...from Philbrick's "The Heart of the Sea". He writes of the effects of a lack of food, such as lethargy and irritability. Concerning a 1945 experiment in food deprivation he quoted one chronicler of the study who said, "Many of the so-called American characteristics - abounding energy, generosity, optimism - become intelligible as the expected behavior response of a well-fed people."
Philbrick writes that many participants were shocked at how coarse they became during the study:
A majority of the volunteers were members of the Church of the Brethren..."they marveled at how thin their moral and social veneers seemed to be."I'm surprised that they were surprised. Fasting, if nothing else, teaches how much of our "goodness" is simply bodily satisfaction mistaken as such.
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