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Health and Illness II
GA 348

20 January 1922, Dornach

VI. Diphtheria and Influenza—Crossed Eyes

A question is raised concerning why, in one family, four mute children were born along with normal children. In his youth, the father of the children tore the tongues out of birds. Could the four mute children be his punishment?

Another question: Influenza, in which people suffer from double vision, is so frequent now. What is the cause of this?

Dr. Steiner: Were the children who cannot speak born one after the other in this family, or were the children who could speak born in-between?

The Questioner: The mute children were born one after the other.

Dr. Steiner: It is difficult to speak about such a case when one is not thoroughly familiar with it. We shall take up the question about influenza later. This first case, however, is difficult to judge when one is not familiar with the details. Much depends, for example, on whether a speaking child was born between the mute children; whether, after a certain moment in time, the speaking children were born and the mute children after, or whether the mute children were born first and the normal children after, or whether they were born alternately. Muteness in children naturally can be caused by any number of factors. If these children can hear and are only mute, not deaf—mute—something about which one can sometimes be in error of course—if they truly hear, and the problem therefore lies in the speech apparatus, then one must figure out how the father or mother could have influenced it.

Without thoroughly knowing this case, however, it is really risky to talk about it. One would have to know the age of both parents. Much depends on whether both parents were already old when they had the children or whether they are still young. Another factor is whether the mother or the father is the older. Much depends on all this.

Then, the character of both parents also plays a part. Whether or not it is important that the father tore out the tongues of birds in his youth, as you say, can be determined only after all the other questions have been answered. Such a consideration depends on whether the man was perhaps cruel in his youth. The characteristic of cruelty as such does come into consideration. To speak of a punishment, however, is out of the question here. First, punishments do not exist and second, if they did, this certainly would not be a punishment for the father! To say that the children were born mute to punish the father for his cruelty reminds me of the story of the boy whose hands froze and who said, “This serves my father right for not buying me gloves!” When somebody is as terribly afflicted as these four children, it is not a punishment for the father; he is much less affected than the four children, although his cruelty must be considered.

Again, certain other definite matters must be considered here. In relation to children's age you can see that if a person develops a quality as a youth—let us say one develops a quality of cruelty or something similar at age eleven, for example—the onset of such a tendency always recurs after about three and a half years. This individual would then express cruel tendencies again at fourteen and a half or fifteen, then again at eighteen, at twenty—one and a half, and so forth.

Imagine, if conception occurs during the period when such a tendency recurs, the conception itself can be a kind of cruelty and naturally can work harmfully. In this roundabout way, all such matters naturally can come under consideration. A connection can only be claimed, however, if all other factors have been excluded. I have told you what a difference there is between winter births and summer births. One would have to determine from the ages of these children whether the earlier births perhaps occurred in the summer or in the winter, and so forth.

This is why I say that to approach the problem conscientiously, one must know all the details. When you become acquainted with the whole case, we can talk about it. I would be glad to do so. You do not know, for example, whether the four mute children were the older or the younger ones. It must definitely be established whether or not this tendency to bring forth mute children was later cured or whether it appeared only after the four speaking children were born, in which case, the reason would have to be discovered somewhere after the birth of the fourth child. So, we would first have to be familiar with all the factors.

Regarding the question about the flu, it is related to all the diseases, such as bronchitis, that can afflict the human head or the organs of the upper chest, but I will refer particularly to illnesses such as diphtheria and influenza that are so widely prevalent just now. These diseases afflict the upper part of the human body, and they have a definite peculiarity. They can best be studied by examining diphtheria; here one really can learn the most.

You know well that those who study medicine in the ordinary sense today do not know much about the flu; therefore, the descriptions given by doctors of the symptoms that appear with the flu are quite inexact. When I see people suffering from influenza, I must always turn my attention to something other than the symptoms that the doctors pay heed to, because the flu is actually a kind of brain illness. The flu is really an illness of the brain! I shall say more about this later.

The following points especially must be taken into consideration regarding diphtheria. First, if you look at a child suffering from diphtheria—adults can also suffer from it, you know—you can see a membrane in the throat. This membrane, this formation of tissue, is usually what can cause suffocation in diphtheria. This formation of tissue is thus the first important factor. The second thing one notices in diphtheria is that the heart of a diphtheria patient is always assaulted. The heart does not function properly. The third aspect of diphtheria is that even if the patient is not strongly afflicted by the membrane in his throat, he nevertheless has a hard time swallowing because of a kind of paralysis of the throat that occurs in addition to the membrane. Finally, the same symptom that is nowadays observed in those suffering from influenza also appears in diphtheria patients: their eyes begin to cross and they see double. These are the most important symptoms of diphtheria that can be noted in the upper part of the body. A form of kidney ailment, unobserved in those who suffocate and die, appears as an aftereffect in the diphtheria patients who recover.

What does diphtheria really consist of? Diphtheria can be understood only when one knows that man is actually kept alive from two directions—from the outside in and from the inside out. Man lives first from within his skin. The skin is a tremendously important organ, and man really lives within the skin, within his surroundings. It is like this (sketching).


Diagram 1
Diagram 1.


Here is the skin; I have already talked about it. The skin is constantly in contact with the outer air, with the external world, which causes it to become calloused. In humans it only becomes a little calloused and then sloughs off. The skin all over man's body constantly sloughs off. Man is continuously sloughing off his entire body. He is continuously exchanging his physical body because of outside influences. You can imagine what a tremendous influence the air has on the living body when you consider the following. Think of a being that lives entirely in water. The skin it forms will be quite soft. The water itself causes it to form skin that is quite soft. Particularly through the influence of sunlight, the soft skin is pulled forward, and the being in the water becomes a fish. You can hardly see the jaw of a fish, because it is entirely covered with skin. Now imagine that this creature does not live in water but in the air. If this being lives in the air, it cannot form the soft skin. If this being who has lived in the water could not form the soft skin, his jaw would no longer be inside; the whole inner jaw would lie outside, and he would be a bird. The jaw of the fish in the water is simply covered with soft skin. By virtue of living in the air, the bird is equipped with an exposed jaw, a jaw lying completely outside. Thus you see the influence exerted on a creature from outside. Man, however, can form soft skin with other organs, but this soft skin is always being sloughed off, worked off.


Diagram 2
Diagram 2.


Aside from this life proceeding from the outside in, there is also a life going from inside out, particularly from the kidneys. Both must be active in the human being. Activity both from the skin inward and from the kidneys outward must be at work. The heart occupies a position in between and is highly sensitive to too much activity from outside or inside. The heart can sense when the kidneys begin to be overly active, and it also senses when the skin's activity begins to be too strong or too weak.

Now, what happens in the case of diphtheria? In diphtheria, the skin suddenly becomes weak and subdued. The activity of the skin is too weak, so a person with diphtheria suffers from too little exchange of air through the skin. Indeed, this is the main problem. The skin, including the skin of the nose exposed to the external surroundings, does not breathe enough, and it becomes too weak. The in-streaming activity, indicated in my sketch by the arrows, no longer functions properly, and the heart senses this. The heart also senses that the kidneys work upward. What is it that the kidneys are doing? The heart can no longer restrain the activity of the kidneys, which shoots upward. Long before inflammation of the kidneys, that is, nephritis, sets in, the activity of the kidneys is already shooting upward. Because the skin activity is no longer working effectively from outside, superfluous skin forms on the inside. Because the, skin's activity from the outside is not working properly, a superfluous skin is formed, filling everything out, because the kidneys' activity is too strong.

When a person becomes afflicted with shrunken kidneys, which can occur when the kidneys' activity is deficient, you can see an indentation here on the head. There is a connection between the kidneys and this section of the head. As soon as the kidneys' activity is not working properly, this indentation occurs. You can see in every person who has kidney disease this indentation in the head. Beneath it lie the optic nerves. When the indentation occurs, the optic nerves become inactive. In the case of ordinary kidney shrinkage, the patient begins to see unclearly. When shrinkage does not occur but nephritis sets in instead, the kidney activity shoots up into the head and exerts an influence on the optic nerves.


Diagram 3
Diagram 3.


Now, you see, the optic nerves are such that when the head is viewed from above, they proceed back from the eyes. They cross in the brain, the two optic nerves, and continue on to the hindbrain. The optic nerves must be in good condition if we are to see well, because we see with both eyes. The moment these optic nerves that cross are not working properly, we see double. The optic nerves only need to be a little numbed and the crossing not made properly for us to see double. You know how a person who enjoys drinking can tell whether or not he is still functioning when he gets home: he places his hat at the foot of the bed, gets in bed, and if he sees one hat he is still all right, but if he sees two, he is not! This is easily done. So, because the blood circulates too fast, too much alcohol numbs the optic nerves, with the result that a person who has drunk too much has double vision.

The kidneys' activity also has a stimulating effect on the optic nerves. If the optic nerves do not interact properly at the point where they cross, man will see double. This is the case, for example, in diphtheria. You can see, therefore, that diphtheria is caused by a disorder in the skin's activity. Therefore, a future, more successful cure for diphtheria will consist above all of treating the patient in the right way with baths; he will have to be given such baths that will immediately stimulate vigorously the skin's activity. Then the formation of membranes will cease, and the patient's skin will begin to function properly again.

Treatment with modified virus vaccine is effective in the case of diphtheria, because the body is thus given a strong impulse to become active, but it has unfavorable aftereffects. Particularly if a child is treated with vaccine, it will later suffer a hardening of its organization. One therefore must strive actually to replace treatment with vaccine with that of bathing, especially in the case of diphtheria, which is based primarily on the defective activity of the skin. One can see how skin actually must receive special consideration. It is indeed true that diphtheria is more frequent now than in former times. Of course, one must consider centuries, not decades. According to all that is known of earlier ages, however—though many diseases naturally existed then that were much worse; people were afflicted with bubonic plague and cholera—diphtheria was more rare. This is connected with the fact that, in general, the European way of life increasingly leads in a direction in which the skin's activity is no longer supported. Certainly, people who have money bathe a lot, and so forth. The point, however, is what a person bathes in. Here you can see the ill effect of civilization in the fact that bald-headed people are much more numerous today than in former days. The growth of hair is also an outer activity. Just as plants grow from the soil, so the growth of hair is affected from outside. Not enough attention is paid today to the skin's activity. Do not assume that bathing with cold water, as practiced by Englishmen nowadays, has such good effects. What counts is what a person bathes in. Of course, it is also wrong for a person to cause too strong an activity of the skin by superfluous bathing. At any rate, in the case of diphtheria, one must try above all to bring about a proper activity of the skin.

This is also connected with a factor that affects people's offspring. Take a mother or father whose skin is too sluggish and doesn't slough off easily enough. This is most difficult to determine and takes a very sensitive insight into human peculiarities. The average layman cannot easily judge whether or not a person has callous skin, but some people do possess a much tougher skin than others. This is difficult to determine, because the skin is actually transparent. As it sloughs off, it appears to be colored differently because of what is underneath. Our skin is really transparent. If the father has a skin that is much tougher than it should be, the activity of the bones is also influenced thereby. As you know from what I have recently explained, the production of the blood depends on the activity of the bones. If the father has such callous skin that it reminds you of hippopotamus hide, he will produce white corpuscles that are too weak. This, in turn, influences his sperm, and his children will be weak from the beginning. So, one can say that if the father is a “hippopotamus,” it is possible for his children to be born with rickets—an English illness—for the children to be born weak and to be susceptible to tuberculosis. This is how these things are related.

If the father's skin is too soft, something that can be noted particularly when anxiety and so on easily cause blushing, then his bones become too hard, but this has little ill-effect.

If, however, the mother's skin is too soft, alternating between blushing and paling, her bones become too hard and she does not produce red corpuscles properly. Her child will acquire already at an early age, tendencies to all kinds of ailments such as rheumatism and particularly illnesses like measles, scarlet fever, and so on, diseases that are related to the metabolic system. These facts are all related.


Diagram 4
Diagram 4.


Now, as for the flu, it really comes from a brain ailment. The lower part of the brain, located under the optic nerves, suffers a form of paralysis. The flu consists of a paralysis of that portion of the brain that lies quite near the optic nerves. Since this is a very significant part of the brain, an influence is actually exerted on the entire body. Proceeding from this paralysis in the brain, something in the human being becomes ill in the case of ordinary flu. Above all, the spinal cord is affected, since this part of the brain goes right into the spine, from which the nerves extend to all the limbs. The person thus gets aches and pains in his limbs, and so on.

Recently, an interesting case of flu occurred that is most instructive. I have told you that the brain not only consists of solid substances but that it is also surrounded by cranial fluid. Particularly in the vicinity of this part here (pointing to sketch), which is incapacitated during flu, much cranial fluid is present. This recent case of flu was extraordinarily interesting, because the patient had one illness after another as aftereffects: pneumonia with high fever, then a fall in temperature, followed by pleurisy with high fever, and then again a drop in temperature. This was followed by peritonitis with high fever that finally fell, then a kind of general paralysis, and so on. This case of flu took a different direction from that of the usual flu. What happened here? You see, when studying this with the ordinary means available to medicine, it is extraordinarily difficult to figure out. The patient, a seventeen-year-old girl, was asked when she recuperated to tell what went through her mind during the time of her illnesses. Quite strangely, the following was determined.

Her parents and the doctor freely discussed her condition in the room in which she was resting, thinking it was all right to do so since she was constantly delirious. Indeed, during her delirium she did not appear to be aware of anything, but when she became well, she could repeat everything that had been discussed in her room. She knew and could relate it. This could be confirmed. Comprehension was therefore absent while she suffered from this severe case of flu and the subsequent illnesses; the conversations, however, remained in her memory. Much is retained in the memory after all, that at the moment may not be comprehended. This shows that it was not the solid part of the brain that was affected but the surrounding fluid. This influenced the rest of the body even more, because, when the solid part is partially numbed, the ensuing symptoms must be brought about through the working of the solid part of the brain on the spinal cord. The fluid, however, constantly flows up and down through the spinal canal here (see sketch on p. 103). Hence, if the fluid in the brain is afflicted, afflicted fluid also appears in the spinal canal, and from here it passes into all the limbs. It thereby gradually causes inflammation everywhere. Because it was the cranial fluid that was inflamed, and not the solid part of the brain, however, a more counteractive, healing force was present and—though in this case it was almost like a miracle—the girl recuperated in spite of having suffered from every possible illness.

Although various remedies must also be administered, in such illnesses it is essential that the body be given adequate rest and quiet. The patient must therefore lie in bed, and care should be taken to keep the room at a constant temperature and with even lighting, because rest is brought about not only by stretching out on a bed. One is also made restless by being hot one moment and frozen the next. But if the body is left totally to its own devices with steady warmth and light, it can itself endure even the worst attacks of pneumonia, pleurisy, and peritonitis. The human being is capable of that. Even with the worst illnesses that display the symptoms mentioned, it is more a matter of proper nursing care than of remedies. In general, proper care has great value.

You can recognize the significance of proper care from the following. When a limb is inflamed or injured, the best thing to do is simply to put a ligature on it somewhere above the affected area; it must be done correctly, however. In this way, the more delicate activity of the body, the etheric activity, is brought into play, and healing begins. So, when a hand or finger is ulcerated, a ligature is applied between it and the body, and then it heals quickly. The forces of healing must be summoned everywhere within the body itself. Naturally, cases vary. One must always consider the individual and know him well if one wishes to cure him; one must have insight into how a person is. In dealing with a patient suffering from diphtheria, for instance, it is under certain conditions best to place him in a rosemary bath so he can smell the rosemary. Repeated long rosemary baths will strengthen the activity of his skin. Sufficient rosemary must be added to the water, however, so that the patient constantly smells it during the bath. The activity of the skin is stimulated, and the patient will improve without being treated with vaccine. It really depends upon being able to arouse in the right way with the remedies the patient's own bodily resistance.

Of course, if a remedy isn't effective one time, people immediately consider it to be a bad remedy. You must realize, however, that with some people there is nothing to be done. Often, the remedy is used when it is too late to do anything, or else the dose would have to be increased so much that it would be enough for a horse; the patient wouldn't be able to tolerate it and would die of the remedy.

One must remember that the flu actually has its origin in an ailment of the brain. You will have perceived that a flu patient is always in a kind of doze, because the most important areas of the brain under the optic nerve are numbed. Thus he comes to doze. Now you can also grasp that when paralysis is located in the upper sections of the brain, the point of the intersection of the optic nerves is affected and the person sees double. All this shows you that double vision can come about quite naturally in influenza.

This should by no means be taken lightly. I once had a friend who at that time was thirty years old, ten years younger than me. He was cross-eyed, but here you have the opposite problem. In flu or diphtheria, a person becomes temporarily cross-eyed because something is internally out of order, but my friend was permanently cross-eyed and, of course, was unhappy about it because not everyone is totally without vanity. There was something in his body that caused his left and right sides to work inharmoniously. This is what caused his crossed eyes; his eyes were crossed, and he also stammered. Both afflictions had the same origin. On some occasions he overcame his crossed eyes and stammer quite well, but there are those who have little compassion for such people and complain about their afflictions. Once, for example, a person who was not too tactful said to my friend, “Tell me, Doctor, do you always stammer, or only occasionally?” The man could barely come out with, “N-n-not always, o-o-only w-when I m-meet a p-person, whom I find t-t-t-totally d-disagreeable!” This same man could recite long poems without stammering, and he didn't stammer when he was full of enthusiasm about something. The stammering is not the point, however; I only mention it because it is connected with this man's crossed eyes.

Now, my friend was a bit vain and wished to correct his condition. As you know, that leads to an operation, because crossed eyes are corrected by cutting one of the eye muscles. Crossed eyes are eliminated by this operation. Since, in my friend's case, his crossed eyes were so deeply rooted in his organism that he also stammered, I was terribly concerned when he decided to be operated on. I knew that when some brain ailment occurs a person can be temporarily cross-eyed, but when a person is permanently cross-eyed, as was my friend, his brain has become adjusted to this condition. If an eye muscle is cut when the problem is so deep-seated that a stammer is also present, then the opposite effect is brought about. By trying to correct the crossed eyes with an operation, a brain ailment is produced by that part of the brain being ruined where the optic nerves intersect.

Well, my friend was not to be deterred, and so he underwent the operation. If I had expressed my reservations concerning such an operation, those who imagine themselves to be real medical authorities would have been ready to call me an idiot, since one who asserts something that is not found in their books is called an idiot. As you can imagine, I naturally tried in some way to deter my friend from having this operation, but I could not come right out and say, “If you go through with this operation, you may possibly suffer a brain ailment.” He would not have believed me since all the doctors had told him it was a simple operation. Since he knew that I was not really happy about his intention to have the operation, he told me nothing about it. One day, he visited me with a black patch on his eyes, which he removed and said, “Now look, aren't my eyes straight now?” They were, but I remained apprehensive. Well, two weeks hadn't passed before he fell ill with a brain ailment. Naturally, this brain ailment was not diagnosed as such by the doctor; what do ordinary doctors know of these relationships! How did the brain ailment manifest itself? There was some blood in his feces indicating that it made its appearance in the guise of an intestinal illness. The man became afflicted with an intestinal illness, but it was none other than the brain ailment because, as I have explained, the intestines and the brain are connected.

When this happened, I knew it was caused by the operation, and I lost hope for him. The most famous doctor in town was called. He diagnosed typhoid. What else could he say, when the contents of the intestines showed blood and had the peculiar consistency of pea soup? If he has blood in his feces and intestinal contents with the consistency of pea soup, he must have typhoid! It was not typhoid, however; it was the illness—really of the brain—that was the result of the inappropriate operation for his crossed eyes.

So here the opposite case occurred. This man died soon afterward. The doctor who had treated him for typhoid fever had admitted him to the hospital. I went there after his death and met his medical attendant. As such people are wont to do, he immediately greeted me with, “The Professor wrote `typhoid' on the chart. He is supposed to have had typhoid? Well, that's how much our doctors know!” After all, the attending personnel believe what the doctors proclaim least of all!

It really is quite upsetting to see the human organism treated in such a one-sided manner. If I were to tell a doctor what I have just told you concerning the appearance of an illness resembling typhoid that was a masked ailment of the brain and the result of an operation for crossed eyes, he would consider it pure nonsense. He wouldn't believe it, because he doesn't truly know the relationships within the body but is only familiar with theoretical relationships. As a result, such things will happen as in this anecdote I'll tell you. It is only an anecdote, but it has truth in it. A person is brought to the hospital. The doctor who is chief of staff examines him, assigns him to a certain ward, and gives an order concerning treatment to his assistants, saying, “When I return tomorrow, this patient will be dead.” He no longer concerns himself with this case until a few days later. Then he says, “There is still a patient in Room 15; he must be dead.” “No,” he is told, “that patient feels better and is getting well.” The doctor replies, “Then you've treated him the wrong way!”

Of course, this is a joke. But it is like this when theory is put in the place of true practice. Practice means learning to judge each case on an individual basis. The moment a question is raised concerning the connection between double vision, which is always a form of crossed eyes, and the flu, attention must be drawn to how, on the one hand, a form of double vision is caused by flu, which is a kind of brain ailment and, on the other, how the brain ailment can come about when a person is cross-eyed and the problem is so deeply rooted that left and right do not fit together.

All processes in the human being proceed outward from within and inward from without. If a person is crossed-eyed for internal reasons and this condition is externally corrected, he can become ill inwardly; in man, one never deals with a single activity but with two activities that meet in the heart. The heart is in-between and is affected when one does away with crossed eyes externally. The heart is also affected if something is not working properly inside. The heart is not a pump but a most delicate apparatus, which really perceives everything that is out of order, as it were.

Let us assume that I injure my knee externally or that by some circumstance, perhaps through drinking, I become afflicted with rheumatism. Then, internal activities are out of order, and inflammation results in that area. The processes that begin within are out of order. In such cases the heart is always influenced and doesn't work properly. Therefore, the heart's function can be influenced from within as well as from without. In all illnesses in which this is the case—that is, when something is wrong with a process that keeps it from running its course outward from within or inward from without—it will be noted that it comes to expression in the heart. One must know the correct relationship, however, between what is an outer process and what is an inner process when a person is cross-eyed or stammers, if one wishes to weigh the consequences of eliminating the condition. Operations for crossed eyes must always be weighed as to whether one should or should not do them. That is the important point.

Fünfzehnter Vortrag

Es sind Fragen darüber gestellt, wie es kommen könne, daß in einer Familie vier stumme Kinder neben sprechenden, normalen Kindern geboren werden konnten. Der Vater der Kinder habe in seiner Jugend Vögeln die Zunge ausgerissen; ob das die Strafe dafür sein könne, daß er nun die vier stummen Kinder habe.

Ferner: daß so viel jetzt die Gehirngrippe auftrete, wobei die Leute doppelt sehen; woher das komme.

Dr. Steiner: Sind die Kinder, die nicht reden können, in dieser Familie hintereinander geboren, oder die andern dazwischen?

Fragesteller: Ja, die Kinder, die nicht reden können, sind hintereinander geboren.

Dr. Steiner: Es ist eben schwer, über einen solchen Fall zu reden, wenn man ihn nicht ganz genau kennt. Über den Fall mit der Gehirngrippe werden wir gleich nachher reden. Aber dieser andere Fall ist sehr schwer zu beurteilen, wenn man ihn nicht ganz genau kennt. Es hängt sehr viel davon ab, ob zum Beispiel ein redendes Kind zwischen stummen Kindern geboren worden ist, oder ob von einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt ab zuerst die redenden da waren und nachher die stummen oder zuerst die stummen und nachher die redenden, oder ob sie durcheinander gemischt sind. Denn die Stummheit der Kinder kann natürlich von allem möglichen kommen. Und wenn das stimmt, daß die Kinder wirklich hören, also nur stumm sind, nicht taubstumm — worüber man sich manchmal auch täuscht natürlich -, wenn sie wirklich hören, wenn es also im Sprachapparat liegt, dann handelt es sich darum, darauf zu kommen, in welcher Weise Vater oder Mutter darauf einen Einfluß haben könnten.

Aber ohne genau einen solchen Fall zu kennen, ist es eigentlich leichtsinnig, darüber zu reden. Was man dabei wissen müßte, ist: Wie alt ist die Mutter und wie alt ist der Vater? Denn es kommt sehr viel darauf an, ob die beiden Eltern schon älter sind, wenn sie Kinder kriegen, oder ob sie noch junge Leute sind. Dann kommt es etwas darauf an, ob die Mutter älter ist oder der Vater. Davon hängt sehr viel ab.

Dann, nicht wahr, kommt es darauf an, was die beiden für einen Charakter haben. Und vor allen Dingen, ob in einem solchen Fall, wo, wie Sie sagen, der Betreffende in seiner Jugend Vögeln die Zunge ausgerissen hat, ob das irgendwie in Betracht kommt, das kann man erst beurteilen, wenn alle anderen Fragen entschieden sind, denn das kann nur soweit in Betracht kommen, als der Betreffende vielleicht in seiner Jugend grausam war. Die Grausamkeit als solche, die Eigenschaft als solche, die kommt in Betracht. Von einer Strafe zu reden, ist in dem Falle nicht nur ausgeschlossen, weil es solche Strafen erstens nicht gibt, und zweitens, es wäre ja keine Strafe für den Vater! Wenn man sagen würde, daß der Vater dadurch für seine Grausamkeit bestraft würde, käme mir das so vor, wie es wäre, wenn ein Junge sich seine Hände erfriert und sagt: Es geschieht meinem Vater schon recht, warum hat er mir keine Handschuhe gekauft! — Also, wenn jemand so furchtbar schwer betroffen wird wie die vier Kinder, so ist das ja nicht eine Strafe für den Vater; der ist ja viel weniger betroffen als die vier Kinder, obwohl bei ihm mehr die Grausamkeit in Betracht kommt.

Da muß man wiederum ganz bestimmte Dinge berücksichtigen. Mit dem Alter der Kinder, sehen Sie, da ist es so: Wenn man irgendwie als Junge eine Eigenschaft entwickelt, sagen wir zum Beispiel einfach, man entwickelt als Junge eine Eigenschaft mit elf Jahren, Grausamkeit oder so etwas ähnliches, so kommt immer ein Anfang davon wiederum ungefähr nach dreieinhalb Jahren; so daß also der Betreffende diese Grausamkeit, die Neigung zur Grausamkeit mit vierzehneinhalb, fünfzehn Jahren wieder bekommt, dann mit achtzehn Jahren wiederum, mit einundzwanzigeinhalb Jahren und so weiter.

Und denken Sie sich, wenn in einem solchen Zeitraum, der da einen neuen Anfang zeigt, die Befruchtung eintritt, so kann die Befruchtung geradezu selber so eine Art Grausamkeit sein, und dann kann sie natürlich schädlich wirken. Alle solche Sachen können natürlich auf diesem Umwege durchaus in Betracht kommen. Aber das kann man erst dann behaupten, wenn alle anderen Dinge ausgeschlossen sind. Nicht wahr, ich habe Ihnen ja gesagt, was für ein Unterschied ist zwischen Wintergeburten und Sommergeburten. Nun müßte man also im Alter der Kinder richtig herausbekommen, ob die früheren Geburten vielleicht Sommergeburten gewesen sind oder Wintergeburten und so weiter.

Deshalb sagte ich: Derjenige, der gewissenhaft an die Dinge herangeht, der muß den Fall ganz genau kennen. Also wenn Sie einmal den Fall ganz genau kennen, können wir darüber reden. Ich würde es sehr gern tun. Zum Beispiel wissen Sie ja nicht, ob die vier Kinder die älteren oder die jüngeren sind. Das muß man ganz genau wissen, ob also gewissermaßen diese Neigung, stumme Kinder hervorzubringen, später geheilt worden ist, oder erst eingetreten ist, nachdem die vier redenden Kinder geboren waren. Dann müßte der Grund nach dem vierten Kind liegen. Also man müßte das alles erst ganz genau kennen.

Was nun die andere Frage betrifft, so hängt das mit allen Erkrankungen zusammen, die den menschlichen Kopf oder die oberen Brustorgane befallen, zum Beispiel die Bronchitis, aber auch namentlich solche Krankheiten meine ich, wie Diphtherie, und dann die Grippe, die jetzt so furchtbar ist. Diese Krankheiten betreffen den oberen Teil des Menschen. Und die haben eine ganz bestimmte Eigentümlichkeit, diese Krankheiten. Sie sind am besten zu studieren, wenn man auf die Diphtherie eingeht, denn an der kann man eigentlich am meisten lernen.

Sie wissen ja selber, über die Grippe wissen die Menschen, die heute im gewöhnlichen Sinne Medizin studieren, nicht viel, und daher sind die Beschreibungen der Ärzte über die Symptome, die bei der Grippe auftreten, sehr ungenau. Wenn ich solche Grippekranke selber sah, mußte ich immer auf anderes achten als auf diejenigen Symptome, auf die die Ärzte geachtet haben, weil die Grippe eigentlich eine ganz bestimmte Gehirnerkrankung ist. Die Grippe ist eigentlich eine Gehirnerkrankung! Ich werde gleich nachher darüber reden.

Bei der Diphtherie nun muß man auf die folgenden Dinge besonders Rücksicht nehmen. Erstens, wenn Sie hinschauen bei einem diphtheriekranken Kind — aber Sie wissen ja, daß auch die Erwachsenen die Diphtherie kriegen —, sehen Sie solche Häute im Schlund drinnen. Diese Häute, Hautbildungen, die sind es, an denen man gewöhnlich in der Diphtherie erstickt. So ist also das erste Wichtige diese Hautbildung. Das zweite Wichtige aber bei der Diphtherie ist, daß man bemerkt, daß das Herz bei einem Diphtheriekranken immer etwas angegriffen ist. Das Herz will nicht recht funktionieren. Das dritte aber bei einem Diphtheriekranken ist das, daß wenn er auch noch nicht von den Häuten zu stark geplagt ist, er schlecht schlingen kann. Er hat eine Art Schlundlähmung. Er ist gelähmt, der Schlund. Das ist außer den Häuten, extra, daß der Schlund gelähmt ist. Und dann tritt bei den Diphtheriekranken das ganz Ähnliche auf, was Sie jetzt auch bei den Grippekranken haben: er fängt an zu schielen und doppelt zu sehen. Das tritt bei der Diphtherie auf. Das sind die wichtigsten Erscheinungen bei der Diphtherie, die man bemerkt im oberen Teil des Körpers.

Dann tritt gerade bei solchen Diphtheriekranken, die gesund werden — denn wenn er gleich erstickt, kann man die Sache nicht beobachten —, eine Art Nierenerkrankung auf. Das ist dasjenige, was noch nachkommt.

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Worinnen besteht die eigentliche Diphtherie-Erkrankung? Man versteht Diphtherie-Erkrankungen nur, wenn man weiß, daß der Mensch eigentlich von zwei Seiten her lebt. Der Mensch lebt erstens von seiten seiner Haut. Die Haut ist ein ungeheuer wichtiges Organ. Und von der Haut, von seiner Umgebung, lebt er eigentlich nach innen. Das ist so (siehe Zeichnung): Sie haben hier die Haut, ich habe ja schon darüber geredet. Die Haut ist fortwährend mit der äußeren Luft, mit der Außenwelt in Berührung. Dadurch wird die Haut immerfort hornartig. Bei den Menschen wird sie nur wenig hornartig und schuppt sich dann ab. Der Mensch schuppt ja am ganzen Leibe fortwährend ab. Er wechselt fortwährend seinen physischen Körper aus. Das ist Einmischung von außen. Sie können sich denken, was das, was in der Luft ist, für einen Rieseneinfluß auf den lebendigen Körper hat, wenn Sie folgendes betrachten. Denken Sie sich einmal, da sei Wasser, und ein Wesen lebe nun ganz im Wasser drinnen. Wenn ein Wesen ganz im Wasser drinnen lebt, dann bildet sich die Haut sehr weich aus. Das Wasser selber bewirkt, daß sich die Haut ganz weich ausbildet. Und namentlich durch den Einfluß des Sonnenlichtes zieht sich alles dasjenige, was weiche Haut ist, nach vorne, und das Wesen im Wasser wird ein Fisch. Sie können beim Fisch die Kiefer kaum sehen, denn die sind von Haut fest bedeckt (siehe Zeichnung, links).

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Denken Sie sich jetzt, das Wesen lebe nicht im Wasser, sondern in der Luft. Wenn das Wesen in der Luft lebt, wenn das da hier die Luft wäre (Zeichnung rechts), so kann das Wesen, das in der Luft lebt, die weiche Haut nicht so ausbilden. Nun denken Sie sich, wenn bei dem Wesen, das im Wasser lebt, die weiche Haut sich nicht ausbilden könnte, so würde innen kein Kiefer da sein; der ganze innere Kiefer würde nach außen liegen, und es wäre ein Vogel. Der Fisch ist einfach im Wasser so, daß er mit der weichen Haut seinen Kiefer bedeckt. Der Vogel ist dadurch, daß er in der Luft lebt, mit verhorntem Kiefer, mit ganz nach außen gelegenem Kiefer gebildet. Daran sehen Sie, was für ein Einfluß von außen auf das Lebewesen ausgeübt wird. Und beim Menschen ist es ja so, daß er durch wiederum andere Organe weiche Haut ausbilden kann, daß aber diese weiche Haut immer abgeschuppt wird, abgearbeitet wird.

Nun denken Sie sich, außer dem, außer diesem Leben von außen nach innen, geht ein Leben von innen nach außen; das geht namentlich von den Nieren aus, von innen nach außen. Beides muß tätig sein im Menschen. Fortwährend muß von der Haut von außen nach innen gearbeitet werden, und von den Nieren muß von innen nach außen gearbeitet werden. Und das Herz, das steht zwischendrinnen. Das spürt ganz genau, ob zu viel Tätigkeit von außen oder innen ist. Wenn die Nieren anfangen, zu stark tätig zu sein, spürt das das Herz. Wenn die Haut anfängt, zu stark oder zu schwach tätig zu sein, spürt das das Herz auch.

Und was geschieht bei der Diphtherie? Bei der Diphtherie fängt plötzlich die Haut an, zu schwach tätig zu sein. Es ist einfach zu schwache Tätigkeit, der Mensch entwickelt zu wenig Auswechslung der Luft durch die Haut. Das ist sogar die Hauptsache dabei. Er entwickelt zu wenig Auswechslung der Luft durch die Haut, durch die Haut der Nase auch, was auch an der Außenwelt ist. Also die Hauttätigkeit wird eine zu geringe. Dadurch gehen diese Strahlungen, die ich da aufgezeichnet habe, nicht ordentlich. Das Herz spürt das. Das Herz spürt, daß die Nieren herauf arbeiten. Aber was tun diese Nieren? Das Herz kann nun diese Nierentätigkeit nicht mehr aufhalten; die Nierentätigkeit schießt nach oben. Lange bevor die Nierenentzündung entsteht, die Nieren sich entzünden, schießt schon die Nierentätigkeit nach oben. Und weil die Hauttätigkeit nicht richtig von außen wirkt, bildet sich im Innern eine überflüssige Haut. Das ist die Haut (siehe Zeichnung S. 269), die sich im Innern bilder. Also weil dieHauttätigkeit von außen nicht in Ordnung ist, bildet sich von innen eine überflüssige Haut. Und die füllt alles aus, weil die Nierentätigkeit zu stark ist.

Nun, sehen Sie, wenn ein Mensch eine Nierenschrumpfung bekommt — das gibt es ja, daß der Mensch zu wenig Nierentätigkeit entwickelt und dann die Nieren zusammenschrumpfen -, dann können Sie ihn immer da (am Kopfe) angreifen, und Sie werden sehen, daß hier der Kopf einsinkt. Zwischen den Nieren und dieser Partie des Kopfes ist nämlich ein Zusammenhang. Sobald die Nierentätigkeit nicht ordentlich ist, sinkt da der Kopf ein. Sie können bei jedem Menschen, der nierenkrank wird, sehen, daß der Kopf einsinkt. Da drunter aber liegt der Sehnerv. Wenn der Kopf einsinkt, wird der Sehnerv untätig. Bei der gewöhnlichen Nierenschrumpfung fängt der Mensch an, undeutlich zu sehen. Wenn aber nicht Nierenschrumpfung eintritt, sondern Nierenentzündung im Anzug ist, dann schießt die Nierentätigkeit in den Kopf herauf und übt einen Einfluß aus auf die Sehnerven.

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Nun, sehen Sie, die Sehnerven sind so: Denken Sie sich, ich schaue die ganze Geschichte von oben an, gucke also auf den Kopf drauf (siehe Zeichnung), so habe ich hier den Kopf, da ist dann das Gesicht, da sind die Augen. Der Sehnerv, der geht nach rückwärts. Aber sie kreuzen sich da, die zwei Sehnerven. Dann gehen sie in das Hinterhirn. Und hier ist die Sehnervenkreuzung; also die zwei Sehnerven, die kreuzen sich da drinnen. Und es muß der Sehnerv ganz in Ordnung sein, wenn wir, weil wir mit zwei Augen sehen, einfach sehen sollen. In dem Augenblicke, wo die Sehnerven, die sich kreuzen, nicht ganz in Ordnung sind, sehen wir doppelt. Also die Sehnerven brauchen nur ein bißchen gelähmt zu sein und nicht ordentlich eine Kreuzung auszuüben, so sehen wir doppelt. — Sie wissen ja, wie einer, der gerne etwas trinkt, unterscheiden kann, wenn er nach Hause kommt, ob er noch imstande ist oder nicht: er legt sich ins Bett, legt seinen Hut auf die Bettdecke; wenn er den Hut einfach sieht, ist er noch in Ordnung, wenn er ihn doppelt sieht, ist er nicht mehr in Ordnung! Das ist ja sehr leicht zu machen. — Also schon der gewöhnliche Alkoholrausch lähmt die Sehnerven ab, weil das Blut zu rege durchgeht, und die Folge davon ist, daß der Betreffende dann doppelt sieht, wenn er genügend Alkohol in sich hat.

So wirkt auch diese Nierentätigkeit belebend auf die beiden Sehnerven, und wirken sie bei der Sehnervkreuzung nicht ordentlich ineinander, so sieht der Mensch doppelt. Das ist zum Beispiel bei der Diphtherie der Fall. Sie sehen also daraus, daß die Diphtherie davon herrührt, daß die Hauttätigkeit nicht in Ordnung ist. Daher wird die zukünftige bessere Heilung der Diphtherie darinnen bestehen, daß man vor allen Dingen den Diphtheriekranken in der richtigen Weise wird mit Bädern behandeln müssen, ihn sogleich in solche Bäder wird bringen müssen, die stark die Hauttätigkeit anregen. Und dann wird die Membranbildung, diese Hautbildung, aufhören und der Mensch wird wiederum in eine geregelte Hauttätigkeit hineinkommen.

Die Serumbehandlung ist zwar wirksam bei der Diphtherie, weil man dem Körper einen starken Anstoß gibt, daß er tätig ist, aber sie hat ungünstige Folgeerscheinungen. Namentlich, wenn man ein Kind mit Serum behandelt, so wird es später hart in seiner Organisation werden. So daß man eigentlich nach und nach wird anstreben müssen, die Serumbehandlung durch Bäderbehandlung, namentlich bei der Diphtherie, zu ersetzen. Diphtherie beruht eben durchaus auf einer nicht richtigen Hauttätigkeit. Und man kann dann sehen, wie die Hauttätigkeit eigentlich besonders berücksichtigt werden muß.

Daß heute die Diphtherie häufiger ist, als sie früher war, das kann man schon sagen. Man muß natürlich nicht auf Jahrzehnte sehen, sondern auf Jahrhunderte. Aber nach allem, was man wissen kann von früheren Zeiten — es hat ja natürlich viel schlimmere Krankheiten gegeben, die Menschen sind von der Pest und Cholera heimgesucht worden -, war die Diphtherie seltener. Das hängt damit zusammen, daß überhaupt die europäische Lebensweise nach und nach darauf hingeht, die Hauttätigkeit gar nicht mehr zu unterstützen. Gewiß, die Leute, die das Geld dazu haben, die baden viel und so weiter, aber es kommt darauf an, in was man badet. Und daß die Zivilisation nach dieser Richtung nicht gut wirkt, das können Sie daraus sehen, daß heute wirklich viel mehr Glatzköpfe herumgehen als früher. Der Haarwuchs ist auch eine Tätigkeit von außen. So wie Pflanzen auf dem Boden wachsen, so ist der Haarwuchs von außen. Und es ist schon so, daß heute auf die Hauttätigkeit viel zu wenig geachtet wird. Glauben Sie nicht, daß das Kaltbaden, das die Engländer heute üben, gar zu gut wirkt. Es kommt darauf an, in was man badet. Und wenn der Mensch gar zu sehr eine starke Hauttätigkeit herbeiführt durch überflüssiges Baden, so ist das auch nicht richtig. Also man muß vor allen Dingen bei der Diphtherie danach trachten, eine richtige Hauttätigkeit hervorzurufen.

Das hängt auch wiederum mit dem zusammen, was auf die Nachkommenschaft wirkt. Denken Sie sich einmal, gerade Vater oder Mutter haben eine Haut, die zu träge ist, daher nicht stark genug abschuppt. Also sagen wir zum Beispiel, der Vater hat eine Haut, die nicht stark genug abschuppt. Das ist sehr schwer zu konstatieren, denn da muß man schon einen sehr feinen Blick haben für die menschlichen Eigentümlichkeiten. Der gewöhnliche Laie kann das gar nicht so gut beurteilen, ob einer ein Hornhäuter ist oder nicht. Es gibt eben Menschen, die haben eine viel härtere Haut als andere. Daß man das schwer beurteilen kann, das sehen Sie schon daraus, daß eigentlich die Haut durchsichtig ist. Die sich abschuppende Haut ist in verschiedenen Farben zu sehen. Das rührt davon her, daß wir das Darunterliegende sehen. Unsere Haut ist eigentlich durchsichtig. Nehmen wir an, der Vater wäre ein Hornhäuter, so eine Art Nilpferd, nicht wahr, aber das ist natürlich nur ganz radikal gesprochen, und dadurch, daß die Haut härter ist, als sie sein soll, dadurch wird nach der anderen Seite stark die Knochentätigkeit beeinflußt. Aber Sie wissen aus dem, was ich neulich gesagt habe, daß von der Knochentätigkeit die Erzeugung des Blutes abhängt, daß also die weißen Blutkörperchen dadurch, daß der Mensch ein Hornhäuter ist, zu schwach erzeugt werden. Das beeinflußt den männlichen Samen, und die Kinder werden von vornherein schwach. So daß man sagen kann: ist der Vater ein «Nilpferd», dann wird unter Umständen das Kind mit einer Rachitis, mit einer Englischen Krankheit geboren, dann wird das Kind schwach und ist namentlich auch der Tuberkulose ausgesetzt. So hängen die Dinge zusammen.

Hat der Vater eine zu weiche Haut, was man namentlich dadurch bemerken kann, daß sie bei Angst und so weiter sehr leicht sich rötet, hat also der Vater eine weiche Haut, dann werden wiederum seine Knochen zu hart. Das schadet aber wenig.

Hat aber die Mutter eine zu weiche Haut, hat die Mutter eine Haut, die zwischen Erröten und Erblassen sehr hin- und herschwankt, dann werden bei der Mutter die Knochen zu hart, und dann werden die roten Blutkörperchen nicht richtig erzeugt, und das Kind wird dadurch die Neigung bekommen zu allen möglichen Erkrankungen wie Rheumatismus schon in früher Zeit, und namentlich auch zu solchen Stoffwechselkrankheiten wie Masern und Scharlach und so weiter. Also so hängen schon einmal die Sachen zusammen.

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Nun die Grippe. Sehen Sie, die Grippe, die geht eigentlich aus von einer richtigen Gehirnkrankheit. Und zwar wird schwach bei der Grippe gerade dasjenige Organ — wenn ich hier jetzt das von der Seite zeichne, die Sehnerven so andeute (siehe Zeichnung) —, das unter dem Sehnerv liegt; das wird so krank, daß es eine Art von Lähmung hat. Davon geht eigentlich die Grippe aus. Die Grippe besteht in einer Lähmung desjenigen Gehirnteiles, der ganz in der Nähe des Sehnervs liegt. Das erste, was dadurch bewirkt wird, ist, daß, weil diese Stelle im Gehirn eine sehr wichtige ist, eigentlich ein Einfluß ausgeübt wird auf den ganzen Körper. Sehen Sie, die gewöhnliche Grippe, die verläuft so, daß ausgehend von diesen Gelähmtheiten im Gehirn irgend etwas im Menschen krank wird. Vor allen Dingen - es geht ja gleich hier ins Rückenmark — fängt das Rückenmark an, angesteckt zu werden. Die Nerven gehen von da aus nach allen Gliedern. Der Mensch bekommt Gliederschmerzen und so weiter.

Neulich ist einmal ein interessanter Fall von Grippe vorgekommen, der sehr lehrreich war. Ich habe Ihnen ja gesagt, daß das Gehirn nicht nur aus festen Bestandteilen besteht, sondern überall Gehirnwasser ist. Besonders nun in der Nähe von diesem Organ hier, das bei der Grippe gelähmt ist, gerade da ist viel Gehirnwasser. Der Grippefall von neulich, der war deshalb außerordentlich interessant, weil die betreffende Person nacheinander bekommen hat Lungenentzündung, Rippenfellentzündung, Bauchfellentzündung; alle möglichen Krankheiten sind aufgetreten, und immer, sagen wir, Lungenentzündung mit hohem Fieber, Fieberheruntergang, Rippenfellentzündung mit hohem Fieber, Fieberheruntergang, Bauchfellentzündung mit hohem Fieber, Fieberheruntergang nachher, also eine Art von allgemeiner Ablähmung und so weiter. Es war ein Grippefall, der ganz anders verlaufen ist, als sonst die gewöhnlichen Grippefälle verlaufen. Was war da der Fall? Sehen Sie, da konnte man überhaupt außerordentlich schwer studieren, wie der Fall eigentlich lag, wenn man die gewöhnlichen medizinischen Mittel anwendet. Nun hat man sich von der Person - sie ist vielleicht siebzehn Jahre alt, sie ist gesund geworden - erzählen lassen, wie ihre seelischen Funktionen während der Zeit gewirkt haben. Und als sie besser dran war, konnte man ganz merkwürdig folgendes konstatieren.

In dem Zimmer, in dem sie gelegen hat, haben die Leute, die Eltern und der Arzt, allerlei gesprochen, und sie dachten, sie können das sprechen, weil diese siebzehnjährige Person fortwährend in Fieberphantasien war. Sie hat auch während der Fieberphantasien gar nichts aufgefaßt. Aber als sie gesünder geworden war, konnte sie alles das erzählen, was im Zimmer gesprochen worden war. Sie hat es gewußt, sie konnte das erzählen. Man konnte das konstatieren. Die Auffassung war also nicht da, während sie diese starke Grippe hatte, die zu allen möglichen Krankheiten führte; aber im Gedächtnis ist es geblieben. Es bleibt eben vieles im Gedächtnis, was man im Momente gar nicht auffaßt. Das aber zeigt, daß bei ihr nicht dieser feste Bestandteil des Gehirnes gelähmt war, sondern die umschwimmende Flüssigkeit. Dadurch ist noch mehr der ganze Körper beeinflußt worden. Denn wenn das Feste gelähmt ist, dann müssen durch die Wirkungen des Festen auf das Rückenmark die weiteren Erscheinungen hervorgerufen werden. Aber das Wasser hier, das fließt fortwährend auf und ab durch den Kanal hier (siehe Zeichnung S. 275), so daß, wenn das Wasser hier krank ist, hier auch krankes Wasser entsteht. Aber das geht von dem Rückenmarkskanal in alle Glieder herein. Dadurch bringt es allmählich überall Entzündungen hervor. Aber wiederum dadurch, daß das Wasser, das Gehirnwasser entzündet war und nicht die festen Bestandteile, war auch mehr Kraft zur Gegenwirkung, zu der Heilung vorhanden, und — was eigentlich in diesem Falle fast wie ein Wunder war — die Person konnte gesund werden, trotzdem sie hintereinander alle möglichen Krankheiten gehabt hat.

Sehen Sie, bei einer solchen Erkrankung ist es das Wesentliche - man muß ja auch durch diese oder jene Mittel nachhelfen —, aber es ist das Wesentliche dabei, daß man vor allen Dingen den Körper in richtiger Ruhe läßt, also den Körper ins Bett legt und dafür sorgt, daß das Zimmer in der richtigen Weise immer eine gleichmäßige Wärme hat, gleichmäßiges Licht hat und so weiter, denn die Ruhe ist nicht nur dadurch herbeigeführt, daß ich mich ausstrecke, sondern ich bin auch unruhig, wenn ich jetzt Hitze habe und nachher gleich friere. Aber wenn man den Körper ganz sich selber überläßt, mit gleichmäßiger Wärme, gleichmäßigem Licht, dann kann er selbst die schlimmsten Anfälle, wie Lungenentzündung, Rippenfell-, Bauchfellentzündung, hintereinander aushalten. Der Mensch kann das. So daß es gerade bei den schlimmsten Krankheiten, die so etwas haben, wie ich es eben beschrieben habe, eigentlich mehr auf das richtige Pflegen ankommt als auf das Heilen. Das richtige Pflegen hat überhaupt einen ganz großen Wert.

Was das richtige Pflegen für einen Wert hat, das können Sie aus folgendem erkennen: Wenn irgendwo eine Entzündung oder Verletzung sitzt, so ist es das allerbeste, wenn man einfach über dem Glied irgendwo abbindet; aber man muß es richtig machen. Man muß irgendwo abbinden. Dadurch, daß man abbindet, wird sogleich die feinere Körpertätigkeit, die Äthertätigkeit in Bewegung gesetzt, und die Heilung tritt ein. Wenn also einer vorne an der Hand oder am Finger ein Geschwür hat, dann binde ich es ihm hinten meinetwillen ab, dann heilt das sehr schnell. Man muß überall im Körper selber die Heilkräfte aufrufen. Wenn man zum Beispiel, sagen wir, einen Diphtheriekranken hat — es ist natürlich verschieden, man muß immer den Menschen berücksichtigen, man muß den Menschen genau kennen, wenn man ihn heilen will, muß also einen Blick haben für die Art, wie der Mensch ist —, aber wenn man einen Diphtheriekranken hat, ist es am besten unter Umständen, man steckt ihn, sagen wir, in ein Rosmarinbad, so daß er den Rosmarin riechen kann. Wenn er nun richtig lang drinnen war in dem Rosmarinbad, immer wiederum, dann wird seine Hauttätigkeit gestärkt. Aber es muß so viel Rosmarin im Wasser sein, daß er während des Badens den Rosmarin immerfort riecht; dann wird die Hauttätigkeit angeregt, und der Betreffende kann ohne alle Serumbehandlung gebessert werden. Es handelt sich also darum, daß man die eigenen Körperkräfte durch die Heilmittel in der richtigen Weise aufrufen kann. Natürlich kommt da immer das, daß wenn irgend etwas nicht wirken kann, die Leute das dann gleich für ein schlechtes Heilmittel halten. Aber Sie müssen nur bedenken, bei manchen Menschen ist eben nichts zu machen, denn oftmals kommt das Heilmittel in einem Stadium zur Anwendung, wo eben nichts mehr zu machen ist, oder man müßte das Heilmittel so stark anwenden, daß eine Roßkur daraus wird; dann verträgt es der Mensch wieder nicht! Dann stirbt er infolge des Heilmittels.

Man muß eben bei der Grippe durchaus an der Tatsache festhalten, daß die Grippe eigentlich in ihrem Ursprunge eine Gehirnkrankheit ist. Es wird Ihnen auch wahrnehmbar gewesen sein bei der Grippe, daß beim Grippekranken immer eine Art Dusel vorhanden ist. Er kommt zum Dösen, weil eben das Gehirn gerade in seinen wichtigsten Teilen, in der Gegend unter dem Sehnerv, abgelähmt ist; da kommt er zum Duseln. Und nun können Sie auch begreifen, daß wenn gerade in den oberen Partien die Lähmung sitzt, dann wiederum die Sehnervkreuzung gelähmt wird, und der Mensch kann doppelt sehen. Also das ist dasjenige, was Ihnen zeigt, daß bei der Grippekrankheit es ganz natürlich ist, daß der Mensch auch zum Doppeltsehen kommt.

Man darf diese Sache überhaupt nicht unterschätzen. Ich hatte einmal einen Freund, der war dazumal dreißig Jahre alt, er war zehn Jahre jünger als ich. Der Betreffende schielte. Also da haben Sie den umgekehrten Fall. Bei der Grippe oder bei der Diphtherie fängt der Mensch deshalb, weil im Innern etwas nicht in Ordnung ist, vorübergehend zu schielen an. Dieser Mensch schielte also; er hat nicht gern gehabt, daß er schielte. Nicht wahr, es ist ja nicht jeder Mensch ganz ohne Eitelkeit. Er hatte also nicht gern, daß er schielte. Er hatte überhaupt so etwas in seinem Körper, daß die linke und die rechte Seite nicht recht zusammenwirkten. Darauf beruhte auch sein Schielen; deshalb schielte er und stotterte er. Das war ein und dieselbe Tatsache eigentlich, daß er schielte und stotterte. Manchmal ist er über das Schielen und Stottern ganz gut hinweggekommen. Aber es gibt ja auch Menschen, die nicht viel Mitgefühl haben mit solchen Menschen, die schielen und stottern, und die es ihnen immer vorhalten. Zum Beispiel sagte einmal jemand, der nicht viel Takt hatte, wie man sagt: «Herr Doktor, wie ist es mit Ihrem Stottern, stottern Sie immer oder nur manchmal?» Da,da konnte er kaum herausbringen: «N-n-nicht immer, n-n-n-ur w-wenn ich v-vor einem M-Menschen stehe, der m-mir t-t-total unsympathisch ist!»

Nun, sehen Sie, derselbe Mann konnte lange Gedichte vorlesen, ohne zu stottern. Wenn er also in innerlicher seelischer Begeisterung war, brauchte er nicht zu stottern. Aber ich will jetzt weniger von seinem Stottern reden, ich habe es nur erwähnt, weil es mit dem Schielen zusammenhängt. Er schielte, war also ein klein bißchen eitel und wollte das Schielen wegbringen. Nun wissen Sie ja, daß da Operationen ausgeführt werden, und daß also einfach, wenn die Augen so stehen (schielend), da ein Muskel durchschnitten wird. Dann ist das Schielen durch die Operation ja beseitigt.

Nun muß ich sagen: Da bei ihm dieses Schielen so tief im Körper saß, daß er auch zugleich stotterte, so hatte ich eine heillose Angst, als der Mann sich vornahm, er wolle sich das Schielen aboperieren lassen. Denn ich sagte mir: Wenn irgendeine Gehirnkrankheit auftritt, so schielt der Mensch vorübergehend; wenn einer, wie er, dauernd schielt, dann ist sein Gehirn zu diesem Schielen passend. Durchschneidet man ihm aber einmal äußerlich einen Muskel, und sitzt die Geschichte so tief, daß er außerdem stottert, dann wird ja der umgekehrte Weg eintreten: dann wird dadurch, daß man ihm das Schielen durch eine Operation wegbringen will, die Gehirnkrankheit erzeugt. Wenn die Gehirnkrankheit auf der einen Seite das Schielen vorübergehend erzeugt, so muß, wenn ich das Schielen von außen behebe und das so tief sitzt, daß er stottert, dann muß nur dadurch, daß ich das Schielen aufhebe, die Gehirnkrankheit erzeugt werden, das heißt, es wird einfach diese Partie, wo die Sehnerven sich kreuzen, ruiniert.

Nun, der Betreffende hat sich nicht abhalten lassen. Er hat sich das Schielen operieren lassen. Hätte man das damals ausgesprochen, daß man eine Angst hat vor einer Schieloperation, so wären sofort alle, die sich einbildeten, richtige Mediziner zu sein, bereit gewesen, zu sagen: man ist ein Idiot. Denn wenn man irgendwie da mitredet über etwas, was nicht in ihren Büchern steht, dann sagen die Leute, man sei ein Idiot. Ich habe natürlich auch, wie Sie sich denken können, so ein bißchen versucht, ihn davon abzubringen; aber ich konnte ihm nicht direkt sagen: Wenn du dich operieren läßt, dann könntest du eine Gehirnkrankheit kriegen. Das hätte er nicht geglaubt; denn alle Ärzte haben gesagt, das ist eine ganz leichte Operation. Und weil er wußte, daß ich eigentlich ein bißchen wenig erfreut war über seine Absicht, die Schieloperation vorzunehmen, sagte er mir nichts davon. Da kam er eines Tages mit der schwarzen Binde zu mir und sagte: «Sieh einmal; sehe ich jetzt nicht ganz gerade?» Ich hatte aber eine heillose Angst. Und siehe da, es vergingen nicht einmal zwei Wochen, da bekam der Mensch seine Gehirnkrankheit. Die Gehirnkrankheit wurde natürlich von dem Arzt nicht als Gehirnkrankheit erkannt, denn was weiß der gewöhnliche Arzt von diesen Zusammenhängen! Denn wie trat die Gehirnkrankheit auf? In den Fäkalien, in den Ausscheidungen war etwas Blut, das heißt, die Gehirnkrankheit trat in der Maske einer Darmkrankheit auf. Der Betreffende bekam eine Darmkrankheit. Das aber war nichts anderes als die Gehirnkrankheit, weil der Darm und das Gehirn, wie ich ausgeführt habe, zusammenhängen.

Als diese Geschichte auftrat und ich wußte, daß das von der Operation des Schielens herkam, hatte ich gar keine Hoffnung mehr. Der berühmteste Arzt dieser Stadt wurde geholt; der konstatierte Typhus. Was sollte er, wenn der Darminhalt Blut zeigt und diese eigentümliche, erbsensuppenartige Konsistenz, anderes sagen als: dann ist Typhus da, dann hat er einen Typhus. Wenn er also in den Fäkalien Blut hat, erbsensuppenartige Konsistenz und Blut — das ist gleich Typhus. Aber es war kein Typhus, sondern es war die Folgekrankheit, die Gehirnkrankheit, die eingetreten ist infolge des unrichtigen Operierens seines Schielens.

Da ist also der umgekehrte Fall gewesen. Der Betreffende starb bald darauf. Der Arzt, der ihn auf Typhus behandelt hatte, hatte ihn zu sich ins Spital genommen. Der Betreffende starb. Als ich dann hinkam, traf ich seinen Wärter. Und wie die Wärter so sind im Krankenhaus, begrüßten sie mich gleich damit, daß sie sagten: «Der Herr Professor hat Typhus aufgeschrieben. Der soll einen Typhus gehabt haben! So machen’s unsere Herren!» Ja, das Wärterpersonal glaubt nämlich am allerwenigsten an das, was die Herren da verkündigen!

Es ist zuweilen wirklich so, daß man sich schon aufregen kann über die Art und Weise, wie einseitig der menschliche Organismus behandelt wird. Denn das, was ich Ihnen jetzt erzähle, daß bei dem Betreffenden eine typhusähnliche Krankheit auftrat als maskierte Gehirnkrankheit infolge der Operation mit dem Schielen, das betrachtet jeder heutige Arzt, wenn ich es ihm erzähle, als eine idiotenhafte Sache. Er glaubt es nicht, weil er nicht den Zusammenhang im Körper wirklich kennt. Er kennt nur einen theoretischen Zusammenhang. Und dann entstehen ja solche Sachen wie die, die in der Anekdote ausgeführt sind - es ist eine Anekdote, aber es ist etwas Wahres daran —, daß also einer ins Spital gebracht wird, der Professor schaut ihn an, legt ihn in eine gewisse Abteilung und gibt dem Assistenten Aufträge, wie er ihn zu behandeln hat, und sagt: Morgen, wenn ich wieder komme, ist ja der Mensch tot. - Um den fragte er gar nicht mehr. Nach einigen Tagen sagte der Professor: Da ist ja noch einer in Nummer 15, der ist ja tot. — Nein, hieß es, dem geht es besser, der ist ja ganz gesund! - Dann haben Sie ihn falsch behandelt! - antwortete der Professor.

Nun, es ist natürlich eine Anekdote. Aber so ist es, wenn man an die Stelle der wirklichen Praxis die Theorie setzt. Praxis heißt: jeden einzelnen Fall beurteilen lernen. Und in dem Augenblick, wo man gefragt wird, was für ein Zusammenhang sei zwischen dem Doppeltsehen, das immer auf einer Art von Schielen beruht, und der Grippe, so muß man aufmerksam machen, wie auf der einen Seite bei der Grippe, die eine Art Gehirnkrankheit ist, eine Art Doppeltsehen bewirkt wird, und wie wiederum, wenn ein Mensch schielt, das seine Gründe hat, und wie, wenn das so tief sitzt, daß überhaupt links und rechts nicht zusammenpaßt, dann umgekehrt die Gehirnkrankheit erzeugt wird.

Alle Vorgänge im Menschen gehen nämlich von innen nach außen und von außen nach innen. Das ist so beim Menschen. Wird der Mensch schielend von innen, so kann er umgekehrt, wenn man das Schielen von außen vertreibt, im Innern krank werden, weil man es niemals mit einer einzigen Tätigkeit im Menschen zu tun hat, sondern mit zwei Tätigkeiten, die im Herzen einander begegnen. Das Herz ist dazwischen. Daher wird das Herz beeinträchtigt, wenn man von außen das Schielen vertreiben will; aber auch, wenn von innen etwas nicht in Ordnung ist, wird das Herz beeinträchtigt. Das Herz ist nicht eine Pumpe, sondern ein sehr feiner Apparat, der alles, was unrichtig ist, eigentlich wahrnimmt.

Nehmen Sie an, ich bekomme im Knie durch eine äußere Verletzung Wasser, oder durch irgendwelche Umstände, meinetwillen dadurch, daß ich trinke, bekomme ich Rheumatismus. Ja, dann ist die innere Tätigkeit nicht in Ordnung, dann entstehen an der Stelle Entzündungen. Dann ist das, was von innen kommt, nicht in Ordnung. Und Sie werden daher bemerken, daß in einem solchen Falle immer das Herz beeinflußt wird, daß das Herz nicht in Ordnung ist. So kann sowohl von innen nach außen, wie von außen nach innen die Herztätigkeit beeinflußt werden. Und bei allen Krankheiten, bei denen das der Fall ist, daß von innen nach außen, oder von außen nach innen etwas nicht richtig ist, bei all diesen Krankheiten wird man das immer im Herzen zum Ausdruck kommen sehen.

Aber man muß wirklich richtig den Zusammenhang wissen zwischen dem, was äußerer Vorgang ist und innerer Vorgang ist, wenn ein Mensch schielt oder stottert, wenn man bedenkt, was das bewirkt, wenn man es einfach vertreibt. Daher sind Schieloperationen immer daraufhin zu beurteilen, ob man sie ausführen darf oder nicht. Das ist das Wichtige. — Am nächsten Mittwoch wollen wir dann weiter sprechen.

Fifteenth Lecture

Questions have been asked about how it could be that four mute children were born into a family alongside normal children who could speak. The children's father had torn out birds' tongues in his youth; could this be the punishment for him now having four mute children?

Furthermore: why is there so much brain flu now, causing people to see double; where does it come from?

Dr. Steiner: Were the children who cannot speak born one after the other in this family, or were the others born in between?

Questioner: Yes, the children who cannot speak were born one after the other.

Dr. Steiner: It is difficult to talk about such a case when one does not know it in detail. We will talk about the case of brain flu in a moment. But this other case is very difficult to assess if you don't know all the details. It depends very much on whether, for example, a talking child was born between mute children, or whether, from a certain point in time, the talking children came first and then the mute children, or whether the mute children came first and then the talking children, or whether they are mixed together. Because the children's muteness can, of course, come from all sorts of things. And if it is true that the children can actually hear, i.e., they are only mute, not deaf and dumb—which is something that can sometimes be mistaken, of course—if they can actually hear, if it is therefore a problem with their speech apparatus, then it is a matter of determining how the father or mother might have influenced this.

But without knowing exactly what the case is, it is actually reckless to talk about it. What we would need to know is: How old is the mother and how old is the father? Because it makes a big difference whether the parents are already older when they have children or whether they are still young people. Then it matters somewhat whether the mother is older or the father. A lot depends on that.

Then, of course, it depends on what kind of characters they have. And above all, whether in such a case, where, as you say, the person in question tore out birds' tongues in his youth, whether that can be taken into consideration in any way, can only be judged once all other questions have been decided, because it can only be taken into consideration to the extent that the person in question may have been cruel in his youth. Cruelty as such, the characteristic as such, can be taken into consideration. Talking about punishment is out of the question in this case, not only because such punishments do not exist in the first place, but also because it would not be a punishment for the father! If one were to say that the father would be punished for his cruelty, it would seem to me as if a boy were to freeze his hands and say: My father deserves it, why didn't he buy me gloves! So, if someone is affected as terribly as the four children, that is not a punishment for the father; he is much less affected than the four children, even though his cruelty is more to be considered.

Here again, certain things must be taken into account. With the age of the children, you see, it's like this: if a boy develops a certain trait, let's say, for example, that he develops a trait at the age of eleven, cruelty or something similar, then the beginning of this trait always reappears after about three and a half years; so that the person in question experiences this cruelty, this tendency toward cruelty, again at fourteen and a half, fifteen years of age, then again at eighteen, at twenty-one and a half, and so on.

And imagine if, during such a period, which shows a new beginning, fertilization occurs, then the fertilization itself can be a kind of cruelty, and then it can of course have a harmful effect. All such things can, of course, be taken into consideration in this roundabout way. But this can only be asserted when all other things have been ruled out. Isn't that right? I told you what the difference is between winter births and summer births. Now, when the children are older, we would have to find out whether the earlier births were perhaps summer births or winter births, and so on.

That's why I said: anyone who approaches things conscientiously must know the case very precisely. So once you know the case very precisely, we can talk about it. I would very much like to do so. For example, you don't know whether the four children are the older or the younger ones. You have to know exactly whether this tendency to produce mute children was cured later, or whether it only occurred after the four speaking children were born. Then the reason must lie with the fourth child. So you would first have to know all this very precisely.

As for the other question, it has to do with all diseases that affect the human head or upper chest organs, for example bronchitis, but I also mean diseases such as diphtheria and then the flu, which is so terrible right now. These diseases affect the upper part of the human body. And these diseases have a very specific characteristic. They are best studied by looking at diphtheria, because that is where you can actually learn the most.

As you know, people who study medicine in the conventional sense today do not know much about influenza, and therefore doctors' descriptions of the symptoms that occur with influenza are very inaccurate. When I saw such flu patients myself, I always had to pay attention to things other than the symptoms that doctors paid attention to, because the flu is actually a very specific brain disease. The flu is actually a brain disease! I will talk about this in a moment.

With diphtheria, one must pay particular attention to the following things. First, when you look at a child with diphtheria—but you know that adults can also get diphtheria—you see these membranes in the throat. These membranes, these skin formations, are what usually cause suffocation in diphtheria. So the first important thing is this skin formation. The second important thing to note about diphtheria is that the heart of a diphtheria patient is always somewhat affected. The heart does not function properly. The third important thing to note about a diphtheria patient is that, even if they are not yet severely affected by the membranes, they have difficulty swallowing. They have a kind of throat paralysis. Their throat is paralyzed. In addition to the skin, the throat is also paralyzed. And then diphtheria patients experience something very similar to what you now see in flu patients: they begin to squint and see double. This occurs in diphtheria. These are the most important symptoms of diphtheria that can be observed in the upper part of the body.

Then, especially in diphtheria patients who recover—because if they suffocate immediately, you can't observe the condition—a kind of kidney disease occurs. That is what comes later.

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What is diphtheria actually? You can only understand diphtheria if you know that humans actually live from two sides. First, humans live from the side of their skin. The skin is an extremely important organ. And from the skin, from its environment, it actually lives inwardly. This is how it is (see drawing): You have the skin here, I have already talked about it. The skin is constantly in contact with the outside air, with the outside world. As a result, the skin constantly becomes horny. In humans, it becomes only slightly horny and then flakes off. Humans constantly shed skin all over their bodies. They are constantly renewing their physical bodies. This is interference from outside. You can imagine what a huge influence what is in the air has on the living body when you consider the following. Imagine there is water, and a creature lives entirely in the water. When a creature lives entirely in water, its skin becomes very soft. The water itself causes the skin to become very soft. And, particularly through the influence of sunlight, everything that is soft skin moves forward, and the creature in the water becomes a fish. You can hardly see the jaws of a fish because they are completely covered by skin (see drawing, left).

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Now imagine that the creature does not live in water, but in the air. If the creature lives in the air, if this were the air (drawing on the right), then the creature that lives in the air cannot develop soft skin in this way. Now imagine that if the creature living in water could not develop soft skin, there would be no jaw inside; the entire inner jaw would be on the outside, and it would be a bird. The fish is simply in the water in such a way that it covers its jaw with soft skin. Because it lives in the air, the bird is formed with a keratinized jaw, with the jaw located entirely on the outside. From this you can see what kind of influence is exerted on the living being from the outside. And in humans, it is the case that they can form soft skin through other organs, but that this soft skin is always shed, worn away.

Now consider that, apart from this life from the outside to the inside, there is also a life from the inside to the outside; this originates in the kidneys, from the inside to the outside. Both must be active in humans. The skin must constantly work from the outside to the inside, and the kidneys must work from the inside to the outside. And the heart stands in between. It senses very precisely whether there is too much activity from the outside or the inside. When the kidneys begin to be too active, the heart senses it. When the skin begins to be too active or too weak, the heart senses that too.

And what happens with diphtheria? With diphtheria, the skin suddenly begins to be too weak. It is simply too weak, and the person develops too little air exchange through the skin. That is actually the main thing. They develop too little air exchange through the skin, including the skin of the nose, which is also exposed to the outside world. So the skin activity becomes too low. As a result, the radiations that I have recorded there do not function properly. The heart senses this. The heart senses that the kidneys are working too hard. But what are these kidneys doing? The heart can no longer stop this kidney activity; kidney activity shoots up. Long before kidney inflammation develops, long before the kidneys become inflamed, kidney activity already shoots up. And because the skin activity is not working properly from the outside, superfluous skin forms on the inside. This is the skin (see drawing on p. 269) that forms on the inside. So because the skin activity is not working properly from the outside, superfluous skin forms on the inside. And this fills everything up because the kidney activity is too strong.

Now, you see, when a person develops kidney shrinkage — it does happen that a person develops too little kidney activity and then the kidneys shrink — then you can always touch them there (on the head) and you will see that the head sinks in. There is a connection between the kidneys and this part of the head. As soon as kidney activity is not normal, the head sinks in. You can see that the head sinks in every person who develops kidney disease. But underneath it lies the optic nerve. When the head sinks in, the optic nerve becomes inactive. With normal kidney shrinkage, the person begins to see blurry. But if kidney shrinkage does not occur and kidney inflammation sets in, then kidney activity shoots up into the head and exerts an influence on the optic nerves.

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Now, you see, the optic nerves are like this: Imagine I am looking at the whole picture from above, looking down on the head (see drawing), so here I have the head, then there is the face, and there are the eyes. The optic nerve goes backwards. But the two optic nerves cross there. Then they go into the hindbrain. And here is the optic chiasm; that is, the two optic nerves cross there inside. And the optic nerve must be completely intact if we are to see properly, because we see with two eyes. The moment the optic nerves that cross are not completely in order, we see double. So if the optic nerves are only slightly paralyzed and do not cross properly, we see double. — You know how someone who likes to drink can tell when he comes home whether he is still capable or not: he lies down in bed, puts his hat on the bedspread; if he sees the hat normally, he is still okay, if he sees it double, he is no longer okay! It's very easy to do. — Even ordinary alcohol intoxication paralyzes the optic nerves because the blood flows too vigorously, and the result is that the person concerned sees double when they have had enough alcohol.

This kidney activity also has a stimulating effect on the two optic nerves, and if they do not work together properly at the optic nerve cross, the person sees double. This is the case with diphtheria, for example. You can see from this that diphtheria results from the skin not functioning properly. Therefore, the future improvement in the treatment of diphtheria will consist, above all, in treating diphtheria patients in the right way with baths, immediately placing them in baths that strongly stimulate skin activity. Then the formation of membranes, this skin formation, will cease and the person will return to normal skin activity.

Serum treatment is effective for diphtheria because it gives the body a strong stimulus to become active, but it has unfavorable side effects. Namely, if a child is treated with serum, it will later become hard in its constitution. So that one will actually have to strive gradually to replace serum treatment with bath treatment, especially in the case of diphtheria. Diphtheria is based entirely on incorrect skin activity. And one can then see how skin activity must actually be given special consideration.

It can certainly be said that diphtheria is more common today than it used to be. Of course, one must look not at decades, but at centuries. But from what we know about earlier times—there were, of course, much worse diseases, and people were afflicted by the plague and cholera—diphtheria was less common. This is related to the fact that the European way of life is gradually moving toward no longer supporting skin activity at all. Certainly, people who have the money bathe a lot and so on, but it depends on what you bathe in. And you can see that civilization is not having a good effect in this regard from the fact that there are really many more bald people around today than in the past. Hair growth is also an external activity. Just as plants grow on the ground, hair growth is external. And it is true that far too little attention is paid to skin activity today. Do not believe that cold bathing, as practiced by the English today, has a particularly beneficial effect. It depends on what you bathe in. And if people induce too much skin activity through excessive bathing, that is not right either. So, in the case of diphtheria, the main thing is to try to induce proper skin activity.

This is also related to what affects the offspring. Imagine that the father or mother has skin that is too sluggish and therefore does not exfoliate strongly enough. So let's say, for example, that the father has skin that does not exfoliate strongly enough. This is very difficult to determine, because you have to have a very keen eye for human characteristics. The average layman cannot judge very well whether someone is a thick-skinned person or not. There are simply people who have much harder skin than others. You can see how difficult it is to judge this from the fact that the skin is actually transparent. The exfoliating skin can be seen in different colors. This is because we can see what is underneath. Our skin is actually transparent. Let's assume that the father is a thick-skinned person, a kind of hippopotamus, so to speak, but that is of course only a radical way of putting it, and because the skin is harder than it should be, this has a strong influence on bone activity. But you know from what I said recently that bone activity determines the production of blood, so that white blood cells are produced too weakly because the person is a thick-skinned animal. This affects the male seed, and the children are weak from the outset. So one can say: if the father is a “hippopotamus,” then under certain circumstances the child will be born with rickets, with English disease, then the child will be weak and also particularly susceptible to tuberculosis. That is how things are connected.

If the father has skin that is too soft, which can be noticed in particular by the fact that it reddens very easily when he is afraid and so on, then the father has soft skin, and his bones become too hard. However, this does little harm.

But if the mother has skin that is too soft, if the mother has skin that fluctuates greatly between blushing and turning pale, then the mother's bones will become too hard, and then the red blood cells are not produced properly, and the child will develop a tendency to all kinds of diseases such as rheumatism at an early age, and in particular to metabolic diseases such as measles and scarlet fever and so on. So that's how things are connected.

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Now, the flu. You see, the flu actually originates from a real brain disease. In fact, the flu weakens the very organ — if I now draw it from the side, indicating the optic nerves (see drawing) — which lies beneath the optic nerve; it becomes so diseased that it has a kind of paralysis. That is actually where the flu originates. The flu consists of a paralysis of the part of the brain that is very close to the optic nerve. The first thing this causes is that, because this area of the brain is very important, it actually has an influence on the whole body. You see, the common flu progresses in such a way that, starting from this paralysis in the brain, something in the human body becomes ill. First and foremost—since it goes straight into the spinal cord here—the spinal cord begins to be infected. The nerves go from there to all the limbs. The person gets aching limbs and so on.

Recently, there was an interesting case of influenza that was very instructive. I have told you that the brain does not consist only of solid components, but that there is cerebrospinal fluid everywhere. Especially near this organ here, which is paralyzed in the case of influenza, there is a lot of cerebrospinal fluid. The recent case of influenza was extremely interesting because the person in question successively developed pneumonia, pleurisy, and peritonitis; all kinds of diseases occurred, and always, let's say, pneumonia with high fever, fever decline, pleurisy with high fever, fever decline, peritonitis with high fever, fever decline afterwards, so a kind of general paralysis and so on. It was a case of influenza that progressed quite differently from the usual cases of influenza. What was the case there? You see, it was extremely difficult to study what the case actually was when using the usual medical remedies. Now, the person—who is perhaps seventeen years old and has recovered—has been asked to describe how her mental functions worked during that time. And when she was feeling better, the following strange observation could be made.

In the room where she was lying, the people, her parents and the doctor, talked about all sorts of things, and they thought they could talk about it because this seventeen-year-old person was constantly in a feverish state. She didn't understand anything during her feverish fantasies. But when she got better, she was able to recount everything that had been said in the room. She knew it, she could recount it. This could be observed. So the perception was not there while she had this severe flu, which led to all kinds of illnesses, but it remained in her memory. Many things remain in the memory that one does not comprehend at the moment. But this shows that it was not this solid part of the brain that was paralyzed in her, but the surrounding fluid. This affected the whole body even more. For when the solid part is paralyzed, the further symptoms must be caused by the effects of the solid part on the spinal cord. But the water here flows continuously up and down through the canal here (see drawing on p. 275), so that when the water here is diseased, diseased water also arises here. But this enters all the limbs from the spinal canal. This gradually causes inflammation everywhere. But again, because it was the water, the cerebral fluid, that was inflamed and not the solid components, there was also more power for counteraction, for healing, and — which was almost a miracle in this case — the person was able to recover, even though she had had all kinds of illnesses one after the other.

You see, with such an illness, the essential thing is — one must also help along with this or that remedy — but the essential thing is that, above all, the body is allowed to rest properly, i.e., the body is put to bed and care is taken to ensure that the room always has the right temperature, the right light, and so on, because rest is not only brought about by stretching out, but I am also restless if I am hot now and then immediately cold. But if you leave the body completely to itself, with even warmth and even light, then it can withstand even the worst attacks, such as pneumonia, pleurisy, and peritonitis, one after the other. Human beings can do that. So that, especially in the case of the worst diseases that have the characteristics I have just described, proper care is actually more important than healing. Proper care is extremely valuable.

You can see the value of proper care from the following: If there is inflammation or injury somewhere, it is best to simply tie off the limb somewhere; but you have to do it right. You have to tie it off somewhere. By tying it off, the finer bodily activity, the etheric activity, is immediately set in motion, and healing occurs. So if someone has an ulcer on the front of their hand or finger, I tie it off at the back for my sake, and then it heals very quickly. You have to call up the healing powers in the body itself. If, for example, you have a diphtheria patient — it varies, of course, you always have to take the person into account, you have to know the person well if you want to heal them, so you have to have an eye for the kind of person they are — but if you have someone with diphtheria, it may be best to put them in a rosemary bath, so that they can smell the rosemary. If they have been in the rosemary bath for a long time, again and again, their skin activity will be strengthened. But there must be enough rosemary in the water that they can smell the rosemary continuously while bathing; then the skin activity is stimulated, and the person can be cured without any serum treatment. It is therefore a matter of being able to call upon one's own bodily powers in the right way through the remedies. Of course, if something does not work, people immediately consider it a bad remedy. But you must bear in mind that for some people there is simply nothing that can be done, because often the remedy is used at a stage when nothing more can be done, or the remedy would have to be used so strongly that it would become a drastic cure; then the person cannot tolerate it again! Then he dies as a result of the remedy.

With the flu, one must simply stick to the fact that the flu is actually a brain disease in its origin. You will also have noticed with the flu that the flu patient always has a kind of drowsiness. They become drowsy because the most important parts of the brain, in the area below the optic nerve, are paralyzed; this causes them to become drowsy. And now you can also understand that when the paralysis is located in the upper parts, the optic nerve crossing is also paralyzed, and the person can see double. So this is what shows you that it is quite natural for people with the flu to see double.

This matter should not be underestimated at all. I once had a friend who was thirty years old at the time, ten years younger than me. He had a squint. So here you have the opposite case. With influenza or diphtheria, people temporarily start to squint because something is wrong inside. So this person had a squint; he didn't like having a squint. It's true, not everyone is completely free of vanity. So he didn't like the fact that he squinted. He had something in his body that meant that the left and right sides didn't work together properly. That was also the reason for his squinting; that's why he squinted and stuttered. It was actually one and the same thing that he squinted and stuttered. Sometimes he got over his squinting and stuttering quite well. But there are also people who don't have much sympathy for people who squint and stutter, and who always hold it against them. For example, someone who wasn't very tactful once said, “Doctor, what about your stuttering, do you stutter all the time or only sometimes?” Then he could hardly get out: “N-n-not always, j-j-just when I'm in front of a p-person who I d-d-despise!”

Now, you see, the same man could recite long poems without stuttering. So when he was in a state of inner emotional excitement, he didn't need to stutter. But I don't want to talk so much about his stuttering now; I only mentioned it because it is related to squinting. He squinted, so he was a little vain and wanted to get rid of the squint. Now, you know that there are operations that can be performed, and that when the eyes are like that (squinting), a muscle is simply cut. Then the squint is eliminated by the operation.

Now I must say: Since his squint was so deeply rooted in his body that he also stuttered, I was terribly afraid when the man decided to have surgery to correct his squint. Because I said to myself: If some kind of brain disease occurs, the person squints temporarily; if someone, like him, squints constantly, then his brain is suited to this squint. But if you cut a muscle externally, and the problem is so deep-rooted that he also stutters, then the opposite will happen: by trying to remove the squint with an operation, you will cause a brain disease. If the brain disease temporarily causes the squint on the one hand, then if I correct the squint externally and it is so deep-seated that he stutters, then simply by correcting the squint, I will cause brain disease, that is, I will simply ruin the part where the optic nerves cross.

Well, the person concerned did not let himself be dissuaded. He had surgery to correct the squint. If he had said at the time that he was afraid of squint surgery, everyone who imagined themselves to be real doctors would have been ready to say: you're an idiot. Because if you somehow talk about something that isn't in their books, people say you're an idiot. Of course, as you can imagine, I tried a little bit to dissuade him, but I couldn't tell him directly: if you have the surgery, you could get a brain disease. He wouldn't have believed me, because all the doctors said it was a very simple operation. And because he knew that I was actually a little unhappy about his intention to have the squint operation, he didn't tell me about it. Then one day he came to me with the black bandage and said, “Look, don't I see straight now?” But I was terribly afraid. And lo and behold, less than two weeks later, the man developed a brain disease. Of course, the doctor did not recognize the brain disease as such, because what does the average doctor know about these connections? How did the brain disease manifest itself? There was some blood in the feces, in the excrement, which means that the brain disease manifested itself in the guise of an intestinal disease. The person concerned developed an intestinal disease. But this was nothing other than the brain disease, because, as I have explained, the intestines and the brain are connected.

When this happened and I knew that it was caused by the squint operation, I had no hope left. The most famous doctor in the city was called in; he diagnosed typhoid fever. What else could he say when the intestinal contents showed blood and this peculiar pea soup-like consistency, other than: then it is typhoid fever, then he has typhoid fever. So if he has blood in his feces, a pea soup-like consistency and blood — that is typhoid fever. But it wasn't typhoid fever, it was a secondary illness, a brain disease that had developed as a result of the incorrect operation of his squint.

So this was the opposite case. The person in question died soon afterwards. The doctor who had treated him for typhoid fever had taken him to his hospital. The person in question died. When I arrived, I met his nurse. And as nurses in hospitals are wont to do, they greeted me by saying, “The professor has diagnosed typhoid fever. He is supposed to have had typhoid fever! That's how our masters do it!” Yes, the nursing staff are the least likely to believe what the masters proclaim!

Sometimes it is really true that one can get upset about the one-sided way in which the human organism is treated. Because what I am telling you now, that the person in question developed a typhoid-like illness as a masked brain disease as a result of the operation for squinting, is considered by every doctor today, when I tell them about it, to be an idiotic thing. They don't believe it because they don't really understand the connections within the body. They only know the theoretical connections. And then things like those described in the anecdote arise—it is an anecdote, but there is some truth to it—that someone is brought to the hospital, the professor looks at him, places him in a certain ward, and gives the assistant instructions on how to treat him, saying: Tomorrow, when I come back, the man will be dead. He didn't even ask about him anymore. After a few days, the professor said: There's another one in number 15 who's dead. — No, they said, he's better, he's completely healthy! — Then you treated him wrong! — replied the professor.

Well, it's an anecdote, of course. But that's what happens when you replace real practice with theory. Practice means learning to assess each individual case. And when you are asked what the connection is between double vision, which is always caused by a kind of squint, and the flu, you have to point out how, on the one hand, the flu, which is a kind of brain disease, causes a kind of double vision, and how, on the other hand, when a person squints, which has its reasons, and how, when this is so deep-seated that the left and right sides do not fit together at all, then conversely, the brain disease is caused.

All processes in humans proceed from the inside to the outside and from the outside to the inside. This is how it is with humans. If a person squints from the inside, then conversely, if the squint is dispelled from the outside, they can become ill on the inside, because one is never dealing with a single activity in humans, but with two activities that meet in the heart. The heart is in between. Therefore, the heart is affected when one tries to dispel the squint from the outside; but also when something is wrong on the inside, the heart is affected. The heart is not a pump, but a very delicate apparatus that actually perceives everything that is incorrect.

Suppose I get water in my knee due to an external injury, or due to some circumstances, for my sake, because I drink, I get rheumatism. Yes, then the internal activity is not right, then inflammation arises at that spot. Then what comes from within is not right. And you will therefore notice that in such a case the heart is always affected, that the heart is not working properly. Thus, heart activity can be influenced both from the inside out and from the outside in. And in all diseases where this is the case, where something is not right from the inside out or from the outside in, in all these diseases you will always see this expressed in the heart.

But one really has to understand the connection between what is an external process and what is an internal process when a person squints or stutters, when one considers what effect it has if one simply drives it away. Therefore, squint operations must always be assessed to determine whether or not they should be performed. That is the important thing. — Next Wednesday, we will continue our discussion.