l. She also conveyed food to her mother by means of
kisses. One of the "fasting girls," Margaret Weiss, although only ten
years old, had such powers of deception that after being watched by the
priest of the parish, Dr. Bucoldianus, she was considered free from
juggling, and, to everybody's astonishment, she grew, walked, and
talked like other children of her age, still maintaining that she used
neither food nor drink. In several other cases reported all attempts to
discover imposture failed. As we approach more modern times the
detection is more frequent. Sarah Jacobs, the Welsh fasting girl who
attained such celebrity among the laity, was taken to Guy's Hospital on
December 9, 1869, and after being watched by eight experienced nurses
for eight days she died of starvation. A postmortem examination of Anna
Garbero of Racconis, in Piedmont, who died on May 19, 1828, after
having endured a supposed fast of two years, eight months, and eleven
days, revealed remarkable intestinal changes. The serous membranes were
all callous and thickened, and the canal of the sigmoid flexure was
totally obliterated. The mucous membranes were all soft and friable,
and presented the appearance of incipient gangrene.

Modern Cases.--Turning now to modern literature, we have cases of
marvelous abstinence well substantiated by authoritative evidence.
Dickson describes a man of sixty-two, suffering from monomania, who
refused food for four months, but made a successful recovery.
Richardson mentions a case, happening in 1848, of a man of thirty-three
who voluntarily fasted for fifty-five days. His reason for fasting,
which it was impossible to combat, was that he had no gastric juice and
that it was utterly useless for him to take any nutrition, as he had no
means of digesting it. He lived on water until the day of his death.
Richardson gives an interesting account of the changes noticed at the
necropsy. There is an account of a religious mendicant of the Jain
caste who as a means of penance fasted for ninety-one days. The
previous year he had fasted eighty-six days. He had spent his life in
strict asceticism, and during his fasting he was always engrossed in
prayer.

Collins describes a maiden lady of eighty, always a moderate eater, who
was attacked by bronchitis, during which she took food as usual. Two
days after her recovery, without any known cause, she refused all food
and continued to do so for thirty-three days, when she died. She was