhalation
Low morning temperature
Muscular contraction while
walking
Activity
Comfort
Appetite
Joy
Enthusiasm

Diastole of the heart

Exhalation
High evening temperature
Muscular relaxation while
walking
Rest
Discomfort
Lack of Appetite
Sorrow
Depression

In that part of the cosmos where we are, the great

regulator of the rhythms which we observe is the sun. Its
rhythmic laws and its irradiations govern life and evolution
over all our solar system and particularly on our earth, under
every aspect of movement. There are periodic variations in the
value of the vital force of the natural environments (air, water,
earth, vegetation, etc.), having their origin in periodic
variations of the solar radiations.

The vital slackening of organisms parallel to the

slackening of the whole of nature is due both to the
diminished force of foods and the diminished power of
organic transformations and, as a whole, to the diminution of
solar energy put in circulation in the terrestrial environments.
The opposite, that is to say, the starting up again of the
functions, the enrichment of the secretions and the raising of
nutritive value occur in phases of large solar output and are
due to the increased solar energy put in circulation.
The study of these different particularities of rhythms in
the supply of cosmic, solar, terrestrial and human energies and
radiations enables us to understand better the importance of a
doctor being able to imitate Nature well and knowing how to
vary his prescriptions in a rhythmic manner, proceeding in this
respect by alternating contrasts based on meteorological and
climatological circumstances (natural environment) and also
on changes in the modes of reaction of his patients.
Lastly, it must be understood that in utilising all the
natural and cosmic forces of the treatment (foods, sun, air,
water, earth, exercises, etc.) regard must be had to seasonal
and periodic rhythms.
So in periods of great solar activity an increase in the
dose of cosmovital radiations is indicated, both for sick
persons and the well, whereas the dose must be lessened in
seasons in which solar irradiation becomes weak.
Man who is an element of terrestrial symbiosis must, in
order to remain healthy and happy, live in natural harmony
and vibrate in accord with nature.
To conclude, the human radiations {whose sum total is
vitality) must vibrate in harmony with the terrestrial, solar
and cosmic vibrations.
This is the sole means of maintaining health, curing
diseases, prolonging life, improving individual capacityof
reaching the state we term "cosmovitality". "Cosmo-therapy",
cure by the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and human radiations,
serves as the means for its realisation.
2. COSMOVITAL TABLE
Sources, Spheres, Manifestations and Influences of the
Rhythmic Cycles of the Cosmic, Solar, Terrestrial and
Human Radiations.
(See following page.)

Chapter IV
UNITY OF MAN, COSMOS AND THERAPIES
1. OUTLINE OF THE COSMOTHERAPEUTIC TREATMENT
INSTEAD of waiting seven years, renewal of all the cells of
the organism is accelerated and effected in a period of
approximately one year. In this way all the old diseased cells
are discarded and replaced by new healthy cells.
Under optimum conditions complete cure takes one
month for every ten years of life and for every ten kilograms
of weight of the patient. (For example, a person 30 years old
and weighing 50 kilograms will need 3 plus 5, i.e. 8 months.)
The treatment is divided into two phases: (i) The patient
descends to a minimal weight by means of a general
detoxication of the organism, effected by fasting and the
administration of the various cosmic, solar and terrestrial
radiations involving several cosmotherapeutic processes. (it)
The patient builds up again to his natural weight by a
regenerative reconstruction of his system by means of a
special cosmotherapeutic diet.
Complete cure is effected by the creation of a particular
equilibrium between the internal cellular vibrations of the
organism and the external cosmic radiations (internal and
external factors).
Comprehension and achievement of the cure of every
disease and the extension of the span of life by means of
cosmotherapy based on the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and
human radiations depend in every case upon the individual's
will and intelligence. Every disease is curable, but not every
patient. Through lack of will and intelligence on the part of the
patient the treatment is likely to be protracted or may even be
without results.
The most recently accumulated toxins are eliminated first.
Progressively all past toxins are eliminated until the moment
of birth is reached. The organism is then free of its own toxins.
After the elimination of the individual's toxins, it remains
to get rid of those due to heredity. As well as the individual's
toxins there are those of each preceding generation: father,
mother, grandparents, greatgrandparents, etc. There are the
illnesses (symptoms) of the past to be considered. These have
all left traces on the organism.
Official medicine cures and suppresses only the
symptomsnot the disease itself. Therefore in the course of
detoxication, nature seeks out the weakest spots of the
organism where illnesses have appeared in the past and the
patient thus relives the whole of his past medical history in the
course of the period of detoxication.

The more frequent symptoms of this elimination are:

weakness, fatigue, nervousness, chills, heat, thirst, badodoured perspiration, spitting, vertigo, strongly coloured
urine, irregular bowel movements, thinness, various pains in
different organs, reappearance of old diseases, etc. These
symptoms are provoked by the internal and external
cosmotherapy; they ultimately appear and disappear until the
final elimination of all the toxins of the organism, when they
disappear never to return.
Unintelligent and weak-willed individuals incapable of
understanding and enduring these symptoms often return to
the toxins of their former way of living, whereby they
immediately stop elimination together with the symptoms. In
this manner the toxins are not thrown off but remain in the
organism to provoke later on increasingly serious diseases,
senescence and finally death.
On the other hand intelligent and strong-willed persons
who, disregarding the ignorant talk of weak-willed friends,
persevere through the unpleasant period of the symptoms of
the elimination of toxins, are not long in discovering that their
blood is renovated after two or three months of perseverance,
that their whole organism is filled with new life and that the
majority of their sufferings disappear. The disappearance of
the diseases is soon followed by the rejuvenation of the
organism, with the complete renewal of all its cells
approximately after one year of perseverance. These are
Nature's rewards for the intelligent and strong-willed work of
the patient. Cure is therefore always the merit of the patient,
for we merely show the method and give the possibility of
cure. It is the patient himself who achieves it. The method
alone does not cure nor does time; but only the exact
following and carrying out of the treatment.
2. SIMPLIFIED ANTHROPOCENTRIC COSMOTHERAPY
THE DYNAMIC UNITY OF MAN, COSMOS AND THERAPIES
Man Cosmos Therapies
1. Bones
Earth
Geotherapy (clay and mud
compresses)
2. Blood
Water
Hydrotherapy (water baths)
3. Skin and
Air
Aerotherapy (air baths,
lungs respiration)
4. Nerves
Sun
Heliotherapy (sun baths)
5. Muscles
Vegetation
Vitaminotherapy (diet)
6. Movement
Movement
Dynamotherapy (exercises)
7. Cell
Atom
Cellulotherapy (fasting)

3. FUNDAMENTAL EXPLANATIONS OF THE SIMPLIFIED

COSMOTHERAPY

(i) The bones in the human organism represent the solid

element in the same way that the lithosphere (earth) represents
it in nature; besides, our bones are constructed with the
inorganic minerals of the earth which enter our organism in
organic form through the assimilation of fruits and vegetables.
(ii) The circulation of the blood in the human organism
has the same role and function as the circulation of water in
nature; it cleanses, dissolves, eliminates.
(iii) Respiration by the skin and lungs has the same role
and function in the organism as the circulation of air in nature.
It refreshes and everywhere gives the oxygen necessary for
life.
(iv) The nerve vibrations have the same role and function
in the organism as the solar rays in nature; without the sun's
rays terrestrial nature and, without the nerve vibrations, the
human organism would be dead.
(v) The muscles in the organism connect the bones,
blood, skin and lungs, and accumulate the nerves just as
the vegetation in nature connects the earth, water and air,
and accumulates the sun.
(vi) Movement has the same role in the human organism
as in nature. It makes changes and connects every part in
dynamic unity.
(vii) The cell is the last unity in the human organism just
as the atom is in nature; they both have the same function
they radiate and absorb radiations, they sustain the reciprocal
transformation of the various energies.
4. COSMOTHERAPEUTIC NEEDS OF THE ORGANISM
Only those (cosmic) forces are capable of healing the
organism which constantly sustain it.
(i) The largest surface in the organism is the skin with the
lungs. For this reason the most fundamental need of the
organism is air. (The organism consumes approximately 700
quarts of air an hour.)
(ii) The second fundamental need of the human organism
is water, for the greatest part of the organism itself consists of
water.
(iii) The third fundamental need of the organism is the
rays of the sun, for without light the human nerve system is
completely unable to function (and the activity of the
organism is directed by the nerves).
(iv) The fourth fundamental need of the organism is fruits
and vegetables, for they accumulate the air, water and sun in
concentrated nutritive form capable of constructing and
nourishing the muscles and of giving them the necessary

energies for work; besides, vegetables construct and nourish

the cells of the skin and lungs, blood, nerves and bones.
(v) The fifth fundamental need of the organism is
movement, for in the universe, too, everything moves, there is
not a single fixed point.
(vi) Just as the universe constantly needs to change its
atoms, so does the human organism constantly need to renew
its cells. In the universe the atoms are dissociated and created
by various concentrations of cosmic radiations; in the human
organism the cells are dissociated by the various
concentrations of nerve energies (fasting, elimination of
toxins, etc.). This is the sixth fundamental need of the
organism.
(vii) The organism always needs and uses the same
substances as those of which it is constructed. Similarly
earthly life only uses those chemical elements which our
planet (the earth) contains.
Hence comes the seventh and most fundamental law of
cosmotherapy: an organism constructed of unhealthy
substances always desires the same unhealthy substances up to
the moment when all its unhealthy cells have been replaced by
healthy ones. For instance, an organism whose cells are
constructed (saturated) with meat, cooked, foods, alcohol,
nicotine and chemicals, always desires meat, cooked foods,
alcohol, nicotine and chemicals. Similarly an organism whose
cells are constructed of raw fruits and vegetables always
desires raw fruits and vegetables. Finally, an organism
unaccustomed to water, air, and sun-bathing, has an antipathy
to these things, but once it becomes accustomed to them it
desires them constantly.
That is why the first part of the cosmotherapy (up to
when half of the cells of the organism are renewed) is difficult
and demands much strength of will, as the old cells of the
organism constantly clamour for the old toxins and fight
against the new vitamins and unaccustomed natural radiations.
Scientists and explorers have been forced to admit that
instinct never fails in wild animals and primitive men. But
man, in achieving organic perfection in harmony with the
natural forces and cosmic law, ought to attain even greater
heights because his organs are increasingly sensitive to the
reception of all the natural currents and cosmic radiations of
all the higher spheres, in proportion as his cells are
progressively improved. This is the faculty of perfect
adaptation. Mankind will continue to suffer as long as it does
not understand or follow the laws of nature and the cosmos.
The individual out of harmony with natural forces is doomed
to disappear because his vitaJ activity is incapable of
producing knowledge of the higher laws.
The various pathological conditions of the organism take
their names solely from their external symptoms. It is against

these, the results and not the causes, that classical science
fights exclusively.
The real truth is as follows:
(i) There is a single diseaseinharmony, whose
symptoms are variously manifested, depending on the extent
and mode in which natural law has been violated. This is the
law of disease.
(ii) There is a single healthharmony, which is
manifested in permanent evolution towards perfection, in
proportion as we are able to create and utilise the
preconditions of existence in harmony with the laws of nature.
(iii) Illnesses are produced by struggle between the
natural vitality of the human organism and inferior,
degenerating processes.
(iv) The symptoms of disease are without exception the
result of this battle going on in our organisms.
(v) The struggle of opposing forces is based upon the law
of incompatibility according to which different processes of an
organic nature cannot go on simultaneously in one and the
same place.
If we follow the laws of nature we render ourselves
immune to every possible infection. Illnesses are the
consequences of disobeying natural laws. If we do not upset
the natural physiological processes of our organisms with
unnatural foreign elements, no inferior processes can enter our
systems.
Even if a number of infusoria, bacteria or the bacilli of
certain epidemics penetrate the organism, they cannot find in
it the preconditions of their existence and must soon
disappear. In a clean, detoxicated organism they can have no
function. They perish in the inner vital fire of the system like
little insects in fire or fish upon dry land. Accordingly we have
complete immunity, because our vital forces, which we
previously paralysed by the struggle with inferior processes,
are set free and become able to fight with all their force
against the inferior elements which chance to have invaded
our organism.
By reforming our diet and following a way of life
designed to regenerate us, with the help of the vital elements
(sun, air, water and earth), and by exercises and conscious
breathing (see the cosmotherapeutic processes), we shall find,
even after a few months, that we no longer catch cold. The
longer the organism has been sick, the longer the process of
regeneration will take. But it can always be achieved as long
as there is life, because from the very first moment of our
natural life the vital forces of the body start to act; the reign of
life begins.
The regeneration of the system and the renewal of all the
cells are brought about by regenerative processes based on the
dissolvent and eliminating effects of the organic salts of the

cosmotherapeutic fruits and vegetables mentioned in a later

chapter. This regeneration is possible even at the age of 70 or
80. It is only unfeasible in the case of old people who have
shrunk a good deal.
We are microcosms in the macrocosm. Our blood is the
vital element in the process of metabolism in our organism,
just as water is on our planet. Life is possible on the earth only
where there is water. And where there is water there must also
be air. The processes of metabolism of our blood are governed
by these two vital elements. Our blood can form our
organism's vital element only when it has a natural
composition in harmony with our degree of existence. In its
essence and in its nature it has the same qualities and the same
functions as water on the earth. If its constitution is in
harmony with natural law it is perfect. It has a universal
function as dissolvent and eliminative element in
decomposition, elimination, renewal and reconstruction of our
organism.
Natural blood is the law itself. It is the outcome of the
constant struggles of higher man towards optimal and
omnilateral perfection, by the utilisation and creation of all the
preconditions of his development. Our blood therefore forms
the source of energy for our improvement. Such a natural and
perfect blood is able to eliminate all the inferior elements that
are in the organism.

Chapter V
COSMOVITAL RADIATIONS AND EXTERNAL
COSMOTHERAPY
1. THE SEVEN COSMOVITAL FORCES. COSMOTHERAPEUTIC AND
PHYSICAL EXERCISES

THE seven regenerative cosmovital factors which work

during the cosmotherapeutic exercises are the following:
(i) Radiations of the Sun. These pass through the whole
organism both above and below water. The sun's thermic rays
assist the elimination of toxins, while its chemical rays pass
through the whole organism, helping it to get rid of toxins and
killing microbes of every kind. The latter rays also change the
constitution of the blood, create new cells and strengthen and
revitalise the organism. They have an action on the lungs in
conjunction with the air inhaled.
(ii) Air. Air enters the organism by means of respiration,
bringing its oxygen content and numerous other elements, as
well as the cosmic radiations that it possesses. Air nourishes
the organism and at the same time burns up toxins, microbes,
and what is superfluous in the organism, in its passage through
the blood. It provides the most important material for the
creation of new vital cells. It also adds its action to that of the
electricity of the atmosphere in its passage through the
organism which is a conductor through being in contact with
the ground and partly submerged in the water.
(iii) Water (Baths). Water is the greatest source of energy
for the organism, of all the various factors. Its temperature
being below that of the body compels the latter to indulge in
muscular activity and at the same time increases the rate of
respiration. It introduces vital magnetism. During a fast it
furnishes quite an important amount of nourishment as it
makes its way into the body through the skin while bathing.
(iv) Earth. This gives the organism its currents, called
telluric currents, which draw the electricity of the atmosphere
through the body.
(v) Muscular Movements. These accelerate the
elimination of toxins by means of the rhythmic compression
of the muscles, while at the same time the circulation of the
blood is abnormally increased. They also make the organism a
better electromagnetic conductor owing to the tension of the
muscular cells.
(vi) Breathing Exercises. First, these exercises secure the
most important precondition of detoxication, by accelerating
all the processes of metabolism (for with each movement a
large quantity of toxins is expelled in addition to the
combustion of the waste products of the organism). Next,

respiration provides the elements and vibrations indispensable

to the work of the organs.
(vii) Concentration Exercises. The currents of thought
concentrated on the exercises traverse and vitalise the
organism progressively towards perfection.
2. COSMOTHERAPEUTIC EXERCISES
The seven cosmovital factors are combined in the
cosmotherapeutic (sun, air, water, earth, muscular, breathing,
concentration) exercises.
(a) Vibrations of the sun.
(b) Vibrations of the air.
(c) Vibrations of the water.
(d) Vibrations of the currents of the earth.
(e) Muscular exercises. (f) Breathing exercises.
(g) Concentration exercises.
Choice of Site. The first thing is to find a river of running
water, a freshwater lake or a swimming-pool. (Sea water does
not suit the organism on account of its salt, which is
inorganic.) The water must be deep enough to allow the
patient to stand up to his chest in water.
Position of the Body. Movements in the Water. The
patient should stand with his face towards the sun and
combine movements of his arms with flexions of the thighs. In
bending the knees, the trunk is submerged up to the shoulders;
at the same time that the knees are bent, the arms which are
stretched out full length to the front make a movement and
spread out as in breast-stroke and back until they are in line
with the shoulders. The legs are straightened, the trunk rises
and the movement is repeated. At first about fifty strokes
should be done at a time. Later on several hundreds a day can
be managed as detoxication proceeds.
At the same time the patient breathes through the nose
with his mouth closed; the breath should be as complete,
rhythmic and deep as possible. The capacity of the lungs and
the thoracic cavity rapidly increases, so much so that after
some days breathing becomes much deeper and the patient can
do as many as five movements to one breath. The quantity of
oxygen used by the expanded lungs has a very marked effect
on the quality of the blood from the very beginning of
treatment. After some minutes in the water the patient takes a
sunbath. Care must be taken to sprinkle the head with water
from time to time.
Sunbaths. When taking the sunbaths, always lie with the
head away from the sun, so as to have the top of the skull in
the shade. First lie for five minutes on your back and then for
five minutes on your stomach and later on for double this time
in each position. After three weeks' treatment change your
position every twenty minutes and thereafter every half-hour.
Choose a sandy or grassy spot on the bank, and if the ground

is covered with pebbles lie on a mat in direct contact with the

ground. The use of boards a little raised is only permissible
when there is no alternative.
Time and Duration. In cold climates and in cold seasons
do the exercises, and sunbathing at midday when the sun is
strongest. In warm seasons and climates do them neither at
midday when the sun is strongest nor in the early morning and
late afternoon when the sun is weakest, but in the middle of
the forenoon and afternoon when the rays of the sun have a
medium force. Naturally, after several months of proper diet
and a proper way of living it is possible to sunbathe and
exercise at any time and in any amount without danger.
Indiscriminate exposure to the sun is dangerous only when the
organism is loaded with toxins, as these ferment under the
influence of the thermic and chemical action of the sun and
are thus able to cause serious crises in the organism.
3. PHYSICAL EXERCISES
(i) Trunk turning and forward bending. The patient stands
up with the feet placed parallel with each other on the ground,
that is, with the heels the same distance apart as the toes, about
seven inches from each other. He stretches out the arms to
either side, level with the shoulders, at the same time
clenching the fists. Keeping the arms in that position, he
makes an energetic twisting movement of the trunk from the
hips towards the left. Next he does a forward bend stretching
the right fist as low as possible, while the left fist is lifted up
behind to a vertical position. He stands straight once more,
turns the trunkthis time to the rightbends forward again,
stretching the left fist down and the right fist upwards. The
thighs are always kept taut. As time goes on, this exercise can
be repeated a great many times.
(ii) Leg Movements. The patient lies on the back, slightly
raising the nape of the neck; he should keep the hands beside
the body, raise the legs and stretch them vertically, then
separate and lower them without letting the heels touch the
ground. Then he should start again and repeat the movements
more and more frequently as training increases.
(iii) Complementary Exercises. Swimming with rhythmic
breathing (collaboration of water, air, and sun), and . Running
with rhythmic breathing, with bare feet, and in a bathing dress
(collaboration of earth, air, and sun). These two vitalising
exercises greatly accelerate the results of cosmotherapy. For
this reason we advise that patients practise them at least once a
week, according to individual possibilities. They must begin
with a little at first and then slowly and progressively increase
them, always alternating the exercises with rest.
(iv) Sunburn and its Remedy. It sometimes happens, when
the sun is strong, that at the beginning of treatment the
precautions as to length and alternation of sun and water baths

indicated above are neglected and the skin is severely burnt.

This sunburn can be cured without difficulty by covering the
inflamed part with a little oil mixed with one-fifth part of
lemon juice. Care must be taken during the daytime to leave
the skin uncovered and exposed to the air. If clothes are
unavoidable, the burn should, to begin with, be covered with
fresh leaves. During the night put a double damp water
compress, freshly prepared, over the burn, and wrap some dry
cloths round the compress. Change the compress once or twice
in the course of the night. As long as the burn remains painful,
that is, for two or three days, avoid long exposure to the sun,
but do not neglect the baths or the exercises in the water and
on dry land.
(v) Preventive Instruction. Sunburn, colds and fatigue are
avoidable by observing the following chief rules: (a) Begin
sunbathing with a maximum of ten minutes, and increase the
bath by five minutes each day following, according to
individual capacity, (b) Begin by prescribing the
cosmotherapeutic exercises for five minutes and increase the
duration by one minute each succeeding day up to the limit of
individual capacity, (c) If a patient begins to feel hot during a
sunbath, he should go at once into the water. (d) If he begins
to feel chilly during the water bath he should go out
immediately and take a sunbath. (e) Exercise, sunbath and
water-bath should be practised as much as possible, but never
to the point of over-tiring the patient. (f) Everything should be
done with moderation, (g) Be attentive to the desires and
warning cries of the organism.
(vi) The Solution in Cold Seasons and Climates and in
Large Towns. In cold seasons and climates and in large towns
where it is difficult to find free water, sun and air, the open air
baths and exercises may be replaced with cosmotherapeutic
baths and exercises taken in a swimming-pool. If there is no
such pool available, the patient must simply wash and
massage the whole body before and after doing the two
exercises (i) and (ii). The water should have an agreeable
temperature, while the air in the room should also be fresh
(ventilated). These exercises should last from fifteen to thirty
minutes. They should in all events be done every day without
exception, either in the morning or in the evening or at both
times, according to individual possibilities.

Chapter VI
EXTERNAL-INTERNAL COSMOTHERAPY
(Colonic Irrigation)
AT the beginning of treatment, in order to prepare the
human organism for the taking of an intestinal douche, the
patient should eat fruit juices (1 lb. at lunch and l lb. at
dinner for three days) and no other food. Later on, one day
will be sufficient to prepare the organism by fruit juices or by
fasting for half a day.
It is important when the time comes for the patient to take
the douche that he should absorb the maximum amount of
water without, however, forcing things. He should retain the
water as Jong as possible, with a maximum limit, however, of
half an hour. The quantity of water introduced varies between
two and four quarts with different patients. In general it is a
good plan to repeat the douches every five days throughout the
period of detoxicationwhatever the nature of the illness.
Method of Administration, (i) The container for the water
should be fixed six feet high so as to provide the pressure
required to make the water flow into the intestines.
(ii) If the container holds only one or two quarts, it must
be refilled.
(iii) Put some vaseline on the nozzle at the end of the tube
and mix together hot and cold water at the temperature of the
human organism.
(iv) Next, let a little water flow from the tube to get rid of
the air in it. The patient then lies down on his left side, puts
the nozzle slowly in position himself with his right hand and
then opens the tap above the nozzle.
(v) When the water has penetrated, stay on the left side
for five minutes and then pass five minutes resting on the
stomach, right side and back, in that order. In the latter
position massage the abdomen by rubbing it with the hand in a
clockwise direction. Stand up at the end of five minutes and
continue the massage for a further five minutes in that
position, making a total of ten minutes for massage.
(vi) If the patient is unable to retain the water for so long,
he should empty out a part of the contents of the intestines and
then take up again the successive positions of the body as well
as do the massages.
The Intestinal Douches are necessary: (a) at the
beginning of the treatment, to get rid of all kinds of old
fermentations of the intestines and to prevent the new
wholesome foods from being fermented by the old
accumulations;
(b) during the cure, to get rid periodically of all kinds of
toxins eliminated by the cosmotherapeutic diet and

consequently being constantly deposited on the internal

surface of the intestines.

Chapter VII
THE COSMOVITALIST CALENDAR
CALENDAR OF THE EIGHT RHYTHMIC CYCLES OF THE YEAR
(governed by the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and human radiations)
Cycle
No.

I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII

Period

Jan. 14-Feb. 28
March 1-Apr. 13
Apr. 14-May 28
May 29-July 13
July 14-Aug. 28
Aug. 29-Oct. 13
Oct. 14-Nov. 28
Nov. 29-Jan. 13

Colour

Green
Indigo
Red SpringOrange
Yellow
Violet
Blue
White

Season

Cosmovital
Bath Chart
(see end of
volume)

Winter-Spring
Spring
Summer
Summer
Summer-Autumn
Autumn
Autumn-Winter
Winter

A
B
C
D
C
B
E
A

NOTE.The length of each cycle is 45 days and each month is considered as

having 30 days.
Cosmovital Bath Chart D is for Tropical Zones (between Tropics of
Capricorn and Cancer).
Cosmovital Bath Charts A-E are for Temperate Zones (North and South
Hemispheres). The charts as marked are for Northern Hemispheres. For use in
Southern Hemispheres the order of the cycles is diametrically opposite, winter in
the Northern Hemisphere being summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Determination of the Solar Day. The true solar day lies

between two consecutive passages up to the meridian. For its
determination we make use of a sundial, which is composed of
a stile or pin casting a shadow upon a plane and horizontal
surface, and designed to indicate, according to the length of
the pin's shadow, the height of the sun and moon above the
horizon, and their orientation, that is to say, the time.
On a horizontal surface is traced a straight line which
coincides with the meridian of the place. On this line you
place the extremity of the pin in a vertical position. At the
moment of true midday you measure the shadow cast. The
length of the pin is known. If we call its length 'L', and the
length of the shadow cast by the pin '1', and a the height of the
sun above the horizon, you have:
tga = L 1
As the star has an apparent diameter, an error arises in the
measurement of T. That is why the ancients, who had already
made this observation, used gnomons having a ball fixed to
their extremity. The length was calculated from the centre of
the shadow of this ball. Moreover, it is possible with the
gnomon to trace the meridian of the place, starting from the
foot of the pin. It suffices to determine two shadows of equal

length on the same day, and to trace their bisectors. If this

operation is performed at the two solstices, it is easy to
calculate the latitude of the place.
Generally it will be sufficient, in order to find the time of
true midday, to take the mid-point between sunrise and sunset
on any given day. Allowance must be made for Summer Time
when it is in operation. The times of sunrise and sunset can be
found in a calendar or diary.

Chapter VIII
HARMONY WITH THE RHYTHMIC CYCLES OF THE
YEAR
1. OUTLINE OF INSTRUCTIONS TO BE GIVEN PATIENTS
THIS chapter shows how to live in harmony with the
rhythmic cycles of the year and day, governed by the cosmic,
solar and terrestrial radiations, subject to the modifications
necessitated by variation in individuals and individual states,
determined by the human radiations.
Diet
1. What to eat.
2. What amount to eat.
3. What sorts of food to eat.
4. What variety of foods to eat.
5. What combinations of foods to eat.
6. How to eat.
7. When to eat.
8. What not to eat.
9. Why not.
NOTE.See "Table of Diets" page 207.

Cosmovital (Sun, Air, Water, Dry Heat and Earth) Baths

1. When to take them.
2. How to take them.
3. Which of them to take.
4. For how long they are to be taken.
5. How many of them to take.
NOTE.See the Cosmovital Bath Charts, at end of volume.

Thermal Baths
Instructions as for Cosmovital Baths.
Internal Baths (Enemata)
1. How to take them.
2. When to take them.
3. How many of them to take.
Cosmotherapeutic Exercises
1. How to do them.
2. When to do them.
3. How many of them to do.
Physical Exercises
Instructions as for Cosmotherapeutic Exercises

Compresses at Night
1. How to apply them.
2. When to apply them.
3. How many of them to apply.
Rhythmic Breathing
See Chapter IX.
Rhythmic Sleep
See Chapter IX.
Rhythmic Sexual Life
See Chapter XII of Book I and Chapter XVI of Book II.
2. COSMOTHERAPEUTIC MEASUREMENTS AND CALCULATIONS
A
1. How to weigh patients.
2. How to measure their height.
3. How to determine their diet.
(i) Weigh the patient unclothed on a home weighingmachine and note his weight in kilograms or pounds.
(ii) Measure the patient from head to foot in bare feet, not
counting his hair, noting his height in metres and centimetres,
or feet and inches.
(iii) Look at the tables showing correlations between age,
height, weight and sex, to find the patient's natural weight
(pages 204-205).
{iv) Work out on the "Weight Normalisation Chart" (page
206) what diet corresponds to the patient's weight.
(v) From the "Dietetic Table" on page 207, determine the
daily amount, quality, proportion, variety and combination of
food in the diet.
B
1. How to count symptoms on the extremities {arm and kg).
2. How to determine the physical exercises to be done in such
cases.
(i) Ascertain the position of the symptoms on the arm or
leg.
(ii) Symptoms on the thigh (above knee) count 15
minutes, those on the leg proper (knee to ankle) 10 minutes,
those on the foot 5 minutes.
(iii) Symptoms on the arm proper (elbow to shoulder)
count 15 minutes, those on the forearm (elbow to wrist) 10
minutes, those on the hand 5 minutes.
(iv) The number of minutes marks the duration of the
physical exercises to be done out of the water on the earth.
(v) If the symptoms are on the legs and/or feet, the
exercises must be done before bathing in the morning.
(vi) If the symptoms are on the arms and/or hands, the
exercises must be done after bathing in the afternoon.

C
1. How to calculate local symptoms of the head-neck-trunk
and extremities {arms and legs).
2. How to determine what water and clay compresses to apply
for the night.
(i) Ascertain the position of the symptoms.
(ii) Before the patient goes to bed at night, put
compresses for the night on all the places where there are local
symptoms.
(iii) The compresses must only be applied on the days
when the patient experiences symptoms. On the days when
there are no symptoms, no compress must be applied.
(iv) If the symptoms are in the bones, a clay compress
must be applied for two nights and a water compress on each
third night. If the symptoms are elsewhere than in the bones, a
water compress must be applied during two nights and a clay
compress each third night.
D
1. How to measure a patient's trunk.
2. How to determine his solar point.
3. How to determine the point of his symptoms.
4. How to determine the time, number, duration, quality,
mode, etc., of his cosmovital baths.
1
(i) Place a strip of paper half an inch wide and one yard
long on a level stretch of ground and get the patient to lie
down upon the paper lengthwise.
(ii) Mark off on the paper the combined length of his
head-neck-trunk, measuring from the top of the head down to
the crutch.
(in) Cut the strip of paper at these two points and measure
the length of the piece so cut.
(iv) Divide the strip of paper into 64 equal parts marking
the 64 divisions upon the paper.
2 and 3
(i) Find the solar point of the patient (where the two 7th
cartilages meet the lowest point of the sternum) and mark this
point with the number 0 on the strip of paper held vertically in
front of the body from the top of the head to the crutch.
(ii) Number the 64 dividing lines on the strip of paper,
taking the line numbered 0 as starting point and counting plus
( + ) 1, 2, 3, etc., for each line up towards the head, and minus
( ) 1, 2, 3, etc., for each line downwards towards the crutch.
(iii) Ascertain the approximate surface covered by each
local symptom and mark its longest diameter and the centre of
this diameter.
(iv) Mark the point of the centre of this diameter on the
plus or minus line opposite it on the strip of paper held as
before, and also mark the length of this diameter on the strip

of paper, half above and half below the line representing the
centre point.
4
(i) Mark on a piece of paper the day of the month and the
geographical situation of the patient.
(ii) Turn to the Calendar on page 297 and find which
Cosmovital Bath Chart is appropriate to the date and
geographical situation at the moment and then turn to the chart
indicated (at end of volume).
(iii) Take point 0 on the strip of paper as corresponding to
point 0 (12.00. midday) on the circle of the Cosmovital Bath
Chart.
(iv) Mark on the diagram on either side of the central
point 0 the numbers at the two ends of the strip of paper, the
numbers on the paper corresponding to the numbers printed
outside the circumference of the circle.
(v) In this way the minus points on the strip of paper and
the minus points of the circle correspond, and so do the plus
points.
(vi) The total of 64 points thus marked off on the circle
represents the patient's individual arc, the part of the arc to the
left of point 0 on the circle being the minus arc, and the part to
the right of the point 0 being the plus arc.
(vii) Divide each of the two arcs into three equal parts and
mark off on each arc the second (middle) segment of each arc.
(viii) The numerals printed within the circle (sun clock)
show the true time by the sun for the date and place to which
the circle is appropriate. The second (middle) segment of the
minus arc will show the duration and time of the cosmovital
baths during the morning. The second (middle) segment of the
plus arc will show the duration and time of the cosmovital
baths during the afternoon. (NOTE: For how to calculate the
true time by the sun, see Chapter VII of this Book.
Example (1)
We will suppose that the patient has a trunk measurement
of plus 33 and minus 31, and that he comes for treatment on
May 1st, in England (N. Temperate Zone).
From the Calendar on page 297 we see that the
appropriate Cosmovital Bath Chart is 'C' (see end of volume).
Having turned to this chart, find point 0 at the top of the
circle. Then measure off plus 33 to the right of point 0 on the
scale printed outside the circumference, and minus 31 to the
left of point 0 in the same way.
From point 31 to point +33 forms the patient's individual
arc.
Next divide the minus arc (0 to 31) into three equal parts
(each will contain 10-1/3 points) and mark off the second
(middle) segment of this arc on the circumference (from
points 10-1/3 to 20-2/3). Now do the same for the plus arc

(0 to +33), making three arcs of 11 points each, the second

(middle) segment lying between points +11 and +22.
Read off the time of day on the clock within the circle
between the points 10-1/3 and 20-2/3, which gives from
9.26 to 10.43 a.m. as the time for the morning bath, and
between points +11 and +22, which gives from 1.07 to 2.45
p.m. as the time for the afternoon bath.
Similarly if it is July 1st, the Calendar indicates that
Cosmovital Bath Chart 'D' is the appropriate table to consult.
You then mark off the arcs in the same way and arrive at the
result from 8.9 to 10.12 a.m. for the morning bath and from
2.6 to 4.14 p.m. for the afternoon bath.
If the trunk measurement is different, then different
results will be obtained on each chart.
Example (2)
Date 30th April. Chart 'C. Suppose the symptom to be in
the right shoulder with a diameter of 6 inches and that its
centre point falls opposite line 12 on the strip of paper.
Measure off three inches above and below line 12. We will
suppose that the line so marked falls between lines +9 and +
15 on the strip of paper.
Turn to Chart 'C (at end of volume), and it will be seen
that from 1.07 p.m. to 1.52 p.m. is the best time for exposing
the symptom to the sun and other cosmovital baths.
3. THE PRINCIPAL COSMOTHERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS
I. COSMOVITAL BATHS (on sunny daysfor general
treatment).
Place: River, lake, pool or wooden box (half full of water
exposed to the sun). If none of these is available, make a pool
6 ft. long, 6 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep in the garden, lined with
cement, and fill it half full with water (6 ins.).
Time: The bath should be taken at the times shown on the
cosmovital bath charts (at end of volume).
Mode of Employment: The patient lies down in the water
on the back so that half the body is covered with water and the
other half above the water. While the back half of the body
has a water bath, the front half has a sun bath. If the patient
feels that the front half of the body is getting hot and the back
half cold, he should turn over so as to refresh the front half
which has been in the sun, and warm the back half which has
been under water. He should continue this simultaneous
alternation of sun and water baths as long as he continues
bathing. He should always lie with the feet in the direction of
the sun, following its course, in such a way that the top of the
skull is always in the shadow cast by the rest of the body. The
temperature of the water should always be about 10 degrees
below that of the body, i.e. water 27C. and body 37C.

As a general rule, the water in the small cement-lined

pool which contains about 100 gallons of a depth of 5 or 6
inches, will always be sufficiently warmed by the sun in a few
hours. But if it is too cold, bring the temperature up to 27 C.
by adding a little hot water, while if it is too warm, add a little
cold water. Protect the patient from strong, cold winds.
As far as the number and frequency of turns from back to
front and vice versa are concerned, the patient should always
follow the dictates of the organism, but in general he should
spend about the same time on the front as on the back in the
course of a whole bath.
No sun, cold seasons and climates: When there is no sun,
prescribe water baths and air baths in alternation, and replace
the sun's heat with the body's latent heat provoked by physical
exercises from time to time.
In case of cold seasons or climates, cover the small pool
with a glass frame and during the bath maintain a suitable
temperature by any convenient method of heating.
II. COSMOVITAL BATHS (with concentration of the sun's
raysexclusively in case of local symptoms).
Place: As for the cosmovital baths for general treatment.
Time: According to the time indicated by the appropriate
chart and according to the position of the local symptom.
Dosage: Concentrate the rays of the sun with a
magnifying glass on the area of the symptoms, being careful
always to keep the glass in movement over part affected.
Begin with five minutes' treatment of each spot,
increasing the dose by one minute each day until a total of
fifteen minutes is reachedwhich is the maximum.
Do not exceed this limit. The ray should be as hot as
possible without its being disagreeable to the skin. Never
exaggerate the force of the rays, and never employ the glass if
it occasions pain or unpleasant symptoms. It can be used over
the whole surface of the body with the exception of the
peripheral nerve centres.
The part affected must be covered with half an inch or so
of water and the ray must always be directed on to the skin
through this covering of water.
III. THERMAL BATHS (where there is no sunfor general
treatment).
1. HOT DRY AIR BATHS.
Place: Make a rectangular frame of wood large enough to
contain a chair with the patient sitting upon it, and cover the
frame with any material handy or a blanket. Set the patient in
the frame on a chair, after placing beneath the chair any
heating agency available (small stove, hot stones, electric
heater or lamps, etc.). Keep his head above and outside the

covering of the framework, which should come up about as far

as the shoulders.
Mode of employment, time and duration of baths: The
patient should sit in the bath and sweat until the heat begins to
get disagreeable. Then he should leave the bath and wrap
himself in three or four thicknesses of warm blankets and lie
down on a couch or bed, so that he may continue to perspire.
When he has stopped sweating, he should take a cold bath or
shower.
As to time, consult the charts to find what is the best time
for the baths. It is a good thing to prescribe these baths on
dull, cloudy days when there is no sun.
2. HOT MUD BATHS.
Place: Use clayey (not sandy) mud. Fill a box big enough
to hold the body with it up to half full, and pour hot water over
it. Then mix the mud and water together thoroughly until you
have a mass of soft consistency (not hard and not a liquid). It
should be fairly hot, but not disagreeably so. Always follow
the sensibility of the organism. The patient should sit down in
the box and cover himself with mud up to the neck. He should
stay in it and sweat until the heat begins to be disagreeable.
Then proceed as after the hot air bath.
Time: As for the hot air baths.
CAUTIONARY INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE HOT DRY AIR BATHS AND
THE HOT MUD BATHS

(i) Never exaggerate the temperature of either air or

water.
(ii) As to length of bath, always heed the voice and
sensibility of the organism.
(iii) Always stop the bath when the heart begins to beat
more quickly than usual.
(iv) During the first cycle (i.e. the first 45 days) of
treatment, increase the duration of the baths gradually
according to the scale on the chart for the cosmovital baths
(page 310).
(v) As a general rule the temperature of the air or water
should not exceed 60 C, nor the duration of the bath be more
than 30 minutes.
(vi) Do not use the hot dry air baths or the hot mud baths
in the following cases:
(a) after meals,
(b) after very tiring muscular activity,
(c) in case of serious diseases of the heart,
(d) in case of serious diseases of the lungs,
(e) in case of prolonged weakness,
(f) in case of high fever,
(g) in case of high blood pressure.

IV. NIGHT COMPRESSES (exclusively in case of local

symptoms).
1. COLD WATER COMPRESS.
Dip a cloth in cold water, wring it out, and then place it,
twice or three times folded, over the symptom. Then cover the
wet cloth with a dry cloth well fastened to the body. If the
compress proves agreeable or if it relieves the symptom, keep
it on, but if not, then use
2. HOT DRY SAND COMPRESS.
Warm some sand and wrap it up in a cloth which has
been folded three or four times, and place this over the
symptom. If it proves agreeable or if it relieves the symptom,
keep it on, but if not, use
3. WET HOT EARTH COMPRESS.
Cover the place of the symptom with wet hot earth and
leave it in place until its action is felt.
Time for all these compresses: For use always during the
night when the patient is asleep.
Mode of employment:
(i) The cold water compress is for use when one wishes to
eliminate and to intensify and accelerate elimination
(especially in case of internal gas).
(ii) The hot dry sand compress is for use when one wishes
to stop elimination (when the preceding compress does not
relieve the symptoms. Particularly in case of symptoms of the
nerves, if the place of the symptoms is not very hot).
(iii) The wet hot earth compress is for use when the
symptoms are in the bones. It is always good for the bones, in
every case.
Dosage: Begin with 30 minutes in each case, adding on 5
minutes each night until the patient reaches the point of
keeping them on the whole night without any disagreeable
consequence.
For use in what cases: Only in cases where the symptoms
are apparent. They are not to be employed in the absence of
local symptoms.
HARMONY WITH THE RHYTHMIC CYCLES 309
General instructions:
(i) Never exaggerate the temperature (whether hot or
cold), nor the length of the applications.
(ii) The surface covered by the compress should always
be that occupied by the symptom in question.
(iii) Always heed the voice and sensibility of the
organism.

GENERAL PREVENTIVE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE COSMOTHERAPEUTIC EXERCISES IN THE WATER AND FOR ALL THE
OPEN-AIR BATHS ALTERNATED WITH WATER AND SUN BATHS.

Preventive instructions to be followed (chiefly during the

first cycle45 daysof treatment).
1. When the water is warm, reduce the number of
movements in the water. If it is cold, then prescribe more
movements.
2. As to alternation and duration of sun and water,
observe the following rules:
Case Instructions
(i) Strong sun with Short sun baths frequently
warm water
alternated with long
water baths.
(ii) Strong sun with Short sun baths frequently
cold water.
alternated with short
water baths.
(iii) Weak sun with
Long sun baths rarely warm
water. alternated with long
water baths.
(iv) Weak sun with
Short water baths frequently
cold water.
alternated with
long sun baths.
NOTE.The patient should always be protected from strong cold winds. Always
heed the voice and sensibility of his organism.

(For Table, see next page.)

CORRELATIONS BETWEEN DAYS, MINUTES AND TEMPERATURES DURING

THE FIRST INDIVIDUAL CYCLE (45 DAYS) OF THE COSMOVITAL BATHS

From the
commencement
of treatment

Day
-5
5-10
10-15
15-20
20-25
25-30
30-35
35-40
40-45
increasing as
treatment
progresses

Before
and after
midday

Permanent
throughout the
same bath

Minutes
Temperature (C.)
5
32
10
31.5
15
31
20
30.5
25
30
30
29.5
35
29
40
28.5
45
28
increasing
constant at
according to 10 C.
below
season of year
that of organism
(27 C.)
Pulse
(NORMAL RATE)
In man 60-70 per minute.
In woman 70-80 per minute.
In child 80-90 per minute.

Body Temperature
Normal for all persons in all climates and at all seasons
37 C. (98.6 F.)

Chapter IX
HARMONY WITH THE RHYTHMIC CYCLES OF
THE DAY
THE RHYTHMIC CYCLES OF THE DAY GOVERNED BY THE
COSMIC , SOLAR , TERRESTRIAL AND HUMAN RADIATIONS .

THE spring cycle of the day begins at sunrise and lasts

until midday (the true midpoint between sunrise and sunset).
This cycle is characterised by increasing activity of the sun
and governed by the predominance of the solar rays. It is the
favourable cycle for physical activitywhich consists,
internally, of the dissolution and elimination of toxins and
other useless, superfluous matters and, externally, of physical
(muscular) work harmonising rhythmically with the internal
activity.
The first hour of the cycle is favourable for sexual
intercourse between sensorial types. The last hour of the cycle
is favourable for rhythmic physical exercises.
The summer cycle of the day begins at midday (the true
midpoint between sunrise and sunset) and lasts until sunset.
This cycle is characterised by increasing activity of the earth
and is governed by the predominance of the terrestrial
radiations. It is the favourable cycle for physical rest which
consists, internally, of the building of new cells of the
organism and, externally, of refreshing rest, play or
amusement in harmony with the internal activity.
The first hour of the cycle is favourable for the midday
meal, consisting chiefly of the first, second and (eventually)
third categories. (In the preceding cycle the organism has used
up its store of liquid through elimination and so it has to be
restored). The last hour of the cycle is favourable for rhythmic
breathing exercises.
The autumn cycle of the day begins with sunset and lasts
until midnight (the true midpoint between sunset and sunrise).
This cycle is characterised by increasing internal human
activity and is governed by the predominance of the human
radiations. It is the favourable cycle for psychic activity
which consists, internally, of the elimination of psychic toxins
(products of ignorance, selfishness and passivity) and the
struggle against inferior psychic currents and, externally, of
intellectual labours, the conscious selection and precision of
thoughts.
The first hour of this cycle is favourable for the evening
meal, consisting chiefly of the third and fourth categories.
(During the preceding cycle the organism has used up its
constructive reserves for the internal reconstruction of the
cells and so these have to be renewed). The last hour of the

cycle is favourable for rhythmic psychic exercises of

concentration and relaxation.
The winter cycle of the day begins at midnight (the true
midpoint between sunset and sunrise) and lasts until sunrise.
This cycle is characterised by increasing cosmic activity and is
governed by the predominance of the cosmic radiations. It is
the favourable cycle for psychic rest which consists,
internally, of unconscious psychic passivity, absorption and
inspiration of the higher psychic energies and, externally, of
deep and rhythmic sleep.
The first hour of the cycle is favourable for sexual
intercourse between non-sensorial types. The last hour of the
cycle is favourable for the solution of higher problems.
(For Tables, see [immediately following}pages 313 and
314.)
ADAPTATION OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES TO THE COSMIC AND
TERRESTRIAL RHYTHM
DETERMINATION OF THE FAVOURABLE HOURS FOR ACTIVITIES

Activity Cycle of Bay

1.
Physical (muscular) work
2.
Intellectual work (psychic activity)
3.
Physical rest
4.
Distraction, play
5.
Psychic rest
6.
Sexual intercourse
7.
Meals
8.
Sleep
9.
Physical culture (exercises)
10.
Breathing exercises
11.
Psychic exercises of concentration and
relaxation
12.
Elimination of physical toxins
13.
Elimination of psychic toxins (struggle
against inferior psychic currents)
14.
Construction of new physical cells
15.
Absorption and inspiration of the higher
cosmic energies
16.
Solution of higher problems
(See next page)

I
III
II
II
IV
I or IV
II and III
IV
I
II
III
I
III
II
IV
IV

Explanatory Notes
1. The times given in the table opposite mark the limits of
the cycles determined by the cosmic, solar and terrestrial
radiations. These limits of the favourable times are liable to
modification according to different individuals and their
different statesthe maximum variation being one-third of
the period covered by the preceding or succeeding cycle.
2. The favourable time for sleep (fourth cycle) extends
into the beginning of the first cycle and the end of the third
cycle in the following cases: (i) of persons much weakened by
diseases, (ii) of persons experiencing very strong elimination
during the first half of the cosmotherapeutic treatment, (iii) of
growing children and (iv) of old people who are shrinking. In
all these four cases the first and fourth cycles become shorter
and a much diminished activity is exhibited in them according
to the symptoms in each case and their degree.
3. The favourable times indicated for the various
activities are not the exclusive times for them, but simply the

hours most favoured by the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and

human radiations. Present chaotic life and our artificial
civilisation have completely distorted and denaturalised every
human activity. The most important problem of existence
confronting humanity is that of bringing back human activities
to their natural rhythmic cycle. It is a vast labour of
reorganisation of individual and social life and can only be
achieved slowly and progressively over several generations.
We must try always to take a few steps forward in the measure
of individual capacities and social possibilities. The above
table shows ideal human life harmonised according to the
rhythmic cycles of the cosmovital forces and radiations. Those
whose individual possibilities enable them to realise this ideal
life (sufficient of itself to prevent and cure all human diseases)
must achieve it as soon as possible in their own lives and work
by means of altruistic organisational propaganda for the
progressive realisation of the main objectivethe making
possible of this ideal and harmonious life to the whole of
humanity suffering in physical, psychic and social misery.
RHYTHMIC BREATHING EXERCISES

Do not prescribe artificial breathing exercises. Always

accompany the breathing exercises with a rhythmic muscular
activity (walking, running, swimming, physical exercises,
etc.), and breathe deeply and rhythmically in harmony with
these activities.
Time: The exercises should always be prescribed when
the patient feels tired or suffers discomfort.
RHYTHMIC SLEEP

(i) The patient should be advised to sleep as far as

possible during the favourable hours (see Activity Table).
(ii) If tired or in a bad humour, the patient should, before
retiring, take a short walk or have a short bathe with breathing
exercises, and read an interesting book for a few minutes, and
only start to go to sleep after an agreeable relaxation.
(iii) Sleep depends principally on the following factors:
(a) On whether the body has a favourable or unfavourable
temperature during the night. (Avoid its being either very hot
or very cold).
(b) On absorption of fresh air by the skin and lungs
during the night.
(c) On whether the patient has favourable or unfavourable
thoughts and feelings before sleep.
(d) On complete relaxation (exclusion of all activity and
even of thought) at the moment when sleep is desired.
If all these favourable factors are established, the patient
will always enjoy the best sleep possible.

Time: See the Activity Table for the best hours for sleep,
and the notes to the charts.
RHYTHMIC PSYCHIC CONCENTRATION AND RELAXATION
EXERCISES

The patient should be instructed to:

(i) Relax completely (either standing, sitting down, or
lying down); to do and think of nothing.
(ii) Concentrate on the solution of the most important
problem of the moment.
(iii) Then relax completely and not to occupy himself
HARMONY WITH THE RHYTHMIC CYCLES 817
further with this problem, regardless of whether he has
solved it or not.
(iv) Think of the things he finds most agreeable.
Time and duration: For the time for doing the exercises,
see the Activity Table.
As to their duration, always pay heed to the voice of the
organism.
Practical Instructions
Do not prescribe these psychic exercises in the following
cases:
(i) of fatigue,
(ii) of very high or very low temperature,
(iii) of lack of fresh air,
(iv) of absence of silence and tranquillity.
Example of how to determine the most favourable hours for
any of the above sixteen activities on a given date
Suppose you wish to know the most favourable hours of
the day for "construction of new physical cells" on August
10th. From the table on page 297 you find that August 10 falls
in the fifth cycle of the year. From the Table of Activities on
page 313 you see that the appropriate cycle of the day for this
activity is II.
From the table on page 314 you find it lasts for a period
of 7 hours from 12.00 midday to 7 p.m. (true time by the sun).

Chapter X
DIET IN HARMONY WITH THE RHYTHMIC CYCLES
1. THE RHYTHMIC COSMOVITAL DIET
Cycles Foods Months
II & III
Milk and milk products
(of categories II and IV)
IV & V
Salads and vegetables
(category II)
VI & VII Juicy fruits
(category I)
VIII & I Cereals, dried and oily
fruits (categories III
&IV)

March, April, May

June, July, August
September, October,
November
December, January,
February.

Notes
1. The foods indicated above are not the exclusive foods
for the period, but simply the foods favourable for each cycle
from the point of view of the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and
human radiations.
2. They are naturally modified, too, according to the
human radiations, that is to say, according to the vital state of
the individual.
3. The rules given on pages 199-201 (Book I) should be
followed.
4. See the Chart on pages 190-198, which groups two
hundred natural foods in accordance with their accumulated
cosmovital radiations.
5. Always heed the voice of the organism.
6. If you wish, each preceding category may be used in
place of the succeeding ones, but not vice versa. The latter can
never replace the former; e.g., you may prescribe fruits and
salad instead of the ration of cereal, dried and oily fruits, etc.,
but not cereal, dried fruits, etc., instead of fruits and salad.
7. In foods (of vegetable origin) growing below the
ground, accumulated terrestrial radiations predominate.
In foods (of vegetable origin) growing above the ground,
accumulated solar radiations predominate.
In foods growing on trees, cosmic radiations
predominate.
In maternal milk, accumulated human radiations
predominate, together with the character of the accumulated
radiations depending on the origin of the mother's food.
In animal milk, animal radiations predominate, together
with the character of the accumulated radiations depending on
the origin of the animal's food.
8. See the Table on page 208 where fifty-five different
individual diets are specified.

2. THE FIVE CATEGORIES OF FOODS

Category I. Fresh Juicy Fruits.
This category is the richest in vitalising properties. It
should form one-half (50%) of the total diet if possible. All
these juicy fruits may be taken in their natural form or their
juice squeezed out, at pleasure. All the items given in this
category are the most efficient eliminators. In their liquid
content these foods (together with those of Category II)
correspond to the liquid content of the human body, while the
minerals furnish the organism with the elements for building
the bones.
They must always be freshnever preserved, mixed with
chemicals, cooked or iced. And this condition applies equally
to all foods in all four categories without exception. In this
perfect form they contain in synthesis the unified radiations of
the four elements: sun, air, water, earth.
These foods must constitute the whole of the first meals
after a fast.
This category constitutes the final ideal in diet towards
which we must strive; it is an ideal that can be realised in
warm and temperate climates where such products are found,
and only after many years of perseverance, during which little
by little we shall be able to discard the other categories.
The foods in this category are the best conservers of
perennial youth, the greatest enemies of age. They are the
ideal food for the intellectual and sedentary worker and ideal
for everyone during the warm seasons and in warm climates.
We have divided this category into four groups, each of
them practically equal in value; they are arranged in order of
value (therapeutic-nutritive), though the difference between
them is insignificant.
Category II. Salads.
They complement Category I, also corresponding to the
liquid content of the human organism. They have all the
advantages of Category I, but to a smaller degree.
They should form 35 % of the total diet, except the
condiments (Group d) which should form only 5 % of the diet
or even less in the case of garlic, which is much stronger than
the other items.
The first four groups (a, b, c, d) are superior in
therapeutic value to the last group (e) (milk). The latter not
only corresponds to the liquid demands of the organism;
besides assisting in the elimination process it also contributes
materials for the construction of new muscle-cells. For this
reason the elements of this last group are not eliminators of
the first order, as they are also builders. The first three groups
may be eaten, either each item separately or in salad form
finely chopped or grated and mixed with lemon juice, oil and
one other of the condiments in the list (see Group f).

Milk is a vegetable transformed into milk in the internal

organs of the cow, goat or sheep at a natural body
temperature. It is therefore alive as vegetables are, but has less
power of elimination and more of nutrition. The sour milk
should preferably be prepared at home.
Category III. Cereals.
The cereals are not eliminating, but building foods. They
are chiefly muscle builders while their organic minerals
contribute to the formation of the bones.
They are an excellent food, particularly for manual
labourers and sportsmen and for all in general in cold seasons
and climates. Through muscular activity they are transformed
into muscle fibre; through inactivity they become fatty tissue;
taken in larger quantities than necessary they scarify the
organism. They harmonise very well with Categories I and II,
with which they form valuable combinations.
They should form 10% of the total diet, except in the case
of hard manual labourers, in which case they may be doubled
because in the organism of this type of person every process
of metabolism is twice as strong and rapid as it is in persons of
ordinary activity.
The most valuable cereal is wheat, which contains in
itself all the elements needed by the human organism. After
wheat come all the other cereals in the order in which they
appear in the list. The most valuable form of wheat is the
water-plus-sun germinated grain (exposed to the sun while
germinating). After which come the other forms of wheat in
the order given.
Oats, barley and bran are in no way as valuable as the
various forms of wheat, so we should use them as little as
possible.
This category is the only one which it is permissible to
use either raw or cooked, though it is always advisable to use
in the raw state. To minimise and shorten the cooking process
of all cereals, they should be soaked in water before cooking.
The raw natural flakes of grain are an exception to the
percentage rule, only 5% being recommended on account of
their being entirely dry, and therefore doubly concentrated.
To prepare the germinated grains, put the amount of grain
to be used in a pan, cover it with water and let it stand for one,
two or three days, according to temperature. The warmer the
temperature the sooner it will germinate.
Germinated wheat paste: Run the germinated wheat
through a food chopper.
Sun-baked germinated wheat paste: Knead the
germinated paste and roll it as thin as possible. Place it under
the sun for one whole day, exposing each side for half a day.
Oven-baked germinated wheat paste: Knead the paste,
roll it into convenient forms and sizes, preferably not more
than an inch thick, put it in the oven and bake lightly.

Wholemeal bread: Use 100% wholemeal flour; moisten

with water, knead and place it in an oven and bake lightly.
Cooked germinated grains: Use the whole germinated
grains, cooking them as little as possible.
Category IV. Dried, Sweet and Oily Fruits, Milk Products,
Eggs.
This category contains the most concentrated and heat
producing, and exceptionally nourishing foods. In larger
amounts than required they hinder the process of elimination
and create fatty tissue in the organism. For this reason they
should form not more than 5% of the total meal.
They are excellent for cold seasons and cold climates and
particularly for hard manual labourers in whose organisms
they are transformed into muscle fibre. Sedentary and
intellectual workers need very little of them and much less
during warm seasons and in warm climates than in cold.
They harmonise very well with the other three categories.
We cannot, however, stress too much the advice that they be
eaten sparingly, because with no other type of food can the
consequences of over-eating be so serious.
The first three groups (a, b, c) of this category (sweet and
oily) are superior to the fourth (d) (milk products).
Honey is certain parts of flowers and fruits transformed
into natural sugar in the internal organs of the bee at a natural
body temperature. Honey is as much alive, therefore, as the
flowers from which it is derived, only far more concentrated.
Its effect on the human organism is identical with that of the
dried, sweet fruits.
Egg is cereal transformed into egg in the internal organs
of the hen at a natural body temperature. It is therefore just as
much alive as the grain from which it is derived, but much
more concentrated. The germ of the egg affects the human
organism in the same manner as meat, for which reason the
germ must be extracted from the egg before the egg is fit for
human consumption. The egg may be cooked from one to two
minutes.
The cheese and eggs of this category do not harmonise
with the milk of Category II. This is the only inharmony
among all the foods of all four categories of raw foods.
Milk: Use the raw, unpasteurised product.
Sour milk: Let the fresh milk stand two or more days
until it sours naturally.
Cottage cheese: Let the sour milk stand for one or two
days until it clabbers; drain off the whey; put what remains in
a cheesecloth bag and hang it up for several hours to drain
thoroughly.
Cream: Syphon it out from the top of the milk bottle.
Butter: Beat the cream for a few minutes and it will turn
into butter.

Category V. Cooked Vegetables.

This category has no therapeutic value. The foods listed
in it cause no elimination, but contribute only building
elements of an inferior character, as most of them have to be
cooked.
These vegetable products have yet to be developed into a
more perfect state before they can be eaten raw. Considering
that these vegetable products are not particularly toxic and as a
compromise for persons with unmanageable appetites, it is
permissible, but not advisable, to eat them once a week. They
are not so disadvantageous to manual labourers as they are to
sedentary and intellectual workers.
They should be cooked as little as possible and revitalised
by mixing them with oil, lemon juice, onion and other
condiments. Potatoes and sweet potatoes revitalised in this
manner do not cause any ill effects in the organism; they may
constitute 35 % of the total diet. This percentage applies also
to the second group (b) (green pulses) and to the third (c)
(pumpkins, etc.). The dry legumes should not form more than
10% of the diet, and the fifth group (e) (peanuts, etc.) only
5%. The dry legumes should only be used rarely as their
constant use greatly scarifies the organism.
3. EXPLANATORY NOTES TO THE FIFTY-FIVE EXAMPLES OF
INDIVIDUAL DIETS

1. The table of individual diets on page 208 contains

fifty-five different diets, whose use in combination makes
possible the cure of every kind of disease and every organism.
The diets are made up of two hundred different fruits,
vegetables and cereals arranged in four categories of foods.
(The fifth category has no therapeutic value).
In each fruit and vegetable are accumulated various
cosmic, solar and terrestrial radiations having varied
influences on the human organism, which organism is itself a
dynamic complexity of certain radiations called "human
radiations".
For this reason the combination, quality, duration and
succession of the diet is of great importance and varies
according to diseases, organisms, age, weight, climate, season
and many other circumstances.
In order to obtain the best results in the case of certain
special diseases, the diets should be changed periodically
according to the symptoms exhibited by the organism. If the
diets are changed in this way results are more rapid.
2. In giving instructions as to diet, the following code is
used. The roman numerals (I, II, III, IV) stand for the
respective categories in the dietetic table. The arabic numerals
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) indicate the total number of foods that can be
selected at pleasure from among the food items in the
respective category. For example, diet No. 49 tells us that the

patient can choose one kind of juicy fruit of the first category
(I, 1), two kinds of vegetable of the second category (II, 2),
one cereal from the third category (III, 1), and one of the
varied foods of the fourth category (IV, 1) all of them at one
meal.
The cosmotherapeutic diets are exact and severe in that
they fix mathematically the limits of both quantity and quality,
but at the same time they give the maximum freedom to the
patient to choose the foods he prefers within each category.
He need not, therefore, eat what he dislikes. This diversity in
the various combinations of the hundred foods in the four
categories avoids the monotony of ordinary medical diets,
while at the same time all concessions and compromises
which might be to the detriment of good results are avoided.
3. The condiments of the fourth group (d) in category II,
are not considered as independent foods. One, two or three of
them may be mixed with the various salads without taking
their number into account when computing the allowance of
food. Never use more than three condiments in one salad.
4. At the end of the cosmotherapeutic treatment, when
complete renewal of all the cells has been achieved, that is to
say, when regeneration and rejuvenation are completed, the
physician in charge of the case should send each patient final
instructions as to the permanent diet which suits his particular
organism, so that the patient may maintain his newly acquired
health.
4. FOODS ENTIRELY PROHIBITED AND THE SUBSTITUTES
RECOMMENDED

Foods Prohibited
1. All meats
2. Fish
3. Crustacea
4. Tobacco
5. Alcohol
6. Coffee
7. Tea
8. Chocolate
9. Biscuits
10. Sugar
11. Salt
12. Vinegar
13. White Bread
14. Chemicals
15. Canned, tinned and
preserved foods
16. Medicaments

To be replaced respectively by
Oily fruits and milk products
Oily fruits and milk products
Oily fruits and milk products
Fresh oxygen
Fresh natural fruit juices
Cereal coffee with warm milk and honey
Natural herb teas with honey
and lemon juice
Honey and natural raw sugars
Biscuits made of wholemeal flour
Honey and natural raw sugars
Onion, garlic, celery, dill, etc.
Lemon and rhubarb juice
Germinated wheat, wholemeal bread
Unnecessary
Fresh foods
Natural forces (sun, air, water,
exercises, fruits, vegetables, etc.)

The reason why these foods are prohibited

1, 2, 3. All meats, fish and Crustacea (i) fill the organism
with toxins, (ii) cause fermentation by their decomposition in
the organism, (iii) introduce into the organism many parasites
from the dead animal, (iv) introduce into the organism
diseases from the dead anima], (v) are very hard to digest, (vi)
greatly scarify the organism, (vii) have a bad influence on the
nervous system, (viii) create harmful acids in the organism,
(ix) furnish a favourable medium for the culture of the bacteria
of disease, (x) destroy the resistance of the body to diseases.
4. Nicotine is a poison no better than meat. It covers the
surface of the lung with a film which (i) decreases the capacity
of absorption of all the pulmonary cells, (ii) prevents the
organism, and particularly the blood, from obtaining sufficient
oxygen, (in) lowers the quality of the blood, (iv) causes many
nervous pains, (v) progressively and increasingly attacks the
heart, (vi) hinders mental work, (vii) injures the eyes.
5. Alcohol (i) ferments in the organism and causes
fermentation of the food with which it mixes in the stomach,
(ii) progressively attacks the nerves, (iii) impoverishes the
composition of the blood, (iv) paralyses mental activity, (v)
degenerates the character of the individual.
6. 7. Tea and coffee attack the nerves and the heart.
8. Chocolate (i) causes inferior fermentations, (ii)
scarifies the organism.
9. Biscuits of white flour are hard to digest and are so
much superfluous dead matter in the organism.
10. Sugar (i) causes inferior fermentations, (ii) scarifies
the organism, (iii) impairs the composition of the blood.
11. Salt (i) through progressive accumulation causes
arterio-sclerosis, (ii) destroys the elasticity and vitality of the
bones, (iii) rapidly scarifies the organism, (iv) provokes
unnecessary thirst.
12. Vinegar (i) causes inferior fermentations in the
organism, (ii) impoverishes the composition of the blood.
13. White bread (i) is hard to digest (ii) forms a gluey
paste in the stomach (iii) fills the organism with useless starch
containing no vitamins, (iv) through the yeast in it causes
fermentations, (v) through the salt mixed with it causes the
evil effects of salt.
14. All chemicals without exception poison the organism
and scarify it with their inorganic contents.
15. Canned and preserved foods are devitalised,
superfluous, often too concentrated and difficult to digest.
16. Drugs and medicaments (i) poison the organism, (ii)
prevent the natural elimination of toxins, (iii) impoverish the
composition of the blood, (iv) cause inferior fermentations, (v)
attack the nerves, (vi) increase the accumulation of toxins,
(vii) scarify the organism, (viii) destroy the elasticity and

vitality of the bones, (ix) paralyse the resistance of the

organism, (x) shorten life.
5. PRACTICAL ADVICE TO THOSE FOLLOWING THE
COSMOTHERAPEUTIC TREATMENT

The patient should be told not to look for results from one
cosmic force alone, but always from the co-operative aid of all
the natural laws and forces (water, air, sun, cosmotherapeutic
exercises, breathing technique, diet, fasting, etc.) which form a
single vital dynamism. The radiant energies of the external
cosmotherapy (water, air, sun, exercises, etc.) accelerate the
work and results of the internal cosmotherapy (diet, fasting,
etc.), which in turn govern and determine the influence and
results of the external cosmotherapy. So all the different kinds
of instructions must be followed with equal precision, for
everything is necessary and nothing superfluous.
If, in spite of setting out to do this, the patient cannot for
any reason follow everything completely, he must not despair
but should do as much as he can. It is better to do a little than
nothing, for results are always obtained in proportion to the
number of the cosmotherapeutic rules observed. Periodic
failure to follow the treatment simply means a certain loss of
time, but not the complete impossibility of cure. The patient
who follows the natural laws 100% will have quicker and
more perfect results than one who only follows them 60%, but
the result always arrives proportionally sooner or later in
every case with mathematical precision.

Chapter XI
DIET IN HARMONY WITH INDIVIDUAL ORGANISM
HOW TO DETERMINE AN INDIVIDUAL DIETEXAMPLES

FIRST suppose your patient is a man aged 30, weighing

140 lb., 5 ft. 9 in. high and starting on the 46th day of
treatment (second individual cycle). First turn to the height
and weight table on page 204 from which you will see that the
natural weight for a man 5 ft. 9 ins. high, is 158 lbs. He is
therefore 18 lbs. below weight. Next turn to the ration table on
page 206 and glance down the right hand column of body
weights until you come to the line marked 17.6 lbs. (the
nearest to -18). Reading along this line you will find that the
daily food ration is 3 lbs. 8 oz. Thirdly and lastly turn to the
diet and individual cycle chart on page 207. From this you will
see that in the second cycle of treatment a patient may eat
foods of categories I, II, HI and IV (see table of categories on
pages 190-198). Column 4 of the chart shows you what items
he may eat in the list of foods on pages 190-198, while
column 5 gives the proportion of each category of food to be
eaten each day, viz. 50 % of category I, 35 % of category II,
10% of category III and 5% of category IV. Column 6 tells
you that he may choose one item at each meal from the 48
items of category I, 2 items from items 49 to 88, and 96 in
category II, 1 item, viz. No. 101, in category III, and 2 items
from items 134 to 143 and 148 to 170 and 172 in category IV.
Column 7 tells you that the midday meal is to consist of
categories I and III, while the evening meal is made up of
categories II and IV.
On the other hand (to give an example in kilograms), if
your patient is a woman aged 20, weighing 75 kg., 160 cm.
high and starting on the first day of treatment (first individual
cycle), her diet would be as follows: The height and weight
table shows that the natural weight for a woman aged 20 and
160 cm. high is 56 kg. (approx.). This is 19 kg above weight.
Turning to the ration table we find that the ration prescribed
for 19 kg. overweight is 1 lb. 13 oz. a day. The diet and
individual cycle chart confines the patient to category I for the
first 45 days (first cycle) of treatment, gives you 48 items to
choose from in the list of foods, consists of necessity of 100 %
of category I, allows you 3 items out of the 48 fruits in
category I at each mealwhich is (column 7) category I at
midday and in the evening.
Exception to the Dietetic Table of Individual Cycles
If a patient is unable to digest and vomits the raw fruits of
category I during the first individual treatment cycle or the
raw vegetables during the second, third and fourth individual

cycles, the fruits or vegetables should be cooked in steam for a

few minutes and be either cut up or grated into very small
pieces.
During the first five days they should be eaten entirely
cooked.
During the second five days they should be mixed with 10%
of raw.
During the third five days they should be mixed with 20 % of
raw.
During the fourth five days they should be mixed with 30% of
raw.
During the fifth five days they should be mixed with 40% of
raw.
During the sixth five days they should be mixed with 50% of
raw.
During the seventh five days they should be mixed with 60%
of raw.
During the eighth five days they should be mixed with 70% of
raw.
During the ninth five days they should be mixed with 80% of
raw.
During the tenth five days they should be mixed with 90% of
raw.
After the fiftieth day they can be eaten wholly raw.
Special instructions for the 45 Days of the First Individual
Cycle of Treatment
Case
Daily
No
If the patient is:
What to do
Ration
in lbs.
1
Neither hungry nor thirsty
Fast
0
2
Thirsty, but not hungry
Eat category I
2
3
Hungry, but not thirsty
Eat category II
2
4
Both hungry and thirsty
Eat categories
3
I and II
The principal diet tables (pp. 207 and 208) are determined
by the cosmic, solar and terrestrial radiations. The table given
above represents the variable cases arising during the first
individual cycle of treatment depending on each individual
and his condition.
Favourable activities according to the cosmic rhythms
during the first cycle of treatment.
For all other activities during the first cycle, see the
appropriate activity charts according to time of year.

Equation Showing Duration of Revitalisation of the Organism

(in Months) According to Age and Weight of the Patient
M =Months (constituting the duration of the treatment)
K = Kilograms (constituting the patient's weight)
Y =Years (constituting the patient's age)
M = (K + Y) 10

Chapter XII
COSMIC RADIATIONS AND EMBRYONIC
DEVELOPMENT
DIAGRAM IX
Embryochronological Chart of the Ontogenetic and Phylogenetic
Development (Virtual, Structural and Functional) of the Different Parts, Functions
and Capacities of the Organism during the Four Rhythmic Cycles (Anteconceptional, of Gestation, and Post-natal) governed by the Cosmovital (Cosmic,
Solar, Terrestrial and Human) Radiations, and for determining the Times and
Processes Favourable for the Cure of each Organ in case of Serious Chronic
Diseases, on the Basis of (1) Date of Birth, (2) Solar Point (X on Diagram IX) at
the end of this volume.
(The circle represents the cosmotherapeutic year according to the
cosmovitalist calendarDiagram I).

Explanatory Notes
THE cosmic and natural laws on which this chart is based
are the following:
(1) The most favourable (but not the exclusive)
cosmovital radiations for curing or improving an organ are
those radiations which were present during the embryonic
development of that organ.
(2) The most favourable (but not the exclusive) time for
curing an organ is the time during which the embryonic
development of that organ took place.
(3) Consequently, in order to regenerate completely the
whole organism, the patient must live in harmony with the
rhythmic cycles of the cosmovital radiations during a year,
paying special attention to the various diseased organs in the
cycles appropriate to each.
(4) In case of psychological diseases the most favourable
(but not exclusive) time for psychotherapy is the fourth cycle,
which determines the psychism (consciousness, character,
temperament, capacities, etc.) of the individual.
(5) According to the rhythmic cycles of the year with
which this fourth psychological double cycle (preconceptional and post-natal) coincides, we distinguish the
following combinations of individual types:
(6)Individual Types. See table on page following.
(7) An individual's degree of physiological and
psychological perfection depends on the following four
factors:
(i) on his ontogenetic heredity (from his ancestors),
(ii) on the favourable or unfavourable factors of his
embryonic (psychophysiological) development,
(iii) on his phylogenetic experience (his psycho
physiological qualities acquired during his individual
life and in his environment),
(iv) on his degree of knowledge and realisation of the
natural and cosmic laws.

(8) In other words, the determination of the factors of

embryonic development is not sufficient for the determination
of a psychophysiological individuality, but the dynamic
totality of all the four preceding factors has to be taken into
account. The cosmotherapeutic doctor who follows an
individual's psychophysiological symptoms during a year (8
rhythmic cycles) is in possession of knowledge of all these
factors. So at the end of the year of treatment he will be in a
position to prepare an analytical table of all the
psychophysiological qualitiesfavourable or unfavourable
of the individual, and give him guidance how to use his
favourable qualities with the maximum of results and how to
avoid with the minimum of disadvantage his unfavourable
qualities and progressively improve them. This is a work of
synthesis, requiring a complete knowledge of cosmotherapy
and precise and fairly long calculations, but it marks the
crowning point of the cosmotherapeutic treatment. The lives
of ninety per cent of humanity would be much happier and
more harmonious (both from the point of view of
psychophysiological perfection and that of external results
obtained in life) if they knew their virtual capacities and could
thus use them to advantage, and if they knew their defects and
could thus avoid and improve them.

(9) The extraordinary importance to eugenics of the

practice of our method of embryochronology in the
improvement of the human race and the creation of future
generations of increasingly perfect vitality cannot be
sufficiently stressed. If by the cosmotherapeutic method of
birth control, and of pre-conceptional hygiene, the hygiene of
pregnancy and post-natal hygiene, we determine the time and
all other circumstances of conception and birth as favourably
as possible, then we ensure the perfect health both of mother
and newborn child and make impossible every complication
and disease, and with their elimination also make present
gynaecology and obstetrics unnecessary.
If a woman begins to lead a cosmovital life (in harmony
with the rhythmic cycles of the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and
human radiations) three months before conception and
continues to do so till the end of the third month after the birth

of her child (a total of fifteen months), then both pregnancy

and childbirth, instead of lessening, increase the vitality, youth
and beauty of the mother. At the same time (if the father does
likewise) the newborn child is assured of a favourable
ontogenetic heredity (three months before conception), a
favourable phylogenetic heredity (three months after birth),
and a favourable embryonic heredity (nine months of
gestation). It is assured of the favourable ontogenetic heredity
because this is determined by the glandular and nervous
activity of the parents during the three months preceding
conception, which activity determines the virtual qualities of
the spermatozoa and ova (their complete formation and
development taking approximately ninety days). The
spermatozoa and ova (one of each) accomplish conception and
later form the structural and functional essence of the embryo.
Similarly phylogenetic heredity is determined by the first
three post-natal months, when the functional formation of the
nervous system and especially of the senses (visual, auditory,
tactile, olfactory, gustatory, etc.) takes place.
Finally, the nine months of embryonic development
determine the structural and functional essence of the
psychophysiological qualities of the newborn child.

Chapter XIII
DISEASES AND THEIR CURES
THE following diseasesphysiological and
psychologicalare the only true fundamental general
diseases. All other diseases are simply combinations derived
from them.
1. PHYSIOLOGICAL DISEASES
Disease
1. General intoxication
2. Old age

3. Weakness

4. Fatigue
5. Insomnia
6. Surplus of liquid
7. Surplus of fat
(obesity)
8. Surplus of acid
9. Surplus of inorganic
minerals
10. Fermentations and
putrefactions
11. Gases
12. Fever
13. Chill

Cure
Elimination of the toxins:
fasting, diet, etc.
Rejuvenation by a physiological and psychological
regimen and by the
cosmovital energies.
Strengthening and
reconstruction of the organism
by diet, water, air, exercises,
etc.
Rest. Physical and psychic
relaxation.
Provoking relaxation and
sleepiness; water, sun; air, and
a diet in nervous activity.
Drying the organism: fasting,
diet, sun, perspiration, etc.
Dissolution and elimination:
fasting, diet, sun, perspiration,
etc.
Absorption and elimination:
fasting, diet, water.
Demineralisation: diet, semifasting (fruit juices, water),
water, sun, exercises.
Elimination of the specific
causes, fasting, diet, water,
air, sun, etc.
Fasting, exercises, perspiration, air.
Reducing to normal temperature: breathing exercises,
water, enemata, fasting.
Raising the temperature to
normal: perspiration, sun,
exercises.

14. Specific pains

15. Deficient nourishment (thinness)

16. Deficiency of organic minerals and
vitamins
17. Deficiency of protein, fats, etc.
18. Paralysis
19. Mutilation

20. Inactivity (lack of

movement)

Relief of the pain by cold wet

compresses or hot dry
compresses according to the
symptoms. In case of pain in
the bones use earth
compresses, in other cases
water compresses.
Regain weight by reconstruction, diet, mastication, etc.
Fruits and vegetables rich in
minerals and vitamins, organic mineral and vitamin
supplements.
Increased ration of protein,
fats, etc., in diet.
Revitalisation by diet, perspiration, exercises, fasting,
water, sun, etc.
Saving of the neighbouring
organs, prevention of spread
of mutilation, diet, water, sun,
air, etc.
Reactivation of the organism
by diet, exercises, sun, air,
etc.

2. PSYCHOLOGICAL DISEASES
The diseases tabulated below are not physiological
diseases, but concern us nevertheless in the treatment of the
latter, because they have an unfavourable effect upon the
glandular activity of the organism and provoke secretions
which are physiologically intoxicating. They thus hinder the
physiological treatment. On the other hand favourable psychic
states aid and accelerate the results of the physiological
treatment. Below we enumerate in one column the psychic
states unfavourable to the physiological treatment and in the
opposite column the psychic states which are favourable to it.
Diseased state
1. Ignorance
2. Selfishness
3. Violence
4. Passivity
5. Pessimism
6. Fear
confidence
7. Lack of will-power
8. General nervousness

Favourable states
Wisdom
Love
Gentleness
Activity
Optimism
Courage and selfWill-power
Psychological diet in
thoughts, feelings and
actions.

9. Impatience
10. Over-and undersexuality
11. Voracity
(exaggerated
appetite)
12. Credulity
13. Scepticism
14. Dogmatism
15. Materialism
16. Mysticism
17. Fanaticism
18. One-sidedness

Patience
Natural sexual life
Perfect mastication
Cautiousness
Belief and trust
Freedom of spirit
Idealism
Realism
Tolerance
Many-sidedness

Chapter XIV
THE COSMOVITAL FORCES IN THE ORGANISM
IN this chapter we give a list of one hundred and sixtyfour cosmovitalising processes which take place in the ten
systems of an organism living for one year (eight cycles) in
harmony with the rhythmic cycles of the cosmic, solar and
terrestrial radiations. (An abbreviated list will be found on
pages 212-216 of Book I.)
It provides the answer to the question of what the
cosmovital baths (together with the cosmotherapeutic diet and
the other cosmovital activities) do within the organism.
I. In the general condition of the organism, cosmovitality:
(1) eliminates the toxins accumulated in the organism by
a bad diet;
(2) rejuvenates the organism beginning to lose its vital
force through age;
(3) assures deep, quiet and refreshing sleep in case of
chronic insomnia;
(4) strengthens the organism in case of weakness caused
by disease or the exhaustion of the physical forces;
(5) refreshes the body in case of fatigue due to an
exaggerated activity;
(6) eliminates all excess of liquid from the organism
through the urine and by perspiration;
(7) eliminates all excess of fat from the organism through
internal dissolution;
(8) reduces in case of excess weight, in a healthy manner,
without weakening the body and without disagreeable
consequences;
(9) fattens and rebuilds the body in case of thinness or
deficient diet by the creation of new muscular cells;
(10) eliminates all excess of acidity from the organism by
accelerating the external secretions;
(11) eliminates gases from the organism by respiration of
the skin, the alternation of contrary temperatures and
exercises;
(12) relieves acute and chronic pains by dissolving
accumulated morbid matters;
(13) diminishes and gets rid of fever by expulsion of
excess heat;
(14) diminishes and gets rid of the cold of chilly
organisms by provoking and increasing their internal warmth;
(15) in case of local paralysis progressively revitalises the
paralysed organs by means of the external and internal
cosmovital radiations;

(16) eliminates and stops all fermentations and

putrefactions in the organism through a complete internal
cleansing;
(17) eliminates scarification, sclerosis and all excess of
inorganic minerals in the organism by means of an internal
dissolution and external elimination;
(18) cures all troubles and deficiencies of the processes of
metabolism, accelerates and intensifies all the metabolic
activities in the organism, restoring its elasticity;
(19) refreshes and strengthens the nervous system by
eliminating diseased nerve cells and creating healthy nerve
cells;
(20) relieves, lessens and progressively puts an end to
nervous troubles and tensions;
(21) ends passivity, pessimism and lack of will, giving a
new healthy, robust and harmonious rhythm to the organism;
(22) stops exaggerated appetite by introducing external
cosmovital energies into the organism and making alimentary
excess internally unnecessary;
(23) gets rid of abnormal or exaggerated sexuality by
eliminating excess of energy and internal sensorial excitants;
(24) ends sexual debility (impotence or frigidity) by
reactivating the sexual organs and revitalising the sexual
glands;
(25) completely renews the blood, changing it into a
vitalising liquid which regenerates the whole organism by its
circulation;
(26) cleanses, revitalises, rejuvenates and makes more
elastic the cells, tissues and intercellular substance of the
organism;
(27) establishes a harmony between the internal
vibrations of the organism and the external cosmic, solar and
terrestrial radiations, and similarly establishes an equilibrium
between human activities and the rhythmic cosmic, solar and
terrestrial cycles;
(28) by transforming the organism into an apparatus
capable of absorbing the cosmovital radiations, makes the
organism cosmovital, ensuring health, youth and permanent
progress.
II. In the epidermic system (skin), cosmovitality:
(29) makes the skin finer, more sensitive, stronger and
more elastic;
(30) increases the skin's capacity of protection,
elimination, perspiration, respiration, thermic regulation and
secretion;
(31) eliminates its local accumulations of toxins, its
inflammations and all its local deformations;

(32) completely re-establishes the tactile and thermic

senses by putting in order and intensifying rhythmically all the
processes of metabolism in the tactile surface.
III. In the pulmonary and respiratory system (lungs),
cosmovitality:
(33) detoxicates, cleanses and revitalises the infected
pulmonary cells, reconstructs and strengthens weakened,
degenerate and paralysed pulmonary cells;
(34) eliminates their local accumulation of toxins, their
inflammations, scarification and carbonisation, and makes
them more elastic, vital and resistant;
(35) increases the capacity of absorption of oxygen and of
elimination of carbon dioxide by the capillaries of the air cells;
(36) thus increases the amount of oxygen in the organism,
making the blood more rich in oxygen;
(37) consequently consumes the toxins accumulated in
the organism more quickly;
(38) by the rhythmic supply of oxygen improves the
constitution of the blood, regularises the pulse and maintains a
vital temperature suiting the organism;
(39) by ensuring an abundant supply of the oxygen of
fresh air to the nerves, relieves their periodic pains and
promotes a more vigorous nervous activity;
(40) accelerates, intensifies and improves all the
metabolic processes in the respiratory system and in
consequence increases its vitality considerably;
(41) by rhythmic change and contrast of the temperature
of the natural environment (water, air, sun, etc.), makes the
respiration more intensive, deeper and more rhythmic;
(42) gives an elasticity and vital resistance to the
pulmonary cells against unfavourable external influences (bad
air, gases, etc.).
IV. In the heart and circulation of the blood, cosmovitality:
(43) transforms completely the chemical composition of
the former blood saturated with toxins and having a toxic
influence in its circulation;
(44) makes the new detoxicated blood carry out a
permanent activity of dissolution, purification and elimination;
(45) the toxins once eliminated, puts an end to all
fermentations in the blood;
(46) the toxins once eliminated, ensures that there is no
unnatural pressure, and so high or low blood pressure
disappears and blood pressure becomes completely normal;
(47) transforms the intoxicated and poisonous blood into
a vital and vitalising liquid which, instead of continuing to
accumulate toxins in the organism, begins to dissolve and
eliminate old local accumulations;

(48) improves the blood and increases its vitality, and by

making it resistant to the bacilli and microbes of disease, gives
the organism immunity to contagious diseases;
(49) makes the activity of the heart and the pulsation of
the blood easier and more rhythmic;
(50) thus ensures that the circulation of the blood, free
from toxins and fermentations and without abnormal pressure,
facilitates considerably the work of the heart and all the blood
vessels;
(51) gives the blood a greater capacity of absorbing
oxygen;
(52) so enables the blood to distribute a large quantity
of oxygen in the course of its circulation, to burn up and
eliminate toxins more rapidly;
(53) increases the blood's capacity of dissolution;
(54) whereby the blood dissolves much more local
accumulation of toxins in its circulation;
(55) increases the blood's capacity of construction;
(56) so that the circulating blood builds new healthy cells
much more quickly;
(57) and the transformed and revitalised blood
rejuvenates the whole organism and makes all its activities
more vigorous.
V. In the digestive and excretive system, cosmovitality:
(58) revitalises the salivary glands and improves their
activity;
(59) transforms the quality of the salivary secretions into
a vitalising fluid;
(60) thus ensures that these salivary secretions unite
perfectly with the masticated foods, increasing their vital
value;
(61) facilitates the absorption and digestion of these
masticated foods in the stomach;
(62) makes the movements of the digestive tubes easier
and more elastic, and increases their conductive capacity;
(63) detoxicates, cleanses and reconstructs the stomachal
cells;
(64) makes these cells more elastic and facilitates and
improves the assimilative activity of the stomach;
(65) revitalises the glands secreting the gastric juice and
improves their activity;
(66) increases the digestive juices' power of digesting
nitrogenous foods;
(67) transforms the quality of the secretions into a
vitalising fluid which unites perfectly with the foods in
process of digestion, increasing their vital value;
(68) facilitates their dissolution, assimilation and
distribution in the organism;

(69) eliminates all the toxic accumulations in the stomach

and all stomachal fermentations;
(70) thus revitalises, facilitates and intensifies all the
glandular activities in the digestive system;
(71) by the elimination of local toxic accumulations, gets
rid of inflammations, tumours and ulcers of the stomach, and
revitalises and reconstructs diseased, debile and degenerate
cells;
(72) revitalises the liver and pancreas, improving their
activity;
(73) transforms the quality of their secretions into a
vitalising fluid which unites perfectly with the foods in
process of digestion, increasing their vital value;
(74) facilitates the dissolution, assimilation and
distribution of the foods in the organism;
(75) stimulates the activity of the hepatic artery and of the
portal, hepatic and inferior veins, making them elastic and
function completely;
(76) feeds and suffuses the liver with a copious blood
supply;
(77) improves its assimilative and eliminative functions
through the capillaries of the liver;
(78) facilitates the connection between the liver and the
right auricle of the heart;
(79) increases the vitality of the bile;
(80) facilitates its passage to the duodenum;
(81) increases the capacity of the bile of breaking up fats
into small globules;
(82) perfects the assimilation of their milky emulsions
and makes easy their absorption by the lacteal capillaries of
the small intestine;
(83) revitalises the glands in the mucus of the intestinal
tube and stimulates their activity;
(84) transforms the quality of their secretion into a
vitalising fluid which unites perfectly with the foods in
process of digestion, increasing their vital value;
(85) facilitates their dissolution, assimilation, distribution
and conduction, completing the digestive processes;
(86) facilitates the activity of the lacteal vessels and of all
the arteries and veins bringing the blood respectively to and
from the intestines, intensifying the processes of distribution;
(87) makes the peristaltic movements of the intestinal
tubes easier, more elastic and more intensive;
(88) eliminates constipation, intestinal fermentation and
intestinal gases;
(89) facilitates, accelerates and intensifies the activity of
the spleen in the manufacture of the blood corpuscles;
(90) accelerates and intensifies the assimilative,
eliminative and conductive activity of the kidneys;
(91) stimulates the activity of the kidneys;

(92) makes the flow of the blood towards the ascending

aorta of the heart easy and regular;
(93) facilitates the elimination of urine towards the pelvic
cavity, stimulating urination.
VI. In the muscular system and activity, cosmovitality:
(94) accelerates all the processes of metabolism in the
contractile fibres and in the delicate membranes of the
muscles;
(95) eliminates all their local toxic accumulations;
(96) revitalises the muscles and makes them stronger and
more elastic;
(97) reactivates and increases the capacity of the whole
muscular system;
(98) aids their rhythmic contraction and dilatation;
(99) transforms all the muscles of the organism, by the
creation of new muscular cells;
(100) increases their dynamic capacity, making each new
series of cells stronger than the last;
(101) increases the sensibility of the muscles of the skull,
face and eyes and makes them more fine;
(102) makes the muscles of the back and neck stronger
and more elastic;
(103) makes the action of the pectoral muscles stronger
and more elastic;
(104) ensures rhythmic regularity of the respiratory
function;
(105) makes the contraction and expansion of the
abdominal muscles easier and more intensive and rhythmic;
(106) thus aids the physiological activity of the internal
abdominal organs;
(107) protects the internal organs of assimilation and
digestion mechanically against unfavourable external
influences;
(108) increases the capacity of the muscles of the limbs
through the detoxication and renewal of their cells;
(109) intensifies and regularises the circulation of the
blood in every organ through the stimulation, contraction and
expansion of the muscles of the organism.
VII. In the female reproductive organ and the male sexual
organ, cosmovitality:
(110) detoxicates, cleanses and makes more elastic the
absorptive, secretive and conductive activity of the vagina,
womb and ovaries;
(111) eliminates their local accumulations of toxins, gets
rid of their inflammations, tumours and ulcers, and revitalises
and reconstructs their cells;
(112) and by their revitalisation, the physiological activity
of the reproductive organs becomes perfectly normal, natural,
periodic, rhythmic and chronologically punctual;

(113) by making menstruation chronologically regular,

divides the days when conception is possible from those
which are sterile;
(114) thus makes birth control easy and certain without
the use of any artificial and harmful means;
(115) revitalises and regularises all the processes of
conception and gestation;
(116) avoids every possibility of dangerous complications
or devitalising processes during the period of pregnancy;
(117) increases the vitality of the embryo;
(118) makes childbirth perfectly normal;
(119) reduces the pains of childbirth to a minimum;
(120) eliminates every possibility of complications in
childbirth;
(121) increases the vitality of the mother and of the
newborn;
(122) thus assures a favourable heredityan organism
built of healthy, vital cells;
(123) makes the secretions of the mammary glands
abundant and regular;
(124) gives the mother's milk a revitalising and
constructive force;
(125) ensures in consequence the perfect physiological
construction of the newborn;
(126) eliminates the local and general toxic
accumulations in the male and female sexual organs;
(127) thus progressively cures diseases and debilities of
the sexual organs, and also cures frigidity and impotence;
(128) ensures a vital, permanent and regular sexual
capacity.
VIII. In the bony system (skull, skeleton, spine and limbs),
cosmovitality:
(129) transforms the chemical composition of the bony
system;
(130) revitalises and makes more elastic the bones;
(131) eliminates their excess inorganic accumulations;
(132) prevents their scarification and sclerosis;
(133) eliminates every process of fermentation,
putrefaction and destruction in all the spinal cavities and also
in the spinal canal;
(134) corrects displacements and deformation of the
spine;
(135) achieving this by a chemical and physiological
transformation of their substancea process consisting of
elimination, revitalisation and reconstruction;
(136) which finally leads to their being restored to
position mechanically by means of suitable posture and
exercises;

(137) makes the constitution of the skull stronger and

more elastic, aiding its development;
(138) repairs displacements and deformations of the
sternum (breast-bone) and costal cartilages;
(139) aids the activity and development of the organs in
the thoracic cavity;
(140) prevents or puts right possible displacements or
deformations;
(141) revitalises and makes more strong and elastic all the
upper and lower limbs;
(142) accelerates all the processes of metabolism in their
central cavities;
(143) eliminates from these cavities toxic accumulations,
fermentations and other destructive processes;
(144) makes the joints and ligaments stronger and more
elastic and mobile;
(145) eliminates obstacles in the way of their activity and
increases their sphere of action;
(146) preserves all the dentition (if it is still in sound
condition) in permanent good order by preventing destructive
fermentations;
(147) prevents the spread of destructive processes in
teeth, keeping the healthy parts not yet infected in good
condition.
IX. In the nervous system, cosmovitality:
(148) dissolves and eliminates all toxic accumulations in
the nervous system;
(149) cures local deformations and degenerations of the
nerves;
(150) revitalises, and makes the nerves finer and also
stronger;
(151) transforms the nervous substance into a revitalising
substance;
(152) eliminates all fermentations in the nervous
substance;
(153) improves nervous activity;
(154) increases sensibility of nervous reception and the
intensity of nervous reaction;
(155) by the elimination of fermentations of the stomach
and intestines, their pressure on the nerves also ceases;
(156) and thus leads to the disappearance of nervous
pains and tensions with their irregularities of symptoms and
reflexes;
(157) develops the specific capacities of each nerve by
progressively improving them and at the same time increases
their range of action;
(158) improves and develops the visual and auditory
senses by the revitalisation of the optic and acoustic nerves;

(159) improves the olfactory and gustatory senses (of

smell and taste) by the renewal of the olfactory and gustatory
nerves;
(160) establishes complete harmony between the
conscious (voluntary) activities of the cerebro-spinal system
and the unconscious (involuntary) activities of the
organovegetative system.
X. In the glandular system, cosmovitality:
(161) with the nervous system thus harmonised and
equilibrated, influences most favourably all the glandular
activities of the organism;
(162) thus cures diseases springing from disequilibrium
of glandular activity;
(163) the activity if the endocrine and exocrine glands
thus improved revitalises and rejuvenates the whole organism
by means of their internal and external secretion, thus assuring
perfect health to the organism and immunity and resistance to
infections and diseases.
(164) reacts favourably upon all the psychological
processes.

Chapter XVI
SEXUAL LIFE IN HARMONY WITH THE
RHYTHMIC CYCLES
1. THE HYGIENE OF SEX
OF all the departments of human activity at the present
time, that of sexual life is the most chaotic. Ignorance of the
laws of nature, obscure traditions, stupid prejudices, and an
endless series of different combinations of ignorance and
hypocrisy have led to a state of general sexual misery, which
from many points of view is even sadder, more astonishing
and more dangerous for the human race than economic want
and suffering.
Within the limits of this short chapter we cannot deal
completely and in detail with the sexual problem, so we shall
concern ourselves only with its central physiological act
with coitus. We shall expose some of the errors commonly
made to-day in connection with this act. We shall show many
physical and psychic pathological symptoms and even
dangerous consequences result, if we do not know and do not
observe the natural laws in the performance of the sexual act.
Coitus should never take place in moments of physical or
psychic fatigue or at times of indisposition from any other
cause. Coitus at such times always occasions pathological
symptoms and has a harmful effect upon the nerve system.
Coitus should only occur when both partners are favourably
disposed, when both are in a suitable physical and psychic
condition and mutually desire its consummation.
Of the two sexual partners it is primarily the man who
must adapt himself to the erogenous zones of the woman. The
sole centre of the male erogenous zone is the penis, which is
always automatically satisfied in coitus. But this is not the
case with the woman. Her erogenous zones are distributed
over almost the whole of her body. The woman can only be
satisfied by coitus if all, or at any rate the most important of
her erogenous zones are gradually aroused up to the final
moment, the moment of ejaculation. If the man does not know
the erogenous zones of the woman or the sexual technique to
be employed for gradually arousing them, then only he will be
satisfied and the woman will remain without sexual
satisfaction. There is a difference of rhythm between the male
and female erogenous zones. The central erogenous zone of
the man is very quickly aroused. The decentralised erogenous
zones of the woman are aroused very much more slowly.
Unless the man retards his own progress towards orgasm
during coitus and takes steps to accelerate the arousing of the
erogenous zones of the woman, the difference in rhythm will

gradually lead to a permanent state of non-satisfaction of the

woman and a lessening of the sexual pleasure of the man.
Apart from this, both partners will exhibit nervous symptoms
and there will be other serious consequencescapriciousness,
irascibility and bad humour in the woman. By her failure to
find satisfaction in sexual life with her partner she will either
become frigid or constantly desire another sexual partner.
These circumstances can easily lead not only to a diminution
in the sexual pleasure of the man, but even to its complete
disappearance, and similarly to nervousness, irascibility and
constant depression on his part. This mutual state of affairs
grows progressively worse and in this way ignorance of the
laws of the erogenous zones, and their non-observance has
already led to the destruction of many marriages and has
poisoned the greater part of sexual life.
The other chief source of inharmonies in sexual life is the
employment of artificial contraceptives. Before we deal with
them in detail, we must first of all state that all contraceptives
at present in use are uncertain and unhealthy, and cause a large
number of unhealthy physical and psychic symptoms. In
addition, they are expensive and very inconvenient. In a great
percentage of cases, they thoroughly poison sexual life. We
are going to give a complete list of them in order to show their
dangers. And lastly we shall give the practical possibility of
securing birth control by a perfectly harmless, natural and
harmonious method.
The condom, or 'French letter', is the most commonly
used contraceptive. It very markedly lessens the pleasure in
coitus. It brings about a lack of feeling in the erogenous zones.
The result of its use is irascibility and impatience. Sometimes
it even causes local insensibility. It has a bad effect upon the
nervous system and makes both the man and the woman
nervous. In very many cases the condom is not at all certain.
Its employment is often illusory and it involves the user in
much superfluous expense.
Coitus interruptus increases nervousness and irascibility
still more. Sexual pleasure almost entirely disappears, and
after coitus there remains a constant sensation of nonsatisfaction. The practice leads to nervousness, fatigue and
periodic depressions. Later on the woman becomes indifferent
and frigid and has no desire at all for coitus. The consequences
of coitus interruptusconstantly growing nervousness in the
man and womanhave destroyed a very large percentage of
marriages. Apart from the nervous symptoms, even uterine
pains and inflammations are experienced, while lastly, coitus
interruptus is by no means sure, for in twenty per cent of
cases, even before satisfaction, the secretion of the man
contains spermatozoa capable of fertilising the ovum.
Tablets are no more certain and cause many disagreeable
surprises. They do not always prevent conception, but often

harm the embryo. They do not destroy the male spermatozoa,

but often diminish their vitality, and so can cause much
suffering to the future child. Specialists are very much divided
in their opinions on the value of pills and tablets, which is the
best proof of their uncertainty. For their influence begins with
their dissolution, and we have no idea when this begins, nor its
extent. They sometimes cause local inflammation. Their
frequent absorption by the circulation of the blood intoxicates
the organism.
Post-coital vaginal douches with vinegar and other
similar substances, often in conjunction with certain special
exercises, are also untrustworthy and harmful. Apart from this,
they are very inconvenient and always disappointing.
Contraceptive sponges are sometimes used. These
sponges have frequently to be washed and cleaned, and
nevertheless generally have a bad and repugnant odour. They
cause fermentations and very unpleasant sensations. Their
certainty is even less than that of pills and tablets.
Rubber pessaries are chiefly used in Anglo-Saxon
countries. They cause very disagreeable local sensations, and
the necessity for frequently fitting and removing them is
likewise very unpleasant. If they are left in position even a
little longer than usual, they have a bad odour. They very
often provoke a discharge and not infrequently cause serious
inflammations. They are naturally also uncertain. For this
reason, since quite recently, specialists advise their use in
combination with chemicals. Finally, they cause great fatigue
and are uncomfortable.
The chief disadvantage of metal pessaries is that the
woman cannot put them in place by herself and therefore in
each case has to go to the doctor. Women are made very
nervous if they have to visit the doctor every four weeks for
this purpose. They often cause tumours and ulcers. If they are
too small, they afford inadequate protection, while if they are
too big, they retain the secretion from the uterus and can cause
cramping pains. The constant thought of the foreign object in
the body is also very trying. Finally, the habitual use of this
kind of pessary is fairly expensive and therefore not readily
accessible to all.
The use of metal rings is the most dangerous experiment
of all. We regard them rather as abortives than as
contraceptives. Fitting them in place is almost an operation
and costs a great deal. So for that reason alone they can never
become generally current. Apart from this, they often fall out
and in many cases have to be looked for with an X-ray
apparatus. Also they often have to be removed because of
pain, discharge or haemorrhage.
Operations for artificial sterilisation touch the psychic
life of the woman very closely. The consciousness of sterility
creates nervousness and inquietude. Through change of

circumstances later on, the operation is very often regretted,

but the damage done is irreparable.
Sterilisation by X-ray is a little better than the surgical
operation, for it causes only temporary sterility, for a period
varying with the dose of X-ray administered. But
it has this serious disadvantage, that even with the most
accurate dosage, it is impossible to avoid an eventual accident.
The sensibility of the ovaries and their reaction to the X-rays
is an individual matter, and so no specialist can fix the time
for which sterility will last. Even with the greatest care in the
dosage, unwanted permanent sterility can occur. And lastly,
the premature disappearance of the activity of the ovaries can
cause unpleasant symptoms and serious consequences, for
instance, premature old age, adiposity, etc.
Malthus and Tolstoy recommend abstinence. This is
unnatural. It costs a great waste of energy and is consequently
not at all good for the nerves. It demands great strength of will
and renunciation of the pleasures of sexual life. And lastly, if
its practice became generalised, the human race would entirely
vanish from our planet.
Masturbation (onanism) harms the nervous system
through the pathological hypertension of the imagination
which it causes, and leads to excesses. Similarly the constant
depression of the consciousness has a very unfavourable
influence upon the organism. The centre of sensibility of the
erogenous zones is artificially shifted and consequently often
makes it impossible to find pleasure in natural sexual life later.
It leads, little by little, to a dulling of the erogenous zones.
Sexual excess leads to the rapid exhaustion of sexual
capacity and often to impotence and sterility. It causes
degeneration of the nervous system. The symptoms
accompanying it are constant depression, fatigue and
nervousness. It often results in inflammations and other more
serious local deformations.
Sexual perversions indicate the pathological degeneration
of the nervous system. Unnatural sexual intercourse is the
most unhealthy mode of satisfying the sexual instinct.
2. MENSTRUATION AND NATURAL BIRTH CONTROL
The female organism is governed by cosmic laws and
natural forces. Just as in nature there are the phenomena of the
ebb and flow of the tide, of attraction and repulsion, so we
shall find in the female organism the rhythm of the cycles. The
menstruation at four weeks' interval of the woman originally
coincided with the movement of the moon and with its
influence upon the earth.
But when life is no longer spent in the natural
environment, but among the artificial conditions of life under
civilisation, the original natural regularity of menstruation is
in the majority of cases changed into a series of irregularities.

That is why we find to-day, instead of the normal 28-day

cycles, irregular cycles and cycle-combinations of from 20 to
34 days.
The chief causes of irregularity are the following:
unnatural diet, general intoxication of the organism, many
acquired and inherited physical and psychological disorders,
irregularity in sexual life, lack of fresh air, of sunshine, of
bathing, the introduction of chemicals into the organism, etc.
There are women whose menstruations arrive with the
precision of clockwork, while there are others whose
menstruations are incalculable. However, both these
statements are unreliable when they are only based upon the
memories of the persons concerned. It is therefore necessary
to keep an accurate record in a menstruation calendar. What
this means in practice is the precise noting of the time when
the flow begins at each menstruation.
If this plan is adopted, we shall find that even in
menstrual cycles regarded as the most regular there are
irregularities, and even in the cycles regarded as the most
irregular we shall establish regular correlations. It is,
therefore, only by keeping a very careful note of the beginning
of each menstruation over a whole year than an accurate
menstruation calendar can be drawn up.
The menstrual cycle established on the basis of the
menstruation calendar varies and oscillates, as we have
already mentioned, with individuals, and often changes even
in the same individual with changes in her circumstances.
Notwithstanding these changes, with a knowledge of the
menstruation calendar and of the menstrual cycles, we can
predetermine the date of the next menstruation ahead and even
the exact time of ovulation. For ovulation always occurs on
the fifteenth day counted backwards from the next
menstruation. This has been proved by the physiological
researches of recent years.
On this day (ovulation) there is a 100% probability of
conception taking place. There is an equal probability on the
two preceding days (the sixteenth and seventeenth days
counted backwards from the next menstruation), for the life
span of the male spermatozoa in the temperature of the female
sexual organs is approximately two days. So these three days
are the days on which there is a 100% probability of
conception. If we take into account possible deviations from
the norm (physiological, psychic, chemical, of temperature,
etc.), on the day immediately preceding and the day
immediately following these three days the probability of
conception is 75%. On the day preceding and the day
following these five days there is a 50% probability, and on
the day preceding and the day following these seven days,
there is a 25% probability of conception occurring. And lastly,

the days preceding and following this nine day period of

conception are the days of sterility.
In view of the fact that in the sexual life of every woman
there is an alternation between a fertile period and a sterile
period, sexual life should be adapted to this cycle. Knowledge
of the natural laws and the application of their forces lead to
the simplest, most natural and most harmonious solution of the
problem of birth controla return to Nature.
The only exceptions to the rules given above as to the
variations in the cycles are the following: premature
childbirth, fevers and other changes in temperature,
debilitating diseases, considerable bodily or mental shocks, or
essential changes in the conditions of life.
A great many theories have been advanced in the last few
years in arriving at the calculation of the days of sterility, for
instance, those of Ogino, Knaus, Mayer, Frnkel, De Muyser,
Remmelts, Guchteneere, Smulders, etc. According to these
theories the days of sterility lie between three and thirteen
days. There is considerable difference and contradiction
between these theories, chiefly for the reason that the authors
of these theories only had at their disposal a numerically small
quantity of experimental material for the practical proof of the
validity of their theories. This explains why these authors have
very often had unpleasant surprises among their patients who
have trustingly followed their instructions. But the system
given above (which diagram X at the end of the volume makes
very clear) has been fully proved as a practical method by the
observations made by the International Cosmotherapeutic
Expedition 1930-40 with an experimental and statistical
material consisting of some thousands of subjects.
By means of the practical method described above, not
only conception, but also sterility can be avoided. Conception
will take place, in the great majority of cases, if we prescribe
coitus for the three 100% days. In this event, unless organic
disease of the male or female genitals prevents it, conception
always occurs.
Periodic abstinence has no disadvantages. It never
endangers the equilibrium of marriage. Periodic abstinence
from coitus for a certain time only increases mutual desire and
extends the sexual relationship. This periodic sexual contact
corresponds with the ancestral, natural rhythm of sexuality.
The rhythmic activity of the sexual hormones, their ebb and
flow, which is certainly regulated by the woman's periods,
also creates a regular variation in the sexual life of the man.
So periodic abstinence can only have favourable consequences
and has no disadvantages.
3. EUGENICS AND ANTE- AND POST-NATAL HYGIENE
As long as there are women, we need not fear
depopulation, for they will always want to become mothers.

The desire of the woman for a child is a guarantee of racial

multiplication which far more than cancels out any prevention
of it by any method of limitation. Multiplication does not
depend on knowledge or ignorance of methods of prevention,
but upon circumstances holding out or not holding out the
possibility of indulging the ancestral instinct, the desire for a
child, the possibility of motherhood.
Our method cannot be considered merely as a simple
preventive system, for it determines not only sterile, but also
fertile days. And by determining the days of conception we
give the possibility of consciously deciding beforehand on
conception. This is of very great significance from the point of
view of eugenics. For the problem of existence of mankind is
the creation of a new perfect race. A man and woman with
knowledge of the days of conception can calculate beforehand
the time when conception will take place and can thus also
calculate the time of birth. They can ensure that the child be
born at the most favourable time and in the most favourable
circumstances. In this way conscious fixing of the time of
conception under the best bodily conditions, free from toxins
and all harmful substances, in the most perfect state possible
of the sexual cells, is secured. In this way the method given
above can become the basis of eugenics.
Cosmotherapeutic treatment based on the complete
detoxication of the organism and on the renewal of its cells,
causes, through the elimination of toxins during the first half
of treatment, menstrual irregularities (e.g. complete cessation
of menstruation, change in the colour of the menstrual flow,
etc.) The blood disposed of during the months of elimination
is full of toxins, and so most generally becomes very dark in
colour. During the months of reconstruction it is completely
changed and becomes free from toxins. The menstrual cycle
also reverts to its natural ancestral form, and to its natural
cycle and duration. In an organism renewed by cosmotherapy
irregularities will no longer occur and this will make it
possible to determine exactly the fertile and sterile days
constantly and without deviation from the rule. In this way
cosmotherapeutic treatment creates a perfect basis for a
healthy and harmonious sexual life. Cosmotherapy solves the
most important problems of sexual life and brings it back to
Nature.
Cosmotherapeutic treatment applied during the months of
pregnancy ensures painless, or almost painless, childbirth, and
always prevents with certainty all possible complications
arising in pregnancy or childbirth. Secondly, as the best form
of ante-natal hygiene, cosmotherapeutic treatment assures to
the newborn a perfect vitality, the best possible heredity. Thus
the newborn will not inherit the unfavourable dispositions of
its parents. Cosmotherapy also ensures the health of mother
and child and, by ensuring a favourable heredity and avoiding

an unfavourable one, provides a new basisat once the most

practical and the most effectivefor both positive and
negative eugenics.
Cosmotherapeutic treatment is not only the best antenatal
hygiene, but is equally the best method of constructing and
developing a healthy and strong organism free from all toxins.
In this way the newborn will not only have favourable
hereditary dispositions, but also favourable acquired
dispositions. The favourable or unfavourable construction of
the child's body during its early years is the biological
foundation of its life and determines its health, longevity and
all its physical and psychic capacities. Cosmotherapy thus
carries out its eugenic activity to the last degree.

Chapter XVII
PANEUTHERAPY AND PANEUBIOTICS
COSMOTHERAPY is a system of medicine based on the
best application of the cosmic, solar and terrestrial radiations
to the human organism in health and sickness. It forms part of
a wider system of therapeuticspaneutherapywhich is the
application of all the laws and forces of Nature and all the true
cultural values of society in such a way as to harmonise all
these healing factors with the whole structure and function of
the individual.
It aims at creating the best possible environment for the
patient during the period of cure from every point of view. It
achieves this by controlling everything that enters the
organism or consciousness of the individual undergoing
treatment. And it keeps a careful watch on all the various
manifestations, both physical and psychic, leaving the same
organism during that period.
The purpose of this technique is to enable the patient to
take advantage of every source of knowledge, energy and
harmony available, and avoid all inharmonious and harmful
influences. He is thus enabled to acquire personal harmony
and retain it after the period of cure during the rest of his life.
These sources of harmony consist of every manifestation of
the natural forces (air, sun, water, vitamins, etc.) and all the
higher cultural values (masterpieces of universal literature,
philosophy, music, etc.), based on the understanding and
practice of the natural and cosmic laws as manifested in the
individual and in society.
These various therapeutic agencies therefore lead the
patient to a general reform of his life and enable him to
achieve the best forms of individual and social life in harmony
with his natural and cosmic environment.
Medicine thus becomes a new sciencepaneubiotics, the
science of the "all-good-life". Its principle is search for the
optimum in every field. The practitioner of the new medicine
will have to possess simultaneous knowledge of the natural
and social sciences, of literature, philosophy and the arts, so as
to be able to put every source of harmony at the disposal of his
patients in the course of their treatment.
Like other sciences, paneutherapy admits of logical and
systematic division. The principal branches of paneutherapy
divided on the basis of the cosmic, solar, terrestrial and human
radiations are the following:

1. Pyrosphere:

Thermotherapy (different temperatures).

2. Lithosphere:
Geotherapy (mud baths) and
Lithotherapy (precious stones).
3. Hydrosphere:
Hydrotherapy (water baths).
4. Botanosphere:
Botanotherapy (plants) and
Vitaminotherapy (fruits and
vegetables).
5. Anthroposphere: Pneumotherapy (respiration).
Epidermotherapy (skin therapy).
Dynamotherapy (mechanotherapy,
massage, muscular exercises, etc.).
Osteopathy (chiropractic, therapy
of the bones).
Glandotherapy (therapy of the
glands).
Magnetotherapy (our own and the
earth's magnetism).
Electrotherapy (our own and
atmospheric electricity).
Chromotherapy (colours).
Phonotherapy (sounds).
Aromotherapy (aromas).
Gustotherapy (tastes).
Masticotherapy (Fletcherism).
Cell-therapy (fasting).
Intestinal Hydrotherapy (colonic
irrigation).
Psychotherapy (intellectual, moral,
spiritual).
Somnotherapy (sleep therapy).
Sexotherapy (therapy of sexual life).
Culturotherapy (all higher values of
human culture).
Laborotherapy (work in harmony
with individual dispositions).
Sociotherapy (social thoughts,
feelings, acts).
Science-therapy (masterpieces of the
sciences).
Philosophy-therapy (masterpieces of
universal philosophy).
Religion-therapy (best religions).
Literature-therapy (masterpieces of
universal literature).
Art-therapy (masterpieces of music,
painting, sculpture, drama,
dancing).

6. Atmosphere:
7. Nephosphere:
8. Stratosphere:
9. Cosmosphere:
10. Paneusphere:

Sport-therapy (the most valuable

sports).
Game-therapy (the most valuable
games).
Aerotherapy (air baths).
Nephotherapy (changes in pressure).
Heliotherapy (sun baths).
Cosmotherapy (cosmic rays).
Paneutherapy (complete and best
contact with the boundless and
eternal ocean of the higher cosmic
radiations, source of energy,
harmony and knowledge).

Just as cosmotherapy is not simply a medicine, but an

educational movement, so paneutherapy and paneubiotics are
not only therapeutic in character, but may be regarded as a
way of life based on certain principles.
The chief principles of the paneubiotic movement are as
follows:
1. Point of departure: As human beings, man is always
and everywhere the measure of all things.
2. Man has a natural environment (nature, climate), a
social environment (social system) and an inner environment
(individuality, consciousness). Man is therefore natural, social
and individual.
3. All three of these environments can operate as sources
of harmony if man conforms to their several laws, but they can
also operate as sources of misery and suffering if their laws
are disregarded.
4. The aim of paneubiotics is therefore to absorb every
source of harmony in all three environments (nature, society,
individuality) and avoid their inharmonies.
5. Its way of achieving this aim is to secure complete
knowledge of all the three environments and the practice of
such knowledge when secured.
6. This gives the principle of the optimum in every
department of life.
7. It also gives the principles of correlative knowledge,
dynamism, totality.
8. The programme of the movement is therefore to secure
the best and most complete evolution of nature, society and
the individual.
9. This means taking full advantage of all existing
preconditions of natural, social and individual evolution, and
the creation of new, at present non-existent, preconditions of
such evolution. In particular it involves the utilisation of all
the forces of nature for securing our health and longevity and
the improvement of the earth's climate so as to make life on
our planet as perfect as possible. It consists also in full

enjoyment of all the advantages offered by social organisation

and avoidance of its present disadvantages, together with
technical perfection of collective production which will enable
human labour to be entirely replaced by machines in all
mechanical and monotonous occupations which do not further
the development of man. Social harmony will be secured on
the basis of the satisfaction of the physiological, biological
and psychological needs of man, giving the individual full
liberty to take advantage of all the values accumulated and
created by the evolution of human societies (sciences,
literature, arts, technique, sports, travel, etc.). In addition, man
will be free to choose an activity in harmony with his natural
inclinations and thus have the assurance of being able
progressively to absorb every source of energy, harmony and
knowledge in nature, society and his own individuality, with
unlimited possibilities of progressive individual development.
10. The three environments (natural, social and
individual), though forming a single dynamic unity, are for
clearness of treatment, best treated separately. Accordingly in
my introductory work Cosmos, Man and Society,1 the three
environments and their laws, principles and processes, which
together constitute paneubiotics, are treated in their logical
order of evolutioncosmos (natural), man (individual) and
society (social).
(1) Third (revised) edition published by the C. W. Daniel Co. Ltd., 1948.

Chapter XVIII
TERRESTRIAL AND COSMIC LIFE
1. THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURAL AND COSMIC LAWS
THE cosmos is governed by the cosmic laws of the
movement of radiations. When a direct radiation is changed
into a whirling radiation (atom), we have matter. When a
whirling radiation is changed into a direct radiation, we have
force. This is the rhythm of the universe. The higher rays are
finer and stronger and traverse the lower rays, which are
coarser and weaker. The lower rays of the universe are
governed by universal gravitation operating from the centres
of all planets coming into existence and disappearing, while
the higher rays are governed by universal vitality whose centre
is the cosmic ocean of the higher radiations in infinite cosmic
space, existing eternally. Individual birth is the conquest of
universal death by universal life. Individual death is the
conquest of universal life by universal death. This is the
rhythm of the universe.
Our planet is a part limited in space and time of the
infinite and eternal cosmos. Our planet is governed by natural
law and by special forms of universal cosmic law. Life on the
earth (the adaptation of organisms to their environment) has
seven primary and innumerable derivative laws.
The seven primary laws are these:
1. The law of earth (temperature).
Life on the earth can only exist between two limits of
temperature (on the surface of our earth). Extreme heat (the
interior of our earth) and extreme cold (external cosmic space)
destroy life (in man, animals and plants). A grain of wheat
planted at the temperature of life germinates. A cooked or
frozen grain of wheat will never germinate. So every organism
should preserve its life-temperature and introduce life into
itself (natural external temperature), natural internal
nourishment (raw fruits and vegetables), and not death
(cooked and artificial foods, meat, etc.).
2. The law of air (respiration).
Without oxygen, no life on the earth. Respiration is the
link between organisms and the cosmos. Where there is life
there is breath. Where there is breath there is life. The
perfection of life depends on the perfection of breathing. The
cessation of breath is the cessation of life and vice versa.

3. The law of water (blood).

Without water, no life on the earth. The circulation of
water in nature has the same role as the circulation of blood in
the organism. All organisms, men, animals or plants, consist
for the most part of water and so do their foods. The
perfection of the internal organism depends on the quality of
the blood; the perfection of the life environment on that of the
water. One must have living water (the sun-irradiated water of
fruits, vegetables, rain and streams) and not dead water
(sunless or boiled water).
4. The law of the sun (light).
Without sun, no life on the earth. The limits of the zones
of life are the limits of the zones of the sun's rays (alike on the
surface of the earth, in the oceans and in the atmosphere).
Without sun there would not be the right temperature for life,
neither for plants nor animals nor men, not even for living air
and water, for sunless air and water are dead. The source of
life is the combination of air-water-sun.
5. The law of movement (activity).
Without movement, neither cosmic nor terrestrial life.
The essence of the universe, of life, of all organisms is
movement, activity. There is not a single motionless point in
the universe. All organisms absorb external movements
(passivity) and emit internal movements (activity), observing
the external natural laws and their own internal laws of
movement. Predominance of activity is life, predominance of
passivity is death.
6. The law of thought (wisdom).
The finest and strongest currents are the currents of the
higher thoughts. Inferior organisms emit inferior weak
radiations which cannot traverse the sphere of gravitation of
our earth. But the superior organisms of the dominant races
(on our earthman) of all the planets of the universe radiate
higher rays of thought whose currents overcome the
gravitation of their planets and, passing through the sphere of
gravitation, reach infinite cosmic space where they unite with
the eternal cosmic ocean of all higher radiations of all planets:
this higher cosmic ocean governs cosmic life and evolution
everywhere and always. (Eternal perfecting and being
perfected.) The degree of perfection of every organism
depends on the degree of superiority of its thought-currents
(sent to or received from this higher cosmic ocean of life
which is at the same time a source of knowledge, strength,
harmony and perfection, giving a new sense of 'omnilateral
orientation' to all higher organisms of all planets of the
universe, absorbing from them everything higher and eternal.

The lower and dead remainder decomposes and returns to the

reign of planetary (earthly) gravitation (death).)
7. The law of pan-harmony (love).
The universe exists thanks to the seventh and most
fundamental law of pan-harmony (love), according to which
all finite parts of the infinite universe are in harmony (i) with
themselves, and (ii) with the totality. So everything exists for
itself, for the other parts and for the totality, governed by the
constantly created, recreated and perfected eternal cosmic
ocean of love of the higher radiations.
Therefore the cosmos, universal and terrestrial life is
created and constantly sustained by the cosmic ocean of love.
Similarly the human organism is created by love (moment of
conception) and sustained by the mutual love of all its parts:
all of them live and exist for the good of the others: brain,
heart, hands, lungs, stomach, etc. At the moment when this
mutual aid ceases, human life ceases too. The law of love
(pan-harmony) is alike cosmic, terrestrial and individual; it is
the most fundamental law. Only those rays or currents of
thought are higher and capable of overcoming the gravitation
of the earth which are governed (created, helped and attracted)
by the higher cosmic ocean of love. All other radiations or
currents of thought without love are inferior, are dead, like air
and water without sun. Higher thought-currents of love create
and sustain health, equilibrium, harmony, perfection; inferior,
ignorant and loveless currents create disease, disequilibrium,
inharmony, death.
Of these seven fundamental laws, the first four
(temperature, air, water, sun) are natural laws governing
earthly life, and the last three (activity, wisdom, love) are
natural (earthly) and cosmic laws governing cosmic
(universal) life. The first four laws are the preconditions of
earthly (human) life, while the last three are the preconditions
of cosmic (eternal) life.
Earthly life is the mother and cosmic life is the father of
man. (Honour thy father and mother that thy days may be
long!)
All of these laws have many derivative laws as well. The
more these cosmic and earthly forms of life and existence are
in harmony with the totality of these cosmic and natural laws,
the higher they are. The more they are out of harmony with
these laws, the lower they are.
2. THE LIFE OF THE COSMOS (COSMOBIOTICS)
There is only movement. (Things do not exist statically;
they are formed, broken up, transformed.) It is partial
formations of universal movement which undergo
transformation.

The most elementary dynamic formations are those of

matter (matter being merely an aggregate of the movement of
atoms), while the highest dynamic formations are those of
currents of thought.
The infinite variety of the dynamic formations of matter
necessarily creates the preconditions of evolution towards the
higher dynamic forms (the formation of the solar systems, of
the planets, of the satellites, etc., the successive cooling of the
planetary surfaces, of the atmosphere (air), of the seas (water)
and of the solid layers (earth), and the progressive changes in
the temperature (solar energy) necessary for the formation of
organic life).
The lower dynamic forms of matter are governed by
gravitation (their mutual attractions and repulsions).
Gravitation tends to blend together all the dynamic
formations of matter and to draw them towards the centre of
each planet.
On the other hand, where the preconditions of the higher
dynamic formations of matter are produced, the currents of the
higher cosmic radiations (which are the results of earlier but
practically identical evolutions) tend to group the lower
dynamic formations (primitive organisms, the beginnings of
and changes in the infinitely various forms of individual
consciousness) round centres, just as on a huge scale the suns,
planets and satellites are grouped round their centres.
The directive force of these dynamic formations
(primitive organisms, etc.) grouped round a centre is organic
gravitation (vitality) generated by the higher vital cosmic
currents according as the preconditions for their formations
exist.
This vitality is the opposite of inorganic gravitation.
While gravitation draws the inorganic groups towards the
centre of each planet, the vital force pushes the organic
cellular groups in the opposite direction, away from the
planetary centres towards increasingly remote spheres.
In short, life since the time of the most primitive dynamic
formations is simply composed of the resultants of these
correlative forces, gravity and vitality, developed through
endless evolutive phases.
Every organism whose vital force is overcome by
gravitation breaks up into its inorganic elements and then
becomes once more subject solely to gravitation (reign of
death).
However, the vital force, with each new generation, gives
rise to higher and higher manifestations of life in proportion as
environmental conditions and the cosmic forces present permit
of such manifestations (vegetation, animal kingdom, man). In
these manifestations the effect of gravitation progressively
decreases, while vital force increases more and more.

The higher the material formation of life, the greater its

ability to establish and produce in itself the cosmic vibrations
of a higher type.
The degree of superiority of the material formations of
life is directly proportional (a) to their ability to establish the
cosmic vibrations of a higher type in such life, (b) to the
faculty of producing such higher mental currents, and (c) to
the degree of development reached by such mental currents.
On our earth, the most developed form of life is at the
moment represented by man. On planets older than ours
incomparably higher forms of life succeed one another in
infinite vareity.
Just as the cosmos and its life are unlimited, so is the
changing variety of these dynamic formations without end.
Consequently the aim of the infinite can only be infinite, since
there is no objective already attained which cannot be
transcended with the help of time and the presence of the
necessary preconditions. The infinite ahead of us is as eternal
as the infinite behind us. If a final, universal objective were
possible, it must have already been reached. The aim of the
universe can only be eternal life, by drawing its energies from
its own resources, eternal generation, its dynamic formations,
their destruction and improvement, eternal movement of
generation, destruction and eternal improvement,
improvement and perfection.
The eternal forces established in each organism by
gravitation and under the influence of the cosmic currents of
universal life acquire progressively greater knowledge of the
world by creating more and more potent mental forces.
By the realisation of an increasingly closer union with the
higher cosmic currents, by more and more perfect adaptation
to these currents, attained through utilisation of and
submission to the laws of nature and to their preconditions of
milieu, they progressively refine their material organisms;
undergo improvement, and finally gain freedom from
gravitation, becoming more and more independent of the
lower dynamic formations of matter until their triumph over
gravitation is complete.
They thus maintain their own eternal sources of energy
and fall in with the optimal course taken by eternal and
omnilateral evolution, passing through increasingly perfect
formations.

GLOSSARY
AEROTHERAPY: cure of disease by exposure to air.
ANTHROPOBIOTICS: science of human life.
ANTHROPOCENTRIC: man-centred.
ANTHROPOCOSMOTYPE: type having affinity to man and
universe.
ANTHROPOSPHERE: the sphere of man.
ANTHROPOTYPE: type having affinity to man.
AROMOTHERAPY: cure of disease by inhalation of aromas.
ART-THERAPY: cure of disease by therapeutic use of music,
sculpture, painting, literature, etc.
BOTANOSPHERE: sphere of vegetation.
BOTANOTHERAPY: cure of disease by use of plants.
CELLULOTHERAPY: cure of disease by means of fasting.
CHROMOTHERAPY: cure of disease by means of colours.
CORRELATIVE: having reciprocal or mutual relation.
COSMOBIOTICS: science of universal life.
COSMOHELIOTYPE: type having affinity to universe and man.
COSMOS: universe.
COSMOSPHERE: sphere of the universe.
COSMOTHERAPY: cure of disease by exposure to cosmic rays;
more generally, cure by cosmic and all other natural
radiations.
COSMOTYPE: type having affinity to universe.
COSMOVITAL: containing vital forces of universe.
CULTUROTHERAPY: cure of disease by application of cultural
values.
DETOXICATION: process of getting rid of poisons.
DIASTOLE: rhythmic expansion and dilatation of heart and
arteries in beating.
DYNAMISM: doctrine that all substance involves force.
DYNAMOTHERAPY: cure of disease by use of energies of
organism (muscular exercise, etc.).
ELECTROTHERAPY: treatment of disease by electricity.
EMBRYOCHRONOLOGY: science dealing with development of
parts of embryo during gestation.
EPIDERMOTHERAPY: treatment of disease by skin action.
EROGENOUS: giving rise to sexual feeling.
FLETCHERISM: practice of mastication.
FRUITARIANISM: system of diet consisting wholly of fruit.
GAME-THERAPY: therapeutic use of games and pastimes.
GEOANTHROPOTYPE: type having affinity to earth and man.

GEOBIOTICS: science of earthly life.

GEOTHERAPY: cure of disease by application of earth.
GEOTYPE: type having affinity to earth.
GUSTOTHERAPY: therapeutic use of the sense of taste.
HELIOGEOTYPE: type having affinity to sun and earth.
HELIOTHERAPY: cure of disease by exposure to the sun.
HELIOTYPE: type having affinity to sun.
HYDROSPHERE: the whole mass of water covering the earth's
surface.
HYDROTHERAPY: the treatment of disease by the application of
water, internally or externally.
INCOMPATIBLE: incapable of harmonious combination.
KINETIC: pertaining to, imparting, or due to motion.
LABOROTHERAPY: therapeutic use of work and occupations.
LITHOSPHERE: the crust of the earth surrounding the earth's
nucleus.
LITERATURE-THERAPY: therapeutic use of books.
MACROCOSM: the universe.
MAGNETOTHERAPY: cure of disease by means of magnetic
forces.
MASTICOTHERAPY: cure of disease by practice of mastication.
MASTURBATION: practice of self-abuse.
MICROCOSM: a miniature universe.
NATUROPATH: practitioner of natural system of medicine.
NEPHOSPHERE: sphere of vapour, clouds.
ONANISM: self-abuse.
ONTOGENETIC: pertaining to the history of the evolution of
individual organisms.
OPTIMUM: the best condition in respect of anything.
OSTEOPATHY: system of therapeutics in which treatment is by
manipulation of bones, muscles and nerve-centres.
PANEUBIOTICS: science of the all-good-life.
PANEUSPHERE: sphere of the whole, embracing principle of
optimum.
PANEUTHERAPY: cure by means of the best application of all
the healing forces.
PHILOSOPHY-THERAPY: therapeutic use of works of
philosophy.
PHONOTHERAPY: treatment of disease by means of sounds.
PHYLOGENETIC: pertaining to the racial evolution of animal
and vegetable types.
PNEUMOTHERAPY: treatment of disease by exercises of
respiration.

PSYCHOTHERAPY: treatment of disease by action on the mind.

PYROSPHERE: the core of the earth.
RELIGION-THERAPY: therapeutic use of the values contained in
the great religions of humanity.
SANGUINEOUS: pertaining to the blood.
SCIENCE-THERAPY: the therapeutic use of the values contained
in the sciences.
SEXOTHERAPY: treatment of disease by adjustment of sexual
life.
SOCIOTHERAPY: treatment of disease by provision of
favourable social environment.
SOMNOTHERAPY: treatment of disease through inducing sleep.
SPORT-THERAPY: therapeutic use of best sports.
STRATOSPHERE: upper region of the atmosphere.
SYMBIOSIS: the united life of organisms rendering mutual
service to each other.
SYSTOLE: contraction of the auricles and ventricles of the
heart.
TOXIN: an organic poison.
VITAMINOTHERAPY: treatment of disease by use of vitamin
diet.