The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1923-04-07
WISE Men OFTEN
FOOLED BY GIRLS
Recent Escanaba Fever Hoax Re-
calls Fasting Young Women
Who Astonished Sages.
What, do you think, was the
object Of these girls In pulling
the stunts they did?

as Ia degrees Fahrenheit, registered
with the aid Of hot-water bottle by
Miss Evelyn Lyons, who fooled the
doctors Of her home town, Escanaba,
Mich, for more than two weeks, are
actually recorded sometimes In cases
Of sunstroke, according to local med
ical authorities, who explain that the
patient always dies within four or five
hours unless the temperature is re-
duced. Hysterical temperature or
thermal ataxia, occasionally will run
as high as 1O8 or 10 degrees without
giving permanent injury, according to
some medical textbooks. ...-
The young woman Of Escanaba was
described as "hystericaI maIingerer"
by DR.. Morris Fishbein, editor Of the
Journal of the American Medical As
ISOLATION, who investigated her strange
case and exposed her deception. It
was found that Miss Lyons was run
ming slight temperature, due prob
ably to injuries she is said to have
received In an automobile accident.
Miss Lyons case suggests the cases
of the fasting girls"-found as far
back as the Middle Ages-whose de-
ceptions, usually the result of hys-
terra, convinced many learned men
Of their time that they were able, with
the aid of some mysterious power, to
live for long periods without eating.
Hysteria, in the opinion Of many
medical authorities, 10 certain to be
accompanied by mental changes, in
some cases disclosing only lack of
balance and will power, the partial
loss Of memory, or In other cases re-
curing melancholy, sudden emotional
outbursts, loss of Judgment and disre-
gard Of truth. One of the marked
symptoms Of the affection is a cray
ing for sympathy.
The last two symptoms were the
basis for the strange actions Of the
fasting girls" and self-mutilating
martyrs, az well as Of persons who
sometimes pretended they were sui
fering from paralysis, tumor, stone in
the bladder, and who often were eager
to submit to surgical operations.
The story Of nun at Leicester
who was said to have taken no nour-
ishment for seven years, yet preserved
her strength and health, attracted the
attention Of Hugh, bishop Of Lincoln
In 1926. He assigned Is clerks to OBJ
serve the subject without relaxing
their vigil. When the clerks reported
to the bishop that they had followed
his instructions and had found that
the nun took no food, the bishop said
he was convinced Of the genuineress
Of the nuns claims.
Grew without Eating. 49,
One Of the most striking cases in
the early part Of the modern era was
that Of Margaret Weiss, girl Of ten
years who lived at Rode, a small town
near Spires. A history Of the case Of
the little girl was left by Geraldus
Bucoldianus, whose patient she was.
The girl was said to have taken no
food or drink for three years, during
which time she continued to grow, to
walk about, laugh and enjoy herself
like other normal children Of her own
age She was said to have suffered
greatly from hysteria during the first
year.
The child played her part so well
that she was sent home to her friends
by order Of the king after she had
been watched persistently and de-
clared to be no dissimulator by Doctor
Bucoldianus and the parish priest. :.
doctor Bucoldianus appears to
have been somewhat staggered" says
DR.. William A. Hammond in his book
on Fasting Girls" for he asks very
pertinently: whence comes the ami
NAL heat, since she neither eats nor
drinks, and why does the body grow
when nothing goes into it?"
Symptoms Of the fasting girls"
varied, and there we're some who were
reported to have been marked In a
miraculous manner with the wounds
received by Christ at Crucifxion. One
Of the most recent cases Of alb
stinence from food with stigmitization
was reported widely about six months
ago in some Of the newspapers Of
New York city. Il.
While temperatures fuctuate widely
In the case Of women who are AFFLICTED
with hysteria, the highest tempera-
lures usually found are accompani-
ments of infammatory rheumatism
and malarial fever. In addition to gun
stroke. The limit of human endur-
ance Is usually reached when the tenn
perature reaches 100 or lot degrees
and stays there for any length Of
time, according to DR.. Samuel w.
Lambert, who has served as attend
ing physician at some Of the leading
hospitals Of New York, and as pro-
lessor Of therapeutics and dean of
the College of Physicians and Sur
geons of Columbia university.
Doctor Lambert believed the case
1 Of the Escanaba girl fraudulent when
It was brought to HIS attention three
days before Miss Lyons was exposed.
j Guessed the Reason.
/ "a hot-water bag in the bed will
often send the thermometer up" was
the first observation on her case made
by Doctor Lambert, who added The
temperature viii 60 to LA degrees In
cases Of sunstroke. but the patient
lFlar ul eAluFn MI ~