Connecticut western news., 1876-05-05
FIFTY.EIGHT DAYS WITHOUT FOOD.
Llfe Sustained by Milk and Beet Tea Bathl
 "A Case that has no Parallel.

L4ife Sustained by Milk and Beef Tea Baths
 "A Case that has no Parallel.
 Near the village of Mexico, N. r., lives the widow Stansberry, who for ten years has been bedridden of nervous disease. Her daughter Martha, aged nineteen years, lived with her and took care of her. In October last Martha was taken sick with neuralgia affection of the face and head, and supposing that it proceeded from diseased teeth, she went to the village and had them ex- tracted. Soon after she returned home she was taken with excruciating pains in her left side, just below the ribs, which were so severe as to throw her into convulsions, of which she had as many as one hundred in twenty-four hours, on some days. From her side the pain went to her chest, and thence to her throat, and then she had difficulty in swallowing.
 From the twentieth to the twenty seventh day of February she took about one tablespoonful of cream each day, and no other nourishment. With each administration of this diet the patient went into convulsions. On Sunday, February 27, the last successful attempt was made to introduce food into her stomach. On that day the convulsions were so violent that death seemed to be imminent. The sight or smell of food produced spasms, and it became neces- sary to avoid presenting food to her for a time. At this stage she seemed to lose the senses of sight and hearing, and also the power of speech, and she re- mained for three or four days in state of partial coma, after which she revived sufficiently to write her desires on 8 slate. For the three weeks succeeding the twenty, seventh of February she wrote constantly on her slate about her suffering for food, but when food was offered her the convulsions returned. In these three weeks she slept but very little, and was in state of high nervous excitement, sometimes ordering her at tendants from the room, as she could not bear their presence. At the end of the three weeks she became very quiet and slept regularly and we'll. For three or four days at time she was apparently blind, deaf, and speechless, and then she revived for short time.
 At the end of this period (the three weeks) her physicians, Drs. Heaton and Huntington, of Mexico, began to treat her with hyperdermic injections, intro. ducing medications into the arms, and
 bathing the chest, stomach, and ab- domen with milk and beef broth. After
 this bread and cake were placed in hel
 hands; she sometimes attempted to put
 the food to her mouth, but all attempts
 to eat were useless. At that time she was able to talk, and said she would moi
 be able to eat again. When asked why,
 she said she didn't know, only she never
 could. From the beginning of her sick ness till her death, on April IS, the at tendants were, obliged to fan her continu ally; when the flaming stopped she seemed to stop breathing.
 Before her death she was conscious but had been unable to speak since the
 previous evening. She had then lair tifty-eigh days without taking 8 particle of nourishment into her stomach, no even drop of water, her only means o sustenance being the absorption of tho milk aud beef tea, the bathing in whicl was continued to the day she died. Drs Heaton and Huntington made carefu post naortene examination of the body { No disease of any kind was revealed Miss Stansberry had previously beer perfectly healthy girl. She weighed
 about 160 pounds when taken sick, ant
 after death weighed not less than 13( , pounds. The physicians think tha . death resulted from extreme nervous prostration rather than starvation. Drs Heaton and Huntington and other trust worthy physicians say the medical re z cords show no case of the kind.