Few instances can be given of absolute privation both of solids and liquids ; but in the case above referred to, where 72 persons took shelter in the shrouds of a vessel, fourteen actually survived during twenty-three days with out food, though a few drops of rain were occasionally caught in their mouths as they fell. Some of the survivors also drank sea water, but it was not so with all. In the year I789, it appears that Caleb Elliott, a religious visionary, determined to fast forty days. During sixteen he obsti nately refused all kinds of sustenance, and then died, be ing literally starved to death. It is said, that not long ago two convicts in the jail of Edinburgh lived fourteen days without food, and receiving liquids only ; and in the re cords of the Tower of London, there is reported to be pre served an instance of a Scotchman, who, strictly watched, was, seen to fast during six weeks, after 'which he was liberated on account of his uncommon powers of absti nence. Morgagni, an Italian physician, refers to an in• stance of a woman, who obstinately refused all sustenance, except twice, during fifty days, and took only a small quan tity of water, when she died. An avalanche some years ago overwhelmed a village in Switzerland, and entombed three women in a stable, where there was a she goat, and also some hay. Here they survived 37 days on the milk afforded them by the goat, and were in perfect health when relieved. But one of the best authenticated in stances of excessive fasting in modern times, arid in which there is no evidence of any particular morbid affection of the body, is related by Dr Wiliam In the year 1786, a young man, partly a religious visionary, and partly suppos ing himself to labour under some inconsiderable com plaints, thought to operate a cure by abstinence. He sud denly withdrew from his friends, occupied himself in copy ing the Bible in short hand, to which he added his own commentaries, and resolved to abstaia from all solid food, only moistening his mouth from time to time with water slightly flavoured with the juice of oranges. He took no exercise, slept little, and spent most of the night in read ing, while his daily allowance was between half a pint and a pint of water, with the juice of two oranges. In this state of abstinence he persisted 60 days ; but during the last ten his strength rapidly declined, and finding himself unable to rise from bed he became alarmed.- The delusion which had hitherto impressed him of being supported by preternatural means now vanished, and along with it his expectation of some remarkable event, which should fol low his resolution of self-denial. On the sixty-first clay of his fast, Dr Willan was summoned to his aid ; but the miserable object was then reduced to the lowest state of existence ; and although his eyes were not deficient in lustre, and his voice entire, he exhibited the appearance of a skeleton, on which the flesh had been dried ; and his personal decay was attended with manifest mental imbe cility. Nevertheless with proper regimen, he so far re covered, as in a few days to be enabled to walk across his room ; and a clergyman, who had previously been admit ted to visit him, had successfully dispelled his religious aberrations : but on the seventh day from the commence ment of this system his recollection failed, and he expired on the seventy-eighth from the date of his abstinence. An analogous case has been quoted by the same physican, of an insane person, who survived 47 clays on a pint and a half of water daily, during which time lie obstinately stood 38 days in the same position. From extreme weakness he lay down during the remainder, still refusing any thing but water ; nor did this extraordinary abstinence prove fatal, Perhaps we should find many examples of fasting for a much longer period, on recurring to morbid conditions of the body ; such as that of Janet A.PLeod, a young Scotish female, who, after epilepsy and fever, remained five years in bed, seldom speaking, and receiving food only by con straint. At length she obstinately refused all sustenance, her jaws became locked, and in attempting to force them open two of her teeth were broken. A small quantity of liquid was introduced by the aperture, none of which was swallowed, and dough made of oatmeal was likewise re jected : she slept much, and her head was bent down to her breast. In this deplorable state, the relatives of the patient declared she continued to subsist four years with out their being sensible of her receiving any aliment, ex cept a little water ; but, after a longer interval, she began to revive, and subsisted on crumbs of bread with milk, or water sucked from the palm of her hand. It is not evi dent that her convalescence ever was complete, and it rather is to be inferred that she always remained in a de bilitated condition.
After these extraordinary instances, chiefly belonging to our own Via, to which many more might be added, we shall probably be less incredulous in listening to the ac counts of the older authors; and although we may refuse to go to the same extent that they have done, we cannot reject those examples which do not exceed the terms of duration here specified. Yet it is impossible to be too
careful of imposture, of which the most decisive illustra tion is givert in the case of Anne Moore, just at the mo ment of making these observations ; and in the earlier remarks transmitted to us, we should be equally slow in receiving what is offered as miraculous interposition of supernatural powers. Mankind, always anxious for dis tinction, falsely conceive that it is to be gained by delud ing the credulous with fictitious narratives. Fortunius Licetus published a copious and curious work on this sub ject, which has now become exceedingly rare. It has cost the author much labour and research, and for the most part it is written in a style more philosophical than com mon to that age in such subjects. Licetus inclines to make a systematic division of the duration of fasting into different periods, which he designs short, intermediate, and long. The first, he says, is of constant occurrence, is unattended with personal danger, and is limited to three days ; the second happens frequently, but life is in hazard, and it embraces an interval within the sixth day. All fasting beyond that time, belongs to the third division, which he also partitions into three classes, each with four subdivi sions. The first commences on the seventh, ninth, twelfth, and fifteenth days of abstinence ; the second is limited by the twentieth, thirtieth, fortieth, and sixtieth day ; the third commences with the third month, includes the sixth, twelfth, and all periods exceeding a year. These rather seem arbitrary divisions it is true, but the author supports them by numerous illustrations, to which we must refer in general, instead of citing them in detail.
In regard to the sensations excited by protracted fast ing, and its effects on the person of the sufferer, there is a difference resulting from the vigour both of body and mind, to which the influence of climate may be joined, but the most direful and lasting consequences frequently ensue. At first every substance is ravenously devoured, to appease the cravings of hunger ; every animal, the most loathsome reptiles, are welcome sustenance ; and a paste is baked by the New Hollanders, composed of ants and worms, intermixed with the bark of trees. John Levy, who endured the extremity of famine in a voyage to Brazil, emphatically declared, that a mouse was more prized in the ship than an ox had been ashore; and he also informs us, that three or four crowns were paid for each. The natives of New Caledonia swallow lumps of earth to satis fy their hunger, and tie ligatures, continually increasing in tightness, around the abdomen. They seem to do so with impunity, although the custom of eating earth in Ja va, which is done to reduce personal corpulence, is slowly but invariably destructive. Last of all, recourse is had to human flesh, instances of which have occurred in all coun tries of the habitable world, on occasion of famine from sieges, shipwreck, or the failure of expected crops of grain.
Diminution of size and the rapid prostration of strength, are almost immediately consequent to protracted absti nence. The extremities of the natives of New Holland and the Andaman islands, are of dimensions greatly infe rior to those of people accustomed to ample supplies of food. The persons of the Arabs of the desert want that rotundity and developement which characterizes mankind accustomed to abundance of food. Uncommon emaciation ensues; the inhabitants of the former country, " in times of famine, resemble so many walking skeletons, ready to drop down with weakness ;" individuals who have suffer ed want during long voyages, require to be carried on shore; they faint on the slightest unusual odour, and are incapable of swallowing food, except in the smallest quan tity, and that with inconceivable pain. There is a class of religious penitents on the confines of Persia, who gain sanctity by the practice of austerities. One who devotes himself to stand for a series of years, with his arms ex tended, is sparingly supplied with aliment; he is support ed with posts when overcome by feebleness, or the an guish of an unchanged posture ; his arms gradually waste, and he grows insensible of the change that has been going on. Should he survive the term of probation, which rarely happens, " his body, which is become ema ciated, as light as a feather, and as dry as wood, is unloos ed, bathed, and anointed with costly ointments, and the best white naphtha; more nourishing food is brought, and he is carefully attended to until re-established ; his arms alone remain withered, stiff, and motionless, and as hard as timber." Extenuation and weakness follow sudden changes from sustenance on animal to vegetable substan ces, and, as is well known, those who subsist solely on the latter are not capable of the same personal exertions as those copiously supplied with the former. Along with emaciation, there ensues the suppression of the alvine ex cretions, though secretions by the kidneys continue ; and it is remarkable, that drenching the body frequently with water produces an augmentation of the latter.