Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/172

 power from without and life is very evidently neither residual nor developed within the body must reach us from the domain of the surrounding atmosphere, either through air itself or through its penetrating medium, ether. Its transference to the brain directly through the bony structure immediately above and back of the nasal passages is conceivable; and, while the purity of the atmospheric constituents that furnish the lungs with blood-restoring activity may well be vitiated in transmission by paths not naturally intended, the lack of intellectuality displayed in all mouth breathers cannot be accounted for on this basis, since no depreciation in blood value is apparent. Hence the theory here presented: that vital force enters the body from without, through the natural air passages and the bony cavities immediately above and in their rear. Whatever the attitude of the reader in respect to this, there can be no question of the importance to be attached to the formation of a nasal breathing habit hygienic, because it is natural; healthful, because it is correct.

In the fast proper respiratory methods must be pursued, and deep breathing practiced. Every portion of the lung surface