Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/53

 employed. The law of hunger determines its duration, and, all other things being equal, the surroundings and mental attitude in accord, this course will assure restoration to health. When the environment is not congenial, or when, in the mind of the director of treatment, the condition of the patient is such as to require the suggestive effect of food, occasions may arise when the partial fast or the interrupted fast may be used to advantage. Sometimes, too, the facilities for carrying out a complete fast are not at hand, and here the partial fast may be deemed a better policy than its finished product. The end is eventually identical, although it is somewhat longer in accomplishment when the partial or interrupted fast is employed.

There are cases in which the poisonous products of digestive putrefaction are present in such quantity as to tax the eliminative organs beyond their capability. In fact, when serious and extreme symptoms occur after the beginning of a fast, it is virtually certain that organic defects exist, and caution and knowledge are then needed in carrying the fast to its conclusion. Because of the general belief that every symptom is a separate disease, the ordinary mind regards the symptom to the