MERLATTI'S FAST.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 9, Issue 642, 11 February 1887, Page 8

MERLATTI'S FAST.

('Standard,' Dec. IS.) The cl biggest fast on record," as ie will doubtless be called in America, lias actually been accomplished, Morlatti having completed his term afc half-past six yesterday evening* though thai the record will before long be 'lowered' I is only what is to be expected in a sporting age like this, Competition is the characteristic feature of our civilisation. It' ose man dees anything remarkable, especially in the way of physical endurance, somebody else ia sure to try and beat him. Eating and drinking contests have long been in favor in certain circle.?. In this country they have bean confined to the occasional feats of ardent champions, who will consume a leg of mutton at a sitting, or drink two quarts of bear without drawing breath. On the olher side of the Atlantic the thing is done more scientifically, and the world of sport and fashion in New York was lately convulsed by & match between two justly celebrated athletes in the opening and eating of 'clania.' One of the professionals was a negro and the other a white man ; and the respective styles, pace, and action of the two competitors were criticised vrith great ' minuteness and admirable judgment. To such amusements as this we may soon hope to add fasting matches. At present the pursuit is in its elementary stage. Masters only fast against time, so to speak, instead of competing against one another. When thi3 latter i development is reached, Mcrlatti will evidently be a very formidable eh am* pion. With all respect to Signor Succi ] and M. Jacques, it ia safe to predict j that for some time to come Merlatti will be the Beach or Hanlan of the fasting world. There can be no doubt, at any rate, of the genuineness of his j performance. He has been carefully watched and searched during the whole course of his martyrdom, and there cai* be no reasonable suspicion as to the actual accomplishment of the feat he undertook — that of continuing fco exist for over seven weeks without food of any kind. Now this, whatever else may be said about it, is an achievement which in all probability has never been equalled in the history of the world. It is true that voluntary fasting is not by any means a modern invention. In various countries aad various ages it has been practised by people anxious to acquire a special reputation for sanctity. The custom of sitting in Dharna, whereby the Brahmins used to coerce their enemies ipta submission, does nob perhaps come under this heading ; for the object of the sitter in Dharna was not to fast and live, but to fast and die, and thus to Jay upon his adversary's head the sin of causing the death of a holy man. But in India and throughout the East a fast of several mouths is Still an acceptable form of penance, and confers on a fakeer or dervish who practises it almost as much fame as if he suspended himself by an iron hook, or crawled on his belly till he had lost the use of his limby. In these cuses,however as in those of the fasting hermits of the Middle Ages, total abstinence is not rigorously insisted upon, The ascetics eat sosjetliiiig, ififc is only n. few handfuls of parched peas or i:cu. -Even Sfc Simeon Stylites, when he lay v pent in a rooflesa close of ragged stones," did not refuse " the spare chance gift of those " that came to touch the body of so holy a person. Merlatti, however unless his watchers have grossly deceived the public, has eaten nothing whatever, and herein may fairly claim to have beaten all ancient and modern abstainers. On the other hand, he lias had some special advantages. Me'duoval saints and Eastern anchorites were not, as a rule, lodged in well^warmed and exceedingly comfortable rooms, with good feather beds to sleep on at night. What is more, they generally had to pursue some kind of active occupation if it was only that of telling their beads or keeping the rain out of their cells. Kerlatti has ior days past been simply lying on a "aofa, barely managing to keep tlio fiarae oi life alight in his attenuated frame. Judging by fche published accounts of his condition, he has suffered immensely; and, indeed, nobody supposes that fast.-, ing ein ever be particularly pleasant. Dr. Succi is comparatively cheerful and vigorous over his peiformance. He walks, he talks freely, he is even able to indulge in a swim occasionally j but then Dr. Succi is not strictly a " fasting man," since ha keeps himself up with draughts of a viscous-docking liquid, which is supposed to contain a good deal of nutriment. Merlatti, who has no such sustenance, was reduced to the last degree of exhaustion. His foody is that of a skeleton. Pie looks like a corpse, with the pallor of death uoon his countenance; and his weakness is so great that he can scarcely raise himself upon his elbow to write his name upon the back of the photographs of himself which ;uv, sold to his visitors. His one consolation has been the thought of the magniticcut mcala he would eat when his Pentecost was over.