CHAPTER XV 

 STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS 



480. In the year 1881 Dr. Hammond, a New York phy- 

 sician, made the assertion that a forty days' fast was a 

 physical impossibility. This led Dr. Tanner, a Minnesota 

 physician, to attempt such a feat. He arrived in New York 

 weighing 184 pounds. He was six weeks making arrange- 

 ments for his fast, and when he began his experiment, his 

 weight was 157^ pounds. He weighed \2\\ pounds on 

 the day his fast ended. He had therefore lost 36 pounds 

 since his fast began. The first thing he ate to break his 

 fast was a watermelon, swallowing only the juice. Dr. 

 Hammond came out in a card in the New York papers de- 

 claring that he believed the fast had been fairly conducted. 



481. Succi, an Italian, successfully accomplished a fast 

 of 50 days in London, being likewise constantly watched to 

 make sure of his fasting. There is reported, on good au- 

 thority a case of an insane person who suddenly became 

 possessed by the idea of taking no food, and who took 60 

 days to starve himself to death. Long fasts are a great in- 

 jury to the body, no doubt, but what can we learn from 

 such experiences ? Certainly it shows the wisdom with 

 which we are made, certainly that our physical organization 

 is very provident. 



482. Once some miners were shut in by caving of part 

 of the mine. But unlike the cases mentioned above they 

 were without water as well as food.. When, by digging, 

 the rescuers reached them, seven days after, several 

 were still found alive, although most of them had suc- 



268 



