How to Keep Young.Old age is accompanied by the accumulation in the body of certain earthy salts which tend to produce ossification. The deposit of these in the walls of the arteries impedes the circulation, and produces senility and decrepitude. Flesh-food accelerates this process, but the juices of fruits, and distilled or soft water, dissolve out these deposits. The older one becomes the more freely should one partake of fruit and soft water.

The more juicy fruit we consume, the less drink of any kind we require, and the water contained in fruit is of Nature's purest and best production.

Frequent bathing and the occasional use of the vapour bath also help to eliminate these deposits, and those whose skins are never made to perspire by wholesome exercise in the open air must cause this healthful operation to take place by other means—or pay the penalty which Nature exacts.

Food and Climate.Vegetable oils and fats produce heat and build up the nerves. We require a much larger amount of food containing fat in cold weather and in cold climates than in warm weather and in warm climates. By producing fruits in profusion in the summer-time Nature provides for the satisfaction of our instinctive desire for such simple and cooling diet when the temperature is high. But in winter-time more cheese, butter, olive oil, or nuts, should be eaten every day.

Cancer and Flesh-eating. The latest declarations of some of the principal British medical authorities on 'Cancer' are to the effect that people become afflicted with this disease through the excessive consumption of animal flesh. The alimentary canal becomes obstructed with decomposing matter, toxic elements are generated and absorbed in the system, and cancerous cellular proliferation ensues. It is noteworthy that fruitarians are scarcely ever afflicted with this disease, and that a strict fruitarian dietary (uncooked) has often proved curative. See pages 133 and 166.

How to avoid Dyspepsia.If the digestive process is unduly delayed by overloading the stomach, or by drinking much at meal-times so as to dilute the gastric juice, fermentation, flatulence and impaired health are likely to result. Raw sugar if taken very freely with starch foods is also apt to produce fermentation.

It is a mistake to mix acid fruits and vegetables by eating them together at the same meal. Fermentation is often thus caused, as vegetables take a long time to digest. A very safe rule to observe, and one which would save many from physical discomfort and suffering, is this—only eat fruits which are palatable in the natural uncooked state. Before Man invented the art of cooking, he must have followed this rule.

Those who suffer from dyspepsia will, in most instances, derive benefit by taking two meals a day instead of three—or at any rate by substituting a cup of coffee or of hot skimmed milk and a few brown biscuits for the third meal. Hard workers are the only persons who can really get hungry three times a day, and we ought not to take our meals without "hunger sauce." Fruit alone, for the third meal is better still.

The last meal of the day should not be taken after seven o'clock at night. Disturbed rest and the habit of dreaming are an almost certain indication of errors in diet having been committed, or of this rule having been infringed.

Probably the most valuable prescription ever given to a patient was that given by Dr. Abernethy to a wealthy dyspeptic, "Live on sixpence a day and earn it."

Constipation can nearly always be cured by adding stewed figs, French plums, salads, etc., to one's menu, by eating brown instead of white bread, and by taking less proteid food.

Tea is detrimental to many persons. The tannin contained in it toughens albuminous food, and is liable to injure the sensitive lining of the stomach. China tea is the least harmful.

Rest after Meals.Those who work their brains or bodies actively, immediately after a solid meal, simply invite dyspepsia. The vital force required for digestion is diverted and malnutrition follows. The deluded business-man who "cannot spare the time" for a short rest or stroll after lunch, often damages his constitution and finds that he has been "penny wise and pound foolish."

If the brain or body has been severely taxed, an interval of rest should be secured before food is taken. It is not what we eat that nourishes us, but what we are able to assimilate. Recreation, occasional amusement, and an interest in life are necessary. Thousands of women die from monotony and continuous domestic care; multitudes of men succumb to mental strain and incessant business anxiety. Chronic dyspeptics should reflect on these facts.

Abstainers from animal-food who get into any difficulty about their diet should seek advice from those who have experience, or should consult a fruitarian physician. The local names and addresses of doctors who both practice and advise this simple and natural system of living, will be supplied upon application to the Hon. Secretary of The Order of the Golden Age. Such are increasing in number every month.

Physical Vitality. The human body is a storage battery consisting of millions of cells in which the vital electricity that produces health, and makes life enjoyable, is accumulated.

Every manifestation of physical and mental power depends upon the force stored up in this battery. The more fully charged the cells the higher the voltage, and, consequently, the greater the physical vitality and power. This voltage is always fluctuating. Expenditure of force lessens it; recuperation, through rest, sleep, the in-breathing of oxygen, and the assimilation of vital uncooked food increases it.

Fruits, nuts, and root vegetables contain electrical potency—they will deflect the needle of a highly sensitive Kelvin galvanometer. But when cooked, their vital electricity is destroyed—they become lifeless, like flesh-food.

The accumulation of vital force is a possibility if natural and vital food is selected.

The Great Healer. All the medicines in the world are as the small dust of the balance, potentially, when weighed against this Life-force—which "healeth all our diseases and redeemeth our life from destruction." Its therapeutic phenomena are truly wonderful.

When our bodies are invaded by malevolent microbes, the defensive corpuscles within us, if in fit condition, destroy them. But if not fed with those elements which are needful for their sustenance, they soon "run down"—just as we ourselves get "below par." We are then liable to become the prey of those ceaseless microscopic enemies that are ever ready to pounce upon the unfit.

If our corpuscles are weaker than the invading foes, no drugs can save us—we are doomed. Hence the importance of keeping ourselves and our nerve centres well charged and in vigorous condition.

How to Accumulate Vitality.To accumulate vitality our food must contain all the chemical elements which we need. None must be permanently omitted. If, for instance, we entirely exclude organic phosphorus from the food of a man of great intellect, he will, in due time, be reduced to imbecility. This is obtained in such foods as cheese, milk, wholemeal bread, peas, apples, strawberries, and bananas.

We must live by method, and take some trouble. Nature's greatest gift is not to be obtained without thought or effort. We must eat, breathe, and live wisely; and the closer to Nature we get, the better it will be for us.

The habit of deep breathing, like that of living much in the open air, yields important results. The atmosphere consists of oxygen and nitrogen—the very elements of which our bodies are chiefly constructed. Life and vigour can be inhaled, but few persons have learnt the art.

Cheerfulness tends to promote the assimilation of food. Exercise—of an intelligent and healthful sort—is needful to make the life-current pulsate through our tissues. Without it our organs do not get properly nourished and rebuilt: stiffness and atrophy set in. Worry and care must be banished, and unwise or excessive expenditure of nerve force avoided; for these things deplete the human storage battery of its vitality.

Mankind is slowly gaining greater knowledge of vital, mental, and spiritual truth. Ultimately, "Life more abundant" will become the heritage of the many instead of the few.

Self-emancipation from weakness and disability is an achievement that will repay much effort on the part of each one of us; and we can all render beneficent social service by exemplifying the art of living wisely.

By promoting hygienic and humane education, we can prevent much suffering, and greatly increase the sum of happiness in this world!

All readers who feel that they have derived helpful and useful knowledge by reading this book, are respectfully invited to make it known to their friends and neighbours, or to present copies to them. All financial profit arising from its sale is devoted to the philanthropic work of The Order of the Golden Age and the exaltation of its hygienic and humane Ideals.

Booksellers, Secretaries of Food-Reform, Physical Culture, and other Societies (and readers requiring quantities for distribution) can be supplied at a discount of 25 per cent. for cash, carriage forward, if they apply directly to the above Society.