The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1889-10-10
w. c. T u. COLUMN.
EDITED BY THE LADIES OF THE KE-
NosHA w. C.. T. u.
RELATIVE NUTRITIVE PROPERTIES OF
ALCOHOL, WATER AND OXYGEN.
DR.. Ell. S. TANNER.
(C0nttnued.)
Continued

(C0ntnued.)
"Another case, the facts of which
came to my knowledge" he Contin-
ues to say, twas that Of gentleman,
a manufacturer Of active habits, who
was liable to periodical attacks of
insanity in which he would drink for
days and weeks together. On these
occasions it was repeatedly observed
that he abstained altogether from
solid food. He was known to do
this for periods varying from a few
days to as long as three weeks. .
The citation of these two cases (the
only ones that came under DR.. Ans
ties immediate observatory are fol-
lowed by number of similar ones
reported by DR.. Inman, DR.. Slack
and others claiming that patients had
subsisted on nothing else but alco-
hol, in one shape or another, for
days and weeks
"Now, then" says Anstie, in sum-
ming up, "the concurrence of SO
large a number of observations in
testifying to the powers of alcohol
to support life, singly, or with entire
ly insignificant assistance, ought
surely to produce decided effect on
the mind of any reasonable person
that it serves as food"
Knowing that this question of al
CohoiC Authorization must be settled
by facts, [ have taken great pains to
inform myself on the authenticity OF
the following clinical cases, which
propose to lay alongside of Anstie's
most notable case, that of the cold
man" who, he claims, lived on bot
tie of gin day, and small piece OF
bread.
A girl and a boy named Brown,
living at Eaton Corners, Province of
| Quebec, were, when very young, poi
soned by medicines administered by
mistake. AS a result, it is stated by
the attending physician with whom
| have been in correspondence that
the girl, yet alive has not been able
for nineteen years to retain anything
on her stomach but the merest trihe
of food. She can swallow, but food
cannot be retained more than a sec
ond Of time. A small amount of
food is no doubt absorbed, but the
amount is so small as to be scarcely
perceptible.
The case of the boy, brother of
the girl, was the same, differing only
in point of time. He overcane the
difficulty after seven years of we'll
nigh total abstinence from food. The
vomiting was SO persistent in both
cases, when food was taken, that all
attempt; to introduce nutriment into
the stomach have many times been
abandoned for weeks at time. The
boy is now dead; the girl still lives,
on a less amount of food than the
old man, and that, too, without gin
or any other alcoholic drink.
But we have a case nearer home
that amply demonstrates the fallacy
of Anstie's reasoning. You have
all heard of Mollie Fancher, the
Brooklyn blind girl. Mollie does not
totally abstain from food, as so many
have reported. Her friends have
never made any such claim. What
they claim is this: that the quantity
of food consumed in a year would
amount to no more than that con-
sumed by a baby.
Mollie is now forty years of age,
and has been an invalid for twenty
five years. l have visited her many
times for the purpose of studying
the physiological and psychological
phenomena her case presents, and I
am confident from what I have seen,
that the amount of food consumed
by her each day is less than that ia
ken by the old man cited by Anstie.
Mollie is not cadaverous, by any
means. Her rotundity cannot be at
tributed to the daily use of distilled
or fermented liquors, she takes moth
ing of the kind.
There are an abundance of we'll
authenticated cases, but when they
are referred to as invalidating Ans
ties claims, the champions of alco-
holic medication exclaim at once:
ooh, those stories are SO palpably in
consistent and improbable that they
should be dismissed at once as un-
worthy of Credence 3"
In answer, we Say DR.. Anstie's
story is open to the same objection,
and if we dismiss the former on the
ground of improbability, we must
dismiss the story of the old man on
the same gound. Says DR.. Anstie:
cit was matter of impossibility to
watch the man day and night to
make sure he was not deceiving me.
The story was confirmed by neigh
Dor who came with him, these were
followed by searching inquiries
among other neighbors, and I was
assured that the mans habits of life
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