Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-07-16

The case of the fasting idiot Tanner, who
is trying to live ON air and water only, for
forty days, continues to attract wide atten-
ton; and the New York papers contain
daily bulletins Of his condition lie lies
on Il cot bed, in Il hall, in the view of nu-
merous visitors who pay twenty-five cents
apiece for admission. Numerous physicians
have been Observing his physical condition,
among the number being DIR. f. S Peck,
late of this city, who, on the tenth day, made
close examination, testing especially Tan
ners scnsibillty OF touch and the condition Of
his eyes. Though there have been suspicious
On the pat Of some persons, that Tanner
was obtaining food in concentrated form by
some sleight of hand, there seems to be little
doubt that he is doing what he pretends to,
and that his abstinence from food is absolute.
For fourteen days, according to the reports
of his case, he swallowed nothing, returning
all the water from time TO time taken into
his mouth. lie is now swallowing water
and munchin5 ice occasionally. While the
Niisil'N'f - 'tAi1ti an thht lit VIM hOt ~
complsh his undertaking, it seems TO be
established that life has been maintained
without food, under peculiar circumstances,
for as long a period as forty days In one
case in the medical records a man afflicted
with a fungous disease of the stomach
which prevented the entrance of any food,
lived thirty-ninc days. There is an authen-
ticatcd case Of man who lived So days
without food, simply going to well daily
and rinsing his mouth with wafer and dying
at the end of that time. Ills name was
Reuben Kelsey, and the case was reported
by the late DR. james McNaughton, an emf
ncnt physician of Albany in the st. Louis
.NCdical and .Snlyicd! J0,tTEdl for October,
1879. Kelsey was insane, and believed that
the Almighty had commanded him to fast,
50 that he was much more likely to live up
to the conditions which he believed had
been imposed upon him than if he had been
actuated only ly love Of science or notoriety.
He began the task Of starving himself to
death July >. 1920, and lived till the cath of
August following. During the first three
weeks Of his abstinence he fell away very
rapidly, hut ;.itcrward he did not seem to
waste 50 scnsibiy. In 1868 four Belgian
miners, confined in coal pit, lived twenty
three days on water and other cases of alb
stinencc from food for fourteen days and
twenty three days are cited by DR.. Ham
mOnd. In one case IL young man lived on
orange juice sixty days. Among the insane
there arr CASES of victims of melanchclIa sub
sisting two months without food. In short
the medical and scientific books are full of
instances of varying character of abstinence
from food hy individuals who retained life,
and even degree of health for remarka-
be length of time.
Among the famous cases is that OF Sarah
jacobs, the Welsh fasting girl, whose parents
claimed that their daughter, who was twelve
years old, had eaten nothing for twenty
six months. The fraud imposed on the vicar
of Tie parish. the case was noised abroad,
visitors came from far and near, and the
Welsh public of the locality, proud of their
phenomenon, actually believed in her so
thoroughly that they took turns in watching
her, and so efrectually prevented her from
taking food that they murdered her by slow
starvation. In case Of involuntary starva-
ton the duration of life is from ten to twelve
DAYS