After having told my readers the dread and horror of being sick or getting sick, in the previous chapter, it befits me to show them the means and ways, as far as this, commonly speaking, is possible, how to successfully encounter mucus-poisoning, this greatest foe of health.

I have already mentioned that each patient requires individual treatment. In form of verbal as well as written advices--the only after detailed reports from the patients-- I have already succeeded in numerous and serious cases to exert my helping and healing knowledge. Here I wish to show three means and ways which can produce a beneficial change.

1. The shortest and best way is the fasting so much talked about in this magazine. It cuts short the life of the grim misdoer in our body and causes him to flee, and he leaves us faster with fright and terror.

Healthy people can submit themselves to a fasting cure without any further ceremony; it goes without saying that they must fast reasonably and be responsible for it that they do not cause dangerous over-exertions during the fasting period, by demanding of themselves physical or mental performances which they could not live up to even at full fare. I insert here a precautionary measure which must be observed in all fasting cures: the complete emptying of the bowels at the beginning of the fasting by a harmless purgative or by a syringe, or by both. It lies in the nature of the thing that he who fasts must not be bothered by gas or decomposing matter which form from the excrements remaining in the bowels; it suffices tha t the mucus during the excretion gives him enough trouble, as already stated.

Who does not care to do a more prolonged fasting, although he is healthy, may try a short one. Even a fasting of thirty-six hours, weekly one or two times, acts in the long run very favorably. It is best to start by leaving off the supper and taking a syringe instead.

Then, in case of a thirty-six hours' fasting, nothing is taken until the morning after the next, and then nothing but fruits for breakfast. The eating of fruit is necessary after each fasting, as the juices of the fruits cause a moving of the mucus -masses which have loosened; in the case of sick and old people this treatment must be carefully individualized.

One arrives at this end, however, very much quicker, if a longer fasting is done in the way described, for instance, three days, and then keeps an after-fasting cure. That is: not to eat anything for three days and drink only citron-lemonade in single gulps as may become necessary, to begin on the fourth day with some fruits, at the close of the fourth day take a thorough syringe, and then add more fruit from day to day, until about the seventh day of the after-cure the normal quantity of fruit -diet in the proper composition and selection has been reached. The fasting, however, can be extended for weeks by healthy persons and by those whose occupation permits of their spending their time in bed in case of difficult excretions of mucus. Nobody should mind then the so-called bad looks or the decrease in weight The body fasts itself into health, despite such miserable complexion, and soon the cheeks will be adorned by a healthy, fresh red, and the weight is also restored very soon after the fasting to its normal standard. After a fasting the body reacts on every ounce of food. Very moderate and frequently fasting people have a very fine, inspirited expression of the face. It is said that Pope Leo XIII, this great faster and life-artist, had a very clear, almost transparent complexion.

In this connection I wish to call attention to another point, already mentioned elsewhere. The success of the fasting depends upon it to a great extent: the fasting person must not unnecessarily become depressed or ill-humored; the one finds relief in the disagreeable moments by complete rest, the other by quick and decided work, especially in light and mechanical occupation.

When the body has been dismucused, disslimed and dispasted, then it is the sacred duty of the person who has regained health to keep up the reclaimed highest earthly happiness and to guard it by means of the correct food. On this a few short remarks in the following paragraphs.

2. He who cannot fast, because of considerations of advanced lung or heart trouble, for instance, may at least see to it that the further accumulation of mucus be cut short by refraining from pronounced mucus-formers, especially from all flour (cake), rice, potatoe-dishes, from boiled milk, cheese, meat, etc. Whoever cannot miss bread entirely, must eat black or white bread only toasted; by toasting the bread loses much of its harmfulness, as the mucus substances are being partly destroyed. The eating of toasted bread has the further advantage that not much can be eaten of it; it cannot be devoured as wild beasts do, and the necessary chewing will fatigue even the most greedy gums. Whoever cannot bite the toasted bread, on account of bad teeth, may suck on it until it dissolves--a splendid way to restore declined strength. Whoever cannot miss potatoes should eat them only baked.

What then remains for "nutritious food," after I am to give up all albumenous food, like dried peas, lentils, beans, as little as possible? Thus many a reader will ask with a sigh.

As to the value of meat I have set forth my views elsewhere. The slight requirements in albumen are fully covered by sugary fruits; the banana, the nuts, combined with a few figs or dates are first-class muscle -formers and strength-givers.

The vegetables (cut small and made into salads), the salads themselves, prepared with oil and plenty of lemon, and all the splendid fruits and berries, including those of the South, are worthy of being served on the tables of gods. And when springtime comes, and last season's fruits, especially apples, are on the decline, and the new vegetables not yet ready, does not Mother Nature help us out abundantly with oranges from the South? Will the aroma and wealth of these splendid products of nature not induce man to eventually become a fruit eater entirely?

It is not possible for me to go into the question of food and its effects exhaustively in this book; for healthy people these statements may suffice, to sick people I give special prescriptions according to their state of health. It may be mentioned that non-fasters and people easily succumbing to illness, may at least insert the morning's fasting. It would be better for everybody not to eat anything before 10 o'clock and then nothing but fruits. The reward for this little chastising will certainly show itself, if the latter be kept up unfailingly.

3. Now, just one more word to those who think it impossible to give up the usual mucus food (meat, etc.). To these "poor ones" I also give the advice: to chew your food, and each bite, thoroughly, as per the American Fletcher, in one word; to "Fletcherize." Not that the fruit eaters should not do this; certainly, but the poison, i.e., mucous-eaters must do so especially, if they do not wish to sink into their graves all too soon.

The strong secretion of saliva in slow chewing decreases the formation of mucus and prevents the overeating. Of course, this class of people cannot quite achieve in health and strength, keep-up of youth and perseverance, physical and mental efficiency, what can be achieved by the faster and fruit-eater. Once man is healthy in my sense of the word, by fasting and fruit -diet, i.e., free from mucus, slime and germ, and if he stays with the fruit -diet, he, of course, need not fast any longer and only then he will find a pleasure in eating which he never dreamt of before. Only in this will man find the way to happiness, harmony and the solution of all questions, especially the social question, as only through this he can become want-free and get "nearest to divinity" (Socrates).