Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/332

 stretched without tearing, on account of the hardened nature of its walls ; the small intestines and the colon throughout their length displayed a series of cartilaginous contractions. In this instance these contractions were formed after full development to adult life had taken place. They undoubtedly were the results of powerful drugs administered from time to time after the eighteenth year, since all other portions of the intestines were of normal size. The fetus was removed from the uterus at the autopsy and was found to be in perfect condition, exhibiting the normal development of an unborn child of four months.

CASE 4, that of a married woman of 85, was similar in many respects to the one preceding. This patient fasted fifty-nine days from the beginning of illness until death, and the case was complicated with an extra-uterine pregnancy in the right Fallopian tube, which aggravated conditions until the fetus was prematurely delivered. The whole adult life of this woman had been made wretched by digestive disturbance, bilious attacks, and menstrual difficulties. Drugs and patent medicines had done their