THE FASTING WOMAN.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 478, 7 June 1890, Page 6

THE FASTING WOMAN.

A PHENOMENAL CASE. (From Our Special Correspondent.) London, April 18. The vagaries of M. Succi, who is at present doing a “show’’fast of forty days at the Royal Aquarium, supported only by his inner consciousness and a few drops of some magic elixir (doubtless to be well advertised presently), do nob interest me much. Despite all the apparently elaborate precautions which are taken to prevent his getting sustenance of any sorb, I fancy the man is a fraud. Very different seems the case of the Frenchwoman, Z6lie Bouriou, which has been puzzling the Bourdeilles scientists lately. “ The history of this woman,” writes a Paris correspondent, “is very curious. She is a peasant, fortyfour years of age. She was born in 1846, her father boing a drunken carter, and her mother a nervous woman, who ultimately committed suicide, in consequence of her husband's ill-usage. Zclie Bouriou had nine brothers and sisters, some of whom are dead. None of them ever showed any sign of hysteria. At ten years of age Zt-lio fell intoa swoon laatinga quarter of an hour. From that time to tho ago of twenty-two she constantly fainted away when insido any building, but never when in the open air. These fainting fits were followed by long sleeps, sometimes lasting over forty-eight hours. Alter her marriage, at the age of twenty-two, she had no mare fainting fits. Her first child was born nine months and a half after her wedding, and her second five years later. Her married life was not happy, and Dr. Lafon, under whom she was placed at the Bourdeilles Hospital, then attended her for a nervous disease. After a violent scene with her husband, she lost her reason for a time, and developed a mania for making her gums bleed profusely by pricking them with a pin. This loss of blood relieved her considerably, and cleared her head. The mania for pricking hor gums has lasted ever since. ... In 1880 she was for several mdfiths unable to sleep. At tho same time she ate day and night, and could never satisfy her hunger. This lasted about three months, and at the expiration of that period Zclie Bouriou declares that one day, when her husband had gone to the Fair, she heard a voice warning her not to eat what would be presented to her. That evening she went up into her room, and learned that her husband bad brought a great number of lucifer matches from the Fair. Shortly after, her husband and mother-in-law sent her, by one of tho children, a Bowl of-ffiaizel porridge. In obedience to the.,, warning Nwiveehe ref used-to oat it, and she believes! it was poisoned with phosphorus. Sb@* buried it at the foot of a .tre&.j./ub a dog scraped it up and ate it, am l ' died a few minutes later. After this occurrence she went to bed, and for the first time for three months slept soundly till next morning. From that moment she has, she says, never felt the sensation of hunger. From time to time she ate a crust of bread, an egg, or a little salad, and was extremely happy to bo rid of tho incessant craving for food, which had male her miserable. Madame Bouriou went regularly to church, but was not a religious fanatic. Nevertheless, she soon heard the voice again, which ordered her bo go on a pilgrimage to all the churches in the neigh bourhood to pray for her father, mother, and children, but not for her husband, who did not deserve it. The voice added “ Fear nothing, I will protect you. You have been very unhappy ; bub you will one day be the happiest of women.” She started immediately and visited fifty-four churches, extending her peregrinations as far as Angouleme. Then, in obedience to the voice, she returned home, happy and contented, to resume her usual work,

Little by little her dislike to food increased to such an extent that she ate nothing but a few burnt almonds and peppermint lozenges. Sho drank toast and water and sucked fruits, such as lemons, acid apples, and green plums ; bub she vomited almost immediately the greater part of what she had thus consumed. Since that time, now nine years ago, Zelie Bouriou declares that she has taken absolutely no solid food; and tho truth of this assertion seems to be proved by the inquiry instituted by Dr. Lafon. Her husband and two children died several years ago, and Zelio Bouriou had been living alone until she entered the Bourdeilles Hospital. During all those years she never purchased a single pound of bread at the baker’s, and no person in the villago ever saw her eat. She was, in fact, on that account regarded as a witch. During this period Dr. Lafon proposed to her several times to come into the Hospital, but, until the 9th ult., she always refused. When at last she entered the establishment she was certainly very thin, but nob so emaciated as she is now. She weighed 9621 b on the 3rd April, 881 b; and now only 821 b. Dr. Lafon has done all he could to persuade her to eat; bub Zelie has obstinately refused to take anything but a little toast water, white wine and water, a few spoonfulls of thin broth, and a lemon. After swallowing these liquids in very small quantities she professes to be unable to retain them. The most careful watch has been kept, and Dr. E. Roland vouches for the accuracy of what is stated with regard to Zelie Bouriou’s fast in the Hospital. This doctor has visited her at Bourdeilles, and he declares she is an hysterical patient, who has, little by little, accustomed herself not to eat.