However, I did not die, but after spending the most miserable four or five days I ever spent in my life, I was carried out on a stretcher, and soon found myself in own bed, attended by the same doctor, whose cheerful voice greeted me with the words, “What, again, have I come to mend the damage, but not to look after the patients stomach?” I then felt I was not going to die, but rather to get well and that very speedily.
The last time the doctor called, some weeks later, and asked how is Mr. Cook, he was informed, “Oh, he has gone.” “Gone, what do you mean?” “Oh, he has gone to business.” “Gone to business?” was the reply. “I expected to find still in bed; he has made a wonderful recovery. I hope he has not started too soon.” The reply Mrs. Cook made was, “No, I do not think he has; he said that if you wished to see him again, he would give you a call.” This ended a food-reformers second accident.
I will close with a different picture which is none the less to the point owing to the fact that it has not been taken from either a Health Journal or a Vegetarian Paper, but from a printers house trade organ. The story runs thus:
A woman who had given a dinner party met her doctor in the street the following day. “I am sorry, doctor,” she said, “that you were unable to come to my party last night. It would have done you good to be there “It has already done me good,” he replied , tersely, “Ive just prescribed for three of your guests”.
THE more the writer learns of the cause of ill-health in its many forms, the more convinced he becomes that it is dietetic errors more than all else that bring about such troubles. It would thus appear that the Health Food Store salesman, whose business it is to sell Health Foods, is not acting in accord with his best interests, when consulted by a customer regarding what are the best foods to take for this or that complaint, after enquiry recommends his would be customer to fast rather than add to his present unwise dietary, for the best possible food may only add to his troubles and make matters worse.
If, however, the Health Food salesman is a live wire and knows his business, his aim will be to do the best he possibly can for his customer, as he knows also that in the long run he will be well repaid by the confidence he thus secures and the benefit his customer receives through his advice. The pleasure the salesman may thus receive will not be all of a financial character.
There are aspects of “Self Cures” of a personal nature that should appeal to every man and woman. We should all first do all we can ourselves in this life, prior to consulting, asking advice or seeking help from others. This applies to health matters equally with others. Doubtless many folks are becoming wiser now, owing to the advocacy of Nature Cure principles, but five and twenty years ago only a very small percentage of people who consulted doctors ever thought of first getting to the root cause of their trouble and doubtless the doctors they consulted likewise neither asked nor troubled to enquire.
It is wonderful the miracles of healing we can all bring about ourselves to the wonderful bodies of ours by thought and the application of a little common sense. We read of miracles of healing in the old book, and they are still looked upon as miracles, while far greater miracles are now being performed which were scarcely thought about when some of us were young, that are now looked upon as matters of everyday life.
Last Easter, I spent best part of a morning going over the Queen Mary, and a very instructive time it proved to be. A friend recently told me something about one of the miracles of to-day that has come to be looked upon as “common-place”, which well illustrates my point. With his wife he had spent some weeks in Canada and the U.S.A. On the way home in the Queen Mary in mid- ocean they encountered a storm, passengers being kept in their cabins, the wind being too strong to stay on deck.
Wishing to please his wife, it being her birthday, my friend asked,”Would you like to speak to Frank?” (her brother), she replied, “I should, it would be the best present I ever received.” He immediately spoke on the phone which is fixed in every cabin, asking if he could be put through to England, giving the necessary number, etc., and asked, “How long will it take to get through?” The reply was, “Only a few minutes.” The waiting time was anxiously checked and it proved to be as near as possible three minutes only, and the voice was recognized and could be heard as distinctly as it might have been if only a few miles away.
Wonderful we may still think it is, but is it a miracle greater than can be performed on these wonderful bodies of ours and has often been done by Self Cures, after finding out the reason why our earthly tabernacles do not possess a pure blood stream, and having gained this knowledge, used it to work with Nature instead of against her as we had previously been doing.
All miracles are brought about in this manner, the necessary conditions being two only, as I once heard Dr. Dallinger say, “Complete knowledge of Natures laws and implicit obedience to such laws.” These were the only miracles Dr. Dallinger was prepared to admit. “Suspension or Contravention of Natures laws” he could not admit, his contention being that the Maker of Natures laws was too wise to make laws that there was need of Him breaking, or that others could break with impunity.
Let me try to give a few simple illustrations of how this knowledge can be applied to make these bodies of ours become what we would like them to be, or to say the least, nearer to perfection. One of the troubles of the flesh I used to be subject to before and about the time I became a Vegetarian some forty- five years ago, was lumbago, both slight and severe attacks. The last was so severe that it not only gave me the worst pain I ever experienced, before or since, but it made it quite clear to me that I must never have another attack, and I never have had. What was the cause?” Bending to lace up my boots,” and this is how far the majority of sufferers used to go back for the cause.
Let us go one step farther back. “An accumulation of hardened impurities between the joints of the spine.” The stooping to lace up my boots had damaged the spine as it might damage ones foot if one attempted to walk with a pea under the sock. But one step farther back still. “Why this objectionable accumulation?” I had been taking into my system food more or less of an impure nature that had produced more waste products than the system could deal with.
This is but one of the many forms of disease caused by our bodies storing up such impurities. There are many worse, apart from the pain it may eventually occasion; take cancer as an example. Further, it should be remembered that if our bodies produce only 1/2 oz. more waste matter per day than they get rid of, the reckoning day must come sooner or later.
Next question. What was done to get rid of the trouble and ensure that there was no recurrence of the malady? First, I did not go to a doctor; I have heard since of a drug that a doctor gave a patient that so acted on the nerves that it took away the pain in a few minutes. Nothing was said about the cause or the after effects, which doubtless later troubled the patient more than the doctor. What I did do was to sit on the side of the bath within easy reach of cold water, and water as hot as I could bear it. I bathed my back for three or four minutes with the hot, and then with the cold for about a third of the time.
This treatment I continued for about half an hour. Then, thoroughly drying myself, I placed a wide belt of flannel soaked in Olive oil and well dusted with cayenne pepper, round the affected part, securely fixed in position with a warm towel and immediately retired to bed. This was repeated the next evening to make sure that all was well, which about put matters right. The object was to create circulation and so remove the accumulated impurities.
Later, on several occasions, I received notice through the warning bell mentioned in these pages recently which I heeded and more or less followed the same treatment as above, which gave the lumbago notice that there was no suitable condition for its lodgement between my brain and the end of my spine.
In addition, I changed my diet for a cleaner and purer one which tended to create a pure blood stream, exercised each morning before dressing, including the bending of back with knees and body quite stiff, and touching the floor about a dozen times with flat hands outstretched. No one who adopts this exercise regularly will ever get lumbago through “stooping to lace up their shoes”.
In closing, I will give two illustrations only of self-healing and they must be short. Only this week I picked up a hot dish that proved to be hotter than I could bear, so the dish was dropped, but not before it had burnt my hand rather badly, which proved to be very painful. I increased the pain by allowing the fire to draw out the burn by holding my hand as near the fire as possible, off and on, for about ten minutes, with the certain knowledge that this would be the end of both pain and mark; such proved to be the case.
Henry followed in his father's footsteps, obtaining his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Durham in 1891. At the age of 27 he arrived in Melbourne in April 1894 aboard the Port Albert. He was registered as a medical practitioner in Victoria on 4 May 1894.
It appears that Dr Cook already believed in homœopathy, possibly because of his father's influence, as in 1895 Dr Cook took the position of Resident Surgeon of the Melbourne Homœopathic Hospital . (This position was previously held by Dr James Cook, unrelated, who resigned in March 1895). He was listed in the 1896 & 1897 editions of the Melbourne Post Office Directory as being Resident Medical Officer at the Melbourne Homœopathic Hospital, but not in the 1898 edition.
In 1901 he moved to Sale in Eastern Victoria, where he ran a practice in York Street. By 1909 his practice was at Wyndham Street, Shepparton.
By 1919 he had moved to 2 Studley Park Road, Kew, where he died on 7 May, 1923.