The Dietetic Factor in Disease

The dietetic factor in disease is discussed. Most diseases today are regarded as due to bacteria and other living causes. We have studied these so intently, and know so much about them, that we naturally regard them as the most important causes of disease. However, it is claimed that there is really no such thing as a cause--phenomena which result are due to constellations of earlier conditions. If we are to study the beginnings of disease we must study the soil, for the study of disease merely from the viewpoint of living causes cannot bring us to a period earlier than the moment of infection. (Reprint 1924)