Virgin moths (Bombyx) carried in boxes in the
pockets of entomologists will on wide commons cause the
appearance of males of the same species.
Bulimia is excessive morbid hunger, also called canine appetite.
While sometimes present in healthy people, it is most often seen
in idiots and the insane, and is a symptom of diabetes mellitus.
Mortimer mentions a boy of twelve who, while laboring under this
affliction, in six days devoured food to the extent of 384 pounds
and two ounces. He constantly vomited, but his craving for food
was so insatiable that if not satisfied he would devour the flesh
off his own bones. Martyn, Professor of Botany at Cambridge in
the early part of the last century, tells of a boy ten years old
whose appetite was enormous. He consumed in one week 373 pounds
of food and drink. His urine and stools were voided in normal
quantities, the excess being vomited. A pig was fed on what he
vomited, and was sold in the market. The boy continued in this
condition for a year, and at last reports was fast failing.
Burroughs mentions a laborer at Stanton, near Bury, who ate an
ordinary leg of veal at a meal, and fed at this extravagant rate
for many days together. He would eat thistles and other similar
herbs greedily.
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