106 



hollows of rocks ; others into clefts of trees; some 

 sleep in holes under the earth, others bury themselves 

 under water. 



The serpent-kind bear abstinence to a miracle; 

 tattle-snakes will subsist many months without food. 

 Dr. Shaw saw two Egyptian serpents which had been 

 kept in a bottle five years, (oh a small quantity of 

 sand wherein they coiled themselves up) without any 

 sort of food. Yet when he saw them they had just 

 cast their skins, and were as lively as if just taken. 



There have been instances even of men passing se- 

 veral months with scarce any sustenance. So Samuel 

 Chilton, ofTinsbury, near Bath, in the year 1693, 

 1694 ; and 1695, slept sometimes four months and 

 sometimes above six together, with very little food ; 

 and six weeks without any but a little tent, conveyed 

 with a quill through his teeth. 



And since this, John Ferguson, of Kilmelford, in 

 Argyleshire, about eighteen years ago, overheated 

 himself, drank largely of cold water, and fell asleep. 

 He slept for four and twenty hours, and waked in a 

 high fever ; ever since his stomach loaths and can re- 

 fain no kind of aliment but water. A neighbouring 

 gentleman to whom his father is tenant, locked him up 

 for twenty days, supplying him daily with water, and 

 taking care that he should have no other food, but it 

 made no difference either in his look or strength. He 

 is now six and thirty years of age, of a fresh complex- 

 ion, and as strong as any common man. 



Still more strange is the case of Gilbert Jackson. 

 About fifteen years of age, in February 1716. he was 

 seized with a violent fever ; it returned in April for 

 three weeks, and again on the 10th of June; he then 

 lost his speech, his stomach, and the use of his limbs, 

 and could not be persuaded either to eat or drink any 

 thing. May tue 17th, 1717, his fever left him, but 

 Still he was deprived of speech and of the use of his 

 Iimbs 3 and took no food whatever. June 30;h ; he 



