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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: ISO-8859-1 + +*** 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.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h2>BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</h2> + +<div class="bk1"><p class="p7">CEREBRAL HYPERÆMIA: <span class="smcap">the Result of Mental Strain +or Emotional Disturbances</span>. 16mo, cloth ... $1 00</p> + +<p><small>"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."—<i>N. Y. Tribune.</i></small></p> + +<p><small>"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."—<i>Boston Traveller.</i></small></p> + +<p class="td2">G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, <span class="smcap">Publishers</span>, NEW YORK.</p></div> + +<hr /> + +<h1>FASTING GIRLS;<br /> +<small>THEIR PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY</small></h1> + +<p class="p2"><small>BY</small></p> + +<h2>WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, M.D.</h2> + +<p class="center"><small>PROFESSOR OF DISEASES OF THE MIND AND NERVOUS SYSTEM IN THE<br /> +MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF<br /> +NEW YORK, AND IN THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT. ETC.</small></p> + +<p class="p3">"There is no new thing under the Sun."<br /> +—<i>Eccl.</i> I, 9.</p> + +<p class="p4">"Nil spernat auris, nec tamen credat statim."<br /> +—<span class="smcap">Phædrus</span>.</p> + +<p class="p5">NEW YORK<br /> +<big>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</big><br /> +182 FIFTH AVENUE<br /> +1879</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"><small><span class="smcap">Copyright by</span><br /> +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS.<br /> +1879.</small></p> + +<div class="trn"><p><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> +Hyphenation and punctuation have been standardised. +Variant spellings have been retained. +Greek text appears with a mouse-hover transliteration, <i>e.g.</i>, <span title="Biblos">Βιβλος</span>. +</p></div> + +<hr /> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>see</i> <a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>) 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="td2"><span class="smcap">William A. Hammond.</span></p> + +<p class="p7"><span class="smcap">43 West 54th Street,<br /> +March</span> <i>1st, 1879</i>.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td class="td2" colspan="3"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">I</td><td class="td1">Abstinence in the Middle Ages</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">II</td><td class="td1">Abstinence in Modern Times</td><td class="td2"><a href="#II">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">III</td><td class="td1">Abstinence from Food, with Stigmatization</td><td class="td2"><a href="#III">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">IV</td><td class="td1">The Brooklyn Case</td><td class="td2"><a href="#IV">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="td2">V</td><td class="td1">The Physiology and Pathology of Inanition</td><td class="td2"><a href="#V">59</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h1>FASTING GIRLS.</h1> + +<h2>I.</h2> + +<h3>ABSTINENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The class of deceptions occasionally induced by hysteria,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +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<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +forty days seven times every year, and during these periods ate +nothing at all except on Sundays and Thursdays.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Still the doubters continued, and the inhabitants of Underwold, +where Nicolas lived, appear to have been at first very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> La Mystique Divine, Naturelle et Diabolique. Paris, 1861. t. I., p. +194, <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Op. cit. t. IV., p. 446.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2> + +<h3>ABSTINENCE IN MODERN TIMES.</h3> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +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?"</p> + +<p>Schenckius<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> 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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"But," says Dr. Hakewel,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> "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, <i>anno</i> 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:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"Meursæ hæc quam cernis decies ter, sexque peregit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Annos, bis septem prorsus non viscitur annis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nec potat, sic sola sedet, sic pallida vitam<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ducit, et exigui se oblectat floribus horti."<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>Thus rendered in the English copy:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"This maid of Meurs thirty and six years spent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fourteen of which she took no nourishment;<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +<span class="i0">Thus pale and wan she sits sad and alone,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A garden's all she loves to look upon."<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>Franciscus Citesius,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and by Wanley. <i>Anno Dom.</i>, 1595, a +maid of about thirteen years was brought out of the dukedom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +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.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>In a clinical lecture delivered at St. George's Hospital,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> Dr. +John W. Ogle calls attention to the simulation of fasting as a +manifestation of hysteria, and relates the following amusing +case:</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> interesting work.</p> + +<p>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."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"Of the veracity of the assertion in respect of <i>the one week</i>," +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the alleged fasting, Sarah Jacob continued +to improve in health.</p> + +<p>And now comes an astounding feature of this most remarkable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">"A STRANGE CASE.</p> + +<p>"To the Editor of the <i>Welshman</i>.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I may add, that Lletherneuadd is a farm-house about a +mile from New Inn, in this parish.</p> + +<div class="bk2"> +<p class="center">"Yours faithfully,<br /></p> +<p class="td2">"<span class="smcap">The Vicar of Llanfihangel-ar-Arth</span>."</p></div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +years old, who had been Sarah's constant companion and bed-fellow.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>said</i> that their statements were duly verified on oath before a +magistrate:—</p> + +<p>Watcher No. 1 said: I, Evan Edward Smith, watched Sarah +Jacob for two consecutive nights, (<i>i. e.</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Watcher No. 6. Herbert Jones, watched only one day, and +spoke in a similar manner, and was dismissed on account of +his credulity.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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 <i>Times</i>, giving an account of his visit, Dr. +Fowler says:—</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>globus hystericus</i>."</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +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 <i>be prepared against any serious symptoms of exhaustion, supervening +on the strict enforcement of the watching, and to act according +to his judgment</i>. 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +and bladder is entirely suspended, special attention must be +directed to these organs.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="smcapl">P.M.</span>, the room was cleared of people and +the watching began.</p> + +<p>In the first place it was ascertained that the girl had repeated +evacuations of urine, and once, at least, of fæces.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"At 10 <span class="smcapl">P.M.</span>," 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."</p> + +<p>Thursday, December 16, 3 <span class="smcapl">A.M.</span>—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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + +<p>At 11 <span class="smcapl">A.M.</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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. <i>Both parents were then told the girl was dying.</i>"</p> + +<p>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, <span class="smcapl">P.M.</span>, 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!</p> + +<p>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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +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, +"<i>Quandoquidem populus decipi vult, decipiatur</i>."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "De puella quæ sine cibo et potu vitam transigit." Parisiis Ann. +MDXLII.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "<span title="Paratêrêseôn">Παρατηρήσεων</span> sive observationum medicarum, rararum, novarum, admirabilium, +et monstrosarum. Volumen, tomis septem de toto homine institutum." +Lugduni 1606, p. 306.</p> +<p>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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "Wonders of the Little World." London, 1806, p. 375.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Opuscula Medica. Parisiis, 1639, pp. 64, 65, 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Observationum et curationum chirurgicarum, centuria secunda. Genevæ, +1611, p. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Wonderful Characters: By Henry Wilson and James Caulfield. London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> British Medical Journal, July 16, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> A complete History of the Welsh Fasting Girl (Sarah Jacob,) with +Comments thereon, and Observations on Death from Starvation. London, +1871.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2> + +<h3>ABSTINENCE FROM FOOD WITH STIGMATIZATION.</h3> + +<p>One hundred and fifty-three persons have at one time or +another, according to Dr. Imbert-Gourbeyre,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"Quel pays fut jamais si fertile en miracles?"<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Gloria Patri</i>, and made +the sign of the cross, and he instantly took flight and disappeared.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +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 <i>Gloria Patri</i> three times. Then he said to +her, "Have I fled as the demon did? No. Therefore reassure +yourself. It is really I."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After this incident Palma continued the performances—<i>actions +de grace</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +previously he had been so unfortunate as to lose by death his +eldest child:</p> + +<p>"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.'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, sir,' she said, 'I will pray for him, and when I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +sure of his deliverance, I will send you word by Father de +Pace.'</p> + +<p>"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:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p> + +<p>"'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!</p> + +<p>"'Thus sir, I have done what I could for your consolation.</p> + +<div class="bk2"><p class="center">"'I have the honor to be, etc.</p> +<p class="td2">"'Sister Marie Becaud.'</p></div></div> + +<p>"This letter was post marked at Oria, November 2d."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A phase in Palma's spiritual pathology has been alluded to +cursorily, but has not yet been considered with the fulness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On one occasion while Palma was in ecstasy, Antonietta,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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°."</p> + +<p>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,</p> + +<p>1st. That she had probably at a former period contracted +syphilis.</p> + +<p>2d. That she was strongly hysterical.</p> + +<p>3d. That she was the subject of purpura hæmorrhagica.</p> + +<p>4th. That she was a most unmitigated humbug and liar.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +the works of the believers in the miraculous production of the +phenomena manifested.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The stigmatization ensued very soon after these seizures. +On a Friday she bled from the left side of her chest. On the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"We observed her with more care than seemed to have been +hitherto given to her at similar periods. Some thought that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +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.'"</p> + +<p>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 <i>bruit de souffle</i>, which he had detected in the morning at the +apex of the heart and over the carotids. The handle of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The conclusions arrived at by M. Warlomont were, that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +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.'"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Les Stigmatisées; Palma d'Oria, etc. 2d Edition, Paris, 1873, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Op. cit., t. ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> 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. +</p><p> +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.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE BROOKLYN CASE.</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Finally, in the <i>New York Herald</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Herald</i> +the essential points relative to her clinical history and abstinence +from food:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>Herald</i> 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.'"</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Dr. Speir was found in his comfortable little office, and the +errand of the writer made known:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"'Is it true, Doctor, that a patient of yours has lived for fourteen +years without taking food?'</p> + +<p>"'If you refer to Miss Fancher, yes. She became my patient +in 1864. Her case is a most remarkable one.'</p> + +<p>"'But has she eaten nothing during all these years?'</p> + +<p>"'I can safely say she has not.'</p> + +<p>"'Are the family also willing to vouch for the truth of this +extraordinary statement?'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'Did you ever,' asked the reporter, 'make an experiment +to satisfy your professional accuracy in regard to her abstinence?'</p> + +<p>"'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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +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.'"</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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 <i>Herald</i> 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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +looked forward with buoyant spirits to the bright life so soon +to dawn upon them.</p> + +<p>"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.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>In the <i>Sun</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>"'Is it true that she has not partaken of food in all these +thirteen years?'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'You have considered the case of such extraordinary importance +as to take many physicians to see it?'</p> + +<p>"'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.'"</p> + +<p>And this with Dr. Ormiston:</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>In order that no injustice may be done to these gentlemen, +I quote the following from the <i>Sun</i> of November 26th:</p> + +<p>"Dr. R. Fleet Speir, one of Miss Fancher's physicians, +smiled last evening when the <i>Sun</i> 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.'</p> + +<p>"'But do you think Miss Fancher deceives or endeavors +to?'</p> + +<p>"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,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +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.'</p> + +<p>"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.'"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>did</i> breathe, her heart <i>did</i> beat, she required <i>some</i> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Again, it is said that the food taken by Miss Fancher was at +once rejected. That it was <i>all</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> is so like it in many +respects, that the two might have been formed after a common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +model, as in fact they were, just as two or more cases of pneumonia +follow a well defined type.</p> + +<p>"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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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 "<i>seemed</i>" to go four years +without food or drink.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"'Yes, she became my patient in 1864. Her case is a most +remarkable one.'</p> + +<p>"'But has she eaten nothing during all these years?'</p> + +<p>"'I can safely say she has not.'"</p> + +<p>This in the <i>Herald</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Sun</i>:</p> + +<p>"'Is it true that she has not partaken of food in all these +thirteen years?'</p> + +<p>"'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.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>In which opinion all physiologists will join.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Curiosities of Medical Experience. London, 1837, Vol. I., page 269, +article, <i>Abstinence</i>.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2> + +<h3>THE PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF INANITION.</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Chossat<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> +<p>A case is mentioned by Foderé<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>In another case reported by Dr. Straus,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +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<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> 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<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>M. Lépine<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> 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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Even though there be a total deprivation of what may strictly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +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,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>In a case reported by Dr. McNaughton<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> a longer resistance +was maintained.</p> + +<p>"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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The blood becomes reduced in quantity to such an extent +sometimes that, as observed by Collard and Martigny,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> incisions +may be made in various parts of the bodies of animals suffering +from inanition without there being any hæmorrhage.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> +<p>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°.</p> + +<p>All the secretions are diminished in quantity. This is especially +shown as regards the saliva and urine. Even open sores +cease to secrete pus.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That Miss Fancher is subject to hysteria is very evident from +a consideration of the clinical history of her case, and hence it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>In a case recently under my care, a young lady twenty-three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +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,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> and in two which have come under +my own observation.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 (<a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix</a>) 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Recherches expérimentales sur l'inanition. Paris, 1843, p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Universal Magazine, Vol. XXXVI, p. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Abridged Philosophical Transaction, Vol. III, p. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Traité de médecine légale et d'hygiène publique. Paris, 1813. t. II, p. 285.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Medical Gazette, Vol. XVII, p. 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Des maladies mentales. Paris, 1838, p. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Du refus de manger chez les aliénés. Thèse de Paris 1864, p.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Nouveau dictionnaire de médecine et de chirurgie pratiques. Paris, +1874. t. XVIII., Art. Inanition, p. 503.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> New York Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. II, p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Quoted from Trans. of the Albany Institute by Dr. Lee in Copland's +Dictionary of Medicine. Vol. I, p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Recherches expérimentales sur les effets de l'abstinence. <i>Journal de +Physiologie</i> de Magendie, t. VIII, p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> De l'anorexie hystérique. <i>Archives générales de médecine</i>, April 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Leçons sur les maladies du système nerveux, t. I., 2d edition. Paris, +1876, p. 178.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2> + +<p>The following letter embraces the proposition made to Miss +Fancher, to which allusion is made in the text:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">To The Editor of the Herald</span>:—</p> + +<p>I have read the letter of Professor Henry M. Parkhurst, published in a +recent issue of the <span class="smcap">Herald</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>I have already declared my readiness to investigate Miss Fancher, and, a +few days since, in the <i>Sun</i>, 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.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>The only conditions I exact are these:—</p> + +<p><i>First</i>—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.</p> + +<p><i>Second</i>—That the envelope shall at no time pass out of our sight.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="td2">WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, M.D.</p> + +<p><i>43 West Fifty-Fourth Street, New York, Dec. 12th, 1878.</i></p></div> + +<div class="trn"><p><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note, whilst +significant amendments have been listed below:</p> + +<div class="bk3"><p>p. <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, 'Nicholas' amended to <i>Nicolas</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, 'Aquaintoin' amended to <i>Aquitaine</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, 'predominent' amended to <i>predominant</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, 'Geraldus Bucoldianus' amended to <i>Gerardus Bucoldianus</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, 'fœces' amended to <i>fæces</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, 'developes' amended to <i>develops</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_4_4">4</a>, '<span title="Pasatêsêseôn">Παςατηςήσεων</span>' amended to <i><span title="Paratêrêseôn">Παρατηρήσεων</span></i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_4_4">4</a>, added <i>rararum</i>: 'medicarum, <i>rararum</i>, novarum'</p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_4_4">4</a>, 'monstrasarum' amended to <i>monstrosarum</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, '1567' amended to <i>1597</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_7_7">7</a>, 'chirurgicæ' amended to <i>chirurgicarum</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, 'Anne Jones' amended to <i>Ann Jones</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, 'fœcal' amended to <i>fæcal</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, 'fœces' amended to <i>fæces</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, 'Cardinal Carrafa' amended to <i>Cardinal Carafa</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, 'Farenheit' amended to <i>Fahrenheit</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_13_13">13</a>, 'Rapport Médicale' amended to <i>Rapport Médical</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_13_13">13</a>, added <i>de</i>: 'médecine <i>de</i> Belgique'</p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, 'ecstacy' amended to <i>ecstasy</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, added <i>of</i>: 'direction <i>of</i> M. le Curé'</p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, 'fecal' amended to <i>fæcal</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, 'stigmatisations' amended to <i>stigmatizations</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, 'fortell' amended to <i>foretell</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, 'marvelous' amended to <i>marvellous</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, 'is' amended to <i>it</i>: 'that <i>it</i> is stated'</p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, 'Dr. Spier' amended to <i>Dr. Speir</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, 'assimulated' amended to <i>assimilated</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, 'alchohol' amended to <i>alcohol</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, 'Bergemolletta' amended to <i>Bergemoletto</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, 'breath' amended to <i>breadth</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, 'Belguim' amended to <i>Belgium</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_18_18">18</a>, 'médicine' amended to <i>médecine</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, 'palid' amended to <i>pallid</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_22_22">22</a>, 'Nouvreau' amended to <i>Nouveau</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_22_22">22</a>, 'médicine' amended to <i>médecine</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, 'messentery' amended to <i>mesentery</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, 'their' amended to <i>there</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, 'hemorrhage' amended to <i>hæmorrhage</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, 'Chosset' amended to <i>Chossat</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, fn. <a href="#Footnote_26_26">26</a>, 'médicine' amended to <i>médecine</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, 'her's' amended to <i>hers</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, 'injestion' amended to <i>ingestion</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, 'Sarah Jacobs' amended to <i>Sarah Jacob</i></p> + +<p>p. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, 'Dr. Spier' amended to <i>Dr. Speir</i></p></div> + +<p>The page reference in fn. <a href="#Footnote_21_21">21</a> (p. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>) was omitted in the original text.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +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-h.htm or 25601-h.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.) + + 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