CONCERNING CORPULENCE. 449 



juices are freely consumed, but, when the season is over, the super- 

 abundant adipose tissue is gradually lost. It is said that, among the 

 Asiatics, there are Bramins who pride themselves on their extreme 

 corpulency. Their diet consists of farinaceous vegetables, milk, sugar, 

 sweetmeats, and ghee, a species of Indian butter. Dr. Fothergill re- 

 marks, that a strictly vegetable diet produces excess of fat more cer- 

 tainly than other means. 



The use of a large amount of liquid in the diet also favors the de- 

 posit of fat. Alcoholic drinks are especially objectionable in this re* 

 spect, for, according to Dr. Harvey, the elements which are chemically 

 convertible into fat are rendered more fattening if alcoholic liquids be 

 added to them in the stomach ; perhaps, because of the power which 

 alcoholic liquids possess of lessening or delaying destructive metamor- 

 phosis. 



Inactivity, by decreasing waste in the system, acts in a negative 

 way toward the production of obesity. In order to fatten animals, 

 they are habitually confined, and, if the process is to be a rapid one, 

 they are kept in the dark as a means of securing the utmost quiet. 

 Now, indolence on the part of the human animal, associated, as it gen- 

 erally is, with excessive eating and drinking, and much sleep, consti- 

 tutes a similar set of conditions, and is likely to lead to a similar 

 result. 



The consequences of obesity are often more serious than is gener- 

 ally believed. To put aside the many minor inconveniences, which, 

 however, may be sufficiently annoying to make the sufferer desirous 

 of reducing his weight, it may be taken as a general rule that 

 obesity does not conduce to longevity. Usually it is accompanied 

 with diminished vital power ; there are disturbances of the organs of 

 respiration, circulation, and digestion. The blood is proportionately 

 deficient in quantity or quality, and the muscles are weak and have 

 but little firmness. And, although the disposition is often sanguine, 

 so that the sufferer continues lively and cheerful, and has the happy 

 habit of looking at the best side of every thing, yet physical and men- 

 tal occupations are generally uncongenial. There are several notable 

 exceptions to this, however, and many can call to mind cases where 

 both the bodily and mental habits are quite as active in the obese as in 

 others. Maccaz gives the case of an enormously fat man, whom he 

 met at Pavia, that was celebrated as a dancer, and whose movements 

 were exceedingly agile and graceful. David Hume and Napoleon 

 may be instanced as examples where corpulence was associated with 

 great mental powers ; and Raggi, an Italian physician, who was an 

 eminent authority on corpulence, relates numerous cases of extreme 

 obesity in which the intellect remained quite alert to the last. Never- 

 theless, the rule holds good that extreme fatness is very much in the 

 way of either bodily or mental work. 



By an over-development of adipose tissue the capillary system of 

 29 



