DIGESTION AND FOOD. 51 



nary and almost insatiable appetite for food. With them 

 hunger seems to be ever present. The stomach full of food 

 hardly allays the desire for more, or only suspends it for a 

 short time. A case is recorded, in the " Philosophical Trans- 

 actions," of " a boy of twelve years of age, who had so 

 strong a craving that he would gnaw his own flesh when not 

 supplied with food. When awake, he was constantly devour- 

 ing, though- whatever he swallowed was soon afterwards 

 rejected. The food given him consisted of bread, meat, 

 beer, milk, water, butter, cheese, sugar, treacle, (molasses,) 

 puddings, pies, fruits, broth, potatoes ; and of these he swal- 

 lowed in six successive days three hundred and eighty-four 

 pounds two ounces, avoirdupois being sixty-four pounds 

 a day on an average. The disease continued for one year." * 



99. Idiots have generally an inordinate appetite, which 

 they indulge if they have opportunity. In 1846, Dr. Sam- 

 uel Gr. Howe, chairman of a commission appointed by the 

 government of Massachusetts for the purpose, ascertained 

 the measure of appetite and habits of four hundred and 

 thirty-two idiotic children and youths. In comparison with 

 others of their age, twenty-four of these ate less than the av- 

 erage ; about one fifth ate the average quantity ; about one 

 fourth ate from ten to forty per cent, more ; about the same 

 number ate from fifty to ninety per cent, more than others ; 

 and rather more than one quarter ate double the usual 

 amount, and some of these ate in still larger proportions. 



100. This enormous appetite does not always depend 

 upon the wants of the system, but in some cases, as in the 

 boy, 98, upon disease. In others it is caused by indulging 

 the perverse habit of voracious eating. Great eaters feel the 

 want of a large quantity in the stomach. They are no bet- 

 ter nourished than those who eat less ; but, without a great 

 supply, they feel hollow, faint, and languid. The stomach, 

 being used to this great distention, does not act easily upon 

 a small quantity. In some persons, the stomach, being once 

 distended, does not recover its original size. Dr. Darwin 

 states that " a woman near Litchfield, England, who ate 



* Good's .Nosology, p. 16, note. 



