FASTING RECORDS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 148, 19 December 1929, Page 24

FASTING RECORDS

Some-famous cases I 74 DAYS WITHOUT FOOD JHUNGER STRIKER'S i DEATH Kews was Teceived recently of the dWtb. at Blackpool, England, of Sacco, the fasting man, who had recently com- • jpleted a fast of 65 days at that popular Seaside resort, where scores of thouSands of the workers front the indus--trial towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire spend- their annual holidays. During this fast Sacco was on exhibition one of the- numerous sideshows profor the amusement of visitors. >-'v| The professional fasting man, says a i.tvriter in the Melbourne "Age," was a bihore popular attraction forty years ■'j&go than he is to-day. The present i^generation' demands something more exciting iii the way of amusement than |>>watching; a man lying in a glass case Mand refraining from food. One of the ■iest-known of fasting men within living memory was Dr. Harry Tanner, Zkfho, after retiring from business, lived ,s'p the ripe age of 91. He died in Janui;Sry, 1919, at Santiago. He had always j'contended that fasting lengthened life; j3|n'd he was one of the first exponents l^f fasting to give lessons on how to fefast as a means of improving health. He gave a public exhibition of fasting ■jn the year 1880 at ;the Boyal Aquarium at Westminster (which has long since disappeared). This fast lasted 40 days, and during that time he was closely matched to prevent, fraud. Medical men had been'invited to study the beneficial effects of fasting as exemplified in his/case. At the beginning of the fast he weighed. 1571b, and at the tend of the 40 days' he had lost 361b in weightr After, the fast ended he ate Bufficient fopd in 24 hours to restore 41b to his weight, and he regained the Tvb.olo -36!b in eight days. ; ' J)r Tanner had numerous rivals' and irnititors,some of whom . eclipsed his record.^'Alexander Jacques completed a fast of 50 days at theßoyal Aquarium in 1891, and/lost 281b in weight during that period. An Italian named Merlatti equalled this record; his final lineal before beginning the fast consisted of 21b of beef , '»:whole goose, a ,Jarge quantity of vegetables, and a dish of walnuts. Succi gave numerous exhibitions of fasting for periods of 30 to 40 days, and in 1891 began a fast at the Royal Aquarium with the intention of breaking all records.; He was detected being surreptitiously fed, and lend of the 40 days he had lost 361b in fasting exhibitions faded out. There „can be little doubt that fraud has often been associated with fasting exhibitions. There aro numerous case 3of prolonged fasting recorded in history— somo of them extending to periods of two or three years—but there is no reason to believe that any of these prolonged fasts were genuine. "i HUNGER-STRIKER'S LONG FAST. t . All authentic TeeoTds of fasting put -fep by men who gained their living by "giving public exhibitions of how to do Without food were eclipsed by the hunger striker, Terence M'Swiney, the Binn Fein Lord Mayor of Cork, who ■was arrested in 1920 and-sentenced by a British court-martial to two years' ■imprisonment for being in possession of seditious documents. When taken to Bnxton gaol, London, he resorted to a hunger strike as a protest against his ■^imprisonment, but the Government refused to release-Min, and he died on ,the 74th day that he had been without food A few days before his death he fcec-ime unconscious and delirious. jParticulaj-s regarding his condition and his" obstinate determination riot to t-iko food were published in. the English papers during his lumger strike, and greatu astonishment .was. expressed at tho fact that it was possible for the ''human body to do without food for *euch a long time. .-Many people believed that, ho was being fed surfeptiti-' ■iusly b-yi'Relatives who,visited him, or "'by sympathetic in Brixton gaol Eoman Catholics declare)!^ that-he was being fed by angels.' -But tlio explanation of how life was sustained for suchalong period ■without fpod.is to be found in tho care and attention -given., to him in the prison hospital. \ The British Home Ofhce, in reply to criticism regarding the treatment of M'Swiney, announced 'aome week 3 before his death that from the -time.,'_of his admission he was allowed^ tJTg^riv-ileges granted to political prisoners,, and since by his refusal of food he had reduced himself to a state of weakness; he had been pla«id?-in bed in a large room in the prison" Hospital; "and was given tho best possible nursing and medical attention. He was nursed by two trained women, cno of whom was constantly with him day and night, and: everything possible ■was done..-for his comfort.. Excellent food, suitable to" his enfeebled condi- * tion,'was.;£ept constantly by his "bedside, md"-the nurses did their best to induce':him_to eat.,'' By being kept in a warrnibed.there was very little loss bf bodfly Wat.' Hot water bottles were i placed in vthe bed,; and the air of the room was maintained during cold ■weather- at' the right, temperature- for ■breathing, .. - \ STJTFKAOETTES ON HUNGER STRIKE. >~Hnnger- striking, in- which Terence JJ.' Swiney eclipsed all records, was previously resorted to by the suffragettes imprisoned in; England for various outlages, such^as smashing shop windows burning do>vh churches, during the i Jears 1913-14, when the late Mrs.Pankliurst led tho niilitant campaign, for the e\tension, ■of the Parliamentary franchise to;'women. Most of the imprisoned siffragettes went on hunger strike, but .none were allowed to die in prison-; and/become martyrs to the cause./ .The Government passed a Bill sknown.as the. Cat and Mouse Act under which, prisoners could be provisionI'ally released on the ground of ill-health, t butf-w.efe..liable to be re-arrested audimpririo.ne^tintil they'had completed their sei\|te,snaeS"-- -As a rule imprisoned sufirage'ttes.; who went on hunger strike Wcre;^eleased within a week. Htengeri striking was first practised ly thfe^ English Quakers, when their f sfcet was persecuted by tho authorities in the seventeenth: century. John Evelyn, in his/diary' under date Bth July, 1656,-mentions a "visit to Quakers im■prisonedrja Ipswich Gaol, one of whom ■tvas said to have fasted twenty days. Another prisoner died on the tenth day of his - fast. - -A: discussion took place on. the point whether a prisoner;.who dies while hunger "strikh rag has'taken his own life; This controversy was revived in connection with the- death of Terence M' Swiney in 1920. DEATH_; FROM PRIVATIONS. There, is ; a great difference between i',vj starving in a ..desert or in an open boat iVub sea aifd fasting in a warm bed under i;sr|iedical- supervision, or merely refrainjt^ing froni-.7soli'd' food while. talcing in l^large quantities of water or fruit-juices, $ #erence: M'Swiney lived for 74 days !■• Without" food, and some of the patients |! l-at fasting institutes have been able tc i'^go without solid food for weeks; but jf> fexperiefle'e. shows that ah average man >'■• deprived of'nourishment and exposed tc X severe cold'or heat, will succumb in 11 i£few dnys'i ■• It will be recalled in con ; '■'i v.i'li tiio. search for the missitu 'ii!S"r-- *"■ ■^•iflienr Cross, in April lnst """I1!:.- • ' :. -;,t ifniHi Anrlprsmi am

his mechanic, 3J. S. Hitchcock, whose machine,' the Kookaburra, was forced down in desorfc country, died within three days.

The case of the crew of the ship Trevassa, which will be fresh in the minds of many readers, provides an illustration of how quickly strong men die when exposed to privations. The Trevessa, a cargo ship of 3120 tons, sprang a leak in the Indian Ocean after leaving Fremahtle for England via the Cape, and was abandoned by her crew of forty-four on ■ 4th June, 1923, two hours before she foundered. The crew embarked in two lifeboats. There were twenty men in the boat in charge of Uaptain C. Foster, and twenty-four in the other boat, which was in charge of the chief officer, J. C. Smith. Each boat carried a supply of water, biscuits and tinned milk. Although these

things had to be strictly rationed, in no case was the supply exhausted when land was eventually reached. At first three biscuits a day were served out on the captain's boat, but eventually it was reduced to one a day. The crew suffered much more severely from thirst than, hunger. The daily ration of water was less than a cupful. Bain fell on several occasions, enabling the men to satisfy their thirst for the time. After twenty-three days the captain's boat reached the island of Eodriquez, near Mauritius, having sailed 1556 miles since abandoning the Trevessa. The second boat, in charge of Mr. Smith, reached Mauritius on the twenty-fifth day, having covered 1747 miles. Eleven lives were'lost out of the crew of fortyfour, and- ten of the deaths were due to privations and exposure. The first death occurred on the twelfth day, the victim being a fireman named James Fraser, who was in the chief officer's boat. There were two more deaths in this boat on the sixteenth day, and one in the captain's boat on the seventeenth day. Three men were sick when the Trevessa was abandoned—two of them being laid up in their bunks —but all three were among tho survivors. Some of the survivors were too weak to walk when the boats reached land, and they had to be carried ashore. Tet the patients in fasting institutes declare that after fasting for five or sis weeks they never 'felt better in their lives.