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has been given, is a perfectly definite, organised structure, the
real medium through and by which ail the electrical, magnetic
and nervous impulses reach the cells of our bodies and there
give rise to the various chemical changes and muscular
activities ....
" . . . . anything which interferes in any way with the
proper working and adaptation of the etheric centres with their
corresponding nerve ganglia will seriously endanger the vital
functions of the body. Such a disorganisation may be brought
about in two main ways :—
1. As the result of mental or emotional stress; acting, that is,
from within;
2. By the clogging up of the centre with etheric matter which
will not conduct the electro-magnetic and vital forces, thus
blocking the centre and cutting off the supply of these
currents to the sympathetic ganglia and the cells and
organs controlled by the
"This brings us to the actual mechanism of infection; it
has already been stated that the etheric body varies as to its
constituents with the nature of the dense matter with which it
is associated. When an organic body dies, it decomposes, as is
well known, and breaks up into products of a highly poisonous
character. The etheric body also changes, pari-passu, and
disintegrates, so that every accumulation of rotting organic
matter, especially animal matter, including the corpses of the
slaughter-house and the graveyard, becomes a source of
poisonous etheric matter corresponding to its dense counterpart;
floating about in the atmosphere and carried to all parts
of the world by the magnetic currents of the earth, it comes into
contact with the etheric bodies of living people and is drawn
into them just as foul air may be drawn into the liongs. The
etheric circulation carries it to the various centres we have
described, with the result that one or other of them becomes
choked, the choice depending to a large extent on which happens
at the time to be least able to deal with the obstacle and drive
out the deleterious matter : in this way one may get, for
example, various forms of influenza—intestinal, gastric,
bronchial, cardiac or meningeal.
"The obstruction to the flow of vitality leads to biochemical
changes in the tissues and organs affected, and, if the resulting
products are not immediately eliminated, germs begin to
develop in the changed environment and by their ferments
break up the deleterious matter into simpler constituents which
can be dealt with through the ordinary channels of excretion.