A. It actually does so. Every muscle, nerve, and organ of the body, actually wastes away like a burning candle; and (being reduced to air and ashes) is rejected from the system as useless.
Q. If every bone, muscle, nerve, and organ, is thus consumed by combustion, why is not the body entirely consumed?
A. It would be so, unless the parts destroyed were perpetually renewed: but as a lamp will not go out, so long as it is supplied with fresh oil; neither will the body be consumed, so long as it is supplied with sufficient food.
Q. When a man is starved, what parts of the body go first?
A. First the fat, because it is the most combustible; then the muscles; last of all the brain; and then the man dies, like a candle which is burnt out.
Q. Why does want of sufficient nourishment often produce madness?
A. After the fat and muscles of the body have been consumed by animal combustion, the brain is next attacked; and (unless the patient dies) madness must ensue from starvation.
Q. Why does a man shrink when starved?
A. A starved man shrinks just as a fire does, unless it be supplied with sufficient fuel.