 (mental defectives), in 76 per cent of epileptics, and in 80 per cent of
the insane.
    Probably every city in the United States has made special provision for both mentally deficient
groups and unsocial individuals, either in special schools or in special classes. In Cleveland, we
have had a large school devoted to the problems of the so-called pre-delinquent boys, of whom
nearly all have been before the courts and are assigned to this institution because they are not well
enough adjusted to be kept in their normal school environment. In discussing the characteristics of
these boys with the principal of that school, I asked him what the probabilities were that many of
these boys would finally become involved in crime. His comment was, in effect, that they were
virtually in the vestibule of a penal institute, when judged by the experience of previous boys from
that school.
    In approaching a study of this group, it is helpful to observe the experience of the well-equipped
institutions organized for the correction of the abnormal trend which characterizes these boys. In
this connection, there is a helpful report by the United States Dept. of Labor, Publication No. 203,
which gives the result of tracing the after careers of 621 boys who were in five of the best-known
correctional institutions. It was found that 66 per cent had been arrested and 58 per cent convicted7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 213/250one or more times after having been paroled from the institution. It is apparent from data of this
type that probably the forces that produce these abnormal expressions cause irreparable damage
in the brain tissue. Practically all recent crime reports are recording an increase in juvenile crime.
The Children's Bureau of the Dept. of Labor stated (Nov. 4, 1938): "that juvenile delinquency
spurted during 1937 for the first time since 1930," but it cannot explain why until further study.
    Reports to the bureau from 28 courts in 17 states and the District of Columbia showed that they
handled 31,038 cases during 1937, an increase of 3,000 over 1936. The report showed that 44
per cent of the cases involved children between 14 and 15 years old; 22 per cent those between
12 and 13 years, and 10 per cent those between 10 and 11. Boys' cases comprised 8 5 per cent
of the total.
    As an approach to this problem I have made an examination of 189 boys in the Cleveland
school for pre-delinquents. I gave particular attention to those physical signs of nutritional injury,
which seemed to be definitely assigned to the formative period of the child. We endeavored to
obtain detailed information relative to the family history and to the birth of the child. We were
fortunate in having the assistance of the officers, and of a nurse in the dental service of the Health
Department of the Board of Education, a nurse who made visits to the homes of many of these
boys to obtain the information directly from the mothers.
    In this group of boys, there were twenty-nine for whom I had not sufficient details to include
their cases in the studies. Of the 189 in the group, there were only three with sufficiently normal
dental arches to be classified as normal. Accordingly, 98.4 per cent proved to be individuals with
more or less marked abnormality. Many of the faces were very badly deformed.
    While often it will be difficult to place the responsibility entirely on either parent for the child's
abnormal physical development, it is of interest to study the birth rank of these children. The
average number of children in the families represented by these 160 children is 4.75. Of these,
thirty-five, or 21.9 per cent, are first children in the families represented; thirteen, or 9.1 per cent,
are only children; thirty-nine, or 24.4 per cent, are last children; and thirty-six or 22.5 per cent, are
fifth children or later. Sixty-two, or 38.7 per cent, are either the first or last child. It will be seen
from these data that the first or last child, or even a late child in a large family, tended to have a
distinctly poorer chance than the intermediate children in the families in which these studies were
made. Statistical data relating the age of the mother and father to prenatal deficiency of their
offspring reveal that abnormally young parents have a much higher percentage of defective children
than do those in the most favorable child-bearing period of life. The group at the Cleveland school
included only those boys who have been before the courts because of more or less serious phases
of delinquency. If they are in a considerable part the products of a defective society, it seems quite
unfair that they should be held entirely responsible for that delinquency, which has put them in this
institution. If they are destined for a penal institute in which they will be held entirely responsible for
that abnormality which resulted in their misdemeanor, as has been the procedure in the past, are
they receiving just consideration? Society may be justified in protecting itself from their misdeeds
by placing restrictions about them, but it does not seem that society is justified in shifting the entire
responsibility to the affected individuals.
    Recent studies of the mental capacity of felons brought before the Common Pleas Court in
Cleveland have shown that of 3,197 convicted felons examined in the medical clinic only 42.3 per
cent were classified as normal. Fifty-five and nine-tenths per cent were classed as defective
delinquents and only 1.8 per cent as insane. The outgrowth of this study has resulted in the drafting
by the Cleveland Bar Association of a new criminal law for Ohio to be presented to the coming
State Legislature. This bill provides for the creation of a new criminal class composed of what are
called defective delinquents. This includes morons and others of abnormal mentality but not insane
who commit felonies or misdemeanors. The purpose of this legislation is to afford special treatment
for law violators falling within the new classification, making it possible to segregate delinquents in
separate institutions. The Ohio law like that of most other states now recognizes only two types of
criminals, sane and insane, and if not insane they must be punished.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 214/250    It is proper that we should ask who is to blame for the abnormalities which render these young
men incapable of making the necessary adaptation to our environment.
    An important characteristic of the boys in the Cleveland school was their low intelligence.
Practically all were recorded as retarded or mentally backward prior to their transfer to this
institution.
    It is important that we note the characteristics of groups that are similarly retarded, but who
have not demonstrated sufficiently unsocial characters to have to be placed in the pre-delinquent
groups. We shall recognize them as individuals who may never commit unsocial acts sufficient to
get them into trouble, though they will doubtless continue in the group of mentally backward
persons. Such a group is to be found in the Outwaithe School in Cleveland. The children in this
school, which enrolls about one thousand students, were examined in order to ascertain whether
there might be groups that are similarly afflicted physically. The school is distinctive because it has
a very high percentage of children who are backward mentally. Many of these children have been
concentrated there in order to bring them under the influence of special teachers. In an examination
of a cross section of the children, almost all were found to have had distinct injury in the formative
period, as evidenced by the changes in facial form. A preliminary survey of the backward children
of this institution was made by having typical classes selected by an official of the school from ages
ranging from eleven to seventeen. I examined the arches and made measurements of the head and
face. With the assistance of the school nurse I obtained records of the other children in the families
selected. This latter survey was supplemented by field work by the nurse. The intelligence
quotients, as reported in the records, were also provided. In the twenty-nine individuals so studied,
seven, or twenty-five per cent were first children; fourteen, or fifty per cent last children in the
families. Only one individual was found with approximately normal dental arches, that is,
approximately three per cent of the individuals. Twenty-eight children, or 97 per cent, had
abnormality of one or both dental arches. These children were placed in this institution because
they were backward mentally, although as a group they are comparable to the group studied in the
Thomas A. Edison School, where the grouping was based on delinquent traits. A cursory
examination was made by observing other pupils in this school in their classes and on the grounds.
A large percentage of severe facial and dental arch deformities and a very high percentage with
definite disturbances in facial growth were evident. These data are presented as applying to a
group of individuals characterized by a disturbed mentality, to the extent that they were assigned to
special classes for the mentally retarded. While the group constituting the school population at
Outwaithe represented the relatively large group of pupils assigned to special classes for backward
children and did not carry the stigmata of delinquency carried by those of the Thomas A. Edison
School, both groups had many physical defects in common.
    We are


’ s found God.”
How do you develop tolerance for people as they are? See, everything
and everyone is in a point of evolution, including one’ s own perception and
spiritual growth, so compassion for the less fortunate—let us call the very
bottom of the barrel the “less fortunate”—you have to see their actions as
an impersonal manifestation of the human ego when it is unmodified by any
kind of spiritual awareness whatsoever. It seems to have escaped spiritual
awareness altogether. To do it in the name of God, of course, is what
outrages everybody from the pope on down. The pope, you know, who
calibrates about 570, which is perfect. The pope and the head of great
churches—the most ideal calibration is about 570.
So, the head of a world church—you see, at 600, you’re not much good
as a head of a world church. You sit there blissed out, and you’re not too
functional. So, you’d be a nice figurehead to put someplace, and there are
people who go and light candles to you and get your blessing, but you can’ t
run a world church. Especially with the multiple decisions and implications
of the international political... and the very exquisite and delicate spiritual
decisions to be made. Because no matter what move you make, it influences
millions of people, either adversely or beneficially from multiple levels,
either economic or political or spiritual. So there’ s extremely dif ficult
decisions to be made, and you really need 570 to do it. You need that much
compassion, and you also need to be in the world to that degree. Now, at
700, people would say there is no such world; don’ t worry about it. The
world of your perception has no reality, so don’ t bother worrying about it.
Just perfect yourself, and that’ s all you can do. And that also, on a certain
level, is true. The greatest gift you can give to the world is to perfect your
own degree of consciousness.
Everything Is Perfect as It Is
When we say everything is perfect as it is, that has to be contextualized,
because you could say, “Well, isn’ t the ego perfect as it is?” Well, it’ s a
perfect expression of where it is at this point in time, based on this karmic
propensity under the current conditions.
There’ s a mollusk at the bottom of the sea that’ s the most poisonous thing
on the planet. If you examine poisons, you will find some interesting things.The black mamba has 14 dif ferent poisonous enzymes; any one of them is
enough to kill you. There is a spider that has about 20 dif ferent poisonous
enzymes, any one of which will kill you.
There is worse than that. There is a mollusk at the bottom of the sea who
bores a hole in its victim and injects it with a poison which includes 40
poisons. Every one of those poisons is enough to kill an elephant, and it’ s
got 40 of them. Now, would that serve any purpose from the viewpoint of
evolution? No, because one killer neuropeptide destroyer, or whatever it is,
is enough. It’ s got 40, so it’ s like a concentration of venom within one
specific life-form. We see that venom and that which is poisonous, then, is
present on the planet. It always causes pain. It doesn’ t just kill you. Even
the scorpion bite, you just don’ t go painlessly paralyzed; the pain is
agonizing. So, there is that which calibrates very low; which is poisonous,
instills pain, and its purpose is to kill; in contradistinction to that which is
dedicated to healing, the relief of pain; and they’re two contrasting ways to
go. Therefore, each thing is demonstrating the essence of that which it is.
You say, “Does it have a purpose?” No, because purpose is teleological
thinking. Purpose is saying: because “this” seems to result in “that,” that is
the purpose  of “this”—to cause “that.” No, that is teleologic thinking,
which is a logical fallacy: the error of post hoc er go pr opter hoc —because a
thing follows, therefore it’ s caused by, or it’ s the purpose, of it. All we’re
saying is that each thing becomes the manifestation of that which it is.
We’re up in a small town, and a workman came up with a truck, and
there in the back sat a little white dog. A little white dog got out of the truck
and came over to greet us. And it just wiggled all over with happiness. Its
tail was just going crazy, like this. It, like, falls in love with you instantly. It
just fell in love with us instantly. It just radiated love, lovingness. It
responded to love. It was looking for love. It seems to live in the world of
love. It looks for love, thrives on love, gives love, reflects love, and the tail
tells you. It just radiates that which it is. Now, isn’ t that strange that a dog at
500 is higher than a lot of human beings at 70? The dog kills nobody, kills
nothing, brings comfort, joy, and happiness, and reflects that. And therefore
I was surprised when I first calibrated the wag of a dog’ s tail and got it was
500. I said, “Whoa, that’ s higher than many of the people on the planet—
most of the people on the planet.” They won’ t approach you with trust,
love, caringness; nor do they respond to love. Most people are scared to
death of love, you know. You look at a person lovingly, with a prolonged,open glance, and a lot of people will shrink and get scared as ever. You try
that at a stop sign in the city of New York, you’ll get arrested. You look
over at the car next to you with love in your face, and they call the police on
the cell phone: “A  killer—he’ s staring in my windows, of ficer.” It would be
totally misinterpreted, wouldn’ t it?
And I got the same kick when I noticed the kitty’ s purr. I calibrated the
kitty’ s purr, and it seemed to be interested in love, looking for love,
responsive to love, and seemed to live in a world of lovingness. So I can’ t
answer you why love comes through an animal, except that we think of
evolution in terms of intellect. We don’ t think in terms that lovingness could
be evolved without the presence of an intellect. In fact, that which has an
intellect is less likely to be loving than something that doesn’ t have an
intellect, a lot of times.
Destiny Is Ultimately Perfect
When the soul manifests from the field of consciousness, does it carry a
charge, either negative or positive, that can be termed the “karma” of the
soul? Yes, I think that’ s specifically what we were saying this morning. The
soul automatically, because of what it has become, is like a cork in water
and automatically gravitates in the field of consciousness to that with which
it identifies. And therefore, destiny is ultimately perfect. “That’ s correct:
resist” (T rue). That’ s correct, yep. Automatically. So, the soul automatically
gravitates to what it’ s attracted to, to that with which it is compatible. Just
like the dog ran to love—if I hated dogs, I don’ t know, he might have
shrunk of f, or he might have tried... I don’ t know what he would have
done. I should ask him.
OceanofPDF.comCHAPTER 10
Aim for the Highest Level of
Compassion
Two hundred is the dividing line between force and power; 540—is that the
difference between ego and one’ s higher calling? Well, don’ t forget, these
points are arbitrary—200 was not arbitrary; the calling it 200 was arbitrary.
It was obvious that the world could be divided into that which makes you
go strong and that which makes you go weak.
There is an interesting book called Red W orld/Gr een W orld by a lady
named Mar garet Chaney, and she said that there’ s Red people and Green
people, and there’ s Red foods and Green foods. Well, she was just using
that as a way of speaking. She’ s saying that people divide up into those
which react positively to certain kinds of food and those which react
negatively, and she grouped out two groups. There are the Red people—
they respond with kinesiology positively to the following foods, and there’ s
the Green people, and they respond positively to the following foods and
they react negatively to the other foods. So her thesis was that Green people
will get sick if they keep eating Red food all the time and can’ t seem to get
well. And when they discover what they’re eating is inimical to their health,
they will regain their health. And now she’ s worried because a lot of
medications are coming out in generic. So, the brand name—let’ s say
you’re a Red person—and the brand name tests Red, so you say


 of consciousness, the beginning of an inner
serenity, and the opening of compassion. At 560, there
is Ecstasy-an exquisite, inner knowingness and trans
figuration of consciousness that lead to states of illumi
nation (sainthood is at level 570) as it gets closer to the
600s.
The energy field of Compassion is one that can be
elected.We can make a commitment to lovingness as a A MAP OF CONSCIOUSNESS 31
way of being, so this requires no belief in God or any
theological spiritual system. It is a commitment to lov
ingness that nurtures and supports life in all its expres
sions. It sees Divinity in all things as it moves up to an
even higher level where it begins to see the perfection
of all life.
Compassion is a way of knowing and looking into
the hearts of others. Due to the release of endorphins
at this level of revelation and transfiguration, there
comes an awareness that the separation between one
self as an individual and another self as an individual
starts to break down. It is almost like the beginning of
a oneness of the heart, a knowingness-not a thinking
ness, but a way of being.
The level of revelation in the high 500s then opens
the way to transfiguration and compassion that lead to
ecstasy and the states close to 600.These are states of
bliss and the beginning of states of illumination and
enlightenment. They are often accompanied by feelings
of Light. For example, the room lit up whe~ BillWilson
of AA had his spiritual experience. He said the room
was lit by the Infinite Presence (cal. 575).That was the
beginning of the approach to the energy field of 600.
The Radiance suffused out into the world as the world
wide, great Twelve-Step movement through which
Alcoholics Anonymous has brought about the recovery
of millions of people.
The energy field called Bliss, at 600, is very impor
tant in relation to addictions because the field trans
forms a person's life.The person who falls into samadhi
(deep meditation) by accident goes into a transcenden
tal state when they reach 600 or higher. Usually that 32 HEALING AND RECOVERY
person's life is changed thereafter. People who have
near-death occurrences experience those fields over
600, including their own higher Self.Those levels go on
up to Infmity and are the realm of various world
famous spiritual teachers.
The energy field of Krishna, the Christ, and the
Buddha is 1,000, and the field progresses on up to
Infmity. The people at those levels have such enor
mous power that that we call them avatars. As an
Avatar, in the three years of his ministry, Jesus Christ
totally transformed the consciousness of all mankind
for thousands of years to come. He transformed lives
on the horizontal as well as the vertical planes, which
are fields of enormous power.
The lower energy fields are like clouds covering the
sun.As we remove the clouds, we experience the sun,
which is always shining. In the chapter about addic
tions, we make a very precise point that it is not the
removal of the clouds that causes the sun to shine,
which is what the addicted person begins to think.
People who get addicted to anything think thatA causes
B causes C.The removal of this left-brain type of think
ing and linear causality is the whole purpose of spiritu
al work, which is the removal ofthe clouds so that one
experiences the shining forth of the Self.
Energy fields are so powerful that they dominate
our perception. They are really portals out ofwhich we
see the world. We often hear that this is really just a
world ofmirrors, and that all we experience is our own
energy field reflected back upon us as perception and
experiencing. We will look at perception, the view of
the world, and the view of life as it comes out of these A MAP OF CONSCIOUSNESS 33
various energy fields.
As we said in the beginning, guilt (cal. 30)-that
field of self-hatred and destructive energy-sees a
world of sin and suffering. Therefore, that person walk
ing down the street looks around and sees only suffer
ing.When they open the newspaper, they also see the
endless suffering of mankind.
The people who are in the energy field of hopeless
ness and despair (cal. 50) literally see a hopeless world.
When they open the newspaper, they notice the hope
less condition of mankind, the endless wars, poverty,
and crime.They actually experience perceptually, visu
ally, auditorily-through all the senses-a world of
hopelessness. The God of a hopeless world is dead.
The personsinadispirited state ofgrief,regret,loss,
and despondency come from the loss of the will to
live. They walk down the street and see a sad world.
This is actually experienced. We know that when we
are in a sad state and walk down the street, we see the
children and old people and think;' How sad."We look
.at the buildings, see mankind's condition when we
open the newspaper, and think how sad life is. Our
own energy field is coloring everything else. It is as if
we put on colored glasses and then experience every
thing as being colored by this energy field.
People dominated by fear perceive this as a world
of danger, a threatening, frightening world that is in
constant jeopardy. When walking down the street in
that energy field, they see danger all around them.They
see threats and muggers everywhere; they think there
is a rapist under the bed; and when they open the
newspaper, they see the frightening conditions of life 34 HEALING AND RECOVERY
with its jeopardy and danger. They live inside their
house, lock their car in their own garage, and then lock
the garage that is attached to the house, which is
locked and inside a fence, which is also locked. (Fear
can be transformed into a more positive expression as
caution.)
Having more police really does not help because
where will the police be when one's house is robbed?
Of course, they are going to be at the other end of
town, so that does not help.Trying to change the world
does not assuage the fear energy because it is really
coming from within one's own energy field.
The field above Fear is that of Desiringness (cal.
125), which represents a frustrating world of endless
wantingness. The people dominated by this field are
said to have a'solar plexus' fixation, so they walk down
the street seeing all the things they want.They see the
car they want; the beauty they want; the status, posi
tions, and buildings they want. They are frustrated
because their endless desires and cravings and more
and more millions of dollars do not bring happiness.
The fact of having fifty million dollars does not help
because the desiring and wanting for more power are
insatiable.
The person in these energy fields cannot be satis
fied and becomes frustrated and angry. The angry per
son then sees a competitive world, a world of conflict
and war, of'me against you'. This person looks out in
the woods and thinks the tall trees are competing with
the small trees for sunlight. This is the matrix of the
political/social view of cultural perpetrator/victim. This
concept is projected onto a field where no such thing A MAP 0 F CONSCI0 USNESS 35
as competition is even happening. This person lives
in a world of endless possibility of war and conflict and
sees everything as competition, not as cooperation.
People who are ftxated at the level of Pride would
see this as a world of social ranking, so when walking
down the street, they would notice the Gucci shoes,
name tags, clothing labels, status, the kind of car they
would want, or the house they would like to live in.
Everything is classified in terms of status, and they are
preoccupied with a social-image positionality.
When one reaches the level ofTruth and Courage
(cal. 200), the world now appears to be a place of
opportunity. It is an exciting, challenging place with
opportunities for growth and expansion. That person
opens the newspaper and sees the endless opportuni
ties for man to grow, to meet those challenges and even
go beyond them, and to learn in the process.That per
son is excited about life.
At the level of Neutral (cal. 250), life and the world
is 'okay' due to one's being nonattached. Everything
just becomes okay. One moves into an easygoing view
of the world and begins to say, "Well, that's human
nature.That's the way it is. It's serving some kind ofulti
mate purpose."
The people who move on up to the level of
Willingness (cal. 310) experience the world as friendly.
They walk down the street, see endless friendliness,
and think the universe is friendly no matter what they
have.The world is harmonious, benign,


 overgrowth of bone, forming spurs and a lumpy deformity of the joints. Also,
the cartilage (firm connective tissue ensuring that bones in joints don’t touch ) becomes thin and
wasted, so that bone rubs on bone, causing wear and tear and sharp pain. While conventional
medicine can only relieve pain but not halt the progress of the disease, the Gerson Therapy
has obtained good responses, by relieving pain and dissolving some of the bony deformities.
If persevered with, it can halt the advance of the disease and even reverse it to some extent.
However, as in other diseases involving bone lesions, healing is slow, and often patients are not
willing to engage in the long, labor-intensive Gerson treatment. Instead, they are satisfied with as
much pain relief as modern drugs can give them.
The etiology of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)  is also unknown, and the condition is essentially
treated with drugs for symptomatic relief. The disease can spread to every joint in the body,
causing swelling and deformities, along with severe pain. It is routinely treated with aspirin,
prednisone and more powerful pain relief drugs. Since RA is also assumed to be an autoimmune
disease, meaning that the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues, it has even been treated
with cancer drugs in order to disable the immune system.
Far from bringing benefits it caused the condition to worsen, so that for those patients healing
on the Gerson Therapy took longer. On the other hand patients not pre-treated with such drugs
respond extremely well and fast to the Gerson program and its restoring of the immune system.
Since RA is aggravated, if not caused, by the excessive consumption of animal protein, the
protein-restricted Gerson Therapy produces an immediate reduction of swelling, the easing or
total elimination of pain, and the start of healing. In time patients recover completely.
Case History : In 1970 D.P. was a high school athlete of great promise. Her trainer suggested
that she drink a lot of milk, to strengthen her muscles and supply calcium. Within a year, before
her twentieth birthday, she developed rheumatoid arthritis, with swollen and inflamed joints,
lumps and calcifications. Orthodox treatment with prednisone and gold proved to be ineffective;
by 1976 D.P. was bedfast, suffering constant pain.
All her joints were stiff: fingers, knuckles, wrists, elbows, knees and ankles. In addition she
suffered from heart palpitations and labored breathing. She was pale, anemic and hypoglycemic, Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 6 3Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comcould barely walk or sleep. In May of 1979 D.P.arrived at the Gerson hospital; in six weeks she
was virtually free from pain, most of the lumps in her joints were dissolving and her wrists started
to regain their mobility. By 1981, two years after starting on the Gerson protocol, she was able to
water-ski, got married and started a family.
Scleroderma
This third member of the group of collagen diseases is also described as having an ‘unknown
etiology.’ It causes a chronic hardening and contraction of the skin and connective tissues, which
makes movement such as bending, especially of the fingers, difficult if not impossible. The
disease can eventually spread to internal organs as well.
 Despite its apparent hopelessness, this condition also improves rapidly on the Gerson
program and can lead to complete recovery.
ASSORTED ENEMIES OF HEALTH
In the following we are presenting a variety of very different conditions and complaints that
blight the lives of vast numbers of people in the developed world. They represent only a tiny part
of the grand total of chronic conditions—estimated to number around 1500—that are erroneously
accepted as inevitable and incurable. Despite their surprisingly varied nature, these enemies
of health have one thing in common: they originate in faulty nutrition and therefore respond
positively to the Gerson protocol.
Asthma
This inflammatory disorder of the airways is widespread and growing more frequent all the
time. An estimated 20 1⁄2 million Americans of all age groups suffer from it. In an asthma attack the
muscles surrounding the airways tighten up; at the same time the lining of the air passages swell.
As a result less air can pass in and out, causing wheezing, shortness of breath and/or coughing.
Attacks can last from a few minutes to a whole day or more and can become dangerous, besides
causing anxiety and even feelings of panic to the sufferer.
Asthma has many causes. General pollution in the atmosphere, pollen, dust mites and mulds
indoors are among them, but food allergies and intolerance, and adverse reactions to drugs can
be the main culprits. Asthma also has a strong psychosomatic connection, especially in young
children (in whom it often clears up spontaneously when the emotional roots are eliminated), but
here we are concerned with the physical-nutritional aspects only.
When these are at fault, asthma—especially in the case of children—is easily cured with
a relatively minimal change of diet and lifestyle. For any age group, the best-known potential Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 6 4Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comtriggers of an attack, namely cheese, chocolate, citrus fruits and wheat, must be eliminated one by
one, to see which one has to be excluded for good. For children, it is essential to omit all milk and
milk products. This flies in the face of conventional medical advice, as mothers discover when
they consult their pediatrician about their child’s asthma. They are told to make sure that the child
gets adequate milk, which is essential for growth and development—yet over many months, even
years, the prescribed medications are unable to cure the condition. However, it disappears readily
if milk is excluded from the child’s diet.
In adults recovery takes a little longer since as a rule, having been treated with drugs and
inhalants for years, they have suffered more severe damage. Therefore, instead of just dropping a
few food items, they need to follow the less intensive form of the Gerson Therapy, which excludes
animal proteins. Asthma is curable irrespective of age, with one warning: if the patient has been
treated for a long time with prednisone, healing becomes difficult.
In many other diseases long-term treatment with prednisone produces the same degree
of excessive damage and takes longer to overcome.
Case History : D.B. ’s problems, as recalled by her mother, started when she was six months
old and suffered her first asthma attack. By her second birthday she had an attack every two
months, each one lasting seven days. The little girl was tested for forty different allergens, then
given drugs and immune shots every three weeks. This regimen went on for six years.
The shots made her sick. Her arms swelled up and her eyes became puffed. Later her mother
discovered that the drugs her daughter was taking caused liver damage. When she asked her
doctor about this, he declared that in view of the severity of D’s asthma, the liver damage caused
by the drugs was the lesser evil.
Searching for a better answer, D’s mother accidentally found out that nutrition could have
something to do with her daughter’s problem. She found out about the Gerson therapy when D.
was nine years old, and changed the entire family’s eating habits. Although D. did not take coffee
enemas, having adopted the complete Gerson dietary approach, she never had another asthma
attack. She is now 38 years old, able to have a golden retriever and play with it without any
allergic or asthma attacks.
Allergies and Food Intolerance
According to one authoritative definition, allergies are acquired or inherited abnormal immune
responses to a substance (allergen) that does not normally cause a reaction. These reactions do
not always occur after the first exposure and may need a second or later occasion to be triggered.
Allergens can be foodstuffs, pollen, house dust, detergents, indoor mold, household chemicals,
and a multitude of other substances. They cause a wide variety of symptoms, ranging from skin Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 6 5Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comredness, itching, swelling of tongue and throat, to difficulty in breathing, diarrhea, abdominal
cramp and vomiting. The most severe reaction to a food allergen, anaphylactic shock, is sudden,
intense and potentially fatal, involving various parts of the organism and needing immediate
medical help.
Food intolerance is a much milder reaction to certain edible substances. It does not involve
the immune system and its symptoms are limited to gas, bloating and abdominal pain. The
obvious answer to this and to stronger food allergies is to monitor the body’s reactions and avoid
the harmful substances.
Probably due to increased all-round pollution and the


. Many females have this problem so they use moisturizers to
make the skin soft and oily again. This only adds to the problem, as these
lotions add to the congestion in the subcutaneous layers
of the skin.
Congestion and toxicity block the skin’s oil ducts and exit pores, making the
skin dry and scaly. The health of your skin is an internal issue not an external
one. In other words, a healthy body inside means healthy skin outside. If you
must feed the skin externally, use pure, raw, organic grape seed oil or olive
oil. Or mixed tocopherol vitamin E, jojoba oil or pure essential oils would be
advised.
If you have hypothyroidism, which 60 to 70 percent of the population
does, you will have a difficult time perspiring. The thyroid gland affects
one’s ability to sweat, either making you sweat too much or not enough. Lack
of exercise and low activity is another reason people do not sweat enough.
Refer to
Chapter 9
,
Healthy Habits,
 and read the sections on cold-sheet
treatments and dry skin brushing. These are just two simple ways to increase
skin elimination. A raw food diet is just as essential to great skin health as it is
for the health of any cell. When your skin begins to prolapse (drop) or
wrinkle, this is not old age. This is skin weakness.
You must care for your skin as you would any vital organ. Remember
that the thyroid and liver are related to the skin, so detoxify the liver and keep
your thyroid functioning properly. Use the Basal Temperature Test (see
Appendix A
) for a more accurate determination of your thyroid function.
Enjoy healthy skin. As you detoxify and regenerate, your whole body
will thank you and pay you back with robust health. I have helped people of
eighty and ninety years of age to regain vibrant, healthy, wrinkle-free, toned
and tightened skin. The body is a most wondrous, intelligent machine. Take
care of yours, as it is your vehicle during your earthly stay.
MODULE 5.10
Mind, Emotions and the Cells

Up to this point we have been discussing the impact and effect that the
various foods and toxins you consume have upon your body. Let’s examine
the more subtle processes that affect you and your body and also create
disease.The two most powerful tools you use to create your experience here in
the physical world are your mind and your emotions. Your physical body is
just a clay shell that carries your awareness around. You would not be able to
create the events in your life if it were not for the thought processes that allow
you to imagine the sequence of events you wish to experience. Without the
emotions, however, there would be no desire to create. As the mind takes
images of the past and present and puts them together to create the future, it is
the emotions that drive you to manifest these images. The stronger your
feelings are toward some idea or image, the more you’re going to “experience
the experience,” no matter what it is. Added to these twin creative aspects is
your ego, which is your sense of individuality. Put all these together and you
have the play of life.
The mind and emotions can work for us in a positive manner, or against
us in a negative manner by controlling and enslaving us. I suggest that you
use your mind and emotions to enhance and revitalize you. Remember, the
mind works from images. What you imagine becomes your reality on one
level or another. So, turn this process to your benefit. Imagine yourself
healthy and vital. This is where your emotions can come in. Get excited about
a new life, full of vitality and vibrancy. Let your emotions be the drive to
your success. Read and surround
yourself with books and information on
raw foods and detoxification. It is vital that we, as souls, understand our
bodies, for they are our vehicles on this journey through creation. You must
learn how to properly use the body for your highest good. What you create
mentally and emotionally becomes your experience.
True health and vitality is found when we have these mental and
emotional “bodies” in balance. Each of these bodies impact one another.
Your emotions, especially the negative ones like anger, hate, and jealousy,
can make your physical body sick and full of disease. These emotions are
stored in the liver and kidneys. They block proper pancreatic function
(digestion) and other glandular functions as well. Emotions can even shut
down our mind, affecting our ability to comprehend, think and make rational
decisions. They especially can close off the heart centers. Once the heart
center is closed, your ability to get healthy drastically decreases, even to the
point where death is the inevitable result.
Among the cancer clients whom I could not help were those who had
their heart center closed, for one reason or another, and had a hard time
opening to love. In some people this is a complex and deep-seated issue. This
is where meditation, deep personal prayer, and spiritual counseling comes in.One should start enjoying life for what it is. Observe nature and surround
yourself with flowers and plants, as these are very healing. Nature embraces
with energies of love. If we can let go of the past, we can enjoy every
moment for what it is. Let all hate, anger, and opinions go. Give them over to
God. An old saying I use personally is, “Let go and let God.”
Love, happiness, joy, health and mental control all keep the heart open.
Unhappiness, depression, despair, anger, jealousy, rage, envy and negative
states shut down or keep the heart center closed. The mind must also be kept
in control. They say the mind is a great servant but a lousy, even destructive,
master.
The thinking process keeps us from enjoying the present moment, the
“eternal now” as it is called. Remember when you were a child and the
present moment seemed to last forever? Those days were long and filled with
play and excitement. As you grew up, these timeless moments were lost at the
hands of thought and desire. The way teaching is done in most of our school
systems promotes competition and limits free thinking, just as the materialistic
world of possessions limits freedom and happiness. These circumstances
have greatly reduced our overall awareness and our ability to experience
God, the source of true vitality, happiness and bliss.
By detoxifying your physical body you can start a chain of events that
will allow you to clean and bring under control your emotional and mental
processes. You can help this process by allowing old thought patterns and the
emotions that can surface during detoxification to finally be released and
forgotten. There are several ways to do this.
Begin by watching your thoughts. Step away from them and become the
observer. Become detached about the outcome of things and from other
people’s opinions and emotions. Let go. Give it all over to spirit, God, the
wind … whatever you believe in. Let go of all of your negative emotions and
mental chains. This allows the greatest healing power to flow through you
and your mental, emotional and physical bodies, bringing a vibrancy and
awareness that is indescribable and rare. Enjoy life moment by moment.
Allow yourself the freedom to expand and experience. Break out of the old
conditioned states of thinking and feeling and become vibrant and healthy.
Do it now!
GLANDS, EMOTIONS AND HEALTH
It is important to note that when your glandular system is out of balance, so
are you. This is
especially true of the triad: the pituitary, thyroid and adrenal
glands.
When the thyroid is hypoactive, calcium utilization drops. This can bring
on all types of states of depression from mild to chronic. When the adrenal
glands become hypoactive, anxieties can overwhelm you. Responses vary
from mild shyness and introversion, to apprehension, to chronic worry and
anxiety, to acute anxiety attacks, to paralyzing fear and reclusiveness. Bipolar
disorder, schizophrenia and other similar conditions are all manifestations of
the above, as they affect your calcium, serotonin, neurotransmitters, and the
like. This is why the health of your physical body is so important to your
mental and emotional bodies. They are all interconnected to the point that you
experience all three as one expression.
Summary

Learn the secrets that lead to the health and vitality of your physical body,
emotions and mind. Take charge of these tools or bodies. They are your
instruments of expression while you are in this world. Detox and clean your
body. Let all your emotions be carried away or replaced with love. Go
beyond your mind into the world of the Now. Be “you”—not your mind.
Only use thought to create what you need, not what you want.
MODULE 5.11
Body Language: What is Your Body Trying to Tell You

Nothing happens in life without a reason. All things exist and change from a
cause. If you take a long walk down the road, it’s because you decided by
thought and emotion (the desire) to do so. Cells in your body are the same
way. They act and respond via thought and emotions. However, the types of
thoughts and emotions that act upon the cells are carried on in a subtle, almost
subconscious way.Cells already function automatically. However, hormones, steroids,
neurotransmitters, serotonin, etc., influence them. These substances create a
reaction in tissue (cells) that make


 health is not yet clear.
One factor whic h has not been discussed relative to this particul ar patient
is her sense of humor. She even handled pain with a joke and a smile. Her
ability to keep the people who took care of her in good humor made the job
easier for all concerned. The part that this attitude of joy and happiness
plays in the continuance of good health has not yet been adequately
evaluated, but it has to be a major factor wherever it exists. It is well known
that ire at the dinner table brings about indigestion, while a happy meal is a
beneficial one. Humor, then, must help the gastrointestinal tract, perhaps far
more than we know or realize. In a similar manner, it may be that this little
old lady is alive only because of her happy disposition. Whatever is true,
she remains a favorite of mine.
The diagnosis of cholecystitis brings a different group of organs into
consideration. It would be of interest and of value to our unde rstanding to
visualize, if possible, what must  take place while an inflamed gall bladder is
being restored to normal function. Cholecystitis may vary in severity from
an acute catarrhal condition with congestion and edema to a condition of
acute suppuration, wherein the walls of the gall bladder exude  frank pus,
and the peritoneal surface is covered by an acute exudate.
In Case No. 42, events had undoubtedly not progressed far enough to
bring about the latter condition cited in the above paragraph. In all
likelihood, the walls of the gall bladder were slightly inflamed and
thickened with the congestion of blood and lymphatic vesse ls and with
edema; the bile was probably thickened; the cystic duct leading out of the
gall bladder toward the common duct was probably swollen shut with the
same processes; and the gall bladder was probably distended with bile.
There may have  been a stone or many small stones obstructing the openingof the cystic duct, but this can sometimes only be determined at surgery if
x-rays do not confirm the presence of stones.
Most likely there were conditions present as described, without the
stones, and these conditions must be returned to normal by body processes
in order  to avoid the necessity  of surgical intervention. The only factor
physically which can bring about the alleviation of the edema and
congestion in the common duct and the wall of the gall bladder is an
increase in the blood supply associated with an increased drainage from
these areas via the lymphatics and veins.
It doesn’t particularly matter whether this comes about through improved
parasympathetic nerve function or through lessening of the sympathetic
supply, which could theoreticall y achieve the same result, or through direct
relaxation of the lymphatic and venous vessel walls, allowing freer flow
into the general  circulation. What part does infection play in all this? It is
well known that a marked increase in blood flow through a part of the body
—and that means increased flow from such a part as well—will overcome
infection most of the time without any assistance.
As the cells involved in this process just described are allowed to
function more normally, then a condition of health will gradually be
restored to the tissue of the gall bladder and the cystic duct. To what level of
health they are restored probably depends on many factors already
established by habits of diet, levels of hormones, and balances established
among the functioning of the systems which are involved. It is certainly a
hazardous under taking to try to understand at a different level how the body
may function, when there are so many unknowns to deal with and the
probability of error in thought and in deduction creates so many potential
pitfalls. In an effort to understand the working of this therapy used in this
and other cases, however, it becomes a considered risk.
One wom an, Case No. 42 (men tioned just a few paragraphs earlier), had
a rather typical history of gall bladder disease, and her physical findings
substantiated the history. Her response to the castor oil packs throughout the
night was dramatic, although simple hot packs have been recommended for
this condition for years. The use of these packs, plus liquid diet, bed rest,
and simple sedatives usually result in rapid disappearance of symptoms. It
would be difficult to estimate here with any degree of accuracy whether the
castor oil contributed more than the heat to the response which was noted.Following the indications and inferences of the information we have thus
far accumulated, however, we would assume that it had an effect. The
degree of effect is left in question. Further work with this medium of
therapy obvious ly is needed to demonstrate the level of effectiv eness which
might be achieved. Further comments on cholecystitis will not be
attempted, although the reader can refer to the earlier portion of this book,
where several of the Cayce readings touched on the same disease process.
Looking again at these case histories, we see that these two young ladies
who became cases No. 12 and No. 73 had one thing in common: both were
pregnant at the time they were treated with the packs. One was threatening
to abort, while the other had a pelvic mass and did not know she was
pregnant.
The packs, used conservatively not all night long as in several other cases
—produced clinical evidence of improved function of the generative organs
and their associated structures.  At the same time, it became evident that
through this medium of therapy, the body as a unit became more able to
muster its defense mechanisms  and reverse the conditions of ill health
which were found to be presen t on initial examination. This area of the
body—the uterus, vagina, and ovaries—where a woman becomes creative
at least in the physical sense—is also the area where cleansing of the body
takes place through excretion,  as has been already noted earlier. The
parasympathetic supply to both functions arises in the sacral nerves. So we
wonder if these two functions—creativity and cleansing—don’ t have a
closer associatio n than we usually suspect. Would it be unrealistic to
propose that any striving of humankind, when it is done with true creativity,
is cleansing to the consciousness of the individual?
On the other hand, would it be more proper to state that any work or
daily activity that a person might be faced with is done creatively in the
truest sense if he or she feels a cleansing or a purification in consciousness?
Bodily functions running parallel with so-called mental or spiritual values
—these must be related to each other in the human being, if any of the
philosophic, psychologic, religious, or theological concepts of the oneness
of all things holds true validity. But this is perhaps philosophy in itself.
To return to the gynecological conditions under consideration, we may be
seeing here the acceleration of cleansing as it occurs in the body, added to
the stimulation of the creative or generative organs through the mechanismof the improv ed functioning of the sacral parasympathe tic and its
ramifications throughout the lower portion of the body. For this one source
of activi ty the sacral parasympa thetic would at least to some degree control
the rebuilding forces within these organs and structures: the general
eliminative activ ity and health of the body and the lymphatic activity as it
pertains to drainage from cellular components within the area. These
concepts have been more fully discussed elsewhere, but they are seen acting
here within the human body to bring about health and its more desirable
state of the body.
In considering that both these young women were pregnant, and that the
effect on both pregnancies must certainly have been beneficial, one
wonders how many birth abnor malities and anomalies might be prevented
through use of a series of pack s during early pregnancy as a preventative
routine. If the activity of the packs is such as to improve functio n, as seems
apparent, then it would follow rather naturally that less abnormal function
would be found in the presence of more normal function. But then, perhaps
it is not advisable nor permissib le to be so direct in one’s logic  (a right use
of thoug ht or the rational powers). Or, perhaps more correctly, logic applied
to an assumption remains an assumption. Whatever the case in regard to
absolutely accur ate use of the mind through steps which must be proved, it
would still seem reasonable that one could, through the casto r oil packs
being used preventively, bring healthier babies into the world.
The two remaining cases, among those I selected to comment upon, have
to do with use of the packs local ly and in areas removed from body cavities.
The music teacher, Case No. 58, used heat with the pack he applied to his
neck and upper back and, within two days, the pain and headache of
thirteen days’  duration had disappeared. The mechanism here of relaxation
of muscular cramping and spasm is certainly well understood at the present
time. Other modes of therapy, including physiotherapy, migh t well have
brought just as good results, but it is interesting that he had already used
many other means of treatmen t with poor results when the packs were
begun. My experience with other similar cases outside the present series
(including myse lf as one of the prime examples), leads me to my present
firm opinion and clinical positio n that this method of treatment becomes the
treatment of choice in this particular


  or smell smelling.  "I feel fine"
means  that a fine feeling  is present.  It does  not
mean  that  there  is
85 THE  WISDOM  OF INSECURITY
one thing called an  "I" and another separate  thing
called a feeling,  so that  when  you bring  them  to-
gether this 'T' feels  the fine feeling.  There  are no
fcelings but present feelings, and whatever feeling
is prescnt is "I.'' No onc  ever found an 'T' apart
from  sorne present experience, or sorne
experience apart  from an "I"-which is only to say
that the two are the  same  thing.
As a mere  philosophical  argument  this is a waste
of
time. We are not trying to have an ''intellectual
dis- cussion." We are being awarc of the Cace that
any separate  'T' who  thinks  thoughts  and
experiences  expcricnce  is an  illusion.  To
undcrstand  this is  to realize that life is entirely
momentary, that there is  neither permanence nor
security,  and that  there  is no 'T' which  can be
prote  ted.
There  is a Chinese  story  o[ onc who  came  to a
great sagc, saying, ·•¡ havc no peace of mind.
Please  pacify  my mind."  The sage  answered,
"Bring  out your mind (your T) bcfore me, and I
will pacify it."  ''These many years,"  he replied,  "I
have sought my  mind, but I cannot find it."
"There," concluded the sage,  "it is pacified!"
The real rcason why human life can be so
utterly  exasperating and frustrating is not beca  use
therc are  faces  called  dcath,  pain,  fear,  or
hunger.  The mad -
ness of the thing is that when such facts are
present,  we circle, buzz, writhe, and whirl,  trying
to get  the "I" out of the experience.  We pretend
thac  we are
86 ON BEING  AWARE
amoebas, and try to protect ourselves from life by
splitting in  nvo. Sanily, wholeness, and  integration
líe in the realization that wc are not clividcd, that
man and his presem cxpcricncc are onc, and that no
separa  te "l" or mind  can  be  found.
While the notion that I am scparate from my ex-
perience  remains,  there  is confusion  and turmoil.
Because of this, therc is ncither awarencss nor under -
standing oE experience, and thus no real possibility
of assimilating it. To understand this momcnt l must
not try to be divided from it; I must be aware of it
with  my whole  being.  This,  like rcfraining  from
holding my breath for ten minutes,  is not something
I should do. In reality, it is che only thing 1 can do.
Everything else is the insanity of attempting the im -
possible.
To understand music, you must listen to it. But so
long  as you are thinking,  " [ am listcning  to this
music," you are not listening. To understand joy or
fear, you  must be wholly and  undividedly aware of
it. So long as you are calling it  na mes and  saying,  "I
am happy," or "l am afraid," you are not being aware
of it. Fcar, pain, sorrow, and boredom must remain
problems if we do not understand thcm, but under -
standing rcquires a single and unclividccl mine!. This,
surely, is the meaning of that strange saying, "If chine
eyc be single,  thy whole  body  shall  be full of light."
VI. T H E  MARVELOUS  MOMENT

You  ARE  LISTENING  TO A SONG.  SUDOENLY  I ASK,  " A T
this moment,   who  are you?"   How  will you
answer  this question immediately and
spontaneously, with - out stopping  to find words?
If the question  does  n o t shock  you out of listening,
you will answer  by hum- ming che song. If the
question surprised you, you will answer,  "At this
moment,  who  are you?"   But if you stop  to think,
you will  try to tell me,  not about  this moment,  but
about  the past.  I shall  get informa - tion about  your
name  and address,  your  business  a n d personal
history.  But I asked  who  you are,  not w h o you
were. For to be aware of reality, of the living
present,  is to discover  that at each  moment  the ex-
perience is all. There is nothing else besidc it-
no experience  of.. you"  expericncing  the
cxperiencc.
Even  in our most  apparendy  self-conscious  mo-
ments,  the "self"  of which  we are conscious  is
always  sorne particular feeling or sensation -of
muscular  tensions,  of warmth  or cold,  of pain  or
irritation,  of breath  or of pulsing  blood.  There   is
nevcr  a s e n s a - tion of what  scnses  sensations,  just
as thcrc  is no meaning  or possibility  in thc notion  of
smelling  one's  nose  or kissing  onc's  own  lips.
In times  of happiness  and  pleasure,   we are
u s u- ally ready  enough  to be awarc  of the
moment,  and to
89 THE  WISDOM  OF INSECURlTY
let the experience be ali. In such moments we
"for- get ourselvcs," and the mind makes no
attempt to di- vide itself from itself, to be separate
from experience.  But with  thc arrival  of pain,
whether  physical  or cmotional,  whether acLUal  or
anticipated,  the split  begins  and che circle  goes
round  and round.
As soon as it becomes clear that 'T' cannot pos -
sibly escape  from  the reality of che present, since
'T' is nothing other than what l know now,  this
inner  turmoil musl stop. No possibility remains
but to be  aware of pain,  fear,  boredom, or grie[  in
the same  complete  way  that  one is aware  of
plcasure.  The  human organism has the most
wonderful powers of  adaptation to both physical
and psychological pain.  But these can only come
into full play when che pain  is not being constantly
restimulated  by this  inner  effort to geL away from
it, to separate the  "I" from  Lhe feeling. The effort
creares a state of tension in  whic h the pain thrivcs.
But when the tension ceases,  mind and body begin
to absorb che pain as }Vater re - acts  to a blow  or
cut.
There  is another  story  of a Chinese  sage  who
was
asked, "How shall wc escape thc heat?" -meaning,
of course, thc heat of suffering. He answered, "Go
right  into the middle of che firc." ·'But how, then,
shall we  escape che scorching flame?"  "No further
pain will  trouble you!" We do not need to go as far
as China.  The  same  idea  comes  in The Divine
Comedy,  where

90 THE  MARVELOUS  MOMENT
Dante  and Virgil  find  that  the way  out of Hell  lies
at its very  center.
In moments of great joy we do not, as a rule,
stop  to think, "I am happy," or, "This is joy."
Ordinarily,  we do not pause to think thoughts of
this kind until  the joy is past its peak, or unless
there is sorne anxiety  that it will go away. At such
times we are so aware of the moment that no
attempt is made to compare its  experience with
other expericnces. For this reason  wc do not
name it, for names which are not mere ex-
clamations are bascd on comparisons. "Joy" is
dis- tinguishecl from "sorrow" by contrast, by
comparing  one state of mincl wich the other.
Had we ncver  knovm joy, it would be impossible
to identify sorrow  as sorrow.
But in reality  wc cannot  compare  joy with
sorrow.
Comparison


1956).BiochemicalIndividuality,theBasisfortheGen-
etotrophicConcept.UniversityofTexasPress,Austin,Tex.
WILLIAMS,R.J.(1959).Alcoholism,theNutritionalApproach.University
ofTexasPress,Austin,Tex.
WILLIAMS,R.J.(1967).YouAreExtraordinary.RandomHouse,New
York.
WILLIAMS,R.J.(1971).NutritionagainstDisease.Pitman,NewYork.
WILLIAMS,R.J.(1973).BiochemicalIndividuality.UniversityofTexas
Press,Austin,Tex.
WILLIAMS,R.J.(1975).Physician'sHandbookofNutritionalScience.
CharlesCThomas,Springfield, 111.
WILLIAMS,R.J.;DEASON,G.(1967).Individuality inVitaminCNeeds.
ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciencesUSA57:1638-1641.
WILLIAMS,R.J.;KALITA,D.K.EDS.(1977).APhysiciansHandbookon
Orthomolecular Medicine.PergamonPress,NewYork.
WILLIS,G.C.;FISHMAN, S.(1955).AscorbicAcidContentofHumanArte-
rialTissue.CanadianMedicalAssociationJournal72:500-503.
WILLIS,R.A.(1973).TheSpreadofTumoursintheHumanBody,3ded.
Butterworth,London.
WILSON,C.W.;LOH,H.S.(1973).VitaminCandColds.TheLancet
1:1058-1059.
WILSON,C.W.;LOH,H.S.;FOSTER,F.G.(l976b).CommonColdSymp-
tomatologyandVitaminC.EuropeanJournalofClinicalPharma-
cology6:196-202.
WINITZ,M.;GRAFF,J.;SEEDMAN,D.A.(1964).EffectofDietaryCarbo-
hydrateonSerumCholesterolLevels.ArchivesofBiochemistryand
Biophysics108:576-579.
WINITZ,M.;SEEDMAN,D.A.;GRAFF,J.(1970).StudiesinMetabolicNu-
tritionEmployingChemicallyDefinedDiets.I.ExtendedFeedingof
NormalHumanAdultMales.AmericanJournalofClinicalNutrition
23:525-545.
WINITZ,M.;ADAMS,R.F.;SEEDMAN,D.A.;DAVIS,P.N.;JAYKO,L.G.;
HAMILTON,J.A.(1970).StudiesinMetabolicNutritionEmploying
BIBLIOGRAPHY 305
ChemicallyDefinedDiets.II.EffectsonGutMicrofloraPopulations.
AmericanJournalojClinicalNutrition23:546-559.
WITTES,R.E.(1985).VitaminCandCancer.NewEnglandJournalof
Medicine312:178-179.
WOOLLEY,D.W.(1962).TheBiochemicalBasesofPsychoses.Wiley,New
York.
WYNDER,E.L.(ED.)(l98l).TheBookofHealth.FranklinWatts,New
York.
YANDELL,H.R.(l95l).TheTreatmentofExtensiveBurns.American
Surgeon17:351-360.
YEW,M.S.(1973)."RecommendedDailyAllowances"forVitaminC.Pro-
ceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciencesUSA70:969-972.
YONEMOTO, R.H.;CHRETIEN, P.B.;FEHNIGER,T.F.(1976).Enhanced
LymphocyteBlastogenesisbyOralAscorbicAcid.Proceedingsofthe
AmericanAssociationforCancerResearch17:288.
YONEMOTO, R.H.(1979).VitaminCandtheImmunologicalResponse
inNormalControlsandinCancerPatients(inPortuguese).Medico
Dialogo5:23-30.
YUDKIN,J.(1972).SweetandDangerous.PeterH.Wyden,NewYork.
YUDKIN,J.;EDELMAN, I.;HOUGH,L.(EDS.)(l97l).Sugar:Chemical,
Biological,andNutritionalAspectsofSucrose.DanielDavey,Hart-
ford,Conn.
ZAMENHOF, S.;EICHHORN,H.H.(1967).StudyofMicrobialEvolution
ThroughLossofBiosyntheticFunctions:Establishment of"Defective"
Mutants.Nature216:456-458.
ZUCKERKANDL, E.;PAULING,L.(1962).MolecularDisease,Evolution,
andGenieHeterogeneity, inHorizonsinBiochemistry, eds.M.Kasha
andB.Pullman.AcademicPress,NewYork,pp.189-225.
ZUSKIN,E.;LEWIS,A.J.;BOUHUYS,A.(1973).InhibitionofHistamine-
ProducedAirwayConstrictionbyAscorbicAcid.JournalofAllergy
andClinicalImmunology51:218-223.
ZUSKIN,E.;VALIC,F.;BOUHUYS,A.(1976).ByssinosisandAirwayRe-
sponsesDuetoExposuretoTextileDust.Lung154:17-21.
AbouttheAuthor
LinusPaulingfirstcametothenoticeofmanyofhiscountrymenoutsideof
sciencewhenheframedtheissueonwhichpublicopinioncompelled,at
last,thesuspensionbytheUnitedStates,theSovietUnion,andtheUnited
Kingdomofthetestingofnuclearweaponsintheatmosphere.Fromthe
timetheatomicbombtestsbeganinearnestonFrenchman'sFlatsnearLas
Vegas,Nevada,in1951,theAtomicEnergyCommissionregularlyissued
reassuringpressreleases.Highenergyradiationhadcausednoabnormal
numberofdefectsintheoffspringofparentsexposedatHiroshimaand
Nagasaki,theysaid.Generationsoffruitfliesraisedinradioactivecontain-
ersshowed"morevigor,hardiness,resistancetodisease,betterreproductive
capacity."
ItwasLinusPauling,speakingwiththeauthorityofaNobellaureate
(inchemistry,1954),whoexposedthefraudofthisgovernmentalpublic
relationscampaign.Hetranslatedthephysicsofnuclearexplosionsinto
wordsandnumberspeoplecouldunderstand.Thus,itwasknownthatthe
neutronfluxinanexplosiontransmutesatmosphericnitrogenintoradio-
activecarbon-14.TheAtomicEnergyCommissioncalleduponanother
NobelPrize-winner,WillardLibby,toshowthiseffectwouldhavenegligi-
bleconsequences.Thelargemoleculesofthelivingcellareconstructed
aroundcarbon,however,andC-14readilysubstitutesforthenonradio-
308 ABOUTTHEAUTHOR
activeisotopeC-12.FromLibby'sownfiguresPaulingcalculatedthatthe
outputofC-14fromthethen-scheduledweaponstestswouldcause55,000
childrentobebornwithgrossphysicalandmentaldefects,resultinmore
than500,000miscarriages, stillbirths,andnewborndeaths,andcauseas
muchleukemiaandbonecancerasthatcausedbyallthefissionproducts
fromtheexplosionscombined.
Thepubliccontroversy,sustainedbyPauling'srobustcontributions,
eventuallyinducedthesuperpowers tosuspendthetestingofatomicbombs
intheatmosphere;theysignedthetreatyin1963,anditwentintoeffecton
theverydayofthebestowaloftheNobelPeacePrizefor1962onLinus
Pauling.
Throughouthiscampaignagainsttheweapontestsinthepolarized
Americanpoliticalclimateofthe1950s,Paulinghadhadtoendurethe
impugningofhiscitizenshipandeventheofficialaffrontoftheliftingofhis
passportforatimebytheDepartmentofState.Aslateas1963,hisNobel
PeacePrizewasheadlinedinLifemagazineasa"WeirdInsultfrom
Norway."
Controversywasnot,however,anovelexperienceforPauling.Inthe
firstofhisseminalcontributions toscienceinthe1920s,hehadbrought
quantumphysicsandhispowerfulvisualimaginationintochemistry.The
chemicalformula,laidflatintwodimensionsofthepage,thenbeganto
findoperationalexpressioninthearchitecturalconfigurationofmolecules
andcrystalsinthree-dimensional space.Paulingshowedhowtoreconstruct
theseconfigurationsfrommeasurementofthedistancesandanglesofthe
chemicalbondsholdingatomstogether.Workadaychemists,contentwith
theirscienceinitspre-Paulingcookbookstage,attemptedtorepelthein-
trusionofphysicsintotheirfield.Theynotonlyresistedhisconceptual
argumentandchallengedhisdata,butcalledhisintegrityintoquestion.
Twogenerationsofchemists,raisedsincethenontextbooks,including
Pauling'sown,thatincorporatetherevolutionhebroughttothefounda-
tionsofchemistry,wouldhavedifficultyrecognizingthegroundofthat
forgottencontroversy.
ThePaulingmethodincontroversyhasalwaysbeentoestablishthedata
and,inserenegoodhumor,tostateplainlywhatthedatamean.Healmost
invariablyturnsouttoberightonthedata


 food. This sounds like
a low-fat day, right?
Not hardly. Let’s look at a simple example of a “healthful” day’s intake  that comprises 7 pounds of food and only 4 ounces of fatty food:

The nuts and oil in this example weigh only ¼ pound but amount to 740 of the 1,955 t otal calories. Since the nuts are not all
fat, and the plants do contain some fat, the total comes to 693 fat calories, or 35%  of the day’s intake. This is the same percentage
of fat found in the standard American diet. This quantity of fat, of any ty pe, is not “low,” or healthful, by any standard!

Comparing Apples to Apples
Often, when caloronutrient numbers are being bandied about, things can be come extremely misleading. A pint of liquid contains 96
teaspoons. Add just one teaspoon of oil to a pint of water, and you have a fluid that i s 100% fat in terms of calories but only 1% fat
by weight.
It is important to understand the units of measure used by other diet guru s when comparing their carbohydrate/protein/fat
recommendations to those expressed in this book. These teachers sometimes  use different units for different foods, or change units
over time, or use different units when referring to liquids than they  do for solids. Often too, they use numbers in their presentations
that sound good when taken at face value. But if you roll up your sleeves and do t he math, the figures simply cannot add up.
Recognizing that calculating percentage of calories produces a vas tly different caloronutrient ratio than percentage of weight,
percentage of dry weight, percentage of volume, etc., making sure you are c omparing apples to apples (so to speak) is an important
factor when evaluating other programs in relation to the 80/10/10  diet.
For example, one popular author recommends consuming anywhere from 10 to 25% of th e diet from fat (depending upon
one’s body type and level of inner toxicity). But at retreats and other  events where his recipes are served, fat routinely accounts for
30 to 60% of the total calorie content of the meals. How can this be? The seemin g contradiction stems from the fact that this
author’s recommended caloronutrient ratio is based on  volume of food  (cups and spoons), rather than percentage of calories.
Further complicating things, he quotes his ratio guidelines in ter ms of “percentage of high-carbohydrate, high-protein, and high-fat
foods.” Given that the items raw fooders deem “high protein” (nuts and s eeds) average 75% of calories from fat, the problem
becomes apparent rather quickly.
When you follow this author’s “low-fat” guideline (“50% carbohydrate, 30 –35% protein, and 10–15% oils,”) you end up
eating about 30% fat. The high-fat version of his plan (“50% protein, 30–35% carbohydrate, an d 20–25% oils”) yields a minimum
of 60% fat. Although he acknowledges the necessity to moderate the fat con tent of “protein foods” by consuming expensive high-
protein powdered supplements, my experience is that adherents of his plan s lather on the fat with abandon, with little or no
awareness of the extent to which their diets are predominated by fat.
The table below provides another example of the misleading results we ge t when analyzing nutrient content by volume rather
than calories. Consider a salad made of just two ingredients: 6 cups of le ttuce and ¼ cup of almonds. As this table shows, the
almonds account for just 4% of the volume but—surprisingly to many— nearly 80% of the calories.

In Appendix A I provide analyses of sample meals that use real recipes  and quantities, to help you begin to get a sense of how
your daily meals stack up in terms of caloronutrient ratio.

The Bull’s Eye: 80/10/10rv
For those who choose to follow the healthiest version of 80/10/10  in order to achieve off-the-charts results in every aspect of
your well-being, we add the suffix rv, standing for “raw vegan,” to the 80/10/10  designation. Also called the “low-fat raw vegan
diet,” 80/10/10rv  presents you with the life-changing opportunity to partake exc lusively of Nature’s bounty—consuming only whole,
fresh, unprocessed and undressed plant foods in the form Mother Earth presen ts them to us.
I have eaten substantially this way and used the 80/10/10rv  program, as it has evolved, with clients for more than twenty years
—with astonishing results. This approach to diet and nutrition has p roven over that time to be the healthiest dietary regimen known
to man. By the time you finish this book, you will have the specifics you nee d to implement this program in your life.

How Close to 80/10/10 Am I?
How does 80/10/10  compare to your  caloronutrient ratio? Well, naturally, each of us is unique, but the ge neralizations are
telling. Various sources suggest that Americans consume 40 to 50% of ca lories from carbohydrates, about 16% protein, and about
35 to 45% fat. 28  After twenty years of doing dietary analysis for my clients, I have  observed that 42/16/42 is typical for most
people.
As this book explains, most of us in the U.S.—even vegetarians and veg ans—tend to gravitate toward this 42/16/42 average,
a proportion that provides far less fuel (carbohydrate) than our bodies need in order to thrive … and a seriously dangerous level of
fat.
You will also step through some calculations so that you can assess the  caloronutrient ratio of commonly consumed raw food
plans. You will see for yourself, through simple examples, something th at became apparent to me years ago: Raw fooders, for the
most part, are consuming astonishing levels of fat—sometimes twi ce that of the fast-food-eating mainstream! Naturally, cooked fat
carries with it a host of problems not present in raw fats, but high level s of either can wreak tremendous havoc with our health.
If you are new to the high-produce way of eating, consider yourself lucky t o have encountered this information early in your
quest. With this book, you can steer clear of the pitfalls that leave so man y vegetarians and raw food enthusiasts disheartened and
unsure of where to turn next. If you are a raw fooders, this book may catapult y ou into a whole new reality, as answers to long-
standing nagging questions begin to emerge. You may find light bulbs goi ng on as you begin to understand why you or your friends
may not have quite thrived as promised on this “healthiest of all diet s.”

Tracking Your Own Numbers
In Appendix D. Resources for Diet Analysis, I describe online tools and othe r resources that you can use to get a sense of
what you are eating. I encourage you to take the time to learn to use a nut rient-analysis tool, at least for a short while. Perhaps the
most important use of these automated calculators is to make sure you get  enough calories for your size and activity level. This is of
critical importance, as undereating in terms of calories is one of the  main reasons that people fail to thrive on a high-produce diet.
To keep it simple, a week or so of tracking your meals online can give you suffi cient information to begin seeing the true
composition of your diet. From there, you will be able to recognize pitfalls and s tart adjusting your caloronutrient ratio. After that,
you may want to log on and catalog a day’s consumption here and there, or as ne w foods come into season, just to make sure you
are still on track … but soon 80/10/10  will become second nature, and no such effort will be necessary.
 Relax … We’ll Get There Together
Most folks find dietary changes more challenging than almost anythi ng else in life. Many patients have come to me desperate
to solve some serious health issue, saying “Doc, I will do anything you sa y, follow any program you suggest. Just don’t mess with my
diet.”
Rare indeed (and gratifying) are the few who are so motivated to feel bet ter that they change directions on a dime. But I
acknowledge that dietary shifts are daunting for nearly everybody. Wit h this in mind, I created the 80/10/10  diet to allow everyone
to transition at a comfortable speed.
By focusing on the caloronutrient ratio (the percentage of carbohydrat es, proteins and fats), rather than on the specific foods,
this plan allows you to set your own pace. Succeeding on 80/10/10  is simply a matter of adjusting the volume of the foods you eat,
in relation to each other, to move yourself in the direction of your target. Gradually increasing healthful carbs from whole fruit and
decreasing fat will work just fine and is far better than making no cha nge at all. The results, especially when tracked with colorful
graphs on Nutridiary.com (See Appendix D. Resources for Diet Analysis  on


 who are “incorrect.” This kind
of p ride is a paradoxical revers al of egalitarianism (all people have equal
value) because it says, “W e’re better than others because we’re more
egalitarian than anybody else.” T he aversion is to “I don’ t know,” humility,
and being ordinary. The biggest aversion is to being “wrong.”
Instead o f pridefully refusing to acknowledge an error, we can accept that
human life is a process of discovery. If what we are witne ssing is the
evolution of consciousness, in which creation is unfolding spontaneously,
then wh at we view as a mistak e actually represents a success, because it
demonstrates the  outcome of a fallacy that can then be corrected. If millions
of p eople starve to death because of a Marxist belief system, this is the
automatic demonstration of falsity, which serves the purpose of discernment
and the apprehension of truth.That is why we cannot predict  the future. It has not yet been created,
because we all c ontribute throu gh the evolution of consciousness, moment
by moment, as w e say yes to certain options and not to others. W e cannot
possibly predict the future, because it has no reality yet. It is only a
potentiality awaiting actuality b y intention and choice. If we could predict
the futu re, that would confirm that everything is already predestined. If
predestination w ere the rule of the universe, our lives would have no value;
we would be nothing but automatons.
FROM COURAGE T O ECST ASY
Level T emptation
Courage Bravado, machismo, risk-taking
Neutrality Indif ference, withdrawal
W illingness Overcommitment,
overinvolvement
Acceptance Failure to take appropriate action
Reason Intellectualism, stuck in cause and
ef fect
Love Seduction, exploitation,
misidentified as personal
Joy/Ecstasy Poor judgment
◆  Courage  has the motivation, power, and strength to overcome
resistances, face challenges, and work through them with fortitude and
determination. Experientially, the most common challenge to courage is
anxiety, self-dou bt, and the fear  of failure. Fear of failure is dim inished by
realizing that you are responsib le for the intention and ef fort but not the
result, which is dependent on m any other conditions and factors that are
nonpersonal. The temptations a re resorting to bravado in the face of fear,
and mac ho risk-taking out of th e newly acquired empowerment and self-
confidence.◆  Neutrality  all ows for flexibility and a nonjudgmental, realistic
appraisal of problems. T o be ne utral means to be relatively un attached to
outcomes. The temptation is to be indif ferent and to resist being an active
and friendly contributor to the life around you; friendliness contains warmth
and connectedness and opens the door to love.
◆  W illingness  is  cheerful, hel pful, and voluntary in its enthusiasm to
fulfill th e needs  of others in ways that are benevolent, mutually  beneficial,
and kind, in ac cordance with the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you
would have others do unto you.” The limitation of this level is crediting
your ow n ef forts and personality, whereas in reality, your growth and
success are due to the radiance o f the Self. The temptation, then, is to over -
commit yourself  to many involvements to help others because you believe
that your personal self is the source of improvements.
◆  Acceptance  li ves harmoniously with the f orces of life and allows
engagement in life on life’ s own terms, without trying to make it conform to
an agen da. This ener gy is harm less, because it does not judge, control,
change, or dominate others, and it is not out to “save the world” or
condemn its multitudinous exp ressions. The temptation is to fail to take
appropriate action when a situation calls for it—for example, nonintegrity
in th e w orkplace or other areas o f life that require discernment a nd standing
up for truth.
◆  Reason  is the level of  science; medicine; theology; and generally
increased capacity for rationality, conceptualization, and comprehension.
Thus, knowledge and education are highly valued. At this level, it is easy to
lose sight of the forest for the trees; to become infatuated with concepts,
ideas, knowledg e, and theories; and to end up missing the essential point.
The temptation is to identify one self as mind, and intellectualizing becomes
an end in itself. T o know “about” a thing is not the same as to “be” it.
◆  Love  does not procee d from the mind; it emanates from the heart. As  a
for giving, nurtu ring, and supportive way of being in the w orld, Love
expands the sense of self and radiates an uplifting ef fect on others. The
temptation is to see the ener gy o f Love as coming from oneself  rather than
Divinity and, through this perso nalization, take credit for the ef fect of theener gy field. The danger is to be unconsciously seduced by the praise and
projections of others.
◆  Joy/Ecstasy  a re states in th e mid- to high 500s, in which the innate
perfection and stunning beauty o f all that exists shine forth like a luminous
radiance. Subjec tively, the flow of the spiritual ener gy is felt as an exquisite
sweetness throu ghout the body, and the ener gy has the capacity to facilitate
miraculous heali ng in others if karmically appropriate. Because  everyone is
seen in their in nermost innate perfection and lovability, the downside is
poor jud gment in seeing only the best in people and their propo sals; thus, it
is helpful to have a trusted companion to be watchful as a gatekeeper.
THE P A THW A Y OF SURRENDER
Ultimately, transcending the levels of consciousness happens by letting
go. Inste ad of trying to force change in yourself, it is merely n ecessary to
allow Divinity to do so by deeply surrendering all control, resistance, and
illusions of gain or loss. It is not necessary to destroy or attack illusions but
merely to allow them to fall away as the “payof fs” are surrendered. It is not
necessary or fruitful to use force by mechanisms such as guilt, nor is it
necessary to try to pursue o r propel spiritual evolution, because it
automatically evolves of its own accord when the obstacles and resistance
of illusions are surrendered.
The power of T ruth itself is a q uality of Divine Love that, in its infinite
mercy, dissolves positionalities back into the Reality of the  Self. It is
necessary to accept that timing is up to the Self, not the self, b ecause only
the Self is capa ble of incorporating unknown karmic qualitie s. Thus we
surrender our opinions of how the world “should” be. Jesus, the Buddha,
and every great master have said that the world is perfect as it is—for the
rich diversity of choices, from  the sadistic to the angelic, provides the
maximal opportunity for the spiritual evolution of all.
The infi nite, nonlinear field of c onsciousness is not only omnipresent and
omniscient but also omnipotent. The spirit is uplifted as a consequence of
the q uality of that which it has become by the consent of its ow n free will.
Compassion for  the self is an attribute of the Self. Thus, the last greatresistance to be surrendered is the resistance to the ever -prese nt Love of
God.CHAPTER EIGHT
S P I R I T U A L  T R U T H,  T E A C H E R S,
A N D  T E A C H I N G S
Surrender is much more likely when the integrity of a teaching o r teacher
has been verified. Consciousness calibration distills and verifies spiritual
truth in its esse nce and identifies the characteristics of integrous teachers
and teac hings. Whatever you entrust your soul to should be verifiably
trustworthy. The list below serves as a standard of spiritual integrity.
40 CHARACTERISTICS OF INTEGROUS TEACHERS AND
TEACHINGS
1. Universality:  T ru th is true at all times and places, independent of
culture, personalities, or circumstances.
2. Nonexclusionary:  T ruth is all-inclusive, nonsecretive, and
nonsectarian.
3. A vailability:  I t is ope n to all—nonexclusive.  There are no secrets to be
revealed, hidden, or sold, and no magical formulas or “mysteries.”
4. Integrity of purpose:  There is nothing to gain or lose.
5. Nonsectarian:  T ruth is not the exposition of limitation.
6. Independent of opinion:  T ruth is nonlinear and not subject to the
limitations of intellect or form.7. Devoid of positionality:  T ruth is not “anti” anything. Falsehood and
ignorance are not its enemies but merely represent its absence.
8. No r equ


 the following day its blood had been inoculated
into other sheep, every one of which died as a consequence.
According to Pasteur’s theories this should not have happened, for
in a communication on the subject to the Academy of Medicine on the
17th July, 1877, he had maintained that blood from the heart wouldnot be virulent, even though taken from an animal already putrid and
virulent in many extensive parts of its body. Pasteur tried to wriggle
out of the dilemma by denying that this applied to an animal that hadbeen dead for twenty-four hours. He claimed that the catastrophe was
due to a mistake on the part of the Turin professors, who had inoculated
blood that had been septic, as well as tainted by anthrax.
The eminent Italians, men of excellent standing, were naturally
very indignant at his accusation that they did not know how to recognise
septicaemia and that a man – who was, by the way, neither a doctornor a veterinary surgeon – should consider himself able from Paris to
diagnose conditions in an animal on which he had never set eyes.
The International Medical Congress and some Pasteurian Fiascos
2831. The Life of Pasteur, René Vallery-Radot, p.357.
2. ibid, pp.367-8.284   Béchamp or Pasteur?For a year a battle royal waged hotly between the Turin Veterinary
School and Pasteur, who, finally, in the spring of 1883, wrote and offered
to go to Turin and personally repeat the experiment in which theprofessors had failed so thoroughly and show that the blood of an
anthracised carcass would be also septic on the second day after death.
But Pasteur was now dealing with men of the race of Machiavelli.
These Italians at once saw how easy it would be to make such an
experiment appear to succeed by some trickery. They were determined
to safeguard its repetition under exactly similar conditions to theirown disastrous trial. They therefore replied to Pasteur that, as a
condition of the acceptance of his offer, he should first give some
precision to his proposed experiments by informing them:
1. What, in his opinion, would be the microscopic characters
presented by the blood of a sheep, taken directly from theheart, when it is at the time septic and anthracised?
2. What, in his opinion, would be the genus and course of disease,
and what would be the macroscopic and microscopic changes
that should be expected to be found in sheep and in horned
cattle made ill and even killed by the inoculation of this blood?Such experiments, in the opinion of the professors, would be
necessary to complete those proposed by Pasteur.
Pasteur was not dealing with fools. He was asked to set down in
writing definite descriptive statements, which would be tested against
hard facts and run the grave risk of being found wanting. This
reasonable test of his views, which any scientist should have welcomed,was to him a trap into which he had no intention of walking. The only
chance of escape lay in throwing the onus on the Italians, and in a
communication to the Academy of Science
1 he actually dared to say:
“The Commission of Turin then does not accept my offer to
go to them!”2
He was careful to keep from the Academy the letter he had received
in which his suggestion was by no means declined, but merely made
accessory to preliminary and clear statements in regard to the proposed
experimentation. What Pasteur, however, did not hesitate to do was toaccuse the Commission of erroneous statements and quotations. His
biographer is careful to avoid telling us that he was promptly challenged
1. Comptes Rendus  96, p.1457.
2. ibid, p.1459.to point these out.
He did so by quoting an extract the Commission had taken from his
own statement of the 17th July, 1877, in which he had said:
“The blood from the heart will not be at all virulent, although
it be taken from an animal already putrid and virulent, in
several extensive parts of the body.”
To this he made retort:
“I have never written anything of the sort with regard to an
animal that has been dead twenty-four hours.”
He went on to quote his own version of what he had said,
concluding with:
“The blood will not be at all virulent, although it be taken
from an animal already putrid in several parts of its body.”
The Commissioners, having the text of his Communication of 1877
before them, were able to reply that Pasteur, in quoting himself, hadomitted the words and virulent  after putrid  and extensive  before parts,
thus manipulating his own statement.
They published this communication of Pasteur’s together with their
own criticism in a pamphlet entitled Of the Scientific Dogmatism of the
Illustrious Professor Pasteur, which was published on the 10th June
and translated into French in August 1883, and bore the signatures ofVallada, Bassi, Brusasco, Longo, Demarchi and Venuta – all men of
high character and reputation.
In this document, it was pointed out that Pasteur seemed to have
forgotten that the putrid decomposition of bodies might vary in rapidity
according to the temperature of March, a month notably changeable
in its climatic relation to time and place. The professors now explainedthat they had regarded Pasteur’s offer as a trick and that, not being the
fools he had taken them for, they had decided that they must know
what he understood by the term septicaemia, and that the experiments
should be made fully and under the conditions and in the way that
they had followed in their own experiment of March 1882.
With cutting irony the Commission rejoiced with their illustrious
opponent for having at last admitted that the inoculation of blood at
once anthracised and septic could, according to the relations of the
two taints in the blood doubly infected, produce sometimes pureanthrax, sometimes pure septicaemia, and sometimes anthrax and
septicaemia combined. By this admission he destroyed his own dogma
The International Medical Congress and some Pasteurian Fiascos
285286   Béchamp or Pasteur?of the non-development of the bacillus of anthrax when it is associated
with other organisms, aerobic or anaerobic.
The Commission further congratulated themselves on having
convinced Pasteur that he could not at Paris diagnose the complaint of
an animal that had died at Turin, and they were glad that they had
caused him to review his dogmas through the researches of his assistant,Roux, and to recognise as erroneous the following principle laid down
in his communication of July 1877:
“The bacteria of anthrax may be profusely introduced into an
animal without giving it anthrax. It will be sufficient if thebacteridia suspended in the liquid have at the same time thecommon bacteria associated with them.”
The Commission pointed out that Pasteur’s assertion that the blood
of an anthracised carcass would be septic after 24 hours was as much
as to describe septicaemia as a necessary consequence of the progressof putrefaction, reasoning they considered narrow and inconsistent
with facts. They compared various statements of Pasteur’s taken from
his communication of July 1877 and from his memoir of 1878 on The
Theory of Germs and Their Application to Medicine and Surgery. He
had stated:
“The blood of an anthracised animal contains no other
organisms than the bacteridia, but the bacteridia areexclusively aerobic. They therefore take no part in theputrefaction; thus the anthracised blood is not capable ofputrefaction by itself. But in the carcass things happendifferently. The anthracised blood enters rapidly intoputrefaction, because all corpses give a home to vibrioscoming from without, that is to say, in the present case, fromthe intestinal canal, which is always filled up with all kindsof vibrios.
The septic vibrio is none other than one of the vibrios
of putrefaction.”
After asking himself whether septicaemia or putrefaction in a living
subject is a special disease, he answers:
“No! So many vibrios, so many different septicaemias, benign
or malignant.”
Yet in his memoir on the germ theory, he asserts:
“We have only met one single vibrio in septicaemia, properly
so-called, which the media in which they are cultivated causeto change in appearance, as regards facility of propagation
and of virulence.”
After many other quotations, the Commission summed up that it
was clearly to be deduced that, according to the illustrious Pasteur, the
blood of anthracised carcasses must be necessarily and fatally septic in24 hours or less, because it contains the vibrios of putrefaction.
They sarcastically referred to his admission of septicaemias benign
and malignant:
“but it seems that the vibrios of the benign septicaemias reside
in Paris only and that in Italy they do not exist, because hehas declared positively that the unfortunate animals whichdied as a result of our former experiment on the 23rd Marchwere killed by septicaemia, which having succeeded in killingmust, without doubt, belong to the category of the malignant.
Notwithstanding the competence of the illustrious M.
Pasteur in such an argument, we venture to differ from him,and, to show that our opinion is correct, we