Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/284

 Another case presents itself that of a woman 34 years old, in which the fast was undertaken for the relief of general disease resulting from years of wrong living and of erroneous treatment. Organically speaking, there was a mechanical defect in the dorsal vertebrae, two of which had been displaced in such manner as to compress the spinal cord thus causing complete paralysis of the lower trunk and legs. The slipping of these vertebrae was directly due to mal-nutrition of the dorsal muscles, and in all her life the patient had never known a moment of health, while intermittently in earlier days severe fevers had occurred, which finally created contractions in the descending colon, a condition that caused constipation and subsequent septicemia. When first examined, the case had been bedridden for one year, and a congestive chill was the immediate severe symptom that indicated the employment of other means than medicine for cure. The fast was entered without preparation, and was carried to a successful end after 58 days.

The medical history of this case showed an inherited tendency towards scrofula, and there had been manifest at intervals offensive running sores, while the thumb and the in-