Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-07-18
Another Theory.
New York Sun, July 15. !

New York Sun, July 10.
It was rumored in and about Clarendon
Hall yesterday that certain physician who
had been watching DR.. Tanner every day
since his alleged fast began, had at Last dis
covered the source from which the alleged
fasting man derives his sustenance. A re
porter for the Sun found that physician in
Clarendon Hall last evening, and asked him
SIS it true that you have discovered that DR..
Tanner eats while pretending to fast?"
81 do not claim to have made any discov-
cry at ALL" replied the physician. 'tHoW
could I, when knew exactly how he inten d.
cd to feed himself at the time when he first
proposed to fast for forty days?"
M''Do you really mean to say that DR.. Tan
ner, although carefully watched day and
night, is deceiving everybody, and that he
takes food as often as he wants it?"
''The question is we'll put, and is easily
answered. do mean to say that he has
been supplied with food, and furthermore,
that it has been given him regularly, wheth-
or ne wanted it or not"
.sDo yo1 allude to the water that he has
absorbed while pretending to simply rinse
out his mouth twenty-five or thirty times q
day?"
''Nothing of the kind. And now that you
mention it will say that water is not food
ut all"
"Others say it is?"
81 know it. But water is inorganic mat
ter, and nothing but organic matter can be
food to the body. If water, which is COM
bination of two gases-oxygen and hydro
gen-is food, then why not atmospheric air,
which is mixture of the two gases, oxygen
and nitrogen? And if air, or anything
merely necessary to life, is food, then SUM-
Light is food, and iron and a hun.
dred other things not now considered to be
food must be recognized as alimert. Water
cannot make muscular or nervous tissue. II
cannot even make blood corpuscle, which is
the beginning of all the building processes
in the phenomena of life. Water is found
In every tissue and structure of the body,
even to the teeth; but it is always the same
lifeiess, inorganic substance"
ssIs it not then food for the bodyl"
EsNo. Its principal function is to act as q
vehicle to convey substances which are really
food to their destination. A boat load Of
wheat could not be conveyed from Buffalo to
New York without water to float it. No
more can the various organic substances
taken into the stomach as food be conveyed
to their proper destination without supply
of water through which they may swim and
be forced along by the action of the heart. y
sWhat sort of food is it then that this mar
is taking?"
NFood is force; and this man is daily re-
sewing q certain quantity of the very quint
essence of force.'
E'Does he receive this 'force' in the form
of ordinary foodi"
''Certainly he does, but he gets it in such
way that if any set of doctors, or any corps
of newspaper watchers whether double
triple, or sextuple corps should be appoint
ed to stand guard, he will get it all the same
and they could never detect him."
ssYou say that DR.. Tanner gets food, and
that this food is received in the form of the
quintessence of force. How do you explain
that?'
:sAs you must know,the great functions of
life require the expenditure Of certain