Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/259

 administration of additional drugs or by further food-stimulus. Elimination can then take place only abnormally, with, in all cases, but partial evacuation of body waste. In the natural treatment of disease, the character of the toxin need not be considered, save in so far as it is an indication of the severity of disease, while the thought paramount deals with the condition of the organs rather than with the nature of the circulating poison.

The statement is often made that the fasting patient subsists upon his own body while food is denied. This is absurd, for the dominant process in action at this time is that of elimination of waste, which at no point was available for repair of tissue, and which, stored throughout the system, acted only as an obstacle in the avenues of vitality. This is so even of that part of the refuse that had entered into cell composition, since the presence of disease has made apparent the fact that this matter has been rendered harmful by decomposition through delay or arrest of elimination. The diminution in weight of the body during a fast is due to the removal of waste, and the change in cell life that is taking place must be continued until naught but healthy tissue and tissue nourishment re-