THE GOOD RESULTS OF A LONG FAST.
It can not be denied that those physicians who have recommended protracted fasting as a means of relief in chronic diseases are entitled to public thanks, not indeed that in every case their judgment as to the end of a fast has been confirmed by the issue, tho we have not been able to hear of many cases of serious evil. We have the personal acquaintance of several who have fasted much longer than we had supposed possible, and been in much better health since. George P. Cooley, of Chicago, who a month ago was almost a physical wreck, broke his thirty-one-day fast at noon, August 15. He was racked with rheumatism until it seemed as if he could not bear the pain any longer, and suffered severely from catarrh and nervous afflictions. A telegram to the Tribune says after a month of absolute fasting he considers himself a well man, is without a pain or an ache. His eyes, which, when he began to fast, were badly inflamed, are bright and clear. In this city resides a gentleman who has twice fasted himself out of very serious complications. Let no reader, however, on account of this note conclude that protracted fasting is the thing for him to do on his own account, and without the supervision of a person thoroughly acquainted with the human constitution. Some fasters have immediately resumed, contrary to all medical rules, by eating a large meal. We have not heard of any serious consequences from that, but Mr. Cooley appears to have been more cautious. With a few friends he left his room and went to a restaurant near by, and ate a piece of bread, a plate of soup, a dish of oatmeal, and a small slice of watermelon. We have long tried to work upon the theory, that amid the temptations encountered on every hand it is difficult to eat too little or to have the meals too far apart. It comes, however, to this, that that rule is usually applied after violations of it have made it necessary.—Christian Advocate.