One of the most extraordinary cases of an insane man attempting to restore his reason by voluntary starvation was discovered recently at the ———— County Insane Asylum. The case presents an interesting study for medical men generally. ————, aged forty years, a well-known resident of ————, who has been confined in the institution for the last two years, has abstained absolutely from all food except water, for the space of forty-one days. From the forty-second day of his fast until the fifty-first day he drank one pint of milk daily, and from then began eating strawberries and milk. This diet was maintained for three weeks, and was then succeeded by oatmeal gruel and milk. The case is a matter of careful record at the institution and under circumstances that prevented deception. Therefore, there is not the slightest doubt as to the extraordinary performance having been genuine. Mr. ————, when he first came to the asylum, was very violent at times, but, like many insane persons, he was a ravenous eater. His insanity is supposed to be hereditary. Occasionally he has had lucid intervals, and during these brief periods he frequently expressed the belief that there existed some method by which the insane might have their affliction alleviated if not entirely done away with. To Mrs. ————, the matron of the asylum, he took a great fancy, and, while averse to having anything to do with any other of the officials, he confided in her thoroughly and often expressed the wish that his mind might be restored to him and that he could be released. “For forty-one days,” said Mrs. ————, “nothing passed his lips but water, and tepid water at that. Of this fact I am thoroughly positive, knowing as I do the continuous efforts made every day to induce him to eat. When he began the fast he had been living on the same diet as the rest of the patients. He came to me and said, seemingly in a perfectly rational manner, that he was anxious to be cured, and that he thought abstinence from food for a time might benefit him. Mr. ———— said he did not intend to carry his experiment to extremes, but that the moment he felt it would be proper for him to break the fast he would do so. On the second day ———— again refused to eat, and did not go out of his room. On the third day he drank a small cupful of water. At the end of the seventh day he had drank about six pints of water, and the natural functions of the body had then ceased. All of the attendants were instructed to use every possible means to induce the man to partake of nourishment, and a man was with him constantly through the day.” “Could he not have obtained food at night?” was asked.