New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-13

tematic attempt to magnify the population of
that section.
SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS or THE FAST
The fl es Of the English and French press
furnish abundant proofs Of the interest eXclted
by DR.. Tanners fast in medical and scientific
circles abroad. The experiment was regarded
at the outset rs a coarse imposture practised by
constituencies quacks and the earliest details
were received with ncrcdulty and amuse-
ment. The enterprise of two of the London
jouTnals The Standard ard The Aers
in publishing every cay for three weeks
special dispa ches relating to DIR. Tan
ner's condition gradually dispelied the notion
that the undertaking was a vulgar performance
conducted merely Is pcepsnow to gull the
public ald TO fll the pockets OF spectators
outside. The special dispatches were widely
copied by the English press, copous extracts
wrIe taken from the American exchange files
the Partisan paragraphs made DR..
Tanners stomach the subject of boulevard Cos
SIP and the medical journals Of the two conn
Tries took part in the discussion with uuwontcd
promptness and professional zcst
fl was not long before the medical cOrrespOn-
dents of The Lancet were giving recent in
Tanners fast was by no means uneXampled.
Two Of these cases aie worth citing. a physi-
can of the highest standing attended a lady
over sixty Yeas Of age, VINO Tor some uneX-
blamed reason had suddenly refused food in any
form She lived for exactly seven weeks, ana
died on the forty nntn or iifueth day, during
the whole of which period she took nothing
but cold water-it first freely, but gradually
III smaller quantlilcs-Wiih one exceptional
desseItspo0nfui OF brandy III water, which
was never repeated At the time OF her death,
although her arms and legs had become very
thin, her body retained much of its previous
stOutness. The other patient was GARDENER
suffering from cancer III the stomach, winch
caused him such intense agony that Tor lOIty-
one days before his death took no food of
any kind, either lid or solid. In this case
these was great enaciation before death, but
his brain was clear TO the last These fresh
instances, supported as they were by great
number of -well-authenucated cases cited by
medical writers and ply siOlogsts, dlsDellcd
the assumption that Dr.. Tanner must be
charlatan and cheat. The British Wed'cm
Journal pronounced the experiment one OF
considerable scientific interest," albeit IN absurd
one in some respects, aud stated 1t MS an I'M
doubted fact thai an animal will live longer on
water alone than on any proxlmate principle oil
food in dry state. The Lancet spoke ore
dIsparagIngy OF the physiological aspects OF
the case maintaining that the sole object OF
80 sensational il performance was to ascertain,
not whether u man could live forty days with
ont food which had been already proved by
undoubted cases, but whether Or. Tanner
could do it.
From this Judgment, now that this phenOm-
email test has come to an end and the patient is
rapidly recovering from the effects OF his pro-
longed fast, few Amc lean psychologists or
physicians of recognized standing in their pro-
fession will be disposed 10 dissent. The up
shot of the whole matter is that it has hereto
fore been known that human beings as well as
animals can 1--we long time without food under
favorable circumstances. While the limit Tor
the existence of the human organism after all
supplies have been cut off has been commonly
set somewhere between eight and ten days the
ordinary textbooks Of physiology have given
numerous Instances in which lie has been pro-
onged for thirty, forty, fifty, and even sixty
days without food. la many Of these cases the
human body has passed into condition analO-
gous to the alternating process, but vitality
has beef retained for long penods. especially
when water was ia ken as a partial substitute
for food. DIR. Tanners feat, therefore. has not
upset any fundamental opinions generally ac-
cepted by Psychologists. 1t has exhibited the
great power of the human will in carrying the
physical organization through terrible crisis,
and the almost superhuman resistance which
can be offered to an exhaustive strain upon the
nervous system. 1t has brought to light the
amazing capacity Of the stomach under good
conditions for immediate recuperatOn after
nrolonged abstinence from food. It has proved
that. with the exception of the irritation of the
nerves and the consequent irrltability of tenn
ner the mind is not materially affected by
starvatjon-the same fact disclosed In the two
instances cited by the medical correspondents
of The Lancet 1t has also shown that the tenn
nerature of starving man is not necessarily
affected by the withdrawal of supplies and that
the derangcment of the vascular system may be
easily repaired after protracted period of alb
stiuence. In these respects. DR.. Tanners ex-
perience serves to modify In some measure the
prevailing opinions respecting nutrition and
the physical effects of starvation. Further than
this il cannot 90. Ii does not establish any
new principles. 1t does not overturn any es
tablished theories OF physiology.
Dr. Tanners fast demonstrates the faulty Of