people of Afia live on rice, more prolifick than the corn-plant, and which needs no other preparation but to be ftrip'd of its pellicle, and boil'd. Africa lives on millet; America on manioc, potatos, and other roots. Even thefe fubftanceës were not the primitive aliment of man. Nature prefented to him at first his food allready drefs'd, in the fruits of trees; fhe place'd, principally, for this purpose, between the tropicks, the banana and the bread-fruit; in the temperate zones, the ever-green oak, and especially the chestnut-tree; and, perhap, in the frigid zone, the pine, whofe kernels are eatable: but, without quiting our own climates, the chestnuttree feems to merit the particular attention of our cultivatours. It producees, without giveing any further trouble, a great deal more fubftantial fruit than a field of corn of the fame extent as its branches; it affords, befide, in its incorruptible timber, for carpenters work, the means of building durable habitations."* Whether it be posfible for man, by any mean," either of temperance, medicine, or morality, to fubfift without any, or, at least, with a comparatively insignificant quantity of food, feems un * Studies of nature (Engleifh verfion), iii, 653. certain; for, though the famous elixir vitae of the alchemifis, (which, by fupplying the fuccesfive waste of the matter and fpirit of the human body, was calculateed to render it perpetual,) fo long fought, has not yet been discover'd, it is not at all imposfible, that, in a more enlighten'd age, and by the advancement of science, or fome fortunate experiment, this invaluable medicine may be one day hit upon, though not, it may be, within a very speedy period; it should be recollected, at the fame time, that there are several instanceës, recorded by veracious writeërs, of perfons who have fustain'd exceedingly long fafts. Not to mention Simeon Stilites, who fubfifted forty days, at a time, without food, in as much as his appetite is generally fuppofe'd, at least by the pious believeër, to have been duely temper'd by divine miracle, we are not at a lofs, however, for more recent and authentick examples. In the thirty-firft of Edward the third (1359), there is a pardon of execution of judgement granted to one Cicely de Rygeway, though indicted and condemn'd for kiling her husband, for that she had fafted for FORTY DAYS TOGETHER, in arcta prifona, without meat or drink.* *Plots Natural bistory of Staffordshire, 287. John Scot, a Scotifh man, being caft in a fuit of law, and knowing himself insolvent, took fanctuary in the abbey of Holyroodhouse, where, out of a deep discontent, he abstain'd from all meat and drink thirty or forty days together. Publick rumour bringing this abroad, the king himself refolve'd to have it put to trial whereupon he was shut up, in a private room in the castle of Edinburgh, whereunto no man had accefs, and had a little bread and water fet by him, which he was found not to have tasteëd in thirty-two days. This proof of his abftinence being giveën, he was fet at liberty, and went to Rome, where he gave the like proof of it to pope Clement the feventh; at Venice; and, in his return, at London; where, inveighing against Henry the eighth, for his divorceing queen Catharine, and his defection from the fee of Rome, he was thruft into prifon, where he continue'd, allfo, fafting for fifty days together.* "Neither of thefe, however," fays Plot, "much exceeds the perpetual faft (as one may call it) of one Mary Vaughton of Wigginton in this county, who, from her cradle, live'd with fo fmall a quantity both of meats and drinks, * Ibi, 286. that all people admire'd how nature was thus fustain'd without any fenfible expanfion; fhe not eating in a day a piece above the fize of half a crown in bread and butter; or if meat, not above the quantity of a pigeons leg at most. She drank neither wine, ale, nor beer; but onely water, or milk, or both mix'd: and of either of these fcarce a fpoonful in a day; and yet fhe was a maiden of a fresh complexion, and healthy enough befide, as was very wel known, to many worthy perfons with whom fhe had live'd, that any greater quantitys, or different liquors, had allways made her fick.”* In the year 1603, was publish'd, by the kings fpecial privilege, at London, by James Roberts, "A true and admirable historie of a mayden of Confolens, in the province of Poictiers, that, for the fpace of three years and more, hath lived, and yet doth [live], without receiving either meat or drinke of whom his majesty, in perfon, hath had the view, and (by his command) Iris beft and and chiefeft phifitians have tryed all means to find whether this faft or abftinence be by deceipt or no. In this history is, alfo, discourfed, whether a man can live many dayes, *Ibi, 287. monthes, or yeares, without receiving any fus tenance." Katharine McLeod, daughter to Donald M'Leod, farmer, in Craig, in the parish of Kincardine, Rofsfhire, an unmarry'd woman, age'd, in 1769, about thirty-five years, fixteen years before contracted a fever, after which fhe became blind. She, afterward contracted another lingering fever, of which she never recover'd perfectly. Sometime, after this fever, her jaws fel, her eyelids close'd, and she lost her appetite. Her parents declare'd that, for the fpace of a year and three-quarters, they could not fay that any meat or liquid went down her throat, because she had no evacuation; and when they force'd open her jaws at one time, and fomething down her throat, fhe cough'd and strain'd as if in danger to be choak'd. One thing, dureing the time fhe ate and drank nothing, is remarkable, that her jaws were unlock'd, and fhe recover'd her fpeech, and retain'd it for several days. Whatever liquid fhe took, fhe immediately threw up again. Her forehead was contracted and wrinkle'd, her cheeks ful red and blooming; fhe flept a great deal, and Ameses Typographical antiquities. |