THE FAT. 301 



fluous hydrogen, which could not otherwise be easily evacu- 

 ated/' 1 



The fattest person on record is, I believe, Lambert of Leices- 

 ter. He weighed seven hundred and thirty-nine pounds k , and 

 died at the age of forty years. In him rats and mice might cer- 

 tainly have nested, if it is true that a bishop of Mentz, or 



" A Saxon Duke, did grow so fat 

 That mice (as histories relate) 

 Ate grots and labyrinths to dwell in 

 His postique parts without his feeling." ' 



Excessive formation of fat may be strongly opposed by regu- 

 larly taking great exercise, little sleep, and little, but dry, food. m 

 Fretfulness of temper, or real anxiety of mind, will prevent any 

 one from getting fat, and make any fat man thin. A passage 

 that occurs in the most magnificent of Shakspeare's Roman 

 plays, and is founded on some information of Plutarch's, will in- 

 stantly be remembered. 



Caesar. Let me have men about me that are fat ; 

 Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights ; 

 Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look ; 

 He thinks too much : such men are dangerous. 



Antony. Fear him not, Caesar, he 's not dangerous ; 

 He is a noble Roman, and well given. 



Caesar. 'Would he were fatter : But I fear him not : 

 Yet if my name were liable to fear, 

 I do not know the man I should avoid 

 So soon as that spare Cassius. n 



Great obesity occurs sometimes in infants. I saw a prodi- 

 giously fat female, but a year old, who weighed sixty pounds, and 



1 " See Fourcroy, 1. c. 



k Dr. Good says that some German Journals mention cases of eight hundred 

 pounds weight, but he gives no references. 



1 HudibraS) P. ii. Canto i. 



m Semper vero et certissime debellanda (obesitas), si modo bona voluntas et vis 

 animi fuerit, valida corporis exercitatione, brevi somno, parca et sicca dircta. Nee 

 faci le miles gregarius repertus f uerit, qui tali morbo laborat. Dr. Gregory, Con- 

 spectus Med. Theor. Ixxxix. Iodine is the best medicine against it. 



See the intructive case of the Miller of Billericay, in the Transactions of the 

 Royal College of Physicians, London, vol. ii. 



A large collection of cases of obesity will be found in Mr. Wadd's Cursory 

 Remarks on Corpulence. 



B Julius Ceesar, act i. scene 2. 



X 



