The Wanganui Chronicle " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1909. FLETCHERISM.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12387, 7 December 1909, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1909. FLETCHERISM.

j Cookery has become such a fine art oi recent years, and appetite has become so pampered and capricious and insatiable in consequence, that in certain quarters it would almost seem as though we were on the verge of a return to the old Roman system of the vomitorium; while in other quarters, in violent contrast and reaction against this gluttonous tendency, we have the various forms of j the simple life. The no-breakfast brigade, tho no-dinner brigade, the nocookery brigade, and what not, and men like Mr. Barrie are quoted as apostles of a new order of living, wherein men shall j eat less than half of what they eat today—to their great advantage, physically, mentally, and morally as well. In former times (and not so long ago) we were taught that we dug our graves | with our teeth; but this, it seams, was ; ai great delusion. Far from digging our i graves with our teeth, we may, if we i will dig our way to a limited immortality with our teeth, be young'and frisky at a hundred years old, and from a comparative feebleness at 50, blossom out i into the proportions of a Sandow, withj tho strength of Goliath of Gath at three-score. That, according to a contributor to tho "Argus," would seem to bo tho experience of Mr. Horace Fletcher, iba founder of the new cult, and from whom it derives its name. Fletcherism, ho says, may be summed; up very briefly. Its teaching is that it matters little what is eaten, so long as ;t is thoroughly chewed, and by thoroughly is meant until ths food becomes o. "cream" in the mouth, and melts down tho throat of its oavii accord. Mr. Gladstone's famous dictum was 40 chews for each mouthful. Fletcherism goes further, and says you must chew your food out of existence, whether it mean 40 or 400 chews. Cooking, upon which we have placed so high a premium, is neither hero nor there^ and the art of cooking (French included) may become a thing of the past, and good riddance to it. Tho art of chewing is the real and important thing, and whoso learns it not only banishes for ever "that tired feeling," but fills his days and nights with joy. He will lengthen out those days indefinitely, increase his power for work enormously, and, most remarkable of all, wax fat and rich on the paltry sum of s|d. per clay. Mr. Fletcher's story is an interesting one. Behold him, as ho describes himself at 40 years of ago (that was 20 years ago), sft. 6in. high, lost. 7lb. in weight, and hair j white as snow. He is "harrowed" by; indigestion, a hopeless prey to influenza, never rid of "that tired feeling," "an old .man at 4.0, and on the rapid way to a decline." He wished to live, but life, was a misery to him, and when he ap-| plied for an insurance policy and wasi turned clown as a "poor risk," his cup of bitterness was full. By this time, luckily for him, he had amassed a considerable fortune, and was able to retire' from business and go in quest of health, j which thing ho also did. He went the round «of the European "cures," but in tho end was no better—rather grew 1 worse. Some years passed in this way, i and ho had well nigh given up in des-| pair, when he fell in with a disciple of. Gladstone, who set before him the possi- j bilities of chewing and mastication, andj with characteristic thoroughness he de-] termined to get at the root of the mat- j ter. " I began by trying to find out why f Nature required .us to eat, and how and when.'' From philosophising about the ihing, he soon got to actual experi-! men I;. " T chewed my food carefully untill I got everything out of it that was in it and until it slipped unconsciously' down my throat —eating always whatever the appetite craved." Amongst other things he learned in this way "to wait for a true-earned appetite, to get all tho good taste in the food out of it in tho mouth, and swallow only when it. practically swallowed itself," "to take! and enjoy as much as possible. . . Nature will do the rest." For five months' he continued chewing and experiment- j

ing and observing. At the end of that time " I found out positively that I had worked out my own salvation" —chewed it out, so to speak. He had got rid of COlb. of surplus fat, his head was clear, 1 his body "springy," influenza, together with "that tired, feeling," had taken to themselves wings and worried him no more, " new delights of taste and appetita were discovered," walking he enjoyed, and as to cycling, " on my fiftieth birthday I rode nearly 200 miles on my bicycle over French roads, and came homo feeling fine. And I rode 50 miles the next morning before my breakfast to test the effect of my severe stunt." Having proved the truth of his theory lie at once set out to confer the blessing on a suffering world —but, alas! men turned a deaf ear. Professor Atwatcr was the first man of note to whom he revealed his secret.. The professor was polite, but sceptical. "Cordial," Fletcher says, "but in no way encouraging." And fully three years went by before any headway was made. Then he secured a notable convert. Dr. Van Someren, of Venice. Italy, belonged to a family long distinguished as physicians; but when Fletcher fell in with him he was apparently a chronic dyspeptic, sick and discouraged. Fletcher induced him to try the chewing cure. The result was astonishing. "In three weeks the doctor was a new man." Later on Fletcher and Van Someren,- together with Pro= fessor Leonardi, of Venice, began experimenting on a large scale. They hired a whole squad of men in Venice, and feed them up ala Fletcher. Then Dr. Van Someren wrote his paper for the British Medical Association. The paper aroused the interest of Professor Michael Foster, of Cambridge, who organised experiments at ths University, which were carried out by Professor Francis Gowland N Hopkins, and thenceforward the path of " Fletcher ism " was as the past of the . just, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Leading Americans approve, such as Professor Henry James and Dr Henry Bowditch (America's leading physiologist), of Harvard, Dr. Russel Chittenden, of Yala University, president of the American Physiological Association, and tho leading physiological chemist; Professor Irving Fisher, president of the committee of 100 on the National Health of America; General Leonard, and Surgeon-General O'Reilly, of tho. U.S. Army, and, of course, exPresident Roosevelt, and Mr. Secretary Root. "A few years ago," says the editor of the "Ladies' Home Journal," * Fletcherism was laughed at —to-day the most famous men of science endorse it, and teach its principles." To a certain extent that is probably true, and in the meantime the," American Association for the Advancement of Science" has made Mr. Fletcher a" Fellow, the lion, degree of M.A. has been conferred upon him by Dartmouth, and Chautau- ■ qua.last year appointed him as its lecturer on vital economics.' Mr. Fletcher's Sandow feat? are, for a man of his years, sufficiently surprising;. At Yale,, fq>: instance, Professor Irving Fisher had -levised an endurance-testing' machine for the muscles niost used in walking, ir which the athlete is 'required to lift with the muscles of the leg below tho knew a 3001b. weight. The" average I cf the university men was'B4 lifts', 'two had done over 100, and the, record''was ] 75. Under the personal supervision, of j Drs. William Anderson (director of Yale gymnasium) and Born, the masters of boxing, fencing, etc., Mr. Fletcher two years ago—being then 58 years of age— calmly doubled the record, and, after ! adding a few lifts to the 350, stopped, "not from fatigue," but because the friction of the iron collar from which th-3 weight was suspended was hurting his knee. Dr. Anderson, thinking he must fall from exhaustion, stepped forward to catch him, but he was not exhausted in the least. When examined I for heart action, steadiness of nerve, I etc., it was found he could hold a glass of water at arm's length in either hand without spilling any, and no ill-effects were afterwards experienced. In the same year, at Springfield, Massachusetts, in the training school,of the International V.M.C.A., at a properly-or-ganised test, Mr. Fletcher lifted 7701b. dead weight with the muscles of his back and legs— which is about equivalent to Samson's carrying off of the gates of Gaza. "This was without training, and with comparatively small muscle." What ho might do with training and big muscle staggers one to think. The journal publishes a photograph of the venerable Hercules putting up a world's record (without training) on the dynamo-meter, with Dr. Anderson, of Yale, looking on. Mr. Fletcher remarks incidentally, "All tlieso stunts were done on two meals a day--one at noon and the other at 6 o'clock in tho evening—at an average cost of 5£ per day." "It is no longer ?, question of doubt," says the journal, "that of all the current movements for sane eating and living Mr. Fletcher and ! his principles have emerged at the very front." The movement originated in Italy, but in America " more than 20,000 families are living according to 'Fletcherism.'" ' " j