GOOD FOOD. 
25 
fat and the inconveniences that attended its presence. It 
wonld^ however^ be highly injudicious for any person^ unless 
placed under the same chcumstances_, to follow Mr. Banting^ s 
course of diet. 
The diet he pursued^ — for every one who knows anything 
about diet must hope he is not still pursuing it_, — is objection- 
able from many points of view. Thus_, excepting salmon 
amongst fish^ and pork amongst meats^ is fanciful. Salmon 
contains less fat than many fish^ and lean pork is not so 
fattening as fat mutton. The exclusion of milk from the diet 
is also objectionable^ as milk conveys^ in the most digestible 
form^ nutritive matter to the system. Again_, the exclusion 
of potatoes from the diet is a great mistake, as they contain 
mineral elements that are not so abundantly supplied from 
other sources. Why champagne and port are excluded from 
the wines, whilst sherry and Madeira are admitted, would 
puzzle those who looked at the dietary from its anti-pingui- 
daceous point of view. There is no reason in excluding beer, 
if ten or twelve ounces of wine be allowed. Provided a man 
be not of active habits, a dietary like this might quickly plunge 
him into evils to which those of corpulence are a mere trifle. 
At the same time there can be no doubt that Mr. Banting 
has been reduced by the withdrawal of starch, sugar, and fat 
from his dietary. He complains that no one ever thought of 
this in his case till the year 1862, when he began to reduce him- 
self. He will, however. And ample directions given for the 
reduction of obesity in an article on that subject which I wrote 
for the English Gyclopcedia in 1859, and which was only the 
result of my teachings in my lectimes on dietetics for the fore- 
going flfteen years. 
The question, however, of fat accumulating in jDarticular 
parts of the body so as to produce disease is quite a diJfferent 
one to that of corpulence. Many corpulent persons enjoy 
excellent health, and I strongly recommend them to let well 
alone. It is, however, a desirable thing when persons are 
suffering in health to know really what men ought to weigh. 
We are indebted to the late Dr. John Hutchinson for weighing 
above two thousand six hundred men at various ages. Having- 
worked with Dr. Hutchinson in the early part of his re- 
searches, I was struck with an obvious relation between the 
height and the weight of the persons he so pertinaciously 
weighed and measured, and I discovered that, starting with 
the lowest men in his tables, it would be found that the increase 
of weight was as nearly as possible flve pounds for every inch 
in height beyond sixty- one inches. The difference between 
the observed height and weight and the calculated weight 
will be seen in the following table : — 
