The No Breakfast Plan and the Fasting-Cure Part 10

"_Sunday_, Feb. 11.--Pa.s.sed the day in reading and drank frequently of water.

"_Monday_, Feb. 12.--This being a holiday, did not go to the city. Pa.s.sed the day in entertaining callers. Have not felt quite so well owing to a slight cold settling in my left kidney.

"_Tuesday_, Feb. 13.--Measurements: waist, 38-1/2 inches; chest, 40 inches; hip, 43 inches; calf, 14-1/2 inches; biceps, 12-1/2 inches; forearm, 11 inches; weight, 177-1/2 pounds.

"_Wednesday_, Feb. 14.--I attribute the cause of loss of sleep to a hard day's work and in reading too long last evening.

"_Thursday_, Feb. 15.--Somewhat wakeful during the night.

Retired at 7.30 o'clock, after a hard day's work.

"_Friday_, Feb. 16.--3.30 P. M., temperature, 98.5 F.; pulse, 74; tongue clean; weighed 172-1/2 pounds. During the evening drank one cup of hot water.

"_Sat.u.r.day_, Feb. 17.--After a restful night felt well all day.

"_Sunday_, Feb. 18.--Retired at 9 o'clock and have rested a good deal during the day.

"_Monday_, Feb. 19.--Weighed 169-1/2 pounds, and retired feeling well.

"_Tuesday_, Feb. 20.--Weighed 168-1/2 pounds; was examined by Dr. Helmer, who found me in excellent condition; 4.30 P. M., weighed 169-1/2 pounds, a gain of one pound during the day, on account of drinking a little more water than usual.

"_Wednesday_, Feb. 21.--Temperature, 98.5 F.; pulse, 69; 4 P. M., weighed 168-1/2 pounds; have not felt quite so well during the day.

"_Thursday_, Feb. 22.--Occupied the day--holiday--in reading and reclining, and went to bed feeling pretty well.

"_Friday_, Feb. 23.--At 8.30 A. M. weighed 166 pounds; 3.30 P. M., temperature, 99 F.; pulse, 98; lung expansion, 2-3/4 inches; went home and to bed, feeling considerably exhausted owing to a hard day's work and too many callers.

"_Sat.u.r.day_, Feb. 24.--Did not rest very well from overtaxing the brain yesterday. Do not feel quite so well this morning owing to that fact and from drinking too much water during the past twenty-four hours. At 8.25 A. M. weighed 166 pounds; went home not feeling well to-day on account of some stomach disturbance, which probably comes from drinking too much water; did not drink any water during the evening; feeling quite tired at bedtime.

"_Sunday_, Feb. 25.--Slept nine hours and rested well, and did not drink any water during the night. Kept quiet all day, lying down most of the time, and felt the coming of hunger about 6 o'clock.

12 o'clock noon, pulse regular; tongue clean; temperature, 98.2F.; weighed 164 pounds. Measurements were: waist, 36-1/2 inches; chest, 38 inches; hip, 40-1/2 inches; calf, 14 inches; biceps, 11 inches; forearm, 10 inches.

Was in bed at 8 o'clock, still feeling hungry, and after a short sleep woke up at 11 o'clock with a sharp appet.i.te, and ate a dozen raw oysters, two oranges, two-thirds cup of beef-tea, five crackers, and part of a cup of Oolong tea.

I insert a photograph of Mr. Rathbun taken shortly after his second fast. There had been five years' trial of the No-Breakfast Plan before these fasting demonstrations."

One of the hardest things on earth as a mental operation is to be fair to the opposition. Now lest I have beguiled my readers overmuch by the force of my convictions even to the point of danger, I will give an estimate of the danger of fasting by one of the most eminent physicians of New York City, Dr. George F. Shrady. I quote from an interview reported in the New York _Sun_:

"The strange case of Milton Rathbun, of Mt. Vernon, who, to reduce his flesh and generally tone up his system, is said to have gone without food of any sort for thirty-six days, still continues to be the subject of more or less discussion among the medical men of the city. Dr. George F. Shrady, in speaking last evening of Mr. Rathbun's remarkable exploit, said:

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. MILTON RATHBUN,

SHORTLY AFTER HIS FAST.]

"'There are three things to say about it. In the first place, the fact, if it be a fact, as it seems to be, is astonis.h.i.+ng; secondly, it was very foolish; and thirdly, it would be a very unfortunate and dangerous thing to popularize such experiments.

Now as to whether the gentleman in question actually did go thirty-six days without taking nourishment of any sort is a matter I will not discuss. If he were a professional faster, I would hardly hesitate to say his claim was fraudulent, for I am fully convinced that all the professional fasters are frauds.

They are simply adept sleight-of-hand men. They work out some adroit trick by which they may get nourishment into their systems in spite of the always more or less negligent or suspicious watchers, and then advertise for a forty days' or sixty days' 'fast.'

"'Now, mind you, I do not say this Mt. Vernon case is anything of this sort. I only say that if it is true it is most astounding. It is in flat contradiction of all the authorities on the subject of a human being's ability to do without food.

The extreme limit of all well-authenticated cases of total abstinence from nourishment is from nine to ten days. Imprisoned miners have been known to go that time and survive.

"'But at all events it was a very foolish thing for Mr. Rathbun to do. About that there can be no manner of doubt. What will be the future effect upon him--upon his heart action, upon his impoverished blood, upon his nervous system, upon his organs of nutrition, necessarily paralyzed for days? These are grave questions, the answers to which may be unpleasant to Mr. Rathbun as they reveal themselves to him in the future. You cannot fly in the face of Nature and ignore all her laws in that way with impunity. She exacts her penalties and there is no court of appeals in her realm.

"'When I say that the extreme limits of abstinence from nourishment in clearly authenticated cases is from nine to ten days, you must not get the impression that all persons can last that long.

"'It is a question of environment, of mental condition--whether buoyed by hope or stimulated by ambition to do a great feat--and above all, of course, of the physical condition of the faster.

Without food the body absorbs its own tissues. Mr. Rathbun, I am told, was a very heavy man with a superabundance of tissue.

Naturally he could go longer without nourishment than a weak, attenuated, thin-blooded man.

"'Yet Mr. Rathbun was exercising daily and about his usual avocations, and he abstained from food for thirty-six days!

Well, it's remarkable!

"'But I sincerely hope Mr. Rathbun will have no imitators. It would be a very unfortunate thing, fraught with grave possibilities, if the newspaper accounts of his reduction in weight and general improvement in health were to move others to follow his example. Many persons would be injured for life, physically wrecked, and perhaps actually killed if they conscientiously did the fifth part of what he is said to have done.

"'And right here it may be said that there is a great deal of exaggeration in the sweeping statements made about people eating too much. If a man sleeps well, goes about his business in a cheerful frame of mind, and does not get what is called "out-of-sorts," he may be pretty sure he is not eating too much, even though he eat a good deal. My observation is that the average man who works and gets a proper amount of exercise does not eat too much. If you want to get work done by the engine, you have got to stoke up the furnace. If a man wants to keep his vital energies up to par he has got to put in the fuel--that is, the food.

"'Of course, there are those who lead sedentary lives who get too much absorbed in the pleasures of the table and overfeed.

There are a sufficient number of these, to be sure, but I think they are the exception. But it will be a sad mistake if even they seek a road to health by Mr. Rathbun's starvation methods.'"

The doctor is astonished, and so am I that he is astonished. This would seem to imply that he has never had cases of acute sickness in which the amount of food taken during many days or even weeks was too small to play any part as a life-prolonging factor.

"It was a foolish, even dangerous experiment." How foolish or dangerous?

What vital organs suffered? Was there evidence of a loss of anything but fat? What organs were "necessarily paralyzed" during the fast? Evidently not the brain, else longer days of labor would not have been possible; and the grave future possibilities in heart action, impoverished blood, nervous system, upon organs of nutrition "necessarily paralyzed" for days; and the extreme limit of nine or ten days before death from starvation; and that without food the _body_ lives on its own tissues!

One can easily see that the earnest doctor is full of strong impressions that have little of the flavor of science: truth that is not self-evident should have the instant logic in easy reach. I may here say that my hygienic scheme has from the first been subject to similar attacks by physicians from the standpoint of impressions, but no physician has ventured into print against it after becoming aware of its physiologic basis.

I am happy to a.s.sure all readers that in all the involuntary fasts of my cases of acute sickness or in the voluntary fasts in chronic disease, has there been any other than improved general health as the result.

Notably was this the case in a man who fasted ten years ago for forty days for an ulcer of the stomach, and who had been troubled with indigestion for more than forty years. He had become nearly a mental and physical wreck when he took to his bed with an abolished appet.i.te. There have since been some ten years of nearly perfect health, and now in his seventy-seventh year he is the youngest-looking man for his age I have ever seen. He walks the streets with the gait of a youth of twenty. To do without food without hunger does not tax any vital power, as Dr.

Shrady may yet become aware.

XII.