DECREASING BACTERIAL CONTENT OF THE BODY
I believe this may be the place to summarize my observations, of which the dairy cow experiment was the logical culmination. As I studied native Vermonters, living
close to the soil, I had noted how the vinegar. and honey treatment at each meal contributed to their continued good health and freedom from sickness. From a
two-year study of twelve adults and twelve little children who had acted as human guinea pigs I had learned that sickness appeared on an alkaline urine reaction
background, and recovery from sickness came when the urine reaction changed to the normal acid reaction and continued to be acid.
I had learned from reading medical literature that the body cells manufactured carbonic acid, lactic acid, phosphoric acid, and sulfuric acid. These four brought to the
blood each day were met by the sodium bicarbonate of the blood, which is alkaline in reaction, and converted them into weaker acids. In this way the effect that
these acids had in raising the acidity of the blood was greatly weakened. If these four acids were not manufactured by body cells in suitable amounts the sodium
bicarbonate increased in the blood was not used as it was intended to be. By its alkaline reaction it made body tissues suitable soil for the growth of harmful germs,
which naturally grow on an alkaline soil.
Infestation of the body by these germs appeared to be changed into infection through an increase in the sodium bicarbonate content of the blood. The question arose
as to whether apple cider vinegar from an organic source like ap· les would be accepted by the human body as a substitute for the four acids normally manufactured
by body cells, but which were not made in suitable amounts because of a biochemical block in the body. Would vinegar made from the whole apple lower the
sodium bicarbonate of the blood to the point 'where an acid urine reaction appeared, and would it continue to be present on rising in the morning and before the
evening meal?
I learned from the late Professor Cavanaugh of Cornell that the reaction of a cow's milk varies between an acid reaction of pH 5.8 and 6.2. When the shift to
alkaline occurs with an attack of mastitis, accompanied by streptococci germs, the reaction of the milk changes to alkaline pH 7 or to 7.5. Sodiun-:: chloride is a
neutral salt. It is the sodium bicarbonate, often referred to as baking soda, that shifts the milk reaction of a cmv to the alkaline side.
The osmotic pressure of a cow's blood makes it possible for the watery part to pass through the sieve like walls of the tiny blood vessels called capillaries, as ink
passes through blotting paper. It is made up of five per cent sugar, .6 plus albumin. and .3 plus salt. The osmotic pressure of the blood in a cow. therefore, is due to
sugar, albumin, and salts.
When the natural carbohydrate intake represented by fruit, berries, edible leaves and roots, and edible foliage, with their organic acid and natural
Sugar content, is
not enough to maintain the five per cent
Sugar in the blood, the albumin and salt content of the cow's blood go up to maintain the osmotic pressure. 'When the sugar
drops this pressure tends to drop. and then the blood albumin and salts go up to raise the pressure automatically.
Sodium bicarbonate is a normal constituent of blood, which gives it a characteristic faintly alkaline reaction above pH 7.0. Normally, by the process called osmosis,
sodium bicarbonate does not go through into the milk. 'When the
Sugar in the blood drops low enough albumin and salts in the blood go up. A trace of sodium
bicarbonate then goes through into milk, which changes the reaction to alkaline.
Now, with these facts in mind, I understand better why Vermont folk medicine combines apple cider vinegar and honey in the same glass of water. Native
Vermonters, with an inquiring and analytical mind, worked out by the trial-and-error method of research a combination of two teaspoonfuls of apple cider vinegar
and two teaspoonfuls of honey in a glass of water, to be taken at each meal or at other times of the day that were suitable. By this combination the digestion was
improved, heartburn and gas formation were less, bowel action was improved, body warmth and energy similarly improved, sensitiveness to cold was less, quick
recovery from fatigue took place, endurance increased, and sound sleep at night was an extra dividend.
It became evident to those who used this drink each day that body performance was greatly improved. I concluded that the reason this occurred was because of the
vinegar-and-honey combination's ability to increase the vital activity of body cells, reduce the sodium bicarbonate content of the blood, and furnish the sugar
necessary to restore the normal osmotic pressure.
The dairy cow that was turned over to me for experimentation provided the opportunity to learn what part apple cider vinegar played in the vinegar-and-honey
combination. I discovered, as you have seen demonstrated in my journal, that it had a great deal to do with decreasing the bacterial content of a cow's body, and I
concluded that it was a safe and effective remedy to prescribe for patients who wanted freedom from colds, influenza, sinus trouble, and other types of sickness. For
the remedy had been proven by Vermont folk medicine and had stood the test of time.
Continued good reports from patients who took the vineegar-and-honey drink disclosed the fact that it discouraged the forces in the human body which produce
sickness. This simple drink-which, incidentally, is called "switchel" by elderly Vermonters-ought not to be forgotten, because it works just as well today as it did two
hundred years ago. Because of the numerous helpful things it does in the human body, its use as one of the treatment measures when
Arthritis is present has seemed
to me both natural and advisable.
But there was still one more question I had to ask of nature.
Could an inorganic acid not derived from fruit be poured
over the ration of a dairy cow with the same good results the.: appeared when apple cider vinegar was used? In order to establish the answer five gallons of
phosphoric acid not made from a fruit was purchased. I chose this liquid because cm"-5 in the herd liked the grass in the pasture where acid phosphate had been
used as a trial fertilizer.
The phosphoric acid was poured over the ration just as the vinegar had been in an experiment which involved ten dairy cows specially selected. The cows accepted
the acid, but within two weeks most of them had developed swollen quarters in their udders, with a thickening of the milk and the appearance of flakes and lumps in
it.
As soon as this happened, the acid was discontinued and apple cider vinegar was substituted for it. That soon brought a disappearance of the swelling and returned
the milk to normal.
With the phosphoric acid we had produced mastitis, which apple cider vinegar prevented. Nature had given her answer, and it was simply that the acid poured over
the ration must be an organic acid from fruit that did not prevent chemical and physiologic processes in a cow's body from reaching their normal goals.