Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1889 — Existing on His Store of Fat. [ARTICLE]

Existing on His Store of Fat.

Here is testimony to the value of fat: On the 14th of December, 1810, a pig was buried in its sty through the fall of part of the cliff under Dover Castle. The sty consisted of a cave in the rock about six feet square, and boarded in front, and when the accident happened the pig was in good condition, weighing about 160 pounds. Five months afterward, on the 23d of May, 1811, some workmen who were engaged in cleaning away the debris of the fallen cliff mentioned to Dr. Mantell, a well-known geologist of the day, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society, that they were sure they heard the pig whining. He thought the statement incredible, but ordered them to clear away the chalk as fast as they could; and, sure enough, when they 'got to the sty, the pig was there, weak and emaciated, fallen to' only a fourth of his former weight, but alive. In 160 days he had been strictly self-supporting, living on the store of fat he had laid up in more prosperous times. There were, however, evidences of his sufferings in the wood that shut in the sty being nibbled, away in places, while he had licked the sides of the cave smooth in the attempt to obtain the moisture exuding from the rock. —London Hospital.