PRINCIPLES CONSUMED BY THE ORGANISM. 503 



Harvey, F. R. C. S., of London, he confined himself to a diet containing no sugar and as 

 little starch and fat as possible. Continuing this regimen for one year, he gradually lost 

 weight, at the rate of about one pound each week, until he was reduced to one hundred 

 and fifty-six pounds. At the time the last edition of the pamphlet was published, in 

 1864, he enjoyed perfect health and weighed one hundred and fifty pounds, his weight 

 varying only to the extent of one pound, more or less, in the course of a month. This 

 little tract is very interesting, both from the importance of its physiological deductions and 

 its quaint literary style. It has had an immense circulation, and many persons suffering 

 from excessive adipose development have adopted the system here advised, with results 

 more or less favorable. A study of the course of diet here prescribed shows it to be a 

 pretty rigid training system, with the exception of succulent vegetables and liquids, 

 which are allowed without restriction. It is proper to remark, however, that some 

 enthusiastic advocates of the plan have exceeded the limits prescribed and have neglected 

 the caution of the author always to employ it under the advice of a physician ; and its too 

 rigid enforcement has been followed by serious disturbances in general nutrition. Others, 

 however, have verified the favorable results obtained by Mr. Banting. 



It is difficult to explain the remarkable constitutional tendency to obesity observed in 

 some individuals, which is very often hereditary. Such persons will become very fat 

 upon a comparatively low diet, while others deposit but little adipose matter, even when 

 the regimen is abundant. It is to be noted, however, that the former are generally 

 addicted to the use of starchy, saccharine, and fatty elements of food, while the latter con- 

 sume a greater proportion of nitrogenized matter. 



It is not an uncommon remark that the habit of taking large quantities of liquids 

 favors the formation of fat ; but it is not easy to find any scientific basis for such an 

 opinion. * As to the formation of fat by any particular organ or organs in the body, no 

 positive scientific view has been advanced, except the proposition by Bernard, that the 

 liver had this function, in addition to its glycogenic office. This we have already dis- 

 cussed and have shown that such a function is far from being positively established. 



Condition under which Fat exists in the Organism. It is said that fat combined with 

 phosphorus is united with nitrogenized matter in the substance of the nervous tissue ; but 

 its condition here is not well understood, as we shall see when we come to treat of the 

 nervous system. A small quantity of fat is contained in the blood-corpuscles, and a little 

 is held in solution in the bile; but, with these exceptions, fat always exists in the body 

 isolated and uncombined with nitrogenized matter, in the form of granules or globules 

 and of adipose tissue. The three varieties of fat are here combined in variable propor- 

 tions, which is the cause of the differences in its consistence in different situations. The 

 ultimate elements of fat are, carbon, hydrogen, and 

 oxygen, the two latter in unequal proportions. 



Physiological Anatomy of Adipose Tissue. Adipose 

 tissue is found in abundance in the interstices of the 

 subcutaneous areolar tissue, where it is sometimes 

 known as the panniculus adiposus. It is not, how- 

 ever, to be confounded with the so-called cellular or ^ u ^_ AfHpo , e ^, MM . ma(mifie(l 

 areolar tissue, and is simply associated with it without 350 <//</>/>< >/<'/*. 



being one of its essential parts; for the areolar tissue * b n S at3 JiTc th?' 



is abundant in certain situations, as the evelids and by which the fat is dissolved, the 



empty vesicles remaining. 



scrotum, where there is no adipose matter, and adipose 



tissue exists sometimes, as in the marrow of the bones, without any areolar tissue. 



Adipose tissue is widely distributed in the body and has important mechanical func- 

 tions. Its anatomical element is a vesicle, from -^ to ^ 7 of an inch in diameter, com- 

 posed of a delicate, structureless membrane, ^^ of an incn tm>ck j enclosing fluid con- 



