Body-Weight. 305 



(6) on the professional faster Succi, and the observations of Paton & Stockman 

 (3) on the faster Jacques, were continued for 20 to 30 days. The observations 

 on the body-weight of Succi, aside from the question as to the record of the 

 exact beginning and end weights, are very carefully recorded. As pointed out 

 by Paton & Stockman, the irregularities in the time of voiding the urine make 

 the daily losses in weight of their subject somewhat uncertain. The daily losses 

 of body-weight in these longer fasts of Succi and Jacques are recorded in 

 table 185. The percentage losses for the first seven days are also given. 



Aside from the longer experiments mentioned above, a 45-day fasting 

 experiment with Succi is reported to have taken place in New York in 1890. 

 His body-weight is stated to have fallen from 147 pounds (66.9 kilos) on 

 November 5 to 104f pounds (47.6 kg.) on December 20. 7 



Daiber 7a reported the losses in weight during a 20-day fast by Succi in 1896. 

 The tabular statement shows a great regularity in the loss from day to day. 

 The average loss was 490 grams ; the initial weight was 71.7 kilograms. 



Bonniger and Mohr 7b give the losses in weight of a professional fasting 

 woman during a 16-day fast. The subject was 48 years old, 1.52 meters high, 

 and weighed at the beginning of the fast 56.3 kilograms. The total loss in 

 weight was 8.1 kg., more than half of which was lost during the first six days. 



In March, 1904, another fast of 31 days duration was made by Succi in 

 Hamburg. Brugsch (12) reports that during this experiment, Succi lost 27 

 pounds (12.3 kg.), the original weight being 157 pounds (71.4 kg). This 

 corresponds to a total loss in body-weight of 17.2 per cent. During this fast 

 Succi drank regularly 750 cc. of carbonated water per day. 



Sohn, the hypnotic subject of Hoover & Sollman (8), lost in body-weight 

 from July 15 to July 23, 5.89 kg., the original body-weight being 129 pounds 

 (58.6 kg.). During the first day and a half no water was taken, but about 

 900 cc. was furnished each day for the rest of the fast, which lasted 8 days. 

 The records of weighings for the individual days were unsatisfactory and for 

 this reason only the total loss for the experiment is reported. 



A summarized statement of the losses of body-weight of the subjects in the 

 fasting experiments made at Middletown is given in table 186. The losses in 

 weight in experiment No. 59 were computed from the balance of income and 

 outgo. With this exception 'the weights were all taken by means of a special 

 platform scale, accurate to within 2 grams. Hence the weights are recorded 

 to the third decimal place, and any errors in the gains or losses shown are not 

 due so much to incorrect weighings as to lack of uniformity from day to day 

 in the kind and number of articles which were weighed with the subjects, as 

 for example clothing, etc. 



1 1 have been unable to find a record of this fast in any scientific journal and 

 have to rely upon the newspaper reports as given in the N. Y. Tribune for Novem- 

 ber 6, 1890, and December 21, 1890. Written statements from several physicians in 

 attendance on this fast show varying opinions regarding its authenticity. 



7 Schweizerische Wochenschrift fur Chemie und Pharmacie (1896), 34, pp. 395- 

 399. 



1b Zeit. f. Experimented Pathologie u. Therapie (1906), 3, p. 675. 



20 



