Ward Nicholson wrote, with an apparent view to laughing Arnold Ehret into
obscurity:

> Maybe because of the phrase "a bit" (of a wacko)--a considerable

> understatement, and put so very politely too. :-) More like a LOT more

> than a bit of a wacko. Remember Ehret's famous formula?
>
> "V" EQUALS "P" MINUS "O"! (yes, the "formula of life"!)
>
> Yes, Vitality = Power minus Obstructions, and the lungs are actually the

> pump and the heart is only a valve! All you had to do was get read if

> hose nasty mucusy OBSTRUCTIONS! And remember that you heard it

> first from Professor Ehret way back in 1922 and probably earlier!
>

[...]

> Anybody have further details?

Ward, I'd like to mention that Ehret probably got this idea from Dr. M. J.
Rodermund, MD.  Dr. Rodermund's theory, possibly first published c. 1904, appears
in Volume IV of my 1909 "Physical Culture Classics" (Chapter XX).  I've checked the
online old book sellers and the book seems readily available.

Anyway, Dr. Rodermund first buttresses his case with descriptions of the effects of
experimentally tying off arteries (he says the name means "air pipes"---could this
be true?) in large animals.  Evidently, the air-pipe business was known to the
"ancients" who first observed that the arteries are empty after death.

He then integrates that with the circulation of fluids in plants: something I truly
relate to.  Yes, I, too, find the idea that "capillary action" can move plant
fluids to the tops of such as the towering redwoods laughable.  Although there is
too much detail to go into here, the giant chemical companies have a vested
interest in people believing that plants "eat" & "drink" by soaking up soluble
fertilizers in a soil "solution."  Please believe me when I tell you that bogus
information is helping carry human health straight to hell in a handbasket (it
lowers Brix).  Those who move deeply into natural agriculture ultimately begin to
understand the endocytosis that nourishes plants *and* its distinct difference from
the respiration cycle.

Finally, Rodermund discusses how his interest in the subject first came about
because he was so intrigued that the blood circulates in a fetus *before* the heart
forms.  Actually, there is more, but this message is too long already.

I suspect if Rodermund and Ehret were alive today, they would refer their "the
heart is more of a valve" critics over to the more knowledgeable, and modern,
lymphologists---who, IMHO, are a bit closer to the truth.

But what the heck, I like a good laugh now and then, too.

Regards,
Rex Harrill