Page:Linda Hazzard - Fasting for the cure of disease.djvu/93

 system of therapeutics, for it is always an important factor in disease. After the body has become accustomed to a fixed food supply, whatever the quantity or the hours of ingestion, it strenuously rebels when denied. The system may be greatly overfed; it may be slowly poisoning itself through its own indiscretions ; yet the omission of a meal sets the stomach clamoring. Given the usual quota, matters progress comparatively smoothly until the excess proves too heavy to be carried, or some minute organism finds soil in which to increase and multiply; then nature calls a halt and attempts correction by her only remedy, disease. Opportunity occurs when the accustomed impetus, food, is removed, but the patient is plunged into the depths. Stimulation, so long a habit, now seems necessary to counteract the symptoms produced by deprivation, and here mentality must be called to the rescue, and the will must be asserted in order to overcome the disposition and the desire to resume feeding.

The kidneys, the lungs, and the skin are the main avenues through which the liquids of the body carrying with them soluble impurity are eliminated. In the fast, when any of these means of escape are clogged and