Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-21
SCIENCE OF FASTING
AS ExPoUNDED BY A MAN WHO
TASTED FoRTY-FlvE DAYS.

AS ExPoUNDED BY A MAN WHO
TASTED FoRTY-FIVE DAYS.
Mr.. John Griscom kinks a Thirty Days
Fast an insignificant Matter-Succi and
His E~Iixir-Fasting rs a Remedial
Agent.
Learning that Mr.. John Griscom, who
tasted forty-ive days in Chicago in 1851,
was in town, a reporter from this paper
called on him for a talk on the subject.
| He said that in the last twenty years
| since he made the Subject a special
study, he has tasted at least fifty times,
the periods being all the way from two
| and three weeks to thirty days, besides
his celebrated fast of ~forty-five days
which is the longest time on record.
"In fact, | have tasted these periods so
many times" he added, that l consider
| q fast of twenty-five or thirty days as an
insignificant matter. For such q period
it requires no special effort or endurance
it is c~onsistent-for there is no appar-
ent change in a person who goes at it in
the right way nor any depletion. From
nv experience / regard it as a natural
thing, and as easy to fast twenty-five or
| thirty day as three days. l have often
gone without food for twenty.one days,
and have shown no sign of having gone
without \ meal"
What about others you know Of who
have fastedE"
We'll, there is DR.. E P. Miller, of this
city, VINO tells me he ia tied twenty-three
days, and the people III the hotel where
he was living did not know of it. He
kept at his work right along and it did
not affect him at all. This is entirely
contrary to Tanners fast, over which so
much was made here, which was one OF
supreme endurance. Another man whom
/ have met who tasted was a very I'M
usual and remarkable case. He went by
the name of Budd Henry. He was cap
tured by the Indians and put in a cave
where his surroundings were so dis
agreeable that he could not eat a mouth
full. He tasted in this way thirty-nine
and three-quarter days before he effected
his escape. A remarkable result followed.
He developed a wonderful mental ca
paCity an aStonished every one by 1t.
But this was an entirely exceptional
case.
sUCCI n HIS ELIXIR.
"What do l think Of Succi and his
elixir, q drop of which enables him to
fast forty-eight hours Though l think
such q thing would be a very beneficial
discovery, | take no stock in it. AS to
| Fisher, whose elixir it is claimed will en-
able other people to fast, l think what
he attributes to the effect of his elixir, is
due simply to a belief that it makes fast
ing uniniuriOus. 1t is n matter of fact
that a person does feel better after a fast
of fOrty-eight hours. 1t is true that a
craving for food will take place in this
time, because the system is in the habit
of taking food, but after that the sensa-
ton does not occur.
The application of all this is the en-
listmen. of all the intellectual faculties.
A person to fast through the will power,
not believing it is right, would destroy
the nervous system in two or three days.
But if there is a full belief that it can be
done, without harm, one can do it easily.
The trouble is the majority of people be-
licve that it can't be done, aud thus pco-
pie brighten themelveS to death rather
than starve to death. / never found,
until | tasted, a human being-dOctOrS
or anybody clse-who thought it at ali
probable such q thing could be done. Even
now leading physicians insist that il can't
be done. For years | have given the sub
iect special study, and | believe it is time
now, in the renewed agitation of the sub
jcct, to make the application. Either
fasting is q good thing or it isn't. This
is the secret that physicians, physiolo-
] a:.,, ,,l r,;,ntiSfS hoy-a NOT fpnn1 ont
yet
A GREAT REMEDIAL AGENT.
Suppose the prejudice against fasting
to be removed, what will be the practical
results
1t would be shown to be the greatest
remedial agent known. 1t would be the
means of killing incipient diseases and
effect remarkable cures. With the preju-
| dice against fasting wholly removed any
one in the enjoyment of perfect health,
could fast two or three weeks without in
convenience. But if q man should fast
simply as an experiment, without q full
belief that he could do it, he would l0ll
himself. Ny own life was saved by fast
ing. | don't look like a very sick man
now. do |? and yet all l eat a day is n
small loaf of bread and some fruit, with
two or three cups of coffee. (Mr. Girls
com is a large, we'll built man, weighing
over 200 pounds, and has a ruddy healthy
lOuk.)
Il walk five or ten miles a day, have a
clear head and never a thought of hunger.
have got to prefer this way of living,
and find it amply sufficient. From this |
am convinced that people would be a
good deal healthier if they should eat
less"
Are you willing to demonstrate these
ideas to the public"
Il have gotten through with fasting,
and had almost forgotten about my long
fast until the attention now being called
to the subject recalled it to me, and |
would not undertake to fast again unless
it should become important in the inter
ests of science to do so. Even then
should want everything about the expert
mcnt to be thoroughly respectable and to
be invited to do so by the best authority.
If it seemed necessary to get at the truth,
as compared with elixir business, then
would be willing to put myself entirely
under scientific care for, say, thirty days
fast, regarding which psychologists might
make their own conditions provided they
were reputable men. New York Mail
and Express.
Picture Of Puget Sound.