apparently the same man he had measured twenty-eight days
previously standing before him in perfect health, but as to
dimensions not at all the same man.

"'It doesn't fit any part of you,' said the tailor, after the
suit had been tried on. In the tailor's book Rathbun's
measurement was entered: 'Forty-three inches around the waist
and forty-two around the chest.' When he went for his suit his
measurements were thirty-eight around the waist and thirty-eight
around the chest.

"Dr. Dewey's theory, which led Rathbun to make his long fast, is
that the brain is the centre of every mind and muscle energy, a
sort of self-charging dynamo, with the heart, lungs, and all the
other parts only as so many machines to be run by it; that the
brain has the power of feeding itself on the less important
parts of the body without loss of its own structure, and that as
the operation of digestion is a tax on the brain, a long period
of fasting gives the brain a rest, by which means the brain is
able to build itself up, which means the upbuilding of the whole
body.

"In this way, it is asserted, the alcohol habit is cured and
other diseases eradicated.

"Dr. F. B. Carpenter said yesterday to a reporter for _The
Press_ that he had not recommended Mr. Rathbun to take the fast,
but had advised him while it was going on and after it was over.
The doctor said he was inclined to believe there might be
something in the no-breakfast system, as a great many persons
eat and drink altogether too much.

"Dr. Helmer said he had examined Rathbun on the twenty-fifth
day, and had found him in surprisingly good condition."

Mr. Rathbun had been on the no-breakfast plan for several years, and he
was one of the first to write me after my book came out. It was not
without reason he feared apoplexy, for Ex-Gov. Flower, an over-weighted
man, had gone down to instant death though seemingly in perfect health
and in the prime of business energy and mental capacity. During his fast
my only trouble with him was in his drinking so much water without
thirst, thus greatly and needlessly adding to the work of the kidneys.

Mr. Rathbun was so disappointed over the skepticism of New York
physicians as to the reliability of the fast that he determined to
undergo a longer one under such surveillance as would enforce
conviction. He was mainly actuated, howe