Sharp County record., 1885-05-21
THE FASTING GIRL PROBLEM.
Facts Showing That Science is wrong
When 1t Declares That One Must Eas
IN live.

Facts Showing That Science is Wrong
When 1t Declares That One Must EAT
to Live.
The modern fasting girl is the oppro'
brium of science. The latter insists
that she can not live without eating and
drinking. She as stubbornly persists in
living without eating and drinking.
When DR.. Tanner made his experiment
science was staggered, but that little
episode was a trtle to the feat OF Kate
Smulsey, who is said to have lived thlr-
teen months without eating, and most
of the time without drinking either. In
cases of this kind the usual and much
the easiest method of explanation is by
flat denial of the alleged facts, and tn S
is facilitated by making sundry import
ant assumptions, as that such and such
a thing is opposed to natural laws and
therefore could not be. Thus it is an
axiom of medical science that life can
not be sustained beyond few days
without alimentation, and certainly II
physiology alone is concerned in the
matter the soundness of this view must
be adm tied. 1t is true that there are
few well-attested cases in which life
was sustained without the possibility OF
alimentation, the most notable beng
that of the Indian fakir who wa wal ed
ND in a vault at Lahore, and who two
weeks afterward was disinterred and
| found alive! In that case, however,
there was a minimum of waste of yltall-
ty the subject being in a trance, Kate
Smulsey was not entranced, and during
the greater part of her feat her body
was in incessant motion, according TO
the reports, so that there must have
been an abnormal expenditure Of vital
energy.
Tie physicians who attended her dlf-
fered widely as to the nature OF her
complaint, but we believe they agreed
that she really did not eat or drink
Her parents and friends ma ntain most
earnestly thqt deception in the case was
impossible. This assertion will not pre-
vent contrary statements being made,
but when there is consensus of belief
in certain facts among number OF IN
tellgent and reputable people, and
when these have taken pains to sub
stantiate their belief and to exclude error,
it is difficult to regard the usual denial
of the facts as an adequate explanation.
If the laws of physiology were as fully
and minutely understood as might be
inferred from the dogmatsm Of men OF
science, there would be no excuse for
the teeming failures of medicine. The
yerifcation of one such case as that OF
Kate Smulsey, however, would neces-
state the admission OF psychologist
hvpotheses in such cases, since it is evil
dent that physiology does not furnish
the solution of them. Considering the
extent to which the study OF mental
conditions, and their influence upon
physical processes, is being carried at
present, moreover, the broadening OF
the scope of inquiry here suggested
should not seem either inadmlsslble or
irrational. In practice, every successful
physician acts opon this view, and there
can be no sound therapeutics without
recognition of the interaction of mind
and body.
In the fasting girl eases the old-fash-
ioned AleNandrian fashion of severng
the Gordian knot is falling into disfavor,
because it is felt to be an eyas'o and
not determination. In the effect the
indications are that some venerable the.
ories regarding the conditions of vital
action may have to be discarded The
facts appear too stubborn to be dealt
with Otherwise than scientifically, in
short, and when this is realized it IS
quite possible that medical science may
find itself upon the threshold of new
and important discoverieS,-N T. 1r'0'
ane.