s her daughter had contrived, when washing her
face, to feed her every morning, by using towels made very wet with
gravy, milk, or strong arrowroot gruel, and had also conveyed food from
mouth to mouth in kissing her, which it is presumed she did very
often.[8]

In a clinical lecture delivered at St. George's Hospital,[9] Dr. John W.
Ogle calls attention to the simulation of fasting as a manifestation of
hysteria, and relates the following amusing case:

"A girl strongly hysterical, aged twenty, in spite of all persuasion and
medical treatment, refused every kind of food, or if made to eat, soon
vomited the contents of the stomach. On November 6th, 1869, whilst the
girl was apparently suffering in the same manner, the Queen passed the
hospital on her way to open Blackfriars Bridge. She arose in bed so as
to look out of the window, although up to this time declaring that every
movement of her body caused intense pain. On December 29, the following
letter in the girl's handwriting, addressed to another patient in the
same ward, was picked up from the floor: 'My Dear Mrs. Evens,--I was
very sorry you should take the trouble of cutting me such a nice piece
of bread and butter, yesterday. I would of taken it but all of them saw
you send it, and then they would have made enough to have talked about.
But I should be very glad if you would cut me a nice piece of crust and
put it in a piece of paper and send it, or else bring it, so that they
do not see it, for they all watch me very much, and I should like to be
your friend and you to be mine. Mrs. Winslow, (the nurse) is going to
chapel. I will make it up with you when I can go as far. Do not send it
if you cannot spare it. Good bye, and God bless you.' Although she
prevaricated about this letter, she appears to have gradually improved
from this time on, and one day walked out of the hospital and left it
altogether. She subsequently wrote a letter to the authorities
expressing her regret at having gone on as she did."

One of the most remarkable instances of the kind, is that of Sarah
Jacob, known as the "Welsh Fasting Girl," and whose history and tragical
death excited a great deal of comment in the medical and lay press in
Great Britain a few years ago. The following account of the case is
mainly derived from Dr. Fowler's[10] interesting work.

Sarah Jacob was born May 12th, 1857. Her parents were farmers and were
uneducated, simple-minded, and ignorant persons. In her ea