During this period a material alteration is taking place in the mind ; men become wild, and ferocious, they %ie• each other with malevolence, they arc quarrelsome, tur bulent, and equally regardless of their own fate as of the safety of their neighbours ; they actually resemble so many beasts of prey. The sensations of hunger from protract ed fasting are not alike in all, or it may be, that immedi ate languor operates strongly on those by whom it is not so severely felt. But it is certain that, after a particular lime, little inclination for food is experienced, though great desire remains of quenching thirst. The Genovese physician describes his hunger as having been keen, but never painful. During the first and second clays of absti nence, he became faint on attempting any mental or per sonal exertion; and a sensation of cold was diffused over his whole frame, more especially affecting the extremities. Captain Inglefield, of the Centaur, expresses his conso lotary feelings on seeing one of his companions perish, ,‘ that dying of hunger was not so dreadful as imagination bad pictured." A survivor of that miserable shipwreck, 'where so many people hung twenty-three days in the shrouds, observes, that he did not suffer much during the three from want of food ; that after more had elapsed, lie was surprised to have existed so long, and concluded, that each succeeding day would be his last. To these ex
amples may be added that of Captain Kennedy, who con sidered it singular, that although he tasted neither meat nor drink during eight entire days, he did not feel the sen sations of hunger and thirst.
Unless for timely succour, the human frame yields tinder such privations, icliotcy succeeds ferocity, or the sufferer dies raving mad. Should the consequences not be fatal, lasting diseases are frequently occasioned, by the tone of the different organs being injured, sometimes incu rable, and sometimes admitting palliation.
It is evident, however, from the preceding observations, that protracted fasting is not so destructive as is commonly credited, and that mankind may, without danger, remain entire days destitute of food. Liquids are an effectual substitute for solids in preserving life, and drenching the body with salt or fresh water, or laving it copiously on the head, materially contribute in averting death by famine. See Philosophical Transactions, 1783. Memoirs of the Manchester Society for 1785, vol. iii. Lerius Xavigationes in Brasiliam. Asiatic Researches, yol. iv. p. 386. Syme's Embassy to Ava, p. 130. Mackay's Xarrative of the Ship wreck of the Juno. Annual Register for 1768, and 1783. Gentleman's Magazine, 1789. Licetus, De his qui diu vi vunt sine alimento. (c)