DESPERATE REMEDIES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8878, 12 November 1907, Page 4

DESPERATE REMEDIES.

If all that is being said at the pre - sent time about the "fasting cure'" iw true, an antidote has been found for the present high prices of foodstuffs,, and eternal life on earth may be substituted for a like condition in regions beyond "this moving ball" by those who have the courage to. tackle the task of preserving existence , by the process of starvation. There have been several alleged .cures by this means in the dominion during the past month or two, and the idea bids fairto "catch on" with .those who are in a condition of health such as to maKe. j them desperately courageous. It takes a lot of faith to believe that a delicate woman can exist for forty days—as was lately reported to lie the case in a northern town —upon occasional drinks of cold wator, continue her ordinary bustling occupation throughout the time, and feel better and stronger each day; or that a man,, bursting with dropsy, is capable of. a complete cure by forty-two days' entire fast, and of walking severalties a day towards the latter stage of the starvation period. Quite a number of these cases have been reported im the dominion and in other countries, and whether they be genuine Or not, they have attracted the attention and approval o % f some reputable members of the medical fraternity.in different parts of £he world, .who arenow recommending the starvation; process. We may next heari of a panacea for all fleshly ailments- by, donning the scantiest clothing, as in some parts of Germany, for. lengthened periods. Anything that is new and outlandish takes, the minds of people who are in a hopeless condition of health, and they are hardly; to be blamed for makingLa.dasperate experiment. If one comes out of the ordeal from some unexplainable causethe case is bruited abroad,! and others are tempted to enter upon.the frantic j struggle with the old Reaper with his scythe. In the event of a "naked" cure being tried, we have our sensibilities shocked, buv how could a humanitarian Government like ours be callous-hearted enough to interfere?: Fancy half-a-dozen valetudinarians walking out on a fine Saturday evening dressed as extensively as the average statuaajy figures seen in museums! But what a blessing it would.be for the poor to be able to live and thrive without food or clothing.. No more poverty, no more ill-health,, and no more high rents to pay, hecause when psople became strong and inured to change of temperature;, fcfoey could thrive so well arid cheaply in the open 1 StiP it may be hoped the erases of the valetudinarian! won't corns- to this. As St., Paul says, all things are desirable, but all things are not expedient. Starvation and nakedness are decidedly among the things that are inexpedient.