Research Reports and Articles
Glyco-Thymoline in the Edgar Cayce Readings
By Cecil Nichols
Note: This paper was prepared for the Medical Research Division of the Edgar Cayce Foundation, Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, in January 1966, with conclusions and recommendations. Mr. Cecil Nichols is a chemical engineer currently working in the field of rocket propulsion. He has, in the past, worked as a chemical engineer in an atomic energy plant and has done research for the Atomic Energy Commission in the chemical adsorption of radioactive substances. He holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering and an M.S. degree in engineering from the University of South Carolina. He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and of the Society of Sigma Xi.
I. Purpose and Data
This paper is based upon the study of 193 Edgar Cayce readings wherein Glyco-Thymoline was prescribed in one or more ways.
Glyco-Thymoline is manufactured by Kress and Owen Company and, according to the manufacturer’s literature, is to be used as a treatment for mucosity (abnormal excessive mucous secretion) and for several other types of external application.
The Edgar Cayce Readings recommended Glyco-Thymoline for use in the following additional areas: as an internal antiseptic with writer; as a pack; and as an eye-wash.
Analysis of these 193 Readings shows no pattern of treatment given for specific ailments concurrent with the administration of Glyco-Thymoline, although in a broad sense many other types of therapy were prescribed.
It must be borne in mind that these Physical Readings were given for specific people having specific ailments. These ailments were not always clearly defined either in the Headings or in the background material. For this reason no attempt has been made to analyze statistically the data collected from the Readings.
II. Glyco-Thymoline as an Internal Antiseptic
The Readings leave little doubt as to why Glyco-Thymoline is recommended to be taken internally. Consider the following extracts:
… [take] 3 drops of Glyco-Thymoline in water before retiring at night….. the Glyco-Thymoline acts as an intestinal antiseptic of an alkaline nature.(3104-1)
… take small quantities – 8 to 10 drops – of an intestinal antiseptic, such as seen in that of Glyco, or that as is found in any of these that are of alkaline reaction. Such as may be seen in forms of those of the pepsins, that keep the system the more alkaline in the stomach’s reaction. (99-5)
The key words here seem to be ‘acts as an intestinal antiseptic of an alkaline nature.’ In fact, the foregoing statement, either direct or paraphrased, appears in 76% of the Readings studied which prescribed internally administered Glyco Thymoline.
Use an alkalizer for the alimentary canal. Take 3 – 4 drops of Glyco-Thymoline internally in a little water each day. Do this for a period sufficient to get the odor of Glyco-Thymoline in the stool. This will purify the whole of the alimentary canal and create an alkaline reaction through the lower portions of the alimentary canal.  (1807-3)
The Readings emphasize the necessity of an acid-alkaline balance within the human body.
The diet should be more body-building, that is, contain less of the acid foods and more of the alkaline reacting foods… Keep closer to the alkaline diet; using fruits, berries, and vegetables – particularly those carrying iron, silicon, phosphorus, and the like.(480-1)
Apparently the Glyco-Thymoline was administered internally to help bring the over-acidified body back into balance. There seems to have been nothing magical about the action of Glyco-Thymoline itself, as other commercial formulations completely different in chemical composition were sometimes offered as substitutes.
Q: What intestinal antiseptic should be used?’
A: That which is alkaline in its reaction; Lavoris or Glyco-Thymoline. (653-1)
In the cases studied, the dosage of internally administered Glyco varied from as low as 2 to as high as 15 drops of Glyco-Thymoline in water. The dosage was apparently in accord with the degree of over-acidity to be corrected. The body was apparently judged to have had enough Glyco-Thymoline when the odor of same was detected in the stool.
Experimentation with internally administered Glyco-Thymoline is not recommended except under the supervision of a qualified medical doctor, because one may become over-alkalized.
As indicated, keep the tendency toward alkalinity in the diet. This does not mean there should never be any acid-forming foods in the diet – for over-alkalinity is much more harmful than a little tendency toward acidity occasionally. But remember that there are tendencies in this system toward cold and congestion… and cold cannot, does not exist in alkalines. (808-1)
III. Glyco-Thymoline as a Pack
It is abundantly apparent throughout, that the Readings recommended Glyco-Thymoline Packs for a great variety of cases. There was however, some variation in the way the pack should be applied. In some cases an unheated pack was recommended. In other cases heat was applied over the pack, and in some cases a specific type of heat was used.
The following are extracts from the Readings which illustrate the construction of the Glyco-Thymoline Pack as well as the modes of applying heat.
On the throat apply 3 to 4 thicknesses of cotton cloth saturated with Glyco-Thymoline, full strength, normal temperature –not heat applied.(112-9)
Place over the area of the spinal column 2 thicknesses of heavy cotton cloth saturated with Glyco-Thymoline. Place over this for 5 – 10 minutes a hot water bottle — and let it be pretty warm. (4045-1)
Apply each day for 1 hour Glyco-Thymoline Packs over the areas across the hips, throughout the ileac plexus.Use 3 – 4 thicknesses of cotton cloth saturated in Glyco Thymoline. Apply heat. Also use Glyco-Thymoline Pack around the knee, but do not apply heat here.
But do apply heat over the sacral area. These to aid in eliminating the accumulations there, through assisting the system to absorb poisons. (3281-1)
At times a salt pack was recommended as a means of heating the Glyco-Thymoline Pack as the following Reading shows:
…over this [the Glyco-Thymoline Pack] use salt heat not just a bag of heated salt, but sew the salt into a container — quilted as it were. Heat this in the oven and apply over the Glyco-Thymoline Pack, instead of using an electric pad. Preferably use iodized salt; not so hot as to burn, but let the body lie upon or over the pack. (987-5)
Packs in general seem to be in keeping with standard medical practice as evidenced by the following quote from The Merck Manual, Eighth Edition, Page 1488: “the object of applying moist heat to the body is to ease pain, supply moisture, and promote circulation, muscle relaxation, or wound-drainage.
It may be given in the form of soaks or compresses, which also serve to wash away any discharge that may be present. The principal solutions employed are water, isotonic salt solution (0.9%), magnesium sulfate (3 to 6%), and boric acid (3%), but many other medicinal substances are also recommended as dressings …. Moist compresses, using cotton, gauze, flannel or towels, may be kept at the desired temperature by overlaying with one or more hot water bottles and enclosing the whole area in oilskin or cellophane; this also will prevent rapid drying out of the compress. Electric pads must not be used in this manner because of the danger of electric shock in the presence of moisture.”
The following Reading seems to speak the same language as the above quote from The Merck Manual as to the usefulness of a pack:
There should be a systematic series of osteopathic adjustments, however, each time before these adjustments are made – which should be twice a week – we would relax the area to be adjusted by applying heavy packs of Glyco-Thymoline. Use 3 – 4 thicknesses of cotton cloth saturated with warm Glyco-Thymoline and apply for at least an hour to an hour and a half, the day before the adjustments are to be made. Let these packs extend over the lumbar area and all of the sacral area, even to the end of the spine.; Apply heat over this, not too much, but sufficient to cause these properties not only to relax the body but to he absorbed into those areas.
Thus the osteopathic corrections, when administered the next day, will relieve these tensions and make for those tendencies towards a better coordination and a better alkalinity in the eliminations. Thus the activity to the kidneys will be aided, also of the bladder and organs of pelvis, as well as the activity for the whole body.(3157-1)
Note: The preceding report was excerpted from The A.R.E. Journal, March, 1966, Volume 1, No. 2, page 29, Copyright © 1966 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation, Virginia Beach, VA.
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