FASTING FEATS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 46, 18 November 1907, Page 8

FASTING FEATS.

• !&KE THEY POSSIBLE B VIEWS OF AN AUCKLAND DOCTOR. <BT TEXEGBAFII—SrECIAIi COBREBFONDENT.) ' " - , Auckland, Novembor 16. Tho fasting cure is still attracting a good "deal of attention hero. The latest contribution to the literature' of the subject is a letter from Dr. Bnk'ewell, whoso- views I sent'.you-recently in briefer form. In his latest letter Dr. Bakewell says:—That human fceings can remain entirely without food for iporiods of 24, 26, 45, and even 47 days, and iromain in good condition, able to go about ■their ordinary duties, is a statement that involves a number of miracles quite as great 'as that of restoring a dead person to life. Jl do not say it is impossible that snch statements are true, but I do say that no rational being who understands anything of phy- «- i,S'°l°gy or the laws of life would give a (moment's credence to them on the nnsnp--1 statements of any newspaper or of any [.person, however respectable.. For it must bo (roniembered tliat overy movement of any muscle, howover slight, such, for instance, ■as I am making by writing this letter, is 'impossible without a cortain expenditure of and .nervous tissue Every thought, lowever trivial, involves'some change in the gray matter of tho brain • every beat of the ieart, every breath wo draw, must bo accompanied by some waste of tissue and some icxhaustion of the nutritive qualities of the ifclood. Now, in the normal state, all this .change and waste is compensated for by food 'which is properly digested and assimilated. Tmco a day, at least, and, for tho most part of us, three times a day, we feel that 'hunger and thirst which instinctively urge us, to ■ supply the constant/ Waste of the tissuos by suitable • foods/ To supposo that we can voluntarily suspend this operation, for any but a very brief j>enod without serious danger to health, and, after;a time, varying according to tho constitution and previous health,of the experifancntor, without death occurring, is, as I have said, to contradict all previous experience. Wo know what starvation will do lor shipwrecked persons; how it drives them ,at longth to cannibalism in some cases, to , delirium, and then speedy death in others. (iWo see in disease, as in irisano persons, or ,in persons affected by som,e incurable obstacle to nutrition in the gullet or stomach, ? hat in spite of every effort to administer ood they die, every day decreasing. inotrength.and in weight and in the tempera/ture of their bodies. \ I have not had time jto look up tho literature of the* subject, but ?I have just glanced through an article on 'Inanition V-in a medical cyclopoedia, and, 1 : although I find mentioned almost every possible diseased condition in which the main cause of death has been want of food, including hysterical fasting, winch the author says is never fatal. I find noI thing is given \about' voluntary prolonged | j fasts. The cyclopaedia is in French, and • 'vtho author is a French'doctor, and I suppose the French aro'not snch fools as to Vy to starvo themselves unless they are '-absolute'; lunatics; but I • have seen myself' jf.-tno cases of death from starvation, . one' of which was • distinctly Tho .other was that of a .poor, half-witted girl who was starved by. ; l hcr mistress. Tho latter was tried.for murl;der, but>apquitted; by; an idiotic jury,' ;who, Invith difficulty, escaped from a furious'mbb.'' ' >'l have seen mahy,.cases of infants who had'. '. ■■■beon i supplied with starchy food that they , could neither digest nor assimilate, and, of I coune, have seen many cases of slow sta'rva- ■ ■ tion from cancer of tho stomach, etc. I j once had from a young man who was cast |. ashore at Durvillo Island, and lay there for n eight days before he was'rescued 'by the 'erow of a' man-'o"-war's boat, an account of f his sensations. I cannot lay my hands on If tho notes I took at the time, but I re- |, member that he. told me ho felt'no'.hunger f.atter the first 24 hours, that he had plenty '. I-of fresh water to drink, and that ho tried pjsomo berries he found the first day, but they {[disagreed with him." When he was picked [■up he was so weak as to be unable to move, |and he was taken- on board the mah-o'-war, : Uhere the doctor fed him with spoonfuls }<of broth, at first only overy quarterof an hour. '; rE\porimonts made with animals, such as fe-dogs, guinea-pigs, show that there kis a daily loss of weight and of temperature, rwhether the fast be complete or water be ' . allowed. It is curious to note that after tno i first twenty-four hours the animals exp'eri- < kmonted on'take very littlo water, sometimes ' |*a whole day none at all. The accounts of I thoso experiments on dogs are .rather more Uhan English pcoplo can stand.' I will not [..translate the description of them. The (French writer qualifies tho experiments as ; '„•" cruel,"' but neither " ; the experience .of ' "doctors among patients, who have been rolun- ' tanly or involuntarijy deprived of all food, ' the: experiments made on animals, affords ' I ono single instance of a person undergoing a' i f t prolonged fast without suffering from weak- ■' jjrncss, emaciated delirium, and at 'length : £<fcath.- When tho "Wanganui Chroniclo" : £ can show me a, locomotive engine which, '■ i starting with a boiler full of hot water and , jjva good fire underneath, can run without any i pfurther supply of coal or water' to Welling- i ffton and back continuously for twenty-four Sdays, then I win make a further investiga- ! fcrtion of Mr.'B. B. -Clark's, Mr. Mowatt's, "a ' .fqvell-known lady of Wanganui," and Mr. < plenry Dobson's cases. It is exceedingly < (difficult to havo theso "cases thoroughly ( I tested. You must get at least a dozen in- ! {telhgent and quick-sighted men, half of ; whom ought to bo qualified medical men, J who must distribute themselves into watches 1 , of not Jess than two, and who would ongagc i never to loso sight of the subject of experiment, for oven ono minute, day or night. ( They must examine every parcol, or even ' .•book ho receives. They mu ß t see that noth- ! : ug is smuggled in with his clothes. ■ Abovo . all, thoy must beware of that period of tho night from two to four, when everybody either is asleep 6r wants to bo, and then you • have to tako care that your subject does not dio, for if ho does you may bo found guilty ■»£ manslaughter. |