THE FASTING CUBE AT WANGANUI

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 13

THE FASTING CUBE AT WANGANUI

/. By &OKERT H. Bakeweli,, M.D.', Surgeon-captain (retd.), Army Medical In drawing up the following, report on the fastgig cases at y Wanganui, I have been so in time and space that I have jjbeen reluctantly compelled, omit alls mention of many points 8 *; ttoCf; might have been of interest. - I "-^ave" scores of" notes of which no use i& m:ide in the following paper.?? §pme _re!iite~*td -matters -which;^gEU(insb sbe^6Slitaßls; v discussed i$ alriew6pa^r^fA.3:hese^a l riew6pa^r^fA.3:hese^I Vl 'ams preparing a report for tKe Lancet. Cithe'fs have\been omitted; for want of space. The most important of all the, queoiiocs is, of TOurse, rwhether , the ."..fasts-,- t^ere really • undergone' as asserted.^ " The" reply to this is-*, given in full. At the'Tisk. of, being. t vconside.TO«l s dis".courteous"; I jmusij-give' rib-Sice'tha't-* I--can-not undertake to answer letters or questions- about this subject. I have no typist or private secretary, and can only do a few hours' work in a day, and th 0.33 few hours will be fti!.l|\ 3 taken up -\fori, sy&iks to come by other? worki -v- _">'- r - '% '■ Onehunga, January 6, 1908. On October 21V 1907/ there -«ppedred in the Wanganui Chronical a document which purported," to be the rfliary of a resident in Wangtinui wha had fasted, for 25 days, and had. -kept ■ a record' daily during -that period o! incidents connected with the fast. 5This document 'yasj ifi&e month -of November, copied- into the -jDominion, a new morning paper published in Wellington. -.'.From .Wellington a summary, of the diary; wag telegraphfa v ofhW principakiiew^papersaff-'Newx-Zealatidf^Srtd' amongst otliers to the New Zealand Herald, where I read it.; . ' - r ' <) «■"«-• j . The intelligence- was** revived,] 'I "think I may say, -with' general increfiulity," and not a little derision,".,, If was suggested that the "whote affair was a Koaxj got up by the enteipris-ihg jourrialiets . who were establishing- the ne^vv -.paper. But this hypothesis_.was soon disproved by,. letters - from Wanganui rand by the, testimony, of disinterested persons-, who not r only knew Mr S. B; Clark- the -author of the diaTy, but also -knew other f asters- in the 'same district. - - ' - A controversy toot* place in the newspapers,, 'in 1 wh'cE/I, tefole, a very,, decided part, ptill absolutely b^lievins; in the' possibility of . a, ' fast . , of ( .even .21 'days, on nothing Tiut water and' [lemon, juice. Even if the subject of. such s a< fast had done nothing requiring active .exercise of the muscles and nervous- system^ . I - felt convinced that such a fas* wa6 impossible, but when it was " alleged 'that^some at -least .of the fasters had gone through their ordinaory day^s work, or carried on 'an extensive asd important' bueiness 'on ndthing butj water and lemon. juice°, the thing seemed absurd. I even offered ,to pay 'for a ahorse or a bullock, _-,up to the.'Tprice 0f. £25, which could do a day's work" reguia'rly for 25 days on water alone. After some controversal. /sparring of this kind, impressed .by some, private inform a--fion I - received to. "the * effect .that the ■writer, whom I knew well, was quite certain that some of the facts were genuine. I determined to. "go. down to Wanganui and investigate the matter myself. This •was announced through, the Press ' Association, and the same day I received by telegram a. most . cordial welcome from . Mr J. liloyd Jones of v Wanganui/ who had been himself a faster, who is .designated the apcstle of the" new- cult. I make no apology in mentioning this -gentleman's name, as he has taken such a prominent part in the -movement, and wrote in answer to me, signing his -name in full. Mr S. B. darkens name- has' already been made so" public that there-is no need to apologise, for -mentioning it. The other fastens I shall merely designate by' two letters of the alphabet: — - --- '* • "> 1. Mr J. v Lloyd' Jones. - - 2.^Mr S. B: Clark: „' ,* / 3." Mr A.,8., Wanganui. * ' Ot. Mr' CD., Wanganui. s.' Mr-E.'E., Wanganui. , .' 6. M. .Bw (Maori) - --L . , 7. Mrs Gr. H., Wanganui. . '8. -Mr J. X., New Zealand. . These arej- as far as I - can ascertain, all the persons in New Zealand who have practised * the last for , any lengthened periods that is, for any period that is longer than the. term reached by those vr ho have died, of starvation. I have heard -vaguely that some other persons -'Tiarrß- faeted-, or are fasting, in Auckland, but I can .le3Sn nothing about them," not even their names. ' When I made the promise to go down to investigate' -these cases I also .endeavoured to* divest my, mind as far as possible V all- preconceived ideas on the subject oj starvation, and to judge only from, the facts proved or from 'the phenomena I might be able to-" observe. , I determined to be" as impartial as possible. - Still, it -was impossible for -me to "divest myself of the opinions of a-*lifetime — opinions I had been taught as a student, and r which .nothing I had seen in- my own long professionaL experience, which commenced m 1848, ancl,.ha"d. any" -tendency Ao upset^ / Unfortunately/ when I .arrived at Wanganui on Saturday, December 21, 1907, I found .that, no one -was^ fasting- or had been fasting -.for more than ' a > fortnight. Partly tbis"~might" be owing to the near approach of Christmas, " and " to a .natural reluctance to abstain from the festivities of 'that season, but partly ~€o the death of the Maori Chief (No.. .6), »which had taken .plage either 'during the fast; or only a dayl or two afterwards.. This case I shall ,hav-e occasion to refer to hereafter. This was a. "most .unfortunate circumstance/ as. I had brought, my microscope with me, for the purpose , of examining the blood and secretions. I was, theref ore t ' .re-, stricted to the questions 36 to' the truthfulness, of the evidence about fasting, and, grantirig this, as to the effect produced on the fasteTs. Even on this latter point I vas hampered by the restrictions placed

" upon me. Only respecting the conditions .of six can I write with perfect freedom. Of the other two (Nos. 7 and 8), Mrs G. H-. and'Mr J. X:, I can" only say that "they report themselves as being much better for ithe fast."-,. ~ ' .*. :- 'it S3efe'fe_proce&ding to^lie: "discussion '<&'' ■ •^tic-casesv it wilf be Velf Winform the reader how this system of fasting, together with what may be considered its supplex ment,i the^no-breakfast system; came to 5 ib^mt^duejed^nto^Wanganui. ;*" - T ;!>.. V w i&Tr iloyd Jon|s^ appears to h&ve" become-.' acquainted^ some three years "ago, "with the writings of a Dr Dewey, an American physician practising in Meadville, Pa. Mr Jrinjself fasted for 10 days, : I f& and hasfrepej^ed^the fast-more than once, as he considers, with benefit to the influenza or colds from which he suffered. Mr; Lloyd Jpnes has become an enthusiast • for -fasting as.-ay remedy for many "diseases, antlrhe also "practises and strongly recommends the " no-breakfast " plan" in more correct language, that no food should be taken Tafterthe evening meal until noon, next day. It js said that over 100 people in .Wanganui" and t the suburbs adopt this ' system of" late breakfasts? ' - ! From Mr Lloyd Jones the cult — for it . is,- a cult-r4ias spread to eeyen others, who ; are distinguished in the list already given : by initials-. ,_■ Of -these one is dead,- one other -I did not see, as. he- resides -a considerable distance from Wanganui, and the other six I 6aw, and as' far as could be done conveniently, examined into their state of health. ' " |. It would not, I think, contribute very „ much to public edification if I were to i describe the exact state of health of each individual, because all of them are also practising the "no .breakfast" system. ■Xkiß^MP, which, I , consider,, decidedly . 'injurious 'to health", by ''crowding all the| in 24 nours iri&T six hours, is ' another idea of the originator of the long fastsj ' about which -I shall .have to say 'something later on. As regards the state of the faster^ health, then, I '^wil' only, say that if j were called on to ( , exanjjine them , for life insurance I would notVpass any of them as finst-class lives. - They were all able to go about, and they presented no special indications of having undergone a long fast, and they all professed themselves to be improved in hea-Hh by 'the fa«t. With the exception of Mr j C. B* (No. 4), who suffered severely Trom I \ hunger during a very long fast, and I who had to spend one week or the time in ( bed, all "were able to get about and to carry on itheir ordinary "business. Mr C. P.. is a man of extraordinary firmness of .character, wljo, having once- determined on • any course of conduct, would not swerve from it for any consideration whatever. He-, suffered daily, 'from the fast, but was .benefited as regards the disease from which we said he was suffering. There mas, in his case, a religious element, which, no doubt, helped him to bear his sufferings. i My impression, derived' from personal interviews with Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. and from private and confidential infor- \ mation' about No. 8, is that tbey-.aU told '-the truth about the fasting, and were as truthful and reliable about their feelings during and after the "fasts as any medical examiner could expect. Of course, we do not look for strict accuracy in_the description of subjective svmptoms,~such as pain, sleeplessness, palpitations of the heart, or- strange - and unaccountable , "sensations."-^ Patients — even those most ', desirous of being accurate^ — have an in- | vincible tendency to embroider in such , cases. When a patient tells me that she ■ has not slept more than 10 minutes at a ! time for the last three months, she may think that ©We is telling the tnuth, but jwe know that she is not. So, when some of these fastens described themselves as well and hearty and better able to do a day's work than they were when taking the, -usual food, I accept ,-the statement cum grano. I - (To be continued.)