NATURAL HISTORY. 
we shall here translate from the 
Paris Journal of May 1, 1789. 
“© To the Authors of the Journal. 
sé Paris, April 18, 1789. 
s Gentlemen, 
‘* You will interest) equally the 
humanity and curiosity of the pub- 
lic, by inserting in your journal the 
following anecdote, which, without 
doubt, will be considered as a phe- 
nomenon. I have assured myself, 
with the most serupulous, accuracy, 
of the facts which I announce; but 
1 leave to the reader to explain 
their nature and cause. 
“ Catherine Bonsergent has been 
remarked from fer tenderest years. 
A burning thirst, a drought without 
example, with which sbe has been 
continually afflicted from the time 
of ber birth, has always fixed on 
her the attention of persons of ob- 
servation. Her parents, after hav- 
ing entrusted the first care of her to 
a nurse, took her home when she 
.Was three years old. It was not 
long before they observed that an 
extraordinary quantity of water was 
consumed in the hovse; and at 
length they discovered that. their 
daughter drank, every day, to the 
amount of nearly two pailfuls. At 
first they attributed to improper 
education what in reality was the 
effeet of a surprising, though natu- 
ral, appetite. It was to no purpose 
that they attempted to correct this 
defect by caresses or threats, by de- 
nying her water, or lessening the 
quantity of what she drank; and 
they were still more surprised to 
see her secretly availing herself of 
every means to satisfy her thirst. 
In summer she drank the first water 
she could meet with ; in winter she 
had recourse io snow and ice; and 
she was always careful to reserve as 
387) 
much as would enable her to:drink) 
abundantly during the night. 
«« The ill treatment this disposi- 
tion occasioned, her to experience 
from ber parents, at length obliged: 
her to quit them; and she came te 
Paris and lived as a servant with: 
different families, who were more? 
indulgent to her ; for although thes 
infirmity in question was not to be 
concealed, her good conduct in 
other respects secured her from re~ 
proach. 
‘* At the age of twenty-two years 
she married one Fery, acobler, from 
whom she contrived to conceal her 
complaint till after their marriage. 
She has had by him eight children. 
three of whom are still alive, and 
she is now pregnant with a ninth, 
What appears particularly extraor- 
dinary is, that, during her lyings~- 
in, instead of having recourse to 
such food and liquors as would seems 
to be most likely to strengthen her, 
she chuses rather, for the sake of 
satisfying her thirst, which at those 
times is more intense, to drink, al-+ 
most withont interruption, three or 
four quarts of the coldest water 
During the severe cold of Jast win= 
ter, this woman, who was then 
pregnant, drank to the amount of 
four pailfuls of water in twenty- 
four hours; snd ber husband, being 
unabie to afford the expence of 
such a consumption, was under the 
necessity of supplying her with 
melted snow and ice. The price 
of a load (two pailfuls) of water, at 
that time, was six sols; and the 
quantity she required would have 
cost him more than he earned by 
his work, 
“This woman has never made 
use of any sort of strong liquors; 
and if she drinks only a single glass 
of wine, she feels an uneasy sensa- 
Bb2 tion 
