Counsel to the Medical Director of a New Sanitarium VC

Do all that you possibly can to perfect the institution inside and out. Be sure that your premises are in the best of order. Let there be nothing about them that will make a disagreeable impression of the minds of the patients. (2SM 298.1) MC VC

Encourage the patients to live healthfully and to take an abundance of exercise. This will do much to restore them to health. Let seats be placed under the shade of the trees, that the patients may be encouraged to spend much time out-of-doors. And a place should be provided, enclosed either with canvas or with glass, where, in cooler weather, the patients can sit in the sun without feeling the wind (2SM 298.2) MC VC

Fresh air and sunshine, cheerfulness within and without the institution, pleasant words and kindly acts—these are the remedies that the sick need, and God will crown with success your efforts to provide these remedies for the sick ones who come to the sanitarium. By happiness and cheerfulness and expressions of sympathy and hopefulness for others, your own soul will be filled with light and peace. And never forget that the sunshine of God’s blessing is worth everything to us. (2SM 298.3) MC VC

Teach nurses and patients the value of those health-restoring agencies that are freely provided by God, and the usefulness of simple things that are easily obtained. (2SM 298.4) MC VC

I will tell you a little about my experience with charcoal as a remedy. For some forms of indigestion, it is more efficacious than drugs. A little olive oil into which some of this powder has been stirred tends to cleanse and heal. I find it is excellent. Pulverized charcoal from eucalyptus wood we have used freely in cases of inflammation.... (2SM 298.5) MC VC

Always study and teach the use of the simplest remedies, and the special blessing of the Lord may be expected to follow the use of these means which are within the reach of the common people.—Letter 100, 1903. (2SM 298.6) MC VC

I have already told you the remedy I use when suffering from difficulties with my throat. I take a glass of boiled honey, and into this I put a few drops of eucalyptus oil, stirring it in well. When the cough comes on, I take a teaspoonful of this mixture, and relief comes almost immediately. I have always used this with the best of results. I ask you to use the same remedy when you are troubled with the cough. This prescription may seem so simple that you feel no confidence in it, but I have tried it for a number of years and can highly recommend it. (2SM 301.1) MC VC

Again, take warm footbaths into which have been put the leaves from the eucalyptus tree. There is great virtue in these leaves, and if you will try this, you will prove my words to be true. The oil of the eucalyptus is especially beneficial in cases of cough and pains in the chest and lungs. I want you to make a trial of this remedy which is so simple, and which costs you nothing.—Letter 20, 1909 (To the worker addressed in the preceding item). (2SM 301.2) MC VC

Trees With Medicinal Properties—The Lord has been giving me light in regard to many things. He has shown me that our sanitariums should be erected on as high an elevation as is necessary to secure the best results, and that they are to be surrounded by extensive tracts of land, beautified by flowers and ornamental trees. (2SM 301.3) MC VC

In a certain place, preparations were being made to clear the land for the erection of a sanitarium. Light was given that there is health in the fragrance of the pine, the cedar, and the fir. And there are several other kinds of trees that have medicinal properties that are health promoting. Let not such trees be ruthlessly cut down Let them live.—Letter 95, 1902 (To workers in the South). (2SM 301.4) MC VC

My herb drink—We need not go to China for our tea, or to Java for our coffee. Some have said: “Sister White uses tea, she keeps it in her house;” and that she has placed it before them to drink. They have not told the truth because I do not use it, neither do I keep it in my house. Once when crossing the waters I was sick and could retain nothing on my stomach and I did take a little weak tea as a medicine, but I don’t want any of you again to make the remark that “Sister White uses tea.” If you will come to my house I will show you the bag that contains my herb drink. I send to Michigan, across the mountains, and get the red-clover top. In regard to coffee, I never could drink it, so those who reported that Sister White drinks coffee made a mistake.—Manuscript 3, 1888 (Sermon, Oakland, California). (2SM 301.5) MC VC