Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-09
INSIDE DOPE ON HUNGER
BY Frederic j. Haskin

1900 prisoners of the Irish Free
State have recently given up their
concerted hunger strike, which was
to end only in death or freedom.
This recalls memories of the famous
hunger strikes of the British suffra-
gettes, led by Mrs. Pankhurst, who
repeatedly achieved freedom by this
spectacular but unpleasant pro-
cedure; and the prolonged self
starvation of the Irish patriot, Mayor
McSwiney, which actually ended in
death. During the war, while our
W s~uffragists were picketing the
White House and thus finding their
way into Jail and the
headlines, they also defied hunger to
do its worst until they should be
freed from man-made bondage.
Through these widely heralded adj
! ventures, the attention of the public
has been repeatedly attracted to
hunger. But few of us have realized
what a hunger strike is and whether
the victims are to be pitied, or are
merely enjoying an unusual exper-
fence. Until very recently no one
has known what hunger consists of,
or why it is SO all-powerful. Now
that these facts have been discover
ed, the public, by informing itself
about them, can follow it's favorite
hunger strikers with much greater
sympathy and understanding.
The exact reason for hunger puz-
zled science for centuries. Theories
and counter theories were advanced
to explain this singular but powerful
factor in human life. While some
eXperlmenters held its origin to be
in tho GfnTNanh AJlo-- z.-l -
was brought about by general con-
ditions of the body and limbs. Still
others believed that special parts of
the brain were sensitive to exhaus-
ton of bodily energy, and t%hereupon
produced the peculiar cravings for
food and drink which we describe
as hunger and thirst.
Certain W~ell-known cases, how
ever seemed to prove that depletion
OF the body could not cause hunger,
since il starvation were continued
long enough hunger disappeared.
VlterbL, a Corsican lawyer condemn
ed to death for his political activi-
ties, made up his mind to cheat the
executloner by ending his own life
through starvation. He had the
necessary courage to carry out his
resolution, together with a scien-
tific interest sufficient to induce him
to keep careful notes of his sensa-
tions and experiences while starving
to death. He lived for eighteen
days-a remarkably brief period to
cause death by starvation alone as
proved by later experiments, but
probably due, in Vlterbi's case, to
his total abstinence from taking food
or any water or moisture of aoy
Kind during the entire period. On
the third day hunger departed, never
returning before death. On the
othor hand, the fsmous political sd-
venturer, Baron Won Trenck, wrote
In his memotrs that he was tortured
by aE~n tine hanger, without ces-
sation, for eleven months while he
vas conffneI in the citadel of Magde-
burg. Ihe adherence between the
experience of Won TE~nck and that
or ft:s1 hi was that the Baron was
allowed u peoud and a half OF am
munit!on broad AID q jug of water
every day. che moral tor hunger
strikers seems to be tnat it is best
to make n thorough job of fasting
or starving. since hunger pargs are
thus eliminated ir from three to
five days.
To explain this seeming cortradic-
ton of hunger being kept alive by
eating, the Russian scientist, PayIoy.
began experimenting upon small
animals. He found that when an
animal was allowed to see or smell
attractive food. sa.iva flowed r apidIy
in its mouth, the digestive juices of
the animals stomach began to in
crease almost Immediately, and the
stomach to contract. Although no
food was eaten, the animals gave
every evidence OF Increased hunger.
Thus, for the first time, the ex-
perimenters began to believe that
movements of the stomach might
have something to do with hunger,
1t was known that Fiterbi probably
got rid OF his hunger because his
stomach became absolutely quiet
after a few days, whereas, every time
Won Trenck ate or drank. his dises-
tive organs were spurrsd into greater
activity, with the result that he be-
came more hungry than ever.
> . .
1t remained for Professor Waiter
b. Cannon of the Harvard Medical
School, however, to prove conclusive
ly what hunger consists Of. One of
DR.. Cannon's students, named Wash
burn, volunteered as a subject. He
learned to swallow a little rubber
balloon, with a long rubber tube
leading into it, and to allow this
balloon and tube to stay in his stom-
ach several hours without causing
him any annoyance. After the stu
dent was accustomed to his strange
stomach contents. the balloon was
blown up, by means of its attached
tube. and the upper end of the tube
was connected with a marker, which
traced a line on a revolving smoked
drum. Whenever the stomach con-
tracted, it squeezed together the in
f1ated balloon, air was forced up the
balloons tube, and the marker
moved sharply up and down on the
smoked drum.
Each time the student said he
felt hungry, the marker began to
move. Hunger was explained at
last, as due to the squeezing together
of the stomach, with the sensations
of pressure and pain inevitably re-
sulting from each contraction.
By means of this simple explana-
ton, many hitherto puzzling facts
about hunger and digestion are now
understood.
The suddenness with which hunger
sometimes comes on has led WOODS
s-HVAW fIan