Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-04-23
TO FAST FOR SCIENCE.
John GriscOm's Coming Task OF
FOrIy-iive Days in Chicago.
New York Times, 2O.l

Neh 1OTk 4lmes, 1.l
Mr.. John Griscom, Of this city, will
begin in Chicago, under the immedi-
ate supervision and sole control Of
Prof. Haines, Of the faculty of the
Rush medical college, a fast of forty
five consecutive days on or about the
LIST Of May. Mr.. Griscom left for Chi
cago two days ago, and has, no doubt,
ere this placed himself at the disposal
of DR.. Haines, who is described by
prominent medical men here as fully
competent for the task he has under
taken, with some reluctance, by the
way both as chemist and a physi-
ologist. 1t is expected, therefore, that
the coming experiment will furnish
what the Tanner and Deuel. affairs
did not, namely - many valu-
able data as to the chemistry and
physiology, general and microscopic, OF
%protracted starvation. While the
honesty of Tanners experiment is
not questioned by medical men, and
while the fatal termination of Miss
Duelrs fast at the expiration of forty
seven days, seals its genuineness with
the testimony of a post norton, the
chemical and physiological phenome.
ma which accompany progressive ema-
citation were not studied in the former,
nor even registered in the latter. As
DIR. George NJ. Beard intimated yes
terday, Tanner and Miss Duell, with
the exception of showing that a human
being can live forty-fve days without
food, have demonstrated nothing that
was not previously familiar. Mr..
Griscoms experiment, under the SUI
pervision Of DR.. lHaines, will either
result in the discovery Of new facts, or
IN proving that there are none to be
discovered.
John Griscom is rather under the
middle age, of tolerably compact
physique, and the widest enthusiasts.
Those who recall the portly and i'm
posing presence of DR.. John Griscom,
who preceded Prof. Poll in the dis
covery Of the virtues of hyposulphite
Of soda in the treatment OF diseases of
the ferment class, will not be sur.
prised to learn that j ohn Griscom, Jr.,
is a resident of the border-land be-
tween enthusiasm and mental eccen-
tricity. He called upon me the 9th
err day." said DIR. Beard yesterday,
"and told me he had just come back
from the west. He had a talk with
DIR. Haines, who refused to undertake
the supervision Of the case until he
had consulted me. His father, DR..
John Griseom, was a patient of
mine before he went to the asylum
where he died." DR.. Beard questioned
his visitor pretty carefully but did not
not find out exactly what he wanted.
AT last Mr., Griscom remarked
abruptly: II can't express myself
to-day; you see I've been eating, and
my brain isn't lucid; I'll starye for
tw~enty-four hours. and come in to-
morrow morning" With this the
strange visitor departed, but the next
morning, punctual to his hour, he re-
appeared, with a smiling countenance,
and declared that he had eaten moth
ing for the last twenty-four hours,
and his brain was restored to lucidity.
And such, whether from abstinence
or other causes, the doctor found to
be the fact. The tman explained his
wishes with admirable precision and
conference. He desired a certificate
to the effect that he was sane. DR..
Beard granted the required document
after a careful examination, and the
enthusiast was on his way to the west
a few hours a%fterward.