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diff --git a/25601-0.txt b/25601-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2a6da76 --- /dev/null +++ b/25601-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2819 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fasting Girls, by William Alexander Hammond + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Fasting Girls + Their Physiology and Pathology + +Author: William Alexander Hammond + +Release Date: May 26, 2008 [EBook #25601] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FASTING GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + + + CEREBRAL HYPERÆMIA: THE RESULT OF MENTAL STRAIN + OR EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES. 16mo, cloth ... $1 00 + + "Under the disguise of these hard words, Dr. Hammond presents a + variety of admirable counsels, with regard to an excess of blood in + the head, pointing out its causes, its symptoms, the mode of its + medical treatment, and the means of its prevention."--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + "The work is not only of interest to the medical man, but also is + one easily understood and to be read with profit by brain-workers of + all classes, whether in profession, in literature or business. It + treats of the cause of headaches, the wakefulness, the illusions or + delusions, and feelings of tightness in the head, which so many of + our American writers and thinkers experience, and it gives valuable + information available by laymen as to the prevention and remedy for + this affection, which later on leads to insanity or death."--_Boston + Traveller._ + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. + + + + + FASTING GIRLS; + + THEIR PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY + + + BY + + WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, M.D. + + PROFESSOR OF DISEASES OF THE MIND AND NERVOUS SYSTEM IN THE + MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF + NEW YORK, AND IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT. ETC. + + + "There is no new thing under the Sun." + --_Eccl._ I, 9. + + "Nil spernat auris, nec tamen credat statim." + --PHÆDRUS. + + + NEW YORK + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + 182 FIFTH AVENUE + 1879 + + + + + COPYRIGHT BY + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS. + 1879. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In issuing this little book I have been actuated by a desire to do +something towards the removal of a lamentable degree of popular +ignorance. + +It seems that no proposition that can be made is so absurd or impossible +but that many people, ordinarily regarded as intelligent, will be found +to accept it and to aid in its propagation. And hence, when it is +asserted that a young lady has lived for fourteen years without food of +any kind, hundreds and thousands of persons throughout the length and +breadth of a civilized land at once yield their belief to the monstrous +declaration. + +I have confined my remarks entirely to the question of abstinence from +food. The other supernatural gifts, the possession of which is claimed, +would, if considered, have extended the limits of this little volume +beyond the bounds which were deemed expedient. At some future time I may +be tempted to discuss them. In the meantime it is well to call to mind +that a proposition (_see_ Appendix) which I made solely in the interest +of truth was disregarded, ostensibly with the desire to avoid publicity, +when in fact the daily press had for weeks been filled with reports in +detail, furnished by the friends of the young lady in question, of the +marvellous powers she was said to possess. + +A portion of this essay, which bore upon the matter discussed, has been +taken from another volume by the author, published several years ago, +and now out of print. + + WILLIAM A. HAMMOND. + + 43 WEST 54TH STREET, + MARCH _1st, 1879_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + I ABSTINENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 1 + + II ABSTINENCE IN MODERN TIMES 6 + + III ABSTINENCE FROM FOOD, WITH STIGMATIZATION 31 + + IV THE BROOKLYN CASE 48 + + V THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF INANITION 59 + + + + +FASTING GIRLS. + + + + +I. + +ABSTINENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. + + +Among the many remarkable manifestations by which hysteria exhibits +itself, for the astonishment of the credulous and uneducated portion of +the public, and--alas, that it should have to be said,--for the +delectation of an occasional weak-minded and ignorant physician, the +assumption of the ability to live without food may be assigned a +prominent place. I am not aware that this power has been claimed in its +fullest development for the male of the human species. When he is +deprived of food he dies in a few days, more or less, according to his +physical condition as regards adipose tissue and strength of +constitution; but if a weak emaciated girl asserts that she is able to +exist for years without eating, there are at once certificates and +letters from clergymen, professors, and even physicians, in support of +the truth of her story. The element of impossibility goes for nothing +against the bare word of such a woman, and her statements are accepted +with a degree of confidence which is lamentable to witness in this era +of the world's progress. + +The class of deceptions occasionally induced by hysteria, and embracing +these "fasting girls," has been known for many years, though it is only +in comparatively recent times that the instances have been taken at +their proper value. Görres[1] gives a number of examples occurring among +male and female saints and other holy persons, in which partial or total +abstinence from food was said to have existed for long periods. + +Thus Liduine of Schiedam fell ill in 1395, and remained in that state +till her death, thirty-three years subsequently. During the first +nineteen years she ate every day nothing but a little piece of apple the +size of a holy wafer, and drank a little water and a swallow of beer, or +sometimes a little sweet milk. Subsequently, being unable to digest beer +and milk, she restricted herself to a little wine and water, and still +later she was obliged to confine herself to water alone, which served +her both as food and drink. But after nineteen years she took nothing +whatever, according to her own statement made to some friars in 1422, +she averring that for eight years nothing in the way of nourishment had +passed her lips, and that for twenty years she had seen neither the sun +nor the moon, nor had touched the earth with her feet. + +Saint Joseph of Copertino remained for five years without eating bread, +and ten years without drinking wine, contenting himself with dried +fruits, which he mixed with various bitter herbs. The herb which he used +for Fridays had such an atrocious taste, that one of the brethren, by +simply putting his tongue to it, was seized with vomiting, and for +several days thereafter everything he ate excited nausea. He fasted for +forty days seven times every year, and during these periods ate nothing +at all except on Sundays and Thursdays. + +Nicolas of Flue, as soon as he embraced the monastic life, subsisted +altogether on the holy eucharist. The pious Görres in explanation of +this miracle says: + +"In ordinary nourishment he who eats being superior to that which is +eaten, assimilates the aliments which he takes, and communicates to them +his own nature. But in the eucharist the aliment is more powerful than +he who eats. It is no longer therefore the nourishment which is +assimilated, but on the contrary, it assimilates the man, and introduces +him into a superior sphere. An entire change is produced. The +supernatural life in some way or other absorbs the natural life, and the +man instead of living on earth, lives henceforth by grace and by +heaven." + +This is about on a par, as regards lucidity and logic, with the +explanations which we are given of the alleged case of prolonged fasting +in Brooklyn. + +Doubts arose in regard to Nicolas, and the bishop had him watched, but +without detecting him in fraud. Finally he ordered him to eat a piece of +bread in his presence. Nicolas did as he was commanded, but at the first +mouthful he was seized with violent vomiting. The bishop inquired of him +how he thus managed to live without eating, to which the brother +answered that when he assisted at mass, and when he took the holy +eucharist, he felt a degree of strength and suppleness like that derived +from the most nutritious food. + +Still the doubters continued, and the inhabitants of Underwold, where +Nicolas lived, appear to have been at first very much inclined to +suspect him of deceit. But they were finally converted, for having +during a whole month guarded every approach to his cabin, and having +during that time detected no one in taking food to him, they were +convinced that for that time at least he had lived without food. The +sceptical reasoner of the present day would probably regard the test as +insufficient. + +In 1225, Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, having heard that there was at +Leicester a nun who had taken no nourishment for seven years, and who +lived only on the eucharist, which she took every Sunday, gave at first +no faith to the story. He sent to her, however, fifteen clerks, with +directions to watch her assiduously for fifteen days, never for an +instant losing sight of her. The clerks reported to him that they had +strictly obeyed his commands; that she had taken no nourishment, and +that yet she nevertheless preserved her full strength and health. +Whereupon the Bishop declared himself convinced, "as," adds Görres, "it +was proper for a sensible man to do." + +Among others of the holy persons who acquired the power of living on the +sacramental bread, may be mentioned St. Catharine of Sienna, Saint Rose +of Lima, Saint Collete, Saint Peter of Alcantara, and many others. + +But if saints and other holy people were able, through miraculous power, +to live without food, the same ability was claimed for those who were +under the influence of demons and devils. Görres[2] states that a person +possessed by a devil often loses all taste for food of any kind, and can +retain no nourishment in his body. Another symptom is a disgust which +is formed for the companionship of other persons. Thus a man was +tormented by a demon, who forced him to fly into the forests, where he +hid himself from mankind. One night he quit his house, and concealed +himself in a cavern, remaining there entirely without food for sixteen +days. Again he remained in the woods twenty-four days, neither eating +nor drinking during this period. Finally his children found him, and +taking him to a priest, had the devil exorcised, and he was cured. + +Saint Prosper, of Aquitaine, speaks of a young girl possessed by a +devil, and who went seventy days without eating. Notwithstanding this +long fast, she did not become emaciated, because every night at twelve +o'clock a bird sent by the devil took a mysterious nourishment to her. + +An astonishing feature in the cases of the diabolical abstaining from +food, is that, as in the holy instances, they exhibit various +manifestations of hysteria. Görres, with a charming degree of +simplicity, details these symptoms and failing, under the influence of +the predominant idea which fills him, to recognize their real character, +ascribes them without hesitation to devilish agency. Thus he says: + +"The functions of the organs of nutrition are sometimes profoundly +altered in the possessed, and these alterations are manifested by +violent cramps, which show the extent to which the muscular system is +affected. The hysterical lump in the throat is a frequent phenomenon in +possession. A young girl in the Valley of Calepino had all her limbs +twisted and contracted, and had in the œsophagus a sensation as if a +ball was sometimes rising in her throat, and again falling to her +stomach. Her countenance was of an ashen hue, and she had a constant +sense of weight and pain in the head. All the remedies of physicians had +failed, and as evidences of possession were discovered in her, she was +brought to Brignoli (a priest) who had recourse to supernatural means, +and cured her." + +Strange to say, the ability to live on the eucharist, and to resist +starvation by diabolical power, died out with the middle ages, and was +replaced by the "fasting girls," who still continue to amuse us with +their vagaries. To the consideration of some of the more striking +instances of more recent times the attention of the reader is invited, +in the confidence that much of interest in the study of the "History of +Human Folly" will be adduced. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] La Mystique Divine, Naturelle et Diabolique. Paris, 1861. t. I., p. +194, _et seq._ + +[2] Op. cit. t. IV., p. 446. + + + + +II. + +ABSTINENCE IN MODERN TIMES. + + +Among the more striking cases under this head, is that of Margaret +Weiss, a young girl ten years of age, who lived at Rode, a small village +near Spires, and whose history has come down to us through various +channels, but principally from Gerardus Bucoldianus,[3] who had the +medical charge of her, and who wrote a little book describing his +patient. Margaret is said to have abstained from all food and drink for +three years, in the meantime growing, walking about, laughing, and +talking like other children of her age. During the first year, however, +she suffered greatly from pains in her head and abdomen, and, a common +condition in hysteria--all four of her limbs were contracted. She passed +neither urine nor fæces. Margaret, though only ten years old--hysteria +develops the secretive faculties--played her part so well that, after +being watched by the priest of the parish and Dr. Bucoldianus, she was +considered free from all juggling, and was sent home to her friends by +order of the King, "not," the doctor adds, "without great admiration and +princely gifts." Although fully accepting the fact of Margaret's +abstinence, Dr. Bucoldianus appears to have been somewhat staggered, for +he asks very pertinently: "Whence comes the animal heat, since she +neither eats nor drinks, and why does the body grow when nothing goes +into it?" + +Schenckius[4] quotes from Paulus Lentulus the "Wonderful History of the +Fasting of Appolonia Schreira, a virgin in Berne." Lentulus states that +he was with this maid on three occasions, and that, by order of the +magistrate of Berne, she was taken to that city and a strict guard kept +upon her. All kinds of means were set in operation to detect imposture +if any existed, but none was discovered, and she was set at liberty as a +genuine case of ability to live without food. In the first year of her +fasting she scarcely slept, and in the second year never closed her eyes +in sleep; and so she continued for a long while after. + +Schenckius also advances the case of Katharine Binder, of the +Palatinate, who was closely watched by a clergyman, a statesman, and two +doctors of medicine, without the detection of fraud on her part. She was +said to have taken nothing but air into her system for nine years and +more, as Lentulus reported on the authority of Fabricius. This +last-named physician told Lentulus of another case, that of a girl +fourteen years old, who certainly had taken neither food nor drink for +at least three years. + +"But," says Dr. Hakewel,[5] "the strangest that I have met with of this +kind, is the history of Eve Fliegen, out of Dutch translated into +English, and printed at London, _anno_ 1611, who, being born at Meurs, +is said to have taken no kind of sustenance for the space of fourteen +years together; that is, from the year of her age, twenty-two to +thirty-six, and from the year of our Lord 1597 to 1611; and this we have +confirmed by the testimony of the magistrates of the town of Meurs, as +also by the minister who made trial of her in his house thirteen days +together by all the means he could devise, but could detect no +imposture." Over the picture of this maid, set in front of the Dutch +copy, stand these Latin verses: + + "Meursæ hæc quam cernis decies ter, sexque peregit, + Annos, bis septem prorsus non viscitur annis + Nec potat, sic sola sedet, sic pallida vitam + Ducit, et exigui se oblectat floribus horti." + +Thus rendered in the English copy: + + "This maid of Meurs thirty and six years spent, + Fourteen of which she took no nourishment; + Thus pale and wan she sits sad and alone, + A garden's all she loves to look upon." + +Franciscus Citesius,[6] physician to the King of France and to Cardinal +Richelieu, devotes a good deal of space and attention to the case of +Joan Balaam, a native of the city of Constance. She was well grown, but +of bad manners. About the eleventh year of her age she was attacked with +a fever, and among other symptoms vomited for twenty days. Then she +became speechless and so continued for twenty-four days. Then she +talked, but her speech was raving and incoherent. Finally she lost all +power of motion and of sensibility in the parts below the head and could +not swallow. From thenceforth she could not be persuaded to take food. +Six months afterwards she regained the use of her limbs, but the +inability to swallow remained and she acquired a great loathing for all +kinds of meat and drink. The secretions and excretions appeared to be +arrested. Nevertheless she was very industrious, employing her time in +running errands, sweeping the house, spinning, and such like. This maid +continued thus fasting for the space of nearly three years, and then by +degrees took to eating and drinking again. + +Before coming to more recent cases, there is one other to which I desire +to refer for the reason mainly that in it there was probably organic +disease in addition to fraud and hysteria. It is cited by Fabricius[7] +and by Wanley. _Anno Dom._, 1595, a maid of about thirteen years was +brought out of the dukedom of Juliers to Cologne, and there in a broad +street at the sign of the White Horse exposed to the sight of as many as +desired to see her. The parents of this maid affirmed that she had lived +without any kind of food or drink for the space of three whole years; +and this they confirmed by the testimony of divers persons, such as are +worthy of credit. Fabricius observed her with great care. She was of a +sad and melancholy countenance; her whole body was sufficiently fleshy +except only her belly, which was compressed so as that it seemed to +cleave to her back-bone. Her liver and the rest of her bowels were +perceived to be hard by laying the hand on the belly. As for excrements, +she voided none; and did so far abhor all kinds of food, that when one, +who came to see her privately, put a little sugar in her mouth she +immediately swooned away. But what was most wonderful was, that this +maid walked up and down, played with other girls, danced, and did all +other things that were done by girls of her age; neither had she any +difficulty of breathing, speaking or crying out. Her parents declared +that she had been in this condition for three years. + +A great many more to the same effect might be adduced, but the foregoing +are sufficient to indicate the fact that belief in the possibility of +such occurrences was quite general, and that if doubt did exist in +regard to their real nature, it was not so strong as not readily to be +overcome by the tricks and devices of hysterical women. + +In the following instances of more modern date the reader will perceive +the view which is taken of them by physicians of the present day, and +will doubtless discover their real nature. + +About sixty-five years ago, a woman of Sudbury, in Staffordshire, +England, named Ann Moore, declared that she did not eat, and a number of +persons volunteered to watch her, in order to ascertain whether or not +she was speaking the truth. The watch was continued for three weeks and +then the watchers, as in other instances, reported that Ann Moore was a +real case of abstinence from food of all kinds. The Bible was always +kept open on Ann's bed. Her emaciation was so extreme that it was said +her vertebral column could be felt through the abdominal walls. This sad +condition was asserted to have been caused by her washing the linen of a +person affected with ulcers. From that time she experienced a dislike +for food, and even nausea at the sight or mention of it. + +As soon as the watchers reported in favor of the genuineness of Ann's +pretensions her notoriety increased, and visitors came from all parts of +the country, leaving donations to the extent of two hundred and fifty +pounds in the course of two years. Doubts, however, again arose, and, +bold from the immunity she had experienced from the first investigation, +Ann in an evil moment, for the continuance of her fraud, consented to a +second watching. This committee was composed of notable persons, among +them being Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart., Rev. Legh Richmond, Dr. Fox, and +his son, and many other gentlemen of the country. Two of them were +always in her room night and day. At the suggestion of Mr. Francis Fox, +the bedstead, bedding, and the woman in it were placed on a weighing +machine, and thus it was ascertained that she regularly lost weight +daily. At the expiration of the ninth day of this strict watching, Dr. +Fox found her evidently sinking and told her she would soon die unless +she took food. After a little prevarication, the woman signed a written +confession that she was an impostor, and had "occasionally taken +sustenance for the last six years." She also stated that during the +first watch of three weeks her daughter had contrived, when washing her +face, to feed her every morning, by using towels made very wet with +gravy, milk, or strong arrowroot gruel, and had also conveyed food from +mouth to mouth in kissing her, which it is presumed she did very +often.[8] + +In a clinical lecture delivered at St. George's Hospital,[9] Dr. John W. +Ogle calls attention to the simulation of fasting as a manifestation of +hysteria, and relates the following amusing case: + +"A girl strongly hysterical, aged twenty, in spite of all persuasion and +medical treatment, refused every kind of food, or if made to eat, soon +vomited the contents of the stomach. On November 6th, 1869, whilst the +girl was apparently suffering in the same manner, the Queen passed the +hospital on her way to open Blackfriars Bridge. She arose in bed so as +to look out of the window, although up to this time declaring that every +movement of her body caused intense pain. On December 29, the following +letter in the girl's handwriting, addressed to another patient in the +same ward, was picked up from the floor: 'My Dear Mrs. Evens,--I was +very sorry you should take the trouble of cutting me such a nice piece +of bread and butter, yesterday. I would of taken it but all of them saw +you send it, and then they would have made enough to have talked about. +But I should be very glad if you would cut me a nice piece of crust and +put it in a piece of paper and send it, or else bring it, so that they +do not see it, for they all watch me very much, and I should like to be +your friend and you to be mine. Mrs. Winslow, (the nurse) is going to +chapel. I will make it up with you when I can go as far. Do not send it +if you cannot spare it. Good bye, and God bless you.' Although she +prevaricated about this letter, she appears to have gradually improved +from this time on, and one day walked out of the hospital and left it +altogether. She subsequently wrote a letter to the authorities +expressing her regret at having gone on as she did." + +One of the most remarkable instances of the kind, is that of Sarah +Jacob, known as the "Welsh Fasting Girl," and whose history and tragical +death excited a great deal of comment in the medical and lay press in +Great Britain a few years ago. The following account of the case is +mainly derived from Dr. Fowler's[10] interesting work. + +Sarah Jacob was born May 12th, 1857. Her parents were farmers and were +uneducated, simple-minded, and ignorant persons. In her earlier years +she had been healthy, was intelligent, given to religious reading, and +was said to have written poetry of her own composition. She was a very +pretty child and was, according to the testimony of the vicar, the Rev. +Evan Jones, a "good girl." + +About February 15th, 1867, when she was not quite ten years of age, she +complained of pain in the pit of the stomach, and one morning on getting +up, she told her mother that she had found her mouth full of bloody +froth. The pain continued, and medical attendance was obtained. Soon +afterwards she had strong convulsions of an epileptiform character and +then other spasms of a clearly hysterical form, during which her body +was bent in the form of a bow as in tetanus, the head and heels only +touching the bed. Then the muscular spasm ceased and she fell at full +length on the bed. For a whole month she continued in a state of +unconsciousness, suffering from frequent repetitions of severe +convulsive attacks, during which time she took little food. Mr. Davies, +the surgeon, said in his evidence, that she was for a whole month, in a +kind of permanent fit, lying on her back, with rigidity of all the +muscles. For some time her life was despaired of, then her fits ceased +to be convulsive and consisted of short periods of loss of consciousness +with sudden awakings. For the next two or three months (till August, +1867) she took daily, from six, gradually decreasing to four, teacupfuls +of rice and milk, or oatmeal and milk, which according to her father's +account, was cast up again immediately and blood and froth with it. +During this time the bowels were only acted on once in six or nine days. +"Up to this time," said her father, "she could move both arms and one +leg, but the other leg was rigid." + +By the beginning of October, 1867, her quantity of daily food had, it +was affirmed, dwindled down to nothing but a little apple about the size +of a pill, which she took from a tea-spoon. At this time she made water +about every other day; she looked very bad in the face, but was not +thin. On the tenth day of October, it was solemnly declared that she +ceased to take any food whatever, and so continued till the day of her +death, December 17th, 1869, a period of two years, two months, and one +week. + +"Of the veracity of the assertion in respect of _the one week_," says +Dr. Fowler, "there is unfortunately plenty of evidence. To the absurdity +of believing in the barest possibility of twenty-six months absolute +abstinence, it is sufficient to reply that when to our knowledge, she +was completely deprived of food, the girl died! The parents most +persistently impressed upon every private as well as official visitor, +both before and during the last fatal watching, that the girl did not +take food; that she could not swallow; that whenever food was mentioned +to her she became as it were, excited; that when it was offered to her +she would have a fit, or the offer would make her ill. The sworn +testimony of the vicar, the Rev. Wm. Thomas, Sister Clinch, Ann Jones, +and the other nurses, is sufficiently confirmative on this point. +Furthermore, the parents went so far as to expressly forbid the mere +mention of food in the girl's presence." + +Towards the end of October, 1867, the case had attracted so much +attention that the inhabitants in the neighborhood first began visiting +the marvellous little girl. + +"In the beginning of November of the same year, the Rev. Evan Jones, +B.D., the vicar of the parish, was sent for by the parents to visit +Sarah Jacob. He was at once--by the mother--told of the girl's wonderful +fasting powers; it was admitted she took water occasionally. He was also +informed of the extraordinary perversion of her natural functions (the +suppression of urine and fæcal evacuations.) He found her lying on her +back in bed, which was covered with books. There was nothing then +remarkable about her dress. The girl looked weak and delicate, though +not pale, and answered only in monosyllables. 'The mother said her child +was very anxious about the state of her soul, that it had such an effect +upon her mind that she could not sleep.' I asked her myself if she had a +desire to become a member of the Church of England? She said, 'Yes!' She +continued to express that wish until July, 1869. At this time the +reverend gentleman did not believe in the statements relative to the +girl's abstinence. 'Every time,' he says, 'that I had a conversation +with her up to the end of 1868, the parents both persisted that she +lived without food, and continued their statements in January and +February, 1869. I remonstrated with them and dwelt upon the apparent +impossibility of the thing. They still persisted that it was a fact.' + +"Even as late as September, 1869, the vicar reiterated his ministerial +remonstrances. When, in the beginning of the spring of 1869, he observed +the fantastical changes the parents made in the girl's daily attire, he +told them about the remarks made in the papers about this dressing and +dwelt upon the impropriety of it. They replied, 'She had no other +pleasure--they did not like denying it to her.' During the following +summer, finding that the girl looked more plump in the face and that her +general improvement was more conspicuous, he said, 'Sarah is evidently +improving and gaining, and you say she takes no food; you are certainly +imposing on the public.' I then dwelt on the sinfulness of continuing +the fraud on the public. I said there were on record several cases of +alleged fasting, some of which had been put to the test and had been +discovered to be impositions; that those families would ever be held in +execration by posterity, and such would be the case with them whenever +this imposture was found out. The mother then assured me no imposition +would be discovered in that house, because there was none." + +The father and mother both said that the Lord provided for her in a most +natural way, and that it was a miracle. The father always talked about +the "Doctor Mawr," meaning God Almighty; that she was supported by that +"Big Doctor." + +Then soon began the custom of leaving money or other presents with the +child, till at last every one who visited her, was expected to give +something. Open house was kept and pilgrims came from near and far to +see the wonderful girl who lived without food. + +When money was not forthcoming, presents of clothes, finery, books, or +flowers, appear to have been substituted. Advantage was taken of these +presents to bedeck the child in every variety of smartness. At one time +she had a victorine about her neck and a wreath about her hair, then +again, ornaments and a jacket on, and her hair neatly dressed with +ribbons. At another time she had a silk shawl, a victorine around her +neck, a small crucifix attached to a necklace, and little ribbons above +the wrists. She had drab gloves on and her bed was nearly covered with +books. + +Notwithstanding the alleged fasting, Sarah Jacob continued to improve in +health. + +And now comes an astounding feature of this most remarkable case. The +vicar became convinced that the instance was one of real abstinence. A +little hysterical girl twelve years of age, by her perseverance in +lying, had actually succeeded in inducing an educated gentleman to +accept the truth of her statements! The following letter which was +published on the 19th of February, 1869, speaks for itself:-- + + "A STRANGE CASE. + + "To the Editor of the _Welshman_. + + "Sir: Allow me to invite the attention of your readers to a most + extraordinary case. Sarah Jacob, a little girl twelve years of age, + and daughter of Mr. Evan Jacob, Lletherneuadd, in this parish, has + not partaken of a single grain of any kind of food whatever, during + the last sixteen months. She did occasionally swallow a few drops of + water during the first few months of this period; but now she does + not even do that. She still looks pretty well in the face and + continues in the possession of all her mental faculties. She is in + this and several other respects, a wonderful little girl. + + "Medical men persist in saying that the thing is quite impossible, + but all the nearest neighbors, who are thoroughly acquainted with + the circumstances of the case, entertain no doubt whatever of the + subject, and I am myself of the same opinion. + + "Would it not be worth their while for medical men to make an + investigation into the nature of this strange case? Mr. Evan Jacob + would readily admit into his house any respectable person who might + be anxious to watch it and to see for himself. + + "I may add, that Lletherneuadd is a farm-house about a mile from New + Inn, in this parish. + + "Yours faithfully, + + "THE VICAR OF LLANFIHANGEL-AR-ARTH." + +The suggestions of the vicar relative to an investigation, were soon +after afterwards acted upon by certain gentlemen of the neighborhood. A +public meeting was called and a committee of watchers was appointed to +be constantly in attendance in the room with Sarah Jacob, and to observe +to the best of their ability, whether or not she took any food during +the investigation. It was agreed that the watching was to continue for a +fortnight. + +Prior to the beginning of this watching, no precautions were taken +against food being conveyed into the room and concealed there. The +parents actually debarred the watchers from touching the child's bed. +The very first element of success was therefore denied, and no wonder +that the whole affair was subsequently regarded as an absurdity. The +watching consisted in two different men taking alternate watches from +eight till eight. The watching to see whether the child partook of food, +commenced on March 22d, and ended April 5th, 1869--a period of fourteen +days. + +During the above fortnight, one of the watchers, in turn, was always +close to her bed, and in her sight day and night, and at the time the +bed was being made, which was generally every other morning, the four +persons were always present and had every article thoroughly examined. +The parents were allowed to go near the bed, as also was the little +sister, six years old, who had been Sarah's constant companion and +bed-fellow. + +On Wednesday, April 7th, 1869, a public meeting was held at the Eagle +Inn, Llandyfeil, to hear the statements of the parents and of the +several persons who had watched the child during the fourteen days. The +parents briefly detailed the condition and symptoms of their daughter +from the commencement of her illness. At no time during the whole +fourteen days did the pulse ever reach above ninety per minute, although +exceedingly changeable, as it always had been. The following evidence +was received from the watchers, and it is _said_ that their statements +were duly verified on oath before a magistrate:-- + +Watcher No. 1 said: I, Evan Edward Smith, watched Sarah Jacob for two +consecutive nights, (_i. e._, nights 22d and 23d of March) at the +request of Mr. H. H. Davies, surgeon. The parents gave every facility to +investigate the matter. I watched her with all possible care, and found +nothing to suspect that food or drink was given her by foul means. I am +quite sure she had nothing during my watch. I was dismissed on account +of being suspected to doze on the second night. + +Watcher No. 2. This watcher watched Sarah Jacob for a whole fortnight, +and found no indications that the child had anything to eat or drink. He +was a college student, Daniel Harris Davies. + +Watcher No. 3. John Jones, a shopkeeper, gave similar evidence. He was a +decided sceptic before he began watching, but after twelve days was +thoroughly convinced of the fact that nothing in the shape of +nourishment was given to the poor child. He watched every movement of +all the inmates, and found nothing that would lead him to suspect that +any nourishment was given to the little girl. + +Watcher No. 4. James Harris Davies, a medical student, spoke in like +manner, and was perfectly positive that nothing had been given to her +during the fortnight he had watched there, with the exception of three +drops of water, once, to moisten her lips with. He was as great a +sceptic as any one before he began watching, but as he saw nothing to +confirm his suspicions, he could conscientiously say that nothing had +been given her during his watch. + +Watcher No. 5. Evan Davies, of Powel Castle, who only watched her for +one day, gave similar evidence, but as he was a neighbour he was +dismissed for a stranger. + +Watcher No. 6. Herbert Jones, watched only one day, and spoke in a +similar manner, and was dismissed on account of his credulity. + +Watcher No. 7. Thomas Davies, who had been the greatest sceptic of all, +was strongly convinced. He watched Sarah Jacob twelve days, and was +quite positive that nothing could have been given her during his watch. +He watched her with all possible care, and was very cautious to be in a +prominent place, where Sarah Jacob's mouth was always in sight. + +Evidence, however, was given which went to show that the watching was +very imperfectly performed; that occasionally the watchers left before +their time had expired; that intoxicating liquors were taken by them to +the house, and that one of them was drunk while there. It was also shown +that the father and mother had free access to the bed, while the +watchers were absolutely prohibited from examining it. It is therefore +with entire justification that Dr. Fowler states that the watching "was +the greatest possible farce and mockery." + +After the report of the watchers the notoriety of Sarah Jacob of course +became still greater; crowds came to visit her, and among others the +Rev. Frederic Rowland Young went to see her, and made an unsuccessful +effort to cure her by laying on of hands. When Dr. Fowler visited her, +August 30th, 1869, on getting out at the nearest railway station, he was +met by little boys bearing placards with the words "Fasting Girl," and +"This is the shortest way to Llethernoryadd-ucha," on them. In his +letter to the _Times_, giving an account of his visit, Dr. Fowler +says:-- + +"The first impression was most unfavorable, and to a medical man the +appearances were most suspicious. The child was lying on a bed decorated +as a bride, having around her head a wreath of flowers, from which was +suspended a smart ribbon, the ends of which were joined by a small bunch +of flowers, after the present fashion of ladies' bonnet strings. Before +her, at proper reading distance, was an open Welsh book, supported by +two other books on her body. The blanket covering was clean, tidy, and +perfectly smooth. Across the fire-place, which was nearly opposite the +foot of her bed, was an arrangement of shelves, well stocked with +English and Welsh books, the gifts of various visitors to the house. The +child is thirteen years of age, and is undoubtedly very pretty. Her face +was plump, and her cheeks and lips of a beautiful rosy color. Her eyes +were bright and sparkling, the pupils were very dilated, in a measure +explicable by the fact of the child's head and face being shaded from +the window-light by the projecting side of the cupboard bedstead. There +was that restless movement and frequent looking out at the corners of +the eyes so characteristic of simulative disease. Considering the +lengthened inactivity of the girl, her muscular development was very +good, and the amount of fat layer not inconsiderable. My friend stated +that she looked even better than she did about a twelvemonth ago. There +was a slight perspiration over the surface of the body. The pulse was +perfectly natural, as were also the sounds of the lungs and heart, so +far as I was enabled to make a stethoscopic examination. Having received +permission to do this, I proceeded to make the necessary derangement of +dress, when the girl went off into what the mother called a fainting +fit. This consisted of nothing but a little and momentary hysterical +crying and sobbing. The color never left the lips or cheeks. The pulse +remained of the same power. Consciousness could have been but slightly +diminished, inasmuch as on my then opening the eyelids I perceived a +distinct upward and other movement of the eyeballs. Each percussion +stroke of my examination, and even the pressure of the stethoscope, +produced an expression of pain, which elicited a natural sympathy from +the mother, and an assertion that a continuance of such examination +would bring on further fits. On percussing the region of the stomach, I +most distinctly perceived the sound of gurgling, which we know to be +caused by the admixture of air and fluid in motion. The most positive +assertion of the parents was subsequently made that saving a fortnightly +moistening of her lips with cold water, the child had neither ate nor +drank anything for the last twenty-three months. The whole region of the +belly was tympanitic, and the muscular walls of this cavity were tense +and drum-like--a condition not infrequently concomitant of a well-known +class of nervous disorders. The child's intellectual faculties and +special senses were perfectly healthy. Before her illness she was very +much devoted to religious reading. This devotion has lately considerably +increased. She is a member of the Church of England, and has been +confirmed." + +Dr. Fowler then adds some other interesting particulars, all going to +show the impossibility of the girl's being the subject of any exhausting +disease, or of even having been continuously in bed, as her parents +asserted, for nearly two years; and then says:-- + +"The whole case is in fact one of simulative hysteria, in a young girl +having the propensity to deceive very strongly developed. Therewith may +be probably associated the power or habit of prolonged fasting. Both +patient and mother admitted the occasional occurrence of the choking +sensation called _globus hystericus_." + +This letter excited renewed discussion in the newspapers, and a second +public meeting was called to make arrangements for a second watching. At +this meeting it was decided to bring down from Guy's Hospital, London, +several trained nurses, who were to conduct the watching; and the +following resolutions were adopted, as expressing the terms under which +the inquiry was to be conducted:-- + +1. It would be advisable, before taking any steps in the matter, to +obtain a written legal guarantee from the father of Sarah Jacob +sanctioning the necessary proceedings. 2. That the duty of the nurses +shall be to watch Sarah Jacob with a view to ascertain whether she +partakes of any kind of food, and at the end of a fortnight to report +upon the case before the local committee in Carmarthenshire, and, if +required, at Guy's Hospital. 3. That two nurses shall be constantly +awake and on the watch in the girl's room, night and day. 4. It would be +advisable for the nearest medical practitioner to watch the progress of +the case; and it will be absolutely necessary for him to _be prepared +against any serious symptoms of exhaustion, supervening on the strict +enforcement of the watching, and to act according to his judgment_. 5. +That the room in which the girl sleeps shall be bared of all unnecessary +furniture, and all possible places in the room for the concealment of +food shall be closed and kept under the continual scrutiny of the +watchers. 6. That if considered desirable by the local medical +practitioner, or by the nurses, the bedstead on which the girl now lies +shall be replaced by a single iron one. 7. That the bed on which the +parents now sleep, in Sarah Jacob's room, shall be given up absolutely +to the nurses. 8. That the parents be not allowed to sleep in the same +room as the girl; that if they cannot at all times be prevented from +approaching her, they should be previously searched (their pockets and +other recesses of clothing as well as the interior of their mouths); and +that no wetted towels or other such articles be allowed to be used about +the girl by the parents, or any other person save the nurses; that the +children of the family, and in fact every other person whatever (except +the nurses), have similar restraints put upon them. 9. That the nurses +have the sole management of preparing the room, bed, and patient, prior +to the commencement of the watching. 10. That, as it is asserted the +action of the bowels and bladder is entirely suspended, special +attention must be directed to these organs. + +Four experienced women nurses were accordingly deputed from Guy's +Hospital to take the entire charge of Sarah Jacob, and to watch her for +fourteen days. They were instructed not to prevent her having food if +she asked for it, but they were to see that she got none without their +knowledge. On the 9th of December, 1869, at 4 P.M., the room was cleared +of people and the watching began. + +In the first place it was ascertained that the girl had repeated +evacuations of urine, and once, at least, of fæces. + +Gradually evidences of mental and physical disturbance began to appear. +The watch was so closely kept that no food or drink reached the child, +and she did not ask for any. + +"At 10 P.M.," to quote the language of the journal kept by the sister +nurse, "she was restless and threw her arms about. She was very cold, +and the nurses put warm flannels on her. This was the last day on which +she passed urine." + +Thursday, December 16, 3 A.M.--She was rolling from one side of the bed +to the other. At half-past three she wished the bed made, and they made +it. She was looking very pale and anxious. Her eyes were sunk and her +nose pinched, and the cheek bones were prominent. Her arms and hands +were cold, her feet and legs were the same. Ann Jones, one of the +nurses, says in her memoranda, "She was very restless and appeared to me +to be sinking. Her lips were very dry, and her mouth seemed parched." +The peculiar smell (the starvation smell) about the bed was so strong as +to make the sister nurse quite ill. + +At 11 A.M., the vicar saw her and told the parents that the child was +gradually failing, and suggested to them the propriety of sending the +nurses away and giving her a chance to obtain food, but they refused, +saying that there was nothing to do but what the nurses were doing, and +that they had seen her quite as weak before. The parents were urged by +others to give up the fight by sending the nurses away, but they refused +on the ground that want of food had nothing to do with the symptoms, and +that she would not eat whether the nurses were there or not. + +Ann Jones subsequently testified before the coroner: "Before one and two +o'clock on Thursday afternoon (Dec. 16), she kept talking to herself. I +could not understand whether she was speaking Welsh or English. Up to +that time I could understand her. She pointed her fingers at some books; +I gave her one, but she took no notice of it; she was not able to read +it. _Both parents were then told the girl was dying._" + +Repeatedly they were begged to withdraw the nurses, and again and again +they refused, saying there was no occasion--that she had often been in +that way, that it was not from want of food, etc. The girl became weaker +and weaker; low, muttering delirium ensued, and on the 17th of December, +1869, at about half-past three o'clock, P.M., the "Welsh Fasting Girl" +died, actually starved to death, in the middle of the nineteenth century +and in one of the most Christian and civilized countries of the world! + +But this was not the end. Public opinion was much excited both against +those who had sanctioned and conducted what appeared to have been a +senseless and cruel experiment, and against the father and mother who +had wilfully and persistently refused to allow food to be given to the +dying child. A coroner's inquest was held, and the coroner appears to +have made a very satisfactory charge to the jury after the rendition of +the testimony. He said there could be no doubt of the child having died +of starvation, and that the responsibility rested with the father, who +had knowingly and designedly failed to cause his child to take food. The +mother was not responsible unless it could be shown that she had been +given food for the child by the father, and had withheld it from her. It +was marvellous, he said, how the father could have made out such a +story--such a hideous mass of nonsense, as he had under oath attempted +to impose on the jury. + +The jury deliberated for a quarter of an hour, and then returned a +verdict of "Died from starvation, caused by negligence to induce the +child to take food on the part of the father;" which constituted +manslaughter. + +Evan Jacob was therefore arrested. But the Secretary of State for the +Home Department took the matter up and determined that the proceedings +should go farther than the local authorities intended. At first it was +contemplated to indict the members of the General Committee for +conspiracy, but it was finally concluded to include only the medical +gentlemen who had accepted the responsibility of superintending the +watching, as well as both parents of the deceased child. + +The initial proceeding took place before a full bench of magistrates, +and continued eight days. The Crown and the accused had eminent counsel, +and many witnesses were examined. At the conclusion of the inquiry the +presiding magistrate announced that it had been determined by the court +that no case had been made out against the physicians, who had not been +shown to have undertaken any other duty than that of advising the +nurses, and that it did not appear that their advice had been asked. As +to the father and mother the court had decided to send them both for +trial for manslaughter, at the next assizes. In due time they were +arraigned, they pleaded not guilty, but after being defended by able +counsel, the jury, after an absence of about half an hour, returned with +a verdict of guilty against both the prisoners, but with a +recommendation of the mother to the merciful consideration of the court, +on the ground that she was under the control of her husband. The man +protested his innocence, and the woman "buried her face in her shawl and +wept bitterly." + +His Lordship, in passing sentence, said: "Prisoners at the bar, you have +been found guilty of a most aggravated offence. I entirely concur with +the verdict which the jury have given, and I shall act upon the +recommendation which they have presented in favor of the female +prisoner, the mother, though, I must say, that I cannot but feel that it +is a greater crime in the mother than the father, since it is more +contrary to the common nature of mothers, to neglect their children in +the manner in which you have treated this unfortunate child. It is +contrary to the nature, even, of a father. But I shall act upon the +recommendation of the jury, upon the ground they have put forward, that +you have been subject to the control of your husband more than has +appeared from the evidence of the case. But the offence is, as I have +said, a serious one, on this ground; that there can be no doubt that +both of you have persisted in this fraudulent deception, upon your +neighbors, and upon the public, and that in order to carry out that +fraudulent deception and to preserve yourselves from detection you were +willing to risk the life of that child. The life of that child has been +lost in that wicked experiment which you tried. Therefore, the sentence +that I shall inflict on you, Evan Jacob, is, that you be imprisoned and +kept at hard labor for twelve calendar months; and that upon you, Hannah +Jacob, will be more lenient in consideration of the recommendation of +the jury, and it is, that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labor for +the period of six calendar months." + +Thus ended one of the most remarkable and interesting histories of human +folly, credulity, and criminality which the present day has produced. +Comment upon its teaching is scarcely necessary; but the thoughtful +reader will not fail to perceive how important a bearing it has upon the +whole subject of belief without full and free inquiry, and that how all +the facts which science has gathered during ages of painful labor, go +for naught, even with educated persons, when brought face to face with +the false assertions of a hysterical girl, and of two ignorant and +deceitful peasants. If there is any one thing we know, it is that there +can be no force without the metamorphosis of matter of some kind. Here +was a girl maintaining her weight--actually growing--her animal heat +kept at its due standard, her mind active, her heart beating, her lungs +respiring, her skin exhaling, her limbs moving whenever she wished them +to move, and all, as very many persons supposed, without the ingestion +of the material by which alone such things could be. And yet such is the +tendency of the average human mind to be deceived, that it would be +perfectly possible to re-enact in the city of New York the whole tragedy +of Sarah Jacob, should ever a hysterical girl take it into head to do +so; and there would not be wanting, even from among those who might read +this history, individuals who would credit any monstrous declarations +she might make. Even now in a little town in Belgium, an ecstatic girl +is going through the same performance with extraordinary additions, and +books are written by learned physicians and theologians, with the object +of establishing the truth of her pretensions. To this most remarkable +instance, and one other of similar though perhaps even more remarkable +characteristic, the attention of the reader will presently be invited. +But in view of these things one is almost tempted to say with Cardinal +Carafa, "_Quandoquidem populus decipi vult, decipiatur_." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] "De puella quæ sine cibo et potu vitam transigit." Parisiis Ann. +MDXLII. + +[4] "Παρατηρήσεων sive observationum medicarum, rararum, novarum, +admirabilium, et monstrosarum. Volumen, tomis septem de toto homine +institutum." Lugduni 1606, p. 306. + +These cases are cited by Wanley in his "Wonders of the Little World," +but I have taken care in most instances to refer to the originals, +several of which are in my library. + +[5] "Wonders of the Little World." London, 1806, p. 375. + +[6] Opuscula Medica. Parisiis, 1639, pp. 64, 65, 66. + +[7] Observationum et curationum chirurgicarum, centuria secunda. Genevæ, +1611, p. 116. + +[8] Wonderful Characters: By Henry Wilson and James Caulfield. London. + +[9] British Medical Journal, July 16, 1870. + +[10] A complete History of the Welsh Fasting Girl (Sarah Jacob,) with +Comments thereon, and Observations on Death from Starvation. London, +1871. + + + + +III. + +ABSTINENCE FROM FOOD WITH STIGMATIZATION. + + +One hundred and fifty-three persons have at one time or another, +according to Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre,[11] received the stigmata; that is, +been marked in a miraculous manner with the wounds received by Christ at +the crucifixion. Of these, eight, are according to the same authority +now living, and two assert that they do not eat. I propose to consider +at some length the main points in the histories of these two, Palma +d'Oria and Louise Lateau, and in so doing I shall avail myself of the +works of those, who are firm believers in the miraculous interposition +of God to produce the effects, of which they are said to be the +subjects. These cases are very little known in this country. Instances +of the kind are extremely rare among practical common sense nations, +like those inhabiting the British Isles, and their descendants in +America. Of the whole one hundred and fifty-three cases recorded by Dr. +Imbert-Gourbeyre, but one--Jane Gray--was British, and hers is the most +doubtful case in the list, for the fact rests only on the testimony of +one Thomas Bourchier, an English minor brother, who asserts that she had +the stigmata in the feet. Of the remainder, the very large majority are +of Italy, and as Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre says: + +"Quel pays fut jamais si fertile en miracles?"[12] + +To the account of a visit made to Oria for the purpose of studying the +phenomena exhibited by Palma, made by Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, I am +indebted for the following details: + +Palma, at the time of the visit in 1871, was sixty-six years old, +hump-backed, thin, small, and with light, expressive eyes. For several +years she had not left the house, and was, on account of her sufferings, +scarcely able to walk. Occasionally, when she felt particularly well, +she took a few steps about the room supported by a cane. In her youth +she had been very strong and active. + +At the first interview, after some conversation in the course of which +Palma declared that she had often seen Louise Lateau while in ecstasy, +the doctor directed the conversation towards the subject of +hallucination. While thus engaged and seated close to Palma, he felt her +strike him gently on the arm, and at the same time saw the abbé, who had +come with him, fall on his knees. He turned toward Palma; her eyes were +closed, her hands clasped, her mouth wide open, and on her tongue he saw +the host--the body of Christ. Immediately, he fell on his knees also, +and worshipped it. Palma protruded her tongue still farther, as if she +wanted to give him every opportunity of seeing that the host was really +there; then she ate it, closed her mouth and remained perfectly quiet on +the sofa upon which she was reclining. It was then almost four o'clock +in the afternoon, the day was fading, the room was badly lit by a little +window, high from the floor. The miraculous host appeared to him to be +as white as wax, and somewhat thick. On account of the little light, and +the short time that this extraordinary communion lasted, he was unable +to determine whether or not it was marked according to the custom of the +church. + +In regard to this wonderful event--that is, if it be not a fact viewed +unequally--it is further to be said that Palma disclosed to Dr. +Imbert-Gourbeyre, that two or three times, the holy element, which be it +remembered is believed by the great majority of Christians to be the +real body of Christ, was brought to her by the devil, and that then she +refused it. Sometimes he had the figure of an angel, but she knew him by +the sign of reprobation which he wore on his forehead--a little horn. +Moreover she saw that the wicked creature hesitated, and was a little +embarrassed. She intoned the _Gloria Patri_, and made the sign of the +cross, and he instantly took flight and disappeared. In order to +ascertain what it all meant, her confessor forbade her to receive the +miraculous communion for eight days. Hardly had that period expired when +Jesus Christ himself brought her the communion. Before giving it to her +he made her recite the _Gloria Patri_ three times. Then he said to her, +"Have I fled as the demon did? No. Therefore reassure yourself. It is +really I." + +These miraculous circumstances had been going on for about two years +when Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre made his visit to Palma. Sometimes it was +brought to her by Christ, as in the instance specified, or by some +saint, as St. Peter, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Francis d'Assisi, in the +company of her guardian angel, and other saints and angels. At other +times it was brought by priests and confessors of the olden time, long +since dead. + +An Italian bishop stated, that at the moment of the miraculous sacrament +on one occasion, he had seen the host flying through the air before +entering Palma's mouth, but the doctor questioned her attendant on this +point, and she declared that she had not seen that, and she assured him +that the host was never seen by any one till it rested on Palma's +tongue. The doctor inclines to the belief that the attendant was right, +but he states that nevertheless a French apostolic missionary had +asserted that he had seen the same thing. + +Well, if the consecrated bread be really the body of Christ that was +given for the salvation of the world, what horrible blasphemy to state +such things of it, what vileness to believe them, what a barefaced +imputation on the reason of man to spread these shocking details before +him and ask him to accept them as true of the God he worships! + +After witnessing the communion, Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre was requested to +withdraw into the adjoining room, while Palma got ready for her other +performances. In a few minutes he was informed that all was in order. +One of the women went in first and returning immediately, the others +were invited to enter. The stigmatization had already begun on the +forehead. He saw a stream of blood flowing from the left frontal +eminence along the side of the nose. A handkerchief was given to Palma; +she held it to her nose for a moment and the hæmorrhage soon stopped. He +examined the blood and found that it did not differ in appearance, color +or temperature from ordinary blood. He then examined the handkerchief, +and besides numerous rotund spots he perceived other figures resembling +hearts, with stains of blood proceeding from them, indicating the flames +of love. All this appeared to him to be very extraordinary, for though +he had often seen people bleed from the nose, he had never seen them +bleed like that. + +After this incident Palma continued the performances--_actions de grace_ +he calls them--her hands clasped and her eyes closed. In the lower +limbs, especially the left, there was a tremor like a nervous trembling +which was soon quieted. After a few minutes she rubbed her hands +together, made the sign of the cross and returned naturally to the +conversation. He then examined her forehead and endeavored to ascertain +where the blood had come from. The skin was intact without the least +opening. She showed him above the right frontal eminence a hole in the +cranium, from which at a former period, five little pieces of bone had +been discharged. The opening was entirely covered over by the scalp, and +he was surprised to find that there was no cicatrix. It was round, the +end of his index finger entered it readily, and it was just such an +opening as would have been produced by the crown of a trephine. At the +time it was made, the skin opened to allow of the exit of the pieces of +bone; then it closed without leaving the trace of a scar. It was the +same with the stigmata. They closed at once without there being any +marks to indicate the place whence the blood had flowed. This hole in +the skull had been caused by some particular circumstances that no one +was willing to reveal to him, but which he says are reported in the +journal of the directors of this woman, and which will soon be +published. Most medical men will come to the conclusion that it was due +to caries and necrosis of the bone, of syphilitic origin. + +During another visit Palma told Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre that she had eaten +nothing for seven years, but that she was obliged to drink frequently on +account of the great internal heat, which like a fire consumed her. She +then drank in his presence two carafes of water at one time, and the +doctor states that "this water became so hot in her stomach that it was +vomited boiling. She also had often ejected from her mouth oil, and +another fluid of a balsamic character, in which, on standing for some +time, bodies resembling the consecrated host were formed." + +The doctor then relates the following details, which I give in his own +words, in further illustration of the character of his mental +organization and of the pretensions put forth by the woman, whose word +seems to have been sufficient to convince him of anything at all, no +matter how preposterous. Four years previously he had been so +unfortunate as to lose by death his eldest child: + +"A year after his death, I had met a woman of great renown for piety, +and who was even regarded as a receiver of celestial communications. I +had commended my poor Joseph to her. Some time after she assured me that +my son was saved, and that he was in paradise. She declared that in a +vision she had seen him near our Lord; he was happy. Various +circumstances, which it is useless to mention here, had caused me to +believe in the truth of this asserted revelation. Being in Oria, I +wished to have as much certainty as possible in regard to the matter, +and as I knew that Palma was in spiritual communication with many pious +souls scattered over the earth, I said to her in the course of our +conversation, 'tell me, Palma, do you know M. ---- de X----,' giving her +the baptismal name of the woman in question. 'No sir,' she answered. I +then related to her my history in detail, taking care not to ask her +opinion in advance, although I felt sure that she would explain the +thing to me. She listened with the utmost attention to the superioress +who translated my words, and when Mother Becaud came to say that the +woman had had a vision of my son, and that he was in paradise, Palma +stretched out her arm in a solemn manner as a sign of negative, and said +to me, 'He is saved, but he is still in purgatory.' + +"'Is it possible? Palma,' I cried, profoundly moved: 'Since you tell me +this, you are in conscience bound to get him out of that place of +expiation as soon as possible, and I commend him immediately to your +prayers.' + +"'Yes, sir,' she said, 'I will pray for him, and when I am sure of his +deliverance, I will send you word by Father de Pace.' + +"The following morning at my visit I again commended my poor child to +Palma, and on the following Friday evening on taking leave of her, I +asked if she had prayed that morning for my son, 'No sir,' she answered. +'I will only do so on the day of All Saints.' 'Then,' said I to Palma, +'will you allow madame the superioress to take the answer?' 'Very +willingly,' said the seeress. On the 7th of November, I received at Nice +the following letter: + + "'SIR, + + "'I have fulfilled the promise which I made to you in accordance + with your wish to go to Palma on All Saints Day, in order to + ascertain whether or not your wishes in regard to your son had been + granted. That good soul assured me twice that he had gone to heaven + that very morning, God be praised a thousand times! + + "'Thus sir, I have done what I could for your consolation. + + "'I have the honor to be, etc. + + "'Sister Marie Becaud.' + +"This letter was post marked at Oria, November 2d." + +I should not venture to insult the intelligence of the reader with these +idiotic details but for the reasons stated, and additionally, that they +carry conviction with them to thousands of minds, honest doubtless, but +which are accustomed to grovel in superstition, and falsehood, which +they are unable to test by right standards. + +A phase in Palma's spiritual pathology has been alluded to cursorily, +but has not yet been considered with the fulness proper in connection +with stigmatization, and that is the occurrence of hæmorrhagic spots on +various parts of her body, and which she so managed as to convey the +idea that they were symbolical of various holy things. On the back of +her hand she convinced Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre that she bled in the shape +of the cross, and he gives a wood-cut representing a cross on the dorsum +of the hand, a little above the space between the first and second +fingers. This is surrounded by other rectilinear figures. On her breast +and back, other figures were obtained by placing handkerchiefs on the +parts. The doctor thus procured several mementoes of his visit, in the +shape of pieces of linen stained with spots of blood somewhat resembling +hearts, with flames coming out of them, suns, roses, crosses, etc. He +gives several plates in his book representing these figures, of the +reality of the miraculous formation of which he has not the slightest +doubt. + +Another phenomenon has also been mentioned incidentally, and that is the +intense heat which Palma declared she felt, and which the doctor refers +to as the "divine fire." He had brought with him from Paris, a +thermometer to use in determining the extraordinary temperature of this +fire. He examined her with this instrument while she felt this divine +fire, but failed to find any abnormal increase; her pulse at the time +was 72. "I made this experiment," he says, "to satisfy my scientific +conscience, [God save the mark!] but I ought to say that I was ashamed +of myself for presuming to measure this divine fire by such an +instrument." He is right, science is not for him, or those like him. + +On one occasion while Palma was in ecstasy, Antonietta, who was near +her, laid bare her chest a little, and cried with enthusiasm, "she is +burning!" Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre approached and smelt something like the +burning of linen. The dress was opened and her chemise was found to be +burnt on the left side just over the collar bone, and immediately below +this, scorched in the shape of "a magnificent emblem representing a +monstrance. The fire was invisible, but its traces were very evident." + +In a note he states that it was affirmed that Palma's temperature on +similar occasions had reached 100° centigrade, (212° Fahrenheit) a fact +which he does not doubt, although his thermometer did not show it. "That +her chemise," he says, "burnt by invisible fire, which escaped the +thermometer, was more extraordinary than if the instrument had indicated +a temperature of 100°." + +I shall not stop now to comment further on the circumstances detailed by +Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre, and of which I have cited but a small part. I will +only say at present that science and common sense would conclude in +regard to Palma d'Oria, + +1st. That she had probably at a former period contracted syphilis. + +2d. That she was strongly hysterical. + +3d. That she was the subject of purpura hæmorrhagica. + +4th. That she was a most unmitigated humbug and liar. + +And now we come to the consideration of a case of stigmatization which +has greatly stirred both the theological and the scientific world of +Europe--that of Louise Lateau--and here again I shall draw largely, +though by no means exclusively, from the works of the believers in the +miraculous production of the phenomena manifested.[13] + +Louise Lateau was born at Bois-d'Haine, a small village in Belgium, on +the 30th of January, 1850. She was reared in the utmost poverty, was +chlorotic, and did not menstruate till she was eighteen years old. She +loved solitude and silence, and when not engaged in work--and she does +not appear to have labored much--she spent her time in meditation and +prayer. She was subject to paroxysms of ecstasy, during which, as many +other ecstasies, she spoke very edifying things, of charity, poverty, +and the priesthood. She saw St. Ursula, St. Roch, St. Theresa, and the +Holy Virgin. Persons who saw her in these states declared that, while +lying on the bed, her whole body was raised up more than a foot high, +the heels alone being in contact with the bed. + +The stigmatization ensued very soon after these seizures. On a Friday +she bled from the left side of her chest. On the following Friday this +flow was renewed, and in addition, blood escaped from the dorsal +surfaces of both feet; and on the third Friday, not only did she bleed +from the side and feet, but also from the dorsal and palmar surface of +both hands. Every succeeding Friday the blood flowed from these places, +and finally other points of exit were established on the forehead and +between the shoulders. + +At first these bleedings only took place at night, but after two or +three months they occurred in the daytime, and were accompanied by +paroxysms of ecstasy, during which she was insensible to all external +impressions, and acted the passion of Jesus and the crucifixion. + +M. Warlomont, being commissioned by the Royal Academy of Medicine of +Belgium to examine Louise Lateau, went to her house, accompanied by +several friends, and made a careful examination of her person. At that +time, Friday morning at six o'clock, the blood was flowing freely from +all the stigmata. In a few moments the sacrament would be brought to +her, and then the second act of the drama would begin. The scene that +followed can be best described in M. Warlomont's own words: + +"It is a quarter-past six. 'Here comes the communion,' said M. Niels [a +priest], 'kneel down.' Louise fell on her knees on the floor, closed her +eyes and crossed her hands, on which the communion-cloth was extended. A +priest, followed by several acolytes, entered; the penitent put out her +tongue, received the holy wafer, and then remained immovable in the +attitude of prayer. + +"We observed her with more care than seemed to have been hitherto given +to her at similar periods. Some thought that she was simply in a state +of meditation, from which she would emerge in the course of half an hour +or so. But it was a mistake. Having taken the communion, the penitent +went into a special state. Her immobility was that of a statue, her eyes +were closed; on raising the eyelids the pupils were seen to be largely +dilated, immovable, and apparently insensible to light. Strong pressure +made upon the parts in the vicinity of the stigmata caused no sensation +of pain, although a few moments before they were exquisitely tender. +Pricking the skin gave no evidence of the slightest sensibility. A limb, +on being raised, offered no resistance, and sank slowly back to its +former position. Anæsthesia was complete, unless the cornea remained +still impressionable. The pulse had fallen from 120 to 100 pulsations. +At a given moment I raised one of the eyelids, and M. Verriest quickly +touched the cornea. Louise at once seemed to recover herself from a +sound sleep, arose and walked to a chair, upon which she seated herself. +'This time,' I said, 'we have wakened her.' 'No,' said M. Niels, looking +at his watch, 'it was time for her to awake.'" + +She remained conscious; the blood still continued to flow; the +anæsthesia had ceased, her pulse rose to 120, and at the end of half an +hour she was herself. "Our first visit ended here. At half-past eleven +we made another. The poor child had resumed her attitude of extreme +suffering, against which she contended with all the energy that remained +to her. The wounds in the hands still continued to bleed. M. Verriest +auscultated with care the lungs, heart, and great vessels, and found the +_bruit de souffle_, which he had detected in the morning at the apex of +the heart and over the carotids. The handle of a spoon pressed against +the velum, the base of the tongue, and the pharynx, provoked no effort +at vomiting. The glasses of our spectacles, as they came in contact with +the air expired, were covered with vapor. As the patient appeared to +suffer from our presence, we went away. + +"We made our third visit at two o'clock. There were still fifteen +minutes before the beginning of the ecstatic crisis, which always took +place punctually at a quarter past two and ended at about half past +four. The pupils at this time were slightly contracted, the eyelids were +almost entirely closed; the eyes, looking at nothing, were veiled from +our view. We tried in vain to attract her attention; her mind was +otherwise engaged, and her pains were evidently becoming more intense. +At exactly a quarter past two her eyes became fixed in a direction above +and to the right. The ecstasy had begun. + +"The time had now come to introduce those who were prompted by +curiosity. This could now be done without inconvenience, for the +ecstatic, for the ensuing two hours, would be lost to the appreciation +of what might be passing around her. The room crowded, could hold about +ten persons, but enough were allowed to enter to make the total +twenty-five. These placed themselves in two ranks, of which the front +one kneeling, allowed the rear ones to see all that was going on. All +this was done under the direction of M. le Curé, who took every pains to +give us a good view of what was going to happen. + +"Louise was seated on the edge of her chair; her body, inclined forward, +seemed to wish to follow the direction of her eyes, which did not look, +but were fixed on vacancy. Her eyes were opened to their fullest +extent, of a dull, lustreless appearance, turned above and to the right, +and of an absolute immobility. A few workings of the lids were now +observed and became more frequent if the eyelids were touched. The +pupils, largely dilated, showed very little sensibility to light, and +all that remained of vision was shown by slight winking when the hand +was suddenly brought close to the eyes. The whole face lacked +expression. At certain moments, either spontaneously or as a consequence +of divers provocations, a light smile, to which the muscles of the face +generally did not contribute, wandered over her lips. Then the face +resumed its primitive expression, and thus she remained for the +half-hour which constituted the 'first station.' + +"The 'second station' was that of genuflection. It had failed at one +time, but had again appeared. The young girl fell on her knees, clasped +her hands, and remained for about a quarter of an hour in the attitude +of contemplation. Then she arose and again resumed her sitting posture. + +"The 'third station' began at three o'clock. Louise inclined herself a +little forward, raised her body slowly, and then extended herself at +full length, face downward, on the floor. There was neither rigidity nor +extreme precipitation; nothing in fact, calculated to produce injuries. +The knees first supported her body, then it rested on these and the +elbows, and finally her face was brought in actual close contact with +the tiled floor. At first the head rested on the left arm, but very soon +the patient made a quick and sudden movement, and the arms were extended +from the body in the form of a cross. At the same time the feet were +brought together so that the dorsum of the right was in contact with +the sole of the left foot. This position did not vary for an hour and a +half. When the end of the crisis approached, the arms were brought close +to the sides of the body, then suddenly the poor girl rose to her knees, +her face turns to the wall, her cheeks become colored, her eyes have +regained their expression, her countenance expands, and the ecstasy is +at an end." + +Further particulars are given, and an apparatus was constructed and +applied to Louise's hand and arm so as to prevent any external +excitation of the hæmorrhage. It was apparently shown that there was no +such interference, for the blood began to flow at the usual time on +Friday. + +In addition to the stigmata and the paroxysms of ecstasy, Louise +declared that she did not sleep, had eaten or drank nothing for four +years, had had no fæcal evacuation for three years and a half, and that +the urine was entirely suppressed. + +M. Warlomont examined the blood and products of respiration chemically, +and satisfied himself of their normal character, except that the former +contained an excessive amount of white corpuscles. + +When being closely interrogated, Louise admitted that, though she did +not sleep, she had short periods of forgetfulness at night. On M. +Warlomont suddenly opening a cupboard in her room, he found it to +contain fruit and bread, and her chamber communicated directly with a +yard at the back of the house. It was therefore perfectly possible for +her to have slept, eaten, defecated, and urinated, without any one +knowing that she did so. + +The conclusions arrived at by M. Warlomont were, that the +stigmatizations and ecstasies of Louise Lateau were real and to be +explained upon well-known physiological and pathological principles, +that she "worked, and dispensed heat, that she lost every Friday a +certain quantity of blood by the stigmata, that the air she expired +contained the vapor of water and carbonic acid, that her weight had not +materially altered since she had come under observation. She consumes +carbon and it is not from her own body that she gets it. Where does she +get it from? Physiology answers, 'She eats.'" + +Relative to the assumed abstinence in the cases of Palma d'Oria, Louise +Lateau and other subjects of ecstasy and stigmata, it is not necessary, +in view of the remarks already made on this subject in a previous +chapter, to devote further consideration to it here. The conclusion +arrived at by M. Warlomont is the only one which science can tolerate. +Should Louise Lateau or Palma d'Oria ever be subjected to as close +watching as was the poor little Welsh Fasting Girl, Sarah Jacob, it will +certainly terminate as badly for them as for her, unless they yield to +the demands of nature and take the food which the organism requires. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Les Stigmatisées; Palma d'Oria, etc. 2d Edition, Paris, 1873, p. +263. + +[12] Op. cit., t. ii. + +[13] For the theological view of this remarkable case the reader is +referred to the following works, a part only of those written in support +of her pretensions. "Louise Lateau de Bois-d'Haine, sa vie, ses extases, +ses stigmates: étude Médicale," par le Dr. Lefebvre, Louvain, 1873. "Les +stigmatisées; Louise Lateau, etc.," par le Docteur A. Imbert-Gourbeyre, +Paris, 1873. "Biographie de Louise Lateau," par H. Van Looy, Tournai, +Paris and Leipzig, 1874. "Louise Lateau de Bois-d'Haine etc.," par le +Dr. A. Rohling, Paris, 1874. "Louise Lateau, ihr Wunderleben u.s.w.," +Von Paul Majunke, Berlin, 1875. + +Among the treatises in which the miracle is denied, and the phenomena +attributed to either disease or fraud are; "Louise Lateau; Rapport +Médical sur la stigmatisée de Bois-d'Haine, fait à l'académie royale de +médecine de Belgique," par le Dr. Warlomont, Bruxelles and Paris, 1875. +"Science et miracle, Louise Lateau, ou la stigmatisée Belge," par le Dr. +Bourneville, Paris, 1875. "Les Miracles," par M. Virchow, Revue des +cours scientifiques, January 23rd 1875. + + + + +IV. + +THE BROOKLYN CASE. + + +For several years past there have been rumors more or less definite in +character that a young lady in Brooklyn was not only living without +food, but was possessed of some mysterious faculty by which she could +foretell events, read communications without the aid of the eyes, and +accurately describe occurrences in distant places, through clairvoyance +or whatever other name may be applied to the influence. + +Finally, in the _New York Herald_ of October 20th, 1878, appeared an +account, headed "Life without Food. An Invalid Lady who for fourteen +years has lived without nourishment." As this account is apparently +authentic, and as the statements made have never been contradicted, I do +not hesitate to quote from it. Some of the letters which have appeared +in response to a proposition I offered, and to which fuller reference +will presently be made, have accused me of dragging the young lady +before the public. It will be seen, however, that her friends and +physicians are responsible for all the publicity given to the case. + +Leaving out of consideration for the present the alleged marvellous +endowments of this young lady, as regards seeing without her eyes, +second sight, etc., I quote from the _Herald_ the essential points +relative to her clinical history and abstinence from food: + +"In a modest, secluded house at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Downing +Street, Brooklyn, lives an invalid lady afflicted with paralysis, with a +history so remarkable and extraordinary that, notwithstanding it is +vouched for by physicians of standing, it is almost incredible. It is +claimed that for a period of nearly fourteen years she has lived +absolutely without food or nourishment of any kind. The case has been +kept by the family of the patient a well guarded secret, it having led +them to a strict seclusion as the only means of protection against the +visits of the curious and incredulous. + +"The name of the remarkable person is Miss Mollie Fancher. To the half +dozen medical gentlemen who have seen and attended her, her case is +inexplicable. To learn the history of the strange case a _Herald_ +reporter yesterday called on several persons familiar with the facts. +The first person seen was Dr. Ormiston, of No. 74 Hanson Place, +Brooklyn, who attended her. He said:--'It seems incredible, but from +everything I can learn Mollie Fancher never eats. The elder Miss +Fancher, her aunt, who takes care of her, is a lady of the highest +intelligence. She was at one time quite wealthy, and she has at present +a comfortable income. I have every reason to believe that her statements +are in every detail reliable. During a dozen visits to the sick chamber +I have never detected evidence of the patient having eaten a morsel.'" + +After interviewing a lady intimate with the family, the reporter sought +out Dr. Speir, the attending physician of the patient, and thus details +his experience with that gentleman: + +"Dr. Speir was found in his comfortable little office, and the errand of +the writer made known:-- + +"'Is it true, Doctor, that a patient of yours has lived for fourteen +years without taking food?' + +"'If you refer to Miss Fancher, yes. She became my patient in 1864. Her +case is a most remarkable one.' + +"'But has she eaten nothing during all these years?' + +"'I can safely say she has not.' + +"'Are the family also willing to vouch for the truth of this +extraordinary statement?' + +"'You will find them very reticent to newspaper men and to strangers +generally. I do not believe any food--that is, solids--ever passed the +woman's lips since her attack of paralysis, consequent upon her mishap. +As for an occasional teaspoonful of water or milk, I sometimes force her +to take it by using an instrument to pry open her mouth, but that is +painful to her. As early as 1865 I endeavored to sustain life in this +way, for I feared that, in obedience to the universal law of nature, she +would die of gradual inanition or exhaustion, which I thought would +sooner or later ensue; but I was mistaken. The case knocks the bottom +out of all existing medical theories, and is, in a word, miraculous.' + +"'Did you ever,' asked the reporter, 'make an experiment to satisfy your +professional accuracy in regard to her abstinence?' + +"'Several times I have given her emetics on purpose to discover the +truth; but the result always confirmed the statement that she had taken +no food. It sounds strangely, but it is so. I have taken every +precaution against deception, sometimes going into the house at eleven +or twelve o'clock at night, without being announced, but have always +found her the same, and lying in the same position occupied by her for +the entire period of her invalidity. The springs of her bedstead are +actually worn out with the constant pressure. My brethren in the medical +profession at first were inclined to laugh at me, and call me a fool and +spiritualist when I told them of the long abstinence and keen mental +powers of my interesting patient. But such as have been admitted to see +her are convinced. These are Dr. Ormiston, Dr. Elliott and Dr. +Hutchison, some of the best talent in the city, who have seen and +believed.'" + +And then the following account is given of the accident from which the +young lady suffered, and to which the remarkable phenomena she is said +to exhibit are ascribed: + +"The story of Miss Fancher's accident and its melancholy consequences is +quite affecting. It is collected from the various statements given by +half a dozen friends of the family to the _Herald_ reporter. Interwoven +with it is a thread of romance, a tale of early love and courtship, of a +life embittered by a cruel accident, of patient waiting, and a final +release of the suitor from his engagement to marry another. + +"Mary's parents live in a sumptuous dwelling on Washington Avenue, +Brooklyn, and were reported to be wealthy. Their favorite daughter +Mollie, as she was called, was sent to Prof. West's High School in +Brooklyn at an early age, and here developed many brilliant qualities of +mind and heart, which augured well for her future. At seventeen she was +pretty, petite and well cultivated. As a member of the Washington Avenue +Baptist Sunday School, she met and learned to love a classmate, named +John Taylor. An engagement followed the intimacy of the Sunday School +class, and the young people looked forward with buoyant spirits to the +bright life so soon to dawn upon them. + +"But fate decreed differently. While getting off a Fulton Street car one +day in 1864, on her return from school, the young lady slipped and fell +backward. Her skirt caught on the step unseen by the conductor, who +started the car on its way again. The poor girl was dragged some ten or +fifteen yards before her cries were heard and the brake applied. When +picked up she was insensible and was carried, suffering intense agony +from an injured spine, to her home near by. Forty-eight hours afterward +she was seized with a violent spasm which lasted for over two days. Then +came a trance, when the sufferer grew cold and rigid, with no evidence +of life beyond a warm spot under the left breast, where feeble +pulsations of her heart were detected by Dr. Speir. Only this gentleman +believed she was alive, and it was due to his constant assertion of the +girl's ultimate recovery that Miss Fancher was not buried. Despite the +best medical help and the application of restoratives, no change was +brought about in the patient's condition until the tenth week, when the +strange suspension of life ceased and breath was once more inhaled and +breathed forth from her lungs. + +"To their dismay the doctors then found that Mollie had lost her sight +and the power of deglutition, the latter affliction rendering it +impossible for her to swallow food or even articulate by the use of +tongue or lip. Previous to her trance a moderate quantity of food had +been given her each day; but since then she has not taken a mouthful of +life-sustaining food. Spasms and trances alternated with alarming +frequency since Miss Fancher was first attacked. First her limbs only +became rigid and disturbed at the caprice of her strange malady; but as +time passed her whole frame writhed as if in great pain, requiring to be +held by main force in order to remain in the bed. She could swallow +nothing, and lay utterly helpless until moved." + +In the _Sun_, of November 24th, 1878, a fuller account of this young +lady was given, mainly however, in regard to her "clairvoyant," or +"second-sight" power. Relative to her abstinence from food, I quote the +following conversation between the reporter and Dr. Speir. + +"'Is it true that she has not partaken of food in all these thirteen +years?' + +"'No: I cannot say that she has not; I have not been constantly with her +for thirteen years; she may have taken food in my absence. Her friends +have used every device to make her take nourishment. Food has been +forced upon her, and artificial means have been resorted to that it +might be carried to her stomach. Nevertheless, the amount in the +aggregate must have been very small in all these years.' + +"'You have considered the case of such extraordinary importance as to +take many physicians to see it?' + +"'I have, and it has excited very much of attention. I have letters +about it from far and near, and the medical journals have asked for +information.'" + +And this with Dr. Ormiston: + +"Dr. Robert Ormiston, who has been one of Miss Fancher's physicians from +the first, who has seen her constantly in all the different conditions +of her system, said yesterday that he was convinced that there could be +no deception. He could find no motive for it, and he did not believe +that she had attempted it. As to her not partaking of food, he had with +Dr. Speir made tests that satisfied him that she ate no more than she +pretended to, and in the aggregate it had not, in all these years, +amounted to more than the amount eaten at a single meal by a healthy +man. Dr. Ormiston narrated many curious incidents of the girl's illness, +and verified the facts of her physical condition as narrated elsewhere." + +In order that no injustice may be done to these gentlemen, I quote the +following from the _Sun_ of November 26th: + +"Dr. R. Fleet Speir, one of Miss Fancher's physicians, smiled last +evening when the _Sun_ reporter asked him what he thought of Dr. +Hammond's opinions on the case. 'I probably have just as high an opinion +of Dr. Hammond's opinions as Dr. Hammond has of mine,' he said. 'My +opinion on the case of Miss Fancher I have always refused to give to any +one. When I first took the case, years ago, I told the family that I +would not give them an opinion on it; that I would do what I could with +it, and that I hoped to bring about a cure. I do not believe in +clairvoyance or second sight, or anything of the kind. I think I stand +with the most rigid school on that subject.' + +"'But do you think Miss Fancher deceives or endeavors to?' + +"The Doctor smiled again. 'Now I do not want you to interview me on +that. My theory has along been to do nothing to irritate my patient; I +humored her, and have endeavored in that way to get her confidence, to +get complete control of her, if possible. In that way I may get her +mind diverted, and by and by get her out of bed. I have hoped to see her +cured. I do not see what earthly good a scientific investigation would +do her. On the contrary, it would harm her. Put a relay of physicians to +watch her, and she would undoubtedly do her best to beat them. She would +hold out against them, and likely as not die.' + +"Dr. Robert Ormiston said that he thought that the Brooklyn physicians +knew quite as much about the case as their New York brethren, and that +their opinions were of as much weight. 'It has become a most interesting +case from a medical standpoint, because during her long illness, she has +gone through all the different phases of hysteria that have heretofore +been observed in many different cases. I think I am correct in this +statement.'" + +From all that can be ascertained therefore, it appears that the young +lady in question received a severe injury to the spinal cord, in +consequence of which she became paralyzed in the lower extremities, in +which members contractions also took place. It is probable also that the +great sympathetic nerve and brain were involved in the injury. + +Confined to her bed, her bodily temperature being low, and passing a +good of her time in trances or periods of insensibility, the +requirements of the system as regarded food would necessarily be +limited. But this is the most that can be said. She _did_ breathe, her +heart _did_ beat, she required _some_ bodily heat, and the various other +functions of her organism could not have been maintained without the +expenditure of matter of some kind. During abstinence from food the body +itself is consumed for these purposes, and there being no renovation, +no supplies from without, it loses weight with every instant of time +until death finally ensues. An emaciated person can withstand this drain +less effectually than one who is stout and fat. + +Again, it is said that the food taken by Miss Fancher was at once +rejected. That it was _all_ rejected, is in the highest degree +improbable; a portion remained, and this portion, small as it was, did +good service when very little was required. + +Another point: that Miss Fancher was hysterical admits of no doubt. +Hysteria is a disease as much in some cases beyond the control of the +patient as inflammation of the brain or any other disease. A proclivity +to simulation and deception is just as much a symptom of hysteria as +pain is of pleurisy. To say, therefore, that she simulated abstinence +and deceived us to the quantity of food she took, is no imputation on +her honesty, or questioning her possession of as high a degree of honor +and trust, as can be claimed by any one. Other women naturally as moral +as she, have under the influence of hysteria perpetrated the grossest +deceptions, and they are not unfrequently manifested in the very same +way that hers apparently are. Her case is by no means an isolated one; +it is not such as has never been seen before; it does not "knock the +bottom out of all existing medical theories, and is in a word +miraculous," as one of the physicians is reported to have said. On the +contrary, similar ones are often met with as we have seen, and the +following which I quote from Millingen,[14] is so like it in many +respects, that the two might have been formed after a common model, as +in fact they were, just as two or more cases of pneumonia follow a well +defined type. + +"Another wonderful instance of the same kind is that of Janet McLeod, +published by Dr. McKenzie. She was at the time thirty-three years of +age, unmarried, and from the age of fifteen had had various attacks of +epilepsy, which had produced so rigid a lock-jaw that her mouth could +rarely be forced open by any contrivance; she had lost very nearly the +power of speech and deglutition, and with this all desire to eat or +drink. Her lower limbs were contracted towards her body; she was +entirely confined to her bed, and had periodical discharges of blood +from the lungs, which were chiefly thrown out by the nostrils. During a +few intervals of relaxation she was prevailed upon with great difficulty +to put a few crumbs of bread comminuted in the hand, into her mouth, +together with a little water sucked from her one hand, and, in one or +two instances, a little gruel, but even in these attempts almost the +whole was rejected. On two occasions also, after a total abstinence of +many months, she made signs of wishing to drink some water, which was +immediately procured for her. On the first trial the whole seemed to be +returned from the mouth, but she was greatly refreshed in having it +rubbed upon the throat. On the second occasion she drank off a pint at +once, but could not be prevailed upon to drink any more, although her +father had now fixed a wedge between her teeth. With these exceptions, +however, she seemed to have passed upwards of four years without either +liquids or solids of any kind, or even an appearance of swallowing; she +lay for the most part like a log of wood, with a pulse scarcely +perceptible for feebleness, but distinct and regular. Her countenance +was clear and pretty fresh; her features neither disfigured nor sunk; +her bosom round and prominent, and her limbs not emaciated. Dr. McKenzie +watched her, with occasional visits, for eight or nine years, at the +close of which period she seemed to be a little improved." + +This account, like that given of Miss Fancher, tells us nothing definite +in regard to the fasting abilities of the young woman. It simply, with +the other, may be accepted as indicating that hysterical women are able +to go for comparatively long periods without food, and that fact we +already knew. It will be observed that it is stated that she "_seemed_" +to go four years without food or drink. + +In regard to Miss Fancher, the evidence is a little conflicting. First +we have Dr. Speir reported as saying, in answer to a question as to her +having lived fourteen years without food: + +"'Yes, she became my patient in 1864. Her case is a most remarkable +one.' + +"'But has she eaten nothing during all these years?' + +"'I can safely say she has not.'" + +This in the _Herald_. + +But about a month afterward we find the following conversation, reported +as taking place between the same physician and another reporter, this +time of the _Sun_: + +"'Is it true that she has not partaken of food in all these thirteen +years?' + +"'No, I cannot say that she has not; I have not been constantly with her +for thirteen years. She may have taken food in my absence.'" + +In which opinion all physiologists will join. + +As I have said, hysterical women certainly do exhibit a marked ability +to go without both food and drink. I have had patients abstain from +sometimes one, sometimes the other, and sometimes both, for periods +varying from one day to eleven, and this without much, if any, +suffering, for as soon as the suffering came they did not hesitate to +signify their desire to break their voluntary fasts. Real suffering is a +condition which the hysterical woman avoids with the most assiduous +care. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Curiosities of Medical Experience. London, 1837, Vol. I., page 269, +article, _Abstinence_. + + + + +V. + +THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF INANITION. + + +The opinion that food and drink are necessary to life is so generally +accepted by mankind, that few venture to dispute the dictum of Virchow +relative to Louise Lateau, "Fraud or miracle." But although it is +impossible so far as we know for individuals to continue to exist for +months and years without the ingestion of nutriment into the system, it +is undoubtedly true that under certain circumstances life can be +prolonged for days and weeks without any food of any kind going into the +organism. + +The body is a machine constructed for the purpose of working. The kinds +of work which the body of a man or woman does are many. Every act of +perception or sensation, is an act of work; so is every thought, every +emotion, every volition. The action of the heart or lungs in the +circulation and respiration, the evolution of the animal heat, the +various functions of secretion and excretion, digestion, motion, +speech, etc., are all so many kinds of work. Now as regards work, it is +well known that for its due performance force is required, and it is +equally well known that for the development of force, matter that can be +metamorphosed is necessary. The engine may be perfect, the water may be +in the boiler, but unless there be force in the form of heat there will +be no steam; and there will be no heat unless there be fuel in a state +of combustion. + +The human body differs from any other machine in the fact that it uses +its fuel in great part indirectly; only in fact after it has been +assimilated and converted into tissues of various kinds. Thus when a +muscle contracts, it is the muscle itself which is consumed; when a +thought is conceived it is the brain which provides the force; when an +emotion is experienced, it is again the brain which is decomposed. The +body, therefore, lives by the death of its own substance. It is true, +some kinds of food such as alcohol, tea and coffee, and perhaps some +others do not require to go farther than the blood to be burned, but +these are mainly heat-producing, and not tissue-producing substances. +But whether matter be consumed directly or indirectly, all bodily force +results from its decomposition, and without this destruction of matter +the body would be absolutely incapable of a single functional action of +any kind whatever, and its temperature like that of the so-called +cold-blooded animals would be that of the surrounding medium, the +atmosphere. + +The quantity of food required by the system varies like the demands of +other machines in accordance with the amount of work which is to be +performed. A plowman, other things being equal, consumes more than a +watchmaker; just as a locomotive burns more fuel than the little engine +that runs a sewing machine; the strong able-bodied active man, one who +works his brains and muscles up to their full power, eats more than the +weak, emaciated and inactive girl, who passes all her time in the +recumbent position in bed; and the latter will, other things being +equal, endure for a longer period entire abstinence from food. A little +food with such a one goes a great way, the demands of the system are at +their minimum, and hence a mouthful of bread, or a little tea and toast +taken at long intervals, suffices for the supply of all, or a great +portion of the waste of the body. With such a person there is not much +intense thought, there is little or no muscular action, the pulsations +of the heart do not require to be of much force, the respiration is +feeble, digestion is at its lowest point, there are no great demands for +animal heat, and in fact if the temperature of the atmosphere of the +room in which such a person lies, be kept high, the function of +calorification may be almost nothing. Still there must be some food +taken. The body, can to a certain extent, be used up in supplying the +force required for the several functions without the necessity for an +immediate restoration of its tissues, but there is a limit to this, +beyond which it is certain death to go. + +Chossat[15] has determined this point very accurately by many +experiments performed upon doves, pigeons, Guinea pigs, rabbits, etc. He +found that as a mean result, death ensued when the body lost four-tenths +of its original weight. For instance, a body weighing one hundred +pounds, could endure the loss of forty pounds without death necessarily +following. Five-tenths or one-half appeared to be the extreme loss of +weight in inanition which the body could endure without death resulting. + +In addition to the loss of weight the temperature fell rapidly, the +action of the heart was lessened, the number and depth of the +respirations was diminished, and the excretions gradually became smaller +in amount. + +Experiments such as those of Chossat on the lower animals, cannot of +course be instituted on the human subject, nevertheless nature sometimes +performs experiments for us which are not without valuable results; and +accidents of various kinds, have also given us important data. + +On the 19th of March, 1755, twenty-two persons living in the Alpine +village of Bergemoletto, in Piedmont, were buried in their houses by an +avalanche or whirlwind of snow. The space covered was about two hundred +and seventy feet in length, sixty in breadth, and the snow was over +forty-two feet in depth. Notwithstanding all the efforts made by the +survivors it was impossible to extricate the buried persons till the +18th of April following. All were dead except three women, who, having +found some hay, fed a goat with it, and thus obtained from this animal a +pint of milk daily, on which they had managed to sustain life for a +month.[16] + +In Belgium in the year 1683, four colliers were confined in a coal pit +for twenty-four days without anything to eat. On the twenty-fifth day +they were taken out. In all that time they had lived on nothing but a +little water, which flowed from the walls of the prison in which they +were immured.[17] + +A case is mentioned by Foderé[18] on the authority of M. Chaussier, in +which some workmen were taken out alive after having been confined for +fourteen days in a cold damp vault. When released at the end of the time +mentioned, their pulses were slow and weak, their animal heat greatly +reduced, and respiration barely perceptible. Foderé ascribes their long +existence without either food or drink, to the fact that the atmosphere +of the vault was exceedingly humid, and that the moisture was absorbed +into their bodies, taking the place of water ingested into the stomach. + +In another case reported by Dr. Straus,[19] a man sixty-five years of +age, was extracted alive from a coal mine, in which he had been +imprisoned for twenty-three days. During the first ten days he had a +little dirty water, but for the last thirteen days nothing whatever. +When taken out he was in a condition of great weakness and emaciation +and died after three days, notwithstanding all efforts made to preserve +his life. + +Cases of prolonged abstinence often occur among the insane, who, under +the influence of delusions, or in order to destroy their lives refuse +all food. Dr. Willan relates the case of a young man, who, through +delusions, refused all food but a little orange juice, and who lived for +sixty days on this alone. + +Of course such persons, if under the observation of a physician, could +be fed forcibly, but through the ignorance of friends or relatives it +not unfrequently happens that medical aid is not invoked in time, and +serious symptoms, or even death itself, may result. The time at which +this last termination ensues varies according to the kind of insanity +with which the patient is affected. A general paralytic deprived of all +food dies sooner than a healthy person. An insane person suffering from +acute mania also resists inanition badly, but one the subject of +melancholia often endures the total deprivation of aliment for a long +time. Esquirol[20] cites the case of a melancholic who did not succumb +till after eighteen days of complete abstinence, and Desbarreaux-Bernard +another in which life was prolonged for sixty-one days, but in this case +a little broth was taken once. Desportes[21] refers to the case of a +woman subject to melancholia who continued to exist during two months of +abstinence, during which she took nothing into the stomach but a little +water. + +It would be easy to go on and quote other instances occurring among +prisoners, shipwrecked persons, those suffering from diseases which +prevented food entering the stomach, others lost in deserts, forests, +etc., in which life has been prolonged for considerable periods. Such +cases are, however, quite exceptional. An interesting instance occurring +under one of these heads may, however, be cited as an example. + +M. Lépine[22] reports the case of a young girl nineteen years of age who +swallowed a quantity of sulphuric acid. As a consequence a stricture of +the œsophagus was produced. Three months after the act, liquids alone +passed into the stomach; emaciation was extreme and the countenance +pallid. Four months subsequently, that is, seven months after swallowing +the acid, the obliteration of the œsophagus was complete, and nothing +whatever could be swallowed. The patient lived for sixteen days after +all food or drink was prevented reaching the stomach. During the last +days of her starvation she complained only of thirst and not of hunger. +The prostration was extreme and the temperature greatly lessened. A +tendency to sleep was present, and there was a subdued delirium. On the +last day of life there was more excitement; the conjunctivæ were red, +the pulse thread-like, and the skin cold. It is not stated whether or +not attempts were made to feed this patient by injections into the +rectum of nutritious substances, or by the use of baths containing such +matters in solution. It may, however, safely be taken for granted that +efforts of these kinds were made, and if so, the unusually long period +during which life was sustained is explained. + +In all the cases in which life was extraordinarily prolonged there was +either not a total deprivation of food and drink, or there was a state +of muscular inaction present particularly favorable to retardation of +the destructive changes in the body which abstinence produces. It may be +asserted that in ordinary cases absolute deprivation of food and drink +cannot be endured by a healthy adult longer than ten days, and death +generally ensues before the end of the eighth day. It is said that women +sustain abstinence better than men. Young persons and the aged certainly +resist with less power than those of the middle period of life. Dante +was aware of this fact when he made the children of Ugolino die before +their father, the youngest first, the oldest last. + +Even though there be a total deprivation of what may strictly be called +food, some of the cases already cited show that if water be taken life +is preserved for a much longer period than would otherwise be the case. +Thus a negro woman, according to Dr. J. W. Francis,[23] believing +herself to be bewitched, abstained from food for three weeks, but during +this period took two small cups of water, to which a very little wine +had been added. + +In a case reported by Dr. McNaughton[24] a longer resistance was +maintained. + +"The subject of this case was a young man, aged twenty-seven, who for +three years immediately preceding his death almost constantly kept his +room, apparently engaged in meditation, a Bible his only companion. At +the latter end of May, 1829, his appetite began to fail; he ate very +little, and on the 2d of July he declined eating altogether. For the +first six weeks of his fast he went regularly to the well, washed +himself, and took a bowl full of water with him into the house. With +this he occasionally washed his mouth and drank a little; the quantity +taken during the twenty-four hours did not exceed a pint. On one +occasion he went three days without taking water, but on the fourth +morning he was observed to go to the well and drink copiously and +greedily. For the first six weeks he walked out every day, and sometimes +spent the greater part of the day in the woods. He retained his strength +until a short time before his death. During the first three weeks he +emaciated rapidly; afterwards he did not seem to waste so sensibly. +Prof. Willoughby visited him a few days before he died. He found the +skin very cold, the respiration feeble and slow, but otherwise natural; +but the effluvia from the breath, and perhaps the skin, were extremely +offensive. During the greater part of the latter week of his life the +parents say there was a considerable discharge of foul reddish matter +from the lungs. To this perhaps the offensive smell referred to may be +chiefly attributed. The pulse was regular, but slow and feeble, and the +arteries extremely contracted. The radial artery, for example, could be +distinctly felt like a small, hard thread, communicating almost a wiry +feel. + +"The alvine evacuations were rare; it is believed that he passed several +weeks without any, but the secretion of urine seemed more regular. He +died after fasting fifty-three days. On dissection the stomach was found +loose and flabby. The gall bladder was distended with a dark, +muddy-looking bile. The mesentery, stomach and intestines were +excessively thin and transparent. There was no fat in the omentum." + +In cases of complete abstinence, the phenomena--to several of which +attention has already been called--are very striking. The respiration +becomes slow until just before death, when, as Chossat observes, there +is often a quickening of the respiratory movements. The exhaled breath +has a peculiarly sickening and fetid odor. The pulse loses in force and +frequency. + +The blood becomes reduced in quantity to such an extent sometimes that, +as observed by Collard and Martigny,[25] incisions may be made in +various parts of the bodies of animals suffering from inanition without +there being any hæmorrhage. + +The animal temperature falls, according to Chossat, 8° per day until the +day of death, when it reaches 14°; and at the moment life departs, the +loss suddenly becomes 30°. + +All the secretions are diminished in quantity. This is especially shown +as regards the saliva and urine. Even open sores cease to secrete pus. + +At first there is pain, the seat of which is referred to the stomach, +and which pain in the beginning, being simply a feeling of emptiness, +rapidly assumes a gnawing or tearing character. But before long this +fades away and it does not appear that in the middle and final stages of +inanition there is any suffering which can be called a pain, or which +can be fixed in any definite part of the body. + +The mental faculties are profoundly affected. A high state of delirium +supervenes, and there are often hallucinations. These sometimes relate +to food, which appears to the sufferer to be spread out before him in +the most seducing manner. All nobility of character disappears, and +selfishness and brutality govern. Finally the delirium becomes low and +muttering, the bodily weakness becomes excessive, walking, or even +standing, is impossible, the sufferer loses all sensation, and death +ensues. + +But probably no part of the subject is of more interest than that which +relates to the association of inanition with hysteria. As is well known +by physicians, the existence of this latter condition enables many to +bear partial, or even complete deprivation of food longer and with less +apparent suffering than would be possible with individuals in good +health. + +That Miss Fancher is subject to hysteria is very evident from a +consideration of the clinical history of her case, and hence it is to +be expected that she can endure long fasts without much inconvenience. +It is just possible that she might, by remaining quietly in bed in a +state of partial or complete trance--a hysterical condition in which the +waste of the tissues is greatly reduced--exist for a month without +either food or drink, and therefore the proposition which I made to her +friends contains no exacting condition. But when it is gravely said that +"for a period of nearly fourteen years she has lived absolutely without +food or nourishment of any kind," we are forced to declare, in the +interest of science, that the statement is necessarily absolutely devoid +of truth. Subsequent statements, as we have seen, modify this fourteen +years' claim very materially, and really leave it in doubt whether there +was any abstinence at all. + +But I think it may safely be believed that Miss Fancher has indulged in +frequent long fasts. Hysteria is very frequently marked, not only by the +ability to endure lengthened periods of abstinence, but by the abolition +of all desire for food, to such an extent that the sight or even idea of +aliment of any kind excites loathing and disgust. M. Lasègue,[26] in a +very interesting memoir, has discussed this part of the subject with +great precision, and has shown that though such patients take very +little food they do take some, and that eventually they experience all +the symptoms of inanition. He has never seen death result from the +abstinence, for as soon as the condition becomes decidedly unpleasant +the patient resumes gradually her normal alimentation. + +In a case recently under my care, a young lady twenty-three years of +age became hysterical in consequence of domestic troubles, and losing +all desire for food, took nothing daily but a single cup of chocolate. +She persevered in this restricted diet for twenty-nine days, although +during the last eight or ten she gave decided evidences of starvation. +She became emaciated, her temperature fell, especially in the +extremities, her breath was offensive, her menstruation ceased, and +there was such a marked sense of discomfort that she began to crave +food, not, as she said, because her appetite had returned, but because +she was afraid she would die. Still she resisted till, on the thirtieth +day, she begged for a little beef tea, and from that moment her appetite +returned to her, and by the end of another week, she was eating her +ordinary quantity and variety of food. + +Now, in this case, though the amount of nutriment taken daily was small, +it was of such a character as to be well able to sustain life. The half +pint of chocolate contained milk and sugar, besides the highly +nutritious chocolate, with its carbonaceous and nitrogenous matters, and +yet a month was the extreme limit of endurance. + +That a state of inanition exists in Miss Fancher is not to be doubted. +The extreme emaciation, the reduced bodily temperature, the contracted +stomach and intestines, the great bodily weakness, all show that she is +not sufficiently nourished. In her case there is apparently not only an +absence of appetite but a positive disgust for food; and another symptom +often present in inanition--vomiting when nutriment is taken into the +stomach--appears also to be a prominent feature. It is probable that +there is likewise a notable diminution in the amount of urine excreted, +as this is a common accompaniment of hysterical manifestations such as +hers. In some instances the function appears to be almost entirely +arrested, as was the fact in a case described by M. Charcot,[27] and in +two which have come under my own observation. + +There is nothing remarkable in the admitted fact that Miss Fancher eats +very little. We have seen how existence can be kept up on greatly +reduced quantities of food, and under circumstances such as those +governing her case, for periods which would be impossible in healthy +persons. No one yet under any conditions, whether of hysteria or trance +or assumed miraculous interference, has, to the satisfaction of +competent and disinterested investigators, lived even two months without +the ingestion of any food whatever. As to going nearly fourteen years in +a state of abstinence--a statement in her behalf which many persons +believe to be true--I can only say that all the teachings of science and +of experience are against the claim. No one who had the most superficial +idea of what knowledge is and how facts can be proven, would for a +moment accept such a preposterous story, no matter by whom asserted. + +The whole subject is one which is to be examined into and determined +like any other matter, and yet, when a proposition is made to +investigate by skilled observers the remarkable claim put forward, it is +met with abuse and misrepresentation, as if these people thought that +all they had to do was to make an assertion of a phenomenon which, +according to what we know of nature, is absurd and impossible, to have +it at once accepted by those who know, by painful experience, how +doubtful all things are till they are proven, and how difficult it is +to get satisfactory evidence of the most simple event in physiology or +pathology. No one doubts the abstract possibility of a human being +living without food, for, bearing in mind the discoveries that are +constantly being made, nothing can be regarded as absolutely impossible +outside the domain of mathematics. Two and two cannot make six, neither +can two distinct bodies occupy the same space at the same time, nor the +square of the hypothenuse be otherwise than equal to the sum of the +squares of the other two sides of a right-angled triangle. + +Our knowledge of natural science is, however, founded on experience. +Looking at a bear, for instance, for the first time, and with no +knowledge of its habits and capacities we would not be apt to believe +that the animal could go into retirement at the beginning of winter and +remain till spring in a condition of semi-existence and without food. +But experience teaches us that the bear when it begins to hibernate is +fat; that during hibernation it is in a perfectly quiescent state; that +when it emerges into active life again it is emaciated, and that during +the whole period of retirement it has taken nothing into its stomach. We +then know by observing that all bears go through the same process, that +it is a law of their organism to do so, and that their reduced +functional actions are maintained by the consumption of the fat with +which in the beginning their bodies were loaded. Even here, then, there +is no exception to the law that there is no force without the +decomposition of matter. Now, it is just possible that by some hitherto +unknown or unrecognized condition of the system a man or woman may +obtain the force necessary to carry on life for fourteen years without +getting it through food taken into the stomach. But a possibility and a +fact are two very different things, and the admitted possibility has not +yet been shown to be a fact. It is easier--to use the argument of +Hume--for the mind to accept the view that there is deception or error +somewhere, than to believe that a woman, contrary to all human +experience, should live fourteen years without food. Turtles, we know, +will live for months while entirely deprived of nutriment. Many others +of the cold-blooded animals will do the same thing. It is their nature +to do so, and we have experience of the fact, but it is not the nature +of women, so far as we know, and therefore we refuse to accept as true +the stories which are told of their powers in this direction. And our +knowledge is based not only on our daily experience of the wants of +their systems and the examples of starvation which have come to our +knowledge, but also upon the fact that in the many cases of alleged long +abstinence from food that have been investigated, error or deception has +been discovered. Therefore, when it is said that Miss Fancher lives +without food, and has so done for fourteen years, we simply say, "give +us the proofs." Of course the proofs are not given. + +How far Miss Fancher is responsible for the assertions that have been +made in regard to her long-continued abstinence I do not know. A +tendency to deception is a notable phenomenon of hysteria, and if she +has led those about her to accept the view that she has existed without +food for years, the circumstance would be in no way remarkable. Other +hysterical women have deceived in the same or in still more astonishing +ways. Or it may be that the amount of food taken being very small, +carelessness or want of exactness has led to the expression that she +lived upon "absolutely nothing," just as we hear the words used every +day by those who have little or no appetite, but who nevertheless do eat +something. Again, a love for the marvellous is so deeply rooted in the +average human mind that it willingly, and to a certain extent +unconsciously, adds to any statement of a remarkable circumstance, till +the latter grows, whilst being repeated, to fabulous dimensions. + +But however this may be, whatever the explanation, it is quite certain +that if Miss Fancher has lived fourteen years without food, or even +fourteen months, or weeks, she is a unique psychological or pathological +individual, whose case is worthy of all the consideration which can be +given to it, not by superstitious or credulous or ignorant persons, but +by those who, trained in the proper methods of scientific research, +would know how to get the whole truth of her case, and nothing but the +truth. It is to be regretted, therefore, that the proposition contained +in the annexed letter (Appendix) was not accepted, and that we are +forced to place Miss Fancher's case among the others which have proved +to be fallacious, till such time as it may suit her and her friends to +allow of such an examination. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] Recherches expérimentales sur l'inanition. Paris, 1843, p. 20. + +[16] Universal Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, p. 250. + +[17] Abridged Philosophical Transaction, Vol. III, p. 111. + +[18] Traité de médecine légale et d'hygiène publique. Paris, 1813. t. +II, p. 285. + +[19] Medical Gazette, Vol. XVII, p. 389. + +[20] Des maladies mentales. Paris, 1838, p. 203. + +[21] Du refus de manger chez les aliénés. Thèse de Paris 1864, p. + +[22] Nouveau dictionnaire de médecine et de chirurgie pratiques. Paris, +1874. t. XVIII., Art. Inanition, p. 503. + +[23] New York Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. II, p. 31. + +[24] Quoted from Trans. of the Albany Institute by Dr. Lee in Copland's +Dictionary of Medicine. Vol. I, p. 31. + +[25] Recherches expérimentales sur les effets de l'abstinence. _Journal +de Physiologie_ de Magendie, t. VIII, p. 150. + +[26] De l'anorexie hystérique. _Archives générales de médecine_, April +1875. + +[27] Leçons sur les maladies du système nerveux, t. I., 2d edition. +Paris, 1876, p. 178. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +The following letter embraces the proposition made to Miss Fancher, to +which allusion is made in the text: + + TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:-- + + I have read the letter of Professor Henry M. Parkhurst, published in + a recent issue of the HERALD, relative to the "mind reading" or + clairvoyance of Miss Mollie Fancher, of Brooklyn, and it does not + satisfy me that the young lady in question possesses any such power. + It would have been very easy for her to have opened the envelope + without disturbing the seal and to have read the contents. Now, + there has been a great deal of talk about Miss Fancher's case. I + have received just fifty-seven letters asking me to investigate it, + and the press has reiterated the invitation over and over again. I + have stated very explicitly that I regard the whole matter as a + humbug of the most decided kind, but I have never asserted the + impossibility of the young lady's alleged performances. On the + contrary, I hold nothing to be absolutely impossible outside the + domain of mathematics. But possibilities and realities are very + different things, and I certainly will not accept as true any such + phenomena as those asserted to have been associated with Miss + Fancher unless they are proven. + + I have already declared my readiness to investigate Miss Fancher, + and, a few days since, in the _Sun_, proposed a test which will be + perfectly satisfactory to me and many others who, at present, are in + accordance with me in my estimation of this young lady. Permit me + now to state it definitely, specifically, and once for all. I will + place a certified check for a sum of money exceeding $1,000 inside + of a single paper envelope. I will lay the package on a table in the + room in which she is. If she chooses she may take it in her hands + and place it in contact with any part of her body. I will allow her + half an hour to describe the check. If she reads it--number, date, + on whom drawn, amount, signature, etc.--accurately, she may have the + check as her own property, or I will give the amount expressed in + the check, in her name to any charitable institution she may + designate, or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with her + wishes. + + The only conditions I exact are these:-- + + _First_--That the experiment be conducted in my presence and in that + of two other physicians, members of the New York Neurological + Society, whom I will bring with me as witness simply, and who will + not interfere in any way with the test. + + _Second_--That the envelope shall at no time pass out of our sight. + + If Miss Fancher succeeds in this test I will admit that heretofore + in my denunciations of such performances as hers I have been in + error, and that there is a force in nature which ought to be + investigated. I will pay the money not only without chagrin, but + with great satisfaction, and will consider that I have received full + value. + + If she fails, as I am quite sure she will, I shall not hesitate to + continue to denounce her as an imposition in this as well as in her + assumed abstinence from food. + + A word further in regard to this last matter. I know something about + "fasting girls" and their frauds, not excepting the sad case of poor + little Sarah Jacob. But I will make this additional proposition:--If + Miss Fancher will allow herself to be watched, day and night, for + one month, by relays of members of the New York Neurological + Society, I will give her $1,000 if at the end of that month she has + not in the meantime taken food voluntarily or as a forced measure to + save her from dying of starvation, the danger of this last + contingency to be judged of by her family physician, Dr. Speir. + These offers to remain open for acceptance till twelve o'clock M., + December 31st. If not taken up by that time, let us hear no more in + support of Miss Fancher's mind reading or clairvoyance, or living + for a dozen or more years without food. + + WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, M.D. + + _43 West Fifty-Fourth Street, New York, Dec. 12th, 1878._ + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Hyphenation and punctuation have been standardised. Variant + spellings have been retained. Minor typographical errors have been + corrected without note, whilst significant amendments have been + listed below: + + p. 3, 'Nicholas' amended to _Nicolas_ + p. 5, 'Aquaintoin' amended to _Aquitaine_ + p. 5, 'predominent' amended to _predominant_ + p. 6, 'Geraldus Bucoldianus' amended to _Gerardus Bucoldianus_ + p. 7, 'fœces' amended to _fæces_ + p. 7, 'developes' amended to _develops_ + p. 7, fn. 4, 'Παςατηςήσεων' amended to _Παρατηρήσεων_ + p. 7, fn. 4, added _rararum_: 'medicarum, _rararum_, novarum' + p. 7, fn. 4, 'monstrasarum' amended to _monstrosarum_ + p. 8, '1567' amended to _1597_ + p. 9, fn. 7, 'chirurgicæ' amended to _chirurgicarum_ + p. 15, 'Anne Jones' amended to _Ann Jones_ + p. 16, 'fœcal' amended to _fæcal_ + p. 26, 'fœces' amended to _fæces_ + p. 31, 'Cardinal Carrafa' amended to _Cardinal Carafa_ + p. 40, 'Farenheit' amended to _Fahrenheit_ + p. 41, fn. 13, 'Rapport Médicale' amended to _Rapport Médical_ + p. 41, fn. 13, added _de_: 'médecine _de_ Belgique' + p. 44, 'ecstacy' amended to _ecstasy_ + p. 44, added _of_: 'direction _of_ M. le Curé' + p. 46, 'fecal' amended to _fæcal_ + p. 47, 'stigmatisations' amended to _stigmatizations_ + p. 48, 'fortell' amended to _foretell_ + p. 48, 'marvelous' amended to _marvellous_ + p. 58, 'is' amended to _it_: 'that _it_ is stated' + p. 58, 'Dr. Spier' amended to _Dr. Speir_ + p. 60, 'assimulated' amended to _assimilated_ + p. 60, 'alchohol' amended to _alcohol_ + p. 62, 'Bergemolletta' amended to _Bergemoletto_ + p. 62, 'breath' amended to _breadth_ + p. 62, 'Belguim' amended to _Belgium_ + p. 63, fn. 18, 'médicine' amended to _médecine_ + p. 64, 'palid' amended to _pallid_ + p. 64, fn. 22, 'Nouvreau' amended to _Nouveau_ + p. 64, fn. 22, 'médicine' amended to _médecine_ + p. 67, 'messentery' amended to _mesentery_ + p. 67, 'their' amended to _there_ + p. 67, 'hemorrhage' amended to _hæmorrhage_ + p. 68, 'Chosset' amended to _Chossat_ + p. 69, fn. 26, 'médicine' amended to _médecine_ + p. 71, 'her's' amended to _hers_ + p. 71, 'injestion' amended to _ingestion_ + p. 76, 'Sarah Jacobs' amended to _Sarah Jacob_ + p. 76, 'Dr. Spier' amended to _Dr. Speir_ + + The page reference in fn. 21 (p. 64) was omitted in the original text. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Fasting Girls, by William Alexander Hammond + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FASTING GIRLS *** + +***** This file should be named 25601-0.txt or 25601-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/0/25601/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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