III.
THE FIVE CAUSES OF DISEASE.
If we inquire from modern medical science: What are the causes of diseases? we shall probably be answered:
1. Age. 2. Heredity. 3. Intermarriage. 4. Sex. 5. Temperament. 6. Climate and locality. 7. Town or country. 8. Hygienic conditions. 9. Occupation. 10. Air. 11. Previous disease. 12. Mental and moral conditions. 13. External physical conditions. 14. Poisons. 15. Temperature. 16. Diet. 17. Epidemic disease, contagion, malaria, parasites and growths.[29]
We will forbear to pass any remarks upon this classification of the causes of diseases, which merely enumerates certain conditions in which diseases may arise, and we will pass on to the classification of the causes of diseases given by Paracelsus; but as this subject has already received attention in a previously published work on the doctrines of Paracelsus[30], the following is intended merely to supply additional food for thought.
Paracelsus says:
“All diseases have a beginning in either of the three substances;[31] Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury; which means that they may take their origin either within the kingdom of matter, within the realm of the soul, or in the sphere of the spirit. If body, soul and mind are in perfect harmony with each other, no disharmony exists; but if a cause of discord arises in either one of these three planes, it communicates itself to the rest.”
Before proceeding further we will inquire about the nature of these three Substances:
Salt
