84 Lineaments of Leanness. 



dans les parties qui en sont privees." — MeibomiuSy de VUtilitd 

 de la Flagellation^ p. 33. 



He adds, — '' Combien de nourrices, sans avoir consulte 

 Jerome Mercurialis, ni Galien, ont recours k ce stratag^me 

 qu'elles connoissent par tradition, et claquant les enfans sur les 

 fesses, avant de les rendre k leurs m^res, trompent par cet 

 embonpoint factice et momentan^, la confiance des tendres 

 parens qui leur ont confie ces interessantes creatures!" — Mei- 

 bomiuSy de V Utilite de la Flagellation, 



One gentleman told me, that he understood mercury was 

 very fattening. Mercury of itself cannot be said to fatten ; 

 for if it fails to cure the disease for which it is adminstered, the 

 patient becomes thinner. 



Those who refer all the difficulties to the stomach, and look 

 for comfortable remedies in the '* Cookery-books," would do 

 well to visit Paris, where a restaurateur invites patients of this sort, 

 by the following consolatory exhortation written over his door: — 



Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis, et ego restaurabo vos ! 



This class of enquirers, who are generally great believers in 

 the efficacy of milk, and cock-broth baths, gelatine, and po- 

 tato-pie, and are ever on the alert to discover the most nutri- 

 tious articles of food, should be informed of the notable ex- 

 ample of the effect of chocolate, given by the industrious Dr. 

 Mundy, who says that he knew a man in a desperate con- 

 sumption, who took a great fancy for chocolate ; and his wife, 

 out of complaisance, drank it often with him : the consequence 

 was, the husband recovered, and the wife had three sons at one 

 birth \—Harl. MSS. 



Notwithstanding the encouragement held forth by various 

 remedial processes and specifics, the task still remains a diffi- 

 cult one — and we must even now agree with what the learned 

 Bulmer said a century ago, *' All bodies may be made leane, 

 but it is impossible to fatten where vehement heat or driness is 

 by nature ; for one may easily subtract from Nature, but to 

 add to Nature is difficult, Avhen Virtue does not co-operate : 

 all other creatures, if they have sufficient and proper food, will 

 grow fat and befranked ; whereas men, although they have the 

 best aliment exhibited to them, will not in like manner be fat, 

 the chiefe cause whereof, as to man, is imputed to his tempe-* 

 lomQnV^ '^Artificial Changeling, p. 478. 



