Fasting Girls

excerpt from the book..ABSTINENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.Among the many remarkable manifestations by which hysteria exhibitsitself, for the astonishment of the credulous and uneducated portion ofthe public, and--alas, that it should have to be said,--for thedelectation of an occasional weak-minded and ignorant physician, theassumption of the ability to live without food may be assigned aprominent place. I am not aware that this power has been claimed in itsfullest development for the male of the human species. When he isdeprived of food he dies in a few days, more or less, according to hisphysical condition as regards adipose tissue and strength ofconstitution; but if a weak emaciated girl asserts that she is able toexist for years without eating, there are at once certificates andletters from clergymen, professors, and even physicians, in support ofthe truth of her story. The element of impossibility goes for nothingagainst the bare word of such a woman, and her statements are acceptedwit