THE WATER OF LIFE: A Treatise on Urine Therapy by John W. Armstrong

MY SELF-CURE

Although I should prefer to avoid the first personal pronoun in this book, it is not possible to do so in the circumstances if I am to carry conviction. For, as already implied, one ounce of experience outweighs a ton of arguments! My first patient was myself. It happened in this wise. During the last war at the age of thirty-four. I presented myself for medical examination under what was called The Derby Scheme, and was rejected by four examining doctors on the grounds that I was consumptive. Moreover I was urged to put myself under the care of a physician. Consequently I consulted a specialist. He however, treated my condition as not very serious, told me I was more a catarrhal subject than a consumptive one, and advised plenty of fresh air, sunshine and a nourishing diet. I followed his advice, and in one year put on 28 lbs. in weight. Nevertheless, not being satisfied with my condition I consulted another specialist, who informed me that both my lungs were affected, and despite what the previous specialist had said, I was consumptive, and must keep up my strength on a diet rich in sugars and starches. Finally, diabetes set in, and I was placed on an entirely new and drastic regime, which consisted of fasting on six half-pints a day of cold water (sipped) during four days of every week, whilst on the fifth and two following days I was permitted a "snack which only served to whet my appetite, not to mention the fact that I wass enjoined to chew every morsel of it to such a degree that it only produced a very sore mouth, aching teeth, swollen gums and a swollen tongue. In [27] addition to these discomforts, I was inflicted with insomnia, frayed nerves, and great irritability of temper.. The regime was continued for sixteen weeks without a break, and although it resulted in the disappearance of my cough and catarrhal conditions, and also of painful sciatica from which I had suffered, none the less the cure seemed more unpleasant to me than the disease. The final upshot was, that after two years of this treatment, I lost faith in doctors acid began a series of ventures on my own, although much against their advice. I will not prolong this story by giving all the details; suffice it to say, there came a moment when, feeling very weak and ill, 1 recalled the text in Proverbs V. which runs, "Drink waters out of thine own cistern," a text which, in its turn, reminded me of the case of a young girl whose father gave her her own urine to drink when she was suffering from diphtheria, with the result that he cured her in three days. Other cases also came to mind (jaundice was one) which had been cured by the same means. Nor was this all; I remembered the doctor's answer to my question when some few years previously 1 had asked him how he could tell from my urine that my lungs and pancreas were diseased and wasting? I even remembered saying to him in my then innocence: "If I am losing vital tissue and sugar though my urine, then why not drink the urine and replace these elements in that way?" To which he had replied that the organs could not assimilate "dead matter." This, however, as I have proved since, was nothing but a theoretical fallacy! And here to digress for a moment. I grant that it is unwise dogmatically to assert that any given text of Scripture denotes this or that, for many people read into the Bible exactly what they themselves wish to find [28] there. Nevertheless, I believed, and still believe, that the text I have quoted, and many others also, bear reference to that vital fluid which is within our own bodies; and believing it, I acted in accordance with that belief, to find in the end that it proved to be my physical salvation. Fortified by my faith in what I thought to be the correct interpretation of the text, I fasted for forty-five days on nothing but urine and tap water-and this, despite the doctor's assertion that eleven days without food was the limit to which a human being could go I also rubbed urine into my body-a very important factor in the cure, with which I shall deal in Chapter XVII-I finally broke my fast on raw beef, and though it gave me no discomfort beyond a ravenous hunger, I none the less ate cautiously for a time, and continued to drink my own urine, noticing that its changes in temperature, quantity, taste, etc., depended almost entirely on what I ate or drank, and on the amount of exercise I took. At the end of this treatment I felt and was "an entirely new man." I weighed 140 lbs., was full of vim, looked about eleven years younger than I actually was, and had a skin like a young girl's. I was thirty-six at the time, and am now over sixty. Yet by dint of drinking every drop of water that I pass, living on a well-balanced diet,* and never eating more food per diem than I consider the body requires, I look and feel much younger than most men of my age, and keep free from those major and minor ailments to which the body is said to be heir. Having now related the essential details of my selfcure and all that contributed to its continuance, I will merely add that in 1918, being convinced that knowledge must not be selfishly " hidden under a bushel," but [* See Chapter XVII.] [29] should be shared with one's fellows, I began to advise and supervise' the fasting of others on the same lines. The rest of this book is therefore largely devoted to results obtained on those: suffering from a variety of diseases, including medically diagnosed cases of cancer, Bright's disease, gangrene, and many others which from the orthodox standpoint are labelled incurable. [30]