394 Human Physiology. 



tradiction, but is not fasting is also a remedy for obstinate 

 constipation. In each case the alimentary canal is disordered, 

 and needs rest. Rest, and the healing power of nature, restore 

 healthy action ; and healthy action is the cure of too little or 

 too much. Overfeeding is a heavy tax on the vital powers, and 

 a cause of constipation, piles, and many other diseases. For 

 all these fasting, the hunger cure, or a very moderate and 

 healthful diet, is a natural remedy, and an indispensable part of 

 any proper medical treatment. 



The cure, or arrest of development, of cancerous disease by 

 hygienic and hydropathic modes of treatment demonstrates in 

 a remarkable manner their power over morbid conditions and 

 constitutional diseases. A person who inherits a cancerous 

 diathesis, in whose body are numerous tubercles which with 

 ordinary modes of feeding and living would probably de- 

 velop into fatal cancers, may by a pure diet, great clean- 

 liness, and attention to all the conditions of health, entirely 

 arrest the progress of the disease. And even where it has 

 begun, and made considerable progress, a careful diet of 

 bread and fruit, constant bathing, a pure air, drinking soft 

 water, and great cleanliness will arrest the progress of the 

 disease, and in some cases bring about a cure. The morbid 

 matter which seems to flow from all parts of the body to 

 the centre of disease, is cast out through the skin, lungs, 

 kidneys, &c., and the amount of this matter is diminished 

 by a pure diet, while the eating of flesh, especially that of 

 swine, unquestionably furnishes such matter, and hastens the 

 development of, and greatly aggravates, all such diseases. If 

 men lived entirely on fruit and the purest kinds of vegetable 

 substances, I do not believe that any would die of cancer, and 

 few, if any, of scrofulous or tuberculous diseases. 



It is very painful to see scrofulous children, whose in- 

 stincts revolt at eating flesh, and especially the greasy flesh 

 of swine, compelled to live on animal food by their parents, 



