t when last seen he weighed 284 pounds and was increasing a half
pound daily. Despite his continuous eating, this boy constantly
complained of hunger.

Polydipsia is an abnormal thirst; it may be seen in persons otherwise
normal, or it may be associated with diseases--such as diabetes
mellitus or diabetes insipidus. Mackenzie quotes a case from Trousseau,
in which an individual afflicted with diabetes insipidus passed 32
liters of urine daily and drank enormous quantities of water. This
patient subjected himself to severe regimen for eight months,--although
one day, in his agonies, he seized the chamber-pot and drank its
contents at once. Mackenzie also mentions an infant of three who had
polydipsia from birth and drank daily nearly two pailfuls of water. At
the age of twenty-two she married a cobbler, unaware of her propensity,
who found that his earnings did not suffice to keep her in water alone,
and he was compelled to melt ice and snow for her. She drank four
pailfuls a day, the price being 12 sous; water in the community was
scarce and had to be bought. This woman bore 11 children. At the age of
forty she appeared before a scientific commission and drank in their
presence 14 quarts of water in ten hours and passed ten quarts of
almost colorless urine. Dickinson mentions that he has had patients in
his own practice who drank their own urine. Mackenzie also quotes
Trousseau's history of a man who drank a liter of strong French brandy
in two hours, and habitually drank the same quantity daily. He stated
that he was free from the effects of alcohol; on several occasions on a
wager he took 20 liters of wine, gaining his wager without visibly
affecting his nervous system.

There is an instance of a man of fifty-eight who could not live through
the night without a pail of water, although his health was otherwise
good. Atkinson in 1856 reported a young man who in childhood was a
dirt-eater, though at that time complaining of nothing but excessive
thirst. He was active, industrious, enjoyed good health, and was not
addicted to alcoholics. His daily ration of water was from eight to
twelve gallons. He always placed a tub of water by his bed at night,
but this sometimes proved insufficient. He had frequently driven hogs
from mudholes to slake his thirst with the water. He married in 1829
and moved into Western Tennessee, and in 1854 he was still drinking the
accustomed amount; and at this time he had grown-up children. War