PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 25 



the variations which this form undergoes. Some of these 

 are irremediable in the individual, stamped upon him by 

 inheritance ; others are the effects of declared disease de- 

 ranging the economy ; others again arise from the perverse 

 practices of mankind in the matter of clothing, or by the 

 equally perverse pursuit of certain modes of life and 

 labour which cramp and distort the frame, disabling the 

 individual for the comfort of the community. Such and 

 many more comprise a long catalogue of effects, some of 

 which are compatible with good bodily vigour, whilst 

 others can only be regarded as warning signs, if not 

 actual indications of defective health. 



Perhaps the most convenient way of dealing with the 

 matter will be to discuss seriatim the effects which arise 

 from changes occurring in each part of the framework, 

 and show how deficiency here or redundancy there may 

 be brought about, and to indicate what it teaches. 



We have then first to treat of changes in the Fatty Layer. 



It is impossible to say where leanness ends and fatness 

 begins, just as it is impossible to mark the dividing-point 

 between any other two opposed states. But all the world 

 knows what is called a " lean " figure, just as it can point 

 to a corpulent one, only between the'two there is of course 

 any amount of gradation. In the absence of any given 

 standard of proportion between the height of the body 

 and its girth, we need not attempt a strict definition of 



