The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-03-26

starvation, was outdone by Succi. with
forty five. Succi in turn was outdone by
Jacques. who in London ten years ago alb
stained from food for fifty days There is
no authentic record Of Jacques feat being
equaled by any professional faster
But a still more wonderful effort IF alb
stinence was that Of Guillaume Granie. a
French murderer who refused food In the
hope OF escaping the guillOtine This was
in the Jail at Toulouse, and the circum-
stances were such that no deception was
possible.
At first the officials made efforts to feed
the recalcitrInt prisoner by force. but SO
violent did he resist that this was aban-
doned. and the mans keepers confined
themselves 10 persuasion and temptation.
They would cause the most inviting
dishes to be cooked and placed steamiug
in his cel. Their aroma must have been
maddeninE TO the starving man. but he
gritted his teeth. shut his eyes and mas
tered his craving. IL was all in vain. The
murderer would swallow nothing but a few
drops Of water every day. He iasJed for
| sixty-three days during which time he
/ drank only eight or ten pints Of water.
! Then he died.
| The WuchteF Case.
Far more wonderful. if il were only per
/ fcctly authentic. would be the case OF Mrs
/ Adam Wuchter Of Easton. Pa. a hopeless
/ invalid. who died after having eaten moth
! ing-so she. her husband her doctor and
! others asserted for six months or more.
/ The details were published far and wide,
| ard more than fifty doctors visited her
/ during her period OF starvation. Not all OF
! them we're convinced that she took no
] nourishment. although her own physician
! entertained no doubt Of it, All agreed.
! however that IL was a remarkable case
] There seemed TO be no motive for de
I ceution for Adam WuchteT although a
poor man. would not accept aid from the
/ visitors who thrOnged his home daily and
/ the patient herself suffered so fIightfully
/ from the nature OF her disease that she
could hardly have had a thought to spare
for the impression she might make on 9TH
ers. Owing to a cancer Of the pharynx
/ she was unable to swallOw-Or so it APP
/ peared-aud her religious prejudices for
/ babe her to take nourishment by artificial
| means.
Among perfectly authentic cases observed
{ in medical practice is that Of an English
lady who died Of starvation after No,uuta-
| rily eQuaIing Jacques record. She was
not in search of a record. however. Family
! troubles unhiEged her reason. and she
made up her mind TO take no food. With
the exception OF two teaspoonfuls Of bran
dy on one occasion. she swallowed nothing,
] but water for fifty days. and then died OF
I exhaustion.
OF a very different character were the
/ events leading up to Nine Zelie BOur-
| rion's death All France talked about her
/ a few years ago as the fasting woman OF
| BourdeuilIes- The peasants OF PerigOrd
| believed that she was under divine inspi-
/ ration. other visitors veutured the by
! pothesis that she was possessed by the
| evil one. At all events Madame Bourbon
| was credited by her neighbors with having
! tasted for nine years after the death OF
/ her husband. The popular excitement mad
| il desirable that science should turn its
| searchIight upon her. Not without Teluc-
lance she agreed to undertake a fast Of
! sixty days under surveillance. At the end
! Of three weeks She was suffering greatly
but rather than see her fame destroyed she
| refused to eat. The effort cost her her
life on the thirty-third day-two days short
| Of the period OF hunger which Mr.. Rathbuu
| endured so easily.
Sarah Jacobs StarVeS.
Similar to this was the case Of the Welsh
! fasting girl. Sarah Jacobs which excited
a painful interest In 1868 With the con-
nivance OF her parents she pretended to
abstain from food for many months and
the remarkable feature OF the experiment
was that she did not lose flesh. A system
attic test was arranged For the first few
days the girl was cheerful. Then il was
! found thai she could not be kept warm
She sank into a torpid state Those in
charge Of the test became alarmed and
advised Sarah's parents 10 supply her with
| food They refused, saying that her con-
dition was not unusual. Meanwhile they
We're being enriched by tips from the Wis
itors who hocked to the house. On the
eighth day Sarah Jacobs died of acute
starvation. The father and mother were
arrested, tried for manslaughter and con-
victed.
| Among medical examples none is more
wonderful than that of the Market Har-
borough fasting girl" a maiden Of nine
teen, wfO abstained from food according
TO local tradition, from April 1874. until
December. 1877. She used morphine con-
tinually II is doubtful that science would
accept this as an authentic case.
Christina Marshall, a girl OF fourteen. is
alleged TO have gone nearly sixteen
months without solid food
Indian fakirs have achieved wonders in
the way of fasting Some of them possess
the faculty Of reducing themselves to a
state resembling profound collapse. in
| which all the vital functions are brought
| almost to a standStill
| Other things being equal. stout person
is able 10 live longer without food than "a
thin one, masmuch as he possesses a larger
store Of combustible material to serve as
fuel Exposure to cold in connection With
starvation always acceIerates death while
moderately high temperature aids in pro-
longing life.
The presence Of moisture in the -atrnos-
phere has similarly favorable effect di-
minishing as IL does the exhalatIon OF fluid
from the body.
MOllie Fancher's Abstinence.
Twenty years ago the New York nan RS
were filed with sensational accounts OF
how MollIe Faneher, the famous invalid
of Brooklyn. who still lives. had abstained
from food for fourteen years. DR.. W. II.
Hammond publicly offered to give her if
| she allowed herself 10 be watched night
| and day for one month by relays OF mem
beTs OF the New York Neurological So
ciety, $1,000. il at the end of that month
| she had not in the meantime taken food
| voluntarily or as a necessary measure to
|