A crisis may be defined as a vigorous effort of the body to free itself of toxins, either through some of the normal outlets of the body--bowels, kidneys,--; or through some compensatory channel. Crises are temporary acute biogonies lasting usually only a few hours to two or three days. The doctrine of crisis is as old as Hippocrates. Crises frequently occur in acute "diseases" and are recognized as such by the regular school.

Of boils in acute "diseases," Dr. Shew said, Hydropathic Family Physician, p. 49:--"A crop of boils is not unfrequently one of the consequences of fever*** These are, doubtless, beneficial in their effects, although they have been looked upon in a different light. Patients generally who get boils in abundance do well in the end." Again, on pages 50 and 51 he says: "We sometimes see fever end in what is called a critical way. The ancients were much in the habit of looking for critical symptoms, as they were called. Such do certainly take place in some eases. There may be a discharge of blood either from the nostrils or bowels; or there may be purging or sweating just as the disease is about to break up and leave the system. Dr. Gregory knew a case of fever to terminate by a great discharge of healthy urine. Andral knew a fever to end in a profuse expectoration, and another case with an alternation of sweating and expectoration. The formation of boils has in some cases appeared to be connected with a favorable issue of the disease."

It should not be lost sight of that the toxins eliminated through boils are in addition to those that go out through the regular channels. We should keep in mind also that the amount of toxins necessary to cause trouble is not great. Only a drop of some toxins is enough to kill. The amount of opium, for example, that is daily eliminated by the habitual user is enough if taken by the non-user, to kill him quickly.

Dr. Jennings records a case of pneumonia that at the end of two weeks appeared nearing recovery when a diarrhea developed. This was followed by more improvement when night-sweats developed. To the father's anxious inquiry about what he was going to do with the night sweats, he replied: "I am going to let him sweat it out." This he did and the patient went steadily forward to health. Under hygienic care aggressive biogonies are usually terminated by mild, yet effectual functional efforts of all the excretory organs, unattended by any great commotion in the organism, or any strong determination to any one emunctory.

With passive biogonies the case is different. When these are left to nature they are frequently resolved by some external abscess. Many cases do end without any development which may be properly termed a crisis, while others recover only after the repeated development of active biogonies which are more or less severe and which are properly called crises. Dr. Trall says of crises: "The most common forms in which crises, or critical efforts, present themselves are diarrhea, boils, and general feverishness. Boils present all manner of appearances from the hard diffuse, inflammatory swelling, with scarcely any supporting point, to the deep, fully-matured, sub-cutaneous abscess; there may be one or several at the same time, or they may succeed each other for weeks or months, and be very painful, or scarcely troublesome. Those of full habit, sanguine temperament, and active external circulation, are most subject to boils and eruptions."

"Diarrheas, when critical, come on without any accidental or unusual exposure or dietetic error, and continue with greater or less severity from three days to two weeks. There is not usually much pain, gripping, or distress of any kind in the bowels, but the evacuations are thin, watery, and frequent; generally there are from three to six or eight motions in twenty-four hours. In persons who have been most subject to piles the motions will be most frequent, and attended with considerable bearing down or dragging sensation about the lower bowel, and the discharge will exhibit a great amount of mucous or slimy matter, often intermixed with blood. A critical looseness of the bowels is not attended with debility like ordinary diarrhea; if long continued, there is of course some degree of languor. Those who have long labored under derangements of the digestive organs, and particularly those with torpid livers and constipated bowels more especially, if these conditions are complicated with pale, yellow, bloodless skin, and shrivelled, superficial capillary vessels, are most liable to critical evacuations by the bowels; and, as far as my observation extends, they are invariably beneficial, always being succeeded by a decided sense of improvement in the patient's entire physiological condition.

"The term 'feverishness', does not very well express the other common form of critical action, but I know of no better one to employ. It is characterized by more or less of the symptoms which attend an attack of simple fever, but they appear in a more disguised and irregular form. There is chilliness and heat, languor, depression, backache, headache, general restlessness, great sensitiveness to cold, etc., etc., but unlike the same symptoms in a paroxysm of simple fever, they do not follow each other in the order of the cold, hot and sweating stages. This febrile disturbance continues from one day to a week, when, unless aggravated by improper treatment, the body recovers its balance of action and feeling, and the patient feels himself advanced at least one step on the road to health. Other manifestations of critical disturbances, as eruptions, rashes, free evacuation of bile. etc., stiffness of muscles, joints, fetid perspirations, do occur, but require no special management."

Boils and skin eruptions are especially likely to occur in those who change from the conventional death dealing diet to a sensible mode of eating. Boils often come out in crops and may last for weeks. However, their appearance is always beneficial to the health of the individual. The case of a former patient of the author's will serve to illustrate this nicely. Mrs. H of New York City was paralyzed from her waist to her knees. There was no power of motion in any part of the paralyzed regions. Medical physicians had told her that she would always be paralyzed. In addition to the paralysis there were severe pains in the back.

Abandoning medical treatment after her physicians had pronounced her case hopeless she resorted to natural methods. Her condition forced her to rest. A change of diet was all that was done. After a few weeks a large boil developed on her back. This was followed by others until there were thirteen in all, one appearing as the other was "cured." With the appearance of each boil there was an immediate and marked improvement in her condition. With the appearance of the first boil she became able to move her thighs. Three boils enabled her to walk. By the time the thirteenth appeared she was walking as well as ever and has not had a return of her trouble. At this writing she has been well for nearly fourteen years.