Eating, Drinlcincji and Sleeping. 241 



sow -thistles, and various other herbs, as greedily as cattle are 

 wont to do ; and all he could get was little enough to satisfy 

 his hunger. He voided several long worms. This case is 

 related by Dr. Burroughs, in the 22d vol. Phil. Trans. Two 

 other cases are recorded in the 43d vol. of the same Transac- 

 tions, one by Dr. Mortimer, the other by Dr. Cookson. The 

 subjects of this affection were in both instances boys. The 

 first of them was twelve years old, and lived at Blade Barns- 

 ley, in Yorkshire. His appetite was so ravenous, that if he 

 was not supplied with food when he craved it, he would gnaw 

 the flesh off" his own bones. When awake he was constantly 

 devouring. Nothing passed his stomach ; it was always 

 thrown up again. In the space of six days he devoured 384 

 lbs. of liquid and solid food^. 



The other boy was ten years old, and had been seized with 

 a fever about fifteen months before, which continued for a 

 fortnight, and was followed by constant vomitings. As in the 

 former case, so in this : the food was no sooner swallowed, 

 than thrown up again. In the space of six days, this boy 

 devoured 371 pounds of meat and drink, besides one pound 

 ten ounces of salt. After more than a twelvemonth from the 

 first attack, he died, greatly emaciated. 



Another case of canine appetite, accompanied with vomit- 

 ing, is recorded by the late Dr. Lettsom, in the third volume 

 of the Memoirs of the Medical Society. In this case, 379 

 pounds of solid and fluid aliment were taken into the stomach, 

 in the space of six days. 



A gentleman who had not been remarkable for his appetite, 

 became, without any apparent reason, very voracious, so much 

 so, that he could not dine out, without first allaying the 

 cravings of his stomach. He consulted several medical men, 

 without any alteration in his complaint. By accident, a book 

 on the medicinal virtues of water, came in his way, and from 

 the doctrines contained in it, he was induced to give up all 

 other fluids, which in the course of a few months restored him 

 to his former state of health. 



* This boy, had he lived to manhood with the same propensities, would 

 have furnished a singular exception in the history of Anthropophi— viz. 

 a man eating himself. 



