Lineamenis of Leanness, 79 



tary canal, to which the attention of modern physicians and 

 physiologists has been particularly directed ; and to which we 

 may attribute the duodenal diseases, and discrepancies, now so 

 fashionable. 



There are many of the phenomena of digestion perfectly in- 

 telligible ; there are others that are not sO ; and from the pecu- 

 liar effects of certain alimentary substances, we are led to con* 

 elude, that there is a shorter road for some of the excretions, 

 than by the lacteals and general circulation. And although 

 we can very readily explain and account for various circum- 

 stances connected with digestion and chylefaction, there are 

 many questions arising out of them, that an ingenious casuist 

 may suggest, to which we can give no other answer than the 

 doctors did to Voltaire, when he proposed on this subject the 

 following question : — 



" Par quel secret mystere, 

 Ce pain, cet aliment dans mon corps digere, 

 Se transforme dans un lait douceraent pr^par^ ? 

 Comment, toujours filtre dans ces routes certaines 

 En longs ruisseaux de pourpre il court enfler raes veines ?" 



** Demandez-ce k ce Dieu qui nous donne la vie—" 



Was the oracular answer. 



** But what is the cause of my leanness ?" said a thin gen** 

 tleman, who would have given half his fortune for half of my 

 fat; ^* what is the cause of my leanness?" — "Demandez- 

 ce d ce Dieu!" — ** Pho ! demand a fiddle-stick's end! — I 

 want you to tell me, sir — you, sir ; — what is the cause of my 

 leanness?" — ^* Well, — soyez tranquille — be quiet a minute: 

 there is a predisposition in your constitution to make you lean, 

 and a disposition in your constitution to keep you so." This 

 explanation, about as satisfactory as Dr. Thomas Diaphoreus* 

 explanation of the properties of opium — ** quia est in ea," &c. 

 &c., did not soothe the irritability of my lean inquirer, who 

 became^ if possible, more shrunken and wizened as his heat 

 increased. Seeing the nature and temper of my antagonist, I 

 went to book with him in another way :-^** Why, sir, as to the 

 causes of leanness, there may be many that an ingenious 

 theorist might suggest ; — I speak to you, sir, as to a sensible 

 man.^' — ^The storm and heat began to subside j an oily word is 



