The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-02-15

eat light and easily digested food N
small quantities and now [ am getting
along all right There is not the slight
est doubt that the treatment has cured
my stomach trouble
Ambrose Taylor had the most pain
full experience of the six fasters. lie is
so years of age and for Il long time had
been afflicted with rheumatism n the
left leg and hip. He tried all sorts IF
remedies without relief. Early in last
November he was reduced to a COndi-
tiOn where he had to give up work and
take to his bed. las | lay there lie
said, and in my mind ran over all L
had done in the last fourteen years try
ing to get well. it occurred to me that
] had better go back To Mother Ma
ture and give her a chance. | had
read about fasting, and | reasoned out
that Nature was our best doctor after
all if we'd only give her a chance. But
you can't expect her to do you any
good when you are all the time divert
ing her attention and giving her other
responsibilities Very often when you
are ailing you literally force things
down your throat when you really
don't feel like eating Nature can't
carry on the work of digestion and doc
toring at the same time.
so | took my bed and set thirty
days as a limit of my fast At first the
pangs of hunger We're fierce. for l was
always considered big eater. After
I'd dOwned the pangs | got blow that
nearly finished me-a stroke of paraly-
sis. You'll understand what that meant
to me when | tell you my father,
brother and aunt all died of paralysis.
1 was disCourag ed, but | kept right on
with my fast. thinking that if | was
going to die it didn't make any diff
ference whether ] ate or not. On Nov.
is. % and Is | had additional attacks
of paralysis. each being milder than
the preceding. When | saw how things
We're going ! became so absorbed in
watching the paralysis that l forgot
the rheumatism One day | suddenly
discovered that my rheumatic leg was
very much more timber. 1t was an eye
opener when you consider / hadn't
been able to straighten it in four years.
My son saw to it that I didn't lack
for comfort during all this time, and
the neighbors. when they heard what
was doing. kept dropping in to see
how ! was getting along. Everybody
urged me to quit the foOlishness, go
back to a physician and eat something
to keep up my strength. but ] wouldn't.
During the whole time the only lour-
ishment | took was a pint of grape
juice 1 drank about the same amount
of water as usual. | know I could have
easily stuck it out for thirty days but
at the end of twenty-three days L quit.
BY this time the paralysis was gone
and the last trace of the rheumatism
was disappearing. | believe I'm sound
man now for my age-60 years. During
the fast L dropped from 179 to 164
pounds. not as much as you'd think
1t must be borne in mind that all of
these cures are of recent occurrence,
to demonstrate whether the maladies
have been completely eradicated.
The three moderns who made repu-
tations for themselves as ''fasters'
were Dr. Tanner. Succi and Merlotti
Each of these cases was experimental,
and was made under careful arrange
ments. DR. Tanner tasted forty days.
Succi thirty days and MerlOtti sixty
days Merlotti at a fat goose. bones
and all, before beginning. Succi took |
4 drink to which he attached great i'm |
pnrtance In Merlottis case the di-
ninua ton in weight amounted to q per |
cent at the end of fifty days. and there |
was great danger of a fatal result from |
he enfeebleness of the nervous sys- /
-em The faster persisted in going on !
70 the end. after being advised to dis |
continue the experiment and after !
irst food. Nevertheless. he presided at !
banquet given in his honor, and fully |
'ecovered at the end of two months.