284 Comments on Corpulency. 



on a small quantity of barley, became so accustomed to 

 eat very little, and very often, that he never sat down to 

 regular meals, but carried biscuit and gingerbread nuts in his 

 pocket, of which he ate from time to time. 



Mr. , aged sixty, has for upwards of ten years only 



made one meal a day. 



Sir John Pringle knew a lady, ninety years of age, who 

 lived on the pure fat of meat. 



Mossop, the actor, is said to have been particularly attached 

 to various food, according to the line of character he was to 

 represent. Broth for one ; roast pork for tyrants ; steaks for 

 ^ Measure for Measure ;' boiled mutton for lovers ; pudding 

 for Tancred, &c. 



Dr. Gower of Chelmsford had a patient who lived for ten 

 years on a pint of tea daily, now and then chewing half-a-dozen 

 raisins and almonds, but not swallowing them. Once a month 

 she ate a bit of bread the size of a nutmeg ; but frequently 

 abstaining from food for many weeks together. 



Dined with Dr. C , this day (Nov. 6th, 1802) ; he 



mentioned a case of a gentleman, who had never tasted fish, flesh, 

 or fowl, but whose diet had constantly been bread and milk. 

 He was once, in travelling, being very hungry, tempted to 

 taste a small piece of chicken, but it had such an effect on 

 him as to occasion fainting almost instantaneously. 



Mrs. F., of Therfield in Hertfordshire, now a stout healthy 

 woman, never tasted animal food till she was twenty years of age. 



Brassavolus reports, of the younger daughter of Frederick, 

 king of Naples, that she could not eat any kind of flesh, nor so 

 much as taste of it ; and as oft as she put any bit of it into 

 her mouth, she was seized with a vehement syncop^, and 

 falling to the earth, and rolling herself thereupon, would 

 lamentably shriek out. This she would continue to do for the 

 space of half an hour after she was returned to herself. — 

 Turner's History of Remarkable Providences ^ 1697, fol. part 2, 

 c. 2, § 6. 



The late Duke of Portland broke a blood-vessel in his lungs 

 when twenty-seven years of age. He was attended by Dr, 



