Charles Domery

Charles Domery was a Polish soldier serving in the Prussian and French armies. He was noted for his unusually large appetite. While stationed near Paris, he was recorded as having eaten 174 cats in a year. During service on the French ship Hoche, he attempted to eat the severed leg of a crew member hit by cannon fire, before other members of the crew wrestled it from him.

About Charles Domery in brief

Summary Charles DomeryCharles Domery was a Polish soldier serving in the Prussian and French armies. He was noted for his unusually large appetite. While stationed near Paris, he was recorded as having eaten 174 cats in a year. During service on the French ship Hoche, he attempted to eat the severed leg of a crew member hit by cannon fire, before other members of the crew wrestled it from him. In one experiment, over the course of a day he ate 16 pounds of raw cow’s udder, raw beef and tallow candles and four bottles of porter, all of which he ate and drank without defecating, urinating, or vomiting. Despite his unusual diet and behaviour in the presence of food, it was noted by the doctors studying him that he never vomited, other than when fed large amounts of roasted or boiled meat. He showed no outward signs of ill health, and doctors observing him noted that his eyes were lively and his tongue clean. His pulse was regular at around 84 BPM, and his body temperature normal.

His muscles were normally formed, but observed by doctors to be weaker than usual, although during his time in the army he had marched 14 French leagues in a day with no ill effects. He had long, brown hair and grey eyes, was smooth-skinned, and was described as having a \”pleasant countenance\”. Doctors observing Domery saw no signs of mental illness and although illiterate, hewas considered of normal intelligence by his crewmates and by the prison doctors who studied him. He would eat any available food, or if no food was available, he would smoke tobacco. At around 2:00 am he would go back to sleep, and wake again at between 5: 00 and 6: 00 am, sweating heavily; as soon as he got out of bed, the sweating would cease, starting again whenever he ate. By the age of 13, Domery had enlisted in the. Prussian Army, and became part of an army besieging Thionville.