Statements on the Use of Drugs
255
overload the stomach with a variety of foods at one meal. All these
things should come into the education of the sick. Talks should be
given showing how to preserve health, how to shun sickness, how to
rest when rest is needed.—
Letter 82, 1908
(To physicians and manager
at Loma Linda).
Counsel on the Administration of Drugs
Seldom Needed—Use Them Less and Less—Drug medication,
as it is generally practiced, is a curse. Educate away from drugs. Use
them less and less, and depend more upon hygienic agencies; then
nature will respond to God’s physicians—pure air, pure water, proper
exercise, a clear conscience. Those who persist in the use of tea,
coffee, and flesh meats will feel the need of drugs, but many might
recover without one grain of medicine if they would obey the laws of
health. Drugs need seldom be used. [
In harmony with these words was
Mrs. White’s counsel when asked concerning the use of quinine in the
treatment of malaria. Her son, who traveled with her and assisted her,
reports the following
:
“One time while we were in Australia, a brother who had been
acting as a missionary in the Islands, told mother of the sickness and
death of his first-born son. He was seriously afflicted with malaria,
and his father was advised to give him quinine, but in view of the
counsel in the testimonies to avoid the use of quinine he refused to
administer it, and his son died. When he met Sister White, he asked
her this question: ‘Would I have sinned to give the boy quinine when
I knew of no other way to check malaria and when the prospect was
that he would die without it?’ In reply she said, ‘No, we are expected
to do the best we can. ’”—W. C. White letter, September 10, 1935.—
Compilers
.]—
Counsels on Health, 261
(1890).
[282]
Seek to Lessen Their Use—In their practice, the physicians
should seek more and more to lessen the use of drugs instead of in-
creasing it. When Dr. A came to the Health Retreat, she laid aside her
knowledge and practice of hygiene, and administered the little homeo-
pathic doses for almost every ailment. This was against the light God
had given. Thus our people, who had been taught to avoid drugs in
almost every form, were receiving a different education.—
Letter 26a,
1889
(To a prominent physician in institutional work).