121 
PATHOLOGY. 
but fhe feems, from long habit, to have loft all pleafura- 
ble defire for food, and to have been capable of fubfifting 
upon very fimple liquids alone. She was at firft induced to 
this habit by an extreme difficulty of deglution ; and ffie 
at length carried the habit fo far as, by deception, eafily 
to excite a general belief that flie never fwallowed any 
thing either liquid or folid. The intelligent committee, 
who fo laudably formed themfelves into a watch to deter¬ 
mine the ftate of the faCt, by a conftant attendance upon 
her perlon for a month, fufticiently proved that flie could 
notlive for ten days without fwallowing fome portion of 
liquid. In their report they tell us, that “ on the eighth 
day (he was exceedingly diftreffed,” her pulfe had in- 
creafed till it had amounted to 145 ilrokes in a minute ; 
and “ fo far was (lie reduced on the ninth day, that (lie 
became in danger of expiring;” while a few hours after¬ 
wards, when flie was compelled to confefs the iinpofture 
(lie had praCtifed, “ the pulfe at one wrift had entirely 
•ceafed, and the other feemed drawn to a thread.” Yet 
“ on the whole,” fay the committee, “ though this wo¬ 
man is a bafe impollor with refpeCt to her pretence of 
total abftinence from all food whatever, liquid or folid, 
yet fhe cun , perhaps, endure the privation ofJolidfood longer 
than any other perj'on. It is thought by thole bejl ac¬ 
quainted with her, that (lie exifted on a mere trifle, and 
that from hence came the temptation to fay that (he did 
r.ot take any thing. If, therefore, any of her friends 
could have conveyed a bottle of water to her, unfeen by 
the watch, and (he could have occafionally drunk of it, 
little doubt is entertained that flie would have gone 
through the month’s trial with credit. The daughter 
fays, that her mother’s principal food is tea ; and there is 
reafon to believe this to be true.” Full Expofure of Anne 
Moore, the pretended faffing woman of Tutbury. 
The cafe of Mary Thomas, a poor Welchwoman of 
Merionethffiire, refembles in fome points that of Anne 
Moore, but is (till more extraordinary, becaufe her mor¬ 
bid ftate was much feverer; and had been of longer dura¬ 
tion, comprehending the greater portion of a century. 
And it occurred about the fame time ; as Mr. James 
Ward, a royal academician, publiftied “ Some Account” 
of both thefe extraordinary women, “accompanied with 
Portraits and illuftrative Etchings,” (1813.) for he vi- 
fited them as an artift. From his narrative it appears, 
“that Mary Thomas has exifted between feventy and 
eighty years almoft without food ; and certainly, accor¬ 
ding to evidence that does not appear in any way objec¬ 
tionable, for ten whole years, without the lead particle 
of nutriment of any kind or form palling her lips, and 
without Ihowing any fenfibility or knowledge of external 
events; and has had, in that time, no excrementitious 
difcharges from the inteftines or urinary bladder. In 
1812 this woman was Hill living ; and, from the extraor¬ 
dinary tenacity to life which fhe evidently poflefies, un¬ 
der circumftances that would have abridged the days of 
any other human creature, though now 80 years old, (he 
may, perhaps, long enough furvive to have her hiftory 
more explicitly detailed, and the faCls connected with her 
peculiar ftate decidedly unfolded.” This expectation 
was, however, defeated by the death of Mary Thomas 
during the year in which this account was written. 
On enquiring into the hiftory of this cafe, a fad has 
arifen of fome importance. Mr. Pennant, whofe reputa¬ 
tion for every thing excellent is ftill freih in our minds, 
faw Mary Thomas in the year 1770; and his relation 
agrees fo much with Mr. Ward’s, that they mutually fup- 
port each other, and give a degree of credibility to an 
otherwife incredible cafe. 
The great attention which was bellowed by the philo- 
fophica) world on the above cafes, together with the 
fpirit of inquiry which ftill exilts as to the poflibility of 
iubutting- without food, has induced us to make the fol¬ 
lowing extrads from a paper in the Harleian Mifcellany 
as being perhaps not without fome degree of intereft. 
The title of the paper is, “ A Difcourfe upon prodigious 
Abftinence; occafioned by the Twelvemonth’s Fading of 
Martha Taylor, the famed Derbylhire Damfel: proving 
that, without any Miracle, the Texture of Human Bo¬ 
dies may be fo altered, that Life may be long continued 
without the fupplies of Meat and Drink. By John Rey¬ 
nolds. Humbly offered to the Royal Society. London: 
Printed for Nevil Summons, at the fign of the Three 
Crowns, near Holbourn Conduit; and for Dorman New¬ 
man, at the Surgeons Arms in Little Britain. 1669.” 
Quarto, containing 37 pages, befides the Title and Dedi¬ 
cation. Hurl. Mijcell. vol. iv. p. 43. 
The exordium, confining of a collection of fimilar in- 
ftances, bears ftrong teftimony of fuch occafiona! devia¬ 
tions from the courfe of nature; and we muft confefs, 
although at a lofs to account for it, we are by no means 
to difregard fuch a mafs of evidence, fince many other 
fads lefs palpable to the community at large, and much 
lefs fufceptible of proof, are believed, although equally 
inexplicable. Credulity and incredulity are alike the 
offspring of unreflecting habits. Too great a pliability 
on the one fide, and too much inflexibility on the other, 
are obftacles that will always interrupt the way to truth. 
That pen, however, as our author fays, “ certainly drops 
biafphemy, that dares to raze the facred records; and 
that uncharitablenefs which prefuines to write falfehood 
upon all human teftimonies : they that affent to nothing 
not confirmed by authority, are unfit to converfe in hu¬ 
man focieties ; for how can I expeCt that anybody fhould 
believe me, whillt I myfelf will believe nobody ? It is an. 
argument of an empty brain, to prefume to comprehend 
all things, and thereupon to rejeCt thofe things from ail 
exiftence in their world that have not their fcience in its 
intellectuals. 
“ Molt certain it is, that Mofes faded forty days and 
as many nights, whilft he abode in the burning mount; 
Elijah went as long in the ftrength of a meal; and no 
lefs was the fall of the holy Jelus. St. Auftin reports, 
that, in his time, one furvived forty days falling. The 
learned Fernelius faith, he faw a pregnant women that 
lived two months without meat or drink. Zacutus Lufl- 
tanus reports, that at Venice there lived a man that failed 
forty days ; another there forty-fix days ; and from Lon- 
gius and Fontius (two confiderable writers,) another full 
three years; and that with juft ftature, good habit, free 
countenance, and youthful wit. The famous Sennertus 
is copious in fuch ltories : he relates from Sigifmundus 
and Citefius, a perfon he faith worthy of credit, that 
the people of Leucomoria, inhabiting fome mountains in 
Mufcovy, do every year die, in a fort, (or rather fleep or 
freeze,) like frogs or fwallows, on November 27, and fo 
continue in that rigid ftate ; the humour, diftilling from 
their noftrils, is prefently condenfed by the ambient cold, 
much like to icicles, by which thofe potent pores are pre¬ 
cluded, and the molt endangered brain fortified againft 
the fatal aflaults of brumal extremities. The fame Sen¬ 
nertus rehearfes a ftory of a virgin at Padua, from Vigun- 
tia, profeflbr there, who, anno 1598, was afflicted with a 
fever, then a tumor, then arthritic pains, and pains in the 
ventricle and whole abdomen; then with vomiting and 
naufeating of food, till at laft file could take no food for 
two months; then, after another fit of vomiting, purging, 
and bleeding, fhefafted eight months; and, after a little ufe 
of food, Ihe failed two months more. And, to be fhort, 
he (lories it of three perfons that failed each two years, 
one three years, another four, one feven, another fifteen, 
another eighteen, and one twenty ; yea, one twenty-nine, 
another thirty, another thirty-fix, and one forty years. 
Famous is the ftory, perhaps fiClion, being poetical, of 
Epimenides, (whole words St. Paul is thought to cite in 
his Epiflle to Titus,) whom fome report to have flept fe- 
venteen years, fome feventy-feven years, together. But 
enough of ftory : thofe that are defirous to read more, are 
referred to Marcellus Donat, lib. iv. de Med. Hift. Mi- 
rab. c. 12. Schenk, lib. iv. Obferv. Guaguinus, lib. iii. 
Hift. Franc. Petrarch, lib. iii. de Mirabel, c. 22. Portius 
de 
