If you will try the experiment when youare " good and hungry," having a " working-man's appetite," and disposing of good breadand butter the while, which should have nearly,or quite, seventy bites to the ordinary mouthful,you will find that thirty mouthfuls will prettynearly, or completely, satisfy your working-man's appetite. Mixed foods take much lesstime, usually about half, and still the seventy-five-rhythm act will consume only about twentyminutes to perform with physiologicthoroughness. SALIVAL  ACTION  ON STARCH  FOODS . Here are some statements easy to prove or
disprove by anyone, with real compensation inthe way of new revelations relative to thepossibilities of gustatory enjoyment.Starchy foods, such as bread, potatoes, etc.,
require from thirty to seventy masticatorymovements to assist saliva to turn the starchinto " grape sugar," which is the form in whichit can be used as nourishment. *
You will at once think, no doubt, that a range
of numbers extending from thirty to seventy ispretty wide. So it is; but conditions regardingthe qualities of not only breads, but potatoes,and also conditions relative to the strength orsupply of saliva, differ greatly. When theappetite is keen, the mouth watering, as theyare at the beginning of a meal, bread or potatoesmay be negotiated into nutriment ready for the
* Although I have been a close student of the subject for
more than fifteen years in the best physiological-chemicallaboratories for long periods of time—and always emulating the
man from Missouri in demanding of the wise ones in the science
of the laboratories to " Show me! "—I make the statementsrelative to what happens below the guillotine line in Mother
Nature's exclusive territory of responsibility on the authority of
the laboratory experts; but only, mind you, when my personalobservations and business logic approve the conclusion. Therefore, when I tell you that starch turned into dextrose, or
" grape sugar," is assimilable as nourishment, and that starchwhich is not thus chemically transformed by saliva is not
capable of becoming nourishment, I am not " speaking by the
book," which Mother Nature has opened for me to read—unlessbiological-chemists can be considered to be extra-enlightened
forms of nature.THE AUTHOR  FEELING  HIMSELF  TO BE THE MOST  FORTUNATE
PERSON  ALIVE. stomach in much less time than later on. Appetite " peters put," as miners say, gradually,and does not stop with a bang and shut off likean electric light when connection is broken. Itchecks up, slows down, and tapers off gradually,and that is where the canny intelligence of afaithful Fletcherizer stands him in goodusefulness. When Appetite gently says: " Now,really, you are still rather good to my assistant
Taste, and he would not object to a few bitesmore ; but if you stop now and change off tosomething else which I have in mind, and forwhich I have a use in our organism, I will notobject." In plain words: " I have enough for thepresent; switch off on to ——." The difference between putting on fat in the
case of the person who is disposed or permittedto put on more fat than is comfortable, andlosing some of the surplus carried on theabdomen or elsewhere, is the discriminationexercised in regard to the final satisfaction ofappetite. Those last two, three, or a few mouth-fuls after Appetite has said gently " Enough,"and before the same Appetite says, loudly, "Stop ! " are the difference between obesity; anddecency of form. I really believe, from the results of my
experiences for the past fifteen years in gettingtips from Mother Nature, and trying to inducemankind in general and my friends inparticular to accept them as " straight " fromMother Nature, that persons who have enoughrespect for themselves to be interested inphysical culture must come to the rescue of the
pseudo-scientists who are dulled by their owndope, and who are suffering from the malariawhich collects in the dark ruts they arefollowing in the tortuous complications of thealimentary canal. The physical culturists mustbuild models of normality for the scientists tostudy. When giving information as to what happens
in the mouth, and as to what happens as aresult of proper head digestion, I feel as if I amsitting on the upper lip of Mother Natureherself, and entrusting her messages to thecurrent of her own sweet breath for distributionamong her human children.CHAPTER VI
WHAT IS HEAD DIGESTION ? My Study of the Subject—The Mouth as a Digestive Organ—Dr. Cannon's Researches—Pawlow's Proofs
IN the latest comprehensive treatise on
human nutrition, under the title of " Food andthe Principles of Dietetics," by Dr. RobertHutchinson, of London, more than six hundredpages are devoted to the subject. Of these, justfifty lines are given to " Mouth Digestion." In afootnote of sixty-four words Dr. Hutchinson hasstated the case of the importance of carefuleating, with admission of a fact that wouldmean emancipation from most of the humandisabilities if it were repeated in nurseries andprimary schools as religiously as are theordinary rules of " polite conduct," and held bySociety to be the basis of respectability, which itreally is. When I first took up the study of dietetics in
academic circles, nearly fifteen years ago,physiologists did not concede that there was anymouth digestion at all. Putting food in themouth was for the purpose of mixing it with
saliva so that it could be formed into a " bolus "for convenient swallowing. Now it is recognisedthat there is some mouth digestion. In themeantime Pawlow * has demonstrated that thepsychic influence has much to do with digestion.Cannon, also, has shown by the evidence of theRöntgen rays that mental states retard andeven stop entirely the digestive processes thatare going on in the stomach, and has asserted,as has also Pawlow, that the stomach digestivejuices flow in response to the reports andstimulation of taste, pouring out into the cavityof the stomach juices appropriate for thedigestion of the particular food being tasted, inadvance of its arrival in the stomach. This evidence, confirming my own secured by
concentrated and unremitting study of the effectof head digestion on health and recuperativereconstruction, is proof enough that there is animportant department of nutrition that can beproperly called head digestion. * Dr. Prof. J. P. Pawlow, Director of the Department of
Experimental Physiology in the Russian Imperial Military
School of Medicine, &c.MY STUDY  OF THE SUBJECT
began with the tip from Mother Logic—that
the full extent of the personal responsibility innutrition is located in the head before the foodis swallowed. That is what led me toconcentrate on the mouth as the field of ourresponsibility which had been neglected byScience. Even the Dental Profession as a wholehad not at that time " tumbled " to the fact thatthey were occupied professionally andconstantly in a field of " Preventive Medicine "as important as now they find it. Everybody had supposed that the digestion of
food was effected only in the stomach and smallintestines. This may be true, in a narrow sense,but it can be arrested and completely stopped,by the head. Furthermore, digestion can be asmuch assisted by favourable head influence asit can be obstructed by unfavourable headtreatment. This being so, as everybody knows, or can
easily learn, what follows as a logical sequence ? Here is a physiological eye-opener, as it
dawns upon the business physiologist. Theobvious inference is that if the head can makedigestion easy or stop it altogether, the stomach
being a subservient, mechanical, and chemicalservant of the head in the matter, we mayproperly declare that the master-key ofdigestion is held by the head, and we may safelysay that there is Head Digestion. THE MOUTH  AS A DIGESTIVE  ORGAN . The logical continuation of the search for the
location of responsibility for good or poordigestion leads us to consider the question of" Division of Labour " as apportioned by theLaws of Normality. All the laboratory evidence Ihave seen confirms my own observations of thepast fifteen years that Nature assures goodresults if we are thoroughly faithful to our headresponsibility during the treatment of food up tothe point of swallowing. From that timedigestion has been rendered so easy bythorough mouth preparation that it mayproceed smoothly even if the mental states arenot pleasant. Here, too, we discover that easydigestion reacts favourably on the mentalityand exerts a calming influence. Some observers declare that idiots digesttheir food quite easily. The less mental clarity
they possess the better for their metabolism.This does not argue in favour of the absence ofmental influence, for the idiot is a sensualist,and in the relief from mental excitement findsenjoyment of taste and the satisfaction ofappetite as agreeable as do the animals undersimilar favourable conditions. Quite recently, when I was personally under
observation by Dr. Professor Zuntz in Berlin, totest the ease of my digestion of food ascompared with others who paid less attention tomouth treatment of it, the good professorinstructed me to " be as nearly like a littleanimal as possible, thinking nothing ofanything." This isn't as easy for a "live-wirethinking outfit " as for an idiot, or as for aningenuous little animal having no thought forthe morrow, but the business physiologist doesnot scorn to go anywhere for light on Nature'srequirements. One thing is sure, the personwho has been faithful to his personalresponsibility by starting the process ofdigestion as Nature demands can relax andenjoy metabolic and mental calm in delightfulharmony more easily than one who has gluttonyon his conscience and the wages of sinning on
his stomach. These wages look big to theswollen greed of cultivated gluttony, but theyare as bad as they are big, and the best way tobe convinced of this fundamentally importantfact is to realize the potency of head digestionfor well or ill, and give it a practical trial. The key to good digestion is in the head, and
the sooner mankind comes to realize thisimportant truth the quicker will come themillennium of nutrition normality. DR. CANNON 'S RESEARCHES . I have just been reading Professor Walter B.
Cannon's book in the Arnold MedicalMonograph Series, entitled " The MechanicalFactors of Digestion." I have learned manyvaluable lessons from the intestinalobservations of Dr. Cannon, and have seen theshadows he describes on his fluorescent screenunder his practised guidance, and, with hisgenerous permission, quoted him extensively inmy book, The A .B.—Z. of Our Own Nutrition. It seems that we began our quest for light on
the mechanics and mentality of digestion byobjective observation about the same year, 1898.He took a hop, skip and jump over the three
inches of the alimentary canal that is ourpersonal responsibility and, with the aid ofbismuth blackened food and a Röntgen-rayapparatus, began to study the movementsincident to digestion by the shadows cast on thescreen. For this purpose he principally usedfemale cats, because they were more amenablethan male cats to the torture of being tied flat toa cloth with the possible fear that they werecondemned to death as well as to inactivity.Even the use of pink or blue ribbons as bands ofbondage under the circumstances does not luretheir cat-ladyships into the quietude demandedfor normal movements of digestion, and malecats will not " stand for it " at all. For ten years or more Professor Cannon and
his assistants were devoted to these DarkChamber X-ray observations, and in themeantime wading through hundreds of volumesof Physiological Archives for reports of other
intestinal investigations. The fruit of thisthoroughness of research is more than 400references to reported data and conclusionsextending back to the dawn of Physiology.To one who has followed the accounts of the
" Diddings " in the " Old Man Greenlaw's LiquorSaloon in Arkansas City," as given weekly inthe New York Sunday Sun, these researches
seem to be governed by the strict rules of" Draw Poker." Eventually all of the cards (orevidence) go into the " discard," confirming SirMichael Foster's dictum, to the effect that" the more we learn of Physiology the more weknow how little we really know." I recommend everybody to get Dr. Cannon's
book and turn at once to page 74, and readabout the importance of mastication in securingeasy digestion free from fermentation. Thenturn to page 217 and read his conclusionsrelative to the influence of the emotions ondigestion. Put these two statements together,and then judge for yourself if it is claiming toomuch to say that there is really Head Digestion,and that it is in the field of personalresponsibility, in the mouth and in the brain,that good or bad digestion—right or mal-nutrition—are inaugurated. You will find theliterary quality of Dr. Cannon's book sofascinating, no matter whether you know themeaning of the terms used or not, that you will
enjoy it like a novel. It has the charm of thediction of Sir Michael Foster and SherlockHolmes combined, with enough of the solving ofthe secrets of the alimentary canal to satisfy themost exacting imagination. If a taste for the inner mysteries has been
acquired by the reading of Professor Cannon'sbook, further desires in that direction may besatisfied by reading the physiological prosepoem by Professor Chittenden, in praise of headdigestion as the acme of sensual pleasure, It is agem, and is quoted in Chapter VII. following, insupport of the contention of this chapter. Thispoem appears in the book The Nutrition of Man
(as studied mainly in starving dogs), and onewonders why such a pearl of practical, every-day, Kindergarten, domestic usefulness shouldbe "thrown to the dogs," so to speak.CHAPTER VII
CHITTENDEN ON CAREFUL CHEWING
A Physiological Prose Poem. IT is difficult to imagine a more pleasurable
Epicurean felicity than that described byProfessor Russell H. Chittenden, of theSheffield Scientific School, of Yale University,in America, as the result of careful masticatingand thorough tasting of the commonest of foods. Professor Henry Pickering Bowditch, of
Harvard University Medical School, like SirMichael Foster and all the most eminentphysiologists, were quick to appreciate therevelations of the Cambridge investigation ofFletcherizing as indicating the discovery of themissing link in the chain of processes necessaryfor securing good digestion and healthynutrition, but they looked on it as a question ofprofitable economy rather than material forpoetic enthusiasm. It was given to Professor Chittenden to
discover the rarest merit of decent eating; thepoliteness of it, as well as the poetry; thatelement of respectability which will eventually
recommend it to the socially-refined as one ofthe civilised fine arts ; that expression ofappreciation which is due to Mother Nature forher many beneficences. THE POETRY OF EATING. By Russell H. Chittenden.
" With the mind in a state of pleasurable
anticipation, with freedom from care and worry,which are so liable to act as deterrents to freesecretion, and with the food in a form which,appeals to the eye as well as to the olfactories,its thorough mastication calls forth andprolongs vigorous salivary secretion, with whichthe food becomes intimately intermingled.Salivary digestion is thus at once incited, andthe starch very quickly commences to undergothe characteristic change into soluble products.As mouthful follows mouthful, deglutitionalternates with mastication, and the mixturepasses into the stomach, where salivarydigestion can continue for a limited time only,until the secretion of gastric juice eventuallyestablishes in the stomach-contents a distinctacid reaction, when salivary digestion ceases
through destruction of the starch-convertingenzyme. Need we comment, in view of thenatural brevity of this process, upon thedesirability for purely physiological reasons ofprolonging within reasonable limits the intervalof time the food and saliva are commingled inthe mouth cavity ? It seems obvious, in view ofthe relatively large bulk of starch-containingfoods consumed daily, that habits of thoroughmastication should be fostered, with thepurpose of increasing greatly the digestion ofstarch in the very gateway of the alimentarytract. It is true that in the small intestinesthere comes later another opportunity for thedigestion of starch ; but it is unphysiological, asit is undesirable, for various reasons, not totake full advantage of the first opportunitywhich Nature gives for the preparation of thisimportant foodstuff for further utilisation.Further, thorough mastication, by a finecomminution of the food particles, is a materialaid in the digestion which is to take place in thestomach and intestines. Under normalconditions, therefore, and with properobservance of physiological good sense, a large
portion of the ingested starchy foods can bemade ready for speedy absorption andconsequent utilisation through the agency ofsalivary digestion.
" Nowhere in the body do we find a more
forcible illustration of economical method inphysiological processes than in the mechanics ofgastric secretion. Years ago it was thought thatthe flow of gastric juice was due mainly tomechanical stimulation of the gastric glands bycontact of the food material with the lining
membrane of the stomach. This, however, is not
the case, as Pavlov has clearly shown, and it isnow understood that the flow of gastric juice isstarted by impulses which have their origin inthe mouth and nostrils ; the sensations ofeating, the smell, sight and taste of food servingas physical stimuli, which call forth a secretionfrom the stomach glands, just as the samestimuli may induce an outpouring of saliva.These sensations, as Pavlov has ascertained,affect secretory centres in the brain, andimpulses are thus started which traveldownward to the stomach through the vagusnerves, and as a result gastric juice begins to
flow. This process, however, is supplemented byother forms of secretion, likewise reflex, whichare incited by substances, ready formed in thefood, and by substances—products of digestion—which are manufactured from the food in thestomach. Soups, meat juice, and the extractivesof meat, likewise dextrin and kindred products,when present in the stomach, are especiallyactive in provoking secretion. When the latterfoods have been in the stomach for a time,however, and the proteid material hasundergone partial digestion, then absorption ofthe products so formed calls forth energeticsecretion of gastric juice. It is ihus seen thatthere are three ways—all reflex—by whichgastric juice is caused to flow into the stomachas a prelude to gastric digestion. Further, it hasbeen shown by Pavlov that there is arelationship between the volume and characterof the gastric juice secreted and the amount andcomposition of the food ingested, thussuggesting a certain adjustment in the directionof physiological economy well worthy of note. Adiet of bread, for example, leads to the secretionof a smaller volume of gastric juice than a
corresponding weight of meat produces, but thejuice secreted under the influence of bread isricher in pepsin and acid, i.e., it has a greater
digestive action than the juice produced bymeat. The suggestion is that gastric juiceassumes different degrees of concentration, withdifferent proportions of acid and pepsin, to meetthe varying requirements of a changingdietary. "CHAPTER VIII
THE THREE  INCHES  OF  PERSONAL
RESPONSIBILITY
The Effect of Prejudice—Professor Fisher's Experiment. WHILE Professor Cannon was groping about
in Nature's alimentary preserves incomparative darkness, I concentrated myattention upon the first three inches of thecanal which comprise the field of our personalresponsibility, and which has been neglected bymost of the students of the subject. While the area considered was right out in
front, and open to visual inspection all the time,the opportunity to study its most importantfeatures having to do with nutrition was notcontinuous. Mr. Edison may rivet his attentionon an electrical problem and stick to it for forty-eight hours on a stretch, but Taste is onlyoccasionally on exhibition for observation andcannot be pressed into long service at any onetime. For test of normal Taste only the timerequired for the most economic nutrition is
available. A real body-need with keen appetiteis the first healthy excuse for calling on Taste toperform. Normal appetite, too, being satisfiedwith appetising foods, is of brief duration. Onemay linger over a meal as long as desired,enjoying the intimate memory of the gustatorygratification in leisurely process, but in case of afirst-class labouring man's hunger and theexigency of a railway station dinner in themidst of a desert, industrious application offaithful Fletcherizing for fifteen minutes willusually supply the real needs of the moment foreight hours at least. This estimate involves ahealthy condition of the nutrition department,including an abundance of powerful saliva forthe hastening of the mouth treatment, but sucha beatific facility can be secured in a very shorttime by the faithful and intelligent employmentof all departments of head digestion. A person who specialises on the mouth end of
the alimentary canal has plenty of time to restbetween inspections. He will naturally watchfor any feeling of results that may happen whileMother Nature is doing her twenty-five feet ofdigestion and absorption, but if his part has
been performed properly, there will be no newsof the process until there is something toexcrete from the material ingested. When thisoccurs, if a microscope is handy for minuteinspection, it will be found that most of theexcreta is composed of what I think of as thedandruff of the alimentary canal. It is composedof shapeless particles of skin which have beendiscarded by the mucous surface of the canal inthe same manner that dead skin is beingcontinually detached from the head and allparts of the external surface of the body.Depending on the nature of the food, there maybe small particles also of indigestible cellulosefrom vegetable foods and the condensed solids ofthe digestive juices when they have been usedand worn out. THE EFFECT  OF PREJUDICE . I have noticed that the early prejudices in
favour of or against foods are likely to prevailthroughout life. I have observed this in trying tosecure local appreciation for my own favouriteNew England dishes in foreign countries.Tinning, or canning, science has made it
possible to serve Boston baked beans and brownbread or even an entire Thanksgiving Dinner inJapan or Borneo, but it is impossible to excitenative appreciation for them commensuratewith the cost and trouble of the transportation.In Scandinavia, where they file the appetite tothe keenest of edges with the piquancy of the" Smoer Broed," or " Smoer Goes,"* theAmerican taste for very sweet things is notappreciated. Chocolates for that market aremore bitter than sweet, and so it goesthroughout the world where head digestion isimportant in determining the prescription offoods. At one time, during a year and a half of travel
in unusual countries where the French, Englishor American menu is not easily available, I
never missed an opportunity to study the effectof head prejudice on digestion. If the fortunateopportunity occurs to sample the sumptuous" ris tavel " of Java, there will be the best ofchances to confirm my observation in this
* Literally " Butter-goose"; a table set apart, with bread and
butter and a variety of snacks.regard. This dish is varied in sumptuousness, or
variety, but the humblest offering of it consistsof a large and deep soup plate piled high in themiddle with snowy rice with each individualgrain unbroken. This, to begin with, is atriumph of oriental culinary art. Surroundingthis rice mountain are dabs of every sort of a" relish " any one ever imagined. You selectthese from tiers of plates borne in each hand byas many as a dozen servants, following eachother in procession, and presentingopportunities of choice amounting to twenty ormore, perhaps even thirty or more inextraordinary cases. Hence it is the privilege ofthe guest to take much or little of any, or all, ofthe condiments according to the state of hisappetite or greed. All the colours and nearly thewhole food kingdom are represented, and thetemptation is increased by the art ofarrangement. There is no way of judging whateach sort of relish is : It may be fish, fowl,vegetable, tuber, side-meat, or a combination ofnuts or fruits, as far as the intelligence of theuninitiated goes. There were several members of the party offoreigners of different degrees of prejudice
against anything strange in appearance. To one,all of the comestibles were " utterly impossible,"and remained so to the end; while to otherscuriosity got the better of suspicion, and finallythe appetites looked forward to dinner-timewith especial cordiality, for the rice-mountainrelish-cordon and the complicated combinationwere digested with ease. The standard dish, however, of the Javan
dinner is boiled potatoes and beefsteakswimming in a pint of good butter gravy, so thateven the conscientious dietist with vegetarianpreferences may revel in something that smacksof home and mother, with such an abundance ofluscious fruits that nothing but gustatorydelight happens as a usual thing. Still, it is thesame in Java or Japan, in London, Paris,Berlin, Vienna, Rome or New York, thedigestion of food is under the control of the headand therefore may be called head digestion. PROFESSOR  FISHER 'S EXPERIMENT . The most important large experiment for the
testing of head digestion under conditions ofHORACE  FLETCHEK  IN HIS MASTER  OF ARTS ROBES . THE AUTHOR  ON HIS SIXTIETH  BIRTHDAY , PERFORMING  FEATS OF
AGILITY
AND STRENGTH  WHICH  WOULID  BE REMARKABLE , EVEN IN A YOUNG
ATLETE . strict scientific control was that inaugurated
and conducted by Professor Irving Fisher, ofYale University, in America. Professor Fisher occupies the Chair of
Political Economy at Yale, has made extensiveresearches into the factors that influence theeconomies or extravagances of living, and isPresident of the Committee of One Hundred ofthe American Association for the Advancementof Science on Health. Professor Fisher's interest in my revelations
and tests relative to the potency of headdigestion came primarily from a personal testwhich worked wonders for him in establishing afoundation for good health. He was notesatisfied with the later Chittenden experiments,because they substituted academic prescriptionfor natural selection in formulating the rules ofthe inquiry. Like myself, in conducting theoriginal researches, Professor Fisher realizedthat the practical value of my discoveries wasthat no one needed a biological chemist to orderhis meals for him or tell his appetite what hisbody needed in the way of food elements. The Fisher experiment worked with nine
healthy undergraduates who were ambitious totake high scholastic honours, and who had little
time for athletics or any form of physicalexercise, they being types of the averageUniversity undergraduate. A generous table was supplied them with
meat and every variety of food that usuallycomposed college fare. The only instructionswere that thorough mastication and especialattention to the enjoyment of the food asrecommended by me in my books should befaithfully performed. This course was pursuedfor half a year, and for the rest of the year, inaddition to the careful head treatment andenjoyment, preference was to be given to foodsknown to be low in nitrogen content; but not tothe extent of suppressing any distinct call ofappetite for them. In the first half of the experiment the men
held their own on about 40 per cent. less food,computed by cost, and increased their strength-endurance ability by something more than 100per cent., with the added felicity of feelingunusually fit all of the time, entirely escapingthe slack or sick spells they had beenaccustomed to, and improving greatly in theirgeneral studentability, that is: power of
concentration, memory, mental comfort,profundity of sleep, etc. During the second half of the experiment still
more improvement was secured owing to thereadiness of the body to accommodate itself tothe wish by favouring the economies. I have not a copy of the report at hand. It is
included in the publications of Yale Universityabout 1905. While all of the abundance of confirmatory
evidence which has accumulated since 1898 isvaluable and gratifying, the verdict of theunremitting observation since then is that theproblem of nutrition is always a personal one.After fifteen years of devotion to the study ofthe head-end question, with due attention to thetell-tale excreta and the product expressed interms of energy and general comfort, I amunable to predict what my body is going to wantto-morrow in the way of nutrition supply. I cansay with some confidence that if I go on doing asI have been accustomed to doing daily, and noshock of grief or surprise intervenes to upset allcalculations, I am likely to find nutritivesatisfaction as expressed by appetite among the
foods that are commonly agreeable to me. If I am compelled or impelled to do a great
stunt of walking or other unusual exertion, orreceive crushing news, all my presentpredictions may be useless. The body itself,from the hair on the head to each finger or toe-nail will know what it wants and will havegiven to the caterer Appetite its requisitioncovering the need. In the meantime each braincell and all of the bones have not beenneglectful of their sustenance requirements, norhave they been backward in letting Appetiteknow. It is fortunate that the common needs of
digestion may be supplied from a limited rangeof food varieties. Milk is all-sufficient always forgeneral supply of the nutritive requisites. In theplebeian potato, which has attained to royalrank as the result of the extensive experimentsof Dr. Hindhede,* of Denmark, in co-operationwith Madsen the Faithful, has been found full
* Dr. Hindhede, Protein and Nutrition: an Investigation. London, 1913, Ewart, Seymour & Co., Ltd., Burleigh Street,
W.C.nourishment for ten months, at least, when
supplemented by butter or margarine to furnishthe fuel supply. Even in this surprisingrevelation no academic prescription wasinfallible. Potatoes differ in nutritive value asmuch as 50 per cent. Fresh-cooked and well-cooked ones alone fill the bill of sufficiency, andfull head-work in assuring easy digestion wasmade the first rule of the test. For four months Iserved as a check test-subject and speak fromexperience. Nothing is ever accomplished except by a
division of labour and on the just division ofresponsibility depends the success of effort. Nature has given to us the head-end of
responsibility.CHAPTER IX
QUESTION PRESCRIPTION AND
PROSCRIPTION
The Protein Enthusiast—Doubting Thomases
THE only completely accurate prescriber of
nutrition for living creatures is Mother Natureherself, and if she does not prescribe anything
by the undoubted approval of appetite sheproscribes it. One of the rules which have governed my
quest for optimum human nutrition in themidst of the twentieth century food supply andother conditions, has always been to go toNature for final advice in the matter. When I say " Question Prescription and
Proscription " I mean that the most positiveprescribers of food have something in the foodline or advice to sell, and they proscribe aspositively anything that competes with theircommercial product. My eyes were opened to this possible snareand delusion by a great doctor of medicine,*
who is also one of the most ardent economists Ihave ever met—not a miser in any sense, but areligiously philosophical economist. He isalmost as righteously indignant against anywho use the trust which is placed in them byclients or patients for the selling of high-pricedfoods as he is at the makers, advertisers,retailers and prescribers of alcohol as abeverage. In his just opinion it is as wicked, oralmost as wicked, to advise unprofitableextravagance of any sort as it is to prescribepoison. To this discriminating philosopher food is the
basis of health-wealth, and sacred to its divineusefulness. The great harm that was done to the world by
the academic prescription of excessive proteinrations
 † was that it started a vicious circle of
extravagances which led as surely to untimelydeath as murder. The perpetrators of thispernicious prescription were innocent ofintention to do harm ; in fact, they were full of
* Dr. M. Hindhede: Copenhagen, Denmark. † Voit, Atwater, etc.the most generous of motives in issuing their
poisonous advice, and one of the mostprominent, at least, paid the penalty by dyingmiserably of his own fatal ignorance. I may also say that it is " presumption,"
advisably, for almost all prescriptions of foodwhich do not have their basis on the naturalbody calls are presumptuous. Nature knows! Ifgiven a chance to show her knowledge Natureprescribes rightly and delivers her message inthe form of appetite and the other instincts. Shewill do this in the midst of the most complicatedof artificial food mixtures, as I have reason to
know from personal experience, confirmed by
many others over and over again. Therefore, I may say more surely than ever,
that whatever 
NATURE  PROVIDES  and PERMITS  as
NOURISHMENT  I HAVE  NO RIGHT  TO PRO SCRIBE . THE ONLY PRE SCRIPTION
that Honesty approves is the Optimum
Economic Nutrition; and my great preceptor,Dr. Hindhede, the ideally honest scientist anddoctor, ventures to prescribe only the plainest offoods that are delicious to a true, keen appetite,and cost the least through being in season and
so common and easy to grow as to be cheapest. This good and superlatively honest doctor
does not Proscribe anything that Nature
permits as food and he does not even Proscribe
the transportation of grapes from Madeira tothe North Cape of Norway for the enjoyment ofthose who can afford to pay for them. Would the Proscribers of flesh food have
denied Amundsen and his companions the fleshof their faithful dogs as a last resort in securingnourishment for the completion of their journeyto the South Pole ? It was their truly last resortin gaining the victory over the Ice God ; andwould to God that brave Captain Scott and hisband of faithful ones had had such a last butsaving resort to help them accomplish theeleven miles between them and rescue ! Butthen, the world would have missed a model ofaltruism that is worth a million lives, and one ofwhich million everybody would like to be, iftheir lives are worth the living. THE PROTEIN  ENTHUSIAST . While writing this chapter I have beenforwarded material for indignation and a text
for condemnation in the form of a book so full offood prescription that it is positively poisonous,as read with the intelligence of my own andcurrent knowledge of the subject, that it oughtto be pilloried as a " Horrible Example" ofpresumptuous prescription and proscription. Itis an advertisement pure and simple, but soprejudicial to the natural facts in the case thatit again raises the question of the advisability ofa Supreme Court of the Physiology of Nutrition,to try such nutrition perverters for high treasonto Mother Nature. I will not name the book or the author, to
further the advertisement. I once stopped acontroversy with the doctor-father of the authorby offering to wager him one hundred poundsthat I could beat him out on a ten mile go-as-you-please tramp, which he had mentioned asone of his stunts to prove his contentions. Ourages were nearly equal, and the difference oftraining consisted of his prescribing for himselfover 100 grams of proteid daily (less by 20 percent. than the vicious Voit* or Koenig
Standards, and less by 30 per cent. than theStandard that killed poor Professor Atwater),while I had subsisted for years on less than halfhis prescription. He warned me that I wascourting death, but that he was providing forhimself longevity by the mile. He got mad withme, and nearly fumed at the mouth, because Iassumed to insist that only Mother Nature wasa competent prescriber, intimating that he wasnot. I could not out-talk him, and so I sent hima challenge. He made the excuse that he wasleaving for the Continent for a rest, but wouldtalk further with me when he returned. Hisreputed forty-thousand-pound office practice ofprescribing his favourite dietaries had wornhim out and he was going for a rest. Later I
* Carl Voit, of Munich, prescribed as Standard daily diet for
a man doing moderate work : 118 grams of Protein, 56 grs. Fat,
500 grs. Carbohydrates, with a total fuel value of 3,055 large
calories; increasing the same to 145 grams Protein, 160 grs. Fat,450 grs. Carbohydrates, with a total fuel value of 3,370 large
calories. This is the celebrated Voit Diet Standard. Professor
Atwater, of Connecticut, went further, prescribing as Daily DietStandard no less than 125 grams of Proteins, with sufficient fat
and carbohydrates to equal a total fuel value of 3,500 large
calories for a man doing a moderate amount of labour;increasing the amount of Protein to 150 grams, with fats and
carbohydrates to a total fuel value of 4,500 large calories per diem.heard of him in a sanatorium—surely
disgraceful to a doctor to be compelled to go tosuch a place for " treatment." The race, or contest, never took place, but
since then I personally have several timesbroken records established by men one-half, andeven one-third, of my age with progressive easeup to three years ago when last put to a test,and I have noted no letting-up of the progress ofrecuperation as judged by " feelings " orendurance when doing unusual stunts. In this direction I now feel that I have done
enough, and that it is not for age to temptProvidence by competing with the Prime ofMuscularity in feats of strength and endurance.John L. Sullivan and Jefferies and many morewent once too often into the ring, and MotherNature, not Corbett or Jack Johnson, knockedthem out for good and all. Fletcherizing does notinclude either imprudence or bluff. It merelytrusts good Mother Nature for directions toaccompany her nutriment-medicine. Wheneverat any time I feel the impulse to turnsomersaults from the lead platform of a man-of-war into good, clean salt-water—as I did a fewyears ago or so in the Philippines, as a
demonstration to impress the natives—I will" up and do it, or die in the attempt." What I amdoing now more than ever is keeping my ear tothe mouth of Mother Nature, my finger on herpulse of command, and doing her biddings aswell as I can interpret them. If a thing is notagreeable to do, I take it as a warning not to do
it. There are so many useful things to do thatare pleasant, what is the use of going out of theway to do disagreeable things. There are somethings that are natural and agreeable that weshould do, and which we have got out of thehabit of doing, physical exercise, for instance.We are dealing with cultivated abnormalitiesalways in a cramped and complex civilisation." We are constantly doing the things that weshould not do, and leaving undone those thingsthat we ought to do," as the Prayer Book tellsus, including carelessness of eating, andshirking physical exercise. To return to thecallow book of the canny doctor-son of myantagonist of a dozen years ago. It isn't socallow as it is canny, and since the persons inthe case are of the canniest of peoples, thosewho are so shrewd that Jewish merchants do
not thrive among them, and the prescriptionresults in thousands of pounds a year revenue,the game may be set down to ordinarycommercial cupidity and popular gullibility. It issafe to always warn against Prescription forRevenue. Like patriotism or religion forrevenue, it is questionable, if not surelyselfishly prejudiced. On the other hand, MotherNature charges no fee for her advice. She paysgood coin as a premium for her patients in thesame way that I bribed my first test subjectsinto eating right by paying them for eating in
addition to furnishing the food. DOUBTING  THOMASES
who are too lazy, or incredulous, or careless, to
take a month to try the Mother NaturePrescription as interpreted by me, are liable tosay: " Appetite is abnormal. Taste is perverted,and the demands of the body are whollyunnatural." True! But abnormality of that sortcan be corrected in a very short time. A "poorchap " who is lucky enough to have to gowithout food long enough to " whinney like ahorse " at the smell of fresh-baked bread and
the thought of good Danish butter on it, is notgoing to " turn up his nose " at even a crispbaked potato; neither is he likely to requiresweetbreads to coax himself to eat. Correctingperverted appetite is like purifying a streamwhich is being polluted at its source and runsmuddy all the way to the sea. Stop thepollution, and the stream will purify itself asfast as ever it can by hurrying along with itsimpurities to the great ocean sewerage.CHAPTER X
WHAT CONSTITUTES A FLETCHERITE
Fletcherism and Longevity—W. E. Gladstone, Fletcherite —
Fletcherizing Liquids—Getting the Best out of Everything— TheStudy of Mother-Nature. SINCE the term "Fletcherite" is incorporated
in some of the latest dictionaries, it is properthat the person whose name has been used forthe designation should define what constitutesa Fletcherite. Any person who eats in a healthy manner is a
Fletcherite. Any person who eats in a polite manner is a
Fletcherite. Any person who is faithful to his end of
responsibility in securing healthy nutrition forhimself is a respectable eater and a goodFletcherite. WHAT  IS NOT A FLETCHERITE . The above definitions are fully compre-
hensive, but sometimes it is more effective todescribe a thing by telling what it is not, andleaving the remainder as an inferential
description. Following this suggestion: it is safe to say,
that :
Anyone who eats when he is not hungry or
what his appetite does not approve, is not aFletcherite. All this presupposes the ordinary opportunity
for selection in civilized communities where thisbook is liable to be read and where itsrevelations and recommendations are mostneeded. Any one who does not give his appetite a
chance to guide him to healthy nutrition is not aFletcherite. Any one who does not extract all of the taste
from his food, while it is in the region wheretaste is developed, is not a Fletcherite. Any one who succumbs to greed of " getting
the worth of his money," because he has paid forfood, or can get food free of cost, or takes it onthe insistence of Aggressive Hospitality, or tokill time, or for any purpose other than for thesatisfaction of a real appetite, is not aFletcherite.FLETCHERISM  AND LONGEVITY . Returning to positive definition of a
Fletcherite : it is a good safe betting propositionthat all persons who have passed the seventyyear-mark in the life race are Fletcherites inthe fundamental requirement of healthy eating.If they reach beyond the eighty year-mark it iscertain that they have been fairly decent eatersfor many years, even if they abused themselvesearlier in life. For example : vide the
autobiography of Luigi Cornaro,* which wasconcluded only when he was nearly onehundred years old. Vide also, occasional
newspaper statements attributed tocentenarians or near centenarians who claim tohave been Fletcherites before Fletcher wasborn. Some of them have had the " constitution "necessary to attain the respectable longevityand have used tobacco and alcohol at the sametime, but there is no evidence that eithertobacco or alcohol lengthened their lives. In thesame category of questionably-profitableindulgences may be put any of the stimulants or
* London: Ewart, Seymour & Co., Ltd., 12, Burleigh. Street,
Strand, W.C. Price 1s .narcotics which do not actually nourish the
body. W. E. GLADSTONE —FLETCHERITE . The Epicureans, who were true to the
principles of Epicurus, were Fletcherites, beforethe name of Fletcher had evolved from theoccupation of arrow making and archery. Mr.Gladstone was a philosophical Fletcheritebefore Fletcher discovered that he had a mouththat was worth while studying and using, butthe name did not get into the dictionaries asdescribing his most statesman-like inspiration. A Fletcherite does not confine his
Fletcherizing to food. He is encouraged, by thebeneficial results of careful eating, to try thesame method of co-operating with Opportunityon anything that has good and bad possibilitiesin it. FLETCHERIZING  LIQUIDS . For example: careful tasting of food reveals
felicities of taste which lead to seeking similarrewards wherever taste is to be found. Takeliquids: The only liquid that does not invite
Fletcherizing with some deliberation, but seemseager to get into the blood to quench thirst isWater. If it is not pure water, soft, cool as iffrom a spring, and delicious in its purity, it hasan inclination to stop a little in the mouth andgive taste a chance to investigate or to getsomething worth while out of it. Do not thinkthat inanimate things have no sense ofpropriety ! Everything natural is as full of propriety as
an " egg is full of meat." Nature is Propriety ! Mineral waters, lemonade, beer, wine, and
even milk have delicate senses of propriety.They do not rush to be sucked up for the mererelief of thirst, like pure water, but they linger abit in the domain of taste and inferentially say :" I am tasty ; don't you want to taste me : WhenI am swallowed my gustatory charm is dead andgone forever ; please let me leave my taste withyou, good Mr. Taste." Do not think this is a fanciful personification
of the liquids which have taste. Don't take myword for it. I am only telling you what Taste hastold me, and also told me to tell it to you. Thenext time you are thirsty and have a chance to
get good pure water, note if it doesn't rush toswallow itself in about one-ounce swallows untilthe thirst is satisfied. If it is too cold it will wantto wait a minute to get to the temperature of thebody in the hot room of the mouth, beforerushing in to chill the stomach, and if it is toowarm it will not give the full satisfaction thatspring-cool water gives, showing that Taste hasa wider usefulness than mere glorifying of sapidsubstances. Or : is it Feeling that assists Tastein expressing approval or disapproval of liquidas well as solid nutriment ? GETTING  THE BEST OUT OF EVERYTHING ..
From Fletcherizing things which pass
through the laboratory of the mouth, it is mostnatural to call on Mother Nature in her statelypropriety to assist in getting the best and mostout of everything from a kernel of corn to theWorld at Large. In the personal equipment, muscular exer-
cise, mental discipline, and habits of effective-
ness come in at once for analysis and separation.Outside the personality, companionship is of
most vital concern, and the wonder will be howsoon the Natural Appetite for profitablecompanionship will choose some dogs inpreference to some human beings, for thequalities of sympathy, approval and faithfulnessthat every social being craves. Of course, there are some companionable
combinations among men that are moresatisfactory and profitable than any dumbanimal can possibly supply, but it is for thepurpose of finding such combinations that theFletcherizing of friends is useful. There is muchgood in every one, as there is in everything thatNature offers as nourishment for the body, buteverything has its Appropriate place and time,its harmonious supplements and compliments,and this is true regarding companionships." What is one man's food, is another man'spoison," is a truism applicable alike tocompanionship and friendship. It is equally trueregarding honesty and dishonesty; truth anddeceit.THE STUDY  OF MOTHER  NATURE . The foregoing constitutes a pretty stiff
proposition for the measurement of idealFletcherism, but when you come to considerthat the aim is nothing less than getting asclose to Mother Nature as possible and listeningto her orders relative to good team-workbetween us, the contract does not seem soimpossible. It was close study of Mother Natureand her laws of gravity and resistance that ledLillienthal, the German, to try to glide on the"wings of the wind" with imitations of the wingsof birds, and it was following Chanute's leadthat led the Wright Brothers to develop theflying-machine. It was because of tutelage inthe honest school of Mother Nature that theWright Brothers prefaced their first account oftheir " invention " by giving the French aviatorcredit for the initial suggestion. In similar manner, it was the close, objective
study of the psychology of digestion under thehonest direction of Mother Nature in asomewhat drastic form that led Pawlow, theRussian physiologist, to preface his account ofhis great achievement by calling up the memoryof the French physiologist Blondlot, and telling
that he had described the true process ofdigestion from logical deduction fifty yearsbefore. In like manner, Professor Cannon, of
Harvard University Medical School, insistedthat dear Dr. Bowditch, his preceptor inPhysiology, had laid out for him the line ofX-ray studies of the " Mechanism of Digestion,"which has given him distinguished researchfame. Getting close to Mother Nature opens upinfinite possibilities of enlightenment, andamong them cultivation of the honesty andunselfishness which she herself typifies.CHAPTER XI
ALL DECENT EATERS ARE FLETCHERITES
Dietetic Righteousness—The Disgrace of Sickness—The Optimism of
the Fletcherite. IN order that there shall be no
misunderstanding let us agree upon thedictionary definition of " Decent." It is " Havingpropriety of conduct." Let us also take the dictionary definition of
Fletcherite, as an agreed meaning. It is: " Onewho practises Fletcherism." Fletcherism, in turn, is defined as " A method
of thorough mastication recommended byHorace Fletcher." No self-respecting person wishes to be
indecent about anything, and especially aboutthings that are sacred. I use the term " Indecent " because it has an
ugly look and sound. It is more than thoughtlessor careless. It is positively indecent and nothingless. So is ugly and irreverential eating moreculpable than mere heedlessness when we cometo consider what it means in the way ofconsequences. It spells Indecency from the
beginning to the end of the process involved inthe act. You may have a very poor opinion of the
namesake in the case, but you must be glad thathe discovered for himself that decent eatingmeans recuperation of health if it has beenshaken : preservation of health if it is afortunate possession : and epicurean enjoymentthat cannot be realized in full without it. I repeat that the term Fletcherite is not a
personal monopoly but a popular and dictionarycreation. I am selfish enough to be glad thatGladstone escaped the distinction of having hisgreat name used as a designation of decenteating. DIETETIC  RIGHTEOUSNESS . When I was called upon to deliver an address
before the New York Academy of Medicine on" Possibilities of Recuperation after Fifty," Iused a phrase of my own coining, " DieteticRighteousness," and was later called to accountfor having been irreverent in using sacredterms in connection with food and eating. " ByGeorge ! " I replied, in righteous indignation,
" Is there anything more sacred than servingfaithfully at the altar of our Holy Efficiency ? "" Is there any righteousness more respectablethan that which furnishes fuel for healthyefficiency and moral stability ? " And thequestion may now be repeated, " Is there ? " As for indecency : Is there any conduct
having less propriety than regarding ourwonderful mouth, with its prodigious potencyfor protection and pleasure, as a mere food anddrink hopper for good material, which becomesreally swill in the alimentary canal if it is notproperly treated in the mouth ? Can any onethink of anything more indecent than offensiveodours which are the inevitable tell-tale ofindecent eating, and which are eliminated frompossibility of development if eating has beendecently performed ? The penance, or evenpleasure, of frequent bathing, in order that thetell-tales of indecency may not become public,does not atone for the sinning in the beginning.The real damage has been done in the, and tothe, delicate alimentary canal, with conse-quences to be realized later on in terms ofodious disease or premature death. These are
the inside facts in the case made bare by frankpresentation. THE DISGRACE  OF SICKNESS . I believe it was the great American
philosopher, Emerson, who said that it is " Agreater disgrace to be sick than to be in thepenitentiary. When you are arrested it isbecause you have broken a man-made statute,but when you are ill, it is because you havedisobeyed one of God's laws." As elsewhereremarked, it is almost impossible in civilizedsurroundings not to disobey some of the naturallaws: body-ventilation, first of all; but nosinning is so dreadfully punished as indecenteating persistently practised. Some of the ancients believed that the
mysterious Something that they called the Soulwas located in the stomach and not in the heartor brain. There was reason for thus placing thelocation, because the bad effect of unhappythought or anything that " touches the heart" isfirst felt in the stomach if it has any troubles ofits own at the moment to worry about, due toindecent haste or carelessness in eating. To the
habitual Fletcherite such double disaster doesnot come. Easy digestion has been assured bybeginning it in the manner required by MotherNature, and to arrest it by unfavourable psychicinfluence for a little time does not result in theproduction of those poisons which wear out thebody faster than any other cause. The worst ofnews may be sprung on one as a terriblesurprise, and cloud the happiness for a timewithout causing damage to the delicate vitalorgans. Thus the misfortune, or its opposite in
disguise, as the case may be, does not set up a
vicious circle of accumulating bad effects. Thethorough Fletcherite is a philosopher, with asolid foundation for his or her faith in the Goodthat may be lodged in even seeming misfortune,and the recovery from the shock ofdisappointment, in order to discover the Good atnext hand, is as speedy as desired. The faithfulone is ever ready to go before the bar of Death'sTribunal for the approving judgment his dieteticrighteousness is sure to secure. Good circles ofhealthy cause and effect have been swirlingabout in the organism as the result of faithfuldecent eating, and Nature or Nature's God
never fail to perpetuate the evolution of theGood. THE OPTIMISM  OF THE FLETCHERITE .. Fairness or politeness to the part of the
wonderful alimentary canal which MotherNature has assigned to herself to manage isnothing more than common decency; and noprivacy of privilege can ever excuse anyindecent eating. Just think of all the latitudeMother Nature has given her favourite childman in the way of easy convenience in doing theright thing in eating. He is not compelled to eatevery few minutes to keep himself alive, as he iscompelled to do in breathing : or every few days,as in hydrating his internal economy withmoisture. Never is he caught with his bunkersempty of food for fuel or repair material. Be heas thin as a hatpin, comparatively, he hasstored under his skin enough nourishment tolast him comfortably for a month. Neither is heterrorised by the conventional gnawings ofhunger. He is  per force wise as to the physiologyof nourishment and his stored resources within,
and turns any impatience for his habitualrhythm of feeding into a savings bank fund foruse when convenient. He is not frightened todeath, as indecent thinkers or eaters are, by theprospect of a fast lasting a few hours or days.He knows that he has on him and in himenough reserve supply of nourishment in theform of visible or interstitial fat, and othernecessary supply, to last for a long time, forty orfifty days, at least, and there is plenty of timefor expected or unexpected relief to happen. He
comes to know the value of his mechanism, and
the mental and soul essence it produces andsupports. His knowledge of his ownresourcefulness is sufficient to enable him toconserve all his vital strength until hoped forrelief comes. Or, being in tune with the goodintentions of the Universal Life of which he is apart, he never dreads the promotion we calldeath. It is merely a station on the road ofevolution, and just as sure as we are of deathand taxes, so is a faithful Fletcherite certainthat he is travelling the road of naturalevolution. He has not only eaten decently in theway of fulfilling the natural mechanical and
chemical requirements in the mouth, but he hasabstained from eating when the mental statewas not favourable, and has refrained fromworry when the prospect of a meal was deferredfor a little while or indefinitely. He may havebeen whinnying like a healthy horse inanticipation of revelling in the delights ofdelicious taste, and yet is not filled withdisappointment at the postponement of theexpected pleasure if the dinner appointment isupset or delayed. This quite Utopian possibility of stable
equanimity is the assured result of consistentdecent eating, and thinking relative tonutrition. It is the constitution and bye-laws ofFletcherism. As a natural presumption, when decency in
one direction leads to such delightful fruition,the opposite of it, indecency, must swing itspendulum to the extent of its full scope in thecontrary direction, and it does, for compensationis one of the laws of Nature that must befulfilled. It is true that Nature is always tryingto accommodate herself to any abuse. She maypermit being so much accustomed to it that the
punishment of it at the moment is not noticed.She even encourages the acceleration of thevicious circle that leads to momentarybankruptcy of resistance, penitence, and reform,as in the case of " bilious attacks." The man whotakes his daily or hourly prescription ofalcoholic stimulant is permitted to believe thatif a little seems good, more should be betteruntil he is landed under the table. He becomesmore and more efficient in " standing " theabuse until " under the table " means " underthe sod." The abuses have, however, been justas disagreeable to Normality all the way alongas the first drop of alcohol was distasteful to theinfant in arms. So, too, with tobacco, in a lessviolent form. Faithful practice of decent eating reverses
the order of progress. Normality of taste is thenew direction taken. Appetite is given a chanceto discriminate, and it chooses simple food,having the chemical constituents required bythe body at the moment. It accommodates itselfto the daily activity, and can be trusted as theonly completely-wise prescriber of what food totake, and how much of it the body can utilize
just then. Herein lies the value of decent respect for
Appetite in securing optimum digestion andnutrition. It does not treat all persons alikebecause no two persons can be alike. Infinitevariety is the fundamental law of Nature. Somepersons are born to carry more fat than others.To try to keep them thin is a sin against thenatural intention. To allow them to become toofat is also a sin. Strictly decent eating settlesthis question in conjunction with the sort andamount of activity that the particular person isintended by his or her " Hereditary Tendency "to exert.CHAPTER XII
FLETCHERIZING AS A TEMPERANCE
EXPEDIENT
Tramp Reform — A Remarkable Man — How to Enjoy Wine—
Fletcherism as a Cure for Morbid Cravings—A Trial of Fletcherismand its Results—Fletcherism as First Aid. NOW we come to a phase of the merits of
Fletcherism which has already furnished anabundance of evidence to its credit. In my firstexperiment, not yet under academicsupervision, with no laboratory measurementswherewith to describe the results in chemicalterms, I was dealing with a company of ordinarytramps picked up in the streets of Chicago.They simply ate what they chose to order fromthe bill of fare of a cheap restaurant, but weretold to chew everything for all it was worth,which they made no objection to doing. Timewas of no value to them, and they reallydiscovered new delights of gustatory pleasurewhich they had not known before. Tramps aregenerally persons of resourcefulness and have a
cultivated appreciation. Their resourcefulnessconsists chiefly of being able to live withoutworking, and their appreciation is made keen bythe lottery of chance in seeking to get somethingfor which they give nothing. My tramps were beery and bleery as tramps
generally are, but not so dirty; for I paid forbaths, washing, and in some instancesfurnished clothing. Besides supplying theseluxuries, I gave them occasionally a big silverdollar which they called a " cart wheel." It was surprising to see these degenerates
freshen up jn appearance and lose theirblotchiness and greasiness of facial appearance.I knew how to talk to them to get theirconfidence, and they looked on me as justanother " freak" like themselves, but with somekind of a money " pull." There were fat and thinamong them, and it was a matter of surprise
that after a little some of the thin got stouter and
the fat fell off in weight at the same time. One of
them was a belligerent socialist and the authorof a well-known book which had quite a voguein the earlier history of present-day socialism.Up to the time I began my own experiment, I
had been a social drinker of alcohol in all formsto the full extent of "gentlemanly decency," withoccasional slips when near the outer edge thatmade me ashamed of myself after I got soberagain. I am now more ashamed than ever whenI am reminded of my early foolishness, but sincemy experiences are being turned to goodaccount I forgive myself. Not only were socialoccasions an excuse, but I often ordered thesocial occasions to serve as an excuse. I hadnever resorted to snake-bites to give legitimateexcuses, but I so crowded my resources in thisdirection that at one time I held the " record,"for the community in which I lived, for whatwas called " hollowness of legs and steadiness ofhead," and so much was this " strength ofcharacter " valued in that community inAmerica, that one was supposed to take pride inholding the record. The result of my own pursuit of thorough
tasting of my food had been that my ownponderosity of front weight fell off, and at thesame time I had no desire for wine or beer. Itwas all a surprise to me, but it was not anamazing surprise until one day one of my tramp
guests came to me and said : " Boss, this eatin'game is great; think of me with a dollar in mypocket and not wantin' beer." In a short time I forgot that I had ever liked
wine or beer. It never occurred to me to order itexcept for a guest, and then I took it with him,or, rather them, for there were usually severalor many at my eating parties, but in theFletcherian manner which is so eminentlyEpicurean that a few sips went as far as a half-bottle used to do. Here is an important point inprofitable economics that any one candemonstrate for himself at once and not rely onmy say-so, or that of any one else. Later on Iwill tell how to do it. The secret is worth itsweight in gold as an Epicurean prize as well asa money-saver. I have to tell, a little further on,of a very large experiment which came as asurprise also. It was in a section of country, andamong a class of people, where to escape fromthe toils of the drink demon is nothing short of amiracle.A REMARKABLE  MAN. But before I relate this climaxic experience I
will once more refer to one of the mostremarkable men I have had the pleasure ofmeeting. His case covers more sides of healthyvariety than that of almost any one, but he haseven a better showing in some respects thanany. He is an M.D. ; a Ph.D.; an Sc.D. ; an A.M.;and a P.H.D. ; which last is the " stiffest exam. "of them all. He is a champion athlete; the fatherof an all-round college champion; and asgraceful a gymnast as any one ever saw do the" Giant Swing " on the horizontal bar. He is alsoa grandfather and now past fifty. This was his experience in 1902 or 1903, in
connection with my being called to New Havento submit to examination under the supervisionof Professor Chittenden. It is Dr. Anderson towhom I refer, and he permits my stating hisexperience as often as I like for the good it willdo. My expression of appreciation of hisacademic and athletic accomplishments is allmy own and not authorized. When I was turned over to Dr. Anderson for
physical examination in the Yale gymnasium,my fitness was surprising to him as he has
stated in his reports. He was also ripe for thereasonableness of my revelations. He seemed tome to be in the " pink of condition " himself, andhe was so, as " pink " was judged at the time, fora man of his age. Dr. Anderson tried more careful mastication
than usual, and paid more attention to thethorough enjoyment of his food with the samepleasant results that come to everybody whenmaking the trial, no matter how moderate andtemperate they have been before. It isequivalent to putting a little keener edge onappetite than usual. Children and even fineladies will perk up a little when they areconscious of being noticed, and the humansenses are human in more ways than one. Dr. Anderson was pleased with the new
revelation as a pleasure promoter, but did notnotice that he was forgetting to take his dailyprescription of stimulant.
Fletcherism_How_I_Became_Young_At_Sixty_by_Horace_Fletcher.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        If you will try the experiment when youare " good and hungry," having a " working-man's appetite," and disposing of good breadand butter the while, which should have nearly,or quite, seventy bites to the ordinary mouthful,you will find that thirty mouthfuls will prettynearly, or completely, satisfy your working-man's appetite. Mixed foods take much lesstime, usually about half, and still the seventy-five-rhythm act will consume only about twentyminutes to perform with physiologicthoroughness. SALIVAL  ACTION  ON STARCH  FOODS. Here are some statements easy to prove or
disprove by anyone, with real compensation inthe way of new revelations relative to thepossibilities of gustatory enjoyment. Starchy foods, such as bread, potatoes, etc. ,
require from thirty to seventy masticatorymovements to assist saliva to turn the starchinto " grape sugar," which is the form in whichit can be used as nourishment. *
You will at once think, no doubt, that a range
of numbers extending from thirty to seventy ispretty wide. So it is; but conditions regardingthe qualities of not only breads, but potatoes,and also conditions relative to the strength orsupply of saliva, differ greatly. When theappetite is keen, the mouth watering, as theyare at the beginning of a meal, bread or potatoesmay be negotiated into nutriment ready for the
* Although I have been a close student of the subject for
more than fifteen years in the best physiological-chemicallaboratories for long periods of time—and always emulating the
man from Missouri in demanding of the wise ones in the science
of the laboratories to " Show me. "—I make the statementsrelative to what happens below the guillotine line in Mother
Nature's exclusive territory of responsibility on the authority of
the laboratory experts; but only, mind you, when my personalobservations and business logic approve the conclusion. Therefore, when I tell you that starch turned into dextrose, or
" grape sugar," is assimilable as nourishment, and that starchwhich is not thus chemically transformed by saliva is not
capable of becoming nourishment, I am not " speaking by the
book," which Mother Nature has opened for me to read—unlessbiological-chemists can be considered to be extra-enlightened
forms of nature. THE AUTHOR  FEELING  HIMSELF  TO BE THE MOST  FORTUNATE
PERSON  ALIVE. stomach in much less time than later on. Appetite " peters put," as miners say, gradually,and does not stop with a bang and shut off likean electric light when connection is broken. Itchecks up, slows down, and tapers off gradually,and that is where the canny intelligence of afaithful Fletcherizer stands him in goodusefulness. When Appetite gently says: " Now,really, you are still rather good to my assistant
Taste, and he would not object to a few bitesmore ; but if you stop now and change off tosomething else which I have in mind, and forwhich I have a use in our organism, I will notobject. " In plain words: " I have enough for thepresent; switch off on to ——. " The difference between putting on fat in the
case of the person who is disposed or permittedto put on more fat than is comfortable, andlosing some of the surplus carried on theabdomen or elsewhere, is the discriminationexercised in regard to the final satisfaction ofappetite. Those last two, three, or a few mouth-fuls after Appetite has said gently " Enough,"and before the same Appetite says, loudly, "Stop. " are the difference between obesity; anddecency of form. I really believe, from the results of my
experiences for the past fifteen years in gettingtips from Mother Nature, and trying to inducemankind in general and my friends inparticular to accept them as " straight " fromMother Nature, that persons who have enoughrespect for themselves to be interested inphysical culture must come to the rescue of the
pseudo-scientists who are dulled by their owndope, and who are suffering from the malariawhich collects in the dark ruts they arefollowing in the tortuous complications of thealimentary canal. The physical culturists mustbuild models of normality for the scientists tostudy. When giving information as to what happens
in the mouth, and as to what happens as aresult of proper head digestion, I feel as if I amsitting on the upper lip of Mother Natureherself, and entrusting her messages to thecurrent of her own sweet breath for distributionamong her human children. CHAPTER VI
WHAT IS HEAD DIGESTION. My Study of the Subject—The Mouth as a Digestive Organ—Dr. Cannon's Researches—Pawlow's Proofs
IN the latest comprehensive treatise on
human nutrition, under the title of " Food andthe Principles of Dietetics," by Dr. RobertHutchinson, of London, more than six hundredpages are devoted to the subject. Of these, justfifty lines are given to " Mouth Digestion. " In afootnote of sixty-four words Dr. Hutchinson hasstated the case of the importance of carefuleating, with admission of a fact that wouldmean emancipation from most of the humandisabilities if it were repeated in nurseries andprimary schools as religiously as are theordinary rules of " polite conduct," and held bySociety to be the basis of respectability, which itreally is. When I first took up the study of dietetics in
academic circles, nearly fifteen years ago,physiologists did not concede that there was anymouth digestion at all. Putting food in themouth was for the purpose of mixing it with
saliva so that it could be formed into a " bolus "for convenient swallowing. Now it is recognisedthat there is some mouth digestion. In themeantime Pawlow * has demonstrated that thepsychic influence has much to do with digestion. Cannon, also, has shown by the evidence of theRöntgen rays that mental states retard andeven stop entirely the digestive processes thatare going on in the stomach, and has asserted,as has also Pawlow, that the stomach digestivejuices flow in response to the reports andstimulation of taste, pouring out into the cavityof the stomach juices appropriate for thedigestion of the particular food being tasted, inadvance of its arrival in the stomach. This evidence, confirming my own secured by
concentrated and unremitting study of the effectof head digestion on health and recuperativereconstruction, is proof enough that there is animportant department of nutrition that can beproperly called head digestion. * Dr. Prof. J. P. Pawlow, Director of the Department of
Experimental Physiology in the Russian Imperial Military
School of Medicine, &c. MY STUDY  OF THE SUBJECT
began with the tip from Mother Logic—that
the full extent of the personal responsibility innutrition is located in the head before the foodis swallowed. That is what led me toconcentrate on the mouth as the field of ourresponsibility which had been neglected byScience. Even the Dental Profession as a wholehad not at that time " tumbled " to the fact thatthey were occupied professionally andconstantly in a field of " Preventive Medicine "as important as now they find it. Everybody had supposed that the digestion of
food was effected only in the stomach and smallintestines. This may be true, in a narrow sense,but it can be arrested and completely stopped,by the head. Furthermore, digestion can be asmuch assisted by favourable head influence asit can be obstructed by unfavourable headtreatment. This being so, as everybody knows, or can
easily learn, what follows as a logical sequence. Here is a physiological eye-opener, as it
dawns upon the business physiologist. Theobvious inference is that if the head can makedigestion easy or stop it altogether, the stomach
being a subservient, mechanical, and chemicalservant of the head in the matter, we mayproperly declare that the master-key ofdigestion is held by the head, and we may safelysay that there is Head Digestion. THE MOUTH  AS A DIGESTIVE  ORGAN. The logical continuation of the search for the
location of responsibility for good or poordigestion leads us to consider the question of" Division of Labour " as apportioned by theLaws of Normality. All the laboratory evidence Ihave seen confirms my own observations of thepast fifteen years that Nature assures goodresults if we are thoroughly faithful to our headresponsibility during the treatment of food up tothe point of swallowing. From that timedigestion has been rendered so easy bythorough mouth preparation that it mayproceed smoothly even if the mental states arenot pleasant. Here, too, we discover that easydigestion reacts favourably on the mentalityand exerts a calming influence. Some observers declare that idiots digesttheir food quite easily. The less mental clarity
they possess the better for their metabolism. This does not argue in favour of the absence ofmental influence, for the idiot is a sensualist,and in the relief from mental excitement findsenjoyment of taste and the satisfaction ofappetite as agreeable as do the animals undersimilar favourable conditions. Quite recently, when I was personally under
observation by Dr. Professor Zuntz in Berlin, totest the ease of my digestion of food ascompared with others who paid less attention tomouth treatment of it, the good professorinstructed me to " be as nearly like a littleanimal as possible, thinking nothing ofanything. " This isn't as easy for a "live-wirethinking outfit " as for an idiot, or as for aningenuous little animal having no thought forthe morrow, but the business physiologist doesnot scorn to go anywhere for light on Nature'srequirements. One thing is sure, the personwho has been faithful to his personalresponsibility by starting the process ofdigestion as Nature demands can relax andenjoy metabolic and mental calm in delightfulharmony more easily than one who has gluttonyon his conscience and the wages of sinning on
his stomach. These wages look big to theswollen greed of cultivated gluttony, but theyare as bad as they are big, and the best way tobe convinced of this fundamentally importantfact is to realize the potency of head digestionfor well or ill, and give it a practical trial. The key to good digestion is in the head, and
the sooner mankind comes to realize thisimportant truth the quicker will come themillennium of nutrition normality. DR. CANNON 'S RESEARCHES. I have just been reading Professor Walter B. Cannon's book in the Arnold MedicalMonograph Series, entitled " The MechanicalFactors of Digestion. " I have learned manyvaluable lessons from the intestinalobservations of Dr. Cannon, and have seen theshadows he describes on his fluorescent screenunder his practised guidance, and, with hisgenerous permission, quoted him extensively inmy book, The A. B. —Z. of Our Own Nutrition. It seems that we began our quest for light on
the mechanics and mentality of digestion byobjective observation about the same year, 1898. He took a hop, skip and jump over the three
inches of the alimentary canal that is ourpersonal responsibility and, with the aid ofbismuth blackened food and a Röntgen-rayapparatus, began to study the movementsincident to digestion by the shadows cast on thescreen. For this purpose he principally usedfemale cats, because they were more amenablethan male cats to the torture of being tied flat toa cloth with the possible fear that they werecondemned to death as well as to inactivity. Even the use of pink or blue ribbons as bands ofbondage under the circumstances does not luretheir cat-ladyships into the quietude demandedfor normal movements of digestion, and malecats will not " stand for it " at all. For ten years or more Professor Cannon and
his assistants were devoted to these DarkChamber X-ray observations, and in themeantime wading through hundreds of volumesof Physiological Archives for reports of other
intestinal investigations. The fruit of thisthoroughness of research is more than 400references to reported data and conclusionsextending back to the dawn of Physiology. To one who has followed the accounts of the
" Diddings " in the " Old Man Greenlaw's LiquorSaloon in Arkansas City," as given weekly inthe New York Sunday Sun, these researches
seem to be governed by the strict rules of" Draw Poker. " Eventually all of the cards (orevidence) go into the " discard," confirming SirMichael Foster's dictum, to the effect that" the more we learn of Physiology the more weknow how little we really know. " I recommend everybody to get Dr. Cannon's
book and turn at once to page 74, and readabout the importance of mastication in securingeasy digestion free from fermentation. Thenturn to page 217 and read his conclusionsrelative to the influence of the emotions ondigestion. Put these two statements together,and then judge for yourself if it is claiming toomuch to say that there is really Head Digestion,and that it is in the field of personalresponsibility, in the mouth and in the brain,that good or bad digestion—right or mal-nutrition—are inaugurated. You will find theliterary quality of Dr. Cannon's book sofascinating, no matter whether you know themeaning of the terms used or not, that you will
enjoy it like a novel. It has the charm of thediction of Sir Michael Foster and SherlockHolmes combined, with enough of the solving ofthe secrets of the alimentary canal to satisfy themost exacting imagination. If a taste for the inner mysteries has been
acquired by the reading of Professor Cannon'sbook, further desires in that direction may besatisfied by reading the physiological prosepoem by Professor Chittenden, in praise of headdigestion as the acme of sensual pleasure, It is agem, and is quoted in Chapter VII. following, insupport of the contention of this chapter. Thispoem appears in the book The Nutrition of Man
(as studied mainly in starving dogs), and onewonders why such a pearl of practical, every-day, Kindergarten, domestic usefulness shouldbe "thrown to the dogs," so to speak. CHAPTER VII
CHITTENDEN ON CAREFUL CHEWING
A Physiological Prose Poem. IT is difficult to imagine a more pleasurable
Epicurean felicity than that described byProfessor Russell H. Chittenden, of theSheffield Scientific School, of Yale University,in America, as the result of careful masticatingand thorough tasting of the commonest of foods. Professor Henry Pickering Bowditch, of
Harvard University Medical School, like SirMichael Foster and all the most eminentphysiologists, were quick to appreciate therevelations of the Cambridge investigation ofFletcherizing as indicating the discovery of themissing link in the chain of processes necessaryfor securing good digestion and healthynutrition, but they looked on it as a question ofprofitable economy rather than material forpoetic enthusiasm. It was given to Professor Chittenden to
discover the rarest merit of decent eating; thepoliteness of it, as well as the poetry; thatelement of respectability which will eventually
recommend it to the socially-refined as one ofthe civilised fine arts ; that expression ofappreciation which is due to Mother Nature forher many beneficences. THE POETRY OF EATING. By Russell H. Chittenden. " With the mind in a state of pleasurable
anticipation, with freedom from care and worry,which are so liable to act as deterrents to freesecretion, and with the food in a form which,appeals to the eye as well as to the olfactories,its thorough mastication calls forth andprolongs vigorous salivary secretion, with whichthe food becomes intimately intermingled. Salivary digestion is thus at once incited, andthe starch very quickly commences to undergothe characteristic change into soluble products. As mouthful follows mouthful, deglutitionalternates with mastication, and the mixturepasses into the stomach, where salivarydigestion can continue for a limited time only,until the secretion of gastric juice eventuallyestablishes in the stomach-contents a distinctacid reaction, when salivary digestion ceases
through destruction of the starch-convertingenzyme. Need we comment, in view of thenatural brevity of this process, upon thedesirability for purely physiological reasons ofprolonging within reasonable limits the intervalof time the food and saliva are commingled inthe mouth cavity. It seems obvious, in view ofthe relatively large bulk of starch-containingfoods consumed daily, that habits of thoroughmastication should be fostered, with thepurpose of increasing greatly the digestion ofstarch in the very gateway of the alimentarytract. It is true that in the small intestinesthere comes later another opportunity for thedigestion of starch ; but it is unphysiological, asit is undesirable, for various reasons, not totake full advantage of the first opportunitywhich Nature gives for the preparation of thisimportant foodstuff for further utilisation. Further, thorough mastication, by a finecomminution of the food particles, is a materialaid in the digestion which is to take place in thestomach and intestines. Under normalconditions, therefore, and with properobservance of physiological good sense, a large
portion of the ingested starchy foods can bemade ready for speedy absorption andconsequent utilisation through the agency ofsalivary digestion. " Nowhere in the body do we find a more
forcible illustration of economical method inphysiological processes than in the mechanics ofgastric secretion. Years ago it was thought thatthe flow of gastric juice was due mainly tomechanical stimulation of the gastric glands bycontact of the food material with the lining
membrane of the stomach. This, however, is not
the case, as Pavlov has clearly shown, and it isnow understood that the flow of gastric juice isstarted by impulses which have their origin inthe mouth and nostrils ; the sensations ofeating, the smell, sight and taste of food servingas physical stimuli, which call forth a secretionfrom the stomach glands, just as the samestimuli may induce an outpouring of saliva. These sensations, as Pavlov has ascertained,affect secretory centres in the brain, andimpulses are thus started which traveldownward to the stomach through the vagusnerves, and as a result gastric juice begins to
flow. This process, however, is supplemented byother forms of secretion, likewise reflex, whichare incited by substances, ready formed in thefood, and by substances—products of digestion—which are manufactured from the food in thestomach. Soups, meat juice, and the extractivesof meat, likewise dextrin and kindred products,when present in the stomach, are especiallyactive in provoking secretion. When the latterfoods have been in the stomach for a time,however, and the proteid material hasundergone partial digestion, then absorption ofthe products so formed calls forth energeticsecretion of gastric juice. It is ihus seen thatthere are three ways—all reflex—by whichgastric juice is caused to flow into the stomachas a prelude to gastric digestion. Further, it hasbeen shown by Pavlov that there is arelationship between the volume and characterof the gastric juice secreted and the amount andcomposition of the food ingested, thussuggesting a certain adjustment in the directionof physiological economy well worthy of note. Adiet of bread, for example, leads to the secretionof a smaller volume of gastric juice than a
corresponding weight of meat produces, but thejuice secreted under the influence of bread isricher in pepsin and acid, i. e. , it has a greater
digestive action than the juice produced bymeat. The suggestion is that gastric juiceassumes different degrees of concentration, withdifferent proportions of acid and pepsin, to meetthe varying requirements of a changingdietary. "CHAPTER VIII
THE THREE  INCHES  OF  PERSONAL
RESPONSIBILITY
The Effect of Prejudice—Professor Fisher's Experiment. WHILE Professor Cannon was groping about
in Nature's alimentary preserves incomparative darkness, I concentrated myattention upon the first three inches of thecanal which comprise the field of our personalresponsibility, and which has been neglected bymost of the students of the subject. While the area considered was right out in
front, and open to visual inspection all the time,the opportunity to study its most importantfeatures having to do with nutrition was notcontinuous. Mr. Edison may rivet his attentionon an electrical problem and stick to it for forty-eight hours on a stretch, but Taste is onlyoccasionally on exhibition for observation andcannot be pressed into long service at any onetime. For test of normal Taste only the timerequired for the most economic nutrition is
available. A real body-need with keen appetiteis the first healthy excuse for calling on Taste toperform. Normal appetite, too, being satisfiedwith appetising foods, is of brief duration. Onemay linger over a meal as long as desired,enjoying the intimate memory of the gustatorygratification in leisurely process, but in case of afirst-class labouring man's hunger and theexigency of a railway station dinner in themidst of a desert, industrious application offaithful Fletcherizing for fifteen minutes willusually supply the real needs of the moment foreight hours at least. This estimate involves ahealthy condition of the nutrition department,including an abundance of powerful saliva forthe hastening of the mouth treatment, but sucha beatific facility can be secured in a very shorttime by the faithful and intelligent employmentof all departments of head digestion. A person who specialises on the mouth end of
the alimentary canal has plenty of time to restbetween inspections. He will naturally watchfor any feeling of results that may happen whileMother Nature is doing her twenty-five feet ofdigestion and absorption, but if his part has
been performed properly, there will be no newsof the process until there is something toexcrete from the material ingested. When thisoccurs, if a microscope is handy for minuteinspection, it will be found that most of theexcreta is composed of what I think of as thedandruff of the alimentary canal. It is composedof shapeless particles of skin which have beendiscarded by the mucous surface of the canal inthe same manner that dead skin is beingcontinually detached from the head and allparts of the external surface of the body. Depending on the nature of the food, there maybe small particles also of indigestible cellulosefrom vegetable foods and the condensed solids ofthe digestive juices when they have been usedand worn out. THE EFFECT  OF PREJUDICE. I have noticed that the early prejudices in
favour of or against foods are likely to prevailthroughout life. I have observed this in trying tosecure local appreciation for my own favouriteNew England dishes in foreign countries. Tinning, or canning, science has made it
possible to serve Boston baked beans and brownbread or even an entire Thanksgiving Dinner inJapan or Borneo, but it is impossible to excitenative appreciation for them commensuratewith the cost and trouble of the transportation. In Scandinavia, where they file the appetite tothe keenest of edges with the piquancy of the" Smoer Broed," or " Smoer Goes,"* theAmerican taste for very sweet things is notappreciated. Chocolates for that market aremore bitter than sweet, and so it goesthroughout the world where head digestion isimportant in determining the prescription offoods. At one time, during a year and a half of travel
in unusual countries where the French, Englishor American menu is not easily available, I
never missed an opportunity to study the effectof head prejudice on digestion. If the fortunateopportunity occurs to sample the sumptuous" ris tavel " of Java, there will be the best ofchances to confirm my observation in this
* Literally " Butter-goose"; a table set apart, with bread and
butter and a variety of snacks. regard. This dish is varied in sumptuousness, or
variety, but the humblest offering of it consistsof a large and deep soup plate piled high in themiddle with snowy rice with each individualgrain unbroken. This, to begin with, is atriumph of oriental culinary art. Surroundingthis rice mountain are dabs of every sort of a" relish " any one ever imagined. You selectthese from tiers of plates borne in each hand byas many as a dozen servants, following eachother in procession, and presentingopportunities of choice amounting to twenty ormore, perhaps even thirty or more inextraordinary cases. Hence it is the privilege ofthe guest to take much or little of any, or all, ofthe condiments according to the state of hisappetite or greed. All the colours and nearly thewhole food kingdom are represented, and thetemptation is increased by the art ofarrangement. There is no way of judging whateach sort of relish is : It may be fish, fowl,vegetable, tuber, side-meat, or a combination ofnuts or fruits, as far as the intelligence of theuninitiated goes. There were several members of the party offoreigners of different degrees of prejudice
against anything strange in appearance. To one,all of the comestibles were " utterly impossible,"and remained so to the end; while to otherscuriosity got the better of suspicion, and finallythe appetites looked forward to dinner-timewith especial cordiality, for the rice-mountainrelish-cordon and the complicated combinationwere digested with ease. The standard dish, however, of the Javan
dinner is boiled potatoes and beefsteakswimming in a pint of good butter gravy, so thateven the conscientious dietist with vegetarianpreferences may revel in something that smacksof home and mother, with such an abundance ofluscious fruits that nothing but gustatorydelight happens as a usual thing. Still, it is thesame in Java or Japan, in London, Paris,Berlin, Vienna, Rome or New York, thedigestion of food is under the control of the headand therefore may be called head digestion. PROFESSOR  FISHER 'S EXPERIMENT. The most important large experiment for the
testing of head digestion under conditions ofHORACE  FLETCHEK  IN HIS MASTER  OF ARTS ROBES. THE AUTHOR  ON HIS SIXTIETH  BIRTHDAY, PERFORMING  FEATS OF
AGILITY
AND STRENGTH  WHICH  WOULID  BE REMARKABLE, EVEN IN A YOUNG
ATLETE. strict scientific control was that inaugurated
and conducted by Professor Irving Fisher, ofYale University, in America. Professor Fisher occupies the Chair of
Political Economy at Yale, has made extensiveresearches into the factors that influence theeconomies or extravagances of living, and isPresident of the Committee of One Hundred ofthe American Association for the Advancementof Science on Health. Professor Fisher's interest in my revelations
and tests relative to the potency of headdigestion came primarily from a personal testwhich worked wonders for him in establishing afoundation for good health. He was notesatisfied with the later Chittenden experiments,because they substituted academic prescriptionfor natural selection in formulating the rules ofthe inquiry. Like myself, in conducting theoriginal researches, Professor Fisher realizedthat the practical value of my discoveries wasthat no one needed a biological chemist to orderhis meals for him or tell his appetite what hisbody needed in the way of food elements. The Fisher experiment worked with nine
healthy undergraduates who were ambitious totake high scholastic honours, and who had little
time for athletics or any form of physicalexercise, they being types of the averageUniversity undergraduate. A generous table was supplied them with
meat and every variety of food that usuallycomposed college fare. The only instructionswere that thorough mastication and especialattention to the enjoyment of the food asrecommended by me in my books should befaithfully performed. This course was pursuedfor half a year, and for the rest of the year, inaddition to the careful head treatment andenjoyment, preference was to be given to foodsknown to be low in nitrogen content; but not tothe extent of suppressing any distinct call ofappetite for them. In the first half of the experiment the men
held their own on about 40 per cent. less food,computed by cost, and increased their strength-endurance ability by something more than 100per cent. , with the added felicity of feelingunusually fit all of the time, entirely escapingthe slack or sick spells they had beenaccustomed to, and improving greatly in theirgeneral studentability, that is: power of
concentration, memory, mental comfort,profundity of sleep, etc. During the second half of the experiment still
more improvement was secured owing to thereadiness of the body to accommodate itself tothe wish by favouring the economies. I have not a copy of the report at hand. It is
included in the publications of Yale Universityabout 1905. While all of the abundance of confirmatory
evidence which has accumulated since 1898 isvaluable and gratifying, the verdict of theunremitting observation since then is that theproblem of nutrition is always a personal one. After fifteen years of devotion to the study ofthe head-end question, with due attention to thetell-tale excreta and the product expressed interms of energy and general comfort, I amunable to predict what my body is going to wantto-morrow in the way of nutrition supply. I cansay with some confidence that if I go on doing asI have been accustomed to doing daily, and noshock of grief or surprise intervenes to upset allcalculations, I am likely to find nutritivesatisfaction as expressed by appetite among the
foods that are commonly agreeable to me. If I am compelled or impelled to do a great
stunt of walking or other unusual exertion, orreceive crushing news, all my presentpredictions may be useless. The body itself,from the hair on the head to each finger or toe-nail will know what it wants and will havegiven to the caterer Appetite its requisitioncovering the need. In the meantime each braincell and all of the bones have not beenneglectful of their sustenance requirements, norhave they been backward in letting Appetiteknow. It is fortunate that the common needs of
digestion may be supplied from a limited rangeof food varieties. Milk is all-sufficient always forgeneral supply of the nutritive requisites. In theplebeian potato, which has attained to royalrank as the result of the extensive experimentsof Dr. Hindhede,* of Denmark, in co-operationwith Madsen the Faithful, has been found full
* Dr. Hindhede, Protein and Nutrition: an Investigation. London, 1913, Ewart, Seymour & Co. , Ltd. , Burleigh Street,
W. C. nourishment for ten months, at least, when
supplemented by butter or margarine to furnishthe fuel supply. Even in this surprisingrevelation no academic prescription wasinfallible. Potatoes differ in nutritive value asmuch as 50 per cent. Fresh-cooked and well-cooked ones alone fill the bill of sufficiency, andfull head-work in assuring easy digestion wasmade the first rule of the test. For four months Iserved as a check test-subject and speak fromexperience. Nothing is ever accomplished except by a
division of labour and on the just division ofresponsibility depends the success of effort. Nature has given to us the head-end of
responsibility. CHAPTER IX
QUESTION PRESCRIPTION AND
PROSCRIPTION
The Protein Enthusiast—Doubting Thomases
THE only completely accurate prescriber of
nutrition for living creatures is Mother Natureherself, and if she does not prescribe anything
by the undoubted approval of appetite sheproscribes it. One of the rules which have governed my
quest for optimum human nutrition in themidst of the twentieth century food supply andother conditions, has always been to go toNature for final advice in the matter. When I say " Question Prescription and
Proscription " I mean that the most positiveprescribers of food have something in the foodline or advice to sell, and they proscribe aspositively anything that competes with theircommercial product. My eyes were opened to this possible snareand delusion by a great doctor of medicine,*
who is also one of the most ardent economists Ihave ever met—not a miser in any sense, but areligiously philosophical economist. He isalmost as righteously indignant against anywho use the trust which is placed in them byclients or patients for the selling of high-pricedfoods as he is at the makers, advertisers,retailers and prescribers of alcohol as abeverage. In his just opinion it is as wicked, oralmost as wicked, to advise unprofitableextravagance of any sort as it is to prescribepoison. To this discriminating philosopher food is the
basis of health-wealth, and sacred to its divineusefulness. The great harm that was done to the world by
the academic prescription of excessive proteinrations
 † was that it started a vicious circle of
extravagances which led as surely to untimelydeath as murder. The perpetrators of thispernicious prescription were innocent ofintention to do harm ; in fact, they were full of
* Dr. M. Hindhede: Copenhagen, Denmark. † Voit, Atwater, etc. the most generous of motives in issuing their
poisonous advice, and one of the mostprominent, at least, paid the penalty by dyingmiserably of his own fatal ignorance. I may also say that it is " presumption,"
advisably, for almost all prescriptions of foodwhich do not have their basis on the naturalbody calls are presumptuous. Nature knows. Ifgiven a chance to show her knowledge Natureprescribes rightly and delivers her message inthe form of appetite and the other instincts. Shewill do this in the midst of the most complicatedof artificial food mixtures, as I have reason to
know from personal experience, confirmed by
many others over and over again. Therefore, I may say more surely than ever,
that whatever 
NATURE  PROVIDES  and PERMITS  as
NOURISHMENT  I HAVE  NO RIGHT  TO PRO SCRIBE. THE ONLY PRE SCRIPTION
that Honesty approves is the Optimum
Economic Nutrition; and my great preceptor,Dr. Hindhede, the ideally honest scientist anddoctor, ventures to prescribe only the plainest offoods that are delicious to a true, keen appetite,and cost the least through being in season and
so common and easy to grow as to be cheapest. This good and superlatively honest doctor
does not Proscribe anything that Nature
permits as food and he does not even Proscribe
the transportation of grapes from Madeira tothe North Cape of Norway for the enjoyment ofthose who can afford to pay for them. Would the Proscribers of flesh food have
denied Amundsen and his companions the fleshof their faithful dogs as a last resort in securingnourishment for the completion of their journeyto the South Pole. It was their truly last resortin gaining the victory over the Ice God ; andwould to God that brave Captain Scott and hisband of faithful ones had had such a last butsaving resort to help them accomplish theeleven miles between them and rescue. Butthen, the world would have missed a model ofaltruism that is worth a million lives, and one ofwhich million everybody would like to be, iftheir lives are worth the living. THE PROTEIN  ENTHUSIAST. While writing this chapter I have beenforwarded material for indignation and a text
for condemnation in the form of a book so full offood prescription that it is positively poisonous,as read with the intelligence of my own andcurrent knowledge of the subject, that it oughtto be pilloried as a " Horrible Example" ofpresumptuous prescription and proscription. Itis an advertisement pure and simple, but soprejudicial to the natural facts in the case thatit again raises the question of the advisability ofa Supreme Court of the Physiology of Nutrition,to try such nutrition perverters for high treasonto Mother Nature. I will not name the book or the author, to
further the advertisement. I once stopped acontroversy with the doctor-father of the authorby offering to wager him one hundred poundsthat I could beat him out on a ten mile go-as-you-please tramp, which he had mentioned asone of his stunts to prove his contentions. Ourages were nearly equal, and the difference oftraining consisted of his prescribing for himselfover 100 grams of proteid daily (less by 20 percent. than the vicious Voit* or Koenig
Standards, and less by 30 per cent. than theStandard that killed poor Professor Atwater),while I had subsisted for years on less than halfhis prescription. He warned me that I wascourting death, but that he was providing forhimself longevity by the mile. He got mad withme, and nearly fumed at the mouth, because Iassumed to insist that only Mother Nature wasa competent prescriber, intimating that he wasnot. I could not out-talk him, and so I sent hima challenge. He made the excuse that he wasleaving for the Continent for a rest, but wouldtalk further with me when he returned. Hisreputed forty-thousand-pound office practice ofprescribing his favourite dietaries had wornhim out and he was going for a rest. Later I
* Carl Voit, of Munich, prescribed as Standard daily diet for
a man doing moderate work : 118 grams of Protein, 56 grs. Fat,
500 grs. Carbohydrates, with a total fuel value of 3,055 large
calories; increasing the same to 145 grams Protein, 160 grs. Fat,450 grs. Carbohydrates, with a total fuel value of 3,370 large
calories. This is the celebrated Voit Diet Standard. Professor
Atwater, of Connecticut, went further, prescribing as Daily DietStandard no less than 125 grams of Proteins, with sufficient fat
and carbohydrates to equal a total fuel value of 3,500 large
calories for a man doing a moderate amount of labour;increasing the amount of Protein to 150 grams, with fats and
carbohydrates to a total fuel value of 4,500 large calories per diem. heard of him in a sanatorium—surely
disgraceful to a doctor to be compelled to go tosuch a place for " treatment. " The race, or contest, never took place, but
since then I personally have several timesbroken records established by men one-half, andeven one-third, of my age with progressive easeup to three years ago when last put to a test,and I have noted no letting-up of the progress ofrecuperation as judged by " feelings " orendurance when doing unusual stunts. In this direction I now feel that I have done
enough, and that it is not for age to temptProvidence by competing with the Prime ofMuscularity in feats of strength and endurance. John L. Sullivan and Jefferies and many morewent once too often into the ring, and MotherNature, not Corbett or Jack Johnson, knockedthem out for good and all. Fletcherizing does notinclude either imprudence or bluff. It merelytrusts good Mother Nature for directions toaccompany her nutriment-medicine. Wheneverat any time I feel the impulse to turnsomersaults from the lead platform of a man-of-war into good, clean salt-water—as I did a fewyears ago or so in the Philippines, as a
demonstration to impress the natives—I will" up and do it, or die in the attempt. " What I amdoing now more than ever is keeping my ear tothe mouth of Mother Nature, my finger on herpulse of command, and doing her biddings aswell as I can interpret them. If a thing is notagreeable to do, I take it as a warning not to do
it. There are so many useful things to do thatare pleasant, what is the use of going out of theway to do disagreeable things. There are somethings that are natural and agreeable that weshould do, and which we have got out of thehabit of doing, physical exercise, for instance. We are dealing with cultivated abnormalitiesalways in a cramped and complex civilisation. " We are constantly doing the things that weshould not do, and leaving undone those thingsthat we ought to do," as the Prayer Book tellsus, including carelessness of eating, andshirking physical exercise. To return to thecallow book of the canny doctor-son of myantagonist of a dozen years ago. It isn't socallow as it is canny, and since the persons inthe case are of the canniest of peoples, thosewho are so shrewd that Jewish merchants do
not thrive among them, and the prescriptionresults in thousands of pounds a year revenue,the game may be set down to ordinarycommercial cupidity and popular gullibility. It issafe to always warn against Prescription forRevenue. Like patriotism or religion forrevenue, it is questionable, if not surelyselfishly prejudiced. On the other hand, MotherNature charges no fee for her advice. She paysgood coin as a premium for her patients in thesame way that I bribed my first test subjectsinto eating right by paying them for eating in
addition to furnishing the food. DOUBTING  THOMASES
who are too lazy, or incredulous, or careless, to
take a month to try the Mother NaturePrescription as interpreted by me, are liable tosay: " Appetite is abnormal. Taste is perverted,and the demands of the body are whollyunnatural. " True. But abnormality of that sortcan be corrected in a very short time. A "poorchap " who is lucky enough to have to gowithout food long enough to " whinney like ahorse " at the smell of fresh-baked bread and
the thought of good Danish butter on it, is notgoing to " turn up his nose " at even a crispbaked potato; neither is he likely to requiresweetbreads to coax himself to eat. Correctingperverted appetite is like purifying a streamwhich is being polluted at its source and runsmuddy all the way to the sea. Stop thepollution, and the stream will purify itself asfast as ever it can by hurrying along with itsimpurities to the great ocean sewerage. CHAPTER X
WHAT CONSTITUTES A FLETCHERITE
Fletcherism and Longevity—W. E. Gladstone, Fletcherite —
Fletcherizing Liquids—Getting the Best out of Everything— TheStudy of Mother-Nature. SINCE the term "Fletcherite" is incorporated
in some of the latest dictionaries, it is properthat the person whose name has been used forthe designation should define what constitutesa Fletcherite. Any person who eats in a healthy manner is a
Fletcherite. Any person who eats in a polite manner is a
Fletcherite. Any person who is faithful to his end of
responsibility in securing healthy nutrition forhimself is a respectable eater and a goodFletcherite. WHAT  IS NOT A FLETCHERITE. The above definitions are fully compre-
hensive, but sometimes it is more effective todescribe a thing by telling what it is not, andleaving the remainder as an inferential
description. Following this suggestion: it is safe to say,
that :
Anyone who eats when he is not hungry or
what his appetite does not approve, is not aFletcherite. All this presupposes the ordinary opportunity
for selection in civilized communities where thisbook is liable to be read and where itsrevelations and recommendations are mostneeded. Any one who does not give his appetite a
chance to guide him to healthy nutrition is not aFletcherite. Any one who does not extract all of the taste
from his food, while it is in the region wheretaste is developed, is not a Fletcherite. Any one who succumbs to greed of " getting
the worth of his money," because he has paid forfood, or can get food free of cost, or takes it onthe insistence of Aggressive Hospitality, or tokill time, or for any purpose other than for thesatisfaction of a real appetite, is not aFletcherite. FLETCHERISM  AND LONGEVITY. Returning to positive definition of a
Fletcherite : it is a good safe betting propositionthat all persons who have passed the seventyyear-mark in the life race are Fletcherites inthe fundamental requirement of healthy eating. If they reach beyond the eighty year-mark it iscertain that they have been fairly decent eatersfor many years, even if they abused themselvesearlier in life. For example : vide the
autobiography of Luigi Cornaro,* which wasconcluded only when he was nearly onehundred years old. Vide also, occasional
newspaper statements attributed tocentenarians or near centenarians who claim tohave been Fletcherites before Fletcher wasborn. Some of them have had the " constitution "necessary to attain the respectable longevityand have used tobacco and alcohol at the sametime, but there is no evidence that eithertobacco or alcohol lengthened their lives. In thesame category of questionably-profitableindulgences may be put any of the stimulants or
* London: Ewart, Seymour & Co.
The author emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and encourages readers to "Show me!" and verify the information through their own experiences and observations.
What is the author's approach to understanding the importance of personal responsibility in nutrition?
The author stresses the importance of head digestion and mastication in the mouth, emphasizing that the head plays a crucial role in the digestive process.
According to the author, what is the key to good digestion?
The author does not believe that the stomach plays a significant role in digestion, emphasizing that the mouth and head are responsible for the digestive process.
What is the author's opinion on the role of the stomach in digestion?
The author is strongly against prescription and proscription, emphasizing that Mother Nature is the ultimate authority on nutrition and that any attempts to prescribe or proscribe food are misguided.
What is the author's stance on the idea of prescription and proscription in nutrition?
The author defines a Fletcherite as someone who eats decently, respects their appetite, and does not succumb to gluttony or greed, and also emphasizes that being a Fletcherite is not a personal achievement, but a natural and normal state.
What is the author's opinion on the concept of "Fletcherite"?