Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-14
FEATS OF FASTING.
Doctor Gibier's Explanation of the
Secret Of Signor Succi.
WILL POWER AND TRAINING DO 1T.
The Unparalleled but Well-Established
Achievement of HarideS.
MONTHS In A sUBrERRASEAN TOMB

versal attention. He ate his last meal No
vember 8, and if he completes his 46 days
without food he will take his first meal Sun
day morning, December 21. He is mere
skeleton now, and, as this is his thirty
eighth day, he is likely to be mere astral
body before the 45 days are up.
What is his secret?
Few men are better qualified to discuss
this matter than DR.. Paul Gibier, director
of the New York Pasteur Institute, not so
much by reason of his knowledge of bacteri-
ology and contagious diseases as because of
his thorough knowledge of psychological
questions. DR.. Gibier studied at the famous
Salpetriere Hospital, in Paris. and under
Prof. Charcot and DR.. Luys, both of whom
are unrivaled as specialists. He is himself
the author of various standard works on
psychological questions. Asked about
Succi, the eminent physician spoke to New
York Herald as follows:
THE THEORIES ADVANCED.
81 shall not take up your time in discuss
ing. the different theories that have been ad-
vanced regarding Signor Succi. There is
without doubt little truth in each of them.
Succi is certainly highly endowed with that
power OF resistance which is peculiar to the
human race. He has great strength of will
and energy. He lives by the universal
ether, for what is the universal ether but the
energy, the anima mundi, which animates
all living beings, but which must not be
confounded with the intelligence. So, you
see, there is a certain amount of truth in
each theory, but not sufficient in any to sat-
isfy the scientific mind. My explanation
will, I think, satisfy you, if not completely
at least better than the others.
"When man wants to do something ex-
traordinary, no matter what be its nature,
he can accomplish feats quite unusual and
apparently entirely at variance with the
laws of nature. He attains his obiect-here
is the whole secret in nutshell-by means
of combination of mild sort of enthusi-
asm and energy. His strength of will en-
ables him to succeed. / am well aware that
men, and even animals, have lived long
time without food, and yet in these cases no
one would claim that enthusiasm had proved
an auxiliary.
STARVATION THAT'S INVOLUNTARY.
"Dogs, for example, can live for weeks
without food, but not without drink, as has
been fully proved by different physiolo-
gists, among others by DIR. Laborde, of
Paris. Men condemned to death who have
tried to sta-ve themselves in order that they
might escape the gallows have lived for
weeks. These, however, are isolated cases.
On the other hand, Succi's case is the result
of training, as I will demonstrate by facts
which may appear to you extraordinary, but
which are easily and naturally explained.
six hundred years ago Ibn Kaldoun, an
Arabian savant, told in his 'Prolegomena OF
Universal History copy of which can be
seen in the National Library of Paris, of
men who surrendered themselves to a strange
enthusiasm with the object of discovering
things concealed from human ken both in
the present and the future, and he added
that these men are as a rule inhabitants OF
India, where they are known as Yoghis.
According to Ibn Kaldoun these Yoghis
wrote several books describing the method
of training ard containing accounts of mar.
velous feats of fasting and endurance. Sc
| you see that 600 years ago, as to-day, India
was considered the cradle of the marvellous,
THE INFLExIBLE WILL.
Through long and painful education
these believers acquire a new nature, and
are in consequence enabled to exercise the
psychic powers of which Ibn Kaldoun
| speaks, their great aim, say without hesl-
| tation, being 10 attain an ideal which is at
once most beautiful and most lofty. 1t is
astonishing what feats man can perform
when impelled by an infexible will, which
nothing can swerve from the proposed goal.
| We hear of fasters who, like Succi, remain
for several weeks without taking into their
| system any substance except pure water. In
India there are men who 60 to even greater
extremes. There can be found fasters who
remain for several years without taking any
| thing except some grains OF rice and little
water. Some perform still more wonder
| full feat; by means of peculiar process
OF auto-hypnotization they succeed in
suspending for the time being all the normal
| functions of active life.
WHAT DIR. HoNIGBERGER SAW.
elbow great is the will power of these
| Voghis, and how horrible are the tormenrs
which they callously infict upon their
bodies, you can see from the following ac-
count OF an extraordinary feat witnessed by
DR.. Honigberger and confirmed by Sir
| Claudius Wade, the English Resident Min
| lister at Lahore.
"After long meditation and thinking il
| high time that he should join Brahma in an
eternal Nirvana, Harides, the Brahmin, be.
| came hermit and began that series OF reliy
| ious. physical and intellectual exercises by
which men are fitted for that state, which
DR.. Reyer calls anabiose, and which the
Hlndoos call Vog Vidya, Blu Stambha OF
| Vaju Stambha, which means the art of pro-
| ducing, by means of ecstacy and complete
withdrawal of the elemental forces OF lie, an
| entire and harmless suspension of the vital
| functions. While in this state man may
be buried for long time and brought back
| again to life.
HARIDEs, THE FASTER.
"Harides first built sort os semi-subter.
| raneous cell aud, aided by his disciples, he
entered through a narrow door and stretched
himself ON a soft bed of wool and cotton.
| His servants then closed the door with earth
| and left him within, seated in the attitude
of Brahma or reclining on his couch and
either reciting prayers or meditating pro-
foundly on the Divinity. AT first he only
secluded himself for some minutes, then for
some hours, but finally, by gradually ac-
customing himself to live without air, he
| acquired the power to remain in his narrow
grave for several days. At the same time
| he began the exercise of Pranayama, or
| holding the breath, and at first for 5 min
utes. then for 10, then for 21, then 43, then
| for S4 minutes he did not suffer breath to
escape him. Don't ask me why he abstained
| from breathing for exactly so many min
utes on each occasion, as that is secret OF
the Voghis.
| sHe also caused several incisions to be
! cut under his tongue-one incision each
week. The object of this operation was to
enable him to turn his tongue hack into his
| pharynx in such a manner that the opening
of the. glottis would be closed during the
period OF his anaboise. And while all these
observed all the rules of Voghism. He
nourished himself with vegetables only and
kept himself unspotted from the world.
| nn,JnFPETTr EvuTRrrr0N