The human body is comparable to a storage battery (1) made up of millions of cells. Under normal conditions, each of these cells is charged with what, for want of a better name, we term vital force. It is this vital force stored in these cells which maintains a state of equilibrium and prevents disease, infection, and unbalance, making life worth living and giving man the power to accomplish that which his imagination is capable of picturing.
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(1) The storage, battery duplicates the human body in that, first, the cells are charged by the interplay of positive and negative and, secondly, the cells are charged by a force from without, e.g., the iron in the cells of the body is oxidized by the oxygen which is inhaled.
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All the power man possesses, all mental and physical energy, all the incentive for good, depend almost entirely upon the physical condition of his cells and the amount of vitality stored in them. The more fully charged are these cells of the body, the more normal the condition of the man's physical self, and the greater are his possibilities for the accomplishment of good, for mighty achievements, as well as for health and happiness.

The vital force in man fluctuates from day to day, depending upon the amount and kind of energy consumed in a given time, the exercise taken, the proportion of rest, the capacity and activity of the lungs, the kind of air inhaled, the thoughts countenanced and, above all, the substance and combination of foods consumed.

Vital energy is consumed or wasted in various ways: by the labor we engage in, that is, by the purely physical efforts made; by the thoughts we think - thoughts and emotions requiring nerve force and brain material, equivalents of physical energy - by our speech; and even by the digestion of the food we eat.

Vitality is introduced constantly into the system and the cells through the food consumed and assimilated, though it is to be constantly borne in mind that some foods, or even poor combinations of good foods, require more energy in their digestion and elimination of the waste material, than they yield when finally digested and the small amount of energizing substances they contain assimilated, vitality also is introduced by exercise taken because exercise requires that we breathe naturally and deeply, and energy is thus taken in from the air we breathe; it is introduced through rest, especially if such rest is taken in well-ventilated rooms; and lastly, vitality is gained by exposing the body as directly as possible to the rays of the sun.

If the food consumed is of a wholesome kind, rightly prepared and properly combined, if the necessary exercise is taken to keep the physical machine normally functioning, and if pure air be correctly breathed, than no matter what amount of energy be consumed, the supply of vital force within us will be amply sufficient, and health and strength be maintained - taking it for granted, of course, that the mind is not so filled with worry or destructive passions as to unbalance cellular action and thus inhibit the proper assimilation of the food consumed. Anything which interferes with the proper digestion of food and the assimilation of the essential particles, robs the entire system of its requirements and establishes a condition which permits the invasion of infections and disease.

Up to the present time, man has failed to realize that the amount of vital force that is to be stored can be determined even before he consumes the food which is to supply that force. With our present knowledge of the vital cell salts, nuclein, and according to the type of vitamins contained in the various articles of food, menus can be arranged to contain all the elements necessary for each individual and for every class of work he may be engaged in - it being taken for granted that the food selected contains the proportion of each element natural to the special article.

This vital force, variously termed life force, vitality, virility, personal magnetism, etc., is not only the source of vital power, but is actually the universal medicine. For this reason: before any substance or agent can become part of us or be utilized by the blood stream, it must be absorbed and changed into this force. Whoever is abundantly supplied with it, can laugh at infections, contaminations and disease. He is fortified against the enemy and so long as his cells continue to be filled and fully charged with this essence, the invasion of his system by any disease in impossible.

The normal system of man is protected by an army of defense as a result of the absorption of the vital elements absorbed from the food ingested and oxidized into life. Every cell then is changed with power to resist the enemy; and at the time of an epidemic, when the air is filled with microbes or diseased particles, this army within the system will destroy and army which attempts to invade the system. It is for this reason that even in the most severe and fearful epidemics there are many men and women who are immune and they remain so as long as their systems - blood and cells - are supplied with the necessary mineral elements, nuclein and vitamin. It is further to be understood that, with rare exceptions, when food is rich in the mineral elements, it will also usually contain a sufficient amount of vitamin and amino acids.

If the vital forces are kept up to a healthy standard, then all the organs of the body and the nervous and mental systems will function properly; man can challenge all the microbes in the world; weakness will be unknown; the world will seem a good place in which to live. If however, we permit any physical function to become abnormal, then the invasion by disease will be not only possible, but under certain conditions, certain.

There is but one logical way in which to maintain the efficiency of every cell in the body and to keep the organs of the body functioning normally, and that is through the supply of the right kind of foods properly combined and prepared, correct breathing, plenty of sunshine and exercise, and an alert and peaceful state of mind.

The human body may be readily likened to a storage battery. When the liquids of a storage battery require replenishing, where we to mix any variety of liquids and fill the jars with the solution, start the dynamo, and expect it to change the cells to full capacity and batteries to give their full quota of power, we should be considered either very foolish or wholly ignorant. This, however, is just the way in which we treat our human battery of power. We supply it with all varieties of mixtures, harmonious, destructive, "good, bad, indifferent," and then thorough shallow breathing, perhaps less than half oxidize these food elements, and yet expect in return the full quota of physical strength, health, and vitality.

How does the mechanic who understands the mechanism and chemical needs of a storage battery proceed? He carefully makes an exact mixture of chemically pure acid and water, of the required strength and up to the standard demanded, fills his batteries with this proper mixture and then fully charges them. He resorts to no slipshod system to accomplish his end. He knows the requirements of his batteries and demands the right materials. Through his knowledge and carefulness he is able to create a maximum of power with a minimum of waste and expense.

In this same manner will proceed the wise man who, in his wisdom and comprehension, has arrived at an understanding of the human machine, its needs and requirements and the methods whereby life may be maintained at its highest efficiency. He first seeks to learn the needs of the body - nerves, muscles, brain and generative function - and then he selects the foods most natural to the system, combines them carefully and correctly, and after consuming them in the proper proportion, charges them with life and power by means of deep breathing. As a logical result, he secures health, strength, long life, and happiness, not to speak of the success which results through clear thinking.

The known and essential agents used in the vitalizing process are found in nuclein, vitamins, and the vital organic salts and mineral elements. These are the life, therefore the life giving principles in the food we consume.

These active principles are to be found in practically all of the natural foods, vegetables, fruits, cereals, legumes, roots and barks(2), as well as foods of animal origin such as milk, cheese, butter and eggs(3), sea foods of almost every variety, and, to a small degree, in flesh foods.
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(2) It is frequently true that articles of diet almost universally known and used are defective in the most potent agents of value to man in maintaining health or in re-establishing it when it has been lost. Certain roots and shrubbery do contain these agents and should therefore be used. As an example, we cite the dandelion green and the berries of the blueberry bush. Dandelion is not alone a valuable green and a delicious spring dish but it is an alterative of great value and has a splendid effect on the liver. But its greatest and yet least known virtue is found in the root which contains approximately 21% of vital Insulin and is by far to be preferred to the Insulin of animal origin. Dandelion root, chewed when fresh or the powder of the fresh root dehydrated, is of exceptional value in many stomach and liver ailments. The berries of the blueberry bush are made into delicious pies and jellies and may be dehydrated, but the greatest value is found in the leaves which, like the dandelion, contain 21% of vital Insulin, are a preventive and give relief in diabetes. {Editor's Note: No diabetic should ever attempt to stop using injected insulin for these herbs except under the direction of a competent Natura physician}
(3) The egg, a chicken in embryo, is an almost perfect food before it is cooked. After cooking although the protein and mineral elements remain, the highly concentrated vital elements have been destroyed. The white of a fertile egg, uncooked, is one of the most concentrated and vital of all foods.
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It is from the vitamins and the associated amino acids that we obtain the vitalizing agent(4) with which each individual cell composing our bodies must be charged in order to be at its highest efficiency; and it is from the nuclein associated with all germinating foods(5) that we obtain at least in great part, the antiseptic agent which forms part of the protection army within our bodies(6) and gives us the power to prevent the invasion of disease of every description.
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(4) We use the term agent as we prefer this to that of food or medicine. It is really separate, in a sense, from food and becomes an agent or means in maintaining health and the balance of the system.
(5) In the heart of corn, wheat, rye and all grains, as well as in the legumes and all seed foods, including nuts, there is a tiny cell which, when the seed is planted, undergoes a transformation, sprouts, comes to life or resurrection, as it were, and in time reproduces itself. This cell is a powerful agent in maintaining health and strength and should never be eliminated from the diet. The active principle of all such cells is nuclein.
(6) This will be dealt with under a separate heading.
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Science(7) has amply proven these assertions, but, instead of instructing man as to the diet that will furnish sufficient of these elements to the system in the natural manner, i.e., by food consumption, and teaching him to eliminate from his diet all those substances which not only are unable to supply vital power to the system but which actually weaken it by clogging and congesting the organism. Pharmaceutical chemists have secured a nuclein from animal bodies(7), which is sometimes prescribed in the treatment of disease. Many good physicians have gone so far as to combine this active agent(8) with other remedies, thereby forming the basis of a series of their curative agents.
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(7) Possibly it would be more correct to state that all science dealing with the human body and its ailments, needs, and care, recognizes these facts, and that it is only the dominant medical school which prescribes the Nuclein obtained from animal bodies.
(8) Nuclein, even when obtained from animal bodies, is a vital agent. The Natura School recognizes all plant foods and animal foods as vital in their nature but does not admit the chemicals can be metabolized by the human system, and therefore maintains that these remedies are of no value. The one objection to animal Nuclein is that it may set up a physiological action which may become dangerous and that only the experienced physician is competent to dispense it. The layman, however, can select his Nuclein elements in food with entire safety.
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Nuclein is not alone an active, building, vitalizing, protective agent, known as such to medical men of all schools, though possibly not acceptable to all physicians, but is a most powerful germicide, destructive of noxious life, and at the same time builds up a natural defense against disease, thus possessing a dual potency. Also, it is more than likely possessed of a third potency, that of giving life to or charging with life, the spermatozoa in all male creation.

The mistake made in most systems of dietetics is that of choosing for food such substances as not only contain little of the various active life principles, but which also congest the system and thus, due to lack of the vital principle as well as of defensive agents, the door is left wide open for the invasion of the body by bacteria.(9) Why should we wait until we are ill and then take as medicines the active principles obtained from animal life, or otherwise, when it is so easily within our power continually to ingest these remedial agents in their most active, potent and natural state, by the simple means of right food selection and combination? Right foods can be selected rationally from the various organic and vital kingdoms, more especially from the rich and tasty fruits, vegetables and roots, and the byproducts of animal life - milk, butter, cheese and eggs - all heavily laden with the building, vitalizing elements so essential to health, happiness and well-being.

In the accumulation and storage of vital force, it is essential that our food contain all the vital elements required in building up the healthy, normal body. This means that we must have protein for muscle building, carbon for heat and energy production, fats and phosphates and the vital mineral elements or salts for the building of nerves and brain.

It is the vital salts in fruits which make them of such great value to man as food, and it is these salts which supply the cells with the material which is the basis of life to them; the nuclein and vitamins are the agents which charge these cells with life. The acids in the fruits are of equal importance since they are essential in maintaining the alkali-acid balance.
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(9) This is not to indicate that the Natura school countenances the theory that bacteria or germs cause disease. This school maintains that germs are natural but that these germs may so increase, due to the weakness of the resisting army within our bodies, as to gain control. When the vitality is low, then the bacteria normal to the healthy system increase rapidly and disease of a specific nature is the result. However, it was the congested, low state of vitality of the system which permitted a beneficent member of our body to become an enemy by allowing it to gain control instead of being held in check and employed as a worker.
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As it is necessary, in order to build a storage battery, that there be plates wherein to store electrical energy, so in an identical manner, it is essential that in the human cells there shall be a sufficiency of vital mineral elements to retain the life or vital current or energy. This retentive power is found alone in the vital mineral elements or cell salts. The life or vitalized force of the cells comes from the nuclein and vitamins, and the acids obtained from fruits and vegetables, and these must hold the mineral elements in proper solution.(10) It is easily possible to have too much acid in the system just as there may be too much sulphuric acid in the solution in the storage battery. If we will but recognize the fact that the storage battery is patterned after the cell life of the human body, then it will be easier to understand and apply the governing law, to maintain health, and to overcome the disability recognized as disease.
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(10) Vital lime, i.e., calcium obtained from fruits, vegetables, roots, milk, etc., is an absolute essential to the body. It is actually the most important element, though the body suffers no matter what element is lacking. However, if foods rich in calcium are continually ingested, and if other foods abundantly supplied with sodium are neglected, then we will experience in our bodies just what takes place when water heavily laden with lime constantly passes through water pipes-- the lime adheres to various places and ultimately entirely shuts off the water. In the human system such deposits, or localizations, cause arthritis (lime-magnesium deposits at the joints), and various other ailments. If this is to be prevented, or overcome where it has occurred, we must prescribe vegetables rich in sodium. This element has the faculty or potency to soften the calcium deposits and to dissipate them, breaking them up and gradually having them taken up by the circulation and redistributed throughout the system and made use of for the benefit of the entire system. When sodium is lacking in the diet, calcium has the natural tendency to localize. This localization is termed magnesium or calcium infiltration.

In passing, it should be impressed upon our minds that no one element, important as it may be, can be permitted to attain the ascendency if health is to be maintained. One element balances, or holds in check, the other. The most essential element becomes an enemy to the system when it is permitted to accumulate beyond the normal requirement.
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The organic, i.e., the vital acids, in fruits, are in union with the alkalies in the form of the vital salts, and these salts split up in the system through the process of digestion (or burning up) and leave the alkalies free to counteract the bodily acids created by the various activities of the body. These alkalies combine with the bodily acids to form carbonates and phosphates. If there is a sufficient ingestion of the vital elements which become alkaline when burned up or digested, then all toxins, poisons, and bodily acids are eliminated from the system by the various organs of elimination, and a state of health or harmony is maintained. Because of the acids found in fruits, they are extremely important in maintaining equilibrium or reestablishing this balance in those who have lost it.

The minerals found in fruits are of equal importance. These consist mainly of potash united with the various acids such as tartaric, citric, malic, and these, when burned up by the digestive functions, are converted into the corresponding carbonate and when absorbed render the blood and body fluids more alkaline.

The vital forces can be replenished only through the food we eat, and true dietary science is therefore of first importance to man, because through it alone can health, strength, and efficiency be maintained and man thereby rendered happy the fairly contented. When we are confronted by such disease as diabetes, gout, rheumatism, neuritis, neurasthenia, renal calculus, dyspepsia, "nerves," constipation, intestinal fermentation, torpid liver, and the many other ailments of like nature, it is proof that the diet contained too many rich and stimulating foods and an insufficiency of fruits, vegetables, and roots. The only natural means of relief from these conditions is to be found in greatly reducing, if not for a time entirely eliminating, the stimulating foods such as red meats, sugars, and starches, all highly seasoned combinations, all stimulating drinks, replacing these with diary products, sea foods, green vegetables of all kinds, green pulse when procurable, and plenty of fruits.

We have listed torpid liver above and have previously stated that happiness and efficiency are impossible unless one is in health. Let us put a question to those who claim that diet, that is to say the food we consume, has nothing to do with happiness and success. Have you ever met an individual who was either happy or in good humor while suffering a bilious attack? If you have, then you are more fortunate than most of us. The fact is, that any one suffering from disorders of the liver is at enmity with himself and all the world; he cannot be successful in his business nor do his share toward making family life agreeable. All bilious conditions lower the vitality.

As a matter of fact, there is no living creature half so miserable, disgusting, and annoying, both to himself and to those about him, whether family or business associates, as the man whose liver is inactive. And the pity of it is, in a sugar-consuming nation such as we are, almost every man, woman, and child, thus suffers more or less. To these sufferers, everything appears dark and foreboding; no matter how brightly the sun may be shining or how desirable conditions in general, there is a spirit of fault finding which embitters all relationships. Let such a one be with a jolly, carefree crowd; every joke at which the rest of the assembly go into happy hysterics, appears to him utter foolishness or else aimed in unkindness at him. In affairs of the heart he is no better off; he has no faith in sweetheart, wife, children, or best friends. He is a disgust to himself and a burden to others. Unquestionably, inactivity of the liver is frequently the base of an inferiority complex. An incorrect diet is the cause of the entire trouble.

Cleanse the liver, give the system the combination and variety of food required, and gradually, as this important organ begins and continues to refunction, all morbidity will vanish. The man will be ready to meet the shrewdest in business; conclude that he has the best friends on earth; his associates will be to him the jolliest fellows in the world; his sweetheart, wife children, the finest, best, most lovable to be found. This is but an illustration. All ailments and disease have some sinister, depressing, morbid influence on the mentality, for all of them react on the nervous system, and every act of man, woman, child, is colored by or controlled through the state of health - the physical condition.

To be successful in life one must be confident and optimistic. This depends on the vital force one is charged with. Keeness and alertness of the mind and sensibility of the nervous system have been supposed to be purely mental, but as a matter of fact, they are based entirely on the physical well-being. If the vitality is low, the mental state is depressed and instead of confidence and optimism there will be suspicion and questioning of others' motive.

Whenever you find the pessimistic, professional reformer who sees no good in anything that brings joy and pleasure to others, if you search beneath the surface, you will find one whose nervous system and vital force are depleted. When you meet with a man or woman whose nerves are below par, you will find one whose mental equilibrium is far from normal, hence the depressed, pessimistic state.

If the mind is to be bright and alert, if mental ability is to be at its best, there must be strong vital force stored in the system; the nerves then will be keyed up to the highest vibrations. When the nervous system is well nourished and harmonious, the mind will be active, clear-thinking, and clear- seeing, capable of quick analysis and ready to seize every opportunity. If man is to be courageous, have a bright outlook and be hopeful of the future, he must be in possession of health but another term for equilibrium. This signifies that he must have surplus energy stored sufficient for every emergency. It likewise indicates that he is regularly ingesting such food as will not only supply him with the required vitalizing elements for his daily needs but an additional amount for emergencies.

What is virility, man's dearest possession and the pride of woman, but abundant vitality? What is vitality but the energy which gives the possessor a masterful mind, a spirit which nothing can daunt, a state of health which can resist all invasions of diseases, a quality of soul which no dark cloud can depress, a faith which continues to believe in humanity even though it has been keenly tried by the unfaithful, a love which can continue to shower affection though it has been betrayed, and a faith in God - or the correctly functioning Law when all his fellows proclaim the non existence of God? All these desirable states, call them what you will, exist or follow because the entire being is so filled with life that these life forces illuminate the mind and do not permit it to recognize aught but brightness, sunshine, and the possibility of achievement where others see darkness and failure.

Here is one who has had every opportunity that friends and money can offer, who is possessed of an education second to none, and an experience covering most of the important phases of life, but who is lacking in health and energy, mental equilibrium and tingling nerves - you will find this one to be almost wholly lacking in incentive to accomplish, without initiative and devoid of vision, a failure in spite of all his superior advantages.

On the other hand find a man who understands life, who has had experience yet who may be lacking more or less in education, friends, and means, but who has the knowledge not only of how to maintain health and strength but is also willing to live a simple life and obey the laws of health, a man filled with vital force and abundance of nerve energy - you will have found a Napoleon of power, a man able to recognize opportunity at a glance, possessed of vision and initiative, the incentive and the courage to act. This man will soon be successful in his undertaking, have a host of friends and the money required to carry on his enterprise.

We daily seen men, countless numbers of them. whom we term shiftless. They are lacking in energy, void of an incentive to attempt anything out of the ordinary, and if they do make an effort, find it futile. We condemn these for not having the stamina or the Will to push forward to success. We consider them worthless failures, wrecks of humanity. Such judgment of them is superficial and wholly unworthy of a man capable of constructive thinking. If we but look beneath the surface for the cause of these others' failure, we shall quickly see that such as they can be reconstructed; that their lack of strength, courage, and incentive, is due to the fact that they already have used up every ounce of the energy or vital force they possessed and the mind is incapable of doing anything but order them to let go. These derelicts may be compared to a machine which, although its mechanism is perfect, with engine and fuel, yet refuses to haul the load attached to it. Examination discovers the fact that the engine is clogged with carbon, the gasoline (fuel) is of poor grade and barely capable of motivating the empty engine, the air intake is improperly adjusted, the lubricating oil either lacking or not of the right kind, the ignition weak and firing at the wrong time. Give this engine a thorough overhauling, free it from carbon and dirt (congestions), adjust the air intake and the ignition spark, supply it with the proper kind of lubricating oil and a high grade of gasoline (fuel) - it will run smoothly, perform its full duty and have a surplus of power.

Precisely so with these human derelicts the shiftless ne'er-do-wells. If the system be cleansed of congestions, the pores of the skin unburdened of filth so that it may breathe, the lungs developed to their normal capacity enabling them to draw in the oxygen necessary to oxidize the blood; the denatured foods such as sugars, starches, pies, cakes, coffee, tea, replaced with vitalizing foods such as cereal coffee, milk, fresh vegetables in abundance, with juicy fruits between meals, the former failures will soon straighten up and be refreshed as trees and grass after a spring rain, and success and happiness attend their fresh efforts.

A disease-weakened human frame, lacking in vitality, a nervous system starved for energy and a brain drained of the elements of power, a creative system without virility, lungs so artificially used that they are incapable of inhaling even half their capacity under normal conditions, bowels so inert and irregular that the lining of the rectum is a bed of ulcers, a skin incapable of breathing because of its uncleanliness: this is the picture of a failure and there are millions of them. The picture is not overdrawn but is one with which the true physician who deals with chronic suffers must daily contend. However, there is no need for despair! Purge the system of congestions, cleans the skin, develop the lungs, exercise the muscles, give the digestive system simple, natural foods filled with vital salts, vitamins, and other needed elements, and you will build up the entire man - mental, nervous, vital and virile, and create the successful giant.
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