CI'S sixty days fast was
completed to-day. The Italian who, on the first day, weighed 140 lbs.,
has lost 100 lbs. up to the present, but he seems as confident and
cheerful as ever.
A somewhat disagreeable incident marred the harmony of yesterday's
proceedings. A boy, who was looking on, happened to drop half a penny
bun in the vicinity of the Signor, who reached towards it, and having
managed, after some struggles, which created much amusement amongst the
onlookers, to pick it up, was about to convey it to his mouth. He would
no doubt have eaten it if the senior member of the Medical Committee,
appointed to watch the proceedings, had not interfered. The fragment was
removed, and it was pointed out to DONTUCCI that such an act on his part
was unfair not only to himself, but to the large number of sportsmen who
had made bets on the event.
_Wednesday._--The fifty-seventh day of this marvellous feat was
signalised by the appearance of four of the Italian's rib-bones, both
his collar-bones, and one shin-bone. The Medical Committee treat this as
a comparatively unimportant development of the fast, but to the outside
public, who swarm to the exhibition, the Signor presents a decidedly
dilapidated and ludicrous appearance. He has lost eight pounds more
since yesterday. It was somewhat comical to watch him eyeing a stout
young nurserymaid, who had brought a plump baby with her. Such
cannibalistic desires show that our boasted civilisation is, after all,
only skin deep.
_Saturday._--An immense crowd had assembled to watch the completion of
the great fast. As the hour approached bets were freely hazarded on the
result, odds of five to four on the Signor's survival finding a ready
market. Much amusement was created by a feeble murmur from DONTUCCI, in
which he was understood to declare that he was starving, one well-known
patron of sport asking him, jocularly, if the smell of a beefsteak would
do him any good. On the first stroke of two o'clock an enthusiastic
shout rent the air, and a body of sympathisers insisted on carrying the
Italian shoulder-high through the building and the adjacent streets in
procession. We regret to say that, under their well-intentioned, but not
very gentle handling, DONTUCCI suffered severely. Should he succumb to
this comparatively rough treatment it will be a matter of regret, as his
contribution to scientific knowledge is considerable. From his condition
at the end of the fast, it may be now acc
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