THE EFFECTS OF LONG PROTRACTED ABSTINENCE. 21 



TJie Effects of long protracted Abstinence. 

 Note I. 



The effects of protracted abstinence on the human subject are well illustrated 

 by the following 1 facts : During- the famine which desolated certain parts of France, in, 

 the year 1817, especially during the months of April, May, and June, when the miser- 

 able" inhabitants had exhausted their stock of provisions, and when they were reduced 

 to live on herbaceous vegetables only as wild sorrel, nettles, patience, succory^ thistles, 

 the tops of beans, the sprigs of young trees, &c. M. Gaspard, (Journ. de Physiol. Eper. 

 Al. 3.) observed that a general serous diathesis prevailed, or universal anasarcaof the 

 cellular membrane, without ascites, jaundice, or any organic lesion of the liver, or of 

 any of the abdominal viscera. Many women experienced an interruption of the catame- 

 nia ; and a reference in the register of births subsequently to the communes which suf- 

 fered from the famine, showed that the number of conceptions was less by more than 

 one half, during the three calamitous months of that year, than during the same months 

 of the preceding and following years. 



During these months many assuaged their hunger by eating snails, of which an incre- 

 dible number was destroyed : but those who largely partook of them experienced a state 

 of stupor, analagous to that produced by belladonna. 



A tradesman, impelled by a succession of misfortunes, retired to a sequestered spot 

 in a forest in Germany, and there resolved to starve himself to death. He put his de- 

 termination in force on the loth of Sept. 1818 ; and was found 18 days afterwards still 

 living, although speechless, insensible, and reduced to the last stage of debility. A small 



bushes and leaves. On the 17th of Sept. (the second day) he complained of suffering 

 from cold ; on the 18th he mentioned having suffered from intolerable thirst, to ap- 

 pease which he licked the dew from the surrounding vegetables. On the 20th he found 

 a small coin, and with difficulty reached an inn, where he purchased a bottle of beer ; 

 the beer failed to quench his thirst, and his strength was so reduced, that he took three 

 hours to accomplish the distance, which was about two miles. On the 22d he discover- 

 ed a spring of water, but though tormented with thirst, the agony which the cold water 

 produced on his stomach e ---cited vomiting and convulsions. The 25th made ten days 

 since he had taken any fo : .! but beer and a little water. During that time he had not 

 slept at all. On the 25th h- complained of his feet being dead, and of being distract- 

 ed by thirst ; he was too weak to crawl to the spring, and yet dreadfully susceptible of 

 suffering. The 29th of September was the last day on which he made a memorandum. 

 No dissection of his body was made. Journal der prafthch: Heilkunde, &c- C. FT. Hufe- 

 land, Marz, 1819. 



A criminal, called Viterbi, determined on the 2d of December, to starve himself to 

 death, in the prison of Bastia, where he was confined. During the first three days of 

 the attempt, he felt himself progressively tormented by hunger. He manifested no de- 

 bility during these three days, nor any irregular muscular movement; his ideas continued 

 sound and he wrote with his usual facility. From the 5th to the 6th of Dec. the much 

 more grievous suffering of thirst succeeded insensibly to hunger- Thirst became so 

 acute on the 6th, that without ever deviating from his resolution, he began to moisten 

 his lips and mouth occasionally, and to gargle with a few drops of water, to relieve the 

 burning pain in his throat; but he let nothing pass the organs <>f deglutition, being" 

 desirous not to assuage the most insupportable cravings, but to mitigate a pain which 

 might have shaken his resolution. On the 6th his physical powers were a little weak- 

 ened ; his voice was, nevertheless, still sonorous, pulsation regular, and a natural heat 

 equally extended over his whole frame. From the 3d to the 6th he had continued to 

 write ; at night several hours of tranquil sleep seemed to suspend the progress of his 

 sufferings : no change was remarkable in his mental faculties, and he complained of no 

 local pain. 



Until the 10th the thirst had become more and more insupportable : Viterbi, how- 

 ever, merely continued to gargle, without once swallowing a single drop of water ; 

 but in the course of the 10th, overcome by excess of pain, he seized the jug of water, 

 which was near him, and drank immoderately. During the last three days, debility had 

 :i;ade sensible progress, his voice became feeble, pulsation had declined, and the ex- 



