I have repeatedly stated that xanthines have the same effect upon the system as uric acid. Caffeine and theobromine, the narcotic principles of coffee and tea, are xanthines; and so is the nicotine contained in tobacco. Peas, beans, lentils, mushrooms and peanuts, besides being very rich in uric acid-producing proteins, carry also large percentages of xanthines, which are chemically almost identical with uric acid and have a similar effect upon the organism and its functions.

From what has been said, it becomes clear why the meat-eater craves alcohol and xanthines. When by the taking of flesh foods the blood has become saturated with uric acid and the annoying symptoms of collaemia make their appearance in the forms of la.s.situde, headache and nervous depression, then alcohol and the xanthines contained in coffee, tea and tobacco will cause the precipitation of the acids from the circulation into the tissues of the body, and thus temporarily relieve the collaemic symptoms and create a feeling of well-being and stimulation.

Gradually, however, the blood regains its alkalinity and its acid-dissolving power and enough of the acid deposits are reabsorbed by the circulation to cause a return of the symptoms of collaemia.

Then arises a craving for more alcohol, coffee, tea, nicotine or xanthine-producing foods in order to again obtain temporary relief and stimulation, and so on, ad infinitum.

The person addicted to the use of stimulants is never himself. His mental, moral and emotional equilibrium is always unbalanced. His brain is muddled with poisons and he lacks the self-control, the clear vision and steady hand necessary for the achievement of success in any line of endeavor.

We can now understand why one stimulant craves another, why it is almost impossible to give up one stimulant without giving up all others as well.

From the foregoing it will have become clear that the stimulating effect of alcohol and of many so-called tonics depends upon their power to clear the circulation temporarily of uric and other acids.

Those who have read this chapter carefully, will know why this effect is deceptive and temporary and why it is followed by a return of the collaemic symptoms in aggravated form, and how these are gradually changed into chronic arthritic uric acid diseases.

In order to give a better idea of the various phases of uric acid poisoning, I have used the following ill.u.s.tration in some of my lectures:

A man may carry a burden of fifty pounds on his shoulders without difficulty or serious discomfort. Let this correspond to the normal solving-power and carrying-capacity of the blood for uric acid.

Suppose you add gradually to the burden on the man's back until its weight has reached one-hundred and fifty pounds. He may still be able to carry the burden, but as the weight increases he will begin to show signs of distress. This increase of weight and the attendant discomfort correspond to the increase of uric acid in the blood and the accompanying symptoms of collaemia.

If you increase the burden on the man's shoulders still further, beyond his individual carrying-capacity, a point will be reached when he can no longer support its weight and will throw it off entirely. This climax corresponds to the saturation point of the blood, when the limit of its acid-carrying capacity is exceeded and its acid contents are precipitated into the tissues.

The Treatment of Acid Diseases

The treatment of acid diseases is the same as of all other diseases that are due to the violation of Nature's laws: purification of blood and tissues from within and building up of the vital fluids (blood and lymph) on a natural basis through normal habits of eating, dressing, bathing, breathing, working, resting and thinking as outlined in other parts of this volume.

In severe cases which have reached the chronic stage, the treatment must be supplemented by the more aggressive methods of strict diet, hydrotherapy, curative gymnastics, ma.s.sage, manipulation and homeopathic medication.

Chapter XXVII

Fasting

Next in importance to building up the blood on a natural basis is the elimination of waste, morbid matter and poisons from the system.

This depends to a large extent upon the right (natural) diet; but it must be promoted by the different methods of eliminative treatment: fasting, hydrotherapy, ma.s.sage, physical exercise, air-and sunbaths and, in the way of medicinal treatment, by homeopathic, herb and vitochemical remedies.

Foremost among the methods of purification stands fasting, which of late years has become quite popular and is regarded by many people as a panacea for all human ailments. However, it is a two-edged sword. According to circ.u.mstances, it may do a great deal of good or a great deal of harm.

Kuhne, the German pioneer of Nature Cure, claimed that "disease is a unit," that it consists in the acc.u.mulation of waste and morbid matter in the system. Since his time, many "naturists" claim that fasting offers the best and quickest means for eliminating systemic poisons and other enc.u.mbrances.

To "fast it out" seems simple and plausible, but it does not always prove to be successful in practice. Fasting enthusiasts forget that the elimination of waste and morbid matter from the system is more of a chemical than a mechanical process. They also overlook the fact that in many cases lowered vitality and weakened powers of resistance precede and make possible the acc.u.mulation of morbid matter in the organism.

If the enc.u.mbrances consist merely of superfluous flesh and fat or of acc.u.mulated waste materials, fasting may be sufficient to break up the acc.u.mulations and to eliminate the impurities that are clogging blood and tissues.

If, however, the disease has its origin in other than mechanical causes, or if it is due to a weakened, negative const.i.tution and lowered powers of resistance, fasting may aggravate the abnormal conditions instead of improving them.

We hear frequently of long fasts, extending over days and weeks, undertaken recklessly without the prescription and guidance of a competent medical adviser, without proper preparation of the system and the right subsequent treatment. Many a good const.i.tution has thus been permanently injured and wrecked.

When Fasting Is Indicated

Persons of sanguine, vital temperament, with the animal qualities strongly developed, enslaved by bad habits and evil pa.s.sions, will be greatly benefited by occasional short fasts. In such cases, the experience affords a fine drill in self-discipline, strengthening of self-control and conquest of the lower appet.i.tes.

Vigorous, fleshy people, positive physically and mentally, especially those who do not take sufficient physical exercise, should take frequent fasts of one, two, or three days' duration for the reduction of superfluous flesh and fat and for the elimination of systemic waste and other morbid materials. Such people should never eat more than two meals a day, and many get along best on one meal.

However, different temperaments and const.i.tutions require different treatment and management. People of a nervous, emotional temperament, especially those who are below normal in weight and physically and mentally negative, may be seriously and permanently injured by fasting. They should never fast except in acute diseases and during eliminative healing crises, when Nature calls for the fast as a means of cure.

People of this type are usually thin, with weak and flabby muscles.

Their vital activities are at a low ebb and their magnetic envelopes (aura) are wasted and attenuated like their physical bodies. The red aura, which is created by the action of the purely animal functions and forces, is more or less deficient or entirely lacking. Such people have the tendency to become abnormally sensitive to conditions in the magnetic field (the astral plane).

Next to the hypnotic or mediumistic process, there is nothing that induces abnormal psychism so quickly as fasting. During a prolonged fast, the purely animal functions of digestion, a.s.similation and elimination are almost completely at a standstill. This depression of the physical functions arouses and increases the psychic functions and may produce intense emotionalism and abnormal activity of the senses of the spiritual-material body, the individual thus becoming abnormally clairvoyant, clairaudient and otherwise sensitive to conditions on the spiritual planes of life.

This explains the spiritual exaltation and the visions of heavenly scenes and beings or the fights with demons which are frequently, indeed uniformly, reported by hermits, ascetics, saints, yogi, fakirs and dervishes.

Fasting facilitates hypnotic control of the sensitive by positive intelligences either on the physical or on the spiritual plane of being. In the one case we speak of hypnotism, in the other of mediums.h.i.+p, obsession or possession. These conditions are usually diagnosed by the regular pract.i.tioner as nervousness, nervous prostration, hysteria, paranoia, delusional insanity, double personality, mania, etc.

The destructive effects of fasting are intensified by solitude, grief, worry, introspection, religious exaltation or any other form of depressive or destructive mental and emotional activity.

Spirit controls often force their subjects to abstain from food, thus rendering them still more negative and submissive. Psychic patients, when controlled or obsessed, will frequently not eat unless they are forced or fed like an infant. When asked why they do not want to eat, these patients reply: "I mustn't. They will not let me." When we say: "Who?" the answer is: "These people. Don't you see them?" pointing to a void, and becoming impatient when told that no one is there. The regular school says delusion; we call it abnormal clairvoyance.

In other instances the control tells the subject that his food and drink are poisoned or unclean. To the obsessed victim these suggestions are absolute reality.

To place persons of the negative, sensitive type on prolonged fasts and thus to expose them to the dangers just described is little short of criminal. Such patients need an abundance of the most positive animal and vegetable foods in order to build up and strengthen their physical bodies and their magnetic envelopes, which form the dividing and protecting wall between the terrestrial plane and the magnetic field.

A negative vegetarian diet, consisting princ.i.p.ally of fruits, nuts, cereal and pulses, but deficient in animal foods (the dairy products, eggs, honey) and in the vegetables growing in or near the ground may result in conditions similar to those which accompany prolonged fasting.

Animal foods are elaborated under the influence of a higher life-element* than that controlling the vegetable kingdom, and foods derived from the animal kingdom are necessary to develop and stimulate the positive qualities in man.

*This subject will be treated more fully in another volume of this series ent.i.tled "Natural Diet.i.tics."

In the case of the psychic, who is already deficient in the physical (animal) and overdeveloped in the spiritual qualities, it is especially necessary, in order to restore and maintain the lost equilibrium, to build up in him the animal qualities.

How to Take an Occasional Therapeutic Fast

Before, during and after a therapeutic fast, everything must be done to keep elimination active, in order to prevent the reabsorption of the toxins that are being stirred up and liberated.

Fasting involves rapid breaking down of the tissues. This creates great quant.i.ties of worn-out cell materials and other morbid substances. Unless these poison-producing acc.u.mulations are promptly eliminated, they will be reabsorbed into the system and cause autointoxication.

To prevent this, bowels, kidneys and skin must be kept in active condition. The diet, for several days before and after the fast, should consist largely of uncooked fruits and vegetables and the different methods of natural stimulative treatment to a.s.sure proper bowel action should be systematically applied.

During a fast, every bit of vitality must be economized; therefore the pa.s.sive treatments are to be preferred to active exercise, although a certain amount of exercise (especially walking) daily in the open air accompanied by deep breathing should not be neglected.

While fasting, intestinal evacuation usually ceases, especially where there is a natural tendency to sluggishness of the bowels.

Injections [salt and baking soda enemas are best] are therefore in order and during prolonged fasts may be taken every few days.

By prolonged fasts we understand fasts that last from one to four weeks, short fasts being those of one, two or three days' duration.

Moderate drinking is beneficial during a fast as well as at other times; but excessive consumption of water, the so-called flus.h.i.+ng of the system, is very injurious. Under ordinary conditions from five to eight gla.s.ses of water a day are probably sufficient; the quant.i.ty consumed must be regulated by the desire of the patient.