REQUISITE AMOUNT OF FOOD. 491 



poor-houses, and which has been set down to caprice or obstinacy, and pun- 

 ished accordingly, may be actually a proof of the deficiency of the supply 

 which we might expect to have been voraciously devoured, if really less than 

 the wants of the system require. 



653. The smallest quantity of food upon which life is known to have been 

 supported with vigour, during a prolonged period, is that on which Cornaro 

 states himself to have subsisted. This was no more than 12 oz. a day, 

 chiefly of vegetable matter, for a period of 58 years. There is only one in- 

 stance on record, in which his plan was followed ; and there are probably few 

 who could long persevere in it, at least among those whose avocations require 

 much mental or bodily exertion. It is certain, however, that life with a mode- 

 rate amount of vigour may be preserved for some time, with a very limited 

 amount of food ; this appears from the records of shipwreck and similar dis- 

 asters. In regard, however, to those who have been stated to fast for a period 

 of months or even years, taking no nutriment, but maintaining an active con- 

 dition, it may be safely asserted that they were impostors, probably possess- 

 ing unusual powers of abstinence, which they took care to magnify. The 

 instances in which the life of Man, or of other Mammalia, has been prolonged 

 to the greatest extent without water, are those in which, from the peculiarity 

 of the circumstances, the cutaneous exhalation must have been reduced to a 

 very small amount, or in which there may have been an actual absorption of 

 water by the skin and lungs. Thus, Fodere mentions that some workmen 

 were extricated alive, after fourteen days' confinement in a cold damp cavern, 

 in which they had been buried under a ruin. And there is a well-known case 

 of a Hog, which was buried in its sty for 160 days, under thirty feet of the 

 chalk of Dover cliff, and was dug out alive at the end of that time, reduced in 

 weight from 160 Ibs. to 40 Ibs. : here the temperature would be kept up by the 

 non-conducting power of the chalk around ; and the air surrounding the ani- 

 mal would soon become sufficiently charged with fluid, to resist further evapo- 

 ration. The time during which life can be supported under total abstinence, 

 is usually stated to vary from 8 to 10 days : the period may be greatly 

 prolonged, however, by the occasional use of water, and still more by a very 

 small supply of food. In a case recorded by Dr. Willan, of a young gentle- 

 man who starved himself, under the influence of a religious delusion, life was 

 prolonged for 60 days ; during the whole of which time nothing else was 

 taken than a little orange-juice. In a somewhat similar case which occurred 

 under the Author's notice, in the person of a young French lady, more than 

 15 days elapsed between the time that she ceased to eat regularly, and 

 the time of her being compelled to take nourishment; during this period she 

 took a great deal of exercise, and her strength seemed to suffer but little, al- 

 though she swallowed solid food only once, and then in small quantity. If 

 the cessation of muscular exertion be complete, it seems that life is usually 

 more prolonged than where exercise of any kind is performed ; and this is 

 what might naturally be expected. In certain states of the system commonly 

 known as Hysterical, there is frequently a very remarkable disposition for ab- 

 stinence, and power of sustaining it. In a case of this kind which occurred 

 under the Author's own notice, a young lady, who had suffered severely from 

 the tetanic form of Hysteria, was unable to take food for three weeks. The 

 slightest attempt to introduce a morsel of solid matter into the stomach, oc- 

 casioned very severe vomiting and retching ; and the only nourishment taken 

 during the period mentioned, was a cup of tea once or twice a day, on many 

 days not even this being swallowed. Yet the strength of the patient rather 

 increased than diminished, during this period ; her muscles became firmer, 

 and her voice more powerful. It may be well to remark that, under such 

 circumstances, the continual persuasions of anxious friends are very injurious 



