FASHODA 



2140 



FAT 



ing examples being the adoption of the "Lord 

 Fauntleroy" suits for small boys, when Mrs. 

 Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntle- 

 roy became popular. Later the artist Outcault, 

 with his Buster Brown pictures, created a 

 furore in behalf of "Buster Brown" suits for 

 little boys. Fashion also dictates how men and 

 women shall wear the hair, and there are even 

 varying styles of walking. It is the excep- 

 tional community in which may be seen year 

 after year an unchanging style of dress. In 

 some districts of Holland, however, the people 

 still wear the quaint Dutch costume adopted 

 by their forefathers three hundred years ago, 

 and the peasants in some of the mountainous 

 sections of Central Europe likewise adhere 

 to a costume that is centuries old. See COS- 

 TUME; DRESS; DOMESTIC ART; HOME ECONOM- 

 ICS; SEWING. 



FASHODA, fasho'da. See KODOK. 



FAST 'ING, voluntary or enforced absti- 

 nence from food and drink. Few human be- 

 ings have survived for more than a week when 

 totally deprived of both liquids and solids. 

 When water is supplied, life may be prolonged 

 many days. It is generally believed that 

 death from starvation occurs after a loss of 

 four-tenths of the weight of the body. Succi, 

 an Italian, Doctor Tanner of the United States, 

 and several others, are reported to have sur- 

 vived fasts of forty days each, during which 

 time only water was taken into the system. 

 Animals, particularly the hibernating species, 

 endure fasting for longer periods (see HIBER- 

 NATION). Experiments have shown that dogs 

 live from thirty to thirty-five days when de- 

 prived of both food and drink. Fasting for 

 short periods is now successfully employed in 

 modern medical science in the treatment of 

 certain physical disorders, such as indigestion 

 and some forms of fever. J.H.K. 



FASTS, total abstinence from food on fixed 

 days, particularly as a religious observance. 

 The practice is common in many religions. 

 The Mohammedans fast from sunrise to sun- 

 set during their entire month of Ramadan, or 

 ninth month. The law of Moses prescribed 

 an annual fast on the Day of Atonement, and 

 modern usage includes the eves of the prin- 

 cipal Jewish feasts. The Roman Catholic fast 

 days are, strictly speaking, the forty days of 

 Lent (Sundays excepted) , the Ember days, the 

 Wednesdays and Fridays of Advent and the 

 vigils, or eves, of certain feasts. There is a 

 distinction between fasting and abstinence, the 

 former implying total abstention from food 



and drink, and the latter, refraining from meat 

 only, or from meat and fish at the same meal. 

 The Roman Catholic laws governing fasting, 

 which formerly were very rigid, have been 

 relaxed somewhat, allowance being made for 

 the individual's state of health and the amount 

 of work to be performed by him. 



FAT, one of the component parts of all 

 animal and vegetable bodies. The fats in 

 man and other animals and in vegetables are 

 chemically similar, and are compounds of a 

 base of glycerine, with oleic, stearic and pal- 

 mitic acids. Fats may be divided into three 

 classes, namely, hard, soft and liquid. The 

 hard fats include human fat, the fat of beef 

 and mutton, wax and spermaceti. Soft fats 

 include lard and butter; liquid fats include all 

 vegetable and animal oils which remain in a 

 fluid state at ordinary temperatures. 



Fat is an important part of an animal organ- 

 ism. As a poor conductor of heat it preserves 

 the natural heat of the body and also acts as 

 a reserve capable of generating bodily heat by 

 combustion within the animal organism. The 

 fats in the human body are mostly taken into 

 the system already formed in food (see FOOD). 

 As an article of diet fat is essential. It is a 

 heat producer, and should be eaten primarily 

 to keep the internal fires active. Both fats 

 and carbohydrates (which see) take high rank 

 as sources of heat. ,In cold countries fat is 

 more necessary than in warm climates. In 

 summer it should be eaten sparingly, as the 

 demand for heat is then small. In winter a 

 fatty diet enables the body to maintain a 

 sturdy resistance to cold and chills. The 

 Eskimo who eats plentifully of fat or tallow 

 at a meal is not merely satisfying an appar- 

 ently uncultivated taste; he is laying up a 

 store of necessary heat. The fat pork seen 

 daily on the tables in lumber camps of the 

 north is for the same purpose. 



Fat is the base of all soaps, and is largely 

 used in the manufacture of candles. In cook- 

 ing fat is also of great value. It can be raised 

 to a very high temperature without boiling, 

 and food cooked in fat is covered with a thin 

 film which prevents the escape of nutritious 

 juices. 



How to Reduce Fat. Excessive accumulation 

 of fat is a source of discomfort to many per- 

 sons, and various methods of reducing the 

 weight have been carefully worked out by 

 dietists and physicians. The so-called "fat 

 cures," frequently advertised and placed on 

 the market, are in almost every case worthless 



