The chicken pox virus propagates in a medium of mucus, particularly that which results from the
waste of the digestion of milk and concentrated
starches and sugars. In the absence of such medium,
naturally the virus cannot exist; but if the child is
brought up on cow's milk, cereals, breads, and
puddings, it is only to be expected that this
microscopic virus—which must eat if it is to live—
will propagate in such fertile soil. A virus is a living
pathogenic microorganism. No living thing can
continue to live without food. If the chicken pox
virus does not happen to appreciate the particular
quality of the mucus present, then Nature will oblige
by furnishing some other virus or germ to do the
scavenging, and, depending on the name given to
this scavenger, another one of the so-called "natural
diseases of childhood" may "develop." A diet of
starches, grains, and milk is fine for the germ, as
these drive the poisons back into the skin, and then
into the body, only to reappear at some early or
distant date under some other classification. The
diagnosis of the Iris has done more to prove this
than all laboratory methods we have found.The same
treatment which has been so effectively used in colds
(See colds) has been efficacious in cases of chicken
pox.
CIRRHO
