Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-10-19
DOING WITHOUT FOOD,

Every now and then we hear Of some wonder
full case of a man or woman existing for q
long time without food or drink Sometimes
there is an appearance ofsuspended animation.
during which, Ofcourse, the digestive functions
are suspended. At other times there are conyul-
sions or spasms, as in the marvellous case lately
reported, Of Mrs. Hays, of Warren COUNTRY. N
Y, who has had " fits. commissions. spasmS
contortiOns and tremOrs'' for more than two
years, during all which time SAYS the yeracious
chronlcler OF the case, she has not eaten enough
to make one ordinary meal for healthy person
Lately, too, she has taken to doing without
breathing for considerable length of time and
altogether Mrs. Hays must be yerv extraordi-
nary woman, and, barring the fits must be a
very cheap and economical wife for the hard
Tunes A lady who don't eat or drink. and
whose breathing-and, per consequences talking
too-have gone into suspension would be a
treasure to q merchant threatened with sus-
pension.
But all such cases are, If not totally fabulous
at least much exaggerated, and they prove
nothing in regard to the general ability of hu-
man nature to do without food. They are net
to be mentioned, as philosophical illustrations
nj the same time with the marvellous and au-
thenticated case Of Tice, Dawson and Grant
who existed ut sea for eight days and twenty
hours without food, and the greater part Of the
time without water also. During all this Pc
Rod their physical powers were taxed 10 an ex-
traordinary degree to keep themselves aaoat.
and tEey must have been still more embar
raised and exhausted by the constant dsshinr
OF the salt water in their face, and down their
throats- How any man could live in this way,
for day alone, is astonishing: but that thew
should live thus for nine days fairly confounis
all pre-coneeiyed notion of human endurance
III one man had survived such fearful ordeal
We might have set it down rs an exception case.
and treated him as something supcrhuman But
when three men in, almost precisely the same
situation, live through so long a period without
food or drink, itisproyed that the human system
can endure privations exceeding anv that have
ever been imagined. We may suppose that the
immersion in salt water may have cnab lsd them
10 absorb some kind of sustenance; but the
stomach and the digestive organs, during all
that period, received nothing whatever except
salt water, which was nauseating and at last
little fresh water collected during a rain
Here II something for medical men and mill
osophers to inquire into, for there has evident
Iy been misoaculatiOn of man a powers of an
DURANGO, not only Of hunger but Of fatigue and
exposure. If the stories of Tice. Grant and
Dawson are true, then death from starvation
cannot some half so speedily as has always been
supposed A man may be tossed about and
bufetted by the waves, with sleep as unattain-
able as food or drink, and yet live through il
for days. Solve US this wondrous problem and
IN so doing, convince US that we, who eat our
bread: beef and vegetables daily, are doing so
much more than the actual necessities of exis-
tence require, that we deserve 10 be classed
among the Incorporate Bulletin.