Some of you may be aware of Horace Fletcher, the originator of the bizarre phrase “Nature will castigate those who don’t masticate.” The Great Masticator encouraged adherents to his fad to chew food so thoroughly that it turned into liquid and could be swallowed without effort (“fletcherizing”).
The story goes that his odd eating habits turned him into a human dynamo able to beat Yale athletes in 1907 when he was 58. There was also something about his not having to poo much, but I’ll avoid going there.
These fantastic claims sound far fetched to me, but I haven’t been able to find rebuttals (such as contemporary evidence that he was not superhuman). Any thoughts?