Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/151

 thus formed occurs rapidly and continuously, as is shown by the symptoms that follow.

An examination of human fecal discharges in the average case reveals conditions that are conclusive. Undigested food is found, digested food products and old f eces are present, and, dependent upon diet and mastication, the odor is more or less offensive. Normal refuse from properly masticated and chemically changed food is not disagreeable in odor. When daily examination is continued for a time, assurance is gained that food is not all digested; that the bowels are not completely cleared of waste by a regular daily movement; that fermenting, rotting matter defiles the human interior to an extent scarcely to be accepted as a fact ; and that, in consequence of over-supply, unnecessary tax is put upon the digestive tract and upon the organs of elimination. The results are apparent in a waste of energy that lowers vitality and diminishes the power of assimilation a double injury.

A movement of the bowels each day is no proof of a clean and healthy alimentary canal. Sufferers from digestive troubles often assume that, because the bowels are regular in action, the evacuations are