Begin with from four to seven or ten days on the exclusive fresh fruit diet outlined in the Appendix. (The longer the initial period spent on the all-fruit diet the better.) This all-fruit period should then be followed by the adoption of the full weekly dietary also outlined in the Appendix. Further short periods on the all-fruit diet should be undertaken at monthly intervals as required, say two or three consecutive days each time.

During the all-fruit period the bowels should be cleansed nightly with a warm-water enema or gravity douche, and if constipation is habitual, the rules for its eradication given in Section 9 should be put into operation. The morning dry friction and cold sitz-bath detailed in the Appendix should be undertaken daily, in conjunction with the breathing and other exercises given therein. A hot Epsom-salts bath should be taken once or twice weekly where at all possible. .

The hot and cold sitz-bath also detailed in the Appendix will be very helpful in this case, and should be taken every night, except on the nights an Epsom-salts bath is being taken. The affected part can also be bathed daily with alternate hot and cold compresses if there is any pain present. (A piece of material is wrung out in hot water and applied, then removed, and a piece of material wrung out in cold water applied, and so on.)

Every effort should be made to build up the general health-level to the highest degree, and fresh air and outdoor exercise are essentials to the success of the treatment. Sun and air bathing, where possible, are strongly recommended. The diet factor is of the utmost importance, and fruits and salads MUST form the main basis of the future dietary. No alcohol, strong tea, or coffee is to be taken in future ; no condiments, pickles, sauces, etc. Smoking, where habitual, should be cut out entirely, or else reduced to the very minimum. All habits and practices tending to lower the tone of the body should be studiously avoided in future, especially sexual abuse and excess. Unless the condition is of long standing, the foregoing treatment should soon begin to show its beneficial effects, and the whole general health-level of the sufferer will be greatly enhanced at the same time. HEAVY LIFTING AND STRAIN SHOULD BE AVOIDED AS FAR AS is POSSIBLE. The wearing of a suspensory bandage is often useful. "

A general toxic condition of the system due to wrong feeding habits, and often accentuated by chronic constipation, is always at the root of the trouble ; but all factors (mental, emotional, and physical) which tend to lower the tone of the body and reduce its efficacy can help to set the condition in operation.

Treatment. � It must be obvious that treatment for leucorrhoea must be applied to the system as a whole, and not to any one part, if a cure is to be effected. It is only by the adoption of soundly devised constitutional treatment designed to build up the whole general health-level of the sufferer that the systemic toxicity responsible for the setting up of the discharge can be removed. Incidentally, such treatment will not only remove the leucorrhoea, but will place the feet of the sufferer firmly upon the road that leads to sound and lasting health.

To undertake such a scheme of all-round health-building treatment, the sufferer from leucorrhoea should carry on as follows : Begin with from four to seven or more days on the all-fruit diet outlined in the Appendix. Stay on this all-fruit diet for as many days as you can � the longer the better � and then the full weekly dietary also outlined in the Appendix can be begun. This weekly diet-sheet should be adhered to as strictly as possible from then on. Further short periods on all-fruit, say two or three consecutive days, can be undertaken at monthly intervals, according to the needs of the case.

In those cases where the sufferer is anaemic, very much under weight, or in a very debilitated condition, a period should be spent on the fruit and milk diet (given in the Appendix) after the all-fruit diet and before going on to the full weekly dietary. If the fruit and milk diet is agreeing very well, it may be proceeded with for from a fortnight to a month with every benefit. Further periods on all-fruit followed by fruit and milk may be required in these cases at intervals of, say, two months or so.

During the first few days of the treatment the bowels should be cleansed nightly with a warm-water enema or gravity douche, and after as necessary; whilst if constipation is habitual, the rules for its eradication given in Section 9 should be put into operation. The morning dry friction and sitz-bath outlined in the Appendix must form a regular feature of the treatment, and should be carried out daily in conjunction with the breathing and other exercises also given therein. A hot Epsom salts bath should be taken once or twice weekly where at all possible. The hot and cold sitz-bath detailed in the Appendix will be most beneficial in these cases, and should be taken four or five nights weekly where practicable. A vaginal douche may be used occasionally* to cleanse the vagina whilst the discharge continues. Use only warm water for this.

The utmost care of the body, combined with scrupulous cleanliness of habits, is essential to the success of the treatment, whilst as much fresh air and outdoor exercise as possible should be taken daily. The open-air deep-breathing exercises given in the set of breathing exercises detailed in the Appendix are especially important and should be practised daily whilst walking in the open air. As part of the general effort being made to bring the whole body to the highest pitch of health and efficiency, sun and air bathing, where at all possible, can be strongly recommended.

As regards treatment for impotence, a scheme of treatment along the lines of that for Hydrocele given earlier in the present section will do much towards restoring sexual function, but of course the results achieved will all depend upon the age, condition, etc., of the sufferer. Long-standing cases will obviously not get such good results from the treatment as comparatively early cases; and younger men will naturally tend to do better than older men. Where the trouble is of psychological origin, as above mentioned, treatment should be just the same, but in these cases advice from a qualified Psycho-therapist would be highly desirable. The taking of drugs or so-called " remedies " for these conditions is not only useless but dangerous. Osteopathic treatment is often helpful.

Menorrhagia is the trouble that leads to a great deal of experimental treatment at the hands of the medical profession, experimental treatment which does more harm than the actual condition itself. Such treatment centres entirely upon symptoms � upon checking the excessive flow � and pays no attention to causes at all. When it is realised that the excessive menstruation is part of an attempt on the part of the body to rid itself of excess toxic materials, it must be obvious that such suppressive treatment must lead to a great deal of future harm to the system, and to serious disease of all kinds, even though it may be successful temporarily in checking the excessive flow.

Treatment. � Treatment for Menorrhagia such as we have here been referring to is essentially short-sighted in every way. What is needed is a scheme that will thoroughly cleanse the system of toxic material and so get rid of the causes behind the excessive flow. Only in this way can the trouble be really overcome and sound health built in the individual concerned.

The sufferer from Menorrhagia who would like really to get rid of her trouble and build up her general health at the same time should carry out the scheme of treatment for Leucorrhoea given just previously in the present section. Such a regimen MUST help her on the road to recovery, because it deals with essential causes and removes them, and does not merely tamper with symptoms. (For the relief of pain during menstruation, see treatment for Dysmenorrhaea.

Most young people secretly learn the habit when quite ignorant as to what its ultimate effects upon the system are, and there is no doubt at all that all the silence in which the subject is veiled on all sides adds much to the damage done by the habit�a silence due to the unwillingness of responsible people, such as parents, teachers, etc., to discuss the matter in any way.

It is not for the writer to moralise about the matter, and there can be no doubt that under present conditions of living a normal sex life is debarred from large numbers of young people, but to resort to the habit of self-abuse is no way out of the difficulty. That some responsible people (even doctors) sometimes regard the practice as a kind of safety-valve for suppressed sex, and look upon it as one way out of our present-day sex perplexities, only makes the trouble all the more serious. People who talk in this way cannot have the slightest idea of what the ultimate effects of the habit are.

Only those who, like the writer, are brought into frequent contact with the victims of this pernicious habit, and are called upon to try to alleviate as far as they can its destructive effects upon the minds and bodies of the individuals concerned, can say how much misery, ill-health, and suffering the habit of self-abuse brings in its train. That the ill-effects sometimes take years to show themselves makes the practice all the more disastrous.

Treatment. � The individual who has brought himself upon the road to mental and physical bankruptcy through the practice of self-abuse can do much to recapture his lost health and vitality, however, if he will take himself in hand and follow out a scheme of well-planned natural health-building treatment. Such treatment as that for Hydrocele, given in the present section, can be followed by all victims of self-abuse with nothing but the most beneficial results, both mental and physical. But of course it stands to reason that the habit itself must be definitely broken, or else the treatment cannot possibly achieve the results desired.

As regards the breaking of the habit, if the sufferer will keep constantly in mind the price he is paying in terms of future health for its practice, and can bring himself to realise that he can be master of himself if he but tries, then the habit will not be long in being broken. It is just a question of determination and loyalty to one's better self ; of saying to oneself, " I can overcome this habit which is capping my life and vital powers, and I will.".

It is the nervous system which is most affected by the practice, so that the more the sufferer can bring rest, quietness, fresh air, and sunshine to his aid in carrying out the scheme of treatment advised, the better will the results be in every way. Above all things, it does not do to be morbid or introspective about the matter, and to be always accusing and blaming oneself for what has happened. The habit is usually contracted in pure ignorance, and there is no moral blame attaching thereto. Let the sufferer realise that what is past is past, and that what we have to do is to look to the future and plan and build for that. If he will stop self-recrimination and do that, then he can regain for himself a very great deal of what he thought for ever lost.

SPECIAL NOTE.�All literature of an unhealthy and suggestive nature should be avoided, and an attempt made to keep the mind as clean as possible. One way of preventing oneself thinking too much about anything is to engage the body busily in hard manual work such as gardening, sawing, etc. This will serve a twofold purpose, because it will not only take the sufferer's mind away from morbid and unhealthy thoughts and imaginings, but will help still further to build up his health and vital powers through the physical exercise involved.

The following extract, with regard to the natural treatment of syphilis, is taken from the book Direct Paths to Health, by Major R Austin, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. (published by the C. W. Daniel Co., Ltd., of Ashingdon, Rochford, Essex). Major Austin was a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps, but, realising the futility of orthodox medical methods of treatment, became a practitioner of Natural Cure instead. It was because of his holding an orthodox medical degree that he was able to treat cases of venereal disease, whilst other Natural-Cure practitioners are not.

On page 83 of his book he says : " Sex diseases are not exactly pleasant topics to talk or write about, but their importance is sufficient justification for plain speaking. I will therefore describe one bad case of syphilis as an example of what I have done by simple means to help Nature in bringing about a cure in other cases of the disease.

" Mr. A., aged twenty-seven, came to me suffering from tertiary syphilis. The classic drugs had been used, including mercury and ' 606' (known now under various names, such as salvarsan, neo-salvarsan, arsenobenzol, all being similar and based on arsenic), but it had not stopped the ravages of the disease. His face and body were covered with rupial eruptions, ulcers covered with a scab, and the odour from his body was most unpleasant.

" I prescribed a fourteen days' fast with a saline purge daily, plenty of water and as much strained orange juice diluted with water as he liked to drink during the day. At the end of the fourteen days he was allowed two meals a day, one of them consisting of nothing but properly cooked vegetables and some butter, and the other of milk and fresh fruit.

" In six weeks from the- date of commencing the treatment all the eruptions had disappeared, as well as the foul odour of the body, and he was feeling remarkably well and has remained so ever since.

" After the first six weeks he was allowed a little animal food at one of his two daily meals. Needless to say, systematized exercises also formed part of his daily regime."

Major Austin further says : " The treatment of syphilis by fasting is by no means new ; indeed, I got the idea from Dr. Oswald's book, Fasting, Hydropathy, and Exercise, in which he says : ' A germ disease as virulent as syphilis and long considered too persistent for anything but palliative methods of treatment (by mercury, etc.) was radically cured by the fasting cure, prescribed in the Arabian hospitals of Egypt, at the time of the French occupation.'

For the guidance of readers it can be said that perhaps the best book on the natural treatment for venereal disease is that by Dr. Tilden, the eminent American Naturopath.

There are a great many women, however, who are not healthy, whose health is always below par, and in these cases the " change " often leads to all kinds of physical and emotional disturbances of function, and sometimes even to definite disease of some kind or other. To understand why this should be, the reader should turn to the remarks on menstruation in the general discussion of women's ailments at the beginning of the present section. It was said there that the menstrual flow was utilised by Nature as a form of safety-valve, as an extra eliminative channel for the removal of toxic material from the bodies of women whose health was below the normal as a result of unwise feeding habits and general wrong habits of living ; and it was also pointed out that when the menstrual flow ceased, many women developed growths or other diseases of the sex organs as a direct result of the " drying up " of this additional eliminative outlet. It is for precisely this same reason that so many women begin to suffer from all kinds of distressing physical, nervous, and emotional symptoms and manifestations when the " change " arrives ; but only because the bodily condition of the sufferer is already below par, and NOT because of anything inherent in the " change " itself.

Now, with regard to the orthodox medical view about the matter, it has often been pointed out in the present book that the medical profession has a penchant for picking out " scapegoats " on which to hang the causes of diseases for which no definite physical cause can be discovered. The tonsils and the appendix are two examples known to all. But woman's "change of life " is another, and one that is being increasingly used every year. It is so convenient and handy to say to one's women patients who are around the forties and are suffering from this or that disease : " Oh, yes, it is the ' change ' that is responsible." It saves all further need for finding out what really is the cause of the trouble, and gives that air of finality and definiteness to the decision which always impresses the patient.

That this use of the " change " as a convenient scapegoat for the cause of diseases in women in middle life should lead all women to regard it with dread and apprehension, and to invest this perfectly natural and innocent phenomenon with a sinisterness which it does not in the least possess, only adds to the potency of the medical claim. The vicious circle is thus completed !

The Naturopath has to deal continually with cases of disease unsuccessfully treated by the medical profession, and on asking what the patient has to say regarding medical opinion as to the cause of the trouble, in nearly every case where the patient is a woman approaching or in middle life, he is told that it is the " change " which has been named by her medical adviser as the cause of her condition of ill-health. (" Oh, yes, it is due to the change.") The woman is thus led to believe that her disease is something which " happened " to her as a result of causes quite beyond her control, and which it is more or less impossible to rectify, and so she is led farther and farther away from an understanding of what the real causes of her trouble are and how the condition may be overcome.

It is only when she comes into contact with natural methods of treatment, and with Natural-Cure views about disease, that she realises that she has been led to ascribe to a perfectly natural phenomenon the cause of a condition entirely due to her own unwise habits of feeding and living, combined (most likely) with previous suppressive medical treatment in the form of drugs, operations, etc.

We have said that the medical profession is all too prone to use the, " change " as a convenient cloak to its ignorance regarding the real causes of the diseases its women patients suffer from, and to give it a Sinisterness which it does not naturally possess; but that does not mean to say that the " change " is not to blame sometimes. We have said ourselves that it is, and have given definite reasons why it is. It is this ascribing every and all. disease to the " change " on the slightest provocation, where middle aged women are concerned, that we are so much up against. We must repeat, therefore, that the " change of life " is a purely natural phenomenon, and that in the normally healthy woman it should have no ill after-effects whatsoever ; but where a women is not in good health, then the "change" may bring all sorts of complications in its train. In these cases it is not the " change " as such which is to blame, therefore, but the bodily condition of the patient.

Where a woman is affected by the " change of life " to any marked extent, it is a sure sign that her body is in a toxic condition and in need of a thorough cleansing. To restore her to a condition of health_ again, she will need to undergo a course of natural health-building treatment, and to that end nothing could be better than the scheme of treatment given for Leucorrhcea in the present section (page 393). Such a scheme of cleansing and health-rebuilding treatment will help her to overcome her difficulties in the shortest possible time, and add many useful years to her life.