7o 



RECREATION. 



same youth thinks nothing of eating for 

 supper 4 or 5 dozen fried oysters, followed 

 by 2 dozen raw. To win a bet, he once ate 

 the enormous number ©f 9 dozen large fried 

 oysters. He has had numerous attacks of 

 intestinal trouble, during several of which 

 his physicians expected him to die; yet he 

 still lives, and is ready at any time to gorge 

 himself to repletion if some one will only 

 furnish the food! 



Charles Domery, a French prisoner in 

 England in 1799, was a boulimist of bou- 

 limists. One day he was permitted to eat 

 as much as he desired, and between 4 

 o'clock in the morning and 9 at night he 

 devoured 4 pounds of raw cow's udder, 10 

 pounds of raw beef, 5 pounds of candles, 

 and 5 quarts of porter! This man was ac- 

 customed to supplement the usual prison 

 ration with raw cats, dogs and rats which 

 he caught, killed and ate like one of the 

 carnivora. On one occasion, while in 

 action on board of a man-o'-war, feeling 

 hungry, he picked up the leg of a man, 

 which had been amputated by a cannon 

 ball, and was eagerly consuming it when 

 commanded to desist by an officer! 



Not long since an English surgeon held 

 an inquest on the body of William Ward, 

 a pensioner, 84 years old, who died from 

 suffocation. "At the post-mortem examin- 

 ation 3 pieces of meat, measuring in all 12 

 inches in length, were found in the dead 

 man's throat. Evidence was given that the 

 deceased was always a gluttonous feeder 

 and in the habit of bolting his food. His 

 daughter-in-law said she used to mince his 

 food, but that even then he would bolt such 

 large spoonfuls that he had to gasp for 

 breath." 



The female boulimist is truly a rara avis, 

 and I have seen only one in all my experi- 

 ence. This young girl was brought to my 

 office by her mother, who thought her 

 daughter was the victim of disease; prob- 

 ably of taenia. The girl was handsome in 

 a large and Junoesque way. She had a 

 magnificent form, looking more like a full- 

 grown woman than a girl of only 16. Her 

 color was good and she presented an alto- 

 gether wholesome appearance. 



On being questioned she said she had 

 eaten at breakfast (7 o'clock) "a porter- 

 house steak, two slices of breakfast bacon, 

 a spoonful of hashed mutton, four hard- 

 boiled eggs, potatoes (Saratoga chips), 8 

 or 10 biscuits (beaten), 10 buckwheat cakes 

 with maple syrup, 2 cups of coffee, and a 

 pint of sweet milk." 



. She visited me at 10 A. M., and had eat- 

 en, between her 7 o'clock breakfast and 10 

 o'clock, a pound of chocolate creams! 

 Hanging in the room was a bunch of large 

 bananas, sent me from New Orleans. 1 

 saw the girl glance at them several times 

 and invited her to help herself. She needed 

 no second invitation, but immediately pro- 

 ceeded to gorge herself. She ate 7 bananas 



and declared she could eat 7 more, but 

 would leave the rest for politeness' sake. 



Careful and repeated examinations of this 

 girl showed nothing abnormal save her 

 wonderful appetite. She was a boulimist, 



Almost every community has its bou- 

 limist, who, strange to say, is usually proud - 

 of his gastronomic powers, and is always 

 willing to accept the challenge of a rival 

 boulimist to an eating contest. We hear 

 daily of pie-eating contests, oyster-eating 

 contests, cake-eating contests, chiderlin- 

 eating contests (this last mentioned always 

 occurs between negroes), dumpling-eating 

 contests, etc. The contestants are almost 

 invariably boulimists, though their boulimy 

 is usually confined to some particular food 

 or dish. Just as there are monophagous 

 boulimists, there are also polyphagous bou- 

 limists, who eat anything and everything. 



The clay-eaters of the Southern States 

 (usually negroes, but sometimes whites) 

 are monophagous boulimists. These indi- 

 viduals eat enormous quantities of a certain 

 kind of clay, seemingly with the utmost 

 relish and enjoyment. They begin the prac- 

 tice early in life, gradually increasing the 

 amount of clay taken into the stomach as 

 they grow older, until the quantity swal- 

 lowed daily is simply astounding. This 

 clay diet is very deleterious, and sooner or 

 later kills the person who follows it. 



The polyphagous boulimist, on the con- 

 trary, does not confine himself or herself 

 to one article of diet, but devours numerous 

 kinds of indigestible things. Most fre- 

 quently, polyphagism is itself an evidence 

 of disease; but it sometimes happens that 

 search we never so carefully, we can find 

 no abnormality whatever save the perverted 

 appetite. 



Not long since I saw a distinguished 

 teacher of Latin and Greek who stayed his 

 hunger with bits of coal, lumps of chalk, 

 or of clay. He would also eat leaves, 

 grass, weeds and small pieces of cedar 

 wood. During 24 hours this man would 

 eat 8 or 10 pounds of these things, seem- 

 ingly without hurt. There were no symp- 

 toms of disease in his case. 



The London Lancet, of May 5, 1894, 

 gives an account of a polyphagous bou- 

 limist who died in the London Hospital. 

 In this man's stomach there was a hetero- 

 geneous mass of materials, such as pieces 

 of leather (evidently portions of boots 

 and shoes), bits of cork, hair, bone, raw 

 meat, clay, etc. He had given no evidence 

 of disease before his final seizure — pneu- 

 monia. 



Young girls and boys and hysterical men 

 and women frequently eat indigestible sub- 

 stances such as chalk, slate pencils, etc-. 

 These people are sick, however, and should 

 not be confounded with the polyphagous 

 boulimist who presents no signs of ill health. 



Boulimia is by no means confined to 

 solid f©«ds. Indeed, the liquid boulimist, 



