THE IMPEDIMENT OF ADIPOSE. 61 



pharynx, etc. ; this same web of membrane is carried to the Eustachian 

 tubes (which lead from the back part of the mouth to the cavity of 

 the ear), and thus it is that what only visibly affects one portion, say 

 the lachrymal canal, or the tonsils, may sympathetically disorder the 

 sense of taste or hearing. The substance of this mucous membrane is 

 composed of three layers, containing a cellular or folliculous system of 

 roundish or oval cells, which are subject to morbid alterations, that 

 affect pails far removed from the local appearance of disorder. Thus, 

 Dr. Harvey reports : " I have seen and treated many cases of deafness 

 which appeared to depend solely on nasal obstruction from adipose de- 

 posit. It does this by interfering with or impeding the entrance of 

 the air to the mouth of the Eustachian tubes, undue limitation of air 

 lessening the sensibility and acuteness of the auditory organ. These 

 cases usually occur in persons of great corpulence, in which case local 

 treatment is almost valueless. The corpulence itself must be re- 

 duced." 



We might go on and point out many physical ills which result 

 from obesity, and we will name a few ; but our principal object in 

 these images is to show that a redundance of adipose matter essentially 

 weakens and impedes the power of the will. We know that it disin- 

 clines to activity, produces shortness of breath, palpitation of the 

 heart, and comparative weakness in proportion to size, and is often 

 accompanied by anaemia. We can make this clearer, perhaps, by an 

 illustration. The normal weight of a man five feet in height is 120 

 pounds ; of a man five feet ten inches, 169 pounds. Now, suppose the 

 latter really weighs 300 pounds by accumulation of fat, what results 

 but that all this superfluous matter has to be supplied with capillaries, 

 and these have to get blood from vessels only constructed to circulate 

 the original quantity ? No wonder is it that the circulation is enfee- 

 bled and impeded ! By this increase of adipose there is no increase of 

 propelling force. Hence, the overstrain upon the capillaries and the 

 ensuing comparative weakness in the vital functions are explained, and 

 also why external injuries are less easily repaired. 



It is a well-settled rule in all -animal structures that, when the 

 quantity of fat exceeds the law of their construction, bulk becomes 

 a source of imperfect equilibrium, and therefore of danger. The 

 most bulky animals are not the most useful nor the strongest. An 

 elephant compared with its size is not as strong as an ant. Then 

 there is this physiological fact, that the oleaginous principle is actu- 

 ally less alive than any other part of an animal. Observe the blub- 

 ber of a whale, into which parasites bore an inch deep without 

 causing any inconvenience, and into which a harpoon may be thrust 

 without serious injury if it does not penetrate to the muscular 

 substance. The quantity of fatty matter in animals seems to bear 

 an inverse relation to the quantity of bodily and mental activity. 

 Hibernating animals, who may be said to live on their own fat, are 



