Mary Ladwig, age 13, of South Milwaukee, Wis.' for her question‑.

How long can a person go without food?

A busy little mole starves to death in 24 hours and so does a dainty field mouse. Certain snakes can devour a huge meal and go without food for a year or more. Frogs and toads hibernate without food for several months. Most birds are snack eaters, gobbling a quick bite and always ready for the next one. A human being can stay alive without food for several weeks. Yet without water, he will die of thirst in a few days.

Small, energetic animals need a constant supply of food. A large, slow‑moving elephant may eat a quarter ton of hay a day. But for his size, he needs far less food than a :busy little mouse. These variations depend upon complex body processes called metabolism. Each type of creature has its own ways for converting food into energy, and to stay healthy, he must follow his own diet and stick to his regular mealtimes. During hibernation, these body processes slow down and even the heart beats only a few times a minute,

A human being can go on a starvation diet, but he is going against the natural laws by which his body stays healthy. The consequences may be very serious, even when the starvation lasts only a few days. The digestive tract is a sort of conveyer belt which reeds three properly balanced meals a day. Without any help from us, it performs a million miracles with this food to keep the entire body in good health and supply us with warmth and energy.

People who go on hunger strikes ignore these wonderful miracles. From time to time, we read of some person of importance who has gone on a hunger strike and we start to worry about him and wonder how long he can stay alive. This is the purpose behind the political hunger strike.