In the 11th Chapter of Liviticus and the 14th Chapter of Deuteronomy, laws were given to the children of Israel in regard to what animals were proper to eat, what animals are clean and what animals unclean. All clean animals had to fulfil two requirements: they must chew the cud and be divided in the hoof, or cloven-hoofed as it is termed. Cattle, deer and buffalo could be eaten, but not the camel. While the camel chews the cud, it does not divide the hoof, and therefore is unclean. Sheep and goats conform to the double standard, but not the pig. While the pig divides the hoof, it does not chew the cud, and therefore was placed in the forbidden list.
Chewing the cud-also called rumination-may be illustrated by the familiar cow. The cow has four stomachs or four compartments to its stomach. It bites a quantity of hay, alfalfa, grass or other fodder, which is immediately swallowed and the bolus goes directly to the first stomach known as the paunch. Here the food is rolled into balls and passed to the second stomach, which is known as the rumen.
Now a remarkable phenomenon occurs. By a voluntary effort all the food is elevated into the mouth, where for the first time if is masticated and thoroughly mixed with the salivary juices. When this is accomplished, the food is reswallowed and passes directly through the third stomach known as the psalterium because the folds hand down like the leaves of a book. From here the food passes to the abomasum, or true stomach, where gastric digestion is completed.
Now, this is not a religious thesis, but supposedly a paper on homoeopathic philosophy, and so the spiritual reasons, or even the natural reasons, involved in these dietary requirements and prohibitions are not within the compass of this article.
Every day we take in a great quantity of food for out minds. We read newspapers, books, medical and other journals; and for entertainment we go to a moving picture show. All the wealth of information passes to the outer memory. If it is to be properly digested and become suitable nourishment for the rational mind, two things must occur: First, these truths must be lifted by a voluntary effort to the realm of conscious thought where they may be analyzed, dissected and meditated upon.
The ancient Hebrew word for meditation was the same as for rumination. The passage in which the Palmist says, “Upon thy law shall he meditate day and night,” could very properly be translated. “Upon thy law doth he ruminate day and night.” The second essential feature in the process of mental digestion is this. As the natural food in chewing the cud is brought into contact with something extraneous to itself-the salivary juices-so must the mental food be brought under the influence of something extraneous, namely, general rational truths and spiritual laws and principles.
One of he great men of the day, measured by the yardstick of accomplishment, was the learned Samuel Hahnemann. In comparison with the little that the average physician accomplished, what he accomplished was stupendous. How was he able to do so much? The answer like in the foundation that was laid in his youth. In reading Dr. T.L. Bradfords book called, The Life and Letters of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, we have the following (page 15):.
When Hahnemann was five years of age, his father had a habit of giving his son what he called “thinking lessons. DR. Hering mentions hits several times in his writings. He says: “Could the father have foreseen the future greatness of his son?” But what was it that the father thought? It has been made known to us. While he looked upon the son os much desired, this was the thought: “If that boy is permitted to grow up, I will give him lessons in thinking.” As he thought and determined, so he acted. An old man in Meissen, who had forgotten the son, when he heard of his fame, said, smilingly, “Many a time have I taken a walk with his father, and ever at the certain hour he would say: I must go home now, I have to give a lesson to my son Samuel, a lesson in thinking; that boy must learn to think.” And the childhood habit followed him through his lifetime.
. In other words, he was taught to ruminate. The foundation laid in youth was the basis upon which could be built the superstructure of a great man.
Now, when this is viewed in his proper light we see the utter uselessness of a large part of our educational system, especially as we have it in the schools of the North American continent. Cramming for examinations produces nothing but mental indigestion. If is of no use, but often harmful, and should be forbidden by law, as other nuisances are interdicted. IN the universities we have students forced to cover, in honor courses, volume after volume of reading and reviewing. Simply nonsense, with no good result! Two books of Shakespeare thoroughly studied, analyzed, the beautiful passages memorized so that they can be brought forth at any time to ruminate upon, is much better tan ten books of Shakespeare simply read through for examination purposes.
In the study and practice of homoeopathy we must follow the path of rumination. We read over a remedy; we take it in. Then we must meditate upon it and view it with its generals, its particulars, its relationships, and its sphere of action. But this knowledge is of no use in curing the sick unless it is applied in accordance with the eternal law of cure. this old world has many needs. It moaneth and it groaneth, and little is brought forth. The great need of the world today is that the youth should be taught to think, to ruminate, to chew the cud.
TORONTO, CANADA.
