| Dr. Andrew P. Davis is of Scotch-Irish extraction; born in Belfast, New York, in 1835; reared in Indiana from his fifth year; educated in the common schools and in Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana; studied, first: the Botanic System of practice; the Thompsonian; the Eclectic; graduated in Rush Medical College in 1866-67; Pulte Homeopathic College in 1877; took a Post Graduate Course in New York, in Homoeopathy and Ophthalmology in 1880; graduated in Orificial Surgery under Prof. E. H. Pratt; studied and graduated in Osteopathy in 1893 and 1894; in Chiropractic in 1898. Wrote three books "Osteopathy Illustrated," "Neurology," and lastly "Neuropathy." He has the distinction of having the first place in the first Osteopathic School - has kept abreast of the times in all advanced thought from every source. He has the endowment of an energy that knows no defeat nor stopping place, in his search for Truth, for the amelioration of suffering humanity. For this reason he has surmounted every obstacle thus far; and in the application of the sciences he has mastered, has but few equals, perhaps no superiors. Now, at an age beyond the ordinary, is active, with all of his mental faculties seemingly in as good condition as, if not better than, at any time in his life. He bears the distinction of being the head and front of physical manipulators. As a teacher of the Drugless Healing Sciences, has filled many places of distinction. As a teacher and practitioner throughout the United States, has treated creditably and satisfactorily all the afflicted with whom he has come in contact, or dealt with. His career in Los Angeles is one of extreme activity, having a large and lucrative practice, which is increasing as the days go by. To be acquainted with him and know him is a source of gratification. His friends may be counted by thousands. His moral character is beyond reproach; his reputation is world-wide as an Author and Practitioner. To be treated by him is indeed a satisfaction and productive of good results.
The object of presenting another book to the world is to, in some degree, enlighten the people along the line of health, and to show the afflicted a better way out of their abnormal, diseased state than has heretofore been presented them. The medical profession is bound to its idols, stereotyped in the belief that medicines or drugs are the agencies essential to cure disease, and the habit of taking medicine for every ailment to which mankind is subject has become so firmly established that other means seem inadequate. This volume or series of essays will show the reader a better way than to poison the system with foreign substances, which, in most cases, tend to make matters worse, because they are unnatural and in no way compatible with the body, but rather increase the abnormal conditions; hence people should be enlightened along lines which, if adopted, will make for the betterment of mankind, increase comfort, longevity, and finally cause them to abandon the use of useless, injurious elements which have always been deleterious to comfort and happiness. They have never mitigated human suffering, but to the contrary increased it. If what we have to say will check the tide of human misery, and be the means of enlightenment to any perceptible degree, or save the life of only a few sufferers, we shall have been repaid a thousand fold for our efforts. We have no theories to advance or to advocate, but simply plain, unvarnished facts to present. Our desire is to make them stand out in an intelligent manner, so clear that all may learn them and be able to apply them in all conditions to relieve the afflicted and cure them of their ills. Our investigations have covered large fields; much territory has been explored; great barriers have been removed; much rubbish cast aside; and we have been successful in removing much unnecessary garbage, thought to be of use in by-gone days, but found to be useless; have sifted and culled the best that sound judgment, long tried and demonstrated experience have found useful, reliable, to be absolutely depended upon, and have written it in intelligent, comprehensible sentences so that the people can grasp the meaning and be able to utilize the instruction in a way that will ameliorate their suffering, and cure all conditions of functional, human ills. Neuropathy is the grandest, most comprehensive and far-reaching science in the imagination or comprehension of human thought, embracing, as it does, every means which in any way affects the human body - through its own elements, without resorting to outside influences - even to the exclusion of the "Bacteria Theories" as the supposed cause of disease; using only the elements of which the body is composed, including every means which removes nerve or muscular irritation, or which interfere with the normal circulation of the fluids of the body - harmonizing every department with the whole body, thus removing all causes which interfere with the normal functioning of any or all of its parts. This book is dedicated to the afflicted; to those who have had to submit to stereotyped experimentation from medical practitioners, whose prescriptions are the outcome of supposed efficacy in medicine for the cure of disease; to those who, heretofore, have had no choice in selecting a physician to administer to their wants; to those whose lives have hung upon the probable efficacy of a supposed remedy; to those whose friends have been the victims, of the uncertainties of unscrupulous and boastful pretenders, commercial demagogues, and ignorant shysters: to those who desire a betterment of their condition; to those who have the amelioration of the afflicted in view, and are willing to lay aside prejudice, doubt and abandon the use of agencies of established failure, who desire something that is rational; something that can be relied on to relieve their sufferings; that which can be applied under any and all circumstances, and in all conditions, with an assurance of satisfactory results, with the assurance of a never wavering faith of one who has spent a life in the study of the human body. He has searched with intense interest every source of promise, through all systems, both physical and mental, for something reasonable, something reliable, that, when applied, would relieve and cure the afflicted. This science – Neuropathy - is the result of
the long and ardent search of the author of this book. It is sent
forth on its mission, with the assurance of its merits being approbated
by all who will learn its philosophy - how to apply it as suggested
herein. In every instance where properly, and intelligently applied,
it will be appreciated for its merits, and serve as an incentive
to all to recommend its use in all conditions demanding relief. To my devoted, faithful, and loving companion along life's pathway, the honor of the editorship and arrangement of this volume is due. Her assistance has been the means of enabling the author to present this volume in its very best possible arrangement and order, eliminating all superfluous words and phrases, leaving the kernel, and the clear cut expressions, in a language easily understood, and at the same time fully explaining the great facts intended, so as to be easily learned by the reader, and those who desire to know how to successfully ameliorate human suffering in the quickest and best manner possible, without the use of drugs, poisonous agencies, but simply with means always at "hand" - the human "hands," and without harm, inconvenience, or pain. This science studied, learned and rightly applied, fills a niche never before filled, and embraces more than any method of healing ever presented to the world. It will go down the ages blessing humanity as the years roll on. The better the philosophy is understood, the more easily will its application be made. It is applicable under all circumstances, and for all conditions, where undue pressure is involved, and the lack of proper nourishment are factors.
There are many persons who complain of pains in their muscles, and who wonder why they cannot move about without feeling as if they would break in pieces, or why they cannot make a move without pain, and they experience a limitation as regards extension of the limbs as far as they used to be able to move them. They may have taken medicine from some doctor, or some patent medicine, or made up a compound themselves and taken it, but still they complain, and get worse. The stiffness of muscles is nearly always due to impeded venous circulation of the blood, or to irritation of the nervous system, causing the muscular fibers to contract around nerve filaments, and this increases the muscular contraction as well as the impediment of the flow of venous blood on its way back to the heart, and results in chemical changes, toxic poison and general malaise, often ending in fever, rheumatism, sciatica or interference of the functions of some one or more organs in the system. These patients have been the rounds, tried many physicians, been worsted instead of having derived any relief, are anxious to find some one who can give them ease and cure the difficulty complained of. Proper exercise, persisted in, would have prevented
any such a condition as the above description depicts, but the kind
of exercise which should have been taken to keep the system immune
from such a state, was not known to the patient; he would not have
taken the exercise had he known how, perhaps; thus it is with nearly
all persons who complain. Such cases come under the purview of the Neuropathic
physician, who alone can definitely give a reason for the difficulty
and institute measures which will relieve the entire trouble, by
scientifically taking off the pressure from the nerves and blood-vessels
involved. There is no guess-work in the treatment of such cases,
nor there need be no doubt as to absolutely rendering relief. The
beauty of the science of Neuropathy is: it means something, does
something when properly and understandingly applied. WHY THE NECESSITY FOR DRUGLESS PHYSICIANS? Since the days of Hippocrates, the father of medicine, the effects of its use have been conjectural, fraught with doubtful consequences. It remains the same uncertain agency in the cure of disease. While many recover while taking medicine, many get well without its use. A greater percent recover without its use than do when medicine is used. This is argument sufficient for the substitution of something to take its place. If the use of medicine is more harmful than beneficial, why persist in its use? The experience of the ages is against its use. Men of the highest ranks, the most learned, have manifested a disposition to find something to substitute for medicine. Those whose zeal has been the most intense after truth have changed their minds in regard to medicine, as in any respect worthy of consideration in the treatment of disease. Dr. Osler, perhaps the highest authority in this age, denounces medicine as an uncertainty, unworthy the place assigned it in the way of being a curative. Medicine is incompatible with the physical organism, for it is an excess, therefore unnecessary, being composed of chemical elements not the same as are in the make up of the body, therefore acting as foreign substances. It is a fact, indisputable, supported by abundant proof, that any excess or addition to the elementary chemical constituents of the body, produce inharmony of its structure. This inharmony is evidence of disease. That condition is what the person afflicted desires to get rid of and avoid. The intelligent physician knows that his medicines do not cure, but that, if any benefit is derived from their use, it must be from an increase of stimulus causing an increased effort on the part of the organism to eliminate the irritant thus added, and if the system has the strength to do so, the reaction is beneficial; in a word, "medicine produces another disease," which takes the place of the former - hence the name, Allopathy. Is it any wonder, from these considerations, that something better is desired as a substitute for this uncertain commodity - medicine? The doctors manifest a desire to change and get something better, as shown by their restlessness, uneasiness, failures in affording the relief patients long for and expect. They are looking on the drugless systems with great anxiety, witnessing cures, in thousands of cases, where their drugs have failed, and are waiting and watching for an opportunity, for the time to come when they can step in and assume the praise for having discovered what the drugless healers have been thrusting upon them for so many years; and when that opportunity presents itself, they will assert, "We always knew it." The people are interested in getting relief when sick; have witnessed the failures and premature deaths following the wake of the use of medicines and drugs; have also witnessed the effects of the Drugless methods side by side with the use of drugs; have seen the cures of cases by drugless methods where drugs failed in similar diseases, and similar conditions; that, too, without injury to the patients afflicted. On the other hand, those who had recovered from the use of medicines were, the rather, made worse, some crippled, addicted to the drug habit, or left with some chronic ailment - made so by the use of foreign substances, incompatible, called drugs, administered by physicians who stood high in the ranks of medical lore. It will be understood by the reader that disease is a condition, caused by disturbance of some of the functionaries in the body. The disturbance is, commonly, that of undue pressure. The interference of normal conditions, such as muscular contraction, being the most common, causes a larger percent of diseased conditions, perhaps, than any other; it follows, as a rational conclusion, that the indications are to remove the pressure - meet the indications, and the natural order being restored, there is nothing else to do. These being some of the reasons for the necessity of drugless physicians, we feel justified in emphasizing their claims in preference to being compelled to patronize a class of practitioners whose system is so uncertain, so harmful. The Regular physicians are wont to compel all the people to adopt their methods and to patronize them. They ostracize, persecute and prosecute those who can cure disease without the use of drugs, save suffering, and the lives of those who, from the use of drugs, would either die or be made invalids. The Tissue Elements should be used when indicated; for they are a part of the physical organism; are sometimes needed, when not supplied in the food eaten; but drugs, being foreign substances, should not be used as curative agencies. They do not possess curative power. It is, therefore, to the interest of the people - the whole mass of mankind - to patronize those who use rational, natural means to cure disease. This is the reason we recommend the means suggested in this book as the best, because they embrace the entire nervous system, and the means necessary to establish harmony throughout the body; when this is accomplished, health is the result. The ease with which this system is applied, its wonderful efficacy, commend it to all who are interested in a Natural, Reasonable System of Healing. We earnestly solicit your careful and serious consideration of the foregoing, hoping it may be of the greatest interest to you in relieving human suffering. |