3900 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1702. 
society were present during the in- 
ovestigation, as you will see by the 
‘annexed report, which I have the 
‘honour to send to you.” 
Report made to the Philomatical 
Society, relative to a Woman who 
drinks a great Quantity of Water; 
by M. M. Bellot and Brougniart. 
Read atia Meeting of the So- 
ciety, on Saturday the 22d of 
QOct..1791. 
“* The Philomatical Society, being 
desirous of complying with the re- 
quest made by M. Parmentier, in 
the name of Dr. Simmons, appoint- 
ed us to examine the temperament 
and habits of a woman who drinks 
a great quantity of water. 
‘¢ We accordingly went, on Sa- 
turday, the 15th ef October, to the 
woman in question, at the Hotel 
des Arts, Fauxbourg St. Martio. 
Not having. met with her at home, 
we wept from thenee to the place 
where her husband was at work, 
having previously collected, from 
the porter of the Hotel, several 
points of information which agreed 
with what had already been told to 
us. We found the woman with a 
pitcher of waterby ber side ; and a 
day being appointed for the: pur- 
pose, it was settled that she should 
come and pass the whole of it with 
us. 
** We met accordingly on Mon- 
day the 17th of October, 1791,.and 
received from this woman the fol- 
lowing particulars: — 
‘Catherine Bonsergent, wife of 
James Fery,,a cobler, new living in 
ithe Hotel des Arts, Fauxbourg St. 
Martin, parish of St. Laurence, at 
‘Paris, is forty years old, and was 
‘born at Senlis. 
‘She is very fair; her skin is 
fine, but ‘freckled. She is rather 
lean than fat, and seems to‘be:of:a 
bilious temperament. Her arms are 
leaner than any other “part nats ange 
body, 
‘© At the time she was ieiiiea 
she was placed ;with her grandmo- 
ther, who, drinking a good deal of 
wine, made her also drinkiit.: When 
she returned home to her mother, 
she vomited up every thing she took. 
What she vomited was of ‘a black 
colour. 
‘** From ber earliest infaciéyy she 
bad.a very considerable thirst, and 
sought every means of satisfying it. 
While she was single she drank three 
pailfuls of water,a day; atter she 
was naarried, two pailfuls were suf- 
ficient for ber till she was delivered 
of ber first child ; she then returned 
to her former quantity of three pail- 
fuls, and continued it till after the 
birth of her fourth child. Since 
that period she has drank only two 
pailfuls in the four-and-twenty 
hours. When she is sick she has 
no longer the same thirst, and when 
sie does not drink as) much as ishe 
desires, she is ill. ; 
** When she lays-in sine has «much 
nore thirst than usual. 
‘© She has not more hich} in sum- — 
mer than in winter. 
‘* Salted: meats she is ‘not fod of 
eating; but they do not render 
her more thirsty than other ali- 
ments. 
«© Her thirst occasions a sensation 
at the stomach similar 'to that which 
is excited by hunger. Her mouth 
is clammy, and she is unable, she 
says, to swallow a bit of bread, 
*© When she has drank, she/feels 
about the region of the stomach a 
pretty considerable coldness, which 
occasions her to shiver for some 
time, and obliges her to ‘be ‘cons 
stantly near the fire whenever the 
weather 
