296 OF THE FAT. 



of it; a fact more explicable on the supposition of 

 diseased action of vessels, than of the preternatural 

 formation of glands. Thus, it is occasionally formed 

 in the orbits ; a lump of hard fat generally fills up the 

 place of an extirpated testicle ; and steotoms have been 

 found in almost every cavity of the body. 



The glands which some celebrated characters have 

 contended secrete the fat, are not yet more than imagi- 

 ginary. Whatever may be the truth of this matter, 

 the deposition and absorption of the fat take place with 

 great rapidity. 



488. The use of the fat is multifarious. 



It lubricates the solids and facilitates their move- 

 ments ; prevents excessive sensibility ; and, by equally 

 distending the skin, contributes to beauty. 



We pass over the particular uses of fat in certain 

 parts, v. c. of the marrow of the bones. 



During health, it contributes little or nothing to nou- 

 rishment.* The modern opinion has more probability, 

 that it affords a receptacle for the superfluous hydrogen, 

 which could not otherwise be easily evacuated.f(A) 



NOTE. 



(A) The fattest person on record is, I believe, Lambert of 

 Leicester. He weighed seven hundred and thirty-nine pounds. 



* P. Lyonet conjectures with probability, that insects destitute of blood 

 derive their chief nourishment from the fat in which they abound. Tr. annt. de 

 la Chenille qui range tc bois de Sawlc. p. 428, 483 sq. and the Preface, p. xiii, 



t See Fourcroy, 1. c. 



