Orthopathy
Orthopathy is derived from the Greek, “Orthos”, meaning erect, regular, right, correct and “Pathos”, meaning affliction or suffering. The term means right or correct suffering and it is intended to convey the idea that when one is sick the process is governed and regulated by the laws of biology or physiology just as much as when one is well. The term was coined by Dr Isaac Jennings,(1788-1874).
It is a common misunderstanding that when there is health people believe that the body can take care of itself, that it is functioning according to the principles of physiology, but when one is sick, and pathology evolves, the processes of the body are somehow outside the control of the normal regulating processes. This is the teaching of therapy; to restore normality to these control processes, we need therapy or treatment or cures.
It is not that the hygienist argues vigorously against the means that the various systems of so-called healing employ in their efforts to cure disease, but that they attempt to cure disease at all. Although some of the means which are employed by the different curing systems are more damaging than those employed by other systems it is not the basic error. The primary error is to try to cure disease by any means whatsoever. Hygiene is not something we do when we are sick and abandon when we are well, but something we do all the time. This is what distinguishes Hygiene from the therapeutic systems which are a collection of treatments employed only when sick. The only legitimate therapies are not those that treat disease but rather those that attempt to remove causes, primary or secondary. Mechanical and surgical techniques may be justified therapies, but that does not mean of course that all mechanical procedures and surgical techniques are justified; but that they may be is indisputable.
Disease has always been regarded both as an entity and an enemy, it(the thing) has to be fought, combatted, subdued, overcome. I quote from a recent article in “Time” magazine: “Wars are usually launched with a promise of a quick victory with trumpets primed never to sound retreat. And the campaign against AIDS was no exception.” Very dramatic stuff, but it is hardly reasonable. The hygienist argues that no sign of health nor symptom of disease, no pain nor pleasure nor strength nor weakness ever occurs in the living body except under the lawful and orderly processes of the regulating systems: “Medical experts continue to wage bitter fight against disease.” is another quotation from an article in the press. We must educate people against this superstitious nonsense which has no place in a genuine science of health.
Disease is a process which has causes and when causes are applied effects must and will follow. If we can expend our time and money on research into contributing causes and understanding causal mechanisms we shall achieve much more.
The AIDS epidemic is a case in point. It has been recognised for some time now that treatments do not treat and the cures do not cure. The drugs that have been developed have been of limited value. The researchers, with extensive funding, have turned to genuine science in their investigation of the problem. They are attempting to understand the basic mechanisms involved in the evolution of AIDS. Unfortunately this centres almost exclusively around the HIV or Human Immuno Deficiency Virus which is claimed to be the cause of AIDS. But on investigation a number of facts emerge. In the typical language of the conflict, it is described as, “a fiendishly fast moving target”.
Fact No. 1 – “it is able to mutate its structure rapidly”. This is a feature of micro-organisms, a fact that I learned in the first semester of microbiology 50 years ago.
Fact No. 2 – strange new cases of AIDS have developed that are not caused by the known HIV viruses. From the report, “mysterious non-HIV cases emerge”. May be then, the virus is not the cause or, if it is, it requires an ally, and the cause that needs an ally is not the cause.
Fact No. 3 – not everyone exposed to the virus is HIV positive. Many relationships exist where one partner is HIV positive and the other is not, so how virulent is the infection?
Fact No. 4 – not everyone who is HIV positive develops AIDS. One might argue that they will ultimately but as there are many people around now who have been infected, so-called, for over 10 years it is unreasonable to argue that this so-called highly virulent virus is the cause of AIDS when after 10 years there are no apparent signs and symptoms.
In 1992 the estimate world wide of adult HIV infections was 10 to 12 million. The estimated cumulative AIDS cases world wide was 1.7 million. The World Health Organisation says at least 30 million people around the world could be infected with the AIDS virus by the year 2,000. Other experts however, think the number could reach 110 million. How reliable are these figures when one group of experts say 30 million and others say 110 million. One AIDS specialist at the New York Hosiptial, Cornell Medical Centre, recently described 5 instances of people who suffer from AIDS like illness and yet bear no trace of HIV in their body. When a similiar case was reported in 1991 it was dismissed as a fluke. But other scientists have also told of cases of AIDS which were non HIV. Several drugs that have shown promise as anti-AIDS medications have had to be abandoned because the virus adapted too easily to the medication. As one specilalist said, using the language of the shaman, “HIV is a formidable enough opponent mainly because researchers still don’t understand the method to its madness”.
Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to distinguish fact from myth in the AIDS debate. When the mystery of the infection and its evolution is finally solved it will be clear that cause and effect are in ceaseless operation and that the body’s responses are not haphazard and unlawful but function in a manner consistent with physiological principles. We could be spending our money, time and energy on investigating causes rather than palliating symptoms and attempting to cure disease without removing the cause.
In his book, “The Exact Science of Health”, published in 1903, Robert Walter M.D. said of Dr. Isaac Jennings, “A leading thought of our system was imbibed from the writings of Dr. Isaac Jennings of Oberlyn, Ohio. Dr. Jennings was a regular practitioner of the old school who located at Oberlyn in its early days. He had a remarkable experience, was 20 years a regular practitioner, 20 years a practitioner with bread pills and coloured water and 20 years he practised with no medicine and no other treatment than simply nursing and claimed to enjoy wonderful success in the later years. In these years he sought to establish a system he called Orthopathy. His leading thought was: “Disease is right action when the patient is very low his vitality is being recuperated and when he is active he is expending it in doing work, but in either case nature is doing the right thing”.
Russell Trall, one of the early hygienists became famous through his lecture on “The True Healing Art” delivered at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington in the 1850’s. Dr. Trall said of Jennings: “His success was remarkable, his fame extended far and wide, the praises of his wonderful skill were heard in all the regions round about, in a few years having conclusively demonstrated the principle involved, he disclosed to his medical brethen the secret of his extraordinary success and do you think that they were all swift to adopt the no-medicine plan of Jennings? Not quite. No, not one of them.”
Orthopathy is the fundamental principle of Hygiene. It is the only system that has denounced the therapeutic theory of disease. However, it should be clearly understood that the mere fact that disease as a process is constructive and favourable does not mean that it is always successful. The process is constructive but the causes may be overwhelming and recovery may be outside the constraints of the body. The success of the hygienist depends largely on his/her skill and ability to investigate, detect and remove the causes of disease.
In hygienic writings we refer to causes of disease rather than cause of disease because we are dealing with the remote occasions of disease. There are many causes and all of these should be investigated and, where possible, removed.