and five feet six inches
in height. He does not look more than forty years old, and he is
as active as a man of that age. He says he never felt better
than when he was fasting, and that he has experienced no bad
effects of any kind, while, on the other hand, he has reduced
his weight to a normal limit and removed all danger of apoplexy.

"He got the idea of the fast from the new theory exploited by
Dr. Edward Hooker Dewey, a practising physician of Meadville,
Pa., who recommends fasting as a cure for many ailments, and
advises all persons to go without breakfast and eat only two
meals a day.

"'I became intensely interested in this new system,' said Mr.
Rathbun yesterday, 'and I decided to put it to a practical test.
Dr. Dewey had said that he had many patients fasting all the way
from ten to thirty and forty days, and I concluded that if it
did them so much good it would be just the thing for me. So I
tried it.

"'On April 23 I ate my last meal, and from then until May 24 I
had absolutely nothing to eat. I drank water, of course, for
that is a matter of necessity. One cannot do without drink; but
I took no nourishment. For the first twenty-four hours I was
very hungry, and would have liked very much to take a square
meal; but I resisted the temptation, and after the expiration of
one day I had no desire to eat.

"'I had been in the habit of getting to my office about 8; now I
get there at 7. I generally had left at 5.30; I now stayed until
6.30. I had been in the habit of taking an hour or an hour and a
quarter for luncheon. The luncheon was now cut off, so I stayed
in the office and worked. I sat there at my desk and put in a
long, hard day's work, constantly writing.

"'At night I drank a bottle of Apollinaris, and went to bed at
8.30 and slept until 4 in the morning. I never enjoyed better
sleep than in those four weeks. And I was in excellent condition
as far as I could see in every other way. My mind was clear, my
eye was sharper than usually, and all the functions were in
excellent working order.

"'I had many amusing experiences. I went to a dentist on the
first day. I had some work requiring several hours' labor on the
part of the dentist. I said nothing to the doctor on the first
day. Four or five days afterward I kept a second appointment
wit