| Show REVEALED TRUTH CONFIRMED BY SCIENCE LATE in the year 1889 the disease known as la a grippe in france and as aa influenza in italy made its ito appearance as an epidemic in europe and in afew a few weeks it assumed vast proportions sweeping over almost the entire european continent its victims numbered in the aggregate several millions in a number of instances a large proportion of the ia habitants of a populous city or district were affected simultaneously it was not attended with great mortality but it was a plague that caused much suffering and financial low loss it also swept the united states but in this country a smaller proportion of the people were seriously affected than in europe I 1 in n the latter part of last year the disease also showed itself as an epidemic in this and some other countries and still prevails it appears to have increased in virulence during the last few months larger percentage of cases terminate fatally or leave serious complications to in their train la grippe is now recognized as likely to leave the system in such a condition that it renders the patient an easy prey to many other forms of disease to a great extent this malady is still a mystery to the medical faculty an opprobrium medi dum but tue the prevalent theory in regard to it is that it results from a germ a microbe a minute but living organism which infests in vast numbers certain parts of the human body when once a hodg a ment to is found for it it has been abundantly shown by observation that perfectly healthy per boub are much less liable to be attacked with to la grippe than those who suffer from an impaired state of health from any cause the flesh blood mucous membranes etc of a perfectly healthy person are antiseptic and do not afford pasturage for the existence and propagation of such living jiving organisms as those which produce la grippe but the parasites find in the systems of those whose blood has been vitiated or vital powers weakened by any other places of lodgment and the germ theory of disease has hap gained converts so rapidly during recent years among medical scientists that it may be said odd to be quite generally accepted at least as applied to a large number of maladies from which human being and animals suffer including most if not all known to be infectious or contagious and Andt the herule rule that healthy persons are less liable to be attacked than sickly ones by any particular contagious disease is too well k known no w n to require argument ment in its ito support it may be observed that physical strength and vigor do not always prove perfect health as there may be a poison lurking in the system which from lack of time or of develop ment or some other cause has not dot materially affected the physical powers the study of the germ theory has led to the conclusion that persons who have kept their blood and bodies pure and free from taint whose food has been wholesome whose habits have been moral and consistent with the laws of health and who have avoided the use of stimulants and narcotics and the inhalation of foul air are in far less danger of attacks of disease epidemic and contagious as well as other kinds than are persons who have indulged in the reverse course it used to be popularly supposed that a 96 person ii perfect health and of proper habits life and diet who had not been sub acted to the inhalation of vitiated air was as liable to be stricken with m epidemic disease as one would be whose vital powers had been vitiated by ill III health or bad habits but this den dea has been exploded by modern medical research any proficient medical man will admit that the physical system of the individual who has been addicted to the use of tobacco alcohol narcotics stimulants or improper food or whose habits have been immoral is far more likely to become infested with disease germs than is the body of one whose habata have been of a different character among the jews anciently there was held to be a connection between a mans sins and the disease from which he be suffered this was thena then a theological proposition but in modern times it has come to bo bi fully sustained by science the foregoing leads up to the truths enunciated in that great lesson in morality and hygiene known among the latter duy day sainte as ae the word of wisdom a revelation given through the prophet joseph smith at the time it was wag given medical science did not harmonize with and support it in the manner in which it now does but recent discoveries in that science confirm the teachings of that revelation and aid in giving it the character of one of the most important disclosures relative to the laws of life and health ever made to man the live line of life indicated in that corn com muni cation from the heavens will yet be proven b by the experience of afflicted humanity to be the only means of securing immunity from such plagues as an la grippe and others more deadly which are am destined to become a feature of the times in which we live science and human experience will continue to e combine to vindicate revealed truth |
