Chlorosis is thought, by many writers on medicine, to be caused by a syphilitic "taint;" but this is no more true than the claim, set up by the same authorities, that the whole human family is tainted.

I have found to rest on a basis of toxin poisoning derived from intestinal indigestion. After the uterine lymphatics have taken on a state of subacute inflammation (sometimes called adenitis), painful menstruation begins to develop, and the amount of menstrual discharge grows gradually smaller, until many such cases cease to menstruate entirely. In the opposite state--hyperemia--thepelvic circulation, due to toxin infection of the lymphatics, causes painful and profuse menstruation; if not corrected, cystic and fibroid tumors may follow.

Chlorosis presents a catarrhal state of the neck of the womb; the mucous lining thickens up and prevents the menstrual discharge from escaping freely. The discharge is bottled up to such an extent that decomposition takes place. It is the absorption of this decomposition that causes the anemia peculiar to chlorosis. When the disease is well developed, patients suffer from oxygen starvation. Carbonic acid accumulates; digestion and nutrition are impaired, and cell renewal is almost impossible.

The blood becomes so thin that there are noises in the head and giddiness. The patient is troubled with cold feet and hands. The mind is dull and inactive. Shocks--such as disappointment in love--may be fatal. In many chlorotics, excessive venery, sorrow over the death of a near relative or friend, inability to keep up with classes in school, worry, etc., further impair the health and prevent a return to health.

Mothers who eat imprudently and worry over family affairs--mothers who worry over boys who are unruly and who are getting into trouble--build indigestion, catarrh, and toxin poisoning.

Business men who carry their business worries around with them, or who use tobacco, coffee, tea, and other stimulants, and overeat, develop toxin poisoning.

Any worry that is habitual, in one who is severely taxed in a business way, and who eats too much, or eats improperly--for example, bread, butter, and fruit jellies, jams, or preserved fruits--will lead to a premature grave with hardening of the arteries. When excessive venery is added, nerve resistance is lost, and the ordinary fermentation changes into septic decomposition. Bright's disease, suppurative inflammations of the lymphatic glands, liver, appendix, pleura, lungs, and other parts of the body, are liable to develop. Tabes dorsalis is a common disease in those who abuse nutrition with food, work, stimulants, and excessive venery.

Those who live far away from the markets, who live on dry beans, cured meats, and an inferior quality of bread, potatoes, and a few canned vegetables, and who are shut out from sunlight, fresh fruit and vegetables (such as miners), develop a state of acidosis, and, when predisposed to tuberculosis, break down and die of that disease. Others develop rheumatism and paralysis.