DR. TANNER'S FAST. 285 
remaining very nearly constant, and will no doubt become double and more as 
soon as after the fast food is again taken. 
The third element of rapid waste is the phosphorus; it proceeds chiefly from 
the waste of the brain and nervous tissues. It is so important in these functions 
that a great German chemist has formulated the expression, ‘‘ without phosphorus, 
no thought.”” Every mental act and every nervous excitement is accomplished 
by a consumption of phosphorus, which, combined with different bases in the 
body, especially soda, magnesia, and lime, is secreted by the kidneys as a soluble 
salt, not only easily detected as crystals by the microscope in the sediment, but 
even an approximate estimate may be had of its reduction or increase by the 
number of crystals seen in the field under the same circumstances. 
This third element did not at first show any reduction in quantity, but, to 
the contrary, fora few days some increase. It was at the occasion that Dr. 
Tanner had been unjustly accused by a physician present that he had surrepti- 
tiously accepted food from one of the watchers; this appears to have preyed upon 
his mind. Attention was therefore called to the danger in this direction, a dan- 
ger proceeding from the more rapid waste of the nervous system. Relaxation 
was therefore devised, and daily carriage rides, which eased his mind and were 
followed by a more sound sleep, soon reduced the phosphates secreted, and at 
the same time reduced the irritability and temper of the experimentor. 
The observation tallies perfectly with what has been observed in the case of 
such clergymen who have every week the periodical labor of preparing and 
delivering two sermons on Sunday. Chemical analysis has proved that at that 
time they secrete more phosphates than in the middle part of the week, after the 
test of Monday and Tuesday. 
Looking the whole case over, including the feasting as well as the fasting, we 
are inclined to regard the Doctor’s individual stomach as the most remarkable 
organ on record. ‘That he could, by mere force of will, compel it to do without 
food for forty days, is, in our judgment, far less remarkable than that he could, at the 
end of that time, when it had, ostensibly, become so sensitive as not to be able 
to endure even a few spoonfuls of water, with impunity stuff it with an incon- 
gruous and incompatible mass of milk, watermelon, peaches, oysters, bananas, 
beef, etc., etc., and that, too, without a sign of resentment from it. 
The principal lessons, if any, to be learned from this feat are, that occasional men 
can do like the prophet Elijah, who, before his fast on Horeb, ‘‘ did eat and drink, 
and went in the strength of that meat forty daysand forty nights ;” z. e., they can fill 
up like sponges and live upon their own gradual waste, like bears and ground- 
hogs, or like an old log slowly rotting in a forest; that some men have a vast 
‘deal more control of their wills than others; and finally, that some men have 
stomachs and absorbents that can withstand treatment which would prove fatal to 
‘most human beings. Taking this view of the case, it is very clear that had Dr. 
‘Tanner remained quiet, instead of taking his walks and rides, he could have easily 
have extended his fast for another ten days by living on the tissues wasted by this 
it 
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Mnuscular action. 
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