P.M., the pulse was 64, temp. 95.6 degrees (thermometer 3 minutes
under tongue). He was much troubled with a nasty expectoration of
mucus. His breath was very offensive. No enlarged glands could be felt
in either groin--perhaps a trifling enlargement in the right. In
middle of front border of right tibia a little irregularity is felt,
and a small hollow, which he thinks is filling up; but it might be
that the exudation on the bone immediately above and below the hollow
is somewhat reduced, as this would equally give the suggestion that
the hollow is filling up. There is a similar but rather smaller
irregularity on the left tibia also. He felt rather weak that day,
which he attributed to not having had his usual walk the day before.
The nasal cavity consists of a large grey septumless cavern showing
dry crusts. The issuing breath is most offensive. Patient had drunk
freely of water, he said, to the extent of 4 or 5 quarts a day during
the fast but when I said--do you mean that you have been taking over a
gallon of water daily?--he rather hesitated, and did not think it was
so much as that. He had not measured it and had taken it cold usually,
though occasionally hot, and had taken it without stint as he wanted
it. On the forty-eighth day of the fast he complained of being weak
but worst of all, he said, his breath was very offensive to himself.
It was so to me also--faint, fetid, putrid. His sense of smell was
greatly impaired, so much so that he could not smell the offensiveness
of the bowel-excreta which came away every day on using the
gravitation-enema, and which were horrible to by-standers. It would
seem from this as if his distress at the bad smell of his breath was
probably due to a perversion of the sense of smell, which can be
easily understood if we reflect that the disease-process was going on
in the region where the smell-apparatus is specially located. The
temperature was 96.2 degrees that morning the patient said. At 2 P.M.
when I saw him the pulse was 68, regular, even, steady. He says he was
feverish last night. I suppose he felt hot. He sleeps well, but says
he hears the clogs of the mill-hands as they go to their work in the
mornings. Has lost 2 lbs. weight in last 2 days. Temp. 93.6 degrees to
my observation 2.30 P.M. Says he feels "done at the stomach." His
voice is poor. Expectorates somewhat freely. A small blob of green
thickish mucus in ordinary white mucus came away in my presence. Urine
acid 1010. No glucose. Faint trace of albumin to heat and picric
acid: also to nitric acid. The right lachrymal punctum is blocked; the
tears run down the cheek; and I failed to get even a hair-thick wire
into it. Evening, pulse 65, temp. 97.2 degrees in bed with hot-water
bottle. Faeces most offensive, no bowel-excreta coming away except to
enema. Forty-ninth day. In bed, temp. 97.2 degrees, pulse 65, soft,
steady, regular. No great emaciation of limbs. Showed me some green
expectoration. He says it is from Salvarsan as it is exactly like what
he was injected with! The motion to the enema as offensive as before,
but the breath is less offensive to me: not so fetid.
On this day patient completed 7 weeks of fasting. Feels sick and as if
he would vomit. About midday he did vomit about a teaspoonful of dark
green stuff, very bitter and acid (bile, I should call it, though he
calls it "pure citric acid") and immediately after that he got rid of
a motion without the use of the enema, brown, dark and very offensive
still. I think the breath, however, is rather less offensive; and so I
thought also two days ago. Temp. 97, pulse 67, soft, steady, regular;
about 1.30 P.M. In bed since fiftieth day of fast. Not feeling very
ill and not specially emaciated, though the buttocks are thinning; but
legs and thighs and arms and forearms not specially thin. He came to
me to be weighed on the forty-ninth day and weighed 127+1/2 lbs.
Fifty-second day of fast. Still in bed. Condition much the same as to
pulse, temperature, etc., and as to emaciation so far as observation
goes. Remained in bed, not because unable to be up, but because he
thought it would be better for him to be resting. On the fifty-fourth
day, as he still felt sick, I gave him, at his request, an emetic in
the form of 10 grains of copper-sulphate. This was followed by
sickness after about an hour, when he got rid of a very little of the
same green stuff as before. Bile? But the difficulty is to understand
how, after all this time of fasting, he should still feel sick and
with inclination to vomit. On the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth days of
the fast he remained in bed, the condition being much the same. On
Thursday, the fifty-sixth day, he broke the fast at 5 P.M., just 8
weeks after beginning it. He had meant to go on for 60 days, and I did
not think that there would have been any danger in his doing so; but I
did not press him to continue any longer. He took 3 oranges on that
day; and on the Friday he took 5 more. I advised him not to increase
the quantity of food too quickly. The breath has been quite sweet
during the last two days. He has been too weak to take enemata, so we
cannot say if motions would still have been offensive. And as there is
no weighing machine in his room, we don't know the exact loss of
weight sustained during the fast, though there is no reason to think
that it has averaged more than .9 lb. a day. Up to the time of
stopping the enemata, pieces of mucous membrane and mucus itself came
away from the bowel, and the motions were very offensive. He seems to
have a mucous enteritis without fever.
On the fourth day after breaking the fast, patient took 6 oranges, 4
apples and a banana; and he ordered much more food, which, however, I
advised him not to take. On this day his bowels were opened naturally,
with a very offensive motion. But the breath was much sweeter, in fact
not offensive at all.
On the sixth day he came to my consulting-room and weighed 128 lbs.
Pulse 80, soft, steady, regular. He had not slept all night and had
had to be up no fewer than 6 times to have his bowels opened. No
diarrhoea, he said, but full motions, the first 3 very offensive.
Breath not offensive. Has dry pharyngitis and is complaining of sore
throat.
Next day. Weight 133 lbs. Bowels acted again, 1 A.M., 3 A.M., 6 A.M.,
9 A.M. and 1 P.M. Large motions. I told him I thought he was taking
too much food. Pulse 104. Not sleeping well. Complained of sore
throat.
Eighth day. Weight 138 lbs., a gain of 5 lbs. a day for 2 days. Pulse
80 at 7 A.M. (his own statement), at 2.30 P.M. pulse 100, temp. 99.4
degrees. Bowels acted at 12 midnight, 3.30 A.M. and about 11 A.M. Went
that day to have his photograph taken. The throat was better. Tongue
dry and leathery. It was plain to me that he was taking too much food.
He was having a mixed diet and taking much and often. He said his
"mouth was coming to pieces," and in fact the mucous membrane was
glazed and peeling; also the lips. On the ninth day he returned home.
The loss of weight can be seen from the following statement. On
commencing the fast the weight was 171 lbs.
First day weight was 171 lbs.
Sixth day " " 165+1/2 "
Seventh day " " 163+1/2 "
Twelfth day " " 158 "
Fifteenth day " " 155+1/2 "
Eighteenth day " " 150+1/2 "
Twenty-fifth day " " 142+1/2 "
Forty-seventh day " " 129+1/2 "
Forty-ninth day " " 127+1/2 "
Fast ended on fifty-sixth day. On the sixth day after breaking the
fast the weight was 128 lbs. On the next day it had risen to 133 lbs.
and on the following day to 138 lbs. In the first 47 days of the fast
the loss of weight was 43.5 lbs., or an average loss of .888 lbs.
daily (43.5/49=.888 lbs.) The loss of weight for the last 8 days
before the fast was broken is not known as patient was in bed, though
it probably was at much the same rate as during the other times of the
fast when the weight was taken on the scales.
The following comparative measurements are interesting. Of course he
had been eating for a week after the termination of his fast, so that
the measurements taken on that day would be higher probably than if
they had been taken seven days before, when he broke the fast.
BODILY MEASUREMENTS.
_At Commencement_ _At Termination_
_of Fast._ _of Fast._
Forearm 11 inches 9+5/8 inches
Arm 11+1/2 " 8+3/4 "
Hips 38 " 32+1/2 "
Thigh 21+1/4 " 16 "
Pelvis 37+1/2 " 30+1/2 "
Calf[1] 15+1/4 " 13+1/2 "
Neck 14+1/2 " 12+1/2 "
Chest 38 " 31+1/4 to 34+1/2 "
[1] There was a bundle of varicose veins behind right calf.
Patient kept a diary during his fast, but it does not seem necessary
to reproduce its statements here. It shows that he walked about during
the time, notes the state of the weather as foggy or very foggy or
freezing, mentions that water was taken, sometimes hot apparently, as
on 15th March, "after glass of hot water, pulse 70, temperature 98+1/2
degrees." No doubt drinking the hot water had elevated temporarily the
mouth-temperature, as it does. The diary also notes that he felt weak,
had a bath, or did not have a bath, notes the pulse-rate, etc., as
also the effects of the daily enemata. On the twenty-ninth day of the
fast he took a bottle of Apenta Water. Such are samples of statements
from the diary.
A. RABAGLIATI, M.A., M.D.
_The remainder of this article deals with conclusions of great
interest and value, and will appear in our next issue._--[EDS.]
HEALTHY LIFE RECIPES.
SALADS AND SALAD DRESSINGS.
For salads it is not necessary to depend entirely upon the usual salad
vegetables such as lettuce, watercress, mustard and cress.
The very finely shredded hearts of raw brussel sprouts are excellent,
and even the heart of a savoy cabbage. Then the finely chopped inside
sticks of a tender head of celery are very good; also young spinach
leaves, dandelion leaves, endive, sorrel and young nasturtium leaves.
Then there are the onion family (for those who can take them), the
tender kinds, such as spring onion, chive and shallot being very good
when chopped finely and used as a minor ingredient in any salad.
The root vegetables should also be added in their season, raw carrot,
turnip, beet, artichoke and leek, all finely grated.
A taste for all the above-mentioned vegetables, eaten raw, is not
acquired all at once. It is best to begin by making the salad of the
ingredients usually preferred and mixing in a small quantity of one or
two of the new ingredients.
For those who find salads very difficult to digest, it is best to
begin with French or cabbage lettuce and skinned tomatoes only, or, as
an alternative, a saucerful of watercress chopped very finely, as one
chops parsley.
Any salad, however made up, should be served in as dainty and pleasing
a fashion as possible. It is, perhaps, usually best to serve it ready
chopped and shredded, and to allow each person at the table to take
his or her own helping of "dressing."
English people seldom serve salad in the French fashion--that is,
quite dry, save that the dressing is well mixed in an hour before the
meal. Readers who have been to France may have seen French peasant
women whirling a wire salad-basket round their heads in order to dry
the materials after the cleansing has been done. When dry, the
green-stuff is torn with the hands, the dressing (and the French know
all about salad dressings) is added and the whole allowed to stand
some little time, so that by the time the meal is served there is a
complete blending of all flavours.
Not everyone likes this method; but it is certainly better than the
customary method here, which too often leaves a little puddle of water
at the bottom of the bowl.
There are many ways of preparing good salad dressing without resort to
vinegar, salt and pepper. The two prime necessities are (1) really
good oil and (2) some kind of fresh fruit juice. Most people prefer
lemon juice or the juice of fresh West Indian limes, well mixed into
either olive oil, nut oil or a blended oil such as the "Protoid Fruit
Oil" or Mapleton's Salad Oil. The ordinary "salad oils" obtainable at
grocers are seldom to be recommended; they almost invariably contain
chemical preservatives and other adulterants. It is better to have the
best oil and use it sparingly if need be, than take any faked product
just because it is cheap.
With most people the addition of pure oil assists the digestion of the
salad, as well as serving other purposes in the body.
Many excellent salad recipes and suggestions for novel yet simple
"dressings" will be found in _Unfired Food in Practice_, by Stanley
Gibbon.[2]
[2] 1s. net; 1s. 1+1/2d. post paid, from the office of _The Healthy
Life_, 3 Amen Corner, London, E.C.
PICKLED PEPPERCORNS.
_This, which is a regular feature of THE HEALTHY LIFE, is not intended
as a household guide or home-notes column, but rather as an
inconsequent commentary on current thought._--[EDS.]
An interesting booklet by Raymond Blathwayt with samples of Bath
Mustard will be sent free on application to J. & J. Colman, Ltd.
(Dept. 49) Norwich.--Advt. in _Punch_.
Rumours are also afloat that G.K. Chesterton has written a brilliant
booklet on Eiffel Tower Lemonade, and that the Attorney General has
been commissioned to write a highly interesting brochure on American
macaroni.
* * * * *
"I enclose you a photo of my baby, Willie, aged fifteen months.
He was given up by two doctors, and then I consulted another, who
advised me to try ----'s Food, which I did, and he is still
having it. You can see what a fine healthy boy he is now, and his
flesh is as hard as iron."--From an advt. in _Lady's Companion_.
Evidently a case of advanced arterio-sclerosis.
* * * * *
HEALTH BISCUITS. Nice and Tasty, handled by our 55 salesmen
daily.--Advt. in _Montreal Daily Star_.
One reason, perhaps, why both the public and the sales have
declined.
* * * * *
WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE FOR A PERFECT SKIN?
Is 3d. too much?
Many perfect skins to-day are traced to a single sample.
--Advt. in _Lady's Companion_.
The price is reasonable; but I think I would rather see a sample
first, wouldn't you?
* * * * *
OUR SPECIAL FILLING FAST--Headline in _Daily News_.
The correct antidote for the well-known "starvation of
over-repletion."
* * * * *
Cold Anniversary Raised Pie and New Potato Salad.--From the
_Seventh Anniversary Menu of The Eustace Miles Restaurant_.
I am told that one old gentleman, misled by the chef's quite innocent
use of adjectives, protested to a waitress that the day was really
very warm; also that a youthful wag obliterated the initial C from his
menu with a pen-knife and then inquired which was the better vintage,
'06 or '09.
* * * * *
But to contend that there is no difference between a good yellow
man and a good white man is like saying that a vegetarian chop of
minced peas is like a chop of the chump variety.--_New Witness_.
Chop-chop--as the good yellow man might be tempted to say if he came
upon this specimen of white wisdom.
* * * * *
Canvassers can make a very good profit by selling a patent
ladies' folding handbag, also wristlet watches.--Advt. in _Daily
Mail_.
Nevertheless, the only place for a patent lady is a registry
office.
* * * * *
CAKEOMA PUDDING? You cannot know how delicious they are until you
have tasted them.--Advt. in _Lady's Companion_.
One of the things that would never have occurred to you if you hadn't
seen it expressed so clearly.
* * * * *
SAXON.--How cruel of you. Although I have not the honour of cap
and gown, I do possess a Classical Dictionary. If I can help
further, write again. Regarding the recipe, it depends upon its
nature. Perhaps VERA is the lady to whom you should address your
question--_Lady's Companion_.
My colleague, Mr Edgar J. Saxon, denies all knowledge of this affair.
But I do wish he would be a little more careful in future.
PETER PIPER.
HEALTH QUERIES.
_Under this heading Dr Knaggs deals briefly month by month, and
according as space permits, with questions of general interest._
_Correspondents are earnestly requested to write on one side only of
the paper, giving full name and address, not for publication, but as a
guarantee of good faith. When an answer is required by post a stamped
addressed envelope must be enclosed._--[EDS.]
CAN MALARIA BE PREVENTED?
A. de L. (Lisbon) writes:--For five months I have been a strict
"fruitarian," and as I am obliged now to go to Mozambique
(Portuguese East Africa) to remain there five rears, I should be
much obliged to you if you kindly let me know what I must do to
prevent the African fever and biliousness which seem to afflict
all Europeans in that part of the world. Any hints you could give
me as to maintaining health in such a climate would be most
gratefully acknowledged.
I do not think that it is possible for any European, whether he adopts
fruitarian or ordinary diet, to entirely escape malaria, since it is
caused by a minute parasite which is forced into the blood by a
certain form of biting mosquito.
The parasite will, however, surely gain less hold on one whose blood
is clean and pure and whose vital force is strong, than on one who
dissipates his strength by partaking of meat, alcohol, tea, coffee and
other stimulants, or who otherwise gets his blood into a bad state by
faulty diet generally.
Therefore, the thing this correspondent should do is to live as much
as possible upon the simple frugal fare of the natives. He can take
raw coker-nut freely and eat the fresh fruits which grow in this part
of Africa. If he can obtain pineapple or papaw he will find these
excellent to help him to retain his health and strength in this
country.
UNFIRED DIET FOR A CHILD: IS IT SUITABLE?
Mrs L.B.F. writes:--My husband and I are much interested in _The
Healthy Life_, deriving much benefit and good advice from its
pages. It is the only magazine, we find, which answers questions
that we have long been puzzling over. Reading a work of the
"Montessori Method" of training children last night I was
disturbed to find I had, according to that book, been feeding my
little boy, aged three years, all wrong. It says: "Raw vegetables
should not be given to a child and not many cooked ones. Nuts,
dates, figs and all dried fruits should be withheld. Soups made
with bread, oil, bread and butter, milk, eggs, etc., are the
principal foods Dr Montessori recommends. She also advocates the
use of sugar."
Our boy has nuts, ground and whole, all the fresh fruits and
dried ones, salads, brown bread and nut butter, sometimes dairy
butter, no milk, his food mostly uncooked, as we ourselves
believe in. If Dr Valentine Knaggs would give us his opinion on
this I should be very grateful. The boy is healthy, but I notice
a slight puffiness below the eyes of late in the morning. Also
his temper does not improve as he gets older. Will he be having
too much proteid (nuts) for one of his years, or is the temper
natural as a result of bad discipline. His father is away all
day, and mothers are, as a rule, soft marks, are they not?
It is difficult to answer fully a question of this sort, as so much
depends on the child's temperament and environment. A frail, delicate
child with the promise of high mental development requires a finer and
softer grade of nutriment than one of a coarse animal nature with
strong, well-developed digestive organs.
All healthy children, especially boys (as Mr Saxon will attest!), are
full of mischief and restlessness, which it is the duty of a mother or
a nurse to divert into right channels.[3] The display of temper is
probably an indication of this not being done, though it _may_ be due
in part to the raw diet not suiting the child.
[3] This correspondent, and all mothers of difficult children, should
study the works of Mary Everest Boole, published by C.W. Daniel, Ltd.;
also _The Children All Day Long_, by E.M. Cobham.--[EDS.]
The advice I would give would be to alter the diet and make it
lighter.
From my point of view, Dr Montessori has not given sufficient
attention to the other side of the diet question, preferring to remain
more on the side of orthodoxy. Moreover, her own work has been done in
Italy, where a climate prevails which does not call for so free a use
of vegetables and salads as is the case in our own cooler and bleaker
clime.
I suggest, as a beginning, the following diet might be tried, but it
is necessarily impossible to guarantee good results unless the cause
of the puffy eyes and temper have been definitely located by personal
examination:--
_On rising._--A raw ripe apple, finely grated, or simply scraped out
with a silver spoon.
_Breakfast at 8._--A scrambled egg on a Granose biscuit with a little
finely chopped salad or finely grated; raw roots appetisingly served
with a dressing of oil, lemon juice and a little honey. This to be
followed by an "Ixion" or "P.R." biscuit, with fresh butter.
_Dinner at 2._--Home-made cottage cheese, or cream cheese, or a nut
meat (served cold out of the tin, or, better still, home-made). Two
casserole-cooked vegetables, done with a little fruit juice and lemon
to retain colour. This to be followed by a baked apple with cream and
a little home-made, unfired pudding made of dried fruits.
_Supper at 5._--A slice of "Maltweat" bread, and butter, and a cupful
of clear vegetable soup, or some hot water with some lemon juice
added, and slightly sweetened with a little honey.
GIDDINESS AND HEAD TROUBLE.
Mrs L.B.F. also writes:--I sometimes think I must make dietetic
mistakes. My husband thinks I am perfectly healthy, so I do not
say anything of the giddiness in the morning and after eating, a
drowsiness and slight pain at the back of the head and underneath
one of my ears. Also under my eyes is on some mornings quite
swollen and puffed up. It is not so marked, but I am quite
conscious of it. Our diet consists mostly of a salad, with bread
or baked potato and cheese or ground nuts or cooked brussels
sprouts and a nut meat pie, apple pie and cream, with brown bread
and butter, or a raw fruit meal, nuts, apples, grapes, figs,
dates and no bread.
Two meals a day, first in the morning at eight o'clock, second at
two or three in the afternoon. A glass of hot water with lemon at
nine P.M., and the same in the morning. I do some exercises night
and morning and am out in the fresh air often through the day. We
live in the country and I have every chance of keeping myself
healthy. Perhaps I should say I do not eat many nuts, finding
them rather difficult to digest. Should I use an enema when I
feel like this, or wait for natural results?
The symptoms of which L.B.F. complains are in all probability due to
flatulence and to general disturbances of the digestive process.
Perhaps it would be a good plan to make the diet lighter. The nuts
could be omitted and cheese or eggs substituted. An evening meal would
be helpful.
As to the bowels, some senna and camomile tea at bedtime would help to
clear them. Unless there is distinct evidence of faecal retention in
the colon it is better not to use the enema as a regular thing.
_On rising._--A tumblerful of Sanum Tonic Tea made with hot,
preferably distilled, water.
_Breakfast._--An all-fruit meal consisting of nothing but apples,
bananas, grapes, or orange, or any fresh ripe fruit that is in season.
_Dinner at 12.30._--A cooked meal consisting of two casserole-cooked
vegetables, with grated cheese as a sauce dressing, with some
twice-baked or well toasted bakers' bread, followed by a baked apple
and cream. (Omit nut meat pie and apple pie.)
_Tea meal at 5._--2 oz. of cottage cheese or cream cheese, wholemeal
bread and butter, small plateful of finely grated raw roots with an
appetising dressing containing some "Protoid Fruit-Oil."
_Bedtime._--Tumblerful of hot water (preferably distilled) to which
senna leaves and German camomile flowers (very little) have been
steeped to infuse; or a cupful of dandelion coffee could be taken if
the bowels are regularly acting.
LONG-STANDING GASTRIC TROUBLE.
W.T. writes:--Having tried a diet, recommended in _The Healthy
Life_, for a month I find the nuts and cheese are far too heavy
for the apparent weak condition of my stomach, also that the
salads and casserole-baked vegetables are too irritating to the
membrane of the stomach. I have no desire to return to flesh food
and ordinary feeding, which I feel would not be good for me. From
eggs I cannot obtain any good results. The continuance of loss of
weight is worrying me, being down to eight stone from eleven
stone in twelve months. I feel satisfied it is only a question of
diet, if I could only strike the correct one. I am naturally most
anxious to regain some of my lost strength and weight. I am at
present taking bread and butter, cooked fruit, and occasionally
an egg, boiled rice, vegetables and a little dried fruit. No
matter how light I make my diet I still suffer after every meal
with dilated stomach and irregular working of the heart. Blood
circulation is still bad and constipation is gradually getting
worse. As before stated, I am anxious to succeed with the
reformed diet, but I am really at a loss to know which way to
proceed to make any progress. As I was in South Africa twenty
years, and only returned to England just before this catarrh set
in, is the climate here against my progress, do you think? I am
so sorry to take up so much of your time, but shall be grateful
for any help you can give me which will be greatly appreciated.
It is difficult to advise how best to proceed in this case as our
correspondent really ought to seek medical advice. Only in this way
can he obtain really satisfactory guidance. For without knowing the
state of his blood and the organs generally it is impossible to advise
correctly. Speaking generally, until salads and casserole-cooked
vegetables can be taken freely there can be no possible permanent
cure.
In many such cases the best way to train the digestive organs into a
healthy state is to keep to a diet consisting chiefly of dextrinised
cereals, which must be eaten dry, with some vegetables and as little
fresh fruit as possible. This to be continued until little by little
the raw salad vegetables are found to agree; then the rest is easy.