Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/91

 observation proves that there can be no digestion in the absence of digestive juices, and that there is almost no secretion of the fluids when fever is present. Why, then, feed during high temperature? Without digestion there can be no nourishment, no upbuilding of wasted tissue. Why add the burden of eliminating undigested material to the already great effort that nature is making to reduce over-stimulated heart action and abnormal body heat? The surest means to correct this condition is to withhold food, to remove the refuse, and to rest those organs that are functionally unable to cope with the labor forced upon them.

Depending upon the physical tendencies of the individual, after the beginning of the fast and during its early stages, many symptoms not specifically described in this chapter may develop. In some a rash upon the skin appears, and in others a cold with excessive nasal and bronchial discharge is the form in which the purifying process at work is displayed. But these and all other signs that occur at this time may be ascribed in part to the depression succeeding food stimulation, and in part to the exceedingly great elimination of waste that is in progress. The