n the intestines, but it is probable that
nature can and does take care of a little of it there in the healthy
individual.

It is perfectly absurd to say, as some physicians still continue to say,
that no poisonous matter is ever absorbed in the intestinal tract. Give
a child something that causes intestinal indigestion and see how quickly
he has a rise in temperature. This fever is the direct result of poisons
absorbed in the intestines. In the case of the nervous adult, however,
this poison does not as often result in fever as it does in a horrible
mental depression and a complete inability to perform any sort of work.

And so there seems no question but that this terrible malady we call
"nerves," or a nervous breakdown in any of its many forms, is in a
majority of cases the result of the wrong eating habits of the
individual. The chewing of all food to a cream will go far toward curing
the trouble, but in most cases this alone will not effect a cure. It
would not have done so in my own case, although I did see much
improvement as a result of that practice alone.

And here I want to say this: There are many who say they cannot eat acid
fruits because of the distress they cause. Now if such people would
always chew an apple, a pear, or other fruit to a cream, no distress
would result from eating fresh fruit. But such people must follow in
detail the diet I shall give farther on.

Now, facts cannot be stated too strongly. It is certain acid fruits will
cause distress if you do not chew them to a cream. I would swell up like
a toad if I ate only one apple hurriedly. I don't dare think what might
happen to me if I ate three or four in that way. I might possibly find
myself transformed into a human balloon and float away into space. But I
don't eat apples that way--not now. Some who read these pages may think
it very strange, yet it is quite true that there really are persons
suffering with "nerves" who have not gumption enough to follow this
simple rule of chewing all food to a cream. I despair of ever helping
those people. They still continue to dispose of a big meal in fifteen
minutes, and then insist they have chewed all their food carefully. I
have had that thing happen right before my own eyes. Then think of their
complaining that they cannot eat apples because they cause so much gas
in the stomach!

One reason why a large number of such people are troubled with gas, even
though they do chew their food to a crea