An account of the extraordinary abstinence of Ann Moor, of Tutbury, Staffordshire : who has, for more than two years, lived entirely without food : giving the particulars of her life to the present time, an account of the investigation instituted on the occasion, and observations on the letters of some medical men who attended it : also other similar cases of abstinence, etc.

Date:
1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the extraordinary abstinence of Ann Moor, of Tutbury, Staffordshire : who has, for more than two years, lived entirely without food : giving the particulars of her life to the present time, an account of the investigation instituted on the occasion, and observations on the letters of some medical men who attended it : also other similar cases of abstinence, etc. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    as to deny facts, that have the authenticity of men of the first respectability, amongst whom are several in the medical profession. Mr. Taylor, a respectable medical gentleman, who undertook to investigate the affair, is a man of strict scrutiny; he used every means to detect her, and had she been guilty of deceit, it were impossible that it, could have escaped his penetration. Ife, like others, was at first prepossessed with a strong pre- judice against her, which nothing but the most con- vincing proofs could have removed. He was so con- fident in his own mind, that it was an imposition, that he went with the intent of discovering the cheat, and punishing the impostors: however, he had not been there more than two days, before he began, in some measure, to relax from his suspicions. Her willingness to submit to every thing that he proposed, and even consenting to be removed from her own house to another; which was procured (in order the more effectually to carry on the investigation), were circumstances much in her favour. So very strict was he, that he suffered no person of her acquain- tance to come near her, and during the watch which continued for sixteen days and nights (of which I shall hereafter give an account) no person was allow- ed to attend, but such as discredited the fact; and by this means it was more in his power to convince the public of her innocence, which at that time very few even in the same town would believe; but since the investigation there is scarcly one person in or near Tutbury, but is well assured of the truth of the wo- man's assertions. This is not the first instance of the kind that has taken place within this last century, the