Preface
In the lobby of the white memorial hospital, which was founded in
memory of the writer of the “Counsels” which compose this book, is a
bronze tablet bearing the inscription:
“This hospital is dedicated to the memory of Ellen Gould White,
whose long life was unselfishly devoted to the alleviation of the woes
and sorrows of the sick, the suffering, and the needy; and to inspiring
young men and women to consecrate their lives to the work of him
who said, ‘Heal the sick.’”
To those who knew Mrs. White these words are freighted with
tender memories of almost countless incidents in the life of that most
kindly soul. Of the women who have lived in modern days, no other, in
all probability, has exercised so deep and lasting an influence upon the
lives of her fellows as Ellen G. White. In no realm were her teachings
more far-reaching and thorough than in that relating to the care of the
body—the temple of the Holy Spirit.
From many and varied sources, during the last half century, a flood
of light has been thrown upon this important theme. From out the
mind of the renowned Pasteur came shafts of light of brilliant and
penetrating power on matters relating to health and disease. From him
the world received its knowledge of bacteria, the causative factors of
so many diseases. From Louis Pasteur came the cure that conquered
anthrax, that devastating sickness afflicting both man and beast. He it
was whose unremitting toil culminated in the discovery of a cure for
hydrophobia, one of the most dread diseases of all the ages.
Lord Lister, by applying the principles of Pasteur to the operating
room, made surgery safe for mankind. His genius transformed
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hospitals from being shambles of horror and gangrene to places of
comfort and cure. He demonstrated that pus in surgical wounds is
unnecessary, and reduced surgical mortality to a relatively insignificant
figure.
Then there was Semmelweiss, the obstetrician, to whom Kugel-
mann wrote: “with few exceptions the world has crucified and burned
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