The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-06-21
A NATION OF CAUTIONS.
lNew York MAil ndlfrnrr

I lNeN t0sk &sAA eAs% &AFENbse4
 "This is a pztion of glut1cas..
 The speaker was the famous Ds. Tan ner. If people would eat and drink less, there would be no more use for the doctors They could ali shut up and 70 of on a prolonged picnic
 They would probably object to ths:."
 "Of course, and that is Iust the trouble They live of the gluttony and insemper- ance of the people, as the lawyers do off the crimes. Their bread and butter is concerned, you see, and consequently they will no, utter warning word
 "Ot wha, practical bench, do you con- sider your great fast has been P
 ss l, has been of benefit in various ways. ] IL has turned the attention of the people. as well as the physicians, to the efficacy of fasting as a cure for diseases of all kinds. which contend it IS. In my own case. for inst snce. formerly had heart disease SO bad that competent physicians who examined me pronounced me in- curable. Since my fast l have had no trace of 1t whatever. The fast was pub hshed and talked about all over the country. and set people to thinking. Now many. instead of taking nauseous 1 tiiGaNt9Go tOf 1tNAuC1Ss ttfhk&y ko &tAU- out food tor four or hve days and find themselves cured. l meet men frequently who say to me that after reading the re- suits of my fast and what said, adopted that plan tor the cure of sickness. and now have no use tor phys,cizns. ls not the theory reasonable! Nature takes away mans appetite when he is sick. evidently intending that he shall not eat. and thus give his digestive organs chance to recuperate.
 The medical profession. too, were forced to discuss the matter and many to adopt my theories. A number of them wrote books upon the subject, both in this country, Canada and Europe. That eminent physician and surgeon, Fellow of the Royal Society, Dr. Richardson of LoaanE, England, wYeae hnok On the Benefits of Dr. Tanners Fast, which had an extensive circulation"
 " But was your only object to show the advantage of fasting as cure for dis ease? ?"
 " Not at all. My main idea was to dis prove the maierialistie theory of depend ence of the mind or brain upon the body. held and hold that the body and brain are dual, and that the latter can ac, in- dependently of the former. They said that the brain. m order to be active, must be fed upon foods rich in phospha,es : that when the supply stopped Il would cease to act. The old school of phy si- cians who believed this claimed also that man could not exis, more than twelve or fifteen days without food. Dr. Wm. A. Hammond said, when proposed to fas, thirty days, that ths man will either go crazy or die at the end Of fifteen days But proved that he was wrong My mind was as clear at the end as at the beginning of the fast, as was attested by all the physicians who watched me through it,"
 "You say that before your fast fifteen days was believed to be the limit to hu- man existence without food r'
 1t was, and was 60 stated in CaIpen- ter's and other physiologies. l do not know whether any nev physiology has been issued since that time, but when one is 1t will probably csntain { different statement. Of course, the old schooi men had ground for their belief in the eases of men who had died in mines and other places where they were cut off from . supply of food. None of them lived more than fifteen days. But claim that fear caused their death rather than starv- auon. don't believe any man ever starved to death. But ono of my strongest motives for the fast was on account oi the many persons buried alive. The idea of the fast grew ou, of a wager or challenge. Miss Mollie Frzncher, of Brooklyn, who claimed cliaTvoyant pow CTS, fell into q trance in 1878, and vas, 10 all appearance, dead. Dr. Spier, how ever, was called, although stating that he believed her dead, asked the family to keep the body without burial until de- composition set in. He stated hat this could do no harm, and that there vas an unusual appearance about the body which he could not account tor and wanted to study. It was kept as hede- sired, and there vas no change for ten weeks. when, much to the surprise of all. Miss Francher regained consciousness. The case of course attracted much atieu- tion and was pubiished in all the papers. Various New Yosk physscians were inter- viewed, and among them Dr. William A. Hammond, who stated that it uas im- possible and the girl vas a fraud This was published. and. on account of Dr. HAmmond's standing, accepted as true. especially as Miss Frzncher ignored an offer of the doctor to give her Sf 900 if she would fass fos thiny days under the supervision of the New York Neuroiogi- cal socieay. The young lady was of a sensitive disposition and shrank from pub licity, and having all the money she needed, cared nothing for the thousand dollars. read of the challenge n the papers, and having already lasted fouy- two days, wrote to Dr. Hammond o6er- ing myself as a substitute for Miss Fran cher. Alter much delay the proposition ~as accepted, and 1 went to New York from Minneapolis. The doctor, however, deferred the mAtfe1 from time to time, on enc presext aad another, and kaally wanted me to wait until the meeting of the Ssfional NeursloGical sosiey. This ' -- .H IA