Page 1 of  72 Metabolic Solutions Report  
Terry Chamberlin, B.Sc., C.N.C., Bioanalyst                Nova Scotia, Canada                  msibio@yahoo.com               902-584-3810  
 
SCIENTIFIC FASTING   
The Ancient and Modern Key to Health   
 
BY  
LINDA BURFIELD HAZZARD, D.O. (Fifth, revised and amplified edition of Fasting for the Cure of Disease)   
GRANT PUBLICATIONS, INC.  
33 WEST 60TH STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. 1927  
Copyright, under the title of "Fasting For the Cure of Disease,"  
by Linda Burfield Hazzard, 1908, 1910, 1915  
COPYRIGHT, 1927  
BY LINDA BURFIELD HAZZARD  
All Rights Reserved,  
Including all rights of Translation  
into Foreign Languages  
 
PREFACE   
 
NINETEEN years have elapsed since the author issued her first volume dealin g with the prevention and relief of disease through 
fasting and its accessories. In each of the three succeeding editions details were added, new discoveries recorded, and all f acts 
tending to throw clearer light upon the practical application of what Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey termed the "New Gospel of 
Health" were fully exploited. In this, the fifth revised and amplified edition of the work, it is hoped that, with greater de tail and 
greater knowledge, still greater lucidity has been given in exposition of th e truths that underlie the therapeutic worth and 
possibilities of the fast. The book is written primarily for the lay reader. Hence, whenever a surmise is made or an unproved theory advanced, the attit ude 
of the mind of the author regarding it is plainly  displayed. Likewise, whenever absolute harmony has been accomplished between 
theory and fact, no doubt is permitted the reader in statements of truth discovered. If science is to be defined as knowledge gained and verified by exact observation and corre ct thinking, the work in hand is purely a 
scientific record. The human subjects presented to the author for guidance and care have in all instances been those for whom  
medicine had done its best, or, if you will, its worst. Each case has been carefully obs erved; its organic condition and capabilities 
determined as best they might, the patient was fasted, if this procedure were indicated; or his diet was suited to his needs and the 
limitations of his organs. Therefore the results obtained are offered no misg ivings or apologies. In accomplishing her work the 
author has been handicapped almost at every step by opposition that at times developed into persecution, and this by those wh o 
should have been first to welcome the physiological truths which the text prom ulgates. The research made, especially that which 
involved post mortem examination, was achieved only through sheer personal determination, assisted by a few broad minds in 
authority And it is believed that these autopsies are unique in the history of the healing art, for the author knows of no other 
investigator who has had opportunity thus to connect the organic consequence of disease directly with its origin. Moreover, e ach 
body examined was, for more or less lengthy periods before death, free from drug dosage, offering for examination tissues 
unaffected by recent artificial chemical stimulus or destructive change from similar cause. Human progress has ever been associated with constant discovery, and it would show not only deficiency in judgment but ac tual 
mental incapacity to decry the achievements of earnest and conscientious seekers after truth among men of medicine. The autho r, 
however, differs from these scientists in a number of respects, principally because she has always been of the opinion that  the 
outstanding need of humanity is public health education; and, while she has indicated that medicine is finally awake to this need, 
too many of its practitioners still are devoted to pathological rather than to physiological investigation. Heretofore t he day book of 
the family physician consisted of a record of visits to households for the treatment of measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, t yphoid 
fever, or malaria. The man was educated to treat disease and knew little of preventive measures, sanitation, hygiene, or diet, nor 
did his medical curriculum provide such knowledge. Too long has the medical doctor studied disease and death to the exclusion  of 
health and life. Hence again it is stated that, while the facts presented in the text are intended primar ily for lay intelligence, yet, 
since they are in all instances corroborated, earnest investigation should follow on the part of those men of science who are  not 
bound by prejudice to reject every cult not sanctioned by the traditions and doctrines of their  own system of practice. Page 2 of  72 The aim of medical investigation for many years has been largely towards the classification of the symptoms of disease and th e 
segregation of the micro -organisms discovered in its presence. Because of this the medical physician m ay and often does delay 
specific treatment until symptoms develop to a point where what he considers an accurate diagnosis may be made. It is not tho ught 
that any intelligent mind will differ with the author when she says that the first things to be consid ered in the sick -room, the first 
things that the practitioner of natural therapy considers, are the possibility of recovery and the necessity for prompt and e fficient 
action along lines that tend to the eradication of the cause of disease. The gospel of good health is based upon the principles of prevention of disease, and there will be found in the introduction to the 
second edition of this work, published in 1908, these words: "No one knows better than the thinking member of the medical 
profession that the time is at hand when prevention rather than cure will be the keynote of therapeutics." That this prophecy, for 
such it has proved, is in part realized, is shown in the trend of thought in every recent article on the subject of medical p rogress in 
autho ritative professional publications. The family physician now is urged to educate his patients and his community in preventive  
measures, and so to place himself towards his clientele that his chief service will be one of keeping them well rather than o ne of  
curing them when ill. This means that medicine, while still recognizing the specialist, also recognizes that the family physi cian as a 
class must form the foundation of all true health service, and that he must maintain most intimate relations with those for whom his 
guidance is required. This is exactly what the practitioners of natural therapy have been doing for the past half century and more. For they have e ver 
contended that true perception of cause and effect is the mother of the physician, and tha t in this understanding there can exist no 
doubt as to remedy. In other words, not man but nature is the doctor, and nature indicates her curative processes in the exis ting 
state of disease. And they who follow nature in her physical law further contend th at whatever information they acquire of the 
procedure through which natural curative processes are carried on shall freely be given to their patients, so that in the fut ure the 
latter may in great measure be relieved of dependency upon professional guidanc e.  
 
The upbuilding and the maintenance of the human body lie wholly with its individual possessor, and he should be cognizant of its 
parts and of the conserving tasks which they perform to the uttermost degree of knowledge. Ignorance in these respects is a 
universal fault resulting from the custom of depending upon others for specialized information. The message contained in the 
pages that follow, if rightly perceived and executed, in large degree substitutes for a state of blind dependence upon unharm onized 
fact and theory one of reliance upon self and natural law. LINDA BURFIELD HAZZARD  
Wilderness Heights,  
Olalla, Wash.  
 
PART ONE : HISTORICAL   
 
CHAPTER I  
THE PIONEERS OF THERAPEUTIC FASTING IN AMERICA  
 
DR. TANNER'S FORTY DAY FASTS:  
FASTING EXPERIEN CES OF DR. E. H. DEWEY:  
BRIEF ACCOUNT OF DR. HAZZARD'S WORK FOR THIRTY YEARS   
 
IN THIS chapter the author proposes to speak of her personal acquaintance and friendship with those two pioneers in the cause  of 
natural therapy whose names and deeds stand for th as do none other by reason of their intellectuality, their courage, and their 
ability to grasp the fundamental truths which more or less accidentally were revealed to each of them approximately at the sa me 
time. The chapter also purposes a short resume of the contribution of the author to therapeutic fasting and of the difficulties and 
persecution to which she has been subjected. It is now about half a century since the newspapers of this country were filled with articles dealing with Dr. Henry S. Tann er and 
his claim that he had gone without food for forty -two days. One of my purposes in writing this chapter is to dissipate the fiction 
that the fasts that Dr. Tanner undertook were made in order to attract notorietyófor the mere sake of advertisement Th ey were not. Naturally these fasts attracted attention, and such periods of abstention from food still would attract attention were they b rought to 
public notice. But Dr. Tanner had another object in view, and it is best expressed in his own words as conta ined in a personal letter 
dated December 28, 1911. He says: "I really believe that I am entitled to be called the father of therapeutic fasting in this country, for away back i n 1877 I had 
given up hopes of ever regaining what might be called normal heal th. I was then in Minneapolis in the practice of my profession, 
and, after a strenuous time with a patient critically ill, I virtually collapsed. I was at such a low ebb physically and ment ally at the 
time that I did not care whether I lived or died, and I  determined that, since my drugs gave me no relief, I would starve myself to 
death ere I again would suffer the physical misery that had been mine for months preceding. I accordingly told Dr. Moyer, my 
Page 3 of  72 consulting companion, that I would not again eat food until I was dead or recovered in health." It will be remembered that Dr. 
Tanner was a fully accredited doctor of medicine. The facts as recorded are these. On the 15th of July, 1877, Dr. Henry S Tanner was called in consultation with Dr. A. Moyer o f 
Minn eapolis, Minnesota, to attend a critical case that detained them late into the night. The next day Dr. Tanner felt ill and di d not 
leave his room. During the day he drank some milk, as he did on the day following. But this was the last food taken by him un til 
August 29th following, a period of forty -two days. Both Dr. Tanner and Dr. Moyer concurred in the opinion that from the 
viewpoint of medical diagnostics the symptoms in the case were those of low gastric fever. During "treatment" Dr. Tanner 
occupied a room in the home of Dr. Moyer, and he was not at any time confined to his bed. He took during the entire forty -two 
days of abstinence nothing but water into his stomach, but of this he drank freely when thirsty. At the end of ten days of fasting the symp toms of his disorder disappeared; he gained in strength, and in every way showed 
physical and mental improvement. Dr. Moyer, however, frequently remonstrated with Dr. Tanner for pursuing what he, Dr. Moyer,  
believed to be a suicidal course, but Dr. Tanner persisted, and we have in the small volume, Forty Days Without Food, a record of 
the full fast from Dr. Moyer's pen. The latter says, after detailing the daily experiences of his "patient" for forty days:  
 
"The case continued until I became alarmed, and I  strenuously urged Dr. Tanner to allay his gastric irritation by taking milk, which 
he finally consented to do. The next forenoon --that of the forty -second day of fasting --he ate a cracker and drank some lemonade, 
but this his stomach rejected." In the lig ht of more recent knowledge of the therapeutics of fasting this experience was to be 
expected. But later on the same day Dr. Tanner went downtown, and, coming home within half an hour, said to Dr. Moyer, "Well,  
Doctor, I think I have finished affairs for g ood. I not only have taken a pint of milk, but have eaten five pears and half a good -sized 
watermelon. " No records were kept either by Dr. Tanner or Dr. Moyer of the phenomena of this fast. The only data extant deal with the prom pt 
and general relief of  symptoms of distress, all of which vanished by the tenth day of fasting, and there is mention made that Dr. 
Tanner had no passage from the bowels from the 15th of July until the 31st of August, an interval of 47 days. To carry out a fast 
today in this man ner would be deemed a bid for disaster, hence the record made by Dr. Tanner in this, his first essay into 
prolonged abstinence from food for health's sake, is thus rendered the more remarkable. The fast in question was commenced with a view of relieving an inflammation of the stomach, and it was continued after the active 
symptoms had subsided in order to test the worth of scientific teachings as to the time a human being might live without food . No 
plan had been arranged, for, as stated, decision to fast  came suddenly; neither was there any intention of bringing the matter to 
public attention. But the outcome of Dr. Tanner's experiment was so surprising and so successful from the therapeutic viewpoint that Dr. Moyer 
was unable to remain silent, and he t old a few of his friends, among whom was a reporter of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. This 
virtually necessitated a public statement of the facts, which called wide -spread attention to Dr. Tanner, and newspapers throughout 
the country were soon publishing art icles and interviews, many of which attempted to throw doubt upon the doctor's veracity. Medical men especially, almost to a man, when questioned upon the subject, stated that such a fast was a physical impossibili ty, 
and medical journals published such st atements as scientific facts. These attacks upon Dr. Tanner's probity he believed were likely to affect his professional reputation, and he thereupon deter mined 
to speak for himself. This he did through the columns of the Pioneer Press in an article iter ating what has been related, together 
with other announcements and arguments that need not here be quoted. For some time after publication of this communication considerable interest was shown, especially in the Middle West, upon th e 
subject of fasting, not, however, because of its therapeutic possibilities, but because of the doubt that a human being might emulate 
the Christ and perform in the flesh a miracle. For Christ's fast of forty days and nights was then as now by orthodox believe rs 
numbered among  miraculous events. Dr. Tanner went further than this in later years, and, as he says in a letter to the author of date February 23, 1912: "My se cond fast, 
publicly given, was called the 'Great American Sensation', and its novel incidents were wired to t he ends of the telegraphic world. My advisers planned for me wisely. My object was not money, but to relieve myself of the odium unjustly heaped upon me by the  
medical enemies of all righteousness. Right triumphed, and the very javelins of hate hurled at m e, in their recoil held up the 
medical profession to the derision of the world. Every prediction of failure was nullified, and I came off conqueror and more  than 
conqueror, in spite of the medical Goliaths arrayed against truth." This statement was made by Dr. Tanner thirty -two years after he underwent his famous second fast in the City of New York. The 
fast began on June 28,1880, and ended at noon, August 6,1880, full forty days. To go into the controversies that this public demonstration occasioned wo uld be futile here. It is sufficient to say that Dr. Tanner 
Page 4 of  72 successfully vindicated his cause, and that he proved his contention that mere man might refrain from eating for forty days a nd still 
live. In addition, he showed that the physical state of his bo dy was materially improved by his experience, and that the therapeutic 
value of abstinence from food was an established fact. As a result of this test Dr. Tanner's name became a household word, an d to 
this day in works not allied at all to the subject refe rences are met with the good old doctor as their theme. Dr. Henry S. Tanner was born in England in 1831. He died in San Diego, California, in comparative obscurity in 1919. Eighty -
eight years of life, most of which was devoted to contending with the orth odox members of his profession! Yet he never lost his 
mental poise nor his well developed sense of humor. Nor did he ever descend to the meannesses of petty controversy, although 
outspoken to the end. Throughout his practice, and he was always actively eng aged in the work of his profession, he decried the 
use of drugs, depending entirely upon natural therapy. When his purse was full, his funds were at the disposal of those in ne ed, and 
his whole personality was one that carried with it and expressed the Gol den Rule. Dr. Tanner, from 1877 on, employed the fast in his practice. He slightly antedates Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey in this regard, bu t he 
did not, as did Dr. Dewey, make of his knowledge the basis of a cult, the foundation of a school. When in 1911 t he author was persecuted by the political members of the orthodox branch of medicine, and was accused of having 
caused the death of one of her fasting patients by starvation, Dr. Tanner rose to the occasion, as evidenced in the following  letter: 
"Our local  papers have published matter in regard to you professionally. As I am the father of fasting, I'm an interested party in 
your welfare. If I can be of service, command me, and to the extent of my ability to help, I will cheerfully respond." One could not ask for more than this, yet Dr. Tanner did more. Testimony from witnesses not directly connected with the case was 
barred at the trial by a prejudiced judge, so it was not possible to take advantage of the doctor's offer at this time. But l ater, while 
the case was pending in the higher courts, Doctor Tanner came to Seattle, and he and the author appeared many times jointly on 
the platform to the great good of the cause of therapeutic fasting. He was then eighty -one years of age and in possession of all of 
his faculties, save that he was slightly deaf. Upon his return to Los Angeles, where he then made his home, he continued pract icing 
"natural methods" under medical license. Dr. Tanner died of sheer old age in 1919 at San Diego. It is a sad resection upon those who should have felt the obligation, that the 
last days of this gentle but firm -principled man should have been spent in the County Hospital. The author had been absent abroad 
for nearly four years and had lost touch with the doctor, only to discover  on her return to this country after his death the facts as 
here recorded. Eighty -eight years of existence, forty -two of which were devoted to the advancement of that method of healing by 
which his own life had been saved and prolonged, and devoted as well  to teaching others the natural way to health, with what far 
reaching effects none of us may ever know! In that he advocated and practiced fasting and other natural therapeutic measures for 
the long space of forty -two years, and that he was first to attrac t public attention to the possibilities of the fast as a curative means, 
to Dr. Henry S. Tanner is justly entitled the first place among the pioneers of therapeutic fasting. Just about the time that Dr. Tanner in Minneapolis discovered for himself the wo rth of abstinence from food as a therapeutic 
measure, another medical physician in Meadville, Pennsylvania, by what may be called pure accident, was given a revelation of  
the power of nature in disease along lines similar to the Tanner experience. Wonder i s occasioned at the coincidence in time and in 
circumstance. Dr. Tanner says definitely that his first trial of the fast was a personal and experimental one, and that he be gan his 
initial experience on the 17th day of July, 1877. Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey, o n page 48 of his True Science of Living, states: " On 
a hot day in July, 1877, I entered a home to assume charge of a case of typhoid fever that was to arouse every possible facul ty as 
by an electric charge." The doctor began to treat this case in orthodox  medical manner, and in order to support strength and vital 
power, from the medical viewpoint it was his duty to enforce feeding. But, fortunately for the patient and for the future of 
scientific fasting in disease, every dose of drugs or of food, every dr ink of water, was instantly rejected by the stomach, and this 
condition persisted for over three weeks. In this connection Dr. Dewey remarks: "I was a very surprised physician, for, even 
without food, I found the tongue cleaning and a manifest gain in both  mental and physical strength that became even marked at the 
time, when, to my continued surprise, food might be borne. I, however, determined to let nature continue to have her way, and  
from the end of the third week I watched, without trying enforced fee ding, until the thirty -fourth day, when my patient, with 
natural hunger in evidence, began to eat and to rebuild with ultimate return to normal vigor. "Here," he continues, "was an object lesson:  
 
"(1) Vital power supported without food. "(2) Mental an d physical strength increasing with the decline of symptoms. "(3) A cure without the aid of remedies, and one that was eminently complete in every way. "(4) No unusual wasting of the body." In later years, when relating his early experiences in connect ion with fasting in disease, Dr. Dewey, both in conversation and in 
writing, dwelt at great length upon the complete reversal of personal opinion and belief which the conditions and the outcome  of 
this case produced. He gives in detail in his several books  the results of this change of thought, and the tale is as interesting as is 
Page 5 of  72 one of adventure or romance, for it led this man into life -long advocacy and practice of a method diametrically opposed to that for 
which he had been trained, and which he had the retofore made his profession. It also brought to him controversy, ridicule, and 
persecution. He who becomes a renegade from an established creed is more than likely to find himself an outcast from the society of believ ers 
in that creed. And Dr. Dewey, on ce launched upon a course which he deemed that of the truth, proved no exception to the common 
fate. His medical confreres at first dubbed him eccentric --even crazy. And it was not long before his presence in consultation and 
in professional assemblage was  no more desired. In fact, the local medical society requested his resignation as a member of its 
body. But Dr. Dewey possessed among other sterling qualities, courage, and he never wavered, but sturdily and steadily contin ued 
in his chosen path until reco gnition of his discovery and of his teachings was forced, first upon his clientele, and then upon his 
colleagues, by the results which his methods obtained. Dr. Dewey is perhaps best known to the world as the strenuous advocate of the "No Breakfast Plan" , and his book with this title 
has circled the globe. But his other works, notably The True Science of Living, well bear careful reading, even though in the light 
of later and more scientific investigation discovery, his theory and practice of the fast lea ve many things to be supplied. It is not, however, the purpose of the author to write in criticism of the work of the pioneers in the art and science of phy siatrics, 
for it is sufficient that these men first made exposition of present -day natural practic e, later to be developed and elaborated by their 
disciples. And it is also to be remembered that, as is the destiny of every pioneer, they proved no exception to the rule, an d were 
reviled and persecuted exquisitely by those who should have supported their  investigations, those who should have worked out 
with them the possibilities of their discoveries. Intrenched authority invariably escapes ridicule and persecution, since in most 
instances it is individually devoid of acumen and initiative, and is smugly content to dwell within the vicious thrall of orthodoxy. Dr. Dewey was born at Wayland, Pennsylvania, in May, 1839. In the late fifties he entered thc employ of a local druggist, and  he 
spent two years dispensing remedies and absorbing pharmaecopoeial lo re. He says for himself that at that time he came into 
contact with all kinds of physicians and with all kinds of "isms" in medical practice, and that the prescription counter is a  
wonderful revelator of the literary and scientific attainments of the medic al profession, yet it fails to account for the relative degree 
of success of men who are without the slightest shade of scientific conception of the action of a remedy or of its indicated need as 
revealed by symptoms. He further says that his drugstore exp erience led to a slowly developing conviction that, as an adaptation of 
means to an end, the administration of drugs for the cure of disease is one of the most unscientific of human vocations. It i s evident 
that this conviction did not then become an entit y in the doctor's mind, for it did not deter him from going. ahead with those studies 
that finally brought him to the College of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Michigan. From this college he was gradu ated 
in 1864 with a medical degree, and almos t immediately we find him as an acting assistant surgeon in the army of the United States 
on duty at a field hospital at Chattanooga, Tennessee. When discharged at the close of the war, the doctor chose Meadville, 
Pennsylvania, as his field of labor, and i n the autumn of 1866 he became a general practitioner in that small city, then numbering 
about ten thousand souls. Here for eleven years he followed the paths of orthodoxy, still with that slowly developing convict ion 
disturbing his professional thought, u ntil, as has been related, in 1877 sudden light was given and his conviction, now confirmed, 
became the guiding principle of the remainder of his life. Thenceforth Dr. Dewey was eminently successful in a practice based upon causing his patients to abstai n from food for periods 
short or long; upon inaugurating the no -breakfast plan; and upon impressing upon his followers in illness and in health the 
beneficent effects of fresh air, pure water, and sunshine. But, as has been indicated, there was much in the  fundamentals of his 
method that needed revision, and he was lamentably lacking, as was Dr. Tanner, in perceiving that prompt and efficient auxili ary 
hygienic means must constantly be employed while the extreme process of elimination occasioned by a fast i s in progress. He 
repudiated the use of the enema or internal bath, and preferred and insisted upon waiting upon the bowels to act "naturally",  as he 
termed it. In later years, when the writer enrolled as a student with Dr. Dewey, her own thought led her f irst to suggest and then to 
remonstrate upon this and other vital omissions in procedure, and at one time only her friendship for her preceptor prevented  a 
break in relations. It was not until a few months before Dr. Dewey died that he partially acknowledg ed his error in these respects 
and deplored the fact that he had continually advised against the use of the enema, which he had finally come to recognize as  the 
most essential of hygienic accessories connected with a scientifically conducted fast. The ph ysiology of abstinence from food for the prevention and relief of disease as determined by Dr. Dewey and published to the 
world in his books is beyond all doubt correct. But the doctor was much astray in the hygiene necessary to the successful iss ue of 
therapeutic fasting. Accepting neither the eliminative assistance of the enema nor that of daily cleansing the surface of the bo dy, he 
ignored as well the dietetic requisites, both preparatory and subsequent to the total abstinence interval. And as to diet in  health, the 
doctor exhibited the common failing of the medical profession, which then as now seems to consider food merely as fuel for th e 
body, with but little regard for its digestibility or its nutritive content. Dr. Dewey died from paralysis, a cond ition that arose solely from error in personal dietary. He conscientiously observed the "no 
breakfast plan," which he advised for others, but food values, food adaptability, food combination, all were ignored in the t wo 
daily meals he permitted himself. Me ats and fish, eggs and milk, breads and pastries, with comparatively few vegetables in 
Page 6 of  72 combination, and these mostly of the starchier kinds, formed his food supply. What wonder that hardened veins, high blood 
pressure, and ultimate paralysis developed! Dr. Dewey suffered his first stroke of apoplexy on March 28, 1904. For sixteen days he fasted and gradual improvement took 
place, so much so, that in several months he again became active in his profession. At that time the author was most desirous  that 
the doctor accept her proved conclusions concerning the internal bath and the dietary essential when a fast is broken. But to no 
avail, and her warning went for a time unheeded, until untoward symptoms again arising, Dr. Dewey consented to close his 
practice and to come to Minneapolis there to be under the care and direction of his erstwhile pupil. He was delayed in departure, 
and a second paralytic seizure occurred on December 10, 1904, resulting in his death on the 21st of the same month. In personal conta ct with Dr. Dewey and in a voluminous correspondence he ever dwelt with great inspiration and broad vision 
upon what he called "New Gospel of Health", emphasizing at all times the thought that the lesson he was endeavoring to impart  
was one that applied to  every human ill. He said so often that he wanted me clearly to see, as he did, the divine hand in cure 
through an evolution in reverse. By this he meant that disease in the structural changes involved is a matter of nature's own  work --
just as clearly as i n those structural changes by which the body was originally developed. And he further added that the cure of 
disease is but an analogous process in reverse of its cause. This reasoning is clear and logical, and its conclusions are tru th. Dr. Dewey is dea d, but his work lives, and, because his was a mind of system and of science, the foundation he laid for the new 
gospel of health, which nevertheless is the oldest of hygienic truths because it is nature's own system of law, will stand fo r all time. Natural  therapy owes to Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey both recognition and honor as the first scientifically able pioneer in the field 
of therapeutic fasting. Since the remainder of the chapter in hand deals with the personal work of the author, she will, it is hoped , be pardoned for 
speaking in the first person. My work in natural therapy dates back nearly thirty years, to July, 1898, to be exact. As did Dr. Tanner, I arrived at my 
preliminary knowledge by way of illness. My girlhood, which was spent in the lake re gion of Minnesota, was given over to a 
healthful, athletic life, filled with every sort of outdoor exercise and work. My mother, who never touched animal food in he r life, 
possessed a knowledge of dietetic combinations and of cookery, which was purely inst inctive, since there were no opportunities 
cast her way for its acquirement. In consequence the family table was supplied mostly with food vegetarian in character. My 
father, who was of similar habit and belief, unfortunately at about the time I was seven years old, so far compromised with his 
principles as to employ a medical physician upon a yearly basis to care for the family health. This physician was convinced, as 
were the majority of his profession at that day, that all children harbored intestinal pa rasites, and that periodic doses of some 
vermifuge were essential. Therefore I, in company with my brothers and sisters, was given some blue mass pills, a strong 
mercurial preparation. I now allow, what of course I could not then suspect, that this powerfu l poison did irreparable injury to my 
intestines, retarding and preventing their development and growth to such degree that even to this day I am compelled to reso rt to 
the enema daily. After the blue mass experience, for a long time I was never well. No  diet, however carefully chosen, agreed with me, and life 
thereafter during the rest of my childhood and well into young womanhood became a dreary search for health. In this search I 
learned much of what was then taught concerning dietetics both from ortho dox and unorthodox sources, but no permanent relief 
was ever vouchsafed me until in 1898 I heard of the work and the remarkable successes of Dr. Dewey. As a result of the 
inspiration I thus received, with some trepidation I attempted a fast, and went four days without food. A little later I dared still 
more and tried fasting for one whole week, with benefits that were so pronounced that whatever reservations I may have felt 
vanished completely. Since then I have fasted many times, and, when necessary, for l onger periods. And I attribute the robust 
health which now is mine as well as the comparatively lengthy span of years I have attained to the practice of what I preach,  to the 
taking of my own medicine. Shortly after I began to take practical interest in fasting I made the acquaintance of Dr. Dewey, and at his invitation I placed 
myself under his tutelage. I was then studying osteopathy, but, after a term spent under the instruction of Dr. Dewey, and wi th my 
own fasting experience to guide me, I became con vinced that osteopathy alone was not the panacea its advocates claimed, but I 
believed, as I still believe, that in conjunction with other remedial measures, among which dieting and fasting are of most i mport, 
its therapeutic value might be greatly increas ed. And I have found this so. In Minneapolis, where I first located, my early practice proved a struggling one, but gradually I had the satisfaction of see ing it 
grow steadily and surely, for the results that accrued from my then rather drastic applicati on of the complete fast were such as to 
surprise Dr. Dewey as well as myself. Cases pronounced incurable by medical physicians recovered under the regimen I imposed,  
and the symptoms presented ranged from chronic constipation, diabetes, Bright's disease, a nd syphilis to paralysis. Called to the 
Pacific Coast in 1906, I decided there to remain, and in the summer of that year I opened offices in Seattle. Soon after this  I began 
to encounter organized persecution from medical sources, aided by newspapers contr olled by the profession. Such deaths as 
occurred under my care received the widest publicity, and the accounts written concerning them were distorted and filled with  
Page 7 of  72 implication, innuendo, and threat. These articles eventually accomplished the end sought b y their authors, for in 1912 I was 
brought to trial charged with having wilfully caused the death of an English woman patient through starvation. A jury divided amongst itself, but urged to decision by a prejudiced judge and by public sentiment inflamed by a public press, 
determined that my crime was that of manslaughter, and I was thereupon sentenced to a minimum term of two years in the 
penitentiary. I served these years day by day in anguish of body and of mind, until finally the then Governor of Washi ngton 
became convinced of my innocence and of the monstrous injustice that had been done, and he granted to me an unconditional 
pardon, restoring all of the rights and privileges which by reason of my conviction I had forfeited. In 1916, shortly after my  pardon was granted, I was called to New Zealand to take charge of the case of a friend, and I spent nearly 
four years in that country, every day of the time devoted to a large and successful practice. But home ties and home duties b rought 
me back to the h ome land, and here I continue the work with bettered surroundings, increased facilities, and with perspective and 
concept broadened by experiences to which those of my predecessors and contemporaries compare as mere bagatelles. Because of my intimate ass ociation with Dr. Dewey in the early years of my work, because he deemed me a practitioner worthy of 
his confidence during his last hours, and because I have developed to the utmost his theory and his art, I do not think that I can be 
denied my place with him and with Dr. Tanner as a pioneer in the therapeusis of the fast. There are others, physicians as well as laymen, to whom is due recognition as pioneers in furthering the fast as a remedial m easure. Among these must be mentioned Charles C. Haskell, no w deceased, also a writer and issuer of books, who was friend of Dr. 
Dewey and his publisher as well; Lloyd Jones, head of the firm of H. I. Jones & Son, Ltd., book dealers and publishers, of 
Wanganui, New Zealand, whose personal advocacy, writings and pub lications have done so much to spread the new gospel of 
health throughout Australia and the South Seas; and the late Dr. C. E. Page of Boston. All of these are entitled to place and  honor 
for their untiring efforts in support of the doctrine promulgated in  the pages of the text. PART TWO: THEORY OF FASTING  
 
CHAPTER II  
UNITY OF, DISEASE AND CURE  
 
FASTING AND STARVATION DEFINED: DISTINCTION BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL AND ORGANIC DISEASE:  
THE CAUSE OF IMPURE BLOOD: THE NATURE OF DISEASE AND CURE   
 
DISEASE and cu re are a unity. The former may not be suppressed lest the latter fail of attainment. In order that a clear conception 
of the substance of the text may be obtained, a short explanation of the meaning of the thought expressed in the first senten ce and 
of the  principles upon which the efficacy of the fast in the treatment of disease is based is essential. It is also necessary, for t he 
purpose of defining the distinction that exists between fasting and starvation, to discuss later on the physiological changes  
developed in the progress of the latter phenomenon, since, in the popular mind, fasting is invariably confounded with starvati on. Fasting is defined as follows: the voluntary denial of food to a system which is diseased, and which, because of disease, nei ther 
demands nor desires nourishment until, rested, purified, and with hunger in evidence, it is again able to resume its metaboli c 
processes. Then, and not till then, is food supplied; then, and not till then, does starvation begin. For the purposes of the text starvation is defined as the denial of food, by accident or design, to a system needing and demanding 
sustenance. Hunger, true desire for food, indicates the want and calamitous consequences ensue when its call is denied. Relieving physical unba lance by voluntarily withholding food is based upon the logical conclusion of the argument herein that, 
disregarding the variously designated symptoms by which disease is manifested in differing subjects, always there is present one 
predominating morbid ph enomenon --an impure blood current. And the cause of impure blood is primarily faulty nutrition. An important distinction in condition here needs exposition. Organic disease, whether inherent, or the result of continued 
functional disturbance, or of physi cal shock, is that in which one or more of the organs of the body is deformed, undeveloped, or 
otherwise structurally disabled so as to interfere with its work, a state comparable to that of a machine with a defective co g.  
 
Functional disease is that in w hich the vital organs in general are in condition to do their work, but certain of them have become 
unable partially or wholly to function by reason of congestion and irritation, the result of food chemically changed into nox ious 
substances through causes later to be related in detail. In this state fermentation and putrefaction occur in the intestinal canal and 
elsewhere, and toxins are produced that enter the blood, thus impairing its quality and deranging the vital processes. Extra labor is 
also entailed  upon other organs, since they are not only stimulated in unwonted degree by the presence of substances harmful to 
their action, but are also compelled to perform, in so far as they may, the work of their disabled allies. Page 8 of  72 Organic disease is a cause in it self of faulty nutrition, for, when it is present, the organs affected are always partially crippled in 
function. While this form of disease is usually beyond the hope of recovery, its harmful results may be reduced to a minimum by 
means of judicious appli cation of the fast at properly regulated intervals; and a combination of abstinence from food with 
corrective dieting will lengthen the life of the sufferer to the degree to which a defective organism will permit vitality to  operate. Functional disease a nd its ultimate consequence, functionally caused organic disease, are the results of nutrition impaired by 
incorrect methods in feeding, by improper selection of food, or by a supply beyond the power of the metabolic processes to ha ndle. The latter include  those operations by which on the one hand dead food is converted into living tissue, and on the other by which 
living matter is broken down into simpler products in a cell or organism. In any of the circumstances poisons are produced th at 
injure the syste m, until finally the condition becomes general and disease is apparent. The subject cannot have been ignorant of 
disturbance for some time previous to actual disability, for minor aches and pains have given ample warning. Mild preventive 
steps, taken when symptoms first appear, will obviate by anticipative action later drastic measures, but natural resident power of 
contending against bodily abuse is limited only by individual characteristics, and these may permit of extended transgression  of 
hygienic law. Usually a positive halt is not called until the physical machinery has been well nigh obstructed with food waste and 
its products  
 
It is possible that at first sight the principles here set forth may not be fully apprehended, hence, as important premises to the 
argument, they are again enumerated for reference by the student in connection with the body of the text. In disease, whatever abnormal conditions are present, whatever the nominal symptom, an impure blood stream is always 
discovered. Impure blo od is caused primarily by impaired nutrition. Impaired nutrition results from  
 
(a) Taking into the body food wrongly selected in kind or in quantity, wrongly prepared, or wrongly masticated. (b) Taking into the body food that may have been correctly se lected, prepared, and eaten, but that in quantity is greater than is 
needed for the repair and growth of tissue. (c) Nerve force inhibited at its source, at some point in transmission, or by reflexive stimulus, irritation, at its termini. (d) Mental pert urbation, such as worry, fear, jealousy, anger, and the like. Any of these causes being operative, food ingested fails of complete digestion, ferments and putrefies, generating circulatin g 
poison that creates and continues disease until the producing cau se can be eliminated. Inherent or congenital organic disease and functionally caused organic disease in its later stages embody defects in form, si ze, or 
cell structure of any one of the vital organs. Except in rare instances through surgical interventio n, such structural deficiencies are 
beyond the hope of repair, but a carefully selected dietary combined with judicious application of the fast and its accessori es will 
afford relief and prolong existence. In disease that is purely functional in cause th e vital organs are normally developed and are physically perfect in structure, but are 
obstructed in action by food -excess and its toxic products. Functionally caused disease is a condition that always admits of full 
recovery, and cure is a certainty when natural law is permitted its course. Any symptom of disease is evidence of poison circulating in the blood. The conventional method of treatment invariably aims a t 
the suppression of the symptom rather than at the removal of its cause. On the other hand,  the natural manner of handling the 
situation recognizes disease as health perverted, and far from attempting to suppress its symptoms it aims at still further 
uncovering the condition by assisting the action of the very evident eliminative process in oper ation. And oftentimes this 
assistance of the eliminative function results in an aggravation of symptoms, in an apparent increase in the severity of dise ase. This 
is a purely logical and salutary consequence of natural curative phenomena. Disease in itself being but a process of the elimination 
of toxins from the system, nature, given free rein, thus expresses herself in determined effort towards the restoration of he alth, the 
normal state of physical existence  
 
Hunger and disease cannot exist simultaneousl y in the animal body. This is a truth that cannot be too strongly emphasized. When 
hunger is absent because of disease, food is required neither for cell rebuilding nor for strength, and all animate creation,  save man, 
obeys the primal law of abstinence wh en the physical scale no longer balances. Knowing that disease arises from a single source, 
natural therapeutics knows as well but a single means of relief --rest for organs overworked, and prompt removal by natural aids of 
substances deleterious to health. To revert to the symptoms of disease --the function of digestion is generally regarded as an extensive and complicated process, and 
it is so closely related to the functions of other parts of the body that it is difficult to describe the bounds, if any, beyond which 
Page 9 of  72 digestion has no influence. The digestive apparatus is commonly spoken of as including the alimentary canal and those importa nt 
glands that contribute secretions to the successive processes involved; but, as absorption and assimilation, on the  one hand, and 
formation and withdrawal of waste products, on the other, are so nearly related to preliminary digestion, it is impossible to  form a 
clear conception of disease of the digestive organs, for instance, without observing the state of other and contributory parts of the 
body. While it makes for simplicity of description to exclude those organs not commonly grouped with the digestive apparatus,  
this does not result in a correct understanding, and therefore, if an explanation is to be found, not on ly for a disturbed physiological 
state, but also, in instances, for structural changes in the digestive organs, the field must be widened, and study be direct ed to the 
nervous system, including its physical manifestations, to the fluids of the body, to the  rebuilding and breaking -down of tissue, and 
to the eliminative functions as well. Unconsciously a great part of the importance of this general view is perhaps recognized  when 
it is assumed that good digestion depends upon restful sleep, fresh air, sunligh t, physical exercise, and activity of the bowels, 
kidneys, and skin. But, disregarding these essential matters, it is difficult to apprehend the nature of digestive disturbanc es, or to 
prescribe for their relief. It may truly be said of an individual that,  in a sense, his digestive ailment arises in the brain, in the lungs, 
in the heart, or in the kidneys, but the distinctions and differences stated must be clearly kept in mind lest the idea of th e unity of 
disease and cure be clouded. It must be fully unde rstood that the study of disease of the stomach is not limited to that organ, that 
the symptom expressed is merely that of disturbances that may be widely distributed throughout the body. Medicine has sought to 
give disease names that are specifically clas sified, names based upon the locality of expression of the symptom; but this, it is seen, 
is only a relatively justifiable conception. There are no symptoms referable solely to the kidneys, to the heart, to the bloo d; the man 
is sick from a single cause; h is illness appears here or there, but his body is sick as a whole. It is surprising to discover that the disturbances of the functions of the human body should not long since have been traced to their 
single source. Long ago should pain and other distres sing symptoms of illness have been recognized as benevolent warnings, sharp 
reminders of a condition, not perhaps yet fully developed, but as warnings that in themselves should compel the repose that i s 
necessary, and that should forbid admission into the body of substances that are injurious. The doctrine of unity in the cause and cure of disease as set forth in the text of this work has been carefully and earnestly  
investigated by the author through a period of more than thirty years. Thousands of cases  have been treated upon this basis, and 
each instance has but confirmed the conviction that the principle involved is absolutely sound. It has stood all tests. When death 
during a fast has occurred, the autopsy invariably revealed organic deficiency, inher ent or acquired through years of continuous 
functional abuse. But in all cases of disease purely functional in cause, proper application of the method led to complete re covery. So far as may be accomplished in a work of this size, the fast as a therapeut ic agency, with its effects both upon the body and 
mind, is fully discussed. What is asked of the reader is that he lay aside prejudice and approach the subject without bias, k eeping 
before the eyes of his mind the words of the apostle: --"Prove all things;  hold fast that which is good." CHAPTER III  
STARVATION  
 
STARVING FROM OVERFEEDING: THERE IS NO HUNGER WHEN DISEASE IS MANIFEST   
 
THE CHIEF purpose of food is that of supplying the tissue of the body with the elements necessary for its growth and 
mainte nance. In the event that, through faulty digestion, through organic defect, or through deficiency in the functions of 
absorption and assimilation, tissue waste is not replaced as broken down, starvation ensues. In any of the designated conditi ons, 
the more  food supplied, the less resistance to disease succeeds since energy then must be directed to the elimination of food and 
food products that cannot be utilized because of physical inability in the ultimate processes, and finally exhaustion and dea th 
occur. Dr. E. H. Dewey said, "The body may be well fed but still be starving to death." This statement may be made more striking and  
perhaps more lucid by saying that in reality it is the overfed body that is continuously in a starving condition, and this by  a process 
that is much more distressing in effect than is that by which death is caused when food is indefinitely denied. And starving of this 
sort, starving from overfeeding, is well nigh the universal manner in which the individual existence of man is ter minated, for every 
symptom of disease, every disease epidemic, owes its development to food wrongly combined, and ingested always in excess, and  
usually far in excess, of body requirement, with malnutrition as its consequence. Each cell that enters the s tructure of the human organism may be regarded as an entity, as an individual life center, with power to 
select and to appropriate for its maintenance suitable constructive material from the blood current, and with power to elimin ate its 
own waste. This be ing true, the life of the body as a whole is reflected in miniature in each of its cells, the infinitesimal particles 
that go to form its structure. In health, when equilibrium is sustained between nutrition and elimination, every cell capably  
performs its  function, receives its needful quota of pabulum, and discharges its waste. In disease the condition changes. Material 
then absorbed is the product of ill -digested or non -digested food, elimination is also at fault, and the cell finds its source of 
mainten ance, the blood stream, vitiated. For a time the small body is supported by its inherent vitality and by its stored food 
reserve, but, if proper nourishment is denied, if the condition of toxemia persists, it atrophies and eventually dies. The de ath of 
Page 10 of  72 cells sufficient in number to cause a vital organ to fail in function causes the death of the body. And thus, in a sense, it may  be said 
that all animal dissolution, exclusive of that caused by accident, is brought about through starvation  
 
The usual concept  of starvation is that the body perishes for some reason or other because it is not supplied with food for its 
maintenance and growth. But elements and conditions other than those caused by deprivation of food enter into starving to dea th, 
for the latter c annot occur in ordinary circumstances, as the text demonstrates, within a few days or weeks, or even months, when 
the resources of the body have been in any degree conserved. In a scientifically conducted fast death from starvation cannot take place when  organic disease is absent. In every animate body a 
reserve supply of nourishment is held in the interstices of tissue. Brain and nerves are at all times directly supported by t his stored 
food, and, when wounds, sores, or fractures of bone call for repair,  a healthy surplus furnishes the demand. Not until this reserve is 
exhausted or prevented from being appropriated by nerve structure can death intervene. When disease is manifest, there is no hunger --there cannot be, for the body then indicates through p hysical distress first, that it 
desires functional rest, and next, that it is in process of relieving itself of the cause of its distress. And, until its pur poses are 
accomplished, vitality is more weakly expressed, since the paths for the transfer of ener gy are largely obstructed. But the vehicle 
of vitality, the organism itself, is conserved for a time by means of its sinking -fund of nourishment. If by continued feeding --and 
any feeding in disease is pernicious --the avenues for the expression of life forc e are further obstructed, strength finally may be no 
longer manifested, and death will occur. On the other hand, when nature is permitted full scope, the cause of disease is elim inated, 
and true hunger appears. Then, with food supplied, rebuilding and grow th are resumed in a system purified and functionally equal 
to its appointed tasks. The law of hunger, the primal rule of being in animal existence, is reserved for discussion later in the text. It is the safe guard of 
bodily resource, and its claims may n ever be ignored. Disease may be induced through the action of mental states upon physical function, and in accidental conditions that compel 
abstinence from food, such as shipwreck, mine disasters, and the like, digestive function is paralyzed by mental apprehension. If 
death should occur in these circumstances, within a comparatively short time, it must be attributed, not to lack of nourishme nt, but 
to the effect of fear, of general emotional exhaustion, upon physical forces. It is an error to associat e the terms, fasting and starvation. Fasting conduces to systemic purlfication; starvation is actual systemic 
poisoning. One may and often does starve on three full daily meals. And it may be added that it requires great skill to fast an 
individual properl y, but that any tyro can starve a man to death. CHAPTER IV  
WHEN AND WHY TO FAST  
 
THE TIME TO FAST IS WHEN ONE IS ILL:  
THE BODY GETS SICK AS A WHOLE:  
GENERAL HINTS ABOUT FASTING   
 
FASTING is indicated only when illness impends or is in actual evidence . No need exists in health for the employment of 
measures for the alleviation of pain and distress for these signs are non -evident when physical balance is the rule. Remedial means 
are necessary only in illness, impending or actual, and then alone should t he fast and its accessories be applied. In disease nature is in process of purifying the body --is casting out its waste, thus cleansing the system in preparation for active, 
healthy rebuilding. The fast as an eliminative measure is comparable to no other  agency known, but before entering upon a period 
of abstinence from food, the subject, whether under guidance or conducting his own case, should fully comprehend the details of 
the truth that physical lack of balance is due to a single cause. The symptoms that then are present, or that may arise thereafter 
during the fast or upon a dietary regimen, need occasion no alarm, for their source is understood and their meaning is rightl y 
conceived as therapeutic in character. Omission of food permits the eliminati ve organs to act unhampered by intake, and in this 
omission and in the employment the essential hygienic accessories is discovered the sole means of assistance that will assure  
permanent relief. Alleviation of symptomatic distress may, however, be accompli shed locally through simple measures --dry heat, 
hot fomentations, cold applications, sunlight, fresh air, body manipulation, vertebral adjustment, and the baths and the enem a. Illness never occurs at the convenient moment. Its warnings may develop in any  season of the year, and they should promptly be 
heeded regardless of personal inconvenience or of climatic situation. To wait until disease develops locally is always disast rous, 
and in the therapeutics of nature diagnosis is unnecessary, for natural meas ures for relief in any and all illness are identical in 
essence, varying only in minor details. During a fast, because of the absence of food stimulation, of the heat -producing chemical 
reactions normal to health, the body is easily chilled, hence it is at  times suggested that the fast wait for the warm weather of 
summer. But, again, the time to fast is when ill, and one should never be deterred from undergoing treatment because the seas on is 
Page 11 of  72 not propitious. Artificial means of maintaining indoor temperatur e are always available, and the needful hygienic requirements 
may be utilized with equal facility and success whether outer air be warm or cold. It is to be noted that the winter season is nature's time of rest and recuperation. Then trees and plants are  dormant, many animals 
hibernate, and all nature prepares for the growing period, the resurrection of the spring. Man, because of artificial environ ment and 
custom, and with the thought that the body heat is derived solely from fuel consumed, from food ing ested, eats more heavily in 
winter and approaches spring with a system overloaded with waste. Spring fever and spring tonic are reciprocating terms, and 
epidemic disease is more prevalent then than at any other season. The symptoms by which disease is ex hibited may be specifically named and classified --it may be said that the subject suffers from 
Bright's disease, from eczema, from diphtheria, or from small -pox, but behind the symptom lies the cause, and, as before stated, 
the body is not to be thought of  as ill in a specific locality or in an individualized organ. It is sick as a whole, though the signs of 
physical unbalance are more visible, more severely expressed, in one part or another. Illness results when equilibrium no lon ger 
exists between nutriti on and elimination, resulting in a blood current vitiated at its source, powers of resistance lowered, and soil 
for germs produced. One remedy alone may cope with this condition, and it is that which nature indicates and employs --
elimination of the toxins that cause disease, and rest for organs that have been functioning under stress. Nature inevitably focuses her efforts at cure upon the point or points of least resistance, upon those outlets of the body th at are 
least able to withstand the pressure exer ted to expel material noxious to the system. In health the latter is discharged through those 
channels that are especially designed for the purpose. The simplest forms in which illness is manifested are colds, headaches , and 
rashes that appear upon the ski n. Because of injudicious feeding, of congestion and overwork, the digestive organs are hampered in 
function. Elimination through bowels, kidneys, lungs, and skin is naturally continued to the limit of the power of these orga ns. When any one of them is ove rtaxed, a portion of its labor is necessarily thrown upon the others. They respond, and in responding 
they too show distress. When the skin is thus called upon for work beyond its limitations, pimples or rashes appear on its su rface. Likewise when the brea thing apparatus labors with excess of toxic matter, the latter appears as a discharge from the mucus 
membrane of the throat and the nose, and, if these organs are unable to cope with their unaccustomed task, the lungs in turn are 
called upon, and, unless s peedily relieved, they become clogged and inflamed, a condition dangerous in the extreme. Normally 
equal balance should exist among all of the organs of elimination. Each should perform its allotted task proportionately with  the 
others. The arms of the sca le of intake and outgo should constantly remain at level, and this they do when health is the rule. The social surroundings of a fasting patient are of the utmost import. The effect of mental states upon physical well being w ill not 
be dwelt upon here, b ut, when friends and family object to the administration of a fast, their opposition is more than apt to be the 
cause of an emotional crisis. These objections are mainly made because of lack of knowledge of the purpose of the fast and of  the 
details of its  application. Ignorant of the principle that underlies this wholly natural agency for the cure of disease, its outcome is 
feared, and, while the patient is ready and willing to submit to the regimen imposed, relatives and friends may resist to the  point of  
compulsion. Since peace of mind and quiet environment are essential, in these circumstances separation from anxious but 
misguided intimates is virtually indispensable to favorable result. Worry, anger, grief, and other morbid emotions are also most detr imental to progress towards cure. One instance comes to mind of 
a case that had fasted but eight days for functional disease of no especial gravity. Improvement had been continuous, but 
diferences had occurred between the patient and her husband and the la tter, in an interview with his wife on the eighth day of her 
fast, so angered and distressed her that a nervous congestive chill, with suffusion of blood to the brain and lungs resulted,  death 
succeeding. No argument could convince the orthodox mind that t he fast was not responsible for the fatal consequence in this case. But the woman would have died just as surely had the scene related taken place before the omission of food, when the patient was 
physically and nervously weaker than at the time when anger  and grief were so strongly excited. In cases of functional disease, when the patient is not so depleted as to be bedridden, moderate daily exercise during a fast  is 
beneficial. The ordinary duties of life may sometimes be continued with advantage, but, while some fasting subjects may follow 
their usual vocations, others are compelled to rest throughout the period of abstinence. Usually the greater part of the latt er are 
sufferers from disease either chronically functional or organic in character. Mild me ntal activity is of value because of the 
diversion of the mind from contemplation of physical ills. The ideal method in personal conduct during a fast, however, embod ies 
the practice of the sick animal, which remains quiescent, resting absolutely the while  it refrains from eating. It is to be emphasized at this point in the discussion that it is far better that the patient should so occupy himself while fasting that, 
in so far as is possible, his illness and his treatment be not at any time uppermost in h is mind. This is not always a condition easily 
brought about, for, because of comparatively limited knowledge of the method, the majority of its cases is recruited from the  
chronically invalided, usually medically treated for years, and accustomed to const ant thought of personal pain and distress. It may 
here be said that the relief occasioned by the fast very often permits these cases in large part to forget their ailments, an d to devote 
their attention to the essentials of living. Occupation and diversion  assist materially in accomplishing this result. In the ordinary case of functional disease the fast to complete purlfication is at once suggested. The law of hunger determin es its 
Page 12 of  72 duration, and, all other things being equal, surroundings and mental atti tude being in accord, this course will assure restoration to 
health. When the environment is not congenial, or when, in the opinion of the director of treatment, the condition is such as  to 
require it, a partial fast interrupted by periods of corrective di et, may be used to advantage.
Scientific_Fasting.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Page 1 of  72 Metabolic Solutions Report  
Terry Chamberlin, B. Sc. , C. N. C. , Bioanalyst                Nova Scotia, Canada                  msibio@yahoo. com               902-584-3810  
 
SCIENTIFIC FASTING   
The Ancient and Modern Key to Health   
 
BY  
LINDA BURFIELD HAZZARD, D. O. (Fifth, revised and amplified edition of Fasting for the Cure of Disease)   
GRANT PUBLICATIONS, INC. 33 WEST 60TH STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. 1927  
Copyright, under the title of "Fasting For the Cure of Disease,"  
by Linda Burfield Hazzard, 1908, 1910, 1915  
COPYRIGHT, 1927  
BY LINDA BURFIELD HAZZARD  
All Rights Reserved,  
Including all rights of Translation  
into Foreign Languages  
 
PREFACE   
 
NINETEEN years have elapsed since the author issued her first volume dealin g with the prevention and relief of disease through 
fasting and its accessories. In each of the three succeeding editions details were added, new discoveries recorded, and all f acts 
tending to throw clearer light upon the practical application of what Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey termed the "New Gospel of 
Health" were fully exploited. In this, the fifth revised and amplified edition of the work, it is hoped that, with greater de tail and 
greater knowledge, still greater lucidity has been given in exposition of th e truths that underlie the therapeutic worth and 
possibilities of the fast. The book is written primarily for the lay reader. Hence, whenever a surmise is made or an unproved theory advanced, the attit ude 
of the mind of the author regarding it is plainly  displayed. Likewise, whenever absolute harmony has been accomplished between 
theory and fact, no doubt is permitted the reader in statements of truth discovered. If science is to be defined as knowledge gained and verified by exact observation and corre ct thinking, the work in hand is purely a 
scientific record. The human subjects presented to the author for guidance and care have in all instances been those for whom  
medicine had done its best, or, if you will, its worst. Each case has been carefully obs erved; its organic condition and capabilities 
determined as best they might, the patient was fasted, if this procedure were indicated; or his diet was suited to his needs and the 
limitations of his organs. Therefore the results obtained are offered no misg ivings or apologies. In accomplishing her work the 
author has been handicapped almost at every step by opposition that at times developed into persecution, and this by those wh o 
should have been first to welcome the physiological truths which the text prom ulgates. The research made, especially that which 
involved post mortem examination, was achieved only through sheer personal determination, assisted by a few broad minds in 
authority And it is believed that these autopsies are unique in the history of the healing art, for the author knows of no other 
investigator who has had opportunity thus to connect the organic consequence of disease directly with its origin. Moreover, e ach 
body examined was, for more or less lengthy periods before death, free from drug dosage, offering for examination tissues 
unaffected by recent artificial chemical stimulus or destructive change from similar cause. Human progress has ever been associated with constant discovery, and it would show not only deficiency in judgment but ac tual 
mental incapacity to decry the achievements of earnest and conscientious seekers after truth among men of medicine. The autho r, 
however, differs from these scientists in a number of respects, principally because she has always been of the opinion that  the 
outstanding need of humanity is public health education; and, while she has indicated that medicine is finally awake to this need, 
too many of its practitioners still are devoted to pathological rather than to physiological investigation. Heretofore t he day book of 
the family physician consisted of a record of visits to households for the treatment of measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, t yphoid 
fever, or malaria. The man was educated to treat disease and knew little of preventive measures, sanitation, hygiene, or diet, nor 
did his medical curriculum provide such knowledge. Too long has the medical doctor studied disease and death to the exclusion  of 
health and life. Hence again it is stated that, while the facts presented in the text are intended primar ily for lay intelligence, yet, 
since they are in all instances corroborated, earnest investigation should follow on the part of those men of science who are  not 
bound by prejudice to reject every cult not sanctioned by the traditions and doctrines of their  own system of practice. Page 2 of  72 The aim of medical investigation for many years has been largely towards the classification of the symptoms of disease and th e 
segregation of the micro -organisms discovered in its presence. Because of this the medical physician m ay and often does delay 
specific treatment until symptoms develop to a point where what he considers an accurate diagnosis may be made. It is not tho ught 
that any intelligent mind will differ with the author when she says that the first things to be consid ered in the sick -room, the first 
things that the practitioner of natural therapy considers, are the possibility of recovery and the necessity for prompt and e fficient 
action along lines that tend to the eradication of the cause of disease. The gospel of good health is based upon the principles of prevention of disease, and there will be found in the introduction to the 
second edition of this work, published in 1908, these words: "No one knows better than the thinking member of the medical 
profession that the time is at hand when prevention rather than cure will be the keynote of therapeutics. " That this prophecy, for 
such it has proved, is in part realized, is shown in the trend of thought in every recent article on the subject of medical p rogress in 
autho ritative professional publications. The family physician now is urged to educate his patients and his community in preventive  
measures, and so to place himself towards his clientele that his chief service will be one of keeping them well rather than o ne of  
curing them when ill. This means that medicine, while still recognizing the specialist, also recognizes that the family physi cian as a 
class must form the foundation of all true health service, and that he must maintain most intimate relations with those for whom his 
guidance is required. This is exactly what the practitioners of natural therapy have been doing for the past half century and more. For they have e ver 
contended that true perception of cause and effect is the mother of the physician, and tha t in this understanding there can exist no 
doubt as to remedy. In other words, not man but nature is the doctor, and nature indicates her curative processes in the exis ting 
state of disease. And they who follow nature in her physical law further contend th at whatever information they acquire of the 
procedure through which natural curative processes are carried on shall freely be given to their patients, so that in the fut ure the 
latter may in great measure be relieved of dependency upon professional guidanc e. The upbuilding and the maintenance of the human body lie wholly with its individual possessor, and he should be cognizant of its 
parts and of the conserving tasks which they perform to the uttermost degree of knowledge. Ignorance in these respects is a 
universal fault resulting from the custom of depending upon others for specialized information. The message contained in the 
pages that follow, if rightly perceived and executed, in large degree substitutes for a state of blind dependence upon unharm onized 
fact and theory one of reliance upon self and natural law. LINDA BURFIELD HAZZARD  
Wilderness Heights,  
Olalla, Wash. PART ONE : HISTORICAL   
 
CHAPTER I  
THE PIONEERS OF THERAPEUTIC FASTING IN AMERICA  
 
DR. TANNER'S FORTY DAY FASTS:  
FASTING EXPERIEN CES OF DR. E. H. DEWEY:  
BRIEF ACCOUNT OF DR. HAZZARD'S WORK FOR THIRTY YEARS   
 
IN THIS chapter the author proposes to speak of her personal acquaintance and friendship with those two pioneers in the cause  of 
natural therapy whose names and deeds stand for th as do none other by reason of their intellectuality, their courage, and their 
ability to grasp the fundamental truths which more or less accidentally were revealed to each of them approximately at the sa me 
time. The chapter also purposes a short resume of the contribution of the author to therapeutic fasting and of the difficulties and 
persecution to which she has been subjected. It is now about half a century since the newspapers of this country were filled with articles dealing with Dr. Henry S. Tann er and 
his claim that he had gone without food for forty -two days. One of my purposes in writing this chapter is to dissipate the fiction 
that the fasts that Dr. Tanner undertook were made in order to attract notorietyófor the mere sake of advertisement Th ey were not. Naturally these fasts attracted attention, and such periods of abstention from food still would attract attention were they b rought to 
public notice. But Dr. Tanner had another object in view, and it is best expressed in his own words as conta ined in a personal letter 
dated December 28, 1911. He says: "I really believe that I am entitled to be called the father of therapeutic fasting in this country, for away back i n 1877 I had 
given up hopes of ever regaining what might be called normal heal th. I was then in Minneapolis in the practice of my profession, 
and, after a strenuous time with a patient critically ill, I virtually collapsed. I was at such a low ebb physically and ment ally at the 
time that I did not care whether I lived or died, and I  determined that, since my drugs gave me no relief, I would starve myself to 
death ere I again would suffer the physical misery that had been mine for months preceding. I accordingly told Dr. Moyer, my 
Page 3 of  72 consulting companion, that I would not again eat food until I was dead or recovered in health. " It will be remembered that Dr. Tanner was a fully accredited doctor of medicine. The facts as recorded are these. On the 15th of July, 1877, Dr. Henry S Tanner was called in consultation with Dr. A. Moyer o f 
Minn eapolis, Minnesota, to attend a critical case that detained them late into the night. The next day Dr. Tanner felt ill and di d not 
leave his room. During the day he drank some milk, as he did on the day following. But this was the last food taken by him un til 
August 29th following, a period of forty -two days. Both Dr. Tanner and Dr. Moyer concurred in the opinion that from the 
viewpoint of medical diagnostics the symptoms in the case were those of low gastric fever. During "treatment" Dr. Tanner 
occupied a room in the home of Dr. Moyer, and he was not at any time confined to his bed. He took during the entire forty -two 
days of abstinence nothing but water into his stomach, but of this he drank freely when thirsty. At the end of ten days of fasting the symp toms of his disorder disappeared; he gained in strength, and in every way showed 
physical and mental improvement. Dr. Moyer, however, frequently remonstrated with Dr. Tanner for pursuing what he, Dr. Moyer,  
believed to be a suicidal course, but Dr. Tanner persisted, and we have in the small volume, Forty Days Without Food, a record of 
the full fast from Dr. Moyer's pen. The latter says, after detailing the daily experiences of his "patient" for forty days:  
 
"The case continued until I became alarmed, and I  strenuously urged Dr. Tanner to allay his gastric irritation by taking milk, which 
he finally consented to do. The next forenoon --that of the forty -second day of fasting --he ate a cracker and drank some lemonade, 
but this his stomach rejected. " In the lig ht of more recent knowledge of the therapeutics of fasting this experience was to be 
expected. But later on the same day Dr. Tanner went downtown, and, coming home within half an hour, said to Dr. Moyer, "Well,  
Doctor, I think I have finished affairs for g ood. I not only have taken a pint of milk, but have eaten five pears and half a good -sized 
watermelon. " No records were kept either by Dr. Tanner or Dr. Moyer of the phenomena of this fast. The only data extant deal with the prom pt 
and general relief of  symptoms of distress, all of which vanished by the tenth day of fasting, and there is mention made that Dr. Tanner had no passage from the bowels from the 15th of July until the 31st of August, an interval of 47 days. To carry out a fast 
today in this man ner would be deemed a bid for disaster, hence the record made by Dr. Tanner in this, his first essay into 
prolonged abstinence from food for health's sake, is thus rendered the more remarkable. The fast in question was commenced with a view of relieving an inflammation of the stomach, and it was continued after the active 
symptoms had subsided in order to test the worth of scientific teachings as to the time a human being might live without food. No 
plan had been arranged, for, as stated, decision to fast  came suddenly; neither was there any intention of bringing the matter to 
public attention. But the outcome of Dr. Tanner's experiment was so surprising and so successful from the therapeutic viewpoint that Dr. Moyer 
was unable to remain silent, and he t old a few of his friends, among whom was a reporter of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. This 
virtually necessitated a public statement of the facts, which called wide -spread attention to Dr. Tanner, and newspapers throughout 
the country were soon publishing art icles and interviews, many of which attempted to throw doubt upon the doctor's veracity. Medical men especially, almost to a man, when questioned upon the subject, stated that such a fast was a physical impossibili ty, 
and medical journals published such st atements as scientific facts. These attacks upon Dr. Tanner's probity he believed were likely to affect his professional reputation, and he thereupon deter mined 
to speak for himself. This he did through the columns of the Pioneer Press in an article iter ating what has been related, together 
with other announcements and arguments that need not here be quoted. For some time after publication of this communication considerable interest was shown, especially in the Middle West, upon th e 
subject of fasting, not, however, because of its therapeutic possibilities, but because of the doubt that a human being might emulate 
the Christ and perform in the flesh a miracle. For Christ's fast of forty days and nights was then as now by orthodox believe rs 
numbered among  miraculous events.
Linda Burfield Hazzard
Who wrote the book "Fasting for the Cure of Disease"?
The prevention and relief of disease through fasting and its accessories
What is the primary focus of the book "Fasting for the Cure of Disease"?
Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey
Who is Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey?
The elimination of toxins and the restoration of health
What is the primary focus of the fast, according to the author?
The elimination of toxins and the restoration of health
What is the key to the fast, according to the text?