The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Eating, Including Cats, Rats, Grass And His Friend’s Leg
A Polish man named Charles Domery could never get full and gained a reputation for eating vast quantities of everything — including things not fit for consumption
There are many people who claim to have bottomless appetites. However, those are mere words compared to the reality of a Polish soldier from more than 200 years ago named Charles Domery. Embodying the definition of a glutton, he could truly never get enough to eat. When he couldn’t find enough proper food, he resorted to downing pounds of grass, cats, rats, and in one shocking incident, the leg of one of his military comrades that had been blown off by a cannonball.
Much of what is known about Domery comes from the work of Dr. Thomas Cochrane, a surgeon from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. As a young man, he fell under the care of the physician, who subsequently wrote about him and his unusual affliction.
It is believed that Domery was born in Poland around 1778 as one of 10 boys in his family (his family birth name was Domerz). It was recalled that all 10 siblings and their father had ravenous appetites, making keeping a stocked dinner table quite the challenge.
