234 LETTERS TO BROTHER JOHN. 



vessels must soon actually burst under the disten- 

 sion. But Nature has, though only in part, made 

 a provision against this evil : for when, after 

 having supplied the waste of the body, there is still 

 remaining an undue quantity of blood in the 

 vessels, the vessels relieve themselves, and reduce 

 the quantity of blood, by the secretion of fat ; thus 

 restoring the blood's volume to a due standard. 



How beautiful is the economy of Nature ! The fat 

 of the body may be most aptly likened to honey in 

 the comb a store laid by for a season of want. 

 For whenever the supply of food becomes insuffi- 

 cient for the supply of the body's waste, this/ai is 

 again taken up by the lymphatics, and carried into 

 the blood ; becomes itself blood ; and thus supplies 

 that deficiency in the blood's volume which would, 

 in a season of want, be produced by scarcity of food. 



But the fat, as fat, is of no use whatever to the 

 boo*y : it does not add to its strength : on the con- 

 trary, it is an incumbrance to its machinery, and, 

 in more ways than one, is an evil. The fat, quasi fat, 

 does not form a necessary part of the body, any 

 more than the padding and wadding of a fashionable 

 coat form a necessary part of the coat. The pad- 

 ding of the coat does not add an iota to the strength 

 and quality of the original texture of the cloth; 



