NATURE 237 
On this table Dr. Chambers remarks: “ Of the statues 
here selected, the Bronze Tumbler may be taken as the 
__ type of extreme lightness and activity, the Dying Gladiator 
of robust strength. In Theseus and the smaller Hercules 
the sculptor’s idea of a hero where the bodily strength 
must be equal to that of any possible man. The Farnese 
_ Hercules exhibits a development of muscle greater than 
___ is ever known to exist in the human species.” 
4 Dr. Chambers also gives the height and weight of cer- 
tain celebrated prizefighters, the result of Mr. Brent’s 
observations, which makes it very obvious that in certain 
cases the great weight depends on muscular and osseous 
development. 
| Height. Weight. 
| ft. in St) Ib. 
RernnS mic ie= 6442 17 0 
E (Onin Haemoneoticie 6" 2 Tah 
Spel tab ar eaier sn eS) 001 Lh 
Jackson. 5.52. |e Sark 14 0 
; Bendigo ..... 5 9 I2 0 
Jolnson..... ee) ie ells 
SHIGA a Rake o ots) 13 10 
: Mendoza..... Tey 12) "4 
The conclusion we come to with regard to these 
weighings and measurings is that all ordinary departures 
_ from the average height and weight of the body deduced 
from Dr. Hutchinson’s tables are due either to an increase 
~~ or decrease of the fatty matter or of the adipose tissue in 
the body. Thus, taking the composition of a human body 
weighing 154lb. and measuring 5ft. Sin., it will be found 
that it contains 12lb. of fat.* It is then mainly due to 
the diminution or increase of this substance that human 
beings weigh more or less than the standard weights 
given in the above table. It will be therefore here worth 
while to inquire what is the use of fat in the system, and 
what indications are afforded by the height and weight of 
the human body for caution in diet and regimen. 
The exact way in which fat is produced in the tissue of 
plants and animals is not known, but there is evidence to 
show that it is found very generally in the tissues of 
plants and especially in the seeds. Oil when used for 
commercial purposes is mostly obtained from the seeds of 
plants, as seen in castor oil, rape oil, linseed oil, cocoa- 
nut oil, palm oil, and a hundred others. As it is 
found in the seeds of plants, so it is found in the eggs of 
animals. The embryo of all animals is developed in 
contact with oil, of which we have a familiar instance in 
the yelk of the egg of birds, It appears also that the 
muscular and other tissues grow under the fostering 
_ influence of the adipose tissue. 
_ Besides this primary influence on the growth of the 
. body, fat subserves many other purposes. In the first 
: 
4 
2 
: 
| 
/ 
. 
scanty in winter they lose their fat and get thin. Man 
himself gets fat in summery and grows thin in winter from 
the demand on this store for heating purposes. Hyber- 
nating animals go to their winter sleep sleek and fat, but 
wake up in the spring lean and meagre, from the loss of 
- fat in maintaining the animal heat necessary for life. Fat 
is thus seen to be an essential of animal life. Where 
Third Edition. 
| 
a 
place it seems to be a reserve of material for producing 
muscular force when needed. Animals grow fat in 
: summer, but as the supply of this material becomes 
be 
} 
q 
‘ 
S 
S 
ie 
* See Guide to the Food Collection, South Kensington, 
it 
there is too little deposited for the purposes of life, then 
serious disease has already commenced or may set in; 
whilst on the other hand a redundancy of this deposit 
may seriously interfere with the functions necessary to 
life. 
It is from this point of view that the value practically of 
a knowledge of the height and weight of individuals 
becomes apparent. When the weight of a person is much 
below his height, then it may be suspected that some 
disease has set in, which may go on to the destruction of 
life. One of the earliest symptoms of consumption, the 
most fatal disease of the civilised inhabitants of Europe, 
is a tendency to loss of weight. Long before any symp- 
toms are present of tuberculous deposits in the lungs, this 
loss of weight is observable in persons afflicted with con- 
sumption. And at this stage a large amount of evidence 
renders it probable that the fatal advance of this disease 
may be prevented. Within the last thirty years a prac- 
tice has been resorted to with great success of administer- 
ing to persons losing weight and threatened with con- 
sumption, cod-liver oil, pancreatic emulsion, and fatty 
substances, as articles of food, for the purpose of prevent- 
ing or arresting the tendency to loss of fat, which obviously 
results in the production of fatal disease. In fact, it may 
be stated generally, not without exceptions, that wherever 
the weight is much below the height, there the commence- 
ment of dangerous disease may be suspected, and pre- 
cautions taken to prevent the loss of fat. That this 
treatment has been successful in really preventing disease, 
and loss of life as the consequence, is the conviction of a 
host of intelligent practitioners of medicine. At the same 
time, it should be remembered that it is not only neces- 
sary in these cases to administer cod-liver oil or pancreatic 
emulsion as medicines, but that the consumptive should 
have recourse to a fatty diet, and should eat butter, cream, 
cream-cheese, fat, and fatty articles of diet. 
On the other hand, this knowledge of the true relations 
of height and weight presents us with individuals who 
weigh a great deal more than the standard presented by 
the above tables. In certain individuals, and, in fact, in 
particular families, there is a tendency to develope adipose 
tissue. However free from fat may be the food, what little 
it contains is arrested in the tissues of these individuals, 
and they become “fat ;” that is, they weigh more than their 
height. The consequences of this fatness are very various. 
The fat may be so deposited all over the system as not to 
be an obvious obstruction to the functions of life ; but 
every one can understand that, in the case of two 
men of equal stature, say 5ft. Sin., one having to carry 
eleven stone and the other twelve, the; latter will be 
at a disadvantage. This arises from two causes. The 
heavier man carries, in the first place, a greater weight, 
and in the second place, his heart has to project into the 
tissues of the body a larger amount of blood in order to 
keep him alive. For every pound a man weighs above 
his height, his system is at a disadvantage, and he suffers 
in various ways. When fat is equally distributed about 
the body then no immediate disadvantage is felt. But 
when fat is accumulated in particular parts of the body, 
interfering with the functions of particular organs, then its 
evil influences become speedily apparent. The most 
accurate account of the effects of the accumulation of 
fat in the viscera of the chest, will be found in a pamph- 
