Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/85

 breath and coated tongue, while there are others in whom all the signs, thus far described, are in evidence in gradually diminishing intensity until the end of the fast.

The experience of the fast is often trying to those who, by high living and overfeeding, have given the liver work beyond its capacity. Bile, extracted from the circulation and stored in gall bladder and liver, is cast out in large quantities and floods the intestines to such degree that, often before it can be carried downward, the stomach finds itself a depository for the surplus, which fact is noted by nausea and vomiting. There is no absolute certainty of the appearance of this sign, but it is usually present in the subjects referred to. In extreme form this symptom indicates a liver in some stage of disintegration, and recovery is doubtful. However, in one known instance during a fast, vomiting of bile occurred for twenty-six days in succession, with later restoration to health.

For the reason that excessive vomiting of bile is a symptom that indicates the probability of organic disease of the liver or of the intestinal tract, in these cases caution is urged in the application of the protracted fast. The symptom is not to be regarded as alarming