Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/297

 The patient, a man 40 years old, was really suffering from a badly congested condition of stomach and upper intestines, and underwent a fast of fifty days with no marked disturbances. His weight was reduced from 145 pounds to 105 pounds, and the subsequent gain in avoirdupois and in strength was normal, with the result that in two months from breaking the fast, he had regained the former to the point of balancing the scales at 170.

Without citing individual instances, attention is directed to the ease with which the disease symptom known as appendicitis yields to the fast. The vermiform appendix in the human body is a slender blind sac opening from the caecal portion of the large intestines. It is on an aA^erage from three to six inches in length, and of a calibre of that of a lead-pencil. It is found in man and in some of the lower animals, and in a few of the latter it is large and performs a digestive function. In the human body its use is problematical, but it is more than probable that its function is that of stimulating peristalsis, either through the secretion of a lubricant or by mechanical contractions.

In the medical world, radical treatment