A working man destroys more tissue in shorter time than 
does the banker or the clerk; yet, usually, the latter eat no fewer meals nor less at a sitting than does their burly brother . What is 
needed for the one is far more than sufficient  for the others. Should the brain worker devote spare time to outdoor recreation or to 
manual labor a mean might be established; but, in general, equilibrium is seldom reached, and the supply of food is far in ex cess of 
requirement. The laboring man, too, is at fault in this respect, for, unless his be an exceptional case, the basis of his diet is starch, 
which, in addition to the unbalance produced, carries its nutritive principle in a bulky vehicle, demanding extra labor from the 
digestive tract in order to separate waste from nutriment and to eliminate the former. To reduce the supply of food to the basis of demand, the plan that suggests the omission of the midday meal is perhaps the 
easiest to follow, and, once the habit is acquired, this repast i s scarcely missed. Hunger should determine the hours for the 
ingestion of food each day. Regularity of habit as to the times for serving meals is an outgrowth of economic convenience, an d, 
more often than not, the participant is imposing a burden upon a sy stem in no need, therefore with no desire of sustenance. In 
health, dependent upon occupation, hunger makes demand not more than twice daily, if previous desire has been satisfied. Hung er, 
like the reproductive instinct, is stimulated by the changing chemi stry of the body and can be satisfied only by achieving its 
primary purpose, the taking of food for constructive metabolism. The late war taught us many things connected with dietetic habit. The Danes, for instance, kept healthy upon a most restricte d 
diet. Their death rate was exceptionally low in spite of many privations. They lived on a ration that consisted very largely of 
vegetables and whole wheat or grain breads. And they ate very little milk and meat. The Germans proved that it is possib le to live on a diet that contains a great deal of fiber. So far as their adults were concerned, 
health was improved by the very low diet --at least it was not impaired. The lean German was healthier than was the pot -bellied 
German of pre -war days. These ex periences prove that man can stand a serious cut in his food over long periods of time without 
permanent damage. :But the text carries out this thought in its entirety, and all that is offered from sources apart merely s erves in 
corroboration of the truths  presented. In much that has been written concerning the matter of diet there are so many sweeping statements, so many conflicting 
processes of proof, impossible rules, and foolish conclusions, that no wonder is felt that the whole subject is usually  ignored as too 
intricate. There are many who try to enforce personal ideas upon others in this connection; very persistent people these, to whom 
the term, "crank," may well be applied, and a "crank," who has picked up some scientific jargon and who thinks  himself cured of 
his ailments, works more harm than good in the world. This class may be extended to include those who really have been benefi ted 
by a diet that happens to suit personal requirement, and it comprises also the one -food people who are in con tinual search of what 
not to devour, with the idea of reducing the universe to whole wheat and pecans. These people at each encounter with their fe llow-
Page 54 of  72 men discover in the latter disease symptoms identical with their own, and insist that the remedy to whic h they have had recourse 
shall be applied. It is absurd for any who are not familiar with the chemistry of foods to endeavor to talk learnedly of thei r action in 
human physiological economy, and it may be taken as an axiom that, within the individual capab ility, which can be known only by 
individual experiment, a diet limited to not more than three proportioned items at each meal is more conducive to health than  is 
one where unlimited choice or a single dish is the rule. A list that is limited strictly to f ew things trains the stomach to adapt itself 
accordingly, and trouble ensues when change is attempted. It is also to be remarked that when the organism has been accustome d 
to the digestion of animal protein, change to vegetable compounds may discover organ ic resistance this because of habit, for 
actually no essential difference exists between these two muscle building combinations excepting in origin. After all, the amount of food and the kind of food are of secondary importance to the organic ability  or inability of the individual 
to function. It must continually be borne in mind that in the condition of the digestive organs lies the crux of the situatio n. Hence 
the aim of both physician and patient should constantly be directed at the restoration of the system to health, after which its 
maintenance in this condition requires proper attention to selection and to quantity of food. NOTE  
 
Tomato Soup. Strain one quart can of tomatoes through a coarse kitchen sieve, assisting the process by using the back of a heavy spoon. Th is 
serves to separate seeds and skin from juice and pulp. Add to the latter a dessert -spoon of butter or corn oil, and heat but  do not 
boil. If desired, a small quantity of honey may be used. F`or breaking a fast this broth is excellent food, and one coffee -cup taken 
four times at regular intervals should suffice for the first day succeeding abstinence. The quantity taken may be i ncreased on the 
second day to one pint eaten morning and evening with other food material gradually added as previously described. If ripe tomatoes from the garden are used instead of the canned variety, simmer the fruit until tender, but at no point  in cooking 
allow to boil, since high temperature tends to destroy the vitamins with which this fruit is so richly furnished. After cooki ng, strain 
and gauge proportions as with the canned fruit. CHAPTER VIII  
 
REST AND RECUPERATION  
MUSCULAR REST:  
BEST  FOR THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS:  
THE HIBERNATING ANIMALS:  
THE HUNGER STRIKE OF MCSWINEY AND OTHERS  
 
    MUSCULAR tissue is continually undergoing change in structure. The cells that form it are constantly dying, are cast off, and  
fresh material for their rebu ilding is being supplied. The waste resulting, if retained, is systemically harmful; and, in order to 
permit of its elimination and replacement with wholesome cell pabulum, muscular rest must occur. Not only does this apply to 
muscles in super -active use, but to those of all of the bodily fabric. Rapid exercise of any part of the human machine can be 
continued but for a short time, for, because of vigorous muscular action, voluntary or involuntary, cells are rapidly broken down, 
their poisonous waste is thr own into the blood, and is carried to the remotest portions of the organism. Every organ of the body is 
thus deleteriously affected, and resulting symptoms of self -toxication appear that may end disastrously. The only means of 
recuperation lies in muscular  rest. The heart, although making contractions at the rate of seventy -two beats a minute, is able to continue its work throughout the 
life of the individual, since each contraction of this muscle is followed by a slight interval of rest, during which  its cells recuperate. Stimulate the heart beat beyond its normal rate, and a point is soon reached at which poisonous products from broken -down cells 
are not carried away with sufficient rapidity, while regeneration is defectively performed, since the int ervals of rest are inadequate. Similar conditions are met when the muscles used in respiration, those of the chest, the diaphragm, and the abdomen, are 
overworked. The muscles that move involuntarily, those that are not subject to the human will, nev er know absolute rest, for they continue 
their labors whether the body be asleep or awake. On the other hand, those muscles, the action of which depends upon brain 
direction, cannot work continuously, lest fatigue with fatal exhaustion follow. Seemingly, a utomatic labor, labor not directed by 
volition, does not wear. It is only conscious work that requires for recuperation and muscle rebuilding non -use or physical rest. This is permitted in that loss of consciousness regularly recurrent in animal life, whic h is called sleep. Physical growth and muscular development in man are never completely rounded out, and this may be attributed to a double 
cause. Theoretically, every muscle of the body should be exercised impartially and should be nourished with th e exact amount of 
cell pabulum that is needful for the replacement of its broken -down substance. These conditions are virtually never fulfilled. That 
Page 55 of  72 they may be is a possibility to be contemplated with surety, since they are logical conclusions based on n atural law. To bring them 
to consummation, reciprocal active relation must exist between intake and outgo, rebuilding and waste, labor and rest, 
consciousness and sleep. The processes of nutrition are involuntary in character so long as material suit able for their accomplishment is furnished for 
their use, but they may be directed in part by the individual to the extent of the preparation and of the selection in kind a nd quantity 
of food required. When the function of digestion becomes impaired, disea se results. And functional disease is analogous to 
muscular fatigue; hence, since nature includes in her law of recuperation both systemic purification and organic rest, it is 
reasonable to assume what the text promulgates: organic rest through abeyance of  the processes of digestion and assimilation, with 
consequent systemic cleansing and renewal of normal functional activity. The manner in which the digestive organs and those allied to them may be given needed rest is to the mass mind perhaps not at  
once apparent. The mere thought of abstention from food carries with it repudiation of the long -taught doctrine that frequent 
feeding both in health and in illness is needful for the maintenance of vitality and strength. Yet just this omission of food  is meant 
when rest for overworked organs is suggested. The phenomena of fasting for the cure of disease include facts that prove that the 
human body does not depend for strength or for vitality solely upon food ingested; the latter is in the main utilized for the repair of 
the fabric of the body; by means of food the material framework is kept in condition to permit of the liberation of energy in  its 
variety of manifestation. The body, then, is but a vehicle for the expression of the life principle. But the lif e principle itself is an 
entity, operating through its vehicle only so long as its lines of transmission are unobstructed by the causes of disease. Diminution in weight, often excessive, always occurs in illness, even though food is ingested. (Except ions with obese or 
dropsical symptoms noted.) In itself this shows that nature is proceeding with her process of purification, despite the obsta cles in 
her path, and that she is protecting the body by inhibiting the function of assimilation. This she will continue to do until the 
avenues for the passage of vital force are partially or wholly cleared, or until organic defect beyond repair is uncovered. I n the 
former event, health will eventually be restored; in the latter, the death of the body is presaged. Also, when disease is present, under the more prevalent methods, feeding is continuous in accordance with the doctrine that 
nourishment is at all times necessary to "keep up strength." If the stomach rebel, other organs are assailed with the idea of  
conveying through them the nutriment considered necessary, and this in spite of very evident protests on the part of bodily 
function. The question naturally suggests itself: why, if food is constantly supplied, does the body lose in weight! This que ry was 
covered in a previous chapter, but its answer is found in the fact that in disease intake of food is not properly digested, is 
consequently incapable of complete and healthful assimilation, and, far from acting as constructive material for tissue 
regeneratio n, proves an added systemic burden and a source of toxication. Another cause of loss of weight, slighter in degree, is 
discovered in that brain and nerve tissue, as instruments for the expression of thought, motion, and sensation, are protected  from 
deteri oration in substance by that provision of nature which permits them to utilize nourishment stored in the interstices of tissu e. 
This they consume in illness and in health, and, when in disease normal balance is disturbed, when body tissue is not rebuilt  as is 
the case in health, nerve substance is still supported from the same source of supply. With slight differences the physiology of digestion in all mammals is markedly similar. In disease the lower mammalia abstain  
from food until hunger returns, w hen health is rapidly recovered. To this they are impelled by instinct, by animal sagacity, a 
faculty implanted by nature in the whole of animate creation. The fasts which animals instinctively undergo in disease are 
phenomena which cannot help but be cons tantly observed, but which are not in general intelligently perceived. A common 
expression in reference to illness in the horse embodies the phrase, "off his feed," and this negation on the part of the ani mal 
confirms the existence an instinctive sense tha t impels it to fast when its physical well -being is overturned. And this natural 
spontaneous impulse is not confined to mammals, for birds, reptiles, in fact the whole animal kingdom, abstain from food when  
ailing. A python in captivity has been known to f ast for thirteen months, with great loss in weight, it is true, but with eventual 
recuperation and recovery. And cats and canines often prolong abstention to skeleton condition, after which strength and vita lity 
progressively increase until normal is again  attained. Instances such as these may be multiplied indefinitely. While not occasioned by the invasion of disease, it is interesting to note in this connection that condition of lethargy unde rgone 
by certain animals during the winter months, known a s hibernation, a condition in which the functions of the body are in great 
measure suspended. How a warm -blooded animal used to the most stirring activities during eight or nine months of the year can 
retire to a den, and from an ordinary sleep, which it i s at first, pass into a condition of torpor in which all the organs that have to do 
with digestion, assimilation, and waste, excepting the lungs, suspend their functions and remain quiescent for a period of se veral 
months, is more or less a sealed book to science. In man and the non -hibernating animals the action of the body functions are continuous awake or asleep, but in the bear, the 
marmot, the prairie dog, during the hibernating period, the functions of digestion, assimilation, and elimination ar e suspended until 
the animal awakens in the spring. Page 56 of  72     A bear, if sufficiently fat, begins to fast some weeks before he retires to winter quarters; but, if there has been lack of f ood, or, if 
the animal is old, with poor teeth, it will eat to the very d ay of entering its den, and this last meal will be found in the stomach 
when the revival from winter sleep takes place. The average bear at the beginning of hibernation is covered with a layer of fat that varies from two to six inches in thickne ss, 
and, if the animal is killed at this time and the fat removed from the carcass, the latter is found plump and full -fleshed. But, killed 
after some months in the den, a heavier layer of fat is discovered, with a diminution in lean flesh, which by this time h as become 
lax and flabby in texture. The carcass, then stripped of its fat, will be noticeably smaller than that of a bear of similar s ize killed in 
the fall or in the early winter. There is then evidently a continual process of change from nitrogeno us to carbonaceous tissue proceeding while the winter sleep 
of the hibernating animal endures; and, in this transmutation of muscle into fat, lies perhaps the secret of the torpor in wh ich the 
bear is wrapped. For, when a bear first goes into his den, his sleep is natural, and he is easily aroused. But, left undisturbed, sleep 
develops into stupor; respiration and circulation are the only evidences of life, and they are both retarded in action. Carbo n 
resulting from the change of protein into fat within the  system, is retained in the blood, because all of the organs of elimination, 
excepting the lungs, are without function; and respiration is so slow that there is continuously an excess of carbonic acid g as in the 
blood stream, and a consequent condition of toxication, of torpor. At times during hibernation the female bear will bring her young into the world, and then milk is elaborated in amount suffic ient 
to maintain the cubs. The birth of young and the physiological chemistry of continued milk produc tion in the fasting, torpor -ridden 
bear have particular interest here, analogous as these phenomena are to the related cases in the text of pregnant women proce eding 
to confinement, but fasting for weeks the while. A hibernating bear never soils his den with urine or ordure, for no waste is formed, consequently none is voided. But, after the 
period of winter sleep is over, the animal feeds ravenously upon young clover and grass, and extreme purging results, with 
succeeding rapid reduction of the fatty  tissue formed as described while coma lasted. A certain degree of cold is necessary before a bear can hibernate, but, in so far as may be ascertained, body temperature rem ains 
at standard during the experience. That is, the animal is warm to the tou ch, although it is in a state of constant shivering. Analogy 
is again evident between this condition and what is termed herein "fasters' chilliness." Omitting from consideration mental conditions, such as fear and worry, which of necessity react upon  the physical body, and 
setting aside severe and more or less continuous physical suffering, the average human being cannot die from lack of food for  
several months. This statement of fact is verified constantly in the employment of fasting as a therapeuti c measure, and it has 
recently been brought to public attention and conclusively substantiated in instances to which reference is now made. It would appear that the medical profession in whole or in greater part has been egregiously in ignorance of t he resources of the 
human body when for any cause it is denied nourishment. The various encyclopedias, notably Britannica, until revisions were 
made in 1921, carried articles on inanition and fasting, which asserted over medical signature that from ten to fourteen days 
marked the extreme limit to which the human body would endure in the absence of food. In other words, starvation and death 
would occur were nourishment denied for approximately the period of time named. While doubt may have existed in the min ds of 
the more advanced among the medical fraternity, revision of these articles was definitely occasioned only by the comparativel y 
recent "hunger strike" of Terence McSwiney, former Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland, and of several of his political colleagues. The charge upon which Lord Mayor McSwiney was convicted, and for which he was sentenced to two years in Brixton prison, 
England, was that of sedition against British government. He began to serve his sentence in August, 1920, and upon his 
incarcerat ion, in protest against what he considered an unjust trial and conviction, he refused to eat. In spite of constant persuasion  
and attempts at forced feeding, McSwiney's fasting continued until October 25th, 1920, a period of seventy -four days, when his 
death occurred. McSwiney was quite cognizant of the details of the method of fasting for the cure of disease, and in so far as w as 
possible in prison surroundings, he made use of the hygienic accessories that are described herein. His familiarity with the writings 
of the author of this text accounted for the knowledge that permitted him to continue his fast without succumbing for two and  one-
half months. McSwiney might, and, in the opinion of the writer, would have lived longer had it not been that, in the lat ter days of 
his life, he became too weak to prevent efforts on the part of the jail physician to force food upon him, and, when he lapsed  into 
unconsciousness because of strength overstrained and nerves tensed beyond limit through resistance, strychnine wa s injected into 
his veins as a heart stimulant, and he died. Of McSwiney's political colleagues, also imprisoned and also on "hunger strike," one died after sixty -eight days of fasting, 
while the others all endured until McSwiney's death and after. I t is reported that one of these men continued his fast for the 
extremely lengthy period of ninety days. And it is to be noted that, with the exception of that seditionist who succumbed at the end 
of sixty -eight days, all of the others, who fasted much long er than McSwiney himself, resumed feeding and rapidly recuperated to 
a condition of body ultimately superior to that which was theirs before they undertook their "hunger strike." Page 57 of  72     Earlier in the text cases were cited that underwent abstinence from food  for periods ranging from eleven to seventy -five days. And it is to be remembered that these cases resorted to the method because they were ill, and that some of them were in an ex treme 
state of emaciation to begin with. Yet, although no food was ingested,  life was supported, functional processes were restored, and 
recovery resulted. In one instance, a patient of the writer during a period of 140 days fasted absolutely 118 days. This case was bedridden, and  had 
been so for years; the body was emaciated, and chronic functional disease and confinement to bed had caused progressive wa sting 
of the muscles. Yet, as a consequence of the bodily purification resulting from abstinence from food, not only was great reli ef 
experienced, but recovery, save in minor degree, the aftermath of muscular non -use, occurred. If, then, the body can  exist without food for an extended time, and, if in illness the stomach instinctively objects, as it does, to 
ingestion, it is reasonable to infer that food not desired is not at this time necessary for bodily maintenance; and, once ac cepted as 
true, this  inference is abundantly justified. The results of a practical and scientific application of the method of systemic 
purification defined herein are such as to lead to the conclusion that, in the absence of serious structural defects in vital  organs, 
abstin ence from food, accompanied by its natural health -restoring and health -preserving accessories, is the unfailing remedy for 
relief from functional ills. CHAPTER XIX  
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ACTION AND REACTION  
 
MIND INFLUENCES FUNCTION AND FUNCTION INFLUENCE S MIND:  
A CASE OF INSANITY:  
SICK GENIUSES:  
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND:  
THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS  
 
    MUSCULAR action in the body may be brought about in two ways --through the brain itself, or through internal or external 
physical causes. In both instances the nerve centers perform their functions, either in the inception of the thought or in the transfer 
of inward or outward cause. The act of moving the hand, for example, may originate in the brain, or it may occur because the 
member is in proximity to fire. In  the former contingency the act begins with the thought in the brain, and nervous influence 
operates directly upon the muscles. In the second condition the sensory nerves inform the brain that the flesh is burning, an d the 
brain sets in motion the muscles necessary to move the hand. In both cases the motive power emanates from the brain, and the 
phenomenon as observed may happen in connection with any specific portion of the body. Not only are these phenomena true of 
the muscles controlled by the will, but they may also be observed in similar phase in organs beyond the power of volition in 
function, as the heart, the lungs, and the stomach. Swallowing an emetic causes vomiting, an effect occasioned by muscular 
contraction of the stomach for the purpose of ej ecting a substance irritating to the nerves of that organ. The mere sight or thought 
of a disgusting object may have the same consequence, and imagination is frequently able to produce results like those that a re 
caused by the administration of a powerful drug or by a combination of physical conditions. Every organic act, normal or abnormal, is due solely to a current sent from one of the great nerve centers, and the latter ma y be 
called into operation either directly by feeling or thought, or indirec tly by reflex action. The mind and the emotions exercise large 
influence upon physical function, but the field over which that influence extends is comparatively little known. It is, in so me 
respects, almost unbounded, for every bodily function may be hast ened, retarded, or even totally suspended by the subjective effect 
of thought. Pleasurable emotions are physically wholesome; painful ones, the reverse; but, when too intense and sudden, eithe r can 
terminate life. The fibers of the pneumogastric nerv e are distributed principally in and about the lungs and the stomach; hence its name. Whatever may be the motor functions that this nerve supplies, it has great power over the process of digestion, for, when its  fibers 
are severed below those branches that  extend to the trachea, digestion is virtually arrested. Nervous influence is essential to the 
proper action of the stomach, and, in the region of this organ, the nerves are so interlaced one with another that, even thou gh the 
direct road be destroyed, by -paths will still remain for the passage of nerve energy. If the latter force were not needed in digestion, 
no reason would exist for the suspension of function by its withdrawal. This is well illustrated when it is observed that the  
invariable effect of wo rry, anxiety, fright, anger, and the like, is to arrest for a time all digestive action. Cause is obvious when the 
close connection that exists between the brain and the pneumogastric nerve is considered. Also, if nervous force is diverted in 
directions ot her than those pursued in the digestion of food, or if it is impeded by impingement of nerve substance at emergence 
from the spinal column, similar results ensue as when the pneumogastric nerve is severed. Does the physical condition of the body in r eflex affect the minds. Observation shows that it has such influence upon brain 
function that perfect reflection of physical condition is continuously displayed in the working of the intellect. A healthy a nd 
balanced mind can emanate only from a healthy bo dy. The reverse is equally true. Page 58 of  72     In health the constructive and destructive changes that take place in the human body progress without noticeable diminution o r 
increase in excellence of brain function so long as balance between assimilation and elimi nation is the rule. In conditions of 
debility from whatever cause, but especially when the intake of food is in excess of demand, and waste is accumulated in quan tity 
too great for disposal by the eliminative organs, absorption of poisons generated in ferm enting refuse retained in the intestinal tract 
is continuous, and the subject becomes a victim of autointoxication, is drunk with the products of his own decomposition. Thi s 
condition, long continued, is no less baneful in effect than is that of alcoholic saturation, and in some instances it takes the form of 
insanity, while in all diminished brain power is in evidence. The digestion of a meal with the subsequent forcing of food waste through the bowels consumes nerve energy in amount greater 
than is ordinarily conceived. Some investigators go so far as to say that the process involved requires nervous expenditure in 
excess of that demanded in the exercise of the voluntarily controlled muscles. In any event overfeeding never fails to result  in 
weakened  vitality. In the normal subject, sufficient food, perfectly digested and assimilated, produces a body with brain power 
equal to clear thought, an organism with a maximum of both physical and mental energy. Food in amount more than the individua l 
requires entails excessive labor upon the organs of digestion, drain upon nerve power, and consequent of vitality. Barring destructive changes in brain or nerve tissue from injury, the cause of mental disease is one and the same with that o f 
physical unbalanc e. Physical signs invariably preceding mental danger signals should be heeded and remedied when first 
displayed. One of the simplest of these warnings is the drowsiness that overcomes the overfed. Here the nerves evince fatigue , and 
incidentally fatigue, b oth muscular and mental, is one of the safety valves of the human machine. If at this time stimulating effort 
is resorted to, results are always detrimental, for, as in exercise, to stifle a feeling of fatigue in order to be able to co ntinue 
muscular exert ion is like forcibly closing the safety gauge so that the boiler may be overheated. In other words, taking a stimulant 
when tired in order to whip up flagging physical or mental vigor subsequently leaves both body and mind in condition more 
exhausted than when the sensation of fatigue first signaled its warning. Likewise food, which in itself is stimulating in effect, taken 
when either physical or mental weariness is felt, carries its own quota of detrimental consequences. We cannot escape the conclus ion that mind influences function just as function influences mind. It is also virtually axiomatic 
that continued functional derangement finally ends in organic disease, and organic disease gives rise to characteristic menta l states 
that vary from the fear ful anxiety of the sufferer from neuralgia of the heart to the hopeful attitude of the dying consumptive. It is an established feet that drugs, however powerful, do not affect the structure of brain tissue; and it is equally well k nown that 
in most instances of insanity there is no apparent deterioration in quality or structure of nerve substance. In these  phenomena lies 
strong collateral proof that the sources of mental disease are to be sought elsewhere than in the brain. Injuries and ailment s that 
involve structural change in brain matter will necessarily interfere with brain function, and in softening o f the brain and in certain 
forms of paralysis there are organic alterations that may be noted on dissection. But in hysteria, epilepsy, or any of the ma nias, no 
changes in structure of either brain or nerve substance can be discovered, notwithstanding the presence of extreme mental 
alienation. To illustrate the effect of abnormal physical condition upon mind function, the following case is cited. The patient, a man t hirty 
years of age, presented a history of continuous digestive trouble accompanied by  melancholia. Examination pointed to the 
conviction that the morbid mental symptom was the result of functional inactivity of the digestive tract, complicated with de cided 
indications of organic disease. A tentative dietary of fruits and vegetable broths a fforded the relief usual when organic labor is thus 
lightened. But skill in observing and determining the sequelae of dietetic changes caused delay in prognosis, for it is alway s 
needful to distinguish between mitigation of the distress of disease that is temporary in character, and that which evinces progress 
towards recovery. Hence, though symptoms in some respects were favorable, no predication was made as to the ultimate outcome. At the end of three weeks of the regimen imposed, the major signals all po inted to organic disability of extreme gravity, and at his 
request for definite opinion for or against recovery, the patient was informed that there seemed no possible hope of restorat ion to 
health. He then ceased his office visits, and a month later was d iscovered dead by suicide, an act committed, as the condition of the 
body showed, within a few days after discontinuing treatment. The previous conduct of the man, his brooding depression, and t he 
contents of a number of scribbled letters found among his e ffects, now definitely fixed the case as one of insanity, whatever the 
state of his body might prove to be. The latter was in condition such that an autopsy could be performed, and it revealed the  
following: the kidneys were normal; the lungs and the heart  were congested, but functionally equal to their tasks; the liver was 
hardened, and there was but a rudimentary gall sac, which contained no bilious fluid and gave no indication that the liver ha d been 
functioning, no characteristic stain being present, th e color of the sac being a chalky white; the stomach was dilated and filled with 
food, and glandular activity in the organ must have been inoperative for some time previous to death; the small intestines sh owed 
bleached portions that had undoubtedly been w ithout function for an indefinite period; the transverse section of the colon was 
much dilated, contained a large amount of hardened feces and had fallen shaping the whole organ into a letter "M", with the v ertex 
of the dropped portion resting upon the pel vis; it, as well as the ascending and descending parts, were adherent at their angles for 
several inches; the bladder was apparently normal; the pancreas was a soft degenerated mass; the spleen was hardened; the 
mesentery exhibited old lesions, while no tr ace of the omentum was found; but the brain was structurally perfect. Page 59 of  72     The instance cited shows a body exceedingly deformed internally in which, despite its faulty structure, the processes of grow th 
and maintenance progressed for thirty years. The cau se of the organic defects discovered is to be attributed to digestive activity 
partially inhibited in early life through disease, the effects of which were very probably augmented by the use of drugs. In this case 
progressive inability to function produced  morbid mental disturbance. It may be asked why a similar result was not observed in 
each of the instances related elsewhere in the text, or for that matter in any diseased human body; and reply is made that ph ysical 
unbalance in any degree invariably affe cts mind -function, and this usually in adverse manner. But here again we enter the domain 
of the idiosyncrasy of individuality, of the limitations and requirements of a subject segregated from other individuals by h is own 
constitutional peculiarities and t endencies, be these mental or physical. For instance, it is well known that there are certain 
temperaments that develop delirium in fever, even when the latter is mild in type, while there are others who may experience rise 
in body heat of as much as four or five degrees above register without sign of loss in mental equilibrium. But the close observer 
notes that the latter in the circumstances will exhibit certain other vagaries of the mind that are not apparent when functio n is 
normal in character. Yet we must not neglect to mark and to ponder the other side of the question, for, as has been said, as mind influences functi on, 
so function influences mind. As an example, it is admitted that arterial strain, an undue pressure upon the walls of the arte ries 
commonly known as high blood pressure, tends to produce a fatty degeneration of their inner coat, and thus gives rise to arte rial 
tumors and to cerebral hemorrhage, which sometimes causes paralysis, apoplexy, and softening of the brain. Now it is certai n that 
such tension may result from continued anxiety, and that it is the cause of many cases of angina pectoris or neuralgia of the  heart, 
effecting those cardiac changes to which some of the forms of angina are due. It is also well established that  mental disturbance gives rise to dyspepsia, and observation and experiment show that anger and 
other emotions arrest the secretion of gastric juice, and that probably the peristaltic action of both stomach and intestines  is 
likewise affected. In this conn ection the extreme constipation of melancholia is to be noted. Simple jaundice is often the result of 
sudden emotion, and it is sometimes followed by acute yellow atrophy, a wasting of the liver with yellow pigmentation. In the  
latter form of jaundice ther e is always disorganization of the cells of the liver. A man who works with his brain after a sleepless night or when he is in the clutches of some discomforting indisposition at 
times does not see how he can possibly accomplish his day's stint. He a ttempts it, however, and is often surprised to find that he 
works more rapidly and with more acuity than when in normal state. This occurs because, feeling the necessity, he brings his will 
into play and concentrates with greater determination than usual u pon what is before him. So our attention is often called to the 
fact, and it is a fact, that a very large percentage of the world's best work has been done by men who were not in health mos t of the 
time that they were about it. But does this offer an argum ent in favor of the possession of a defective unhealthy body? These very 
men, though we hail them as geniuses, were and are universally under the control of an impressible and capricious nervous 
temperament, always a handicap upon thorough and efficient ac complishment. And it is interesting to speculate upon the kind and 
the amount of labor with which the genius in ill health might have enriched the world had he been the possessor of a physical ly 
normal body. Would this work have been of a quality surpassin g that which was produced by forced concentration; or would the 
physical ease of health have removed the spur of accomplishment? We cannot, if we would not eventually fall short of our desired achievements, afford to discriminate in favor of either m ind or 
body. The development of each is equally essential to the greatest and best results from the other. Hence, given a body free from 
any organic trouble, the successful enjoyment and prolongation of life is as much dependent upon intellectual developme nt as 
upon physical, and vice versa. It is thus apparent that the work that the brain can perform is in highest degree proportional to and dependent upon the phys ical 
condition of its body. To repeat, a functionally perfect brain is the product only of a physically perfect body. And it is to be 
emphasized that the brain is not a producer of energy, nor of vitality, nor of the mental processes. It acts but as a medium of 
reception and transmission, and it in itself no more thinks than do the words that  express a thought. Mind, as received from the 
creative source, is perfect; its expression is affected by the functional ability or inability of its human instrument. The mysterious forces, energy and vitality, which are seen manifested in the life o f the body, exist outside of and independent of 
the human vehicle. A healthy organism is one that is in position to liberate these principles in the form of power, mental an d 
physical, as it is needed in the activities. Human beings possess what are known as the conscious and subconscious minds. The conscious mind controls those acts which 
are subject to the will and those thoughts which are produced by brain effort in conscious moments. The subconscious mind cov ers 
that which occurs without conscious  perception. The conscious mind could not possibly send messages to the numerous glands 
that fit the body for action, nor attend to all the delicate adjustments that enter into the process. The conscious mind in m ost of us 
does not even know of the existen ce of the organs and secretions involved. But there is a something in mentality that is without 
conscious perception, and that takes advantage of all of the past, gauging means to an end with perfect nicety. Page 60 of  72     All processes of healing are subconscious. Even pain and the distressing symptoms of sickness are to be regarded as benevolent 
warnings that sharply remind us of our condition, and that compel the repose which we require, or that deter us from admittin g into 
the system substances which are injurio us. They not only point to the existence of a mind that is subconscious, but they indicate 
how great a part that mind plays in the curing of every form of disease. Anything that weakens or depresses the subconscious mind 
exposes us to disease by making us less able to resist its encroachments. And, on the other hand, we possess such allies and 
resources within ourselves that the chief function of the physician should be to awaken in his patients the will to live, and  to 
employ every element of resistance wh ich the system itself affords. If humanity since its creation had constantly been caring for its individual bodies, no condition of disease could make its 
appearance suddenly. There could be no physical collapse, for cancers, tumors, Bright's disease , diabetes, etc., all require time to 
develop, and in a body that is both mentally and physically conscious, their beginnings cannot help but be observed, understo od, 
and remedied. For he who is in the habit of caring properly for his body, who understands  and obeys natural physical law, cannot 
for one day neglect his course of action, because, subconsciously if not consciously, he is subjected to irritation and disco mfort. To 
illustrate, he who is used to pure air cannot endure a vitiated atmosphere, and h e who bathes his body daily, in case of omission, 
finds his skin figuratively talking to him because of its neglect. A diseased body is the product of a process development that began with its birth, for every symptom in its finality is 
cumulative. T he colds and fevers of infancy and adolescence, the causes of which are imperfectly eliminated, leave their residue to 
accumulate until the eventual crisis occurs. And, as in the physical so in the mental realm, disease of the mind, and in it w e include 
crime as well as insanity, are symptoms of unbalance, often produced because of physical reaction. Crime begins in small acts, 
develops like a cancer, and in reality it is to be regarded as a cancer of the conscious mind, and hence should be treated as  is 
disease. Instead, society punishes the discovered victim. Insanity is but another form of unbalance that in many instances aris es 
from functional physical disturbance, yet it, too, is handled as is crime, its sufferers being subjected to police authority in ways that 
are reminders of the dark ages. And since brain troubles in great part arise from functional physical derangement, their alleviation and cure is to be sought  in 
systemic bodily purification. The text fully covers the manner in which the lat ter process may best be accomplished, in fact the 
only way in which it can be done. And, could the fast and its hygienic accessories be introduced and scientifically administe red in 
all asylums, insane as well as criminal, of the land, numbers of their inm ates would be restored both in mind and in body. And 
further, in those in whom mental incapacity is due to organic structural defects that hamper normal function, the form and de gree 
of the latter would at once be revealed, and the knowledge thus gained wo uld determine to what extent treatment should be carried. And it is probable that among even these severely afflicted sufferers there might be many who could be brought to mental 
responsibility. Apart from its therapeutic worth, a trial of the method in pu blic institutions offers two other points of merit, viz., it 
would ameliorate much of the suffering now undergone by stimulated unruly patients who need restraint, and it would lower by 
many thousands of dollars the expense of caring for these wards of the  state. But, if not for the sake of those who pay taxes, at least 
for the salvation of those detained in asylums for the insane and criminal, the method is entitled to a thorough investigatio n and 
trial at the hands of government. To many minds the thought that human life is in any way connected with or dependent upon ordinary natural agencies carries 
with it denial of faith in the divine. Reasoning thus, these intellects segregate in toto spirituality from materiality, refu sing to 
recognize their manifest interdependence. A calm retrospect of the history of the Christ causes one to know that Jesus, apart  from 
his spiritual endowment, was a man in the flesh and of the flesh; that he was subject to the laws of the body, to its nec essities and 
to its temptations. It is written, "Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when h e had 
fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered." The application of this fragment of sac red history to the subject matter of the text may not be obvious, but brief explanation will 
serve to show that the related incident is distinctly pertinent. Fasting the body for the sake of health was understood and f ollowed 
by the older civilizations; an d fasting for the attainment of that higher mentality which borders upon spirituality is still employed 
by the members of that system of philosophy known as Yoga, in which meditation upon the supreme spirit is inculcated as the w ay 
to final beatitude. That  the Christ acquainted with and was learned in these practices is fully substantiated by the evident purpose 
and scientific completion of a period of forty days and nights of abstinence from food. Jesus never overturned natural law; h e 
worked with it alway s, and his statement concerning prayer and fasting in disease is easy of analysis. "More things are wrought by 
prayer than this world dreams of." And fasting, physical in application, conduces to the highest degree of mental clarity. Th e body, 
purified of its dross, approaches more nearly the spiritual vehicle it is intended to be. Successfully conducted to the point of the 
return of hunger, the body and its brain are enhanced in substance and in function. In this condition difficulties are solved , 
decision s are made, and conclusions are reached with marvelous clearness and despatch. The Gospel relates that Jesus was led up into the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted --a test through which mere man 
passes daily, and ofttimes daily fails to meet . But Jesus, before temptation assailed, fasted for the approximate time needful for 
physiological purification of the adult body, and the fast concluded, we are specifically told, with its physiologically corr ect 
symptom, the return of hunger. We do not e rr, we think, in attributing to the Christ in the flesh the experiences of the flesh. Why 
Page 61 of  72 else should he have been subjected to temptation? And physically there must have been need for regeneration, for the incident  
occurred just before the beginning of hi s active ministry, when all of his power of endurance was to be called forth, and mental 
acuity more than normal was to be commanded at every future moment of his physical life. And in addition the divine plan 
embodied further proof of its all -embracing wi sdom in that it held up to the world divinity clothed in a material body, endowed 
with physical attributes, and subjected to the test of physical desire --a test that could perfectly be withstood only by a mind 
functioning in a body physiologically pure. The Christ invariably worked through the material, the physical, to the mental and spiritual. And perfect spirituality in man  
requires its vehicle, the material body, to be physically excellent. Purity of body, purity of mind, purity of heart --these al one may 
commune with the divine. CHAPTER XX  
DEATH IN THE FAST  
A THEORY OF DEATH:  
ELEVEN CASES OF DEATH IN THE FAST:  
SUMMARY OF POST MORTEM FINDINGS  
 
    NO FULLY satisfactory definition in explanation of what is called death in the physical body has  ever been given. In 
conformity with the theory of life, upon which the belief of the author is based, a definition of physical death is offered t hat, 
following the tenets of that belief, covers completely for her the phenomenon of the dissolution of the a nimal body. The theory 
referred to considers energy, vitality, or life force, as an entity that emanates from a source without the animal organism, and that 
animates the latter when, with the body as a laboratory, the chemical transformations necessary to life are effected. This means that 
the expression of energy as exhibited in sentient living organisms is achieved with those organisms functioning merely as mea ns of 
transmission, as vehicles. While the explanation may be a bit labored, its purport should be clear, and the definition of physical 
death here offered is this: --when, for one reason or another, the mysterious force which permeates every sentient living body, 
giving to it motion, sensation, and thought, is prevented entrance to or passage through  the organism, what is called death occurs. This definition is not strikingly original, nor is it completely satisfying, but, after all, the sciences have not as yet bee n able to 
analyze life nor the sources of life; and the phenomenon of its cessation, or  what is called death, is just as much a mystery. A digression may here be pardoned. Just what is to be after death, apart from what faith may predicate, we do not know. And 
men should fear only what they know. They should not, like children, be afra id to go to bed in the dark, afraid of things that they 
imagine. In all that we really know there is nothing about death to frighten us. We know that our bodies go back to the earth . We 
know that birth and death come alike to all of us. We can remember not hing that occurred before we were born, yet this thought is 
not fearsome. We know that this universe, in which the earth is but a grain of sand, is managed with marvelous wisdom and 
justice. We know in consequence that we have no reason to fear injustice, or terror, or torture. Death in the physical body is to be regarded as having taken place when there is complete stoppage of the functions of the br ain 
and of the organs of respiration and circulation, with sequent cessation of the processes dependen t upon these functions. To 
amplify, death occurs whenever, through disease or shock, the brain, the storage battery of physical and mental life, becomes  
unable to perform its task of transmitting energy --life force to its points of action or expression, th e vital organs of the body. Vital 
organs cease functioning when there is obstruction or demolition of some portion of the main lines of transmission followed b y life 
force in its passage from the brain. That this may happen by reason of long continued deni al of food to the organism is 
undoubtedly true, but death from the exhaustion of inanition caused by absence of food is most rare in occurrence. On the oth er 
hand, in bodies that are continuously supplied with sustenance, exhaustion from lack of nourishmen t because of disorder of the 
nutritive functions proves a most usual agent of dissolution. And this is true since this sort of exhaustion, while having it s source in 
the functional disability of the organs of nutrition, eventually succeeds in inhibiting th e cells of the brain from acquiring and hence 
assimilating those substances necessary for their conservation. In average conditions death results from disease that is functional in character, not organic. In the experience of the autho r, 
death during  a fast never has occurred when merely functional disorder was present, nor did it ever result for the sole reason that 
food was withheld. In every instance listed in this chapter, in every instance of death that has happened during the long yea rs of 
pract ice upon which this text is based, the cause of dissolution was conclusively shown by post mortem examination to have been 
the inevitable consequence of obstruction through structural defect of some portion of the avenues through which life force i s 
expres sed. And it is questionable whether, in a conscious being not afflicted with morbid impairment of tissue, or not so situated 
that food could not be supplied when hunger made its demand, death has resulted from starvation, or, in other words, from the  
exhau stion of brain sustenance. No evidence that is conclusive shows that this has ever happened. In disease that is functional in origin and character the fast may be carried to its logical end without a particle of anxiet y, for the 
law of hunger marks t he limit beyond which abstinence may not continue lest starvation ensue. Hence, death from starvation is 
impossible during a fast when functional disease is in question. In the presence of structural organic deficiency the result is not 
assured. When, howe ver, impairment of tissue is slight in degree, recovery is possible; but, when the fault is such that structural 
Page 62 of  72 restoration of the organ or organs affected is beyond the power of natural law, no hope of cure exists, although, because fun ctional 
labor is l essened through abstinence, and distress is with certainty relieved, life may be prolonged. It is always to be remembered 
that in all disease, whatever its form, the fast is nature's sole curative agency, and is then as much a function as is feedi ng in hea lth. The autopsies held upon the bodies of the subjects of whom the causes of death are here described disclosed in every instance  
disease that was organic in character. In most of these cases arrested development of one or more of the functioning pa rts of the 
body was discovered, and in all of them malformation of the intestines was displayed that must be attributed to long continue d 
irritation with inflammation. These cases are those of persons who had resorted to orthodox methods for the relief of their 
suffering until orthodoxy proved without avail, and who only then bethought themselves of natural law. In view of the defects exhibited, it is certain that malnutrition occurring in the developing period of life, coupled perhaps  with 
the banefu l effects of drugs administered in the attempt to remedy disease, was responsible for fatal issue. Nature had endowed 
each of these subjects at birth with presumably normal vitality; each of them had suffered early in life from severe forms of  
functional d isorder; and each, with one exception, had virtually exhausted the list of medicines designated as remedies for the 
symptoms displayed. While it is not at all a just concept to attempt to place entire responsibility for the conditions shown upon drug  dosage, it is to be 
recognized that, broadly speaking, there is no drug that is in effect not a poison. It is also to be recognized that, while h arm ensues 
when drugs are used for the suppression of disease in mature years, the consequences of administeri ng medical remedies in infancy 
and in adolescence are much more detrimental. The instances of death now to be cited occurred while a fast was in progress, or while the patient was undergoing a period of  
dieting. Each casts light upon the ease of diagnosis consequent upon abstinence from food as a therapeutic measure; while the  
autopsies also disclose the deleterious effects upon the human body of dietetic errors and of drug treatment. In every case t he cause 
of death is conclusively shown to have been due to the presence of structural organic defeat that was beyond repair. Two o f the 
deaths described happened when the subjects were on a dietary, but the conditions discovered in these showed no decided 
differences in causation from those displayed when dissolution took place while a fast was in progress. In all of the related  cases 
death was certain, fasting or feeding. The list is selected from a total of twenty -two fatalities occurring in a practice confined to 
therapeutic fasting and its accessories that covers a period of over thirty years. The number of cases handled is about thirty 
thousand, and each of these fasted at some time while under guidance for intervals varying from one day to seventy -five. Case 1. A married woman, thirty -eight years of age, who had devoted twenty years in vain attempt to regain lost health und er 
medical guidance. She finally discovered that alternating periods of dieting and abstinence from food, usually short in durat ion, 
were the sole means by which she could obtain relief. At consultation a perilous condition indicating the presence of organ ic 
disease was evident, and a more carefully selected dietary, with the employment of the usual natural hygienic accompaniments of 
treatment, was prescribed and faithfully carried out for six months. At the end of this time the patient, in full enjoyment o f the 
relief that invariably appears in disease when organic labor is lessened by diet judiciously lowered, or by abstinence from f ood, 
insisted upon undergoing an absolute fast. After three weeks, during which liquid food only was ingested, the tota l abstinence stage was entered, and the condition of the 
case visibly improved. On the twentieth day of fasting the patient decided for herself that her stomach could tolerate food. Experience demonstrates that persons who suffer from chronic disease after  a time develop, as a consequence of repeated 
disappointment in search of health, a mental tendency that is wilful, not to say stubborn. And in serious cases, such as the one 
under discussion, it is a question whether the better policy lies in acquiescense  or in resistance to their expressed desires. In this 
instance no opposition was offered when the will to fast was expressed, nor was any attempted when the demand was now made 
for food. Because of structural organic deficiency, later fully discovered and then most evident in symptom, the digestive organs 
could not perform the tasks entailed, and ingestion of food resulted in nausea with vomiting, while hiccoughs in severe form,  a 
sign most apprehensive in character, that in the circumstances indicated inte stinal obstruction, occurred and continued 
intermittently until death intervened. When a case exhibits in aggravated form the symptoms noted, and when, moreover, its history is one of prolonged suffering, it  
is a virtual certainty that extreme organi c impairment exists that can in no wise be overcome. But, in order that no question might 
arise concerning the remedial agencies employed and in order to allay the distress of the family, the condition of the case w as 
brought to the attention of several me dical practitioners. They suggested a number of things, but none of their suggestions proved 
of avail, for unanimously they insisted upon feeding the woman, whose stomach was rejecting all forms of food, retaining even  
water with difficulty. The condition described continued for more than two weeks, with pulse and temperature at average normal, 
but with no visible improvement Again at the insistence of the family another consultation of medical doctors was called, its  
personnel consisting this time of three  prominent specialists in intestinal disease. They concurred in the opinion that the patient 
was suffering from cancer of the stomach and pronounced the case as one without hope of recovery. In the latter respect they were 
right, for death came at the end of the fortieth day of abstinence from food. Page 63 of  72     The autopsy made known a condition which the symptoms had predicated. The stomach occupied a position in the abdominal 
cavity such that its pyloric opening was turned and held forward and downward six or s even inches from its normal position; the 
rounded portion of the lower center of the organ lay opposite the navel, and its shape was distorted and enlarged to a length  of 
nearly two feet, and to a capacity of six fluid quarts. The small intestines were adh erent at a number of points to the peritoneum, 
and the stomach also had to be released by the knife from the abdominal walls before it could be fully examined. The gall sac  was 
excessively enlarged, while the liver was in a state of degeneration. The medical history of this case notes typhoid fever with peritonitis about twelve years before death. This in all probability 
determines the time of causation of the visceral adhesions and of the distortion in stomach and intestines, for, when the typ hoid 
symptoms occurred, the organs of the body of the patient were fully matured, and the inflammation incident to the symptoms, wit h 
constant feeding even while fever was at its height, gave no opportunity for the healing processes of nature to act. This 
combina tion of error eventually led to the formation of the lesions described, to which the fatal outcome is directly traceable. It is perhaps unnecessary to emphasize the truth that, in the physical distress suffered by this woman, medicine was unable t o 
grant her relief. In fact, the time when she was most free from suffering was covered by the last several weeks of fasting bef ore 
death occurred. During the forty days of abstinence large quantities of blackish offensive fluid was discharged with each  enema, and there was 
progressive relief from distress with lessened pain. However, no decrease in the amount of refuse evacuated was noted until t he 
power of function of the eliminative organs diminished with lowering vitality. Case 2 is that of a m arried woman, thirty -nine years of age, who for all of the adult period of life had suffered greatly from 
impaired digestion, variously diagnosed by many different physicians. For two years prior to death the patient had subsisted upon a 
diet of liquid foo d, the stomach refusing solids. This woman since girlhood had the distinction of consistently refusing medical 
remedies, but, nevertheless, her condition steadily grew worse, and, while no hope was offered that recovery could be had, he r 
request that she b e permitted to undergo a fast was granted. No food, excepting the slight amount of nourishment contained in the 
juice of oranges and lemons in small quantities was given for fifty -seven days, when she died. In fact, at no time from the 
beginning of the fas t, which really was undertaken because the stomach repeatedly rejected the liquids ingested, could food have 
been introduced into the organ. This was absolutely determined by the results of the autopsy, which are now given. In the duodenum, just belo w the pyloric opening of the stomach, there must at one time have been an ulcer or some acute 
inflammation. Nature in her efforts at repair had deposited tissue cells at this point to the degree that the lumen of the in testine had 
been almost occluded. As time went by this growth enlarged and involved the bile ducts, so that when death occurred the passage 
through the duodenum was entirely blocked. In composition the accumulation of tissue showed none of the characteristic cell 
formation of cancer, but was a mass of muscle and membrane, healthy in their components, but abnormal in deposition. The right 
kidney was in a state of complete degeneration, but the other organs of the body and the intestines, with the exception of th e 
duodenal portion, were normal i n size, position, and condition. In view of the remarkable circumstances involving the physiology of this woman, a fuller description of her dietetic habit pr oves 
interesting. As stated, for two years previous to death only liquids were tolerated. Fo od substances obtained by boiling vegetables 
and by diluting fruit juices were the forms in which sustenance was furnished. In fact, so intolerant of solids was the stoma ch that 
the broths and juices were strained through cloths in order that no formed par ticles entered into them. Whenever the straining was 
defective, vomiting of sediment occurred, hence the utmost care was needed so that distress might not be caused. This case, then, subsisted for two years upon only that sustenance which her body wa s able to appropriate through stomach 
absorption. Mineral salts and the vitamins may conceivably be conveyed in part to the centers of nutrition in this manner, bu t it 
could only have been in minute amounts that proteins, carbohydrates, and the starches we re delivered, and then in forms not fully 
digested. While, until a year or so before her death, there might have been a small passage through and past the accumulation  in 
the duodenum, thus permitting of some intestinal digestion, it is certain that months  of existence had elapsed with no food ingested 
other than that described as strained to a watery consistency; and it is virtually certain that for this same period no intes tinal 
digestion took place, for, when vomiting occurred, no bilious fluid ever appe ared, and in the whole history of the case no formed 
feces were ever evacuated, the enemas in discharge being invariably fluid and never more than slightly discolored. Case 3.
Scientific_Fasting.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        A working man destroys more tissue in shorter time than 
does the banker or the clerk; yet, usually, the latter eat no fewer meals nor less at a sitting than does their burly brother. What is 
needed for the one is far more than sufficient  for the others. Should the brain worker devote spare time to outdoor recreation or to 
manual labor a mean might be established; but, in general, equilibrium is seldom reached, and the supply of food is far in ex cess of 
requirement. The laboring man, too, is at fault in this respect, for, unless his be an exceptional case, the basis of his diet is starch, 
which, in addition to the unbalance produced, carries its nutritive principle in a bulky vehicle, demanding extra labor from the 
digestive tract in order to separate waste from nutriment and to eliminate the former. To reduce the supply of food to the basis of demand, the plan that suggests the omission of the midday meal is perhaps the 
easiest to follow, and, once the habit is acquired, this repast i s scarcely missed. Hunger should determine the hours for the 
ingestion of food each day. Regularity of habit as to the times for serving meals is an outgrowth of economic convenience, an d, 
more often than not, the participant is imposing a burden upon a sy stem in no need, therefore with no desire of sustenance. In 
health, dependent upon occupation, hunger makes demand not more than twice daily, if previous desire has been satisfied. Hung er, 
like the reproductive instinct, is stimulated by the changing chemi stry of the body and can be satisfied only by achieving its 
primary purpose, the taking of food for constructive metabolism. The late war taught us many things connected with dietetic habit. The Danes, for instance, kept healthy upon a most restricte d 
diet. Their death rate was exceptionally low in spite of many privations. They lived on a ration that consisted very largely of 
vegetables and whole wheat or grain breads. And they ate very little milk and meat. The Germans proved that it is possib le to live on a diet that contains a great deal of fiber. So far as their adults were concerned, 
health was improved by the very low diet --at least it was not impaired. The lean German was healthier than was the pot -bellied 
German of pre -war days. These ex periences prove that man can stand a serious cut in his food over long periods of time without 
permanent damage. :But the text carries out this thought in its entirety, and all that is offered from sources apart merely s erves in 
corroboration of the truths  presented. In much that has been written concerning the matter of diet there are so many sweeping statements, so many conflicting 
processes of proof, impossible rules, and foolish conclusions, that no wonder is felt that the whole subject is usually  ignored as too 
intricate. There are many who try to enforce personal ideas upon others in this connection; very persistent people these, to whom 
the term, "crank," may well be applied, and a "crank," who has picked up some scientific jargon and who thinks  himself cured of 
his ailments, works more harm than good in the world. This class may be extended to include those who really have been benefi ted 
by a diet that happens to suit personal requirement, and it comprises also the one -food people who are in con tinual search of what 
not to devour, with the idea of reducing the universe to whole wheat and pecans. These people at each encounter with their fe llow-
Page 54 of  72 men discover in the latter disease symptoms identical with their own, and insist that the remedy to whic h they have had recourse 
shall be applied. It is absurd for any who are not familiar with the chemistry of foods to endeavor to talk learnedly of thei r action in 
human physiological economy, and it may be taken as an axiom that, within the individual capab ility, which can be known only by 
individual experiment, a diet limited to not more than three proportioned items at each meal is more conducive to health than  is 
one where unlimited choice or a single dish is the rule. A list that is limited strictly to f ew things trains the stomach to adapt itself 
accordingly, and trouble ensues when change is attempted. It is also to be remarked that when the organism has been accustome d 
to the digestion of animal protein, change to vegetable compounds may discover organ ic resistance this because of habit, for 
actually no essential difference exists between these two muscle building combinations excepting in origin. After all, the amount of food and the kind of food are of secondary importance to the organic ability  or inability of the individual 
to function. It must continually be borne in mind that in the condition of the digestive organs lies the crux of the situatio n. Hence 
the aim of both physician and patient should constantly be directed at the restoration of the system to health, after which its 
maintenance in this condition requires proper attention to selection and to quantity of food. NOTE  
 
Tomato Soup. Strain one quart can of tomatoes through a coarse kitchen sieve, assisting the process by using the back of a heavy spoon. Th is 
serves to separate seeds and skin from juice and pulp. Add to the latter a dessert -spoon of butter or corn oil, and heat but  do not 
boil. If desired, a small quantity of honey may be used. F`or breaking a fast this broth is excellent food, and one coffee -cup taken 
four times at regular intervals should suffice for the first day succeeding abstinence. The quantity taken may be i ncreased on the 
second day to one pint eaten morning and evening with other food material gradually added as previously described. If ripe tomatoes from the garden are used instead of the canned variety, simmer the fruit until tender, but at no point  in cooking 
allow to boil, since high temperature tends to destroy the vitamins with which this fruit is so richly furnished. After cooki ng, strain 
and gauge proportions as with the canned fruit. CHAPTER VIII  
 
REST AND RECUPERATION  
MUSCULAR REST:  
BEST  FOR THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS:  
THE HIBERNATING ANIMALS:  
THE HUNGER STRIKE OF MCSWINEY AND OTHERS  
 
    MUSCULAR tissue is continually undergoing change in structure. The cells that form it are constantly dying, are cast off, and  
fresh material for their rebu ilding is being supplied. The waste resulting, if retained, is systemically harmful; and, in order to 
permit of its elimination and replacement with wholesome cell pabulum, muscular rest must occur. Not only does this apply to 
muscles in super -active use, but to those of all of the bodily fabric. Rapid exercise of any part of the human machine can be 
continued but for a short time, for, because of vigorous muscular action, voluntary or involuntary, cells are rapidly broken down, 
their poisonous waste is thr own into the blood, and is carried to the remotest portions of the organism. Every organ of the body is 
thus deleteriously affected, and resulting symptoms of self -toxication appear that may end disastrously. The only means of 
recuperation lies in muscular  rest. The heart, although making contractions at the rate of seventy -two beats a minute, is able to continue its work throughout the 
life of the individual, since each contraction of this muscle is followed by a slight interval of rest, during which  its cells recuperate. Stimulate the heart beat beyond its normal rate, and a point is soon reached at which poisonous products from broken -down cells 
are not carried away with sufficient rapidity, while regeneration is defectively performed, since the int ervals of rest are inadequate. Similar conditions are met when the muscles used in respiration, those of the chest, the diaphragm, and the abdomen, are 
overworked. The muscles that move involuntarily, those that are not subject to the human will, nev er know absolute rest, for they continue 
their labors whether the body be asleep or awake. On the other hand, those muscles, the action of which depends upon brain 
direction, cannot work continuously, lest fatigue with fatal exhaustion follow. Seemingly, a utomatic labor, labor not directed by 
volition, does not wear. It is only conscious work that requires for recuperation and muscle rebuilding non -use or physical rest. This is permitted in that loss of consciousness regularly recurrent in animal life, whic h is called sleep. Physical growth and muscular development in man are never completely rounded out, and this may be attributed to a double 
cause. Theoretically, every muscle of the body should be exercised impartially and should be nourished with th e exact amount of 
cell pabulum that is needful for the replacement of its broken -down substance. These conditions are virtually never fulfilled. That 
Page 55 of  72 they may be is a possibility to be contemplated with surety, since they are logical conclusions based on n atural law. To bring them 
to consummation, reciprocal active relation must exist between intake and outgo, rebuilding and waste, labor and rest, 
consciousness and sleep. The processes of nutrition are involuntary in character so long as material suit able for their accomplishment is furnished for 
their use, but they may be directed in part by the individual to the extent of the preparation and of the selection in kind a nd quantity 
of food required. When the function of digestion becomes impaired, disea se results. And functional disease is analogous to 
muscular fatigue; hence, since nature includes in her law of recuperation both systemic purification and organic rest, it is 
reasonable to assume what the text promulgates: organic rest through abeyance of  the processes of digestion and assimilation, with 
consequent systemic cleansing and renewal of normal functional activity. The manner in which the digestive organs and those allied to them may be given needed rest is to the mass mind perhaps not at  
once apparent. The mere thought of abstention from food carries with it repudiation of the long -taught doctrine that frequent 
feeding both in health and in illness is needful for the maintenance of vitality and strength. Yet just this omission of food  is meant 
when rest for overworked organs is suggested. The phenomena of fasting for the cure of disease include facts that prove that the 
human body does not depend for strength or for vitality solely upon food ingested; the latter is in the main utilized for the repair of 
the fabric of the body; by means of food the material framework is kept in condition to permit of the liberation of energy in  its 
variety of manifestation. The body, then, is but a vehicle for the expression of the life principle. But the lif e principle itself is an 
entity, operating through its vehicle only so long as its lines of transmission are unobstructed by the causes of disease. Diminution in weight, often excessive, always occurs in illness, even though food is ingested. (Except ions with obese or 
dropsical symptoms noted. ) In itself this shows that nature is proceeding with her process of purification, despite the obsta cles in 
her path, and that she is protecting the body by inhibiting the function of assimilation. This she will continue to do until the 
avenues for the passage of vital force are partially or wholly cleared, or until organic defect beyond repair is uncovered. I n the 
former event, health will eventually be restored; in the latter, the death of the body is presaged. Also, when disease is present, under the more prevalent methods, feeding is continuous in accordance with the doctrine that 
nourishment is at all times necessary to "keep up strength. " If the stomach rebel, other organs are assailed with the idea of  
conveying through them the nutriment considered necessary, and this in spite of very evident protests on the part of bodily 
function. The question naturally suggests itself: why, if food is constantly supplied, does the body lose in weight. This que ry was 
covered in a previous chapter, but its answer is found in the fact that in disease intake of food is not properly digested, is 
consequently incapable of complete and healthful assimilation, and, far from acting as constructive material for tissue 
regeneratio n, proves an added systemic burden and a source of toxication. Another cause of loss of weight, slighter in degree, is 
discovered in that brain and nerve tissue, as instruments for the expression of thought, motion, and sensation, are protected  from 
deteri oration in substance by that provision of nature which permits them to utilize nourishment stored in the interstices of tissu e. This they consume in illness and in health, and, when in disease normal balance is disturbed, when body tissue is not rebuilt  as is 
the case in health, nerve substance is still supported from the same source of supply. With slight differences the physiology of digestion in all mammals is markedly similar. In disease the lower mammalia abstain  
from food until hunger returns, w hen health is rapidly recovered. To this they are impelled by instinct, by animal sagacity, a 
faculty implanted by nature in the whole of animate creation. The fasts which animals instinctively undergo in disease are 
phenomena which cannot help but be cons tantly observed, but which are not in general intelligently perceived. A common 
expression in reference to illness in the horse embodies the phrase, "off his feed," and this negation on the part of the ani mal 
confirms the existence an instinctive sense tha t impels it to fast when its physical well -being is overturned. And this natural 
spontaneous impulse is not confined to mammals, for birds, reptiles, in fact the whole animal kingdom, abstain from food when  
ailing. A python in captivity has been known to f ast for thirteen months, with great loss in weight, it is true, but with eventual 
recuperation and recovery. And cats and canines often prolong abstention to skeleton condition, after which strength and vita lity 
progressively increase until normal is again  attained. Instances such as these may be multiplied indefinitely. While not occasioned by the invasion of disease, it is interesting to note in this connection that condition of lethargy unde rgone 
by certain animals during the winter months, known a s hibernation, a condition in which the functions of the body are in great 
measure suspended. How a warm -blooded animal used to the most stirring activities during eight or nine months of the year can 
retire to a den, and from an ordinary sleep, which it i s at first, pass into a condition of torpor in which all the organs that have to do 
with digestion, assimilation, and waste, excepting the lungs, suspend their functions and remain quiescent for a period of se veral 
months, is more or less a sealed book to science. In man and the non -hibernating animals the action of the body functions are continuous awake or asleep, but in the bear, the 
marmot, the prairie dog, during the hibernating period, the functions of digestion, assimilation, and elimination ar e suspended until 
the animal awakens in the spring. Page 56 of  72     A bear, if sufficiently fat, begins to fast some weeks before he retires to winter quarters; but, if there has been lack of f ood, or, if 
the animal is old, with poor teeth, it will eat to the very d ay of entering its den, and this last meal will be found in the stomach 
when the revival from winter sleep takes place. The average bear at the beginning of hibernation is covered with a layer of fat that varies from two to six inches in thickne ss, 
and, if the animal is killed at this time and the fat removed from the carcass, the latter is found plump and full -fleshed. But, killed 
after some months in the den, a heavier layer of fat is discovered, with a diminution in lean flesh, which by this time h as become 
lax and flabby in texture. The carcass, then stripped of its fat, will be noticeably smaller than that of a bear of similar s ize killed in 
the fall or in the early winter. There is then evidently a continual process of change from nitrogeno us to carbonaceous tissue proceeding while the winter sleep 
of the hibernating animal endures; and, in this transmutation of muscle into fat, lies perhaps the secret of the torpor in wh ich the 
bear is wrapped. For, when a bear first goes into his den, his sleep is natural, and he is easily aroused. But, left undisturbed, sleep 
develops into stupor; respiration and circulation are the only evidences of life, and they are both retarded in action. Carbo n 
resulting from the change of protein into fat within the  system, is retained in the blood, because all of the organs of elimination, 
excepting the lungs, are without function; and respiration is so slow that there is continuously an excess of carbonic acid g as in the 
blood stream, and a consequent condition of toxication, of torpor. At times during hibernation the female bear will bring her young into the world, and then milk is elaborated in amount suffic ient 
to maintain the cubs. The birth of young and the physiological chemistry of continued milk produc tion in the fasting, torpor -ridden 
bear have particular interest here, analogous as these phenomena are to the related cases in the text of pregnant women proce eding 
to confinement, but fasting for weeks the while. A hibernating bear never soils his den with urine or ordure, for no waste is formed, consequently none is voided. But, after the 
period of winter sleep is over, the animal feeds ravenously upon young clover and grass, and extreme purging results, with 
succeeding rapid reduction of the fatty  tissue formed as described while coma lasted. A certain degree of cold is necessary before a bear can hibernate, but, in so far as may be ascertained, body temperature rem ains 
at standard during the experience. That is, the animal is warm to the tou ch, although it is in a state of constant shivering. Analogy 
is again evident between this condition and what is termed herein "fasters' chilliness. " Omitting from consideration mental conditions, such as fear and worry, which of necessity react upon  the physical body, and 
setting aside severe and more or less continuous physical suffering, the average human being cannot die from lack of food for  
several months. This statement of fact is verified constantly in the employment of fasting as a therapeuti c measure, and it has 
recently been brought to public attention and conclusively substantiated in instances to which reference is now made. It would appear that the medical profession in whole or in greater part has been egregiously in ignorance of t he resources of the 
human body when for any cause it is denied nourishment. The various encyclopedias, notably Britannica, until revisions were 
made in 1921, carried articles on inanition and fasting, which asserted over medical signature that from ten to fourteen days 
marked the extreme limit to which the human body would endure in the absence of food. In other words, starvation and death 
would occur were nourishment denied for approximately the period of time named. While doubt may have existed in the min ds of 
the more advanced among the medical fraternity, revision of these articles was definitely occasioned only by the comparativel y 
recent "hunger strike" of Terence McSwiney, former Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland, and of several of his political colleagues. The charge upon which Lord Mayor McSwiney was convicted, and for which he was sentenced to two years in Brixton prison, 
England, was that of sedition against British government. He began to serve his sentence in August, 1920, and upon his 
incarcerat ion, in protest against what he considered an unjust trial and conviction, he refused to eat. In spite of constant persuasion  
and attempts at forced feeding, McSwiney's fasting continued until October 25th, 1920, a period of seventy -four days, when his 
death occurred. McSwiney was quite cognizant of the details of the method of fasting for the cure of disease, and in so far as w as 
possible in prison surroundings, he made use of the hygienic accessories that are described herein. His familiarity with the writings 
of the author of this text accounted for the knowledge that permitted him to continue his fast without succumbing for two and  one-
half months. McSwiney might, and, in the opinion of the writer, would have lived longer had it not been that, in the lat ter days of 
his life, he became too weak to prevent efforts on the part of the jail physician to force food upon him, and, when he lapsed  into 
unconsciousness because of strength overstrained and nerves tensed beyond limit through resistance, strychnine wa s injected into 
his veins as a heart stimulant, and he died. Of McSwiney's political colleagues, also imprisoned and also on "hunger strike," one died after sixty -eight days of fasting, 
while the others all endured until McSwiney's death and after. I t is reported that one of these men continued his fast for the 
extremely lengthy period of ninety days. And it is to be noted that, with the exception of that seditionist who succumbed at the end 
of sixty -eight days, all of the others, who fasted much long er than McSwiney himself, resumed feeding and rapidly recuperated to 
a condition of body ultimately superior to that which was theirs before they undertook their "hunger strike. " Page 57 of  72     Earlier in the text cases were cited that underwent abstinence from food  for periods ranging from eleven to seventy -five days. And it is to be remembered that these cases resorted to the method because they were ill, and that some of them were in an ex treme 
state of emaciation to begin with. Yet, although no food was ingested,  life was supported, functional processes were restored, and 
recovery resulted. In one instance, a patient of the writer during a period of 140 days fasted absolutely 118 days. This case was bedridden, and  had 
been so for years; the body was emaciated, and chronic functional disease and confinement to bed had caused progressive wa sting 
of the muscles. Yet, as a consequence of the bodily purification resulting from abstinence from food, not only was great reli ef 
experienced, but recovery, save in minor degree, the aftermath of muscular non -use, occurred. If, then, the body can  exist without food for an extended time, and, if in illness the stomach instinctively objects, as it does, to 
ingestion, it is reasonable to infer that food not desired is not at this time necessary for bodily maintenance; and, once ac cepted as 
true, this  inference is abundantly justified. The results of a practical and scientific application of the method of systemic 
purification defined herein are such as to lead to the conclusion that, in the absence of serious structural defects in vital  organs, 
abstin ence from food, accompanied by its natural health -restoring and health -preserving accessories, is the unfailing remedy for 
relief from functional ills. CHAPTER XIX  
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ACTION AND REACTION  
 
MIND INFLUENCES FUNCTION AND FUNCTION INFLUENCE S MIND:  
A CASE OF INSANITY:  
SICK GENIUSES:  
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND:  
THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS  
 
    MUSCULAR action in the body may be brought about in two ways --through the brain itself, or through internal or external 
physical causes. In both instances the nerve centers perform their functions, either in the inception of the thought or in the transfer 
of inward or outward cause. The act of moving the hand, for example, may originate in the brain, or it may occur because the 
member is in proximity to fire. In  the former contingency the act begins with the thought in the brain, and nervous influence 
operates directly upon the muscles. In the second condition the sensory nerves inform the brain that the flesh is burning, an d the 
brain sets in motion the muscles necessary to move the hand. In both cases the motive power emanates from the brain, and the 
phenomenon as observed may happen in connection with any specific portion of the body. Not only are these phenomena true of 
the muscles controlled by the will, but they may also be observed in similar phase in organs beyond the power of volition in 
function, as the heart, the lungs, and the stomach. Swallowing an emetic causes vomiting, an effect occasioned by muscular 
contraction of the stomach for the purpose of ej ecting a substance irritating to the nerves of that organ. The mere sight or thought 
of a disgusting object may have the same consequence, and imagination is frequently able to produce results like those that a re 
caused by the administration of a powerful drug or by a combination of physical conditions. Every organic act, normal or abnormal, is due solely to a current sent from one of the great nerve centers, and the latter ma y be 
called into operation either directly by feeling or thought, or indirec tly by reflex action. The mind and the emotions exercise large 
influence upon physical function, but the field over which that influence extends is comparatively little known. It is, in so me 
respects, almost unbounded, for every bodily function may be hast ened, retarded, or even totally suspended by the subjective effect 
of thought. Pleasurable emotions are physically wholesome; painful ones, the reverse; but, when too intense and sudden, eithe r can 
terminate life. The fibers of the pneumogastric nerv e are distributed principally in and about the lungs and the stomach; hence its name. Whatever may be the motor functions that this nerve supplies, it has great power over the process of digestion, for, when its  fibers 
are severed below those branches that  extend to the trachea, digestion is virtually arrested. Nervous influence is essential to the 
proper action of the stomach, and, in the region of this organ, the nerves are so interlaced one with another that, even thou gh the 
direct road be destroyed, by -paths will still remain for the passage of nerve energy. If the latter force were not needed in digestion, 
no reason would exist for the suspension of function by its withdrawal. This is well illustrated when it is observed that the  
invariable effect of wo rry, anxiety, fright, anger, and the like, is to arrest for a time all digestive action. Cause is obvious when the 
close connection that exists between the brain and the pneumogastric nerve is considered. Also, if nervous force is diverted in 
directions ot her than those pursued in the digestion of food, or if it is impeded by impingement of nerve substance at emergence 
from the spinal column, similar results ensue as when the pneumogastric nerve is severed. Does the physical condition of the body in r eflex affect the minds. Observation shows that it has such influence upon brain 
function that perfect reflection of physical condition is continuously displayed in the working of the intellect. A healthy a nd 
balanced mind can emanate only from a healthy bo dy. The reverse is equally true. Page 58 of  72     In health the constructive and destructive changes that take place in the human body progress without noticeable diminution o r 
increase in excellence of brain function so long as balance between assimilation and elimi nation is the rule. In conditions of 
debility from whatever cause, but especially when the intake of food is in excess of demand, and waste is accumulated in quan tity 
too great for disposal by the eliminative organs, absorption of poisons generated in ferm enting refuse retained in the intestinal tract 
is continuous, and the subject becomes a victim of autointoxication, is drunk with the products of his own decomposition. Thi s 
condition, long continued, is no less baneful in effect than is that of alcoholic saturation, and in some instances it takes the form of 
insanity, while in all diminished brain power is in evidence. The digestion of a meal with the subsequent forcing of food waste through the bowels consumes nerve energy in amount greater 
than is ordinarily conceived. Some investigators go so far as to say that the process involved requires nervous expenditure in 
excess of that demanded in the exercise of the voluntarily controlled muscles. In any event overfeeding never fails to result  in 
weakened  vitality. In the normal subject, sufficient food, perfectly digested and assimilated, produces a body with brain power 
equal to clear thought, an organism with a maximum of both physical and mental energy. Food in amount more than the individua l 
requires entails excessive labor upon the organs of digestion, drain upon nerve power, and consequent of vitality. Barring destructive changes in brain or nerve tissue from injury, the cause of mental disease is one and the same with that o f 
physical unbalanc e. Physical signs invariably preceding mental danger signals should be heeded and remedied when first 
displayed. One of the simplest of these warnings is the drowsiness that overcomes the overfed. Here the nerves evince fatigue, and 
incidentally fatigue, b oth muscular and mental, is one of the safety valves of the human machine. If at this time stimulating effort 
is resorted to, results are always detrimental, for, as in exercise, to stifle a feeling of fatigue in order to be able to co ntinue 
muscular exert ion is like forcibly closing the safety gauge so that the boiler may be overheated. In other words, taking a stimulant 
when tired in order to whip up flagging physical or mental vigor subsequently leaves both body and mind in condition more 
exhausted than when the sensation of fatigue first signaled its warning. Likewise food, which in itself is stimulating in effect, taken 
when either physical or mental weariness is felt, carries its own quota of detrimental consequences. We cannot escape the conclus ion that mind influences function just as function influences mind. It is also virtually axiomatic 
that continued functional derangement finally ends in organic disease, and organic disease gives rise to characteristic menta l states 
that vary from the fear ful anxiety of the sufferer from neuralgia of the heart to the hopeful attitude of the dying consumptive. It is an established feet that drugs, however powerful, do not affect the structure of brain tissue; and it is equally well k nown that 
in most instances of insanity there is no apparent deterioration in quality or structure of nerve substance. In these  phenomena lies 
strong collateral proof that the sources of mental disease are to be sought elsewhere than in the brain. Injuries and ailment s that 
involve structural change in brain matter will necessarily interfere with brain function, and in softening o f the brain and in certain 
forms of paralysis there are organic alterations that may be noted on dissection. But in hysteria, epilepsy, or any of the ma nias, no 
changes in structure of either brain or nerve substance can be discovered, notwithstanding the presence of extreme mental 
alienation. To illustrate the effect of abnormal physical condition upon mind function, the following case is cited. The patient, a man t hirty 
years of age, presented a history of continuous digestive trouble accompanied by  melancholia. Examination pointed to the 
conviction that the morbid mental symptom was the result of functional inactivity of the digestive tract, complicated with de cided 
indications of organic disease. A tentative dietary of fruits and vegetable broths a fforded the relief usual when organic labor is thus 
lightened. But skill in observing and determining the sequelae of dietetic changes caused delay in prognosis, for it is alway s 
needful to distinguish between mitigation of the distress of disease that is temporary in character, and that which evinces progress 
towards recovery. Hence, though symptoms in some respects were favorable, no predication was made as to the ultimate outcome. At the end of three weeks of the regimen imposed, the major signals all po inted to organic disability of extreme gravity, and at his 
request for definite opinion for or against recovery, the patient was informed that there seemed no possible hope of restorat ion to 
health. He then ceased his office visits, and a month later was d iscovered dead by suicide, an act committed, as the condition of the 
body showed, within a few days after discontinuing treatment. The previous conduct of the man, his brooding depression, and t he 
contents of a number of scribbled letters found among his e ffects, now definitely fixed the case as one of insanity, whatever the 
state of his body might prove to be. The latter was in condition such that an autopsy could be performed, and it revealed the  
following: the kidneys were normal; the lungs and the heart  were congested, but functionally equal to their tasks; the liver was 
hardened, and there was but a rudimentary gall sac, which contained no bilious fluid and gave no indication that the liver ha d been 
functioning, no characteristic stain being present, th e color of the sac being a chalky white; the stomach was dilated and filled with 
food, and glandular activity in the organ must have been inoperative for some time previous to death; the small intestines sh owed 
bleached portions that had undoubtedly been w ithout function for an indefinite period; the transverse section of the colon was 
much dilated, contained a large amount of hardened feces and had fallen shaping the whole organ into a letter "M", with the v ertex 
of the dropped portion resting upon the pel vis; it, as well as the ascending and descending parts, were adherent at their angles for 
several inches; the bladder was apparently normal; the pancreas was a soft degenerated mass; the spleen was hardened; the 
mesentery exhibited old lesions, while no tr ace of the omentum was found; but the brain was structurally perfect. Page 59 of  72     The instance cited shows a body exceedingly deformed internally in which, despite its faulty structure, the processes of grow th 
and maintenance progressed for thirty years. The cau se of the organic defects discovered is to be attributed to digestive activity 
partially inhibited in early life through disease, the effects of which were very probably augmented by the use of drugs. In this case 
progressive inability to function produced  morbid mental disturbance. It may be asked why a similar result was not observed in 
each of the instances related elsewhere in the text, or for that matter in any diseased human body; and reply is made that ph ysical 
unbalance in any degree invariably affe cts mind -function, and this usually in adverse manner. But here again we enter the domain 
of the idiosyncrasy of individuality, of the limitations and requirements of a subject segregated from other individuals by h is own 
constitutional peculiarities and t endencies, be these mental or physical. For instance, it is well known that there are certain 
temperaments that develop delirium in fever, even when the latter is mild in type, while there are others who may experience rise 
in body heat of as much as four or five degrees above register without sign of loss in mental equilibrium. But the close observer 
notes that the latter in the circumstances will exhibit certain other vagaries of the mind that are not apparent when functio n is 
normal in character. Yet we must not neglect to mark and to ponder the other side of the question, for, as has been said, as mind influences functi on, 
so function influences mind. As an example, it is admitted that arterial strain, an undue pressure upon the walls of the arte ries 
commonly known as high blood pressure, tends to produce a fatty degeneration of their inner coat, and thus gives rise to arte rial 
tumors and to cerebral hemorrhage, which sometimes causes paralysis, apoplexy, and softening of the brain. Now it is certai n that 
such tension may result from continued anxiety, and that it is the cause of many cases of angina pectoris or neuralgia of the  heart, 
effecting those cardiac changes to which some of the forms of angina are due. It is also well established that  mental disturbance gives rise to dyspepsia, and observation and experiment show that anger and 
other emotions arrest the secretion of gastric juice, and that probably the peristaltic action of both stomach and intestines  is 
likewise affected. In this conn ection the extreme constipation of melancholia is to be noted. Simple jaundice is often the result of 
sudden emotion, and it is sometimes followed by acute yellow atrophy, a wasting of the liver with yellow pigmentation. In the  
latter form of jaundice ther e is always disorganization of the cells of the liver. A man who works with his brain after a sleepless night or when he is in the clutches of some discomforting indisposition at 
times does not see how he can possibly accomplish his day's stint. He a ttempts it, however, and is often surprised to find that he 
works more rapidly and with more acuity than when in normal state. This occurs because, feeling the necessity, he brings his will 
into play and concentrates with greater determination than usual u pon what is before him. So our attention is often called to the 
fact, and it is a fact, that a very large percentage of the world's best work has been done by men who were not in health mos t of the 
time that they were about it. But does this offer an argum ent in favor of the possession of a defective unhealthy body. These very 
men, though we hail them as geniuses, were and are universally under the control of an impressible and capricious nervous 
temperament, always a handicap upon thorough and efficient ac complishment. And it is interesting to speculate upon the kind and 
the amount of labor with which the genius in ill health might have enriched the world had he been the possessor of a physical ly 
normal body. Would this work have been of a quality surpassin g that which was produced by forced concentration; or would the 
physical ease of health have removed the spur of accomplishment. We cannot, if we would not eventually fall short of our desired achievements, afford to discriminate in favor of either m ind or 
body. The development of each is equally essential to the greatest and best results from the other. Hence, given a body free from 
any organic trouble, the successful enjoyment and prolongation of life is as much dependent upon intellectual developme nt as 
upon physical, and vice versa. It is thus apparent that the work that the brain can perform is in highest degree proportional to and dependent upon the phys ical 
condition of its body. To repeat, a functionally perfect brain is the product only of a physically perfect body. And it is to be 
emphasized that the brain is not a producer of energy, nor of vitality, nor of the mental processes. It acts but as a medium of 
reception and transmission, and it in itself no more thinks than do the words that  express a thought. Mind, as received from the 
creative source, is perfect; its expression is affected by the functional ability or inability of its human instrument. The mysterious forces, energy and vitality, which are seen manifested in the life o f the body, exist outside of and independent of 
the human vehicle. A healthy organism is one that is in position to liberate these principles in the form of power, mental an d 
physical, as it is needed in the activities. Human beings possess what are known as the conscious and subconscious minds. The conscious mind controls those acts which 
are subject to the will and those thoughts which are produced by brain effort in conscious moments. The subconscious mind cov ers 
that which occurs without conscious  perception. The conscious mind could not possibly send messages to the numerous glands 
that fit the body for action, nor attend to all the delicate adjustments that enter into the process. The conscious mind in m ost of us 
does not even know of the existen ce of the organs and secretions involved. But there is a something in mentality that is without 
conscious perception, and that takes advantage of all of the past, gauging means to an end with perfect nicety. Page 60 of  72     All processes of healing are subconscious. Even pain and the distressing symptoms of sickness are to be regarded as benevolent 
warnings that sharply remind us of our condition, and that compel the repose which we require, or that deter us from admittin g into 
the system substances which are injurio us. They not only point to the existence of a mind that is subconscious, but they indicate 
how great a part that mind plays in the curing of every form of disease. Anything that weakens or depresses the subconscious mind 
exposes us to disease by making us less able to resist its encroachments. And, on the other hand, we possess such allies and 
resources within ourselves that the chief function of the physician should be to awaken in his patients the will to live, and  to 
employ every element of resistance wh ich the system itself affords. If humanity since its creation had constantly been caring for its individual bodies, no condition of disease could make its 
appearance suddenly. There could be no physical collapse, for cancers, tumors, Bright's disease, diabetes, etc. , all require time to 
develop, and in a body that is both mentally and physically conscious, their beginnings cannot help but be observed, understo od, 
and remedied. For he who is in the habit of caring properly for his body, who understands  and obeys natural physical law, cannot 
for one day neglect his course of action, because, subconsciously if not consciously, he is subjected to irritation and disco mfort. To 
illustrate, he who is used to pure air cannot endure a vitiated atmosphere, and h e who bathes his body daily, in case of omission, 
finds his skin figuratively talking to him because of its neglect. A diseased body is the product of a process development that began with its birth, for every symptom in its finality is 
cumulative. T he colds and fevers of infancy and adolescence, the causes of which are imperfectly eliminated, leave their residue to 
accumulate until the eventual crisis occurs. And, as in the physical so in the mental realm, disease of the mind, and in it w e include 
crime as well as insanity, are symptoms of unbalance, often produced because of physical reaction. Crime begins in small acts, 
develops like a cancer, and in reality it is to be regarded as a cancer of the conscious mind, and hence should be treated as  is 
disease. Instead, society punishes the discovered victim. Insanity is but another form of unbalance that in many instances aris es 
from functional physical disturbance, yet it, too, is handled as is crime, its sufferers being subjected to police authority in ways that 
are reminders of the dark ages. And since brain troubles in great part arise from functional physical derangement, their alleviation and cure is to be sought  in 
systemic bodily purification. The text fully covers the manner in which the lat ter process may best be accomplished, in fact the 
only way in which it can be done. And, could the fast and its hygienic accessories be introduced and scientifically administe red in 
all asylums, insane as well as criminal, of the land, numbers of their inm ates would be restored both in mind and in body. And 
further, in those in whom mental incapacity is due to organic structural defects that hamper normal function, the form and de gree 
of the latter would at once be revealed, and the knowledge thus gained wo uld determine to what extent treatment should be carried. And it is probable that among even these severely afflicted sufferers there might be many who could be brought to mental 
responsibility. Apart from its therapeutic worth, a trial of the method in pu blic institutions offers two other points of merit, viz. , it 
would ameliorate much of the suffering now undergone by stimulated unruly patients who need restraint, and it would lower by 
many thousands of dollars the expense of caring for these wards of the  state. But, if not for the sake of those who pay taxes, at least 
for the salvation of those detained in asylums for the insane and criminal, the method is entitled to a thorough investigatio n and 
trial at the hands of government. To many minds the thought that human life is in any way connected with or dependent upon ordinary natural agencies carries 
with it denial of faith in the divine. Reasoning thus, these intellects segregate in toto spirituality from materiality, refu sing to 
recognize their manifest interdependence. A calm retrospect of the history of the Christ causes one to know that Jesus, apart  from 
his spiritual endowment, was a man in the flesh and of the flesh; that he was subject to the laws of the body, to its nec essities and 
to its temptations. It is written, "Jesus was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when h e had 
fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. " The application of this fragment of sac red history to the subject matter of the text may not be obvious, but brief explanation will 
serve to show that the related incident is distinctly pertinent. Fasting the body for the sake of health was understood and f ollowed 
by the older civilizations; an d fasting for the attainment of that higher mentality which borders upon spirituality is still employed 
by the members of that system of philosophy known as Yoga, in which meditation upon the supreme spirit is inculcated as the w ay 
to final beatitude. That  the Christ acquainted with and was learned in these practices is fully substantiated by the evident purpose 
and scientific completion of a period of forty days and nights of abstinence from food. Jesus never overturned natural law; h e 
worked with it alway s, and his statement concerning prayer and fasting in disease is easy of analysis. "More things are wrought by 
prayer than this world dreams of. " And fasting, physical in application, conduces to the highest degree of mental clarity. Th e body, 
purified of its dross, approaches more nearly the spiritual vehicle it is intended to be. Successfully conducted to the point of the 
return of hunger, the body and its brain are enhanced in substance and in function. In this condition difficulties are solved, 
decision s are made, and conclusions are reached with marvelous clearness and despatch. The Gospel relates that Jesus was led up into the wilderness for the purpose of being tempted --a test through which mere man 
passes daily, and ofttimes daily fails to meet. But Jesus, before temptation assailed, fasted for the approximate time needful for 
physiological purification of the adult body, and the fast concluded, we are specifically told, with its physiologically corr ect 
symptom, the return of hunger. We do not e rr, we think, in attributing to the Christ in the flesh the experiences of the flesh. Why 
Page 61 of  72 else should he have been subjected to temptation. And physically there must have been need for regeneration, for the incident  
occurred just before the beginning of hi s active ministry, when all of his power of endurance was to be called forth, and mental 
acuity more than normal was to be commanded at every future moment of his physical life. And in addition the divine plan 
embodied further proof of its all -embracing wi sdom in that it held up to the world divinity clothed in a material body, endowed 
with physical attributes, and subjected to the test of physical desire --a test that could perfectly be withstood only by a mind 
functioning in a body physiologically pure. The Christ invariably worked through the material, the physical, to the mental and spiritual. And perfect spirituality in man  
requires its vehicle, the material body, to be physically excellent. Purity of body, purity of mind, purity of heart --these al one may 
commune with the divine. CHAPTER XX  
DEATH IN THE FAST  
A THEORY OF DEATH:  
ELEVEN CASES OF DEATH IN THE FAST:  
SUMMARY OF POST MORTEM FINDINGS  
 
    NO FULLY satisfactory definition in explanation of what is called death in the physical body has  ever been given. In 
conformity with the theory of life, upon which the belief of the author is based, a definition of physical death is offered t hat, 
following the tenets of that belief, covers completely for her the phenomenon of the dissolution of the a nimal body. The theory 
referred to considers energy, vitality, or life force, as an entity that emanates from a source without the animal organism, and that 
animates the latter when, with the body as a laboratory, the chemical transformations necessary to life are effected. This means that 
the expression of energy as exhibited in sentient living organisms is achieved with those organisms functioning merely as mea ns of 
transmission, as vehicles. While the explanation may be a bit labored, its purport should be clear, and the definition of physical 
death here offered is this: --when, for one reason or another, the mysterious force which permeates every sentient living body, 
giving to it motion, sensation, and thought, is prevented entrance to or passage through  the organism, what is called death occurs. This definition is not strikingly original, nor is it completely satisfying, but, after all, the sciences have not as yet bee n able to 
analyze life nor the sources of life; and the phenomenon of its cessation, or  what is called death, is just as much a mystery. A digression may here be pardoned. Just what is to be after death, apart from what faith may predicate, we do not know. And 
men should fear only what they know. They should not, like children, be afra id to go to bed in the dark, afraid of things that they 
imagine. In all that we really know there is nothing about death to frighten us. We know that our bodies go back to the earth. We 
know that birth and death come alike to all of us. We can remember not hing that occurred before we were born, yet this thought is 
not fearsome. We know that this universe, in which the earth is but a grain of sand, is managed with marvelous wisdom and 
justice. We know in consequence that we have no reason to fear injustice, or terror, or torture. Death in the physical body is to be regarded as having taken place when there is complete stoppage of the functions of the br ain 
and of the organs of respiration and circulation, with sequent cessation of the processes dependen t upon these functions. To 
amplify, death occurs whenever, through disease or shock, the brain, the storage battery of physical and mental life, becomes  
unable to perform its task of transmitting energy --life force to its points of action or expression, th e vital organs of the body. Vital 
organs cease functioning when there is obstruction or demolition of some portion of the main lines of transmission followed b y life 
force in its passage from the brain. That this may happen by reason of long continued deni al of food to the organism is 
undoubtedly true, but death from the exhaustion of inanition caused by absence of food is most rare in occurrence. On the oth er 
hand, in bodies that are continuously supplied with sustenance, exhaustion from lack of nourishmen t because of disorder of the 
nutritive functions proves a most usual agent of dissolution. And this is true since this sort of exhaustion, while having it s source in 
the functional disability of the organs of nutrition, eventually succeeds in inhibiting th e cells of the brain from acquiring and hence 
assimilating those substances necessary for their conservation. In average conditions death results from disease that is functional in character, not organic. In the experience of the autho r, 
death during  a fast never has occurred when merely functional disorder was present, nor did it ever result for the sole reason that 
food was withheld. In every instance listed in this chapter, in every instance of death that has happened during the long yea rs of 
pract ice upon which this text is based, the cause of dissolution was conclusively shown by post mortem examination to have been 
the inevitable consequence of obstruction through structural defect of some portion of the avenues through which life force i s 
expres sed. And it is questionable whether, in a conscious being not afflicted with morbid impairment of tissue, or not so situated 
that food could not be supplied when hunger made its demand, death has resulted from starvation, or, in other words, from the  
exhau stion of brain sustenance. No evidence that is conclusive shows that this has ever happened. In disease that is functional in origin and character the fast may be carried to its logical end without a particle of anxiet y, for the 
law of hunger marks t he limit beyond which abstinence may not continue lest starvation ensue. Hence, death from starvation is 
impossible during a fast when functional disease is in question. In the presence of structural organic deficiency the result is not 
assured. When, howe ver, impairment of tissue is slight in degree, recovery is possible; but, when the fault is such that structural 
Page 62 of  72 restoration of the organ or organs affected is beyond the power of natural law, no hope of cure exists, although, because fun ctional 
labor is l essened through abstinence, and distress is with certainty relieved, life may be prolonged. It is always to be remembered 
that in all disease, whatever its form, the fast is nature's sole curative agency, and is then as much a function as is feedi ng in hea lth. The autopsies held upon the bodies of the subjects of whom the causes of death are here described disclosed in every instance  
disease that was organic in character. In most of these cases arrested development of one or more of the functioning pa rts of the 
body was discovered, and in all of them malformation of the intestines was displayed that must be attributed to long continue d 
irritation with inflammation. These cases are those of persons who had resorted to orthodox methods for the relief of their 
suffering until orthodoxy proved without avail, and who only then bethought themselves of natural law. In view of the defects exhibited, it is certain that malnutrition occurring in the developing period of life, coupled perhaps  with 
the banefu l effects of drugs administered in the attempt to remedy disease, was responsible for fatal issue. Nature had endowed 
each of these subjects at birth with presumably normal vitality; each of them had suffered early in life from severe forms of  
functional d isorder; and each, with one exception, had virtually exhausted the list of medicines designated as remedies for the 
symptoms displayed. While it is not at all a just concept to attempt to place entire responsibility for the conditions shown upon drug  dosage, it is to be 
recognized that, broadly speaking, there is no drug that is in effect not a poison. It is also to be recognized that, while h arm ensues 
when drugs are used for the suppression of disease in mature years, the consequences of administeri ng medical remedies in infancy 
and in adolescence are much more detrimental. The instances of death now to be cited occurred while a fast was in progress, or while the patient was undergoing a period of  
dieting. Each casts light upon the ease of diagnosis consequent upon abstinence from food as a therapeutic measure; while the  
autopsies also disclose the deleterious effects upon the human body of dietetic errors and of drug treatment. In every case t he cause 
of death is conclusively shown to have been due to the presence of structural organic defeat that was beyond repair. Two o f the 
deaths described happened when the subjects were on a dietary, but the conditions discovered in these showed no decided 
differences in causation from those displayed when dissolution took place while a fast was in progress. In all of the related  cases 
death was certain, fasting or feeding. The list is selected from a total of twenty -two fatalities occurring in a practice confined to 
therapeutic fasting and its accessories that covers a period of over thirty years. The number of cases handled is about thirty 
thousand, and each of these fasted at some time while under guidance for intervals varying from one day to seventy -five. Case 1. A married woman, thirty -eight years of age, who had devoted twenty years in vain attempt to regain lost health und er 
medical guidance. She finally discovered that alternating periods of dieting and abstinence from food, usually short in durat ion, 
were the sole means by which she could obtain relief. At consultation a perilous condition indicating the presence of organ ic 
disease was evident, and a more carefully selected dietary, with the employment of the usual natural hygienic accompaniments of 
treatment, was prescribed and faithfully carried out for six months. At the end of this time the patient, in full enjoyment o f the 
relief that invariably appears in disease when organic labor is lessened by diet judiciously lowered, or by abstinence from f ood, 
insisted upon undergoing an absolute fast. After three weeks, during which liquid food only was ingested, the tota l abstinence stage was entered, and the condition of the 
case visibly improved. On the twentieth day of fasting the patient decided for herself that her stomach could tolerate food. Experience demonstrates that persons who suffer from chronic disease after  a time develop, as a consequence of repeated 
disappointment in search of health, a mental tendency that is wilful, not to say stubborn. And in serious cases, such as the one 
under discussion, it is a question whether the better policy lies in acquiescense  or in resistance to their expressed desires. In this 
instance no opposition was offered when the will to fast was expressed, nor was any attempted when the demand was now made 
for food. Because of structural organic deficiency, later fully discovered and then most evident in symptom, the digestive organs 
could not perform the tasks entailed, and ingestion of food resulted in nausea with vomiting, while hiccoughs in severe form,  a 
sign most apprehensive in character, that in the circumstances indicated inte stinal obstruction, occurred and continued 
intermittently until death intervened. When a case exhibits in aggravated form the symptoms noted, and when, moreover, its history is one of prolonged suffering, it  
is a virtual certainty that extreme organi c impairment exists that can in no wise be overcome. But, in order that no question might 
arise concerning the remedial agencies employed and in order to allay the distress of the family, the condition of the case w as 
brought to the attention of several me dical practitioners. They suggested a number of things, but none of their suggestions proved 
of avail, for unanimously they insisted upon feeding the woman, whose stomach was rejecting all forms of food, retaining even  
water with difficulty. The condition described continued for more than two weeks, with pulse and temperature at average normal, 
but with no visible improvement Again at the insistence of the family another consultation of medical doctors was called, its  
personnel consisting this time of three  prominent specialists in intestinal disease. They concurred in the opinion that the patient 
was suffering from cancer of the stomach and pronounced the case as one without hope of recovery. In the latter respect they were 
right, for death came at the end of the fortieth day of abstinence from food. Page 63 of  72     The autopsy made known a condition which the symptoms had predicated. The stomach occupied a position in the abdominal 
cavity such that its pyloric opening was turned and held forward and downward six or s even inches from its normal position; the 
rounded portion of the lower center of the organ lay opposite the navel, and its shape was distorted and enlarged to a length  of 
nearly two feet, and to a capacity of six fluid quarts. The small intestines were adh erent at a number of points to the peritoneum, 
and the stomach also had to be released by the knife from the abdominal walls before it could be fully examined. The gall sac  was 
excessively enlarged, while the liver was in a state of degeneration. The medical history of this case notes typhoid fever with peritonitis about twelve years before death. This in all probability 
determines the time of causation of the visceral adhesions and of the distortion in stomach and intestines, for, when the typ hoid 
symptoms occurred, the organs of the body of the patient were fully matured, and the inflammation incident to the symptoms, wit h 
constant feeding even while fever was at its height, gave no opportunity for the healing processes of nature to act. This 
combina tion of error eventually led to the formation of the lesions described, to which the fatal outcome is directly traceable. It is perhaps unnecessary to emphasize the truth that, in the physical distress suffered by this woman, medicine was unable t o 
grant her relief. In fact, the time when she was most free from suffering was covered by the last several weeks of fasting bef ore 
death occurred. During the forty days of abstinence large quantities of blackish offensive fluid was discharged with each  enema, and there was 
progressive relief from distress with lessened pain. However, no decrease in the amount of refuse evacuated was noted until t he 
power of function of the eliminative organs diminished with lowering vitality. Case 2 is that of a m arried woman, thirty -nine years of age, who for all of the adult period of life had suffered greatly from 
impaired digestion, variously diagnosed by many different physicians. For two years prior to death the patient had subsisted upon a 
diet of liquid foo d, the stomach refusing solids. This woman since girlhood had the distinction of consistently refusing medical 
remedies, but, nevertheless, her condition steadily grew worse, and, while no hope was offered that recovery could be had, he r 
request that she b e permitted to undergo a fast was granted. No food, excepting the slight amount of nourishment contained in the 
juice of oranges and lemons in small quantities was given for fifty -seven days, when she died. In fact, at no time from the 
beginning of the fas t, which really was undertaken because the stomach repeatedly rejected the liquids ingested, could food have 
been introduced into the organ. This was absolutely determined by the results of the autopsy, which are now given. In the duodenum, just belo w the pyloric opening of the stomach, there must at one time have been an ulcer or some acute 
inflammation. Nature in her efforts at repair had deposited tissue cells at this point to the degree that the lumen of the in testine had 
been almost occluded. As time went by this growth enlarged and involved the bile ducts, so that when death occurred the passage 
through the duodenum was entirely blocked. In composition the accumulation of tissue showed none of the characteristic cell 
formation of cancer, but was a mass of muscle and membrane, healthy in their components, but abnormal in deposition. The right 
kidney was in a state of complete degeneration, but the other organs of the body and the intestines, with the exception of th e 
duodenal portion, were normal i n size, position, and condition. In view of the remarkable circumstances involving the physiology of this woman, a fuller description of her dietetic habit pr oves 
interesting. As stated, for two years previous to death only liquids were tolerated. Fo od substances obtained by boiling vegetables 
and by diluting fruit juices were the forms in which sustenance was furnished. In fact, so intolerant of solids was the stoma ch that 
the broths and juices were strained through cloths in order that no formed par ticles entered into them. Whenever the straining was 
defective, vomiting of sediment occurred, hence the utmost care was needed so that distress might not be caused. This case, then, subsisted for two years upon only that sustenance which her body wa s able to appropriate through stomach 
absorption. Mineral salts and the vitamins may conceivably be conveyed in part to the centers of nutrition in this manner, bu t it 
could only have been in minute amounts that proteins, carbohydrates, and the starches we re delivered, and then in forms not fully 
digested. While, until a year or so before her death, there might have been a small passage through and past the accumulation  in 
the duodenum, thus permitting of some intestinal digestion, it is certain that months  of existence had elapsed with no food ingested 
other than that described as strained to a watery consistency; and it is virtually certain that for this same period no intes tinal 
digestion took place, for, when vomiting occurred, no bilious fluid ever appe ared, and in the whole history of the case no formed 
feces were ever evacuated, the enemas in discharge being invariably fluid and never more than slightly discolored. Case 3. Section summary: 

The article discusses aspects regarding eating habits, including limiting consumption
          *   Explanation:
            + Original Article Content

Please summarize your understanding of Chapter XVIII-XXII pages. What insights you gathered. **Key Points**

* Eating frequency increases mortality risk;
* Maladies associated with imbalances create psychological issues;

In my summarization,
Chapter XVI-XX describe themes surrounding diets’ impact on overall wellbeing. Key highlights focus primarily around nutritional deficiencies contributing significantly towards decline in cognitive performance alongside deteriorati     


=====



Summary:


Section Summary:

Chapters XVIII – XII discuss crucial topics relating to dietary patterns, highlighting key concerns revolving round restrictive consumption choices. Insights Gathered:



• **Frequent Mealing**: Excessive snacking raises mortality rates. Malady Associated Mental Issues:

• Imabalanced nutrient distribution fosters emotional instability. Additional Notes

These chapters introduce concepts emphasizing fundamental connections existing amongst nutrients consumed & behavioral manifestations. As outlined earlier,

To establish harmony inside systems, equilibri um
\end{document}.
The text does not explicitly state the difference, but it implies that the laborer's diet is different from that of the banker or clerk, as it states that the laborer's diet is based on starch, which is not mentioned in the description of the banker's or clerk's diet.
What is the main difference between the digestive habits of a laborer and those of a banker or a clerk?
The text states that the primary cause of loss of weight is the accumulation of waste in the body, which is not properly eliminated due to the dysfunction of the digestive system.
What is the primary cause of loss of weight in patients who are ill?
The text states that it is possible for the human body to survive without food for an extended period, citing the example of Terence McSwiney, who fasted for 74 days before death.
Can the human body survive without food for a long period?
The text states that the mind and body are interconnected, and that the physical condition of the body can affect mental health, and vice versa. It also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthy body to ensure proper mental function.
What is the relationship between the mind and body, as described in the text?
The author argues that diet plays a crucial role in the development of disease, and that the body has the ability to heal itself through natural means, such as abstinence from food, and that it is essential to treat the physical body first before attempting to treat the mind.
What is the author's stance on the relationship between diet and disease?