Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/263

 deavor the desire for success, the hope of triumphing over other schools. But a broader, deeper feeling will actuate the true student of nature. In him a perfect understanding of the law of cause and effect the giving of a truth to the world, the relief of physical suffering are the stimuli that bring success to his work and cause him to surmount the obstacles in his way.

The first discovery of the efficacy of the fast in functional disease was rapidly followed by a knowledge of its value as a diagnostic agent. The method never fails to uncover every weak point in a diseased body, to reveal the exact location of organic distress or defect. Then came the value of proper approach to abstinence through gradual diminution of intake, thus insuring systemic accomodation to the physiological change involved, and permitting elimination naturally to dominate the functions. Here, too, the enema and the bath proved of greatest assistance in disposing of eliminative products.

As elimination proceeds, the observer is permitted to greater or less extent to determine the condition of function of the various organs, and, if mechanical or structural defect is present, it is certain to be detected.