When heated, evaporation of perspiration cools; when chi lled, 
closed pores r etain the.body warmth. Like the lungs the skin permits of blood oxygenation through the walls of the capillaries, 
those small veins that ramify its substance, and, as has been stated, it is an organ of elimination as well. In the conservat ion of 
body heat,  the skin is thermostat of the organism. It regulates temperature, and acts as a governor of internal function. If its work 
be interfered with by the interposition of substances between it and outer air, evaporation from its surface cannot take plac e freel y, 
and elimination of the products of the pores is impeded if not arrested. In the latter case temperature is heightened artific ially and 
abnormally, for prevention of skin activity causes retention of heat developed internally, and health suffers. Page 43 of  72 A str iking exemplification of the close sympathy noted as existing between the functions of the skin and those of the other 
eliminative organs is given in cases of cutaneous burns where large areas are affected. Respiration is increased to exhaustio n, and 
kidne y discharges are heavily laden with waste that in the ordinary instance is eliminated through the pores. If an extreme 
proportion of skin area is seared, virtual suffocation ensues. Fatal results accompanied with symptoms similar to those in 
asphyxiation a lso follow when the body is covered with a substance, such as gold -leaf, that is impervious to air. In this connection it is not generally known that burns or scalds upon the skin may be sucessfully treated by submergence of the 
part affected in water. T he exquisite pain of such injury is at once relieved by this procedure, and continuing the latter for hours or 
even days permits natural healing processes to act with despatch and surety. If the skin area seared is extensive, placing th e 
sufferer in a full  bath and keeping him there for the time necessary will often serve to save life. The water in the tub should be at 
constant temperature and must be frequently changed, while water in quantity should be given the patient to drink. The customs entailed by  civilization are responsible for a number of physiological evils. While modesty is, in its origin, 
independent of clothing, for nakedness of body by no means involves the absence of this quality, nevertheless in civilized 
communities the world over modest y compels body concealment, and, because of conventional covering, the skin has for ages 
been permitted but partial function. Since clothing is deemed essential to decency, in order to reduce its effects upon the s kin to a 
minimum, it should be fashioned o f material as light and as pervious to air as is possible, while the skin itself should be cleansed 
and cared for with constancy and diligence. Because of clothing the two great mediums through which energy is delivered to the human organism, pure air an d sunshine, are in 
large part denied contact with its outer covering Clothing prevents full elimination of perspiration and its products, the la tter 
remaining to clog the pores. This condition may be relieved to a degree by daily exposing the naked body to  the air and to the light 
of the sun, and air -baths and sunbaths will be found valuable agents in compelling the skin to functional activity. During a fast, 
weather permitting, these baths should be taken with the subject upon the ground in open air. In health a cold bath should never be undertaken immediately after a meal, but, with regard to a hot bath this caution is 
unnecessary. When the menstrual flow in woman is in progress, medical dicta to the contrary, a hot body bath and vaginal douc he 
are daily  essential for cleanliness and for relief and ease in function. The relaxing effect of a hot tub bath, together with resulting  
equalization of circulation, alleviates congestion and pain, if present, and in conjunction with other natural agencies cited  herein, 
leads ultimately to permanent relief. During a fast or while on restricted diet, the patient frequently experiences a sensation of chilliness with or without chang e in pulse 
and temperature. The source of this phenomenon, "fasters' chilliness," lies  in nervous reaction following the absence of food 
stimulation, and, at times, in the absorption of liquid waste from the intestines. The enema will correct the latter conditio n, and a 
therapeutic bath taken as soon as the sensation of chill occurs will se rve at once to equalize the circulation and to restore 
temperature and pulse to normal, if the latter are in any degree deranged. Baths for this purpose may and should be repeated as 
often as needful, if proper precaution is observed. In cases of greatly l owered vitality, when temperature is habitually below 
register, hot therapeutic baths should frequently be given, three or four daily usually proving not too many. Cold therapeuti c baths 
for assistance in reducing fever should be more cautiously used. In a ny contingency, the therapeutic bath, hot or cold, should be 
administered only under competent direction. SLEEP. --Sleep has its analogue in death; and it is an accepted scientific truth that the continuance of life in any living thing 
depends upon death. Through life to death; through death to life again. One manner of expressing this truth regards merely the 
outward fact, as when we say that animal tissue is renewed through decay; another regards the action and reaction proper to l ife 
itself, whereby it forever springs freshly from its source. And because of this inter -relation, this inter -dependency, between the two 
states of life and death, we.apply to all manifest existence the term, Nature, which in derivation means "forever being born. " In the regu larly recurring periods of unconsciousness, in the hours we spend in sleep, we find exemplification of the relation that 
exists between our working, active moments, and those that are devoted to the renewal of our physical and mental equipment. I t is 
durin g sleep that the human instrument of thought and of motive government, the brain, obtains its repose; it is then that the cel ls 
of the human battery are recharged, that the working principle receives its potential for transformation during conscious int ervals. It is then, too, that the greater portion of tissue impaired by wear in bodily activity is rebuilt and prepared for use in fu rther 
exertion when consciousness recurs. Sleep is both a physiological and psychological necessity, and literal death will fo llow within 
short time if it be denied. In the fast inability to sleep sometimes occurs, due in instances to lessened wear upon body tissue because of diminished cal l on 
muscles and organs, since muscular labor is more or less curtailed during abstinence  from food, and digestion is entirely in 
abeyance. It may also happen that in the earlier stages of abstinence waste is excreted in amount incapable of being promptly  and 
fully evacuated, and slight brain congestion with accompanying wakefulness results. T he hot bath and the enema here again find 
their mission, and their use before retiring will go far towards remedying any tendency to insomnia. Page 44 of  72 But no natural process may be compelled if conditions be such that its function in the organism is not at the m oment essential. Demand dependent upon necessity governs every natural desire. Upon it wait hunger, thirst, and sleep; without it, these 
constructive processes cannot be evoked. Hence frenzied attempts to induce sleep are futile, not to say foolish. The cu ltivation of 
an equable frame of mind in health, the ability to cast aside the cares of the day when one lies down to rest, add to disease -resistive 
qualities, and, if illness does occur, prove valuable aids to the efforts nature then proceeds to put into operation for relief. Here also 
reading plays its part; not that which necessitates extreme concentration of mind, but that which diverts the mentality, lead ing it 
along cheerful, wholesome lines of thought. The expedients suggested are natural abetters of  healthful slumber, and find fitting 
time for their exercise after the activities of the day are done. EXERCISE. --The maintenance of every muscle of the body in proportionate development is regulated by its work as well as by its 
supply of pabulum, altho ugh the latter is determined in large part by the necessity for repair or upbuilding occasioned by the 
exercise given the particular muscle. Constant use of one portion of the muscular fabric tends to add to its substance at the  expense 
of that of neighbor ing parts not equally exercised. Hence the aim of all physical labor should be that of uniformity. Trunk and legs, 
arms and neck, all should receive proportioned attention. Normal muscular development also depends upon an unimpeded 
circulation of the blood  and upon healthful cell -forming constituents uninterruptedly supplied for the replacement of used tissue. Constriction of the body in any region restricts free circulation, and only loose garments permit of full growth and proper 
development. The tight co llar, the round garter, and the corset, make flabby muscles inevitable, and only a body unrestrained by 
the bonds so often prescribed by conventional usage can hope for muscular perfection. The possibilities of hygienic living, c oupled 
with judicious exerc ise, are surely worth consideration, if merely for the satisfaction resulting from their effects upon personal 
appearance; but their more important consequences in respect to general health and longevity make neglect of these desiderata  
most deplorable. Exercise that is self -imposed is wholesome; but exercise to which one is naturally attracted is the ideal form of labor. Combined 
with enthusiasm, physical work is doubly healthful, for enthusiasm in itself is a source of health. And that form of exercise  that 
serves a productive purpose and is enthusiastically performed is best of all, whether the effort be physical or mental. Make your 
avocation the complement of your vocation. Gladstone and Horace Greeley chopped wood in their moments of relief from ment al 
tasks. Conversely he who works with his hands should divert himself by exercising his brain. During a fast moderate exercise in keeping with daily access of strength is advised, and, after the completion of the period of 
abstinence, constant comprehen sive muscular activity is essential to tissue rebuilding and to form -development and maintenance. CHAPTER XIII  
THE ENEMA  
DESCRIPTION OF' THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES:  
THE FALLACY OF "PURGATIVES":  
THE PRINCIPLES AND USE OF THE EDEMA:  
NOTES ON GIVING TH E ENEMA TO CHILDREN AND ON AN ENEMA TACTIC   
 
PART FIVE  
NATURAL THERAPY  
 
CHAPTER XIV  
CHILDREN IN THE FAST  
 
VARIOUS ERRORS CONCERNING THE CARE OF INFANTS: WHY FEED A FEVERISH CHILD? WHEN the human child is born into the world, it is equipped with b ut three developed faculties --hunger, thirst, and sleep. The 
infant, if capable of expressed desire, would signify its greatest need as sleep, but its rest is naturally punctuated with h unger 
periods, and at these times and at no others it should be fed. T o awaken a quietly sleeping child for the purpose of administering 
food is most inadvisable, yet nurse and mother, burdened with professional tradition and advice, in over -zealous care rarely permit 
a two -hour interval to pass without forcing food upon the  attention of the baby. The child will through habit take the breast or the 
bottle and suckle for a while, but its rest has been disturbed, and its small digestive apparatus is never free from labor as  long as 
these misguided women can stimulate appetite. Disobedience to natural law brings its penalty, and disease shortly appears to right 
the wrong. Overfeeding a child is the greatest cause of infantile disease, and it could not occur if the first hunger instinc t were 
permitted to guide the infant from birt h. Actual need alone would then be satisfied, and the artificial sense of appetite that 
invariably develops when overfeeding is the rule would never appear. Another error in connection with the earliest living moments of the infant is that of haste i n severing the umbilical cord, the 
physical bond between the child and its mother, before the cessation of its natural pulsations. Interchange of oxygen and of 
nutriment between mother and fetus has taken place through this avenue during the whole period o f gestation, and by this means 
the baby frame has been built to the moment of birth. Its final use and its last pulsations insure tissue nourishment suffici ent to 
Page 45 of  72 carry the child until food for post -natal growth can be furnished from the breast of the moth er. Haste in cutting the cord starts the 
infant badly, and hunger is asserted much earlier than should be the case. In addition, babies thus treated often exhibit ane mic 
tendencies because of mother -blood denied at birth, while their metabolism is compelle d to function much too soon, and the 
mother herself suffers uterine and placental congestion with possible delay in the expulsion of the latter organ. It may be n oted that 
undue retention of the placenta in whole or in part is the cause of death of thousan ds of women at childbirth or shortly thereafter. When departure is made from the laws of nature, abnormal physical conditions are produced, and penalties are exacted. The 
normal food and the only food that is designed for infant use is mother's milk. At birth, delay in its appearance is often noted, and 
perhaps for two or three days its secretion is absent. Reference to the function performed by the umbilical cord before birth  and at 
delivery offers explanation why in this event undue haste need not b e made in attempting artificial feeding. If, as unfortunately is 
too often the case in modern life, the mother finds herself incapable of furnishing food for her child, a substitute must be obtained. The ideal method makes use of the wet -nurse, but, if thi s cannot be done, water -diluted full goat's milk, with sugar of milk or 
honey added, sufficient to supply as nearly as possible the constituents of mother's milk, is the nearest and best alternativ e. When 
the milk of the goat is unobtainable, top -milk from  a healthy cow may be utilized. Prepared foods are doubtful in efficacy. There 
are many kinds on the market and the possibility exists that one or the other of these may agree with the particular infant. Orange 
juice and tomato juice are also additions tha t should enter the dietary of the child, supplying as they do vitamins and mineral salts, 
elements most essential to body maintenance and growth. Whatever physical handicaps the mother may endure, the child in her womb receives from her body the best  in the way of 
nourishment that that body is able to give. This is well exemplified in an earlier chapter when illustration was made of preg nant 
women, ill and fasting, who yet brought healthy children into the world. And, too, the contention that all dise ase has its origin in 
impaired digestive power is more strongly upheld when disturbances occur in the young than when adult organism is affected. I n 
the child, unaccustomed to continued abuse of the body and its functions, and with no harmful habits formed , the system resents to 
its limit any but natural treatment. And it is especially during this period of early infancy that measures for the preventio n of later 
disease should be first in the thought of the natural guardians of the child. Future physical we lfare absolutely depends upon the 
running start which can then be given, and every source of information that offers logical guidance in hygiene should be 
exhausted, and the knowledge gained should be applied. Herein lies the extreme value that is to be pu t upon the principles 
exploited in the text. As against forced feeding, we have the natural instinct of the child, which, when normal, indicates it s food 
requirements even to the point of partial selection. If by accident disease occurs, as against suppres sion of the symptom, we have 
the assistance offered by the fast and its eliminative aids to purify the system and to eradicate the cause. And this gained 
knowledge has the further worth of coming, not by hearsay, but straight from nature itself, by which t oken it is to be the more 
cherished and conserved. The physical condition of a nursing mother is always reflected in the body of her child, and mental disturbances, temporary o r 
permanent, show like effect. Through nervous derangement of functional p ower, induced by disease or by anxiety, grief, or anger, 
such changes are occasioned in the milk of the mother as to cause serious illness in the sucking child. It is therefore incum bent 
upon this parent so to regulate her physical body through a dietary r egimen as to prevent error in milk quality, and so to conserve 
her mental forces as to prevent systemic poisoning through emotional tension, with their detrimental influences upon infant 
digestion. When infantile disease is manifested, a medically tr eated child is still more hampered in its physical processes. Drugs are 
poisons, and their introduction into the body of an infant suffering from food excess or from the results of erroneous diet o n the 
part of the mother, works havoc with tender nerves an d tissue. Drugs aim at the suppression of symptom and not at removal of 
cause, and many an adult organism is compelled to struggle through life handicapped by undeveloped, partially paralyzed 
mechanism, the result of dosage in infancy. The disease sy mptoms of childhood frequently assume epidemic form. Contagion and infection actively affect the individual 
only when his physical state is such as not to be able to repel the germ, either of the ever present variety or introduced fr om outside 
sources. The  aim of the parent should be directed toward the preservation of health with its resistive qualities in the body of the 
growing child, and if, through carelessness or ignorance, or accident, this condition may fail of conservation, toward the pr ompt 
remova l of the soil in which the germ thrives and dies. To use a germicide in these instances is suicidal, for germicides merely 
succeed in destroying the microbe, a process that adds decomposing material to an already fertile and expectant medium. And i t is 
reasonable also to assume that a poison powerful enough to kill living organisms within the body is of strength sufficient to de al 
destruction to the cells composing it. Referring to a former statement concerning feeding the body while high temperature prevails, the question may be asked: --Why 
put food into the stomach of a feverish infant! A roaring fire is not ordinarily subdued by adding fuel to the flame. Fever i s in 
actuality a salutary symptom indicating by its very existence an active internal str uggle by natural forces to rid the system through 
rapid combustion of material that is most inimical to life. It is caused by absorption into the circulation of the products o f excess 
food rotting in the alimentary canal, and, when additional material is f orced into this mass, the results are a further rise in 
temperature and added distress. Should drugs be administered, they are either stimulants or narcotics, the former increasing the 
Page 46 of  72 action of the heart and with it the temperature, the latter reducing ne rve sensibility and power. In the body of the child the effects 
both of overfeeding and of drugs are long -lasting, and here, as in all disease, the method to be employed should be that which will 
tend to remove the ferment, the rotting material, the cause of the condition. Hence, as in the adult when illness appears, prompt withholding of food permits of active elimination of the cause of 
disturbance; an enema or several of them cleanses the bowels of toxic substances; fever is at once abated; diarrhe a and colic 
vanish; and in two or three days at most the youngster is again whole and hearty, ready for normal functioning. For children 
respond to the fasting treatment in marvelous manner; their natural forces have not been depleted by years of excess in  physical 
indulgence, and are present in pristine vigor. And with them no argument is needed as to the efficacy of the means employed, for 
their mental habit is not as yet sufficiently molded to prove combative. A fast until hunger makes its demand i s mandatory in even the slightest digestive ailments of the smallest of babes; and a 
comparison of this method of treatment with that which requires the stomach to be dosed with drugs and the system to be 
permeated with the products of disease developed in  the lower animals and introduced into human blood in the forms of virus and 
of serum needs no commentary excepting that of extreme condemnation for the latter procedure. When the enema is administered to children an amount of water should be used that is commensurate to the size of the immature  
bowel. If the internal bath be thoroughly but judiciously employed, the colon of the child will be flushed of poisonous conte nt, 
fever will subside, and disease will vanish. The enema may be given even to the day -old babe with beneficial results, for it serves 
to cleanse the colon of its pre -natal secretion, always productive of harm if retained. The ease with which a fretful; co licky child 
may be relieved by the careful use of the internal bath is a matter which every mother should understand, and the employment of 
the enema at judicious intervals during infancy is of equal importance with its use in adult life. Whenever in  a young child the smallest indication of disease appears, whether it be in the form of nasal discharge, of 
constipation, of diarrhea, or of internal pain, it should be considered as full warning of loss of balance between nutrition and 
elimination. Food s hould at once be withheld, the enema administered, and this form of treatment continued until equilibrium is 
restored. If the situation be handled thus, there will be no later development of acute disease; no adenoids, degenerated ton sils, nor 
other morbid  organic structural defects will evolve. Care of this sort at this time precludes dependence upon the knife of the 
surgeon in infancy, in adolescence, and in adult existence. In other words, prevention through systemic purification is the g reatest 
hygienic  need at this age and at all ages, but it is the more essential in infancy, which is the physical and physiological formative 
period of human life. CHAPTER XV  
SEXUAL DISEASE AND THE FAST  
 
MENSTRUAL DIFFICULTIES:  
THE MENOPAUSE:  
THE ORTHODOX AND THE NA TURAL APPROACH TO GONORRHEA AND SYPHILIS:  
 
    THE ULTIMATE of therapeutic fasting is accomplished by the restoration of all physiological function to normal, and, when 
success attends upon abstinence, normality is the rule, not only with respect to the p rocesses of nutrition, but to those of the sex 
functions as well. In fact, the organs of sex respond perhaps more readily than do other vital parts to the restorative agenc ies 
invoked by reason of abstinence from food. In woman during a fast the mens es may or may not appear. If they do, usually before the period there is disturbance nervous in 
character, and the flow, either scanty or profuse, may be viscid in consistency and perhaps offensive in odor. After feeding is 
resumed the monthly discharge ma y miss one or several periods. Its absence should occasion no anxiety, for in a sense the 
menstrual flow is at all times a waste product, and in a successfully conducted and completed fast systemic purification has been 
achieved and but little refuse, if a ny, remains to be eliminated. Accumulation must again take place ore the periods may be 
reestablished. With respect to the menstrual discharge the interesting facts are to be observed that it is of regular recurrence during the bearing 
period in the females of all mammals; that it is barely perceptible in some; and that in none is it so profuse in quantity as in 
woman. She is the only female in the animal kingdom who is compelled to undergo a monthly inconvenience of copious flow from 
the organs of se x. Yet this evidence of function, as natural as is breathing, because of perversion in habit has become aggravated in 
degree. Profuse discharge from the uterus is the penalty attached to the use of the organs of reproduction for purposes other  than 
those t hat are legitimate --a perfect demonstration of the universal law of compensation. In treating disease of the reproductive system in woman, the fast tends both to cleanse and relax, both to relieve congestion  and 
to restore tone. From one to three day s without food will serve, in conjunction with accompanying eliminative aids, to correct 
excessive menstruation, and, when no structural organic defect is present, relief is apparent within twenty -four hours when the 
Page 47 of  72 flow is attended with pain. In this con nection attention is directed to the use of the hot douche, the hot bath, and the enema at the 
time of the monthly period. It is difficult to assign adequate reason to the strong objection generally made by medical pract itioners 
to the cleansing douche at any time, and especially to its employment when the menstrual flow is on. Cleanliness of the organs of 
sex is always imperative, and cleanliness with freedom from danger of infection cannot be attained during menstruation unless  the 
parts are bathed both e xternally and internally. Medical opinion to the contrary, the hygienic accessories mentioned are at all times 
helpful, and are doubly so when the menses appear. The menopause or change of life is dreaded by all women. There is never any certainty as  to the time of its occurrence, nor any 
means of foretelling the character of its manifestations. As treatment by means of the fast demonstrates that the menses may be 
regulated and that assurance of their normal recurrence is possible when natural law is followed, so similarly purification of the 
system at the time of the menopause, or better, before its appearance, coupled with a correct dietary and judicious exercise,  will 
permit any woman to pass through this experience without evil consequences. At the time of the change of life many surgical operations are performed upon those women whose previous existence has been 
such as to foster functional sexual trouble to the degree that structural organic defect in sex organs develops. Then appear fibroid  
conditions in uterus, affections of various sorts in ovaries and fallopian tubes, and always vaginal discharge abnormal in ch aracter. It is useless at this time to indulge in regret because of bodily abuse in the past; the harm has been done; yet, in most  instances, 
these conditions of disease may be remedied, and prevention of surgical operation may be assured by employing the agencies 
exploited in these chapters. And, previous to the menopause, unless congenital organic disease exists, so -called female t roubles 
may successfully be combated, in fact, need never be known, if the dictates of natural law are accepted and obeyed. Because of the prevalence of varied forms of sexual distress in woman, not only at the change of life, but throughout adult 
existence, the object of the fast and its natural eliminative accessories is again repeated and emphasized. At all times the en d to be 
accomplished through abstinence from food is that of bodily purification, systemic cleansing. When correctly administered, a fast 
for therapeutic purposes causes allergic avenues to be cleared of obstruction, healthy tissue to be deposited in place of tha t which 
was diseased, and vital organs to be recuperated to the point of extreme ability to function. By virtue of these ach ievements the 
high office of reproduction in woman is not only healthfully stimulated, but is restored virtually to primal ease in gestatio n and in 
delivery of offspring. And, when the bearing period ends, the conditions of disease that are its usual accom paniments may, by the 
means described, be obviated, or, if present, may be relieved to the point of recovery and the enjoyment of future health. In discussing the problem of sexual disorder of any kind and its relief, but especially with reference to  what is known as 
venereal disease, it is necessary to revert to the primary cause of illness of any sort, lowered nutrition resulting from imp airment of 
the digestive processes. If the individual system be at high resistive level, if the products of elimi nation be normal in character and 
are promptly removed as they are produced, the bacillus of gonorrhea, for instance, transferred by contact to either sex, can not find 
foothold for increase. It is only when the balance between nutrition and elimination is at fault, when physiological resistance is 
lowered through digestion defective in function, that infection may occur. In the past, orthodox treatment of venereal disease has been responsible for much subsequent annoyance and distress, and 
present pre vailing methods of handling this sort of illness show but small improvement over those of the past. Deep injections of 
antiseptic drugs, aimed at the suppression of nature's curative effort as exhibited in copious secretion issuing from mucus 
membrane, are  always productive of increased irritation, and usually leave as sequels of a gonorrheal infection, gleet, urethral 
stricture, and prostatitis, if not worse, all more or less permanent physical injuries. Much more logical, and immeasurably m ore 
easy of app lication, are those means by which natural curative processes are assisted and accelerated. Omit food, ply the enema 
and the bath, rest, and the irritating symptoms will not only subside within a few days, but will disappear, to leave behind them no 
superv ening ills. And what is true of a symptom, which, like gonorrhea, is in a sense merely local in character, is equally true in the treatme nt of 
the dreaded blood taint, syphilis. Here again the criticism is offered that orthodox remedies administered for the suppre ssion of 
syphilitic symptoms produce effects that are worse in comparison than those of the blood taint itself. Whether congenital or 
acquired, this symptom, if subjected to the purifying processes of the fast and its accompanying eliminative aids, before the 
organic lesions characteristic of its later stages develop, will yield to the treatment with success. There will naturally be  more 
difficulty attendant upon its eradication from the system than is the case with gonorrhea! infection, for syphilis is the  more deeply 
seated symptom and affects the blood itself, hence it partakes of the nature of structural defect in a vital organ. But, if i t be taken in 
time, through fasting, systemic purification will surely occur, and eradication of the syphilitic taint be accomplished. CHAPTER XVI  
FOOD AND DISEASE  
 
THE PURPOSE OF FOOD:  
WHY WE OVEREAT:  
OBJECTIONS TO THE "GERM THEORY":  
Page 48 of  72 MUCUS DISCHARGES  
 
    THE PROCESSES by which dead food is transformed into living matter within the animal body are purely chemical  in 
character, and, for the reason that these operations are accomplished involuntarily, they are in a sense mechanical. In essen ce the 
purpose that food serves in the organism is that of furnishing material for the rebuilding of cell structure when the la tter has 
become exhausted by the destructive effect of work performed. The changes involved in the preparation of food for conversion 
into living tissue are sufficiently familiar to preclude description here. But the act of digestion involves an effort tha t is at once 
nervous and muscular, and in it energy is liberated, utilized, and dissipated, and, in so far as the expenditure of what may be called 
nervous force is compensated, a balance is maintained. If, however, the process of digestion is permit ted to proceed to a point beyond actual reconstructive need, chemical action and 
reaction are thrown out of poise, and the result is disease. And, too, when the system is surfeited with sustenance, energy t hat 
should be utilized for other important metabol ic purposes is necessarily employed in the attempted disposal of matter in excess of 
what is needed for replacement of used tissue. Some of this material is absorbed by the assimilative processes, and surplus t hus 
accumulates in circulation and in the cell s of muscular and organic tissue. The liver, laboring to its functional limit, segregates and 
casts out what it can, and its largely increased bilious product, together with undigested matter in the intestinal tract, if  not 
promptly evacuated, ferments, ge rm soil is provided, and absorption of toxins proceeding from active decomposition and from 
evolved bacteria occurs rapidly and continuously. Small wonder that, in the circumstances, natural avenues for the passage of  
energic force are clogged, that imperf ect functioning occurs, and that disease follows! Only that portion of digested food that is assimilated can be used for the repair of cell structure; the remainder is refuse that not 
only adds dead weight to the body, but that, in its disposal, vast ly increases the labor of every vital organ. There succeeds a waste 
of energy that is shown in diminished digestive and assimilative power, with resultant lowered vitality. And any disturbance either 
of the function of digestion or of that of assimilation sends into the circulation blood -forming material that is elementally deficient, 
a condition that assures defective tissue nourishment. A review of the physiology of the passage of the blood through the body evidences that health is synonymous with p erfect blood 
quality and circulation. Given a pure blood supply properly delivered, the products of converted food are carried to their va ried 
destinations, and cell waste is gathered and promptly eliminated. The maintenance and well -being of the animal bo dy is directly 
dependent upon the normal performance of the process outlined. An examination of human fecal discharges in the average instance reveals conditions that are conclusive. Undigested food is 
discovered, digested food products and old feces  are present, and, dependent upon the dietetic regimen and the preliminary 
processes of digestion as carried out by the individual, the odor is more or less offensive. Normal refuse from properly mast icated, 
correctly digested food, not animal in origin, i s not disagreeable in odor. Again in the average case, when daily examination of 
bowel passages is continued for a time, assurance is gained that all ingested food is not digested; that the colon is not com pletely 
cleared of waste even by regular daily mov ements; and that fermenting matter defiles the interior to a degree scarcely to be 
accepted as a fact. A movement of the bowels each day is never a certain indication of a clean and healthy alimentary canal. Sufferers from 
digestive troubles often as sume that, because the bowels are regular in action, the evacuations must be complete and sufficient. This assumption presumes physiological ignorance, for in these subjects usually the rectum alone, daily filled with a mass of  waste 
forced downward by tha t which is retained in the colon, is relieved of its contents. If, after such an evacuation, a full enema is 
administered, indubitable evidence of extreme internal filth will be produced. Post mortem dissection of the colon in the ave rage 
cadaver but adds weight to the substance of the statements here made, for fecal matter of more or less remote production is 
discovered lodged in the sacculations of the organ and upon its walls. In these circumstances during life, a movement of the 
bowels takes place throu gh the center of a fouled tube. Food in its preparation has long been made subservient to the sense of taste; taste engenders appetite; and appetite in turn 
engenders excess. Attention is again called to the distinction to be made between appetite an d hunger. Most human beings never 
know the sensation of true hunger, but feed their bodies at the habit -call of abnorma1 desire. And because of almost universal 
violation of the natural law of nutrition through overeating, the latter vice, apparent though it be, and distressing in its effects as it 
is, calls for correction as does no other in the long list of offenses against nature. From time to time many earnest seekers have advanced beliefs and theories tending to develop a panacea for disease, but  thus 
far without success. It is conceivable that disease may be eradicated from the world, for nature deals but in cause and effec t, and 
the tendency in all life is towards perfect bodily balance, without which health is not. One truth, however, may here be succinctly 
stated: disease in all of its forms may be prevented, and in many instances, once developed, it may be cured. And the first a nd 
paramount law of its prevention is discovered in the rule that governs the quantity as well as the quality of the food supply of the 
human body. Page 49 of  72     In the life of man tradition, inheritance, and education combine to foster and preserve doctrines that are misleading. And in  no 
manner is this so well illustrated as in the application of orthodox methods for the relie f of bodily ills. To accept human testimony, 
even conscientious human testimony, as easily as men usually do is to be gullible. And this is true of the testimony of scien ce as 
well as of that of the general observer. The worth of what we put into our minds  or into our stomachs is of consequence to us all, 
and nothing can be more of a satire than the fact that, during an age when science and invention have done so much for the 
material world, our bodies included, the processes of the human mind, the nature o f our ideas and beliefs, are so neglected that few 
of us ever think of our own capability of giving testimony that is true; and still fewer of us pay any attention to the daily  intake of 
the testimony of others, which is sometimes consciously false, but wh ich many times is more or less unconsciously inaccurate. One reason for this lowering of mental guard is that most men possess gregarious intellects. If what is advanced seems to con cur 
with whatever the mass mind believes, the common way is to accep t it. No effort is required. Or, perhaps, there is the desire to 
believe --that dangerous and almost universal quality of the intellect. Because of this, one often accepts a fallacy and rejects a trut h. 
Because of this, one reaches out for fads --mental, med ical, mysterious --which give hope that the blame for weaknesses may be 
passed to some agency other than our own. And because of the gregarious mind and of the desire to believe, the power of mere 
assertion acquires its potency. By what has been said, it must not be imagined that the incontestible learning and probity of able and reputable investigator s is 
at all questioned. But we are privileged to doubt, and, if investigation warrants, to deny the doctrines which are general ly regarded 
as authoritative, even though these doctrines are advanced by eminent scientists. In the popular mind disease inculcates fear, and, when certain symptoms are in evidence, it is fled from in terror. This atti tude is 
to be supposed so long as present general conceptions and teachings prevail, but the day is at hand when human ailments will be 
regarded in their true light as the means by which nature works to restore health, as the only rational processes of cure. To  
emphasize --disease is not  a foe to life, but is the plan of nature instituted to restore a system in unbalance to equilibrium or health. That the general conception of disease and its treatment through attack upon symptoms, are wrong, and that health lies within  
reach of all ailin g bodies that are not suffering from structural organic defect, are truths which, it is hoped, the text will fully 
demonstrate. Despite prevalent belief, disease never strikes suddenly, but is the consequence of long -continued violation of natural la w. It is 
the result of a gradual clogging of the avenues through which vitality functions, a long -drawn process of stifling the forces of life. "Every disease," says Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey, "is an inherited possibility, which every violation of the laws o f life tends to 
develop. It is never simply an attack on a well person, but is rather a summing -up of the more or less life -long violations of health 
laws." Because of these transgressions, loss of digestive power occurs; lowered vitality succeeds; and dis ease symptoms become 
apparent along lines of least physical resistance. Symptoms of disease, the tangible evidences of its presence, vary with temperament, hereditary tendencies, surroundings, and 
the organic state, congenital or otherwise, of the in dividual. No two human beings ever express in disease identical morbid signs, 
even under like environment; and the reason underlying the development of symptoms differing in character in persons 
presumably of like constitution and with the same environment  is to be sought most probably in the domain of the phenomena of 
heredity. Exercising the privilege of the investigator, the author not only questions the doctrine embodied in what is known as the "ge rm 
theory" of the causation of disease, but she de nies its validity. And, using in her turn the power of assertion, she condemns the 
remedies advanced by therapists for the cure of so -called microbically caused illnesses as being radically erroneous, leading not to 
health and long life, but to further dis ease and ultimate death. The germ, we know, is omnipresent; it is the scavenger of animate existence; and life could not exist in its absence. In heal th, 
when physical balance is the rule, various kinds of micro -organisms live and propagate within th e human body, but only to the 
degree necessary for the consumption of noxious products of systemic refuse, which otherwise would cause toxication. To this 
extent the germ is an ally of the eliminative organs, working to render harmless body waste during th e time it is retained within the 
organism. Given for attention waste in excess of normal, germ life increases, the products of germ life add to the putrefying  mass, 
and the task of consumption proving too great for even myriad bacilli to accomplish, physic al balance is disturbed, and disease 
appears. Infection is one of the methods of nature for relieving the living organism of any non -usable organic matter that may find its 
way into the blood, and the category of what is non -usable includes all coagu lable material from serum albumen to what are 
known as the white corpuscles. There is doubt that virtually amounts to certainty in the mind of the author concerning the ac cepted 
theory of the life and office of the much vaunted leucocyte or white corpuscle  of the blood. This body, which by scientists is given 
the high position of being the primordial animal cell, is in reality here placed upon the defensive, and its proponents must give 
proof that it is either what they claim, a vigilant policeman, a phagoc yte or germ -destroyer, a tissue -builder; or that it is a 
surpassingly harmful foreign body that paves the way for all disease. Page 50 of  72     What we know about this inhabitant of the blood current is that in good health, when by microscopic examination we discover 
one thousand or thereabouts of red corpuscles in the blood, relatively we find only one or at most several white corpuscles; and, 
when disease appears, at first these leucocytes are unusually numerous, increasing in number with the gravity of the symptoms . If 
the case progresses to the point of death or its immanency, the increase of white corpuscles becomes so great as to form a co mplete 
reversal of the proportion between the red and the white which is the rule in health. And the fact is that the greater t he number of 
these so -called phagocytes or germ -destroyers that a sick man carries in his circulation, the less probable is his chance of recovery. If white blood corpuscles were both phagocytes and tissue builders, why do they not succeed more often  in their offices, and 
why should they be more numerous in disease than in health, Scientists claim motion and even independent life for this whitis h 
body in the blood; may we not suppose that its motility is due to the forces of death --to the processes of  chemical disintegration? If it be true that current teaching is open to doubt, and if, as we think it is, the criticism of the leukocyte presented is well 
founded, what must be the conclusion reached when we analyze the results of the past seventy -five years of study of the white 
blood corpuscle, It cannot be other than that nature, the greatest of all magicians, has been deceiving the elect of the scie ntific 
world by performing in their presence the feat of causing a particle of decaying organic mat ter to simulate life with marvelous 
accuracy. And, what does disease mean, if it is not that then the living organism is engaged in a life or death struggle, whi ch has 
for its sole object the dislodgement, the expulsion, the annihilation of these white blo od cells? And all that is here said is in perfect consonance with the thesis of the text. For, reverting to infection, to the theory of  the germ -
causation of disease, it is seen that, while the process of purification that is implied by disease is es sentially necessary, it is 
dangerous as well. While it is true that the system must be relieved of its burden of obstructing and noxious material, it is  also true 
that the introduction of infective bacilli into a body which is carrying a large amount of wa ste will have substantially the same 
effect that a spark would have upon a heap of dry shavings in a closet --the destruction of the shavings and very probably of the 
house. That is to say, the fire started in the body by infective organisms, benevolent in its purpose though it be, may prove 
destructive to tissue and to life itself. And this, not because the organisms are themselves necessarily harmful to vitality,  but 
because the accumulation of decomposition to be removed is so great, and the tissues in wh ich it is located are so devitalized 
because of interference with their nutrition, that these structures cannot offer sufficient resistance to the destroying mob,  and they 
therefore become involved in the disintegrating process. In other words, the body be comes the victim of the agencies actually 
intended for its preservation. Before science became obsessed with the germ theory, nature conducted her own inoculating clinic, and the fight for life was 
then a more or less evenly balanced struggle. Since the introduction of artificial inoculation, vaccines and serums now aid in 
adding fuel to the flame, and in further overcoming natural resistance to disease. We have referred many times herein to the appearance during a fast of mucus in the discharge s from the body. This 
phenomenon is in some cases continuous throughout abstinence, although individual characteristics and conditions modify the 
exudation in higher or lower degree. While all of the mucosa is invariably involved in this catarrhal demonstr ation, the walls of the 
intestinal canal receive the maximum deposit, not only because of the extent of mucus membrane included in their length, but 
because the intestines, the colon in particular, form the main eliminative outlet of the organism. Morgulis in his Fasting and Undernutrition comments on page 212 upon the very evident rapid diminution in the number of 
white corpuscles of the blood during the successive stages of a fast. On page 214 he says: --"The thing of particular significance 
with reg ard to the leueopenia (diminution of white corpuscles) of inanition is that while the blood is losing its white cells, the 
mucus membranes of the intestinal canal and the underlying tissues become infested with leucocytes. They occur either singly or 
in ma sses. According to Mingazzini, in the absence of food, leukocytes not merely accumulate in the intestinal wall but actually 
penetrate the mucous membrane and aggregate in the lumen where they ultimately disintegrate." And he concludes that the 
phenomenon o f this "emigration" of leucoeytes is to be viewed in the light of an increased permeability of the cell membrane to 
bacteria under the influence of inanition. It is to be noted that all of the observations made by Morgulis and by those investigators whom he quotes as authorities upon 
inanition subjected to their experiments only animals in the normal state of function --animals and human beings in health. It is 
manifest that, while these observations possess interest and value in respect of the physiol ogical and chemical changes that occur 
in inanition forced upon an organism that is presumably fully carrying out the transformations characteristic of normal life,  their 
worth is doubtful when one attempts to apply the conclusions reached to the results o btained when the fast is employed as a 
therapeutic measure, when abstinence from food is undertaken in the presence of disease. However, upon one point agreement may be conceded: the elimination of mucus, of pathogen, of so -called white corpuscles of 
the blood, is a characteristic result of abstinence from food either in health or in disease. We have stated that in disease the effort of 
nature is to relieve the living organism of all non -usable organic matter that finds its way into the blood, and we have here a most 
vivid illustration of the method which she pursues --a method in action in health to preserve the resistive qualit ies of the organism; 
in action in disease to restore the organism to the resistive condition it possesses in health. Page 51 of  72     And the result: at the completion of a scientifically conducted fast, mucus ceases to be deposited upon the walls of the inte stines 
and other membranous surfaces, while white corpuscles have virtually disappeared from the blood stream. Morgulis still further assists our argument by stating on page 193: "A subject still very imperfectly known, but one which me rits 
a most careful inv estigation, is the increase in resistance to infection revealed by organisms which are recovering from inanition. Roger and Josué report such an increased tolerance towards bacilli cold in rabbits which had undergone a preliminary fast of five 
to seven day s. The inoculation with the bacterial culture took place three to eleven days after the fast was broken. In each case the 
control rabbits succumbed to the infection, while all the rabbits which had previously fasted survived the inoculation. These  
experime nts, however, need verification." This verification we shall proceed to give. While the author was in practice in New Zealand, the world -wide epidemic of influenza of 1918 occurred. Despite its reputation 
for model legislation, New Zealand is not to be lauded as a mass observer of the laws of hygiene, either from the general sanitary 
viewpoint or from a dietetic standard. In fact, in these two respects the Dominion is remarkably lax. In consequence the infl uenza 
took mortal toll of the inhabitants of the islands, perhaps in greater proportion than occurred in any other part of the then infected 
world. In corroboration of the truth contained in the substance of the paragraph just quoted from Fasting and Undernutrition, not on e of 
the patients who underwent or was undergoing a fast under direction of the author, irrespective of a condition of either partial or 
complete recovery from disease of whatever symptomatic form, was attacked by influenza. And none among the members of the 
families of her cli entele, past and present at the time, all of whom in their fear of infection were impelled to apply at least the less 
drastic elements of treatment as embodied in a light dietary, daily enemata, and cleansing baths, and all of whom were daily in 
contact wi th infected subjects, fell victim to the epidemic catarrh. CHAPTER XVII  
DIET  
 
PERVERSION OF TASTE AND SMELL:  
THOROUGH MASTICATION:  
SHOULD FLESH BE EATEN? DIET at any time is largely a matter of special need, but it would seem that, after a cour se of fasting, the successful issue of 
which in functional derangement embraces restoration to physiological normal, certain fixed rules might be laid down to apply  to 
all cases. But not so. Peculiar limitations are encountered in each individual, for whic h individual dietetic errors coupled with 
physiological idiosyncrasies transmitted from generations of ancestors are responsible. Hence empirical methods must be 
employed in the selection of foods requisite for the case in hand. The sense of smell, r eaching out beyond the body ere food material passes the lips, assists in its selection, and this sense and 
taste, when normal in function and not vitiated by cultivation and habit, form a perfect picket line of protection against th e 
introduction of unwho lesome substances into the system. Normally constituted bodies prefer those odors that are classed as 
pleasant, yet continued contact with emanations that are distinctly disagreeable, first brings tolerance and finally pleasure  in their 
presence. Perhaps t his departure from natural law and normal instinct can be illustrated in convincing form by contemplating the 
sensual delight of the epicure in cheeses of doubtful age but of indubitable rottenness. Taste also plays an important part in the choice of  food material in health, and it is popularly believed that, when an article of 
sustenance is not repugnant to this sense, it is healthful and wholesome, and that harm cannot result from its ingestion. One  of the 
objects that nature has in placing the nerv es of taste in the mouth is that of a protective measure to prevent noxious substances 
from entering the stomach; but because of persistent cultivation this sense has been perverted and most men and women are mor e 
or less abnormal in taste perception. To p erversion in this respect is due much of carelessness in mastication. Improperly 
accomplished mastication prepares a fertile soil in which the seeds of disease are promptly sown and as promptly flourish. Wi th 
normal taste development the medical profession  would be at a loss to administer the average drug were the patient to masticate or 
insalivate its substance. Recognizing this, the physician in introducing his alleged remedy into the system obviates the diff iculty by 
the use of capsules or by injecting t he drug directly into the veins. The fallacy of attempting practical application of a theory of food selection based upon the senses of taste and smell alone is 
easily demonstrable. The question resolves itself into one concerning the needs of the bo dy, but, however, after a fast, taste and 
smell are restored to normal acuity and, so long as they are not abused and remain in this state, they may be used as partial  
indicators. At this time all wholesome food gives delight and is desired with a hunger c reated in a clean and healthy system that 
craves for nourishment and that fully enjoys its ingestion. Simple foods, properly prepared and correctly proportioned as to the 
relative amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and protein, with the necessary mineral salt s, are what the dietitian and the subject should 
endeavor to supply. The fast is ended, the system is cleansed, and the digestive organs are in full vigor, waiting to form pu re blood 
and pure tissue from pure food. Page 52 of  72     No detail further than that already disclosed is needed to show that mankind habitually overeats, and that, as a result, nutritive 
material is absorbed into the general circulation in quantity beyond the requirements of the body, loading the system with an  
unnecessary and harmful burden and hampering with poisonous waste the operation of its machinery. But, just as the liver stands 
guard, in so far as it may, over matter absorbed, and just as it separates good from bad, so at the very inception of the dig estive 
process, the mouth, with its ar mor of teeth and its salivary apparatus, determines in large degree the amount of food needed in 
nutrition. The mouth holds the nerves of taste, taste is enjoyed in the mouth, and taste has its great purpose in deciding just when foo d has 
been ground  between the teeth sufficiently to prepare it for subsequent processes. Taste virtually disappears when food has been 
properly insalivated, and too thorough mastication cannot occur, for the benefits derived are immeasurable, even apart from t he 
comminutio n of solids. The mouth easily accomplishes this work when the habit of mastication has been acquired, but, if it 
perform it carelessly, the other organs of digestion cannot act in normal function, and perfect digestion cannot occur, since  one of 
its proces ses has been omitted. And again, the only portion of the operation of digestion that can be voluntarily controlled is that 
which is done in the mouth, hence the subject of the mastication of food is an all important one. Its value in the economy of  the 
human body is excellently treated by the late Horace Fletcher in his A -B-C of Our Own Nutrition. Fletcher says:  
 
    "When food is filtered into the body after having become liquefied and made alkaline or at least neutral by saliva, the appet ite is 
given a chance to measure the needs of the body and to discriminate against excess. As soon as the point of complete sat uration of 
any one deficiency is reached, appetite is cut off as short as possible, with no indication of stomach fullness. It will welc ome a 
little of protein, and then turn to sugar or fat in some of their numerous forms. Thirst for water will assert its elf for a moment, 
sometimes asking but a drop and again for a full glass; and afterwards, when near the point of complete saturation, appetite will 
hesitate for a moment, as if searching around for some rare substance and may find its final satisfaction in  a single spoonful of 
sweet, or of a sip of something in sight. "The appetite, satisfied by the infiltering process, is a sweetly appeased appetite, calm, rested, contented, normal. There i s no 
danger from the flooding of intemperance for there is no t even toleration of excess, either of more food or of more drink, and this 
contented appetite will remain in the condition of contentment until another need has really been earned by evaporation or 
destructive catabolism. Fletcher uses in his descri ption the term, appetite, in the sense that the word, hunger, is employed in the text. In the conditions 
that he so well expresses lies the solution of the problem of overeating. Mastication, carried to the degree that taste is ne utralized, 
absolutely prec ludes eating save for the needs of metabolism. The supply is made equal to the demand, neither more nor less; and 
intemperance in food or in drink is effectively prevented. The moral attached to the excerpt quoted makes of thorough mastica tion 
a lesson to be taught in childhood, knowledge that should be transmitted from parent to offspring with more than the usual 
concern. A scientific discussion of the question of diet is manifestly out of place in this text. Authorities differ widely and none h as de alt 
with feeding from the viewpoint met after a fast, with a system, so to speak, rejuvenated. But it is no undue iteration again  to point 
out that diet is largely a matter of special need, and that no fixed rules may be promulgated to apply in every insta nce. But certain 
general principles require discussion, of which the first and most important deals with the use or non -use of meat. Flesh in any 
form need never enter the dietary of normal man. Arguments for and against a meat diet have long been exchange d, and advocates 
of the strongest will combat the non -flesh regimen for years to come. The syllogism in refutation contains among others the 
following premises. First, dead animal tissue holds within it the products of metabolism. The process of change is suddenly 
arrested when the animal is killed, and the juices of its body contain uneliminated toxic products that no process of cooking  can 
destroy. For that matter, even though they were completely annihilated, flesh is still changed vegetable tissue with the waste of the 
process of change and that of the living organism retained in its structure, a condition that Iogically suggests the consumpt ion of 
the plant rather than of its creation. Armsby has shown that when we feed grain and other food to cattle an d to sheep and then kill 
them for meat we recover only a very small percentage of the food values we fed them. Hence had we eaten the cattle and sheep  
food ourselves, instead of feeding it to the animals, we should get approximately thirty times the food v alue that is obtained by 
eating the beef and mutton supplied. In addition, decomposition of animal flesh begins at the moment of death, and by the tim e it is 
consumed as food, decay has progressed sometimes to the point of putrefaction. Otto Carqué i n his Errors of Bio -Chemistry says:  
 
    "There is also a marked physiological difference between plant and animal food. Animals are distinguished from vegetables by 
incessant decay in every tissue, a decay which is proportional to animal activity. This i ncessant decay necessitates incessant repair, 
so that the animal body has been likened to a temple on which two opposite forces are at work in every part, the one tearing down, 
the other repairing the breach as fast as it is made. In plants no such incessa nt decay has ever been discovered. If it exists at all, it 
must be very trifling in comparison. Protoplasm, it is true, is taken from the older parts of the plant, and these parts die;  but the 
Page 53 of  72 protoplasm does not seem to decompose, but is used again for ti ssue building. Thus the eternal activity of animals is of two kinds, 
tissue -destroying and tissue -building, while that of plants is principally of one kind, tissue -building. Flesh foods will, therefore, 
impart less vitality to our system than plant foods, because the former always contain a quantity of substances which have 
undergone the various stages of catabolism and have lost their vital force. We feel drowsy and indolent after a heavy meal of  meat, 
while an apple, an orange, a bunch of grapes, instantl y refreshes us. The theories that flesh makes flesh, that blood is converted 
into blood, that calf's or sheep's brain increases our mental capacity, that meat is predigested plant food, cannot stand in the light of 
physiological chemistry." Experimen ts carried out most thoroughly by Irving Fisher, Professor of Political Economy at Yale University, show beyond any 
chance of refutation that the physical endurance of the human body is increased to the utmost by a non -flesh diet. In the course of 
these ex periments meat -eating athletes competed in test exercises with non -meat eaters, both sedentary and active in occupation. The results were so largely in favor of the non -flesh dietary that the most ardent advocates of the opposite side can find no 
loophole through which to escape from the facts. No adequate explanation is as yet available of the evident superiority of a vegetarian dietary over one of flesh as regards 
endurance, save, perhaps, in the theory that a diet composed in greater part of protei d produces uric acid and other crystalline 
substances, which in turn cause muscular fatigue in exercise. The facts are patent in the instances related, as well as in ex periments 
made by the author along similar lines during the past twenty years. The resul ts obtained have invariably demonstrated that a non -
flesh dietary builds a consistently strong and enduring physical structure, while the reverse is true in great part when meat  figures 
largely in the list of foods ingested. In the past truths such as this  have been obscured because the idea contained in the term, 
"vegetarian," suggested what was popularly regarded as fanaticism carried beyond all bounds. This is but another exemplificat ion 
of the small effect that doctrines advanced with polemical warmth c oupled with enthusiasm have upon the scientific world, and for 
this reason the matter needs to be approached deliberately and dispassionately, and with the seriousness befitting a subject that is 
of more practical import than is any other in the whole rang e of hygienic research. When this shall have been accomplished, the 
theory embodied in the results of the tests mentioned will be fully borne out and conclusively established as a living truth. With the individual himself rests the selection of a hea lthful and properly distributed food supply. In order to maintain a normal 
body in perfect equilibrium, the amount and the selection of food require careful consideration. Quantity depends upon physic al 
characteristics and the kind of labor at which the su bject is employed.
Scientific_Fasting.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        When heated, evaporation of perspiration cools; when chi lled, 
closed pores r etain the. body warmth. Like the lungs the skin permits of blood oxygenation through the walls of the capillaries, 
those small veins that ramify its substance, and, as has been stated, it is an organ of elimination as well. In the conservat ion of 
body heat,  the skin is thermostat of the organism. It regulates temperature, and acts as a governor of internal function. If its work 
be interfered with by the interposition of substances between it and outer air, evaporation from its surface cannot take plac e freel y, 
and elimination of the products of the pores is impeded if not arrested. In the latter case temperature is heightened artific ially and 
abnormally, for prevention of skin activity causes retention of heat developed internally, and health suffers. Page 43 of  72 A str iking exemplification of the close sympathy noted as existing between the functions of the skin and those of the other 
eliminative organs is given in cases of cutaneous burns where large areas are affected. Respiration is increased to exhaustio n, and 
kidne y discharges are heavily laden with waste that in the ordinary instance is eliminated through the pores. If an extreme 
proportion of skin area is seared, virtual suffocation ensues. Fatal results accompanied with symptoms similar to those in 
asphyxiation a lso follow when the body is covered with a substance, such as gold -leaf, that is impervious to air. In this connection it is not generally known that burns or scalds upon the skin may be sucessfully treated by submergence of the 
part affected in water. T he exquisite pain of such injury is at once relieved by this procedure, and continuing the latter for hours or 
even days permits natural healing processes to act with despatch and surety. If the skin area seared is extensive, placing th e 
sufferer in a full  bath and keeping him there for the time necessary will often serve to save life. The water in the tub should be at 
constant temperature and must be frequently changed, while water in quantity should be given the patient to drink. The customs entailed by  civilization are responsible for a number of physiological evils. While modesty is, in its origin, 
independent of clothing, for nakedness of body by no means involves the absence of this quality, nevertheless in civilized 
communities the world over modest y compels body concealment, and, because of conventional covering, the skin has for ages 
been permitted but partial function. Since clothing is deemed essential to decency, in order to reduce its effects upon the s kin to a 
minimum, it should be fashioned o f material as light and as pervious to air as is possible, while the skin itself should be cleansed 
and cared for with constancy and diligence. Because of clothing the two great mediums through which energy is delivered to the human organism, pure air an d sunshine, are in 
large part denied contact with its outer covering Clothing prevents full elimination of perspiration and its products, the la tter 
remaining to clog the pores. This condition may be relieved to a degree by daily exposing the naked body to  the air and to the light 
of the sun, and air -baths and sunbaths will be found valuable agents in compelling the skin to functional activity. During a fast, 
weather permitting, these baths should be taken with the subject upon the ground in open air. In health a cold bath should never be undertaken immediately after a meal, but, with regard to a hot bath this caution is 
unnecessary. When the menstrual flow in woman is in progress, medical dicta to the contrary, a hot body bath and vaginal douc he 
are daily  essential for cleanliness and for relief and ease in function. The relaxing effect of a hot tub bath, together with resulting  
equalization of circulation, alleviates congestion and pain, if present, and in conjunction with other natural agencies cited  herein, 
leads ultimately to permanent relief. During a fast or while on restricted diet, the patient frequently experiences a sensation of chilliness with or without chang e in pulse 
and temperature. The source of this phenomenon, "fasters' chilliness," lies  in nervous reaction following the absence of food 
stimulation, and, at times, in the absorption of liquid waste from the intestines. The enema will correct the latter conditio n, and a 
therapeutic bath taken as soon as the sensation of chill occurs will se rve at once to equalize the circulation and to restore 
temperature and pulse to normal, if the latter are in any degree deranged. Baths for this purpose may and should be repeated as 
often as needful, if proper precaution is observed. In cases of greatly l owered vitality, when temperature is habitually below 
register, hot therapeutic baths should frequently be given, three or four daily usually proving not too many. Cold therapeuti c baths 
for assistance in reducing fever should be more cautiously used. In a ny contingency, the therapeutic bath, hot or cold, should be 
administered only under competent direction. SLEEP. --Sleep has its analogue in death; and it is an accepted scientific truth that the continuance of life in any living thing 
depends upon death. Through life to death; through death to life again. One manner of expressing this truth regards merely the 
outward fact, as when we say that animal tissue is renewed through decay; another regards the action and reaction proper to l ife 
itself, whereby it forever springs freshly from its source. And because of this inter -relation, this inter -dependency, between the two 
states of life and death, we. apply to all manifest existence the term, Nature, which in derivation means "forever being born. " In the regu larly recurring periods of unconsciousness, in the hours we spend in sleep, we find exemplification of the relation that 
exists between our working, active moments, and those that are devoted to the renewal of our physical and mental equipment. I t is 
durin g sleep that the human instrument of thought and of motive government, the brain, obtains its repose; it is then that the cel ls 
of the human battery are recharged, that the working principle receives its potential for transformation during conscious int ervals. It is then, too, that the greater portion of tissue impaired by wear in bodily activity is rebuilt and prepared for use in fu rther 
exertion when consciousness recurs. Sleep is both a physiological and psychological necessity, and literal death will fo llow within 
short time if it be denied. In the fast inability to sleep sometimes occurs, due in instances to lessened wear upon body tissue because of diminished cal l on 
muscles and organs, since muscular labor is more or less curtailed during abstinence  from food, and digestion is entirely in 
abeyance. It may also happen that in the earlier stages of abstinence waste is excreted in amount incapable of being promptly  and 
fully evacuated, and slight brain congestion with accompanying wakefulness results. T he hot bath and the enema here again find 
their mission, and their use before retiring will go far towards remedying any tendency to insomnia. Page 44 of  72 But no natural process may be compelled if conditions be such that its function in the organism is not at the m oment essential. Demand dependent upon necessity governs every natural desire. Upon it wait hunger, thirst, and sleep; without it, these 
constructive processes cannot be evoked. Hence frenzied attempts to induce sleep are futile, not to say foolish. The cu ltivation of 
an equable frame of mind in health, the ability to cast aside the cares of the day when one lies down to rest, add to disease -resistive 
qualities, and, if illness does occur, prove valuable aids to the efforts nature then proceeds to put into operation for relief. Here also 
reading plays its part; not that which necessitates extreme concentration of mind, but that which diverts the mentality, lead ing it 
along cheerful, wholesome lines of thought. The expedients suggested are natural abetters of  healthful slumber, and find fitting 
time for their exercise after the activities of the day are done. EXERCISE. --The maintenance of every muscle of the body in proportionate development is regulated by its work as well as by its 
supply of pabulum, altho ugh the latter is determined in large part by the necessity for repair or upbuilding occasioned by the 
exercise given the particular muscle. Constant use of one portion of the muscular fabric tends to add to its substance at the  expense 
of that of neighbor ing parts not equally exercised. Hence the aim of all physical labor should be that of uniformity. Trunk and legs, 
arms and neck, all should receive proportioned attention. Normal muscular development also depends upon an unimpeded 
circulation of the blood  and upon healthful cell -forming constituents uninterruptedly supplied for the replacement of used tissue. Constriction of the body in any region restricts free circulation, and only loose garments permit of full growth and proper 
development. The tight co llar, the round garter, and the corset, make flabby muscles inevitable, and only a body unrestrained by 
the bonds so often prescribed by conventional usage can hope for muscular perfection. The possibilities of hygienic living, c oupled 
with judicious exerc ise, are surely worth consideration, if merely for the satisfaction resulting from their effects upon personal 
appearance; but their more important consequences in respect to general health and longevity make neglect of these desiderata  
most deplorable. Exercise that is self -imposed is wholesome; but exercise to which one is naturally attracted is the ideal form of labor. Combined 
with enthusiasm, physical work is doubly healthful, for enthusiasm in itself is a source of health. And that form of exercise  that 
serves a productive purpose and is enthusiastically performed is best of all, whether the effort be physical or mental. Make your 
avocation the complement of your vocation. Gladstone and Horace Greeley chopped wood in their moments of relief from ment al 
tasks. Conversely he who works with his hands should divert himself by exercising his brain. During a fast moderate exercise in keeping with daily access of strength is advised, and, after the completion of the period of 
abstinence, constant comprehen sive muscular activity is essential to tissue rebuilding and to form -development and maintenance. CHAPTER XIII  
THE ENEMA  
DESCRIPTION OF' THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES:  
THE FALLACY OF "PURGATIVES":  
THE PRINCIPLES AND USE OF THE EDEMA:  
NOTES ON GIVING TH E ENEMA TO CHILDREN AND ON AN ENEMA TACTIC   
 
PART FIVE  
NATURAL THERAPY  
 
CHAPTER XIV  
CHILDREN IN THE FAST  
 
VARIOUS ERRORS CONCERNING THE CARE OF INFANTS: WHY FEED A FEVERISH CHILD. WHEN the human child is born into the world, it is equipped with b ut three developed faculties --hunger, thirst, and sleep. The 
infant, if capable of expressed desire, would signify its greatest need as sleep, but its rest is naturally punctuated with h unger 
periods, and at these times and at no others it should be fed. T o awaken a quietly sleeping child for the purpose of administering 
food is most inadvisable, yet nurse and mother, burdened with professional tradition and advice, in over -zealous care rarely permit 
a two -hour interval to pass without forcing food upon the  attention of the baby. The child will through habit take the breast or the 
bottle and suckle for a while, but its rest has been disturbed, and its small digestive apparatus is never free from labor as  long as 
these misguided women can stimulate appetite. Disobedience to natural law brings its penalty, and disease shortly appears to right 
the wrong. Overfeeding a child is the greatest cause of infantile disease, and it could not occur if the first hunger instinc t were 
permitted to guide the infant from birt h. Actual need alone would then be satisfied, and the artificial sense of appetite that 
invariably develops when overfeeding is the rule would never appear. Another error in connection with the earliest living moments of the infant is that of haste i n severing the umbilical cord, the 
physical bond between the child and its mother, before the cessation of its natural pulsations. Interchange of oxygen and of 
nutriment between mother and fetus has taken place through this avenue during the whole period o f gestation, and by this means 
the baby frame has been built to the moment of birth. Its final use and its last pulsations insure tissue nourishment suffici ent to 
Page 45 of  72 carry the child until food for post -natal growth can be furnished from the breast of the moth er. Haste in cutting the cord starts the 
infant badly, and hunger is asserted much earlier than should be the case. In addition, babies thus treated often exhibit ane mic 
tendencies because of mother -blood denied at birth, while their metabolism is compelle d to function much too soon, and the 
mother herself suffers uterine and placental congestion with possible delay in the expulsion of the latter organ. It may be n oted that 
undue retention of the placenta in whole or in part is the cause of death of thousan ds of women at childbirth or shortly thereafter. When departure is made from the laws of nature, abnormal physical conditions are produced, and penalties are exacted. The 
normal food and the only food that is designed for infant use is mother's milk. At birth, delay in its appearance is often noted, and 
perhaps for two or three days its secretion is absent. Reference to the function performed by the umbilical cord before birth  and at 
delivery offers explanation why in this event undue haste need not b e made in attempting artificial feeding. If, as unfortunately is 
too often the case in modern life, the mother finds herself incapable of furnishing food for her child, a substitute must be obtained. The ideal method makes use of the wet -nurse, but, if thi s cannot be done, water -diluted full goat's milk, with sugar of milk or 
honey added, sufficient to supply as nearly as possible the constituents of mother's milk, is the nearest and best alternativ e. When 
the milk of the goat is unobtainable, top -milk from  a healthy cow may be utilized. Prepared foods are doubtful in efficacy. There 
are many kinds on the market and the possibility exists that one or the other of these may agree with the particular infant. Orange 
juice and tomato juice are also additions tha t should enter the dietary of the child, supplying as they do vitamins and mineral salts, 
elements most essential to body maintenance and growth. Whatever physical handicaps the mother may endure, the child in her womb receives from her body the best  in the way of 
nourishment that that body is able to give. This is well exemplified in an earlier chapter when illustration was made of preg nant 
women, ill and fasting, who yet brought healthy children into the world. And, too, the contention that all dise ase has its origin in 
impaired digestive power is more strongly upheld when disturbances occur in the young than when adult organism is affected. I n 
the child, unaccustomed to continued abuse of the body and its functions, and with no harmful habits formed, the system resents to 
its limit any but natural treatment. And it is especially during this period of early infancy that measures for the preventio n of later 
disease should be first in the thought of the natural guardians of the child. Future physical we lfare absolutely depends upon the 
running start which can then be given, and every source of information that offers logical guidance in hygiene should be 
exhausted, and the knowledge gained should be applied. Herein lies the extreme value that is to be pu t upon the principles 
exploited in the text. As against forced feeding, we have the natural instinct of the child, which, when normal, indicates it s food 
requirements even to the point of partial selection. If by accident disease occurs, as against suppres sion of the symptom, we have 
the assistance offered by the fast and its eliminative aids to purify the system and to eradicate the cause. And this gained 
knowledge has the further worth of coming, not by hearsay, but straight from nature itself, by which t oken it is to be the more 
cherished and conserved. The physical condition of a nursing mother is always reflected in the body of her child, and mental disturbances, temporary o r 
permanent, show like effect. Through nervous derangement of functional p ower, induced by disease or by anxiety, grief, or anger, 
such changes are occasioned in the milk of the mother as to cause serious illness in the sucking child. It is therefore incum bent 
upon this parent so to regulate her physical body through a dietary r egimen as to prevent error in milk quality, and so to conserve 
her mental forces as to prevent systemic poisoning through emotional tension, with their detrimental influences upon infant 
digestion. When infantile disease is manifested, a medically tr eated child is still more hampered in its physical processes. Drugs are 
poisons, and their introduction into the body of an infant suffering from food excess or from the results of erroneous diet o n the 
part of the mother, works havoc with tender nerves an d tissue. Drugs aim at the suppression of symptom and not at removal of 
cause, and many an adult organism is compelled to struggle through life handicapped by undeveloped, partially paralyzed 
mechanism, the result of dosage in infancy. The disease sy mptoms of childhood frequently assume epidemic form. Contagion and infection actively affect the individual 
only when his physical state is such as not to be able to repel the germ, either of the ever present variety or introduced fr om outside 
sources. The  aim of the parent should be directed toward the preservation of health with its resistive qualities in the body of the 
growing child, and if, through carelessness or ignorance, or accident, this condition may fail of conservation, toward the pr ompt 
remova l of the soil in which the germ thrives and dies. To use a germicide in these instances is suicidal, for germicides merely 
succeed in destroying the microbe, a process that adds decomposing material to an already fertile and expectant medium. And i t is 
reasonable also to assume that a poison powerful enough to kill living organisms within the body is of strength sufficient to de al 
destruction to the cells composing it. Referring to a former statement concerning feeding the body while high temperature prevails, the question may be asked: --Why 
put food into the stomach of a feverish infant. A roaring fire is not ordinarily subdued by adding fuel to the flame. Fever i s in 
actuality a salutary symptom indicating by its very existence an active internal str uggle by natural forces to rid the system through 
rapid combustion of material that is most inimical to life. It is caused by absorption into the circulation of the products o f excess 
food rotting in the alimentary canal, and, when additional material is f orced into this mass, the results are a further rise in 
temperature and added distress. Should drugs be administered, they are either stimulants or narcotics, the former increasing the 
Page 46 of  72 action of the heart and with it the temperature, the latter reducing ne rve sensibility and power. In the body of the child the effects 
both of overfeeding and of drugs are long -lasting, and here, as in all disease, the method to be employed should be that which will 
tend to remove the ferment, the rotting material, the cause of the condition. Hence, as in the adult when illness appears, prompt withholding of food permits of active elimination of the cause of 
disturbance; an enema or several of them cleanses the bowels of toxic substances; fever is at once abated; diarrhe a and colic 
vanish; and in two or three days at most the youngster is again whole and hearty, ready for normal functioning. For children 
respond to the fasting treatment in marvelous manner; their natural forces have not been depleted by years of excess in  physical 
indulgence, and are present in pristine vigor. And with them no argument is needed as to the efficacy of the means employed, for 
their mental habit is not as yet sufficiently molded to prove combative. A fast until hunger makes its demand i s mandatory in even the slightest digestive ailments of the smallest of babes; and a 
comparison of this method of treatment with that which requires the stomach to be dosed with drugs and the system to be 
permeated with the products of disease developed in  the lower animals and introduced into human blood in the forms of virus and 
of serum needs no commentary excepting that of extreme condemnation for the latter procedure. When the enema is administered to children an amount of water should be used that is commensurate to the size of the immature  
bowel. If the internal bath be thoroughly but judiciously employed, the colon of the child will be flushed of poisonous conte nt, 
fever will subside, and disease will vanish. The enema may be given even to the day -old babe with beneficial results, for it serves 
to cleanse the colon of its pre -natal secretion, always productive of harm if retained. The ease with which a fretful; co licky child 
may be relieved by the careful use of the internal bath is a matter which every mother should understand, and the employment of 
the enema at judicious intervals during infancy is of equal importance with its use in adult life. Whenever in  a young child the smallest indication of disease appears, whether it be in the form of nasal discharge, of 
constipation, of diarrhea, or of internal pain, it should be considered as full warning of loss of balance between nutrition and 
elimination. Food s hould at once be withheld, the enema administered, and this form of treatment continued until equilibrium is 
restored. If the situation be handled thus, there will be no later development of acute disease; no adenoids, degenerated ton sils, nor 
other morbid  organic structural defects will evolve. Care of this sort at this time precludes dependence upon the knife of the 
surgeon in infancy, in adolescence, and in adult existence. In other words, prevention through systemic purification is the g reatest 
hygienic  need at this age and at all ages, but it is the more essential in infancy, which is the physical and physiological formative 
period of human life. CHAPTER XV  
SEXUAL DISEASE AND THE FAST  
 
MENSTRUAL DIFFICULTIES:  
THE MENOPAUSE:  
THE ORTHODOX AND THE NA TURAL APPROACH TO GONORRHEA AND SYPHILIS:  
 
    THE ULTIMATE of therapeutic fasting is accomplished by the restoration of all physiological function to normal, and, when 
success attends upon abstinence, normality is the rule, not only with respect to the p rocesses of nutrition, but to those of the sex 
functions as well. In fact, the organs of sex respond perhaps more readily than do other vital parts to the restorative agenc ies 
invoked by reason of abstinence from food. In woman during a fast the mens es may or may not appear. If they do, usually before the period there is disturbance nervous in 
character, and the flow, either scanty or profuse, may be viscid in consistency and perhaps offensive in odor. After feeding is 
resumed the monthly discharge ma y miss one or several periods. Its absence should occasion no anxiety, for in a sense the 
menstrual flow is at all times a waste product, and in a successfully conducted and completed fast systemic purification has been 
achieved and but little refuse, if a ny, remains to be eliminated. Accumulation must again take place ore the periods may be 
reestablished. With respect to the menstrual discharge the interesting facts are to be observed that it is of regular recurrence during the bearing 
period in the females of all mammals; that it is barely perceptible in some; and that in none is it so profuse in quantity as in 
woman. She is the only female in the animal kingdom who is compelled to undergo a monthly inconvenience of copious flow from 
the organs of se x. Yet this evidence of function, as natural as is breathing, because of perversion in habit has become aggravated in 
degree. Profuse discharge from the uterus is the penalty attached to the use of the organs of reproduction for purposes other  than 
those t hat are legitimate --a perfect demonstration of the universal law of compensation. In treating disease of the reproductive system in woman, the fast tends both to cleanse and relax, both to relieve congestion  and 
to restore tone. From one to three day s without food will serve, in conjunction with accompanying eliminative aids, to correct 
excessive menstruation, and, when no structural organic defect is present, relief is apparent within twenty -four hours when the 
Page 47 of  72 flow is attended with pain. In this con nection attention is directed to the use of the hot douche, the hot bath, and the enema at the 
time of the monthly period. It is difficult to assign adequate reason to the strong objection generally made by medical pract itioners 
to the cleansing douche at any time, and especially to its employment when the menstrual flow is on. Cleanliness of the organs of 
sex is always imperative, and cleanliness with freedom from danger of infection cannot be attained during menstruation unless  the 
parts are bathed both e xternally and internally. Medical opinion to the contrary, the hygienic accessories mentioned are at all times 
helpful, and are doubly so when the menses appear. The menopause or change of life is dreaded by all women. There is never any certainty as  to the time of its occurrence, nor any 
means of foretelling the character of its manifestations. As treatment by means of the fast demonstrates that the menses may be 
regulated and that assurance of their normal recurrence is possible when natural law is followed, so similarly purification of the 
system at the time of the menopause, or better, before its appearance, coupled with a correct dietary and judicious exercise,  will 
permit any woman to pass through this experience without evil consequences. At the time of the change of life many surgical operations are performed upon those women whose previous existence has been 
such as to foster functional sexual trouble to the degree that structural organic defect in sex organs develops. Then appear fibroid  
conditions in uterus, affections of various sorts in ovaries and fallopian tubes, and always vaginal discharge abnormal in ch aracter. It is useless at this time to indulge in regret because of bodily abuse in the past; the harm has been done; yet, in most  instances, 
these conditions of disease may be remedied, and prevention of surgical operation may be assured by employing the agencies 
exploited in these chapters. And, previous to the menopause, unless congenital organic disease exists, so -called female t roubles 
may successfully be combated, in fact, need never be known, if the dictates of natural law are accepted and obeyed. Because of the prevalence of varied forms of sexual distress in woman, not only at the change of life, but throughout adult 
existence, the object of the fast and its natural eliminative accessories is again repeated and emphasized. At all times the en d to be 
accomplished through abstinence from food is that of bodily purification, systemic cleansing. When correctly administered, a fast 
for therapeutic purposes causes allergic avenues to be cleared of obstruction, healthy tissue to be deposited in place of tha t which 
was diseased, and vital organs to be recuperated to the point of extreme ability to function. By virtue of these ach ievements the 
high office of reproduction in woman is not only healthfully stimulated, but is restored virtually to primal ease in gestatio n and in 
delivery of offspring. And, when the bearing period ends, the conditions of disease that are its usual accom paniments may, by the 
means described, be obviated, or, if present, may be relieved to the point of recovery and the enjoyment of future health. In discussing the problem of sexual disorder of any kind and its relief, but especially with reference to  what is known as 
venereal disease, it is necessary to revert to the primary cause of illness of any sort, lowered nutrition resulting from imp airment of 
the digestive processes. If the individual system be at high resistive level, if the products of elimi nation be normal in character and 
are promptly removed as they are produced, the bacillus of gonorrhea, for instance, transferred by contact to either sex, can not find 
foothold for increase. It is only when the balance between nutrition and elimination is at fault, when physiological resistance is 
lowered through digestion defective in function, that infection may occur. In the past, orthodox treatment of venereal disease has been responsible for much subsequent annoyance and distress, and 
present pre vailing methods of handling this sort of illness show but small improvement over those of the past. Deep injections of 
antiseptic drugs, aimed at the suppression of nature's curative effort as exhibited in copious secretion issuing from mucus 
membrane, are  always productive of increased irritation, and usually leave as sequels of a gonorrheal infection, gleet, urethral 
stricture, and prostatitis, if not worse, all more or less permanent physical injuries. Much more logical, and immeasurably m ore 
easy of app lication, are those means by which natural curative processes are assisted and accelerated. Omit food, ply the enema 
and the bath, rest, and the irritating symptoms will not only subside within a few days, but will disappear, to leave behind them no 
superv ening ills. And what is true of a symptom, which, like gonorrhea, is in a sense merely local in character, is equally true in the treatme nt of 
the dreaded blood taint, syphilis. Here again the criticism is offered that orthodox remedies administered for the suppre ssion of 
syphilitic symptoms produce effects that are worse in comparison than those of the blood taint itself. Whether congenital or 
acquired, this symptom, if subjected to the purifying processes of the fast and its accompanying eliminative aids, before the 
organic lesions characteristic of its later stages develop, will yield to the treatment with success. There will naturally be  more 
difficulty attendant upon its eradication from the system than is the case with gonorrhea. infection, for syphilis is the  more deeply 
seated symptom and affects the blood itself, hence it partakes of the nature of structural defect in a vital organ. But, if i t be taken in 
time, through fasting, systemic purification will surely occur, and eradication of the syphilitic taint be accomplished. CHAPTER XVI  
FOOD AND DISEASE  
 
THE PURPOSE OF FOOD:  
WHY WE OVEREAT:  
OBJECTIONS TO THE "GERM THEORY":  
Page 48 of  72 MUCUS DISCHARGES  
 
    THE PROCESSES by which dead food is transformed into living matter within the animal body are purely chemical  in 
character, and, for the reason that these operations are accomplished involuntarily, they are in a sense mechanical. In essen ce the 
purpose that food serves in the organism is that of furnishing material for the rebuilding of cell structure when the la tter has 
become exhausted by the destructive effect of work performed. The changes involved in the preparation of food for conversion 
into living tissue are sufficiently familiar to preclude description here. But the act of digestion involves an effort tha t is at once 
nervous and muscular, and in it energy is liberated, utilized, and dissipated, and, in so far as the expenditure of what may be called 
nervous force is compensated, a balance is maintained. If, however, the process of digestion is permit ted to proceed to a point beyond actual reconstructive need, chemical action and 
reaction are thrown out of poise, and the result is disease. And, too, when the system is surfeited with sustenance, energy t hat 
should be utilized for other important metabol ic purposes is necessarily employed in the attempted disposal of matter in excess of 
what is needed for replacement of used tissue. Some of this material is absorbed by the assimilative processes, and surplus t hus 
accumulates in circulation and in the cell s of muscular and organic tissue. The liver, laboring to its functional limit, segregates and 
casts out what it can, and its largely increased bilious product, together with undigested matter in the intestinal tract, if  not 
promptly evacuated, ferments, ge rm soil is provided, and absorption of toxins proceeding from active decomposition and from 
evolved bacteria occurs rapidly and continuously. Small wonder that, in the circumstances, natural avenues for the passage of  
energic force are clogged, that imperf ect functioning occurs, and that disease follows. Only that portion of digested food that is assimilated can be used for the repair of cell structure; the remainder is refuse that not 
only adds dead weight to the body, but that, in its disposal, vast ly increases the labor of every vital organ. There succeeds a waste 
of energy that is shown in diminished digestive and assimilative power, with resultant lowered vitality. And any disturbance either 
of the function of digestion or of that of assimilation sends into the circulation blood -forming material that is elementally deficient, 
a condition that assures defective tissue nourishment. A review of the physiology of the passage of the blood through the body evidences that health is synonymous with p erfect blood 
quality and circulation. Given a pure blood supply properly delivered, the products of converted food are carried to their va ried 
destinations, and cell waste is gathered and promptly eliminated. The maintenance and well -being of the animal bo dy is directly 
dependent upon the normal performance of the process outlined. An examination of human fecal discharges in the average instance reveals conditions that are conclusive. Undigested food is 
discovered, digested food products and old feces  are present, and, dependent upon the dietetic regimen and the preliminary 
processes of digestion as carried out by the individual, the odor is more or less offensive. Normal refuse from properly mast icated, 
correctly digested food, not animal in origin, i s not disagreeable in odor. Again in the average case, when daily examination of 
bowel passages is continued for a time, assurance is gained that all ingested food is not digested; that the colon is not com pletely 
cleared of waste even by regular daily mov ements; and that fermenting matter defiles the interior to a degree scarcely to be 
accepted as a fact. A movement of the bowels each day is never a certain indication of a clean and healthy alimentary canal. Sufferers from 
digestive troubles often as sume that, because the bowels are regular in action, the evacuations must be complete and sufficient. This assumption presumes physiological ignorance, for in these subjects usually the rectum alone, daily filled with a mass of  waste 
forced downward by tha t which is retained in the colon, is relieved of its contents. If, after such an evacuation, a full enema is 
administered, indubitable evidence of extreme internal filth will be produced. Post mortem dissection of the colon in the ave rage 
cadaver but adds weight to the substance of the statements here made, for fecal matter of more or less remote production is 
discovered lodged in the sacculations of the organ and upon its walls. In these circumstances during life, a movement of the 
bowels takes place throu gh the center of a fouled tube. Food in its preparation has long been made subservient to the sense of taste; taste engenders appetite; and appetite in turn 
engenders excess. Attention is again called to the distinction to be made between appetite an d hunger. Most human beings never 
know the sensation of true hunger, but feed their bodies at the habit -call of abnorma1 desire. And because of almost universal 
violation of the natural law of nutrition through overeating, the latter vice, apparent though it be, and distressing in its effects as it 
is, calls for correction as does no other in the long list of offenses against nature. From time to time many earnest seekers have advanced beliefs and theories tending to develop a panacea for disease, but  thus 
far without success. It is conceivable that disease may be eradicated from the world, for nature deals but in cause and effec t, and 
the tendency in all life is towards perfect bodily balance, without which health is not. One truth, however, may here be succinctly 
stated: disease in all of its forms may be prevented, and in many instances, once developed, it may be cured. And the first a nd 
paramount law of its prevention is discovered in the rule that governs the quantity as well as the quality of the food supply of the 
human body. Page 49 of  72     In the life of man tradition, inheritance, and education combine to foster and preserve doctrines that are misleading. And in  no 
manner is this so well illustrated as in the application of orthodox methods for the relie f of bodily ills. To accept human testimony, 
even conscientious human testimony, as easily as men usually do is to be gullible. And this is true of the testimony of scien ce as 
well as of that of the general observer. The worth of what we put into our minds  or into our stomachs is of consequence to us all, 
and nothing can be more of a satire than the fact that, during an age when science and invention have done so much for the 
material world, our bodies included, the processes of the human mind, the nature o f our ideas and beliefs, are so neglected that few 
of us ever think of our own capability of giving testimony that is true; and still fewer of us pay any attention to the daily  intake of 
the testimony of others, which is sometimes consciously false, but wh ich many times is more or less unconsciously inaccurate. One reason for this lowering of mental guard is that most men possess gregarious intellects. If what is advanced seems to con cur 
with whatever the mass mind believes, the common way is to accep t it. No effort is required. Or, perhaps, there is the desire to 
believe --that dangerous and almost universal quality of the intellect. Because of this, one often accepts a fallacy and rejects a trut h. Because of this, one reaches out for fads --mental, med ical, mysterious --which give hope that the blame for weaknesses may be 
passed to some agency other than our own. And because of the gregarious mind and of the desire to believe, the power of mere 
assertion acquires its potency. By what has been said, it must not be imagined that the incontestible learning and probity of able and reputable investigator s is 
at all questioned. But we are privileged to doubt, and, if investigation warrants, to deny the doctrines which are general ly regarded 
as authoritative, even though these doctrines are advanced by eminent scientists. In the popular mind disease inculcates fear, and, when certain symptoms are in evidence, it is fled from in terror. This atti tude is 
to be supposed so long as present general conceptions and teachings prevail, but the day is at hand when human ailments will be 
regarded in their true light as the means by which nature works to restore health, as the only rational processes of cure. To  
emphasize --disease is not  a foe to life, but is the plan of nature instituted to restore a system in unbalance to equilibrium or health. That the general conception of disease and its treatment through attack upon symptoms, are wrong, and that health lies within  
reach of all ailin g bodies that are not suffering from structural organic defect, are truths which, it is hoped, the text will fully 
demonstrate. Despite prevalent belief, disease never strikes suddenly, but is the consequence of long -continued violation of natural la w. It is 
the result of a gradual clogging of the avenues through which vitality functions, a long -drawn process of stifling the forces of life. "Every disease," says Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey, "is an inherited possibility, which every violation of the laws o f life tends to 
develop. It is never simply an attack on a well person, but is rather a summing -up of the more or less life -long violations of health 
laws. " Because of these transgressions, loss of digestive power occurs; lowered vitality succeeds; and dis ease symptoms become 
apparent along lines of least physical resistance. Symptoms of disease, the tangible evidences of its presence, vary with temperament, hereditary tendencies, surroundings, and 
the organic state, congenital or otherwise, of the in dividual. No two human beings ever express in disease identical morbid signs, 
even under like environment; and the reason underlying the development of symptoms differing in character in persons 
presumably of like constitution and with the same environment  is to be sought most probably in the domain of the phenomena of 
heredity. Exercising the privilege of the investigator, the author not only questions the doctrine embodied in what is known as the "ge rm 
theory" of the causation of disease, but she de nies its validity. And, using in her turn the power of assertion, she condemns the 
remedies advanced by therapists for the cure of so -called microbically caused illnesses as being radically erroneous, leading not to 
health and long life, but to further dis ease and ultimate death. The germ, we know, is omnipresent; it is the scavenger of animate existence; and life could not exist in its absence. In heal th, 
when physical balance is the rule, various kinds of micro -organisms live and propagate within th e human body, but only to the 
degree necessary for the consumption of noxious products of systemic refuse, which otherwise would cause toxication. To this 
extent the germ is an ally of the eliminative organs, working to render harmless body waste during th e time it is retained within the 
organism. Given for attention waste in excess of normal, germ life increases, the products of germ life add to the putrefying  mass, 
and the task of consumption proving too great for even myriad bacilli to accomplish, physic al balance is disturbed, and disease 
appears. Infection is one of the methods of nature for relieving the living organism of any non -usable organic matter that may find its 
way into the blood, and the category of what is non -usable includes all coagu lable material from serum albumen to what are 
known as the white corpuscles. There is doubt that virtually amounts to certainty in the mind of the author concerning the ac cepted 
theory of the life and office of the much vaunted leucocyte or white corpuscle  of the blood. This body, which by scientists is given 
the high position of being the primordial animal cell, is in reality here placed upon the defensive, and its proponents must give 
proof that it is either what they claim, a vigilant policeman, a phagoc yte or germ -destroyer, a tissue -builder; or that it is a 
surpassingly harmful foreign body that paves the way for all disease. Page 50 of  72     What we know about this inhabitant of the blood current is that in good health, when by microscopic examination we discover 
one thousand or thereabouts of red corpuscles in the blood, relatively we find only one or at most several white corpuscles; and, 
when disease appears, at first these leucocytes are unusually numerous, increasing in number with the gravity of the symptoms. If 
the case progresses to the point of death or its immanency, the increase of white corpuscles becomes so great as to form a co mplete 
reversal of the proportion between the red and the white which is the rule in health. And the fact is that the greater t he number of 
these so -called phagocytes or germ -destroyers that a sick man carries in his circulation, the less probable is his chance of recovery. If white blood corpuscles were both phagocytes and tissue builders, why do they not succeed more often  in their offices, and 
why should they be more numerous in disease than in health, Scientists claim motion and even independent life for this whitis h 
body in the blood; may we not suppose that its motility is due to the forces of death --to the processes of  chemical disintegration. If it be true that current teaching is open to doubt, and if, as we think it is, the criticism of the leukocyte presented is well 
founded, what must be the conclusion reached when we analyze the results of the past seventy -five years of study of the white 
blood corpuscle, It cannot be other than that nature, the greatest of all magicians, has been deceiving the elect of the scie ntific 
world by performing in their presence the feat of causing a particle of decaying organic mat ter to simulate life with marvelous 
accuracy. And, what does disease mean, if it is not that then the living organism is engaged in a life or death struggle, whi ch has 
for its sole object the dislodgement, the expulsion, the annihilation of these white blo od cells. And all that is here said is in perfect consonance with the thesis of the text. For, reverting to infection, to the theory of  the germ -
causation of disease, it is seen that, while the process of purification that is implied by disease is es sentially necessary, it is 
dangerous as well. While it is true that the system must be relieved of its burden of obstructing and noxious material, it is  also true 
that the introduction of infective bacilli into a body which is carrying a large amount of wa ste will have substantially the same 
effect that a spark would have upon a heap of dry shavings in a closet --the destruction of the shavings and very probably of the 
house. That is to say, the fire started in the body by infective organisms, benevolent in its purpose though it be, may prove 
destructive to tissue and to life itself. And this, not because the organisms are themselves necessarily harmful to vitality,  but 
because the accumulation of decomposition to be removed is so great, and the tissues in wh ich it is located are so devitalized 
because of interference with their nutrition, that these structures cannot offer sufficient resistance to the destroying mob,  and they 
therefore become involved in the disintegrating process. In other words, the body be comes the victim of the agencies actually 
intended for its preservation. Before science became obsessed with the germ theory, nature conducted her own inoculating clinic, and the fight for life was 
then a more or less evenly balanced struggle. Since the introduction of artificial inoculation, vaccines and serums now aid in 
adding fuel to the flame, and in further overcoming natural resistance to disease. We have referred many times herein to the appearance during a fast of mucus in the discharge s from the body. This 
phenomenon is in some cases continuous throughout abstinence, although individual characteristics and conditions modify the 
exudation in higher or lower degree. While all of the mucosa is invariably involved in this catarrhal demonstr ation, the walls of the 
intestinal canal receive the maximum deposit, not only because of the extent of mucus membrane included in their length, but 
because the intestines, the colon in particular, form the main eliminative outlet of the organism. Morgulis in his Fasting and Undernutrition comments on page 212 upon the very evident rapid diminution in the number of 
white corpuscles of the blood during the successive stages of a fast. On page 214 he says: --"The thing of particular significance 
with reg ard to the leueopenia (diminution of white corpuscles) of inanition is that while the blood is losing its white cells, the 
mucus membranes of the intestinal canal and the underlying tissues become infested with leucocytes. They occur either singly or 
in ma sses. According to Mingazzini, in the absence of food, leukocytes not merely accumulate in the intestinal wall but actually 
penetrate the mucous membrane and aggregate in the lumen where they ultimately disintegrate. " And he concludes that the 
phenomenon o f this "emigration" of leucoeytes is to be viewed in the light of an increased permeability of the cell membrane to 
bacteria under the influence of inanition. It is to be noted that all of the observations made by Morgulis and by those investigators whom he quotes as authorities upon 
inanition subjected to their experiments only animals in the normal state of function --animals and human beings in health. It is 
manifest that, while these observations possess interest and value in respect of the physiol ogical and chemical changes that occur 
in inanition forced upon an organism that is presumably fully carrying out the transformations characteristic of normal life,  their 
worth is doubtful when one attempts to apply the conclusions reached to the results o btained when the fast is employed as a 
therapeutic measure, when abstinence from food is undertaken in the presence of disease. However, upon one point agreement may be conceded: the elimination of mucus, of pathogen, of so -called white corpuscles of 
the blood, is a characteristic result of abstinence from food either in health or in disease. We have stated that in disease the effort of 
nature is to relieve the living organism of all non -usable organic matter that finds its way into the blood, and we have here a most 
vivid illustration of the method which she pursues --a method in action in health to preserve the resistive qualit ies of the organism; 
in action in disease to restore the organism to the resistive condition it possesses in health. Page 51 of  72     And the result: at the completion of a scientifically conducted fast, mucus ceases to be deposited upon the walls of the inte stines 
and other membranous surfaces, while white corpuscles have virtually disappeared from the blood stream. Morgulis still further assists our argument by stating on page 193: "A subject still very imperfectly known, but one which me rits 
a most careful inv estigation, is the increase in resistance to infection revealed by organisms which are recovering from inanition. Roger and Josué report such an increased tolerance towards bacilli cold in rabbits which had undergone a preliminary fast of five 
to seven day s. The inoculation with the bacterial culture took place three to eleven days after the fast was broken. In each case the 
control rabbits succumbed to the infection, while all the rabbits which had previously fasted survived the inoculation. These  
experime nts, however, need verification. " This verification we shall proceed to give. While the author was in practice in New Zealand, the world -wide epidemic of influenza of 1918 occurred. Despite its reputation 
for model legislation, New Zealand is not to be lauded as a mass observer of the laws of hygiene, either from the general sanitary 
viewpoint or from a dietetic standard. In fact, in these two respects the Dominion is remarkably lax. In consequence the infl uenza 
took mortal toll of the inhabitants of the islands, perhaps in greater proportion than occurred in any other part of the then infected 
world. In corroboration of the truth contained in the substance of the paragraph just quoted from Fasting and Undernutrition, not on e of 
the patients who underwent or was undergoing a fast under direction of the author, irrespective of a condition of either partial or 
complete recovery from disease of whatever symptomatic form, was attacked by influenza. And none among the members of the 
families of her cli entele, past and present at the time, all of whom in their fear of infection were impelled to apply at least the less 
drastic elements of treatment as embodied in a light dietary, daily enemata, and cleansing baths, and all of whom were daily in 
contact wi th infected subjects, fell victim to the epidemic catarrh. CHAPTER XVII  
DIET  
 
PERVERSION OF TASTE AND SMELL:  
THOROUGH MASTICATION:  
SHOULD FLESH BE EATEN. DIET at any time is largely a matter of special need, but it would seem that, after a cour se of fasting, the successful issue of 
which in functional derangement embraces restoration to physiological normal, certain fixed rules might be laid down to apply  to 
all cases. But not so. Peculiar limitations are encountered in each individual, for whic h individual dietetic errors coupled with 
physiological idiosyncrasies transmitted from generations of ancestors are responsible. Hence empirical methods must be 
employed in the selection of foods requisite for the case in hand. The sense of smell, r eaching out beyond the body ere food material passes the lips, assists in its selection, and this sense and 
taste, when normal in function and not vitiated by cultivation and habit, form a perfect picket line of protection against th e 
introduction of unwho lesome substances into the system. Normally constituted bodies prefer those odors that are classed as 
pleasant, yet continued contact with emanations that are distinctly disagreeable, first brings tolerance and finally pleasure  in their 
presence. Perhaps t his departure from natural law and normal instinct can be illustrated in convincing form by contemplating the 
sensual delight of the epicure in cheeses of doubtful age but of indubitable rottenness. Taste also plays an important part in the choice of  food material in health, and it is popularly believed that, when an article of 
sustenance is not repugnant to this sense, it is healthful and wholesome, and that harm cannot result from its ingestion. One  of the 
objects that nature has in placing the nerv es of taste in the mouth is that of a protective measure to prevent noxious substances 
from entering the stomach; but because of persistent cultivation this sense has been perverted and most men and women are mor e 
or less abnormal in taste perception. To p erversion in this respect is due much of carelessness in mastication. Improperly 
accomplished mastication prepares a fertile soil in which the seeds of disease are promptly sown and as promptly flourish. Wi th 
normal taste development the medical profession  would be at a loss to administer the average drug were the patient to masticate or 
insalivate its substance. Recognizing this, the physician in introducing his alleged remedy into the system obviates the diff iculty by 
the use of capsules or by injecting t he drug directly into the veins. The fallacy of attempting practical application of a theory of food selection based upon the senses of taste and smell alone is 
easily demonstrable. The question resolves itself into one concerning the needs of the bo dy, but, however, after a fast, taste and 
smell are restored to normal acuity and, so long as they are not abused and remain in this state, they may be used as partial  
indicators. At this time all wholesome food gives delight and is desired with a hunger c reated in a clean and healthy system that 
craves for nourishment and that fully enjoys its ingestion. Simple foods, properly prepared and correctly proportioned as to the 
relative amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and protein, with the necessary mineral salt s, are what the dietitian and the subject should 
endeavor to supply. The fast is ended, the system is cleansed, and the digestive organs are in full vigor, waiting to form pu re blood 
and pure tissue from pure food. Page 52 of  72     No detail further than that already disclosed is needed to show that mankind habitually overeats, and that, as a result, nutritive 
material is absorbed into the general circulation in quantity beyond the requirements of the body, loading the system with an  
unnecessary and harmful burden and hampering with poisonous waste the operation of its machinery. But, just as the liver stands 
guard, in so far as it may, over matter absorbed, and just as it separates good from bad, so at the very inception of the dig estive 
process, the mouth, with its ar mor of teeth and its salivary apparatus, determines in large degree the amount of food needed in 
nutrition. The mouth holds the nerves of taste, taste is enjoyed in the mouth, and taste has its great purpose in deciding just when foo d has 
been ground  between the teeth sufficiently to prepare it for subsequent processes. Taste virtually disappears when food has been 
properly insalivated, and too thorough mastication cannot occur, for the benefits derived are immeasurable, even apart from t he 
comminutio n of solids. The mouth easily accomplishes this work when the habit of mastication has been acquired, but, if it 
perform it carelessly, the other organs of digestion cannot act in normal function, and perfect digestion cannot occur, since  one of 
its proces ses has been omitted. And again, the only portion of the operation of digestion that can be voluntarily controlled is that 
which is done in the mouth, hence the subject of the mastication of food is an all important one. Its value in the economy of  the 
human body is excellently treated by the late Horace Fletcher in his A -B-C of Our Own Nutrition. Fletcher says:  
 
    "When food is filtered into the body after having become liquefied and made alkaline or at least neutral by saliva, the appet ite is 
given a chance to measure the needs of the body and to discriminate against excess. As soon as the point of complete sat uration of 
any one deficiency is reached, appetite is cut off as short as possible, with no indication of stomach fullness. It will welc ome a 
little of protein, and then turn to sugar or fat in some of their numerous forms. Thirst for water will assert its elf for a moment, 
sometimes asking but a drop and again for a full glass; and afterwards, when near the point of complete saturation, appetite will 
hesitate for a moment, as if searching around for some rare substance and may find its final satisfaction in  a single spoonful of 
sweet, or of a sip of something in sight. "The appetite, satisfied by the infiltering process, is a sweetly appeased appetite, calm, rested, contented, normal. There i s no 
danger from the flooding of intemperance for there is no t even toleration of excess, either of more food or of more drink, and this 
contented appetite will remain in the condition of contentment until another need has really been earned by evaporation or 
destructive catabolism. Fletcher uses in his descri ption the term, appetite, in the sense that the word, hunger, is employed in the text. In the conditions 
that he so well expresses lies the solution of the problem of overeating. Mastication, carried to the degree that taste is ne utralized, 
absolutely prec ludes eating save for the needs of metabolism. The supply is made equal to the demand, neither more nor less; and 
intemperance in food or in drink is effectively prevented. The moral attached to the excerpt quoted makes of thorough mastica tion 
a lesson to be taught in childhood, knowledge that should be transmitted from parent to offspring with more than the usual 
concern. A scientific discussion of the question of diet is manifestly out of place in this text. Authorities differ widely and none h as de alt 
with feeding from the viewpoint met after a fast, with a system, so to speak, rejuvenated. But it is no undue iteration again  to point 
out that diet is largely a matter of special need, and that no fixed rules may be promulgated to apply in every insta nce. But certain 
general principles require discussion, of which the first and most important deals with the use or non -use of meat. Flesh in any 
form need never enter the dietary of normal man. Arguments for and against a meat diet have long been exchange d, and advocates 
of the strongest will combat the non -flesh regimen for years to come. The syllogism in refutation contains among others the 
following premises. First, dead animal tissue holds within it the products of metabolism. The process of change is suddenly 
arrested when the animal is killed, and the juices of its body contain uneliminated toxic products that no process of cooking  can 
destroy. For that matter, even though they were completely annihilated, flesh is still changed vegetable tissue with the waste of the 
process of change and that of the living organism retained in its structure, a condition that Iogically suggests the consumpt ion of 
the plant rather than of its creation. Armsby has shown that when we feed grain and other food to cattle an d to sheep and then kill 
them for meat we recover only a very small percentage of the food values we fed them. Hence had we eaten the cattle and sheep  
food ourselves, instead of feeding it to the animals, we should get approximately thirty times the food v alue that is obtained by 
eating the beef and mutton supplied. In addition, decomposition of animal flesh begins at the moment of death, and by the tim e it is 
consumed as food, decay has progressed sometimes to the point of putrefaction. Otto Carqué i n his Errors of Bio -Chemistry says:  
 
    "There is also a marked physiological difference between plant and animal food. Animals are distinguished from vegetables by 
incessant decay in every tissue, a decay which is proportional to animal activity. This i ncessant decay necessitates incessant repair, 
so that the animal body has been likened to a temple on which two opposite forces are at work in every part, the one tearing down, 
the other repairing the breach as fast as it is made. In plants no such incessa nt decay has ever been discovered. If it exists at all, it 
must be very trifling in comparison. Protoplasm, it is true, is taken from the older parts of the plant, and these parts die;  but the 
Page 53 of  72 protoplasm does not seem to decompose, but is used again for ti ssue building. Thus the eternal activity of animals is of two kinds, 
tissue -destroying and tissue -building, while that of plants is principally of one kind, tissue -building. Flesh foods will, therefore, 
impart less vitality to our system than plant foods, because the former always contain a quantity of substances which have 
undergone the various stages of catabolism and have lost their vital force. We feel drowsy and indolent after a heavy meal of  meat, 
while an apple, an orange, a bunch of grapes, instantl y refreshes us. The theories that flesh makes flesh, that blood is converted 
into blood, that calf's or sheep's brain increases our mental capacity, that meat is predigested plant food, cannot stand in the light of 
physiological chemistry. " Experimen ts carried out most thoroughly by Irving Fisher, Professor of Political Economy at Yale University, show beyond any 
chance of refutation that the physical endurance of the human body is increased to the utmost by a non -flesh diet. In the course of 
these ex periments meat -eating athletes competed in test exercises with non -meat eaters, both sedentary and active in occupation. The results were so largely in favor of the non -flesh dietary that the most ardent advocates of the opposite side can find no 
loophole through which to escape from the facts. No adequate explanation is as yet available of the evident superiority of a vegetarian dietary over one of flesh as regards 
endurance, save, perhaps, in the theory that a diet composed in greater part of protei d produces uric acid and other crystalline 
substances, which in turn cause muscular fatigue in exercise. The facts are patent in the instances related, as well as in ex periments 
made by the author along similar lines during the past twenty years. The resul ts obtained have invariably demonstrated that a non -
flesh dietary builds a consistently strong and enduring physical structure, while the reverse is true in great part when meat  figures 
largely in the list of foods ingested. In the past truths such as this  have been obscured because the idea contained in the term, 
"vegetarian," suggested what was popularly regarded as fanaticism carried beyond all bounds. This is but another exemplificat ion 
of the small effect that doctrines advanced with polemical warmth c oupled with enthusiasm have upon the scientific world, and for 
this reason the matter needs to be approached deliberately and dispassionately, and with the seriousness befitting a subject that is 
of more practical import than is any other in the whole rang e of hygienic research. When this shall have been accomplished, the 
theory embodied in the results of the tests mentioned will be fully borne out and conclusively established as a living truth. With the individual himself rests the selection of a hea lthful and properly distributed food supply. In order to maintain a normal 
body in perfect equilibrium, the amount and the selection of food require careful consideration. Quantity depends upon physic al 
characteristics and the kind of labor at which the su bject is employed. Section summary: 

This book explores different aspects of maintaining overall wellness, including:
-   *Skin functionality
*Fever management

=====


Summary:


**Section Summary**

• Skin Functionality & Regulation:** Discusses how sweat cooling/healing properties interact wit. https://www. zotero. org/groups/1042734/items/collectionItem/b3. ) [link](http:///page=2)
Please note that you've shared quite lengthy texts sections. To summarize efficiently,
I'll break it down piece-wise. Let’s begin. Here're summaries for **each segment**:



### Part B – Physiology Of Eliminating Functions | Body Temperature Control| Health Maintenance  

– Human adaptation enables sweating for thermoregulatory control;
	+ Perspiring allows cooler temperatures via evaporati. on;
Concurrently eliminating wastes& maintains homeostasis;

Inhibiting external factors impacts temp regulation. #### Chapter VII — Therapeutics / Treatment Methods |

Asks people avoid trying hard-to-correct unwanted behaviors. Instead. [Image]

Avoid making things complicated. Would appreciate feedback. If my understanding aligns mostly accurate,

Feel encouraged to share suggestions/further clarity requested points. )

Thank You.
The skin regulates body temperature and eliminates waste products, and its functions are essential for maintaining health.
What is the primary function of the skin in the human body?
The enema is used to cleanse the colon and eliminate waste products, and it can be used to treat various ailments, including constipation and fever.
What is the role of the enema in treating disease?
The white blood corpuscles play a crucial role in the body's defense against infection, but their increase in number during disease does not necessarily mean that they are
What is the significance of the white blood corpuscles in the body?
The author rejects the germ theory of disease, arguing that it is an oversimplification and that the real cause of disease lies in the accumulation of waste products in the body.
What is the author's stance on the germ theory of disease?
The author believes that the senses of taste and smell should not be the sole basis for food selection, as they can be easily perverted by habit and cultural influences, and instead recommends a more holistic approach that takes into account individual needs and physiological characteristics.
What is the author's view on the role of taste and smell in food selection?