Siamene Home Treatment: A Guide for those who Seek HEALTH
Oakland, CA: Siamene Home Treatment Company, 1904. First edition. 26x18cm, [7], 284pp. Halftone photos throughout, a few color plates, index at rear. Publisher's blind stamped brown cloth with paste-on illustration on front cover and gilt lettering on spine. Some rubbing to edges of boards, ownership signature to ffep else clean internally. Very good+.
Very strange and copiously illustrated turn-of-the-century health manual that blends some aspects of esoteric spiritualism with chiropractic exercises, mental medicine, hydrotherapy, and other forms of alternative medicine. From the introduction and chapter 1:
"I believe in an independence of thought. I believe that every human being is an integral part of the divine Creator, a free moral agent, and as such should think for himself in all matters, more especially in matters pertaining to his own personal health. Health is the divine function of the inner self: health of the body and harmony of the mind is the natural plane for all creatures... Disease is the result of unhealthy thoughts directed to the physical organs of the body, consciously or unconsciously."
Price: $200.00