Lineaments of Leanness, tt 



an age of discoveries ! — the quantity of fat diffused over the 

 body must be in proportion to the quantity in the depot : I 

 must have a small coecum ! Now the question is — can we 

 enlarge it ? — Perhaps I have no coecum !" We quite agreed 

 upon the impossibility of supplying this defect ; but as " there 

 is more in heaven and earth than we dream of in our philo- 

 sophy," my philosopher did not like to relinquish all specu- 

 lation upon the subject. I considered the case beyond surgery. 

 I am not sure that I might have been allowed to look at the 

 caput coli, — though I have known an operation done on almost 

 as frivolous grounds. But when I told him that, according to 

 the account of the celebrated Hoffman, dogs became rapidly fat 

 when their spleen was removed, and that Mr. Hunter once 

 removed it from a wounded man, who did very well, there 

 seemed to arise a lurking longing, as much as to say, '' I wish 

 Mr. Hunter had my spleen." 



There is an asperity in the acute angles of some persons, 

 that gives a most forbidding appearance, — every feature is 

 sharp, and every variety of movement quick. Shakspeare 

 makes Caesar desire that he may have fat people about his 

 person. It would be hard, on this authority, to condemn all 

 persons who have the misfortune to be born with small 

 coecums and large spleens, and are meagre from causes they 

 cannot control, "as fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils." 

 Yet it is clear that Caesar liked a curvilinear embonpoint 

 appearance in his body-guard, and thought there was most 

 safety with a corpulent corps of household troops. 



The lean are not less exposed to ridicule than the corpulent. 

 A reverend doctor of divinity, of very ghostly appearance, was 

 one day accosted by a vulgar fellow, who, after eyeing him 

 from head to foot, at last said, " Well, doctor, I hope you 

 have taken care of your soul /" " Why, my friend," said the 

 amiable shadow, " why should you be so anxious that I should 

 take care of my soul?" " Because," rephed the other, " I 

 can tell you that your body is not worth caring for." 



Jonas Hanway, who was remarkably thin, was met by a 

 man much inebriated, who approached him in so irregular a 

 direction, that it might have been concluded that he had busi- 

 ness on both sides the way. Hanway stopped when he came 



JULY— SEPT. 1828. G 



