there is no court of
appeals in her realm.

"'When I say that the extreme limits of abstinence from
nourishment in clearly authenticated cases is from nine to ten
days, you must not get the impression that all persons can last
that long.

* * * * *

"'It is a question of environment, of mental condition--whether
buoyed by hope or stimulated by ambition to do a great feat--and
above all, of course, of the physical condition of the faster.
Without food the body absorbs its own tissues. Mr. Rathbun, I am
told, was a very heavy man with a superabundance of tissue.
Naturally he could go longer without nourishment than a weak,
attenuated, thin-blooded man.

* * * * *

"'Yet Mr. Rathbun was exercising daily and about his usual
avocations, and he abstained from food for thirty-six days!
Well, it's remarkable!

* * * * *

"'But I sincerely hope Mr. Rathbun will have no imitators. It
would be a very unfortunate thing, fraught with grave
possibilities, if the newspaper accounts of his reduction in
weight and general improvement in health were to move others to
follow his example. Many persons would be injured for life,
physically wrecked, and perhaps actually killed if they
conscientiously did the fifth part of what he is said to have
done.

* * * * *

"'And right here it may be said that there is a great deal of
exaggeration in the sweeping statements made about people eating
too much. If a man sleeps well, goes about his business in a
cheerful frame of mind, and does not get what is called
"out-of-sorts," he may be pretty sure he is not eating too much,
even though he eat a good deal. My observation is that the
average man who works and gets a proper amount of exercise does
not eat too much. If you want to get work done by the engine,
you have got to stoke up the furnace. If a man wants to keep his
vital energies up to par he has got to put in the fuel--that is,
the food.

"'Of course, there are those who lead sedentary lives who get
too much absorbed in the pleasures of the table and overfeed.
There are a sufficient number of these, to be sure, but I think
they are the exception. But it will be a sad mistake if even
they seek a road to h