Richland beacon., 1880-11-13
A FIFTY.ElGNT BAYS FAST.
French Prisoner Who i,caf Er.
Tanner The Phrnom,cna of .;:;rsa-

Tanner The Phrnosr,cIa of a;:;rsu-
ton.
From tho London S'lidarLl
Ann Moore, the famous fasting woman
of Tutlury, pretended to have lived
for eight wears entirely without food.
A watch committee was appointed,
which detected Tie fraud in "A very III
gcnious manner. TIE bed ana bcddn%,
with the woinan in it, We're plnccd on
delicate weighing machine, which ~
suited in the inevitable exposure. AT
the expiration OF the ninth day of this
strict watching. being warned that She
WAS sinking. she acknowledged her I'M
posture, and atmittc1-which is IN ini-
portant fact-that, 50 long as the watch
upon her was but imperfect, her daugl-
ter had contrivcd, when washing her
face, to feed her every morning 10y using
towels made very wet with gravy, mix,
and other nourishing fluids, and iEtd
also when kissing her contrived t. con
vry small ort;ons of solid food from
mouth to mouth. Guillaume Granct, II
prisoner at Toulouse, resorted to starva-
ton to avoid punishment. For the first
seven days the symptoms were not very
remarkable. After that period he WAS
compelled to drink water to relieve lis
raging thirst, and, after lingering on III
terrible agony, he died in convulsions on
the fifty-cigh.h day. The case is re-
ported by Van Swieten. There Is no
doubt as to its truth, and it shows that
up to the present, at any rate, Dr. Tan
ner has al the most only don" what
others have done before him. Niterbi,
n Corsican, condemned to death for the
assassination of Fretliani, resolved TO
starve himself to death. He died on the
twenty-tirst day. He, too. occasionally
moistened his mouth with water. The
medical details of his case, which are
very horrible, will be found in Paris
Medical Jurisprudence. OF actual
starvation, the most remarkable exam
/ pie is, perhaps, that reported hy DIR.
Sloane, of Ayr. "a man, some
Is years of age, spare habit Of body,
and unco:nmonly vigorous or his time
of life, was accidentally incarccratcd
in n coal mine for twentytlilee days,
| during the first few of which he had ac-
cess to water strongly imprcgnatcd with
iron. He then became unable to move,
and had unfortunately fallen some dis
tance from the water. In this instance,
DIR. Sloane thinks that an impure atlnos-
phere, 10y lowering the vital powers,
might tend to slightly prolong life under
circumstances of privatiof. The m
happy man died on the thi,d day after
his removal" In 1866, Capt. Casey, of
the James LOwden, passed twenty-eiglt
days in an open boat without food or
water. He contrivcd, however, 80 drink
as much rain as he could collect, and
1t is possible, Of course, that lie may
have chewed fragments Of his clothes.
Thus, then, so far as ascertaincd cases
go, life has actually, on one occasion,
been sustained for fiity-eight days with.
out food, but not without water.
Referring to the cases which occurred
during the Irish famine Of 1871, DIR.
Donovan SAYS "They described tn,
pain of hunger as ut first very acute
but said that after twenty-four hours
had passed without food the pam sub
sided and was succeeded by feeling o
weakness and sinking, experienced prin
cipally in the epigastric region, accom-
panied with Unsuitable thirst, a strong
desire for cold water, and q distressIn.
feeling of coldness over the entire sur
face Of the body. In a short time tn
face and limbs became horribly ema
ciated. the eyes acquired most pe
culiar stare the skin exhaled peculia
and offensive fGtor, and was covere'
with brownish, filthy-looking coating
almost as indelible as varnish. This II
was at first inclined to regard as incru-t
cd filth, but further experience cGnvlncc
him that it was secretion poured on
from the exhalants on the surface of tin
body. The sufferer tottered in walkin
like drunken man; his voice becam
weak, like that of a person in cholera
he whined like a child, and burst int
, tears on the slightest occasion. In rt
spect to the mental faculties, their pros