HUNGER-STRIKERS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5476, 18 September 1929, Page 2

HUNGER-STRIKERS.

RECENT CASE IN INDIA.

TWO MONTHS OF FASTING.

An Indian hunger-striker has just died in a prison after nearly two months of fasting. It is not mentioned whether efforts were made to feed him forcibly, but in any case it is well known that a period such as this is by no means impossible. In fact, many persons arc known to have gone without any food whatsoever for periods of from fifty to sixty days without subsequent harm. Expert investigations show that life cannot be sustained for any length of time without water. Food, however, seems to be a minor consideration. Dogs have gone without food for 117 days. In one authenticated case the animal lost sixty-three per cent, of its weight in that time. Professional fasters, doing so for scientific purposes, commonly remain without food for as long as thirty ‘days at a stretch. In the case of one individual, under the strict supervision of the Carnegie Institute, some thirty pounds in weight were lost in thirty-one days. In the case of mining and other accidents, there have been numerous instances of people doing without food, and with only very little water, for periods ranging from 25 to 35 days. It is a well-known fact that sometimes insane persons get along quite comfortably for as long as two months on nothing but water. Those who have made numerous tests in fasting for long periods say that the more acute sensations of hunger disappear after the first four or five days. There is no uncomfortable feeling or any particular pain, but a gradually increasing lassitude. It is known from various tests that during a long fast complicated bodily changes occur, indicating a breaking down of the protein and fats in the body, showing that all the bodily reserves available are being called upon to the limit.