Abstinece, the partial or total deprivation of food. The phenomena which characterize life are connected with chemical changes occurring in portions of the blood or tissues of the body itself; the presence of the substances resulting from these changes being hurtful to the body, they are eliminated from it by the various organs of excretion. This constant loss demands an equivalent supply. If the supply be withheld, the chemical changes still continue and the body wastes; the organism feeds upon itself, and when this is no longer possible, death ensues. The period during which a human being previously in good health can sustain life under a total deprivation of food and drink, is generally stated to be from eight to ten days. This varies, however, under different circumstances. Persons of mature age support abstinence better than those who are younger; women, from the greater development of the fatty tissues, and the less activity of the muscular and nervous systems, better than men; children, in whom all the organic functions are exceedingly active, worst of all.

A damp atmosphere which checks exhalation, a moderate temperature, and quiet of body are favorable to the prolongation of life; while muscular exertion, a hot dry air, and a low temperature tend to shorten the period during which it can be preserved. Fodere (Medecine legale) states that some workmen buried in a damp quarry were extricated alive after a period of 14 days; while after the wreck of the Medusa, the sufferers on the raft, exposed to a high temperature and constant exertion, at the end of three days, although they still had a small quantity of wine, were so famished that they commenced devouring the dead bodies of their companions. Water alone tends materially to prolong life. Dr. Sloane ("Medical Gazette," vol. xvii., p. 389) gives an account of a man 65 years of age, who was rescued from a coal mine after he had been immured 23 days, during the first 10 of which he had a little muddy water. He was so much reduced that he died three days after. The cases of starvation which have been best and most accurately observed, have been those in which the oesophagus has been gradually but at last completely obstructed by cancerous disease.

In these cases the deprivation of aliment has been but partial, the patient having been still imperfectly nourished by nutritive injections, which have supported life for a period of five or six weeks. Mental alienation has a marked influence in prolonging the period during which life can be sustained without food. Dr. Willan has recorded a case in which, under the influence of religious delusion, a young man lived 60 days, taking during that time nothing but a little water flavored with orange juice. Dr. M'Naughton of Albany ("American Journal of Medical Science," vol. vi., p. 543) gives a similar instance, during which a young man lived 54 days on water alone. And in a case read in the French academy (Archives generales de medecine, torn, xxvii., p. 130), a suicide lived 6O days on nothing but a few mouthfuls of orgeat syrup, before death put an end to his sufferings. Hysterical women often support abstinence in a wonderful manner; but there is in hysteria so much moral perversion, so great a tendency to deceit for the sake of exciting interest and sympathy, that all such cases require to be carefully and closely scrutinized.

Most of the instances reported by the old authors, in which total abstinence was endured for months or even years, belong to this category, and are untrustworthy. - The first effect of prolonged abstinence from food and drink under ordinary circumstances, apart from the sensations of hunger and thirst, is pain and distress in the epigastrium, which is relieved by pressure. This subsides after a day or two, and is succeeded by a sense of sinking and weakness in the same region; the thirst at the same time becomes more intense, and is thenceforth the principal source of suffering. Emaciation soon begins to make rapid progress, the eye has a wild glistening stare, the senses are dulled, and the intellect enfeebled; the excretions become rare, scanty, and fetid; the urine is high-colored, often causing a burning pain when passed; often toward the end diarrhoea comes on. The sufferer becomes exceedingly weak, the voice is low and hoarse, the gait slow and tottering, mid at length all exertion is impossible; the breath is offensive; the skin is covered with a dirty-looking secretion and exhales a putrid odor. Maniacal delirium often supervenes, and death is sometimes preceded by convulsions.

When persons are immured by the falling in of a mine, quarry, etc, they seem subdued by the darkness; but in cases of starvation after shipwreck, or in travelling through an uncultivated country, the worst passions are aroused, and suspicion and ferocity add to the torments of hunger. A high temperature seems to aggravate these passions. " It is impossible to imagine," says M. Savigny, in speaking of the wreck of the Medusa, "to what a degree the circulation is quickened under exposure to the burning sun of the equator. The pain of my head was intolerable; I could scarcely master the impetuosity of my movement; to use a well-known phrase, the blood boiled in my veins; all my companions suffered from the same excitement;" and the terrible scenes of blood and crime which passed upon the raft were doubtless owing largely to this cause. - On examination after death the bodies of those dying of starvation are found to be almost bloodless, except the brain which contains its usual quantity, and completely destitute of fat. The various organs, with the exception of the brain, are all reduced in bulk, and the coats of the intestinal canal especially are rendered thinner.

M. Chossat (Recherches experimentales sur Vinanition) deprived a number of animals (birds and small mammals) of all sustenance, and carefully observed the phenomena that followed, and his experiments throw much light upon the subject of starvation. The temperature in all the animals was maintained at nearly the normal standard until the last day of life, when it began rapidly to fall. The animals, previously restless, now became quiet, as if stupefied; they fell over on their side, unable to stand; the breathing became slower and slower, the pupils dilated, the insensibility grew more profound, and death took place either quietly or attended with convulsions. If, when these phenomena were fully developed, external warmth was applied, the animals revived, their muscular force returned, they moved or flew about the room, and took greedily the food that was presented to them. If now they were again left to themselves, they speedily perished; but if the external temperature was maintained until the food taken was digested (and from the feeble condition of their digestive organs this often took many hours), they recovered. The immediate cause of death seemed to be cold rather than starvation.