OBESITY. 425 



saccharine juices are freely consumed, but when the season is over the superabundant 

 fat is gradually lost. Ease of mind and repose of body are conditions highly favour- 

 able to the formation and accumulation of fat, and so are insufficient exercise and 

 indulgence in much sleep. Anxiety, fretfujness, and that condition to which we 

 refer when we say a person is " fidgety," have a directly opposite effect. 



It has been found that when diet and exercise are opposed to each other, diet is 

 the stronger. The story is told of a publican living near Newmarket who indulged 

 himself immoderately in eating and drinking. To keep the result of this intem- 

 perance in check he took a great deal of exercise, and twice a week he swallowed 

 two ounces of Epsom salts, which always had the effect of making him more hungry. 

 He grew to be prodigiously large and fat, and weighed 392 pounds or 28 stone. 

 His case also serves to illustrate the occasionally beneficial effects of a reverse of 

 fortune, for he failed in his business ; and in one year from that time was reduced, 

 under hard work and harder fare, to the weight of fourteen stone, with no 

 suffering whatever to his health. 



The consequences and inconveniences of obesity are often more serious than is 

 generally believed. For directing the attention of the public to this subject we are 

 in a great measure indebted to the late Mr. Banting, whose widely read " Letter on 

 Corpulence" is probably familiar to most of our readers. In August, 1862, that 

 gentleman was sixty-six years of age, about five feet five inches in stature, and 

 weighed fourteen stone six pounds (202 pounds). He tells us that none of hig 

 family on either side exhibited any tendency to obesity, and that during fifty 

 years' business career he had led a most active life, so that his complaint was not 

 owing to neglect of necessary bodily activity, and did not arise from excessive 

 eating, drinking, or self-indulgence of any kind. He describes most graphically the 

 suffering induced by his " lamentable malady." He says that although of no very 

 great size or weight, he could not stoop to tie his shoe, and could not attend to the 

 little offices humanity requires without considerable pain and difficulty. He was 

 compelled to go down-stairs slowly backwards to save the pain of increasing weight 

 upon the ankle and knee-joints, and had to puff and blow with every slight exertion, 

 particularly that of going up-stairs. He speaks very feelingly of the unkind sneers 

 and remarks of the " cruel and injudicious " in public assemblies, public vehicles, or 

 the ordinary street traffic, and of the annoyance of finding no adequate space in a 

 public assembly, if he should seek amusement or require refreshment. 



It may be taken as a general rule that obesity does not conduce to strength or 

 longevity. It is usually followed by diminished vital power and loss of both bodily 

 and mental activity. In many cases there are disturbances of the organs of respira- 

 tion, circulation, and digestion; the blood suffers in quality; the muscles are weak 

 and have little firmness, and the countenance is bloated and sallow. 



There can never be any difficulty in recognising the condition of which we have 

 been speaking. Sometimes the obesity is partial as in what we call " pot-belly," but 

 in the majority of cases it is general, and affects the whole body. 



We must now speak of the treatment of obesity. Mr. Banting's simple narrative 

 of his experience proves that a proper diet is alone sufficient to remove that con- 

 dition, and that the use of drugs is not necessary. He tells us that for years he 



