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Density of the Iris The
Signs of Subacute Inflammation Suppose Nature's healing and cleansing efforts are checked or suppressed by various means, such as exposure to wet and cold, lowered vitality, nerve exhaustion, or by ice packs, drugs or surgical treatment, then the acute eliminative process enters upon the stages of subacute and chronic destruction of cells and tissues. Let us take for example a case of acute catarrh of the bronchi and lungs which, under suppressive treatment, gradually enters upon the subacute and then upon the chronic stages of disease. All drugs which are usually the working principle in cough and catarrh remedies, lower the fever and cure (?) the catarrh, because they are astringents, opiates and protoplasmic poisons; because they contract and throttle the secreting cells, benumb and kill the red corpuscles, paralyze the respiratory centers and heart action--in short, because they suppress Nature's acute healing efforts by lowering the vitality and paralyzing the vital functions. The pathological changes from the acute to the subacute stages are accompanied by atrophy and sloughing of cells and tissues, and these are portrayed in the iris by atrophy of structures in the corresponding organ areas. This produces the grey and dark shades of "subacute lesions".
The Signs of the Third and Fourth Stages of Encumbrance When by suppressive treatment, above described, the secreting cells of the bronchi are hindered in their labors, the elimination of mucous and pus is suppressed and the debris resulting from Nature's purifying processes is retained in the cells and tissues of the lungs, drug poisons are added to the disease poisons and these morbid accumulations become a source of continuous irritation. While the previous (acute) violent coughing and expectoration has subsided, there is now a low, hacking cough; mucus accumulates in the bronchi during the night and is evacuated in the morning with great effort. Retention of morbid matter and lowered vitality gradually cause decay and destruction of lung tissue. These degenerative processes repeat themselves in slightly modified degrees in all chronic destructive diseases affecting other parts and organs. Simultaneously with this destruction of tissue in the lungs, similar changes take place in the corresponding areas of the iris. In these fields of the iris the tissues lose their vitality, dry, shrivel and turn dark. As a result of this the white clouds of acute inflammatory lesions become intermingled with dark shades and streaks, as represented in Fig. 14, Series III. When examined with a strong magnifying glass it will be noticed that these dark areas are more or less depressed. In the advanced stages of destruction they deepen into holes, sometimes down to the black pigment layer.
Closed Lesions If, under the adverse circumstances above described, Nature still succeeds, in an imperfect way, in healing the defects of the lungs or any other part of the body by the formation of scar tissue, the dark signs in the iris become circumscribed by and interwoven with white lines. The more perfect the healing, the more white lines are interwoven with the dark and the more solid the white enclosures. These closed lesions correspond to the scar tissue in the body. At best they indicate weak spots in the system, which under certain provocations may at any time again open and become acute, subacute or chronic lesions.
The Signs of the Fourth or Chronic Destructive The last destructive stages of disease are marked by increasing atrophy and destruction of cells and tissues. When these degenerative changes take place in vital organs the chances of recovery become more and more precarious. In the iris the dark shadings of the subacute and chronic stages become more intensified and change into black shades or spots. Caverns in the lungs, for instance, appear frequently as small black dots in the lung areas of the iris (Fig. 27, area 9, left).
The Signs in the Iris of Acute, Subacute and Series I represents the signs of acute inflammatory processes in various stages and degrees of intensity. Acute disease in the stages of greatest intensity--aggravation and destruction--shows in the corresponding organ areas as represented in Figures a, d and f. As the inflammatory process declines under natural treatment, during the stages of absorption and reconstruction, the protruding fibres which cause the white signs fall back into their normal positions (page 49) and the white lines or clouds gradually disappear, as presented in Figures g, e and b. Figure c is a closed lesion in process of formation. We observe such lesions after pneumonia, pleurisy, nephritis or any other acute disease has been suppressed by ice or drugs. They stand for scar tissue. Under adverse conditions they may become acute again in a destructive way. Under natural living and treatment they may become acute (in healing crises) in a constructive way. Closed lesions of long standing and of a chronic nature show as represented in Series II Fig. g, and Series III Figs, c and f. The Figures in Series II represent inflammatory processes in the subacute stages. These are transitory between the acute and chronic stages, as explained on page 49. Disease in the subacute stage yields readily to natural methods of living and of treatment. The figures from a to f portray lesions of increasing severity. The Figures in Series III represent the signs of chronic catarrhal conditions. The preponderance of black over the white indicates increasing destruction and sloughing of tissues. The Figures a, b, d and e of Series IV represent the chronic inflammatory processes in the last destructive stages, entailing loss of substance. We meet with such signs only in people endowed with exceptionally robust constitutions. Most chronic patients succumb when the disease reaches the stages represented by the lesions shown in Series III. Figures c and f in Series IV are signs of cancer in the last stage. Sign f showed very plainly in the iris of a woman dying with cancer of the stomach. The black spot was located near the pupil. The white streamers extended to the margin of the iris. We found lesion c in the intestinal area of a patient suffering from cancer in the transverse colon.
The Lymphatic Rosary One of the most interesting signs of the third and fourth stages of disease is the lymphatic or typhoid rosary. I have given it this name because the sign appears in the form of white flakes in the outer rim of the iris, resembling the beads of a rosary. This circular area is marked on the chart of the iris "Lymphatic system" (see chart--frontispiece). Wherever the white flakes appear in this area they indicate inflammation and an engorged condition of the lymph nodes in the corresponding parts of the lymphatic system or, in the later stages, an atrophic condition of the lymphatic glands. Frequently we find the flakes discolored with the characteristic pigments of drug poisons. Distinction
Between Lymphatic Rosary and the The lymphatic rosary is not, as Liljequist says, the sign of arsenic, but since arsenic has a special affinity for the spleen and lymphatic system, the engorged condition of the lymph nodes and atrophy of the lymphatic glands may he and undoubtedly is in many cases the result of arsenical poisoning. The poison itself shows in white flakes resembling the beaten white of egg or snow flakes in the outer margin of the iris, therefore they may be easily mistaken for the lymphatic rosary (color plate, fig. b, p. 116). The latter, however, appears only in the outermost rim of the iris, just inside of the scurf rim, in orderly arrangement like the beads of a rosary, while the white flakes of arsenic may appear singly or in irregular groups anywhere in the outer half of the iris. We speak of the "typhoid" rosary because in many instances we find the sign in the eyes of people who have suffered from typhoid fever, which on account of suppressive treatment by drugs or ice was not allowed to run its natural course and left the glandular structures of the intestines and of the system in general in a more or less engorged and atrophic condition. This explains why we find the typhoid rosary usually associated with pronounced malassimilation, malnutrition and with the last stages of destructive, wasting diseases. Such patients never fully recover from the effects of the disease and only too often drift into tuberculosis, pernicious anemia or other slow but fatal wasting diseases. When under natural treatment the inflammation in the intestines runs its natural course, and when during the last stages of inflammation sufficient time is allowed for the reconstruction of the intestinal membranes and glandular structures, recovery is rapid and complete and the typhoid rosary does not appear in the iris. We find the rosary usually in the lower parts of the iris and as high up as the areas of lungs and neck (Figs. 13 and 22), less frequently in the fields of the sensory organs or in the brain region. Radii Solaris These signs in the iris must not be mistaken for lesions. They are straight brown or black lines tapering to a fine point, radiating from the pupil or the sympathetic wreath to the outer margin of the iris. We find them most frequently in brown eyes, only rarely in the blue. They are probably formed by a massing of dark color pigment on the surface of the iris. Iridologists have not been able to attach any special importance to these interesting signs. I have found in many instances that they disappeared with general improvement and the clearing up of the brown color of the iris. Radii Solaris are visible in Fig. 6, Sections 3 and 4, p. 42. They are very plain in Fig. 9, p. 75, and Fig. 10, p. 95. In this connection it may be well to call attention to other conditions in the iris which might be mistaken for signs of lesions. In brown eyes, sometimes the blue underground shows in places through the brown surface. This indicates a good condition of the corresponding organs. In other instances the underlying blue or light brown shows dark in contrast with surrounding light or yellowish discolorations, and may thus be mistaken for dark lesions.
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