Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1913-10-15


WHY DO WE EAT AND DRINK?
Continuation of DIR. H. Lindlahr's
special series on dietetics.) The ma.
jority of people would reply: "Why,
everybody konws that! From food
and drink we derive our strength"
Are you so sure of this? Do you
really believe that the large amount
of animal heat and vital energy which
the human body manufactures, radi-
ates, and expends every twenty-four
hours is derived from the few pounds
Of food consumed in the course of a
day? Any Woodworking laborer or
athlete spends in energy the equiva-
lent Of several horse powers of steam
a day. A healthy individual may con-
tinue to do this for several weeks
without taking any food whatever.
This has been proved by our fasting
faddists. Many of these Marathon"
fasters have kept up their regular &C.
cupation for forty days or longer at
a time without the slightest difference
in body temperature. It may be ar
gued that this expenditure of animal
heat and vital energy during fast
takes place at the expense of the It's
sues of the body, which are consumed
in place of food. However the aver
age loss in weight during a strict
fast does not amount to more than
about one pound day. How can one
30 r;cb
ial necessary to supply the enormous
amount Of animal heat and vital ener-
gy produced and used by the body in
twenty-four hours?
To cite from personal observation:
One of our patients suffering from ty-
phoid malaria did not take any food
except water for seven weeks. At
the end of that time his body temper
allure was normal. During the last
two weeks of the fast he lost only
two pounds.
Another patient afflicted with can
Ger Of the stomach lived for two years
on few ounces of food daily. His
temperature was normal almost to the
tropical sun of the equator or freez-
ing with arctic cold, the temperature
of the body is exactly the same. If
it should drop or rise few degrees
below or above the normal, death en-.
sues. This regulation of the bodily
heat regardless Of the surrounding
temperature and, within certain lin.
it's, of the quantity and quality OF
food consumed, is one Of the greatest
mysteries of the wonderful human or
ganism. These considerations force
us to the conclusion that there must
be another source Of heat and energy
besides food. This is indeed the case
In order to understand the relation
ship of food to vital energy, we must
first endeavor to get a clearer under
standing of the true nature o.
strength" vital FORCE" and of 'life'
itself. In Mature Cure, Philosophy
and Practice" manuscript Of which Il
now with the printer, have given the
following definitions. Of vital force
from two radically opposed view
points:
There are two prevalent, but widel!
differing conceptions Of the nature o
Life or Vital Force: The material ant
the vital. The former looks upon lif'
or vital force with all it's physical
mental, and psychical phenomena al
manifestations of the electric, mag
netic, and chemical activities of tn
physical-material elements composing
the human organism. From this poin
of view, life is sort of "spontaneou
combustion" or, as one scientist e.
pressed it a succession of ferments
TONS. This materialistic conception
of life, however, has already becom
obsolete among the more advance
biologists as a result of the wonderfu
discoveries of modern science, whic
are fast bridging the chasm betwee
the material and the spiritual real1
of being.
But medical science as taught /
the regular schools is still dominate
by the old, crude, mechanical col
ception of vital force and this, as W
shall see, accounts for some of II
gravest errors of theory and of pra
tice. The vital conception on the oil
e. hand, regards life as the primar
force of all forces, coming from tn
great central source of all power.
This force, which permeates, heat
and animates the entire created un