Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-08-27
Esr.ei Al:va.
from The View Tork Times .

.iiom ;hr View Iork Times
The physiological training of the
Hindu fakir for ms profession is some
thing worth study. He begins by alb
stertion from food during the day, and
taking Il very reduced quantity at night.
Certain articles are strictly prohibited
among them are sal, fish aut meat, oil
and wine, mustard o..i 49,, .a and
tumips. He must refrain from spices,
from all acid and acid preparations, and
from all pungeAt articles except ginger.
HIS carb0naceous food is limited to rice
and wheat, his heterogeneous to milk and
melted butter (JhrtdO, and rs the carbon
hydrates, honey and sugar are alone ad-
missible. There are two or three articles
familiar 10 Europeans only by their Ben
gal names, which he ia permitted to use;
bat they are composed OF the preceding
ingredients in various proportions.
Water is positively prohibited but some
socts allow the devote to drink sparingly
If alcoholic beverages. He must next
learn to live underground; and for this
purpose he digs n subterrnnean cavern
lthe g'fJliu), in which he passes most of
his time. The temperature must be
warm and perfectly even and the cavern
Is entered only by hole which can be
closed with a stone. 1t is a living sepul-
ture. Indeed, the essentials of the mode
of life are the complete occlusion Of free
oxygen, inpenotrable darkness, and an
unbroken silence. He lies upon pallet
of cotton or something warm and
srft-at the bottom Of this subterranean
cell, and repeats from day to day the
l., =
the great abstraction of universal iife-a
being more transcendental than that Of
iieg'l. Tie devotec takes occasional
walks, but Is v"ry slow in his movements,
50 as to lessen the rapidity Of tho respira-
ton. He repeats his ''Om' sometimes
10000 times day, and has other sylla-
blcs, among which are ''Bam,' Ham"
Lam, Ram, ''s:oham," YAM" of
which he performs endless series of re-
petitions, arranging them in every order
Of which they are susceptible, and rigid
j. following Il prescribed order for
given number Of repet!tioE;. He trains
i,pns' II To at sqUattCd Ior hours together
Ia Il certain peculiar attitude, tthc shit
hTS1lGJ. which consists in doubling the
left leg under the body, So as to rest
upon the heel Of the left foot, while the
right leg is extended forward, In this
position. with the right arm advanced,
he holds the big toe of the right foot in
his right hand, and with the left arm
tlexcd under the body, erasps the big toe
Of the left foot This brings the lower
part Of the face TO rest upon the breast
bone. In this awkward and difficult atti-
tudc the fakir sits for hours together;
that is, when he is not standing upon his
head or training himself to take deep
inspiration and expel it bodybuilding II
seconds to breathe in and n to breathe
out the cubic feet Of atmosphere that the
lungs can contain. Besides these exer-
Cises his tongue has to be cut II times,
so ~ to sever all the igltures one by
one, and enable him to tlex it backward
and close the throat with its tip. This
extraordinary discipline is steadily pro-
secuted for years, and at length the fakir
tries his first experiment with feigning
death, allowing himself to be shut up in
his suhterranean cell and sealed therein
with every precautloI. generally for
week OF two ut first, then for Il month or
two months, lying OF squatting in Il
state of trance, with the tip Of the tongue
closin" the throat, without perceptlble
d'iibil u ilt 1t iil anu " ltli illt tiitAiEi
ton of the blood apparently suspended.
He would never recover himself from
this condition of suspended animation !;
but he can he recovered by proper mani
pulation, which commences in pouring
hot water over the shriveled body. stiff
and rigid "a a corpse, for some minutes.
As the bathing in hot water continues,
the arms and legs gradually relax from
their rigor \ hot cake is next placed
upon the crown Of the head, AMI the
plugs made of cotton soaked i'll wax are
removed from the nostrils and ears.
( The next steps-it being understood that
assistants are all this time engaged in
rubbing the limbs-are to pry open the
rigid Jaws and restore the tongue to its
nomal position then to rub the evehds
with melted butter until they can be I'M
closed, revealing the glazed and motion
less cye-hal. Finally, the hot cake on
the toy, Of the head is renewed. The heat
acting upon the nervous centres of respi-
ration and circulation, the breast heaves
with convulsiye throe, and the heart
starts with Il violent pulsation. SO many
cases have been attested of this remlrka-
bic condition of simulated death that its
facts are practically beyond dispute.
N~,--- ~-->,~!h--.ey IS THE Isi-,i would mako
a real impression it has powerful drama
tic features, and its physiology furnishes
ample verge for novel and original obser-
vatiOns.