26 PERSONAL APPEARANCES IN HEALTH AND DISEASE. 



either one or the other, but must be contented with the 

 general statement that leanness depends on a deficiency 

 in the soft parts, and corpulence upon an excess of the 

 fatty layer especially. Now each of these conditions, even 

 to a very extreme degree, is compatible with health. 

 Many, indeed, if not born lean, yet acquire leanness 

 because they inherit the disposition to it ; these are the 

 wiry muscular men, and the angular women. To have a 

 "lean and hungry look" does not by any means ne- 

 cessarily portend that the. possessor " thinks too much." 

 It may simply mean that he has inherited the type from 

 his parents, and were he now submitted to the close 

 confinement and rich fat-making diet of a Strasburg goose 

 it is doubtful if the wanting adiposity would ever come 

 to round the angles of his frame. It must then always 

 be borne in mind that deficiency in fat is not a sign 

 of disease, unless the individual has been previously well 

 nourished, and although there is no doubt that much is 

 claimed for the influence of heredity which it can hardly 

 bear, yet this goes for a great deal in the production 

 of a spare habit of body. Many other factors, however, 

 help in its production ; continued muscular activity is 

 a well-known counteracting influence against the over 

 production of fat, for the muscles in their work require 

 nutriment, taking it from the food, which unless dis- 

 posed of in this way would go to add to the general 



