NO BREAKFAST FAD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9642, 17 January 1903, Page 1

NO BREAKFAST FAD.

FOODLESS START FOR THE DAY DECLARED DESIRABLE. LONDON, Deo. 6. A "no breakfast" crusade is the latest fad at Manchester, and is finding many advocates. Manchester has been the cradle of many notable movements m England. The term "Manchester school" has m recent, years carried a significance outside the domain of politics, wliei'e it still stands for free tradeism, and expansionism, and individualism. It is now synonymous with "detachment" from the viewpoint of every question of human interest, with the result that it is rarely m agreement with tlie trend of opinion of the rest of the country. As the Manchester people inherit a, full share of the local pride of their fathers' ■achievements their frequent isolation does' *s}iot trouble them much. They are now ** -pioneers m a movement which has survived the first ordeals of derision and incredulity. The cry. m Manchester to-day is "No breakfast," as the cry a, generation ago was "Cheap bread." Ike new crusade is being waged under the banner of the Manchester Physical Health Culture Society, of which many prominent citizens are members. The lord mayor presided at a large meeting of the society this week, where, the speakers recounted their personal experiences m going without their breakfasts. The physiological basis of the plan is thus expounded by a medical believer m it: "Properly digested food only restores waste muscular tissue, supplies lieafc and force, and feeds the brain and nervous system. Tlie brain and nervous system control and give power and action to all the muscles of the body, including the stomach. This power of the brain is derived from rest and sleep alone, and not from food. The digestion of food is a tax upon the brain energy, and it is necessary that the tax should occasiosially stop. During the sleep comparatively little waste occurs. Food is not so much needed after a. long sleep as after prolonged work. All curative power is brain energy." After the statement the laymen of Manchester defended their faith. One Hobust young man said that he began last June on the no-breakfast plan. He had severe headaches on the second and third days and intermittent headaches during the first week. The second week lie became convinced it was an entirely good thing and he was of that opinion now. He took a cup of cocoa at morning and night. ■ t They must not, he said, belittle the morning pang of hunger. It is the real thing at first, but it disappears. He took his first meal at 12.15 p.m. 1 and the second

at 6.15 p.m. He felt that he had derived great benefit from the plan. Another young athlete, who rises at 5 m the morning, said he took his first meal at noon and the. second m the evening. L He said the best thing was to avoid the 1 chaff of companions by not talking about \ the matter. He advised experimenters 5 not to tell their friends when they began, as the latter would be sure to say that ' they were loking pale and ill. He had > not been sick since he began the experiment, but when he told his friends about ;' it months afterward they at once began [ to discover unfavorable signs m Ms appearance. j A hostile critic declared that the fundamental physiological error of the breakfastless idea was m saying that the brain , did not supply energy to the muscles. The latter derived their power from dig- ' ested food and blood tissues. What the j [ brain did was to liberate muscular energy ! as required. [ '