Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-07-24
Tanner Again.

Editor St1r:-AS the long fast of DR.. Tanner
seems to be eliciting good deal of comment,
and there is manifest disposition to refer to
every recorded case of starvation, the following
statement, which appears hitherto to have
escaped the observation of every one, and which
! clipped some twenty years ago from the Oska-
loosa (fowa) Herald may be OF interest:
DEATH FROM STARVATION.
4 Woman Lices Sirtgeight Days Without
Food
s, The wife OF Mr. Harvey Cruzen OF Madison town:
ship, In this county, had been deranged for about
had to be confined by her friends. On the 18th Of
September last she declared her determination to
vioss she had taken from her husbands pocket
some forty dollars in money and announced her in
she would either cut her throat or drown herself.
Not permitted to do either of these. she deter
She resontey persisted in this determine alton for
sgGg aa .hs 9 death 70 her relief on
We were well acquainted with some members Of
Mr. C's. family. and have made the most clreful
closely Watched and attended, the Whole time s
and those who were with her are satisfied that. be-
sides the water ehe drank she had not taken ttCO
o!,nces OF nourishment during the entire sixty
at e Of bsn of and
very vigorous physical health. She was large and
weeks Of her Starving perod she snr r
~ shs could seldom be raised in bed without faint
could retain the water that She danR
Dur,ng the whole time there was but little action of
m. mt OF the bo Sels except on two or three occa
81 ms when she was prevailed on to take soma
ne had her attendants not given her dozsa pills
IT a. time; she thought that quantity would put
the requisite nun Der were made of dough. She
retained her consciousness and her resolute deter
mnaton to die, Until three or four days before her
We are not aware that, in the whole annals OF
where person has lived an equal number Of days
wllnout 1909; case occarred recently in Hastings
solved to starve herself sGs lived thirty days only
Of a
'..'extraordinary case" Yet the number Of days
lived CTHzen We repeat raa
ton Of the truth of the statement made above and
and every inducement offered to prevail on her to
give up her resolutions that the affection of hus-
suggest.
1t will be observed that this woman was
described as being large and her flesh very
solid and this undoubtedly had much to do
with prolonging her life. Not that those who
have superabundance OF flesh have greater
powers OF endurance than others, but In an ex-
pertinent OF this kind success depends much on
the amount OF fatty matter or carbon in the
system. DR.. Tanner is said to not be a large
man. His weight on commencing his fast was
less than 100 pounds. What proportion OF this
was fat, or JosciG, and what bone and muscle,
the doctors, with all their science, have not
thought necessary to inform us. IL he be a
lean, spare man at this weight, his chances Tor
failure are much greater. The reason of this is
very obvious There is in the human subject, as
we'll as in many Of the lower animals, tmmedi-
ately under the integument or skin a layer of
fat called by anatOmiSts ''Superfical faScia.n AS
rule this is thicker in the female than in male
OF equal weight; hence a female everything
else being equal, will live longer without food.
Animals such as the bear. raccOon, hog and the
reptiles have this fascia very thickly developed
and they will live for an incredible length of
time without any other nourishment; the car
bon which this fat contains is absorbed and its
union in the lungs with the oxygen in the at
mosphere furnishes them with animal heat
They viii get thin and lose weight, but they
Will not Ole till this supply is exhausted. My
own impression is that Tanner will succeed. at
the same time, II the weather turns cooler he
will find 1t necessary to remain more closely
confined to his room, or to drink less water for
II he takes more oxygen into his system by
breathing, as he must do the cooler or less rari-
fed the atmosphere becomes, and at the same
time receives an extra amount from the spring
water he drinks, he will require more carbon to
meet this, and keep up an equilibrium IN his
system. Not obtaining this from food, and the
supply In the system being exhausted. his
chances OF faffure viii be proportionably In
creased. C. PEARSON NJ d.
Washington, D. c., July 23d 1880.
mon 4, Cunpocod to no In III, r,,,o, -.