One of the primary causes of sickness is ignorance. We are frequently perplexed by the most common ailments because of mere ignorance, and in our haste to get better, we just make matters worse. Our misunderstanding of the most basic rules of health causes us to use incorrect cures or to fall into the clutches of quacks. It's weird (and yet true) that we know far less about things close to us than we do about those far away. We know almost little about our own hamlet, but we can recite the names of England's rivers and mountains!