Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-16
STARVATION STORIES.


 STARVATION STORIES.
 Up to this writing Dr. Tanner has not only obstinately refused to die and give the ''regu- lars'' chance to crow over him but is actu- 1 ally in better condition than he has been- 1 This improvement is ascribed to the water ] which he took to drinking freely last Tues 1 day. He is making his experiment under very adverse circumstances, and has not had fair treatment, but he has succeeded in con- l vincing those who are most with him, in- cluding the sharp reporters of "the great metropolitan dailies, :" that he is not fraud, and that he has not tasted food since the 28th of June. How much longer the useless and distressing exhibition will continue remains l to be seen.
 One result of the affair has naturally been good deal of discussion whether it is possi- ble for any human being voluntarily or in- voluntarily to go without any more nourish- ing food than water for forty days and forty
 nights. Those who think it is are numerous. In support of the affirmative side of the
 question the words of Liebig are cited. In
 one of his letters on chemistry he remarks | ''Cases have occurred in which full supply of water being accessible to the sufferer,
 death has not occurred until after the lapse of twenty days. In one case life was sustained in this way for the period of sixty days" And other scientific and similar testimony is brought forward Quite as interesting, though of course not as reliable as this testi- mony, are the numerous accounts given of persons who for different reasons, have fast H. <,1,4 Some of these stories are as good Summer reading" as the snake and fish stories. For
 instance, it is related that Dr. Mayo O. Smith, of Newburyport, Mass, lasted forty days ten years ago, abstaining even from water He attended to his regular business, visited friends, and made no change ex-
 cept in fasting from his usual routine
 of life. After the first week all feelings of hunger and thirst subsided, and he said at the close of forty days he felt strong enough to fast forty days longer. He believed that there is nutriment in the atmosphere to sustain
 human life in healthy person indefinitely.
 His fast took place in the winter. He was in
 the habit of cutting hole in the ice, when the
 thermometer was below zero, and plunging in naked, and then walking ten twelve miles. Be is now settled in Colorado Springs
 and works on farm. In every athletic ex-
 ercise he excels. Though now nearly sixty
 years of age, he is giant in physical strength.
 In the life of the Rev. Freeborn Garrett
 son" by Nathan Bangs, D. D., there is an ac-
 count of man referred to as "a Mir. o." who lasted forty consecutive days and nights
 during which time ''he did not eat mouth
 F.
 few times little small beer" No solids passed through his body during the forty days He continued his regular labors, and
 ''from the tenth to the nineteenth day of his
 fast he seemed somewhat feeble, but after that he grew strong and looked nearly as fresh and well as he ever did. After the forty
 days were ended he ate as heartily usual,
 and found no injury from it, though his phy-
 sician warned him that in doing so he risked
 his life'' These sentences were quoted
 from the journal of MT. Garrettson, under
 date of Pennington, Conn.,. July 22, 17S9.
 But all the fasters were not as fortunate as
 Dr. Mayo and ''Mr O. in recovering from
 the effects of their fasting. About the 12th
 of July, 1870, John French, of Hagerstown,
 Maryland, induced by religious monomania began fast of forty days and forty nights,
 abstaining from food of all kinds, but drink
 ing freely of water and occasionally indulg-
 ing in smoke. He completed the fast on August 21, at which time he was reduced to
 skeleton. Every effort made during that time to induce him to eat utterly failed and
 those who were in close contact with him all the time say that not a mouthful of food passed his lips. Strategy, after persuasion had exhausted itself, was resorted to. Tempt ing fruit and other things were placed in his way and in such manner as to leave the inn precision that their presence was unknown to all but himself, yet he refrained from par taking of them in every instance. After the
 forty days he was fed with great care, l but he died ten days later
 The fasting of Reuben Kelsey, originally reported by the late Dr. James McNaughton, of Albany, was very wonderful, and is said to have been perfectly authenticated. Kelsey stopped eating on the 2d of July, assigning l as reason that when it was the will of the 1 Almighty that he should eat he would be fur nished with an appetite For the first six weeks he went regularly to the well in the morning and washed his head and face, and took bowlful of water into the house. With I this he occasionally rinsed his mouth, and drank some of it. His parents were of the opinion that he did not drink more than pint of water in twenty four hours. Con- pulsory means to make him take food were found unavailing. On one occasion he went l three days without taking water, but on the fourth morning he was observed to go to the l we'll and drink copiously and greedily. On the eleventh day of his fast he stated to his friends that he had not felt so well nor so strong in two weeks as at that moment, and consequently denied the necessity of taking food. For the first six weeks Cforty two days) he walked out every day.. ard some- times spent the greater part of the day in the l woods He walked steadily and firmly, and
 his friends remarked that his step was unusu- ally elastic. He shaved himself until about a week before his death, and was able to sit up l in bed to the last day. His mental faculties did not seem to become impaired as his gen. eral health declined, but, on the contrary, his mind was calm and collected to the end. His voice toward the last became feeble and low, but continued distinct. Toward the close of his life he did not go into the fields nor dur l ing the last week even to the well, but still he was able to sit up and go about his room. During the first three weeks of his abstinence he fell away very rapidly, but afterward he did not seem to waste so sensibly. His color was blue, and toward the last blackish- His general appearance was sol ghastly that chil- dren were frightened at the sight of him.