LETTER
ON
CORPULENCE,
Addressed to public
BY WILLIAM BANTING
This letter is respectfully dedicated to the Public
simply and entirely from an earnest desire to confer a
a benefit on niy fellow creatures.
W. B.
BANTING ON CORPULENCE,
OF all the parasites that affect humanity, I do not know
of, nor can I imagine, any more distressing than that
of Obesity, and, having just emerged from a very long
probation in this affliction, I am desirous of circulating
my humble knowledge and experience for the benefit
of my fellow man, with an earnest hope it may lead
to the same comfort and happiness I now feel under
the extraordinary change which might almost be
termed miraculous, had it not been accomplished by
the most simple common-sense means.
Obesity seems to me very little understood or prop-
erly appreciated by the faculty and the public generally,
or the former would long ere this have hit upon the
cause for so lamentable a disease, and applied effective
remedies, whilst the latter would have spared their
injudicious indulgence in remarks and sneers, frequently
painful in society, and which, even on the strongest
mind, have an unhappy tendency ; but I sincerely
trust this humble effort at exposition may lead to a
more perfect ventilation of the subject and a better
feeling for the afflicted.
It would afford me infinite pleasure and satisfaction
to name the author of my redemption from the calam-
ity, as he is the only one that I have been able to find
(and my search has not been sparing) who seems
2A
4 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
thoroughly up in the question ; but such publicity
might be construed improperly, and I have, therefore,
only to offer my personal experience as the stepping-
stone to public investigation, and to proceed with my
narrative of facts, earnestly hoping the reader will
patiently peruse and thoughtfully consider it, with for-
bearance for any fault of style or diction, and for any
seeming presumption in publishing it.
I have felt some difficulty in deciding on the proper
and best course of action. At one time I thought the
Editor of the Lancet would kindly publish a letter
from me on the subject, but further reflection led me
to doubt whether an insignificant individual would be
noticed without some special introduction. In the
April number of the CornJiill Magazine I read with
much interest an article on the subject defining toler-
ably well the effects, but offering no tangible remedy,
or even positive solution of the problem " What is
the cause of Obesity ?" I was pleased with the article
as a whole, but objected to some portions, and had
prepared a letter to the Editor of that Magazine, offer-
ing my experience on the subject ; but again it struck
me that an unknown individual like myself would have
but little prospect of notice ; so I finally resolved to
publish and circulate this Pamphlet, with no other
reason, motive, or expectation than an earnest desire
to help those who happen to be afflicted as I was, for
that corpulence is remediable I am well convinced, and
shall be delighted if I can induce others to think so.
The object I have in view impels me to enter into
minute particulars, as well as general observations, and
to revert to bygone years, in order to show that I have
spared no pains nor expense to accomplish the great
end of stopping and curing obesity.
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 5
I am now nearly 5 feet 5
inches in stature, and in August last (1862), weighed
202 Ibs., which I think it right to name, because the
article in the Cornhill Magazine presumes that a certain
stature and age should bear ordinarily a certain weight,
and I am quite of that opinion. I now weigh 167 Ibs.,
showing a diminution of something like lib. per week
since August, and having now very nearly attained the
happy medium, I have perfect confidence that a few
more weeks will fully accomplish the object for which
I have labored for the last thirty years, in vain, until
it pleased Almighty Providence to direct me into the
right and proper channel the " tramway,' 7 so to
speak of happy, comfortable existence.
Few men have led a more active life bodily or
mentally from a constitutional anxiety for regularity,
precision, and order, during fifty years' business career,
from which I have now retired, so that my corpulence
and subsequent obesity was not through neglect of
necessary bodily activity, nor from excessive eating,
drinking, or self-indulgence of any kind, except that I
partook of the simple aliments of bread, milk, butter,
beer, sugar, and potatoes more freely than my aged
nature required, and hence, as I believe, the genera-
tion of the parasite, detrimental to comfort, if not really
to health.
I will not presume to descant on the bodily struc-
tural tissues, so fully canvassed in the Cornhill Maga-
zine, nor how they are supported and renovated, having
no mind or power to enter into those questions, which
properly belong to the wise heads of the faculty.
None of my family on the side of either parent had any
tendency to corpulence, and from my earliest years I had
an inexpressible dread of such a calamity, so, when I
BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
was between thirty and forty years of age, finding a
tendency to it creeping upon me, I consulted an' emi-
nent surgeon, now long deceased a kind personal
friend who recommended increased bodily exertion
before my ordinary daily labors began, and thought
rowing an excellent plan. I had the command of a
good, heavy, safe boat, lived near the river, and
adopted it for a couple of hours in the early morning.
It is true I gained muscular vigor, but with it a
prodigious appetite, which I was compelled to indulge,
and consequently increased in weight, until my kind
old friend advised me to forsake the exercise.
He soon afterwards died, and, as the tendency to
corpulence remained, I consulted other high orthodox
authorities (never any inferior adviser), but all in vain.
1 have tried sea air and bathing in various localities,
with much walking exercise ; taken gallons of physic
and liquor potassae, advisedly and abundantly ; riding
on horseback ; the waters and climate of Leamington
many times, as well as those of Cheltenham and Har-
rogate frequently ; have lived upon sixpence a day, so
to speak, and earned it, if bodily labor may be so
construed ; and have spared no trouble nor expense in
consultations with the best authorities in the land,
giving each and all a fair time for experiment, without
any permanent remedy, as the evil still gradually
increased.
I am under obligations to most of those advisers for
the pains and interest they took in my case ; but only
to one for an effectual remedy.
When a corpulent man eats, drinks, and sleeps
well, has no pain to complain of, and no particular
organic disease, the judgment of able men seems paral-
yzed for I have been generally informed that corpu-
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 7
lence is one of the natural results of increasing years ;
indeed, one of the ablest authorities as a physician in
the land told me he had gained 1 Ib. in weight every
year since he attained manhood, and was not surprised
at my condition, but advised more bodily exercise
vapor-baths and shampooing, in addition to the medi-
cine given. Yet the evil still increased, and, like the
parasite of barnacles on a ship, if it did not destroy
the structure, it obstructed its fair, comfortable pro-
gress in the- path of life.
I have been in dock, perhaps twenty times in as
many years, for the reduction of this disease, and with
little good effect none lasting. Any one so afflicted
is often subject to public remark, and though in con-
science he may care little about it, I am confident no
man laboring under obesity can be quite insensible to
the sneers and remarks of the cruel and injudicious in
public assemblies, public vehicles, or the ordinary
street traffic ; nor to the annoyance of finding no ade-
quate space in a public assembly if he should seek
amusement or need refreshment, and therefore he
naturally keeps away as much as possible from places
where he is likely to be made the object of the taunts
and remarks of others. I am as regardless of public
remark as most men, but I have felt these difficulties
and therefore avoided such circumscribed accommoda-
tion and notice, and by that means have been deprived
of many advantages to health and comfort.
Although no very great size or weight, still I could
not stoop to tie my shoe, so to speak, nor attend to
the little offices humanity requires, without considera-
ble pain and difficulty, which only the corpulent can
understand ; I have been compelled to go down stairs
slowly backwards, to save the jar of increased weight
8 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
upon the ancle and knee-joints, and been obliged to
puff and blow with every slight exertion, particularly
that of going up stairs. I have spared no pains to
remedy this by low living (moderation and light food
was generally prescribed, but I had no direct bill of
fare to know what was really intended), and that, con-
sequently, brought the system into a low, impover-
ished state, without decreasing corpulence, caused many
obnoxious boils to appear, and two rather formidable
carbuncles, for which I was ably operated upon smdfed
into increased obesity.
At this juncture (about three years back) Turkish
baths became the fashion, and I was advised to adopt
them as a remedy. With the first few I found im-
mense benefit in power and elasticity for walking
exercise ; so, believing I had found the "philosopher's
stone," pursued them three times a week till I had
taken fifty, then less frequently (as I began to fancy,
with some reason, that so many weakened my consti-
tution) till I had taken ninety, but never succeeded in
losing more than 6 Ibs. weight during the whole course,
and I gave up the plan as worthless ; though I have
full belief in <their cleansing properties, and their value
in colds, rheumatism, and many other ailments.
I then fancied increasing obesity materially affected
a slight umbilical rupture, if it did not cause it, and
that another bodily ailment to which I had been sub-
ject was also augmented. This led me to other med-
ical advisers, to whom I am also indebted for much
kind consideration, though, unfortunately, they failed
in relieving me. At last finding my sight failing and
my hearing greatly impaired, I consulted in August
last an eminent aural surgeon, who made light of the
case, looked into my ears, sponged them internally,
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 9
and blistered the outside, without the slightest benefit,
neither inquiring into any of my bodily ailments, which
he probably thought unnecessary, nor affording me
even time to name them.
I was not at all satisfied, but on the contrary, was
in a worse plight than when I went to him ; however,
he soon after left town for his annual holiday, which
proved the greatest possible blessing to me, because it
compelled me to seek other assistance, and, happily, I
found the right man, who unhesitatingly said he be-
lieved my ailments were caused principally by corpu-
lence, and prescribed a certain diet, no medicine,
beyond a morning cordial as a corrective, with
immense effect and advantage both to my hearing and
the decrease of my corpulency.
For the sake of argument and illustration I will pre-
sume that certain articles of ordinary diet, how r ever ben-
eficial in youth, are prejudicial in advanced life, like
beans to a horse, whose common ordinary food is hay
and corn. It may be useful food occasionally, under
peculiar circumstances, but detrimental as a constancy.
I will, therefore, adopt the analogy, and call such food
human beans. The items from which I was advised
to abstain as much as possible were : Bread, butter,
milk, sugar, beer and potatoes, which had been the
main (and I thought innocent) elements of my exist-
ence, or, at all events, they had for many years been
adopted freely.
These said my excellent adviser, contain starch
and saccharine matter, tending to create fat, and should
be avoided altogether. At the first blush it seemed
to me that I had little left to live upon, but my kind
friend soon showed me there was ample, and I was
only too happy to give the plan a fair trial, and within
10 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
a very few days, found immense benefit from it. It
may better elucidate the dietary plan if I describe
generally what I have sanction to take, and that man
must be an extraordinary person who would desire a
better table :
For breakfast, I take four or five ounces of beef,
mutton, kidneys, broiled fish, bacon, or cold
meat of any kind except pork ; a large cup of
tea (without milk or sugar), a little biscuit, or
one ounce of dry toast.
For dinner, Five or six ounces of any fish except
salmon, any meat except pork, any vegetable
except potato, one ounce of dry toast, fruit out
of a pudding, any kind of poultry or game,
and two or three glasses of good claret, sherry,
or Madeira Champagne, Port and Beer for-
bidden.
For tea, two or three ounces of fruit, a rusk or
two, and a cup of tea without milk or sugar.
For supper, Three or four ounces of meat or fish
similar to dinner, with a glass or two of claret.
For nightcap, if required, a tumbler of grog
(gin, whisky or brandy, without sugar) or a
glass or two of claret or sherry.
This plan leads to an excellent night's rest, with
from six to eight hours' sound sleep. The dry toast
or rusk may have a table spoonful of spirit to soften
it, which will prove acceptable. Perhaps I did not
wholly escape starchy or saccharine matter, but scru-
pulously avoided those beans, such as milk, sugar,
beer, butter, &c., which were known to contain them.
On rising in the morning I take a table spoonful
of a special corrective cordial, which may be called the
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 11
Balm of Life, in a wine-glass of water, a most grateful
draught, as it seems to carry away all the dregs left
in the stomach after digestion, but is not aperient ;
then I take about 5 or 6 ounces solid and 8 of liquid
for breakfast ; 8 ounces of solid and 8 of liquid for
dinner ; 3 ounces of solid and 8 of liquid for tea ;
4 ounces of solid and 6 of liquid for supper, and the
grog afterwards, if I please. I am not, however,
strictly limited to any quantity at either meal, so that
the nature of the food is rigidly adhered to.
Experience has taught me to believe that these
human beans are the most insidious enemies man,
with a tendency to corpulence in advanced life, can
possess, though eminently friendly to youth. He may
very prudently mount guard against such an enemy if
he is not a fool to himself ; and I fervently hope this
truthful unvarnished tale may lead him to make a
trial of my plan, which I sincerely recommend to
public notice, riot with any ambitious motive, but in
sincere good faith to help my fellow-creatures to ob-
tain the marvellous blessings I have found within the
short period of a few months.
I do not recommend every corpulent man to rush
headlong into such a change of diet, (certainly not),
but to act advisedly and after full consultation with a
physician.
My former dietary table was bread and milk for
breakfast, or a pint of tea with plenty of milk and
sugar, and buttered toast ; meat, beer, much bread
(of which I was always very fond) and pastry for
dinner, the meal of tea similar to that of breakfast,
and generally a fruit tart or bread and milk for sup-
per. I had little comfort and far less sound sleep.
It certainly appears to me that my present dietary
12 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
table is far superior to the former more luxurious
and liberal, independent of its blessed effect but
when it is proved to be more healthful, comparisons
are simply ridiculous, and I can hardly imagine any
man, even in sound health, would choose the former,
even if it were not an enemy ; but, when it is shown
to be, as. in my case, inimical both to health and com-
fort, I can hardly conceive there is any man who
would not willingly avoid it. I can conscientiously
assert I never lived so well as under the new plan of
dietary, which I should have formerly thought a dan-
gerous extravagant trespass upon health ; I am very
much better, bodily and mentally, and pleased to be-
lieve that I hold the reins of health and comfort in
my own hands, and, though at sixty-five years of age,
I cannot expect to remain free from some coming
natural infirmity that all flesh is heir to, I cannot at
the present time complain of one. It is simply mirac-
ulous, and I am thankful to Almighty Providence for
directing me, through an extraordinary change, to the
care of a man who could work such a chance in so
short a time.
Oh ! that the faculty would look deeper into and
make themselves better acquainted with the crying evil
of obesity that dreadful tormenting parasite on health
and comfort. Their fellow men might not descend into
early premature graves, as I believe many do, from
what is termed apoplexy, and certainly would not,
during their sojourn on earth, endure so much bodily
and consequently mental infirmity.
Corpulence, though giving no actual pain, as it
appears to me, must naturally press with undue vio-
lence upon the bodily viscera, driving one part upon
another, and stopping the free action of all. I am
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 13
sure it did in my particular case, and the result of my
experience is briefly as follows :
I have not felt so well as now for the last twenty
years.
Have suffered no inconvenience whatever in the
probational remedy.
Am reduced many inches in bulk, and 351bs. in
weight in thirty-eight weeks.
Come down stairs forward naturally with perfect
ease.
Go up stairs and take ordinary exercise freely,
without the slightest inconvenience.
Can perform every necessary office for myself.
The umbilical rupture is greatly ameliorated, and
gives me no anxiety.
My sight is restored my hearing improved.
My other bodily ailments are ameliorated ; indeed,
almost past into matter of history.
I have placed a thank-offering of 50 in the hands
of my kind medical adviser for distribution amongst
his favorite hospitals, after gladly paying his usual
fees, and still remain under overwhelming obligations
for his care and attention, which I can never hope to
repay. Most thankful to Almighty Providence for
mercies received, and determined to press the case in-
to public notice as a token of gratitude.
I have the pleasure to afford, in conclusion, a sat-
isfactory confirmation of my report, in stating that a
corpulent friend of mine, who, like myself, is possessed
of a generally sound constitution, was labouring under
frequent palpitations of the heart and sensations of
fainting, was, at my instigation, induced to place him-
self in the hands of my medical adviser, with the same
gradual beneficial results. He is at present under the
CTNIVERSITY
J>f
14 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
same ordeal, and in eight weeks has profited even
more largely than I did in that short period ; he has
lost the palpitations, and is becoming, so to speak, a
new made man thankful to me for advising, and
grateful to the eminent counsellor to whom I referred
him and he looks forward with good hope to a per-
fect cure.
I am fully persuaded that hundreds, if not thous-
ands, of our fellow men might profit equally by a sim-
ilar course ; but, constitutions not being all alike, a
different course of treatment may be advisable for the
removal of so tormenting an affliction.
My kind and valued medical adviser is not a doctor
for obesity, but stands on the pinnacle of fame in the
treatment of another malady, which, as he well knows,
is frequently induced by the disease of which I am
speaking, and I most sincerely trust most of my cor-
pulent friends (and there are thousands of corpulent
people whom I dare not so rank) may be led into my
tramroad. To any such I am prepared to offer the
further key of knowledge by naming the man. It
might seem invidious to do so now, but I shall only be
too happy, if applied to by letter in good faith, or if
any doubt should exist as to the correctness of this
statement.
WILLIAM BAXTING, Sen.,
Late of No. 27 St. James's Street, Piccadilly,
Now of No. 4, The Terrace, Kensington.
May, 1863.
HAVING exhausted the first Edition (1,000 copies)
of the foregoing Pamphlet ; and a period of one year
having elapsed since commencing the admirable course
of diet which has led to such inestimably beneficial
results, and, " as I expected, and desired," having
quite succeeded in attaining the happy medium of
weight and bulk I had so long ineffectually sought,
which appears necessary to health at my age and stature
I feel impelled by a sense of public duty, to offer
the result of my experience in a second Edition. It
has been suggested that I should have sold the Pam-
phlet, devoting any profit to Chanty as more agree-
able and useful ; and I had intended to adopt such a
course, but on reflection feared my motives might be
mistaken ; I, therefore, respectfully present this (like
the first Edition) to the Public gratuitously, earnestly
hoping the subject may be taken up by medical men
and thoroughly ventilated.
It may (and I hope will) be, as satisfactory to the
public to hear, as it is for me to state, that the first
Edition has been attended with very comforting results
to other sufferers from Corpulence, as the remedial
system therein described was to me under that terrible
disease, which was my main object in publishing my
convictions on the subject. It has moreover attained
a success, produced flattering compliments, and an
amount of attention I could hardly have imagined pos-
sible. The pleasure and satisfaction this has afforded
16 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
me, is ample compensation for the trouble and expense
I have incurred, and I most sincerely trust, " as I ver-
ily believe," this second Edition will be accompanied
by similar satisfactory results from a more extensive
circulation. If so, it will inspirit me to circulate fur-
ther Editions, whilst a corpulent person exists, requi-
ring, as I think, this system of diet, or so long as my
motives cannot be mistaken, and are thankfully
appreciated.
My weight is reduced 46K>s., and as the very grad-
ual reductions which I am able to show may be inter-
esting to many, I have great pleasure in stating them,
believing they serve to demonstrate further the merit
of the system pursued.
My weight on 26th August, 1862, was 202Ibs.
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 17
My girth is reduced round the waist, in tailor
phraseology, 121 inches, which extent was hardly con-
ceivable even by my own friends, or my respected
medical adviser, until I put on my former clothing,
over what I now wear, which was a thoroughly con-
vincing proof of the remarkable change. These im-
portant desiderata have been attained by the most easy
and comfortable means, with but little medicine, and
almost entirely by a system of diet, that formerly I
should have thought dangerously generous. I am told
by all who know me that my personal appearance is
greatly improved, and that I seem to bear the stamp
of good health ; this may be a matter of opinion or
friendly remark, but I can honestly assert that I feel
restored in health, " bodily and mentally, 77 appear to
have more muscular power and vigour, eat and drink
with a good appetite, and sleep well. All symptoms
of acidity, indigestion, and heartburn, (with which I
was frequently tormented) have vanished. I have left
off using boot hooks, and other such aids which were
indispengible, but being now able to stoop with ease
and freedom, are unnecessary. I have lost the feeling
of occasional faintness, and what I think a remarkable
blessing and comfort is that I have been able safely to
leave off knee bandages, which I had worn necessarily
for 20 past years, and given up a truss almost entirely ;
indeed I believe I might wholly discard it with safety,
but am advised to wear it at least occasionally for the
present.
Since publishing my Pamphlet, I have felt con-
strained to send a copy of it to my former medical
advisers, and to ascertain their opinions on the subject.
They did not dispute or question the propriety of the
system, but either dared not venture its practice upon
18 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
a man of my age, or thought it too great a sacrifice of
personal comfort to be generally advised or adopted,
and I fancy none of them appeared to feel the fact of
the misery of corpulence. One eminent physician, as
I before stated, assured me that increasing weight was
a necessary result of advancing years ; another equally
eminent, to whom I had been directed by a very
friendly third, who had most kindly but ineffectually
failed in a remedy, added to my weight in a few
weeks instead of abating the evil. These facts lead
me to believe the question is not sufficiently observed
or even regarded.
The great charm and comfort of the system is, .that
its effects are palpable within a week of trial, which
creates a natural stimulus to persevere for a few weeks
more, when the fact becomes established beyond
question.
I only entreat all persons suffering from corpulence
to make a fair trial for just one clear month, as I am
well convinced they will afterwards pursue a course
which yields such extraordinary benefit, till entirely
and effectually relieved ; and be it remembered, by the
sacrifice merely of simple, for the advantage of more
generous and comforting food. The simple dietary
evidently adds fuel to fire, whereas the superior
and liberal seems to extinguish it.
I am delighted to be able to assert that I have
proved the great merit and advantage of the system by
its result in several other cases, similar to my own, and
have full confidence that within the next twelve months
I shall know of many more cases restored from the
disease of corpulence, for I have received the kindest
possible letters from many afflicted strangers and
friends, as well as similar personal observations from
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 19
others whom I have conversed with, and assurances
from most of them that they will kindly inform me the
result for my own private satisfaction. Many are prac-
ticing the diet after consultation with their own medical
advisers ; some few have gone to mine, and others are
practicing upon their own convictions of the advantages
detailed in the Pamphlet, though I recommend all to
act advisedly, in case their constitutions should differ.
I am, however, so perfectly satisfied of the great uner-
ring benefits of this system of diet, that I shall spare
no trouble to circulate my humble experience. The
amount and character of my correspondence on the
subject has been strange and singular, but most satis-
factory to my mind and feelings.
I am now in that happy, comfortable state, that I
should not hesitate to indulge in any fancy in regard
to diet, but if I did so, should watch the consequences,
and not continue any course which might add to weight
or bulk and consequent discomfort.
Is not the system suggestive to artists and men of
sedentary employment, who cannot spare time for ex-
ercise, consequently become corpulent, and clog the
little muscular action with a superabundance of fat,
thus easily avoided ?
Pure genuine bread may be the staff of life, as it
is termed. It is so, particularly in youth, but I feel
certain it is more wholesome in advanced life if thor-
oughly toasted, as I take it. My impression is, that
any starchy or saccharine matter tends to the disease
of corpulence in advanced life, and whether it be swal-
lowed in that form, or generated in the stomach, that
all things tending to these elements should be avoided,
of course always under sound medical authority.
WILLIAM BANTING.
CONCLUDING ADDENDA.
It is very satisfactory to me to be able to state,
that I remained at the same standard of bulk and
weight for several weeks after the 26th August, when
I attained the happy natural medium, since which
time I have varied in weight from two to three pounds,
more or less, I have seldom taken the morning
draught since that time, and have frequently indulged
my fancy, experimentally, in using milk, sugar, butter
and potatoes indeed, I may say, all the forbidden
articles, except beer, in moderation, with impunity, but
always as an exception, not as a rule. This deviation,
however, convinces me that I hold the power of main-
taining the happy medium in my own hands.
A kind friend has lately furnished me with a tabu-
ular statement in regard to weight as proportioned to
stature, which, under present circumstances and the
new movement, may be interesting and useful to cor-
pulent readers :
STATURE. WEIGHT.
5 feet 1 should be 8 stone 8 or 120 Ibs,
5 " 2 " 9 " " 126 "
5 " 3 9 " 7 " 133
S '" 4 9 " 10 " 136
5 li 5 " 10 " 2 " 142
5^6 19 r 5 " 145
5 " 7 10 ". 8 " 148
5 " 8 " 11 " 1 " 155
5 " 9 " 11 " 8 " 162
5 " 10 12 " 1 u 169
5 " 11 12 " 6 " 174
6^0 " 12 " 10 " 178
22 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
This tabular statement, taken from a mean average
of 2,648 healthy men, was formed and arranged for
an Insurance Company, by the late Dr. John Hutchin-
son. It answered as a pretty good standard, and in-
surances were regulated upon it. His calculations
were made upon the volume of air passing in and out
of the lungs, and this was his guide as to how far the
various organs of the body were in health, and the
lungs in particular. It may be viewed as some sort of
probable rule, yet only as an average some in health
weighing more by many pounds than others. It must
not be looked upon as infallible, but only as a sort of
general reasonable guide to Nature's great and mighty
work.
On a general view of the question, I think it may
be conceded that a frame of low stature was hardly
intended to bear very heavy weight. Judging from
this tabular statement I ought to be considerably
lighter than I am at present : I shall not, however,
covet or aim at such a result, nor, on the other hand,
feel alarmed if I decrease a little more in weight and
bulk.
I am certainly more sensitive to cold since I have
lost the superabundant fat ; but this is remedible by
another garment, far more agreeable and satisfactory.
Many of my friends have said, " Oh ! you have done
well so far, but take care you don't go too far." I
fancy such a circumstance, with such a dietary, very
unlikely, if not impossible ; but feeling that I have now
nearly attained the right standard of bulk and weight
proportional to my stature and age (between 10 and
11 stone), I should not hesitate to partake of a fattening
dietary occasionally, to preserve that happy standard,
if necessary ; indeed, I am allowed to do so by my
BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
medical adviser, but I shall always observe a careful
watch upon myself to discover the effect, and act ac-
cordingly, so that, if I choose to spend a day or two
with Dives, so to speak, I must not forget to devote
the next to Lazarus.
The remedy may be as old as the hills, as I have
since been told, but its application is of very recent
date ; and it astonishes me that such a light should
have remained so long unnoticed and hidden, as not to
afford a glimmer to my anxious mind in a search for it
during the last twenty years, even in directions where
it might have been expected to be known. I would
rather presume it is a new light, than that it was pur-
posely hidden, merely because the disease of obesity
was not immediately dangerous to existence, nor
thought to be worthy of serious consideration. Little
do the faculty imagine the misery and bitterness to
life through the parasite of corpulence or obesity.
I can now confidently say that quantity of diet
may be safely left to the natural appetite ; and that it
is the quality only, which is essential to abate and cure
corpulence. I stated the quantities of my own dietary,
because it was part of a truthful report ; but some cor-
respondents have doubted whether it should be more
or less in their own cases, a doubt which would be bet-
ter solved by their own appetite, or medical adviser.
I have heard _a graphic remark by a corpulent man,
which may not be inappropriately stated here, that big
houses were not formed with scanty materials. This,
however, is a poor excuse for self-indulgence in im-
proper food, or for not consulting medical authority.
The approach of corpulence is so gradual that, un-
til it is far advanced, persons rarely become objects of
attention. Many may have even congratulated them-
24 B ANTING ON CORPULENCE.
selves on their comely appearance, and have not sought
advice or a remedy for what they did not consider an
evil, for an evil I can say most truly it is, when in
much excess, to which point it must, in my opinion
arrive, unless obviated by proper means.
Many have wished to know (as future readers may)
the nature of the morning draught, or where it could
be obtained, but believing it would have been highly
imprudent on my part to have presumed that what
w^as proper for my constitution was applicable to al*
indiscriminately, I could only refer them to a medical
adviser for any aid beyond the dietary ; assuring them
however, it was not a dram but of an alkaline character.
Some, I believe, would willingly submit to even a
violent remedy, so that an immediate benefit could be
produced ; this is not the object of the treatment, as it
cannot but be dangerous, in my humble opinion, to
reduce a disease of this nature suddenly ; they are
probably then too prone to despair of success, and
consider it as unalterably connected with their consti-
tution. Many under this feeling doubtless return to
their former habits, encouraged so to act by the ill-
judged advice of friends who, I am persuaded (from
the correspondence I have had on this most interesting
subject) become unthinking accomplices in the destruc-
tion of those whom they regard and esteem.
The question of four meals a-day, and the night
cap, has been abundantly and amusingly criticized.
I ought perhaps to have stated as an excuse for such
liberality of diet, that I breakfast between eight and
nine o'clock, dine between one and two, take my slight
tea meal between five and six, sup at nine, and only
take the night-cap when inclination directs. My object
in naming it at all was, that, as a part of a whole sys-
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 25
tern, it should be known, and to show it is not forbid-
den to those who are advised that they need such a
luxury ; nor was it injurious in my case. Some have
inquired whether smoking was prohibited. It was
not.
It has also been remarked that such a dietary as
mine was too good and expensive for a poor man, and
that I had wholly lost sight of that class ; but a very
poor corpulent man is not so frequently met with, in-
asmuch as the poor cannot afford the simple inexpen-
sive means for creating fat ; but when the tendency
does exist in that class, I have no doubt it can be
remedied by abstinence from the forbidden articles,
and a moderate indulgence in such cheap stimulants as
may be recommended by a medical adviser, whom they
have ample chances of consulting gratuitously.
I have a very strong feeling that gout (another
terrible parasite upon humanity) might be greatly
relieved, if not cured entirely, by this proper natural
dietary, and sincerely hope some person so afflicted
may be induced to practice the harmless plan for three
months (as I certainly would if the case were my own)
to prove it ; but not without advice.
My impression from the experiments I have tried
on myself of late is, that saccharine matter is the great
moving cause of fatty corpulence. I know that it pro-
duces in my individual case increased weight and a
large amount of flatulence, and believe, that not only
sugar, but all elements tending to create saccharine
matter in the process of digestion, should be avoided.
I apprehend it will be found in bread, butter, milk,
beer, Port wine, and Champagne ; I have not found
starchy matter so troublesome as the saccharine, which
I think, largely increases acidity as well as fat, but,
26 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
with ordinary care and observation, people will soon
find what food rests easiest in the stomach, and avoid
that which does not, during the probationary trial of
the proposed dietary. Vegetables and ripe or stewed
fruit I have found ample aperients. Failing this, med-
ical advice should be sought.
The word " parasite" has been much commented
upon, as inappropriate to any but a living creeping
thing (of course I use the word in a figurative sense,
as a burden to the flesh), but if fat is not an insidious
creeping enemy, I do not know what is. I should have
equally applied the word to gout, rheumatism, dropsy,
and many other diseases.
Whereas hitherto the appeals to me to know the
name of my medical adviser have been very numerous,
I may say hundreds, which I have gladly answered,
though forming no small item of the expense incurred,
and whereas the very extensive circulation expected
of the third edition is likely to lead to some thousands
of similar applications, I feel bound, in self-defence, to
state that the medical gentleman to whom I am so
deeply indebted is Mr. Harvey, Soho Square, London,
whom I consulted for deafness. In the first and second
editions, I thought that, to give his name would appear
like a puff, which I know he abhors ; indeed, I should
prefer not to do so now, but cannot, in justice to my-
self, incur further probable expense (which I fancy
inevitable) besides the personal trouble, for which I
cannot afford time, and, therefore, feel no hesitation to
refer to him as my guarantee for the truth of the
pamphlet.
One material point I should be glad to impress on
my corpulent readers it is, to get accurately weighed
at starting upon the fresh system, and continue to do
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 27
so weekly or monthly, for the change will be so truly
palpable by this course of examination, that it will arm
them with perfect confidence in the merit and ultimate
success of the plan. I deeply regret not having secured
a photographic portrait of my original figure in 1862,
to place in juxta-position with one of my present form.
It might have amused some, but certainly would have
been very convincing to others, and astonishing to all
that such an effect should have been so readily and
speedily produced by the simple natural cause of ex-
changing a meagre for a generous dietary under pro-
per advice.
I shall ever esteem it a great favour if persons re-
lieved and cured, as I have been, will kindly let me
know of it ; the information will be truly gratifying to
my mind. That the system is a great success, I have
not a shadow of doubt from the numerous reports sent
with thanks by strangers as well as friends from all
parts of the kingdom ; and I am truly thankful to have
been the humble instrument of disseminating the bles-
sing and experience I have attained through able
counsel and natural causes by proper perseverance.
I have now finished my task, and trust my humble
efforts may prove to be good seed well sown, that will
fructify and produce a large harvest of benefit to my
fellow creatures. I also hope the faculty generally
may be led more extensively to ventilate this question
of corpulence or obesity, so that, instead of one, two,
or three able practitioners, there may be as many hun-
dreds distributed in the various parts of the United
Kingdom. In such case, I am persuaded, that those
diseases, like Reverence and Golden Pippins, will be
very rare.
BANTING ON CORPULENCE,
Review from Blackwood's Magazine.
Of all the salutations that ever were devised to
express hearty good- will and large substantial friend-
ship, recommend us to that of the Orientals: "May
your shadow never be less ! " Maceration, as a rule
of life, is suitable only for hermits, anchorites, and
such like recluses, who have faith in the efficacy of
parched pease, and whose type of beatitude is the
scarecrow. Orthodoxy is allied to plumpness, and a
certain breadth of beam is most becoming to a high
dignitary of the church. In the man of portly pres-
ence we expect to find -and rarely indeed are we dis-
appointed in our expectations a warm heart, a kindly
benevolent disposition, comprehensive charity, and a
conscience void of offence. We feel that in such a
man we can repose implicit trust, we can make him
the depositary of our secrets without fear of betrayal,
we can depend upon his good offices when we need
the assistance of a friend. Yery different are our sen-
sations when we chance to encounter a gaunt herring-
gutted individual of the human species, who, like the
evil kine seen by royal Pharaoh in his dream, will not
fatten upon the fairest pasture. His sharp looks and
low-set hungry jaw instinctively beget distrust. He
30 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
has the e}^e of a usurer, the yawn of an ogre, the gripe
of a bailiff ; and being utterly destitute of bowels, he
yearns not for the calamities of his kind. Shrewd
was the observation of Caesar,
" Let me have men about me that are fat ;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' night.
Yon Cassius hath a lean and hungry look
I like him not, such men are dangerous."
Julius, who was in perfect training, and did not weigh
a single pound more than the standard of his height
would justify, saw the clanger and would have pre-
vented it. His keen eye detected the conspirator and
assassin under the unwholesome skin of the ascetic ;
but Antony, who was somewhat pudding-headed, and
whom a liberal diet of quails and venison had lulled
into a chronic habit of good-nature, felt no suspicion,
and even tried to vindicate the character of the lean-
est villain of the age.
We, therefore, being anxious that good men should
abound, have a kindly feeling for the corpulent. It
is a notable fact in criminal statistics that no fat man
was ever convicted of the crime of murder. Stout
people are not revengeful ; nor, as a general rule, are
they agitated by gusts of passion. Few murderers
weigh more than ten stone. There are, however,
exceptions, which justify us in assuming eleven as the
utmost limit of the sliding-scale, but beyond that
there is no impulse toward homicide. Seldom has
such a phenomenon as a fat housebreaker been paraded
at a criminal bar. It is your lean, wiry fellow who
works with the skeleton-keys, forces himself through
closet-windows which seemingly would scarce suffice
for the entrance of the necessary cat, steals with noise-
less step along the lobby and up the stairs, glides into
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 31
the chamber sacred for more than half a century to the
chaste repose of the gentle Tabitha, and with husky
voice and the exhibition of an enormous carving knife,
commands silence on pain of instant death, and deli-
very of her cash and jewels. It is your attenuated
thief who insinuates himself under beds, skulks behind
counters, dives into tills, or makes prey of articles of
commerce arrayed at shop-doors for the temptation of
the credulous passenger. A corpulent burglar is as
much out of place and as little to be feared as was
Falstaff at GTadshill, and what policeman ever yet
gave chase to a depredator as bulky as a bullock ?
Corpulence, we maintain, is the outward sign not only
of a good constitution, but of inward rectitude and
virtue.
There is, however, such a thing as over-cultiva-
tion ; and we should be sorry if any one, misled by
these our preliminary remarks, should think that we
are attempting to elevate pinguitude to the rank of a car-
dinal virtue. Men are riot pigs, to be estimated entirely
by the standard of weight; and though, in a certain sense,
the late Daniel Lambert was one of the greatest men
that ever lived, we certainly do not hold him forth as
a suitable example for imitation. But we cannot give
in to the theory that plumpness is a positive misfor-
tune ; and we are decidedly opposed to a system which
proscribes as deleterious and unwholesome such arti-
cles of food as are the best known and most univer-
sally accepted, : which is essentially coarse and carni-
vorous, and though possibly well adapted for the train-
ing of a brutal gladiator, is in every respect unfitting
for the nutriment of a reasonable Christian.
Seldom has fame descended with such amazing ra-
pidity upon the shoulders of any man as upon those of
32 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
Mr. William Banting, late of No. 27 St. James's street,
Piccadilly. Little more than a year ago his name was
unknown beyond the limited but respectable circle
of his acquaintance ; now it has become a household
word, and the doctrines which he has promulgated in
his pamphlet have been adopted by thousands who
acknowledge him as their instructor and guide.
Though not professing to be the actual discoverer of
a dietetic system which can cure or at least prevent
many of the ills to which flesh is heir, he claims to be
its first intelligible exponent ; and as he uses none of
the exotic terms or technical phrases with which med-
ical men so commonly enwrap their meaning as to
render it utterly obscure, but writes in plain, homely
English, without any scientific nomenclature, he has
found a ready and numerous audience. In vain do
members of the faculty not unjustifiably incensed by
the accusations levelled at their order by this intruder
into their own peculiar walk insist that there is no
novelty in the system, though its application may be
of doubtful expediency. Mr. Banting replies that for
thirty years and upwards he has been in search of a
remedy against increasing corpulence, and has received
no salutary counsel from any physician save the last,
who regulated his diet.
"None of my family/' he says, "on the side
of either parent had any tendency to corpulence,
and from my earliest years I had an inexpressible
dread of such a calamity, so, when I was between
thirty and forty years of age, finding a tendency
to it creeping upon me, I consulted an eminent
surgeon, now long deceased - - a kind personal
friend who recommended increased bodily exertion
before my ordinary daily labors began, and thought
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 33
rowing an excellent plan. I had the command of a
good, heavy, safe boat, lived near the river, and
adopted it for a couple of hours in the early morning.
It is true I gained muscular vigor, but with it a
prodigious appetite, which I was compelled to indulge,
and consequently increased in weight, until my kind
old friend advised me to forsake the exercise.
"He soon afterwards died, and, as the tendency to
corpulence remained, I consulted other high orthodox
authorities (never any inferior adviser), but all in vain.
I have tried sea air and bathing in various localities,
with much walking exercise ; taken gallons of physic
and liquor potassce, advisedly and abundantly ; riding
on horseback ; the waters and climate of Leamington
many times, as well as those of Cheltenham and Har-
rogate frequently ; have lived upon sixpence a day, so
to speak, and earned it, if bodily labor may be so
construed ; and have spared no trouble nor expense in
consultations with the best authorities in the land,
giving each and all a fair time for experiment, without
any permanent remedy, as the evil still gradually
increased."
This is no doubt a sweeping charge against the
.faculty ; but when we consider it minutely, it appears
to us that Mr. Banting is somewhat unreasonable in
his complaints. True, he was possessed with a morbid
horror for corpulence, and was vehemently desirous to
get rid of some superfluous flesh which seemed to be
rapidly accumulating ; but we are nowhere told that
his health had been impaired in the slightest degree,
indeed, the following passage leads us to the direct
opposite conclusion :
"When," says he, " a corpulent man eats, drinks,
and sleeps well, has no pain to complain of, and no par-
c
34 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
ticular organic disease, the judgment of able men seems
paralyzed for I have been generally informed that cor-
pulence is one of the natural results of increasing years ;
indeed, one of the ablest authorities as a physician in
the land told me he had gained 1 Ib. in weight every
year since he attained manhood, and was not surprised
at my condition, but advised more bodily exercise
vapor-baths and shampooing, in addition to the medi-
cine given. Yet the evil still increased, and, like the
parasite of barnacles on a ship, if it did not destroy
the structure, it obstructed its fair, comfortable pro-
gress in the path of life."
The "obstruction 77 to which Mr. Banting alludes
seems to have been nothing more than an extreme dis-
like to be twitted on the score of punchiness. He -says,
with undeniable truth, that
"Any one so afflicted is often subject to public
remark, and though in conscience he may care little
about it, I am confident no man laboring under obesity
can be quite insensible to the sneers and remarks of
the cruel and injudicious in public assemblies, public
vehicles, or the ordinary street traffic ; nor to the an-
noyance of finding no adequate space in a public
assembly if he should seek amusement or need refresh-
ment, and therefore he naturally keeps away as much as
possible from places where he is likely to be made the
object of the taunts and remarks of others. I am as
regardless of public remark as most men, but I have
felt those difficulties and therefore avoided such cir-
cumscribed accommodation and notice, and by that
means have been deprived of many advantages to
health and comfort. 77
All that may be perfectly true, but we cannot see
how it justifies his accusation of the doctors. Because
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 35
cabmen and street-boys make impertinent remarks
about stature because querulous people in the pit of
the theatre object to having a human screen interposed
between them and the spectacle because an elderly
gentleman cannot contrive to squeeze himself with
comfort into an opera stall, or the narrow box of a
chophouse is it the duty of a physician to recommend
such stringent measures as will make him a walking
skeleton ? It is the business of a doctor to cure disease,
not to minister to personal vanity ; and if Mr. Banting
ate, drank, and slept well, and was affected by no ac-
tual complaint, we really cannot understand why he
should have been so pertinacious in demanding medi-
cal assistance. We are acquainted with many estima-
ble persons of both sexes, turning considerably more
than fifteen stone in the scales a heavier weight than
Mr. Banting has ever attained whose health ie unex-
ceptionable, and who would laugh to scorn the idea
of applying to a doctor for recipe or regimen which
might have the effect of marring their developed come-
liness. What right, we ask, has Mr. Banting to brand
obesity as one of the most "distressing parasites that
affect humanity," while, by his own confession, he has
never reached that point of corporeal bulk which is
generally regarded as seemly and suitable to bishops,
deans, mayors, provosts, aldermen, bailies, and even
dowagers of high degree ? We deny that a man
weighing but a trifle above fourteen stone is entitled
to call himself obese. It may be that such a one is
not qualified to exhibit himself as a dancer on the tight
rope, or to take flying leaps in the character of Harle-
quin ; neither should we be inclined to give the odds
in his favor if he were to enter himself as a competitor
for the long race at a Highland meeting. But gentle-
36 BANTING ON COKPULENCE.
men in the position of Mr. Banting, who, we believe,
has retired into private life after a successful business
career, are' not expected to rival Leotard, or to pit
themselves in athletic contests against hairy-houghed
Donald of the Isles. As a deer-stalker, it ma} 7 be that
he would not win distinction for it is hard work even
for light-weights to scramble up corries or crawl on their
bellies through moss-hags and water-channels for hours,
before they can get the glimpse of an antler, but
many a country gentleman, compared with whom Mr.
Banting at his biggest would have been but as a fatted
calf to a full-grown bull, can take, with the utmost
ease, a long day's exercise through stubble and turnips,
and bring home his twenty brace of partridges, with a
due complement of hares, without a symptom of bodily
fatigue. Mr. Banting seems to labor under the hallu-
cination that he was at least as heavy as Falstaif ; we,
on the contrary, have a shrewd suspicion that Hamlet
would have beaten him in the scales.
It is, of course, in the option of all who are dissa-
tisfied with their present condition to essay to alter it.
Lean men may wish to become fatter, and fat men may
wish to become leaner ; but so long as their health
remains unimpaired, they are not fit subjects for the
doctor. We have no doubt that the eminent profes-
sional gentlemen whom Mr. Banting consulted took
that view of the matter ; and having ascertained that
there was in reality no disease to be cured, gave him,
by way of humoring a slight hypochondriac affection,
a few simple precepts for the maintenance of a health
which in reality required no improvement. Probably
they opined that the burden of his flesh was no greater
than he could bear with ease ; and certainly, under
the circumstances, there was no call upon them what-
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 3V
ever to treat him as if he had been a jockey, under
articles to ride a race at Xewmarket, whose success or
failure might depend upon the exact number of pounds
which he should weigh when getting into the saddle.
Excessive corpulence, we freely admit, may have
its inconveniences. It is, as Mr. Banting justly re-
marks, rather a serious state of matters when a man,
by reason of fatness, cannot stoop to tie his shoe, "nor
attend to the little offices which humanity requires,
without considerable pain and difficulty.' 7 To be
11 compelled to go down stairs slowly backwards'' is an
acrobatic feat which no one save an expectant Lord
Chamberlain would care to practice ; and it is not
seemly, and must be a disagreeable thing, "to puff
and blow with every exertion," like a porpoise in a
gale of wind. But, as we gather from the pamphlet,
these distressing symptoms did not exhibit themselves
until very recently, whereas Mr. Banting says he has
been soliciting a remedy from the faculty any time
during the last thirty years. He also makes constant
reference to his increasing obesity throughout that pe-
riod ; therefore we are entitled to conclude that with
advancing years he acquired additional weight, and did
not arrive at the climax until 26th August, 1862, when,
as he informs us, his weight was two hundred and two
pounds, or fourteen stone six. That is not, after all, a
very formidable weight for an elderly gentleman of
sedentary habits. Tom Johnson, the pugilist, weighed
fourteen stone when he entered the ring against and
conquered Isaac Perrins, of Birmingham, supposed to
be the most powerful man in England, and weighing
seventeen stone. Neat weighed fourteen stone after
training ; and, according to the best of our recollection
(for we have mislaid our copy of " Boxiana"). Josh
38 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
Hudson was considerably heavier. Tom Cribb, the
champion of England, weighed sixteen stone before
he went into training for his great fight with Moli-
neaux, and reduced himself in five weeks, through
physic and exercise, to fourteen stone nine. By dint
of sweating and severe work, he came to thirteen stone
five, which was ascertained to be the pitch of his con-
dition, as he could not reduce further without weak-
ening. Such instances go far to prove that, even when
his circumference was the widest, Mr. Banting had no
reason to complain of excessive corpulency. But even
if he had, the enlarging process was a gradual one ; he
had been complaining of obesity for thirty years ; and
if we suppose that he gained only a pound and a half
per annum which is a very low rate of increase he
must have been applying to the doctors for remedies
against corpulence when he weighed only eleven stone
three a weight which most men of thirty-five years
of age would regard as natural and appropriate.
We have thought it right to make these observa-
tions, because Mr. Banting has chosen to insinuate that
medical men generally are so ignorant of their calling
that they do not understand the evils of obesity, or
cannot conquer it by prescribing the proper diet.
'The remedy," says Mr. Banting, "may be as
old as the hills, as I have since been told, but
its application is of very recent date ; and it aston-
ishes me that such a light should have remained
so long unnoticed and hidden, as not to afford a
glimmer to my anxious mind in a search for it
during the last twenty years, even in directions where
it might have been expected to be known. I would
rather presume it is a new light, than that it was pur-
posely hidden, merely because the disease of obesity
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 39
was not immediately dangerous to existence, nor
thought to be -worthy of serious consideration. Little
do the faculty imagine the misery and bitterness to
life through the parasite of corpulence or obesity.' 7
Xow, let us steadfastly survey this new light, which
was flashed on the astonished eyes of Mr. Banting by
the last practitioner whom he consulted. That light
but we really cannot continue the metaphor without
making a botch of it, so let us have recourse to simpler
language, and give Mr. Banting's account of the dietary
which he was advised to follow, and the reasons assigned
therefor.
' ' For the sake of argument and illustration I will
presume that certain articles of ordinary diet, however
beneficial in youth, are prejudicial in advanced life, like
beans to a horse, whose common ordinary food is hay
and corn. It may be useful food occasionally, under
peculiar circumstances, but detrimental as a constancy.
I will, therefore, adopt the analogy, and call such food
human beans. The items from which I was advised
to abstain as much as possible were : Bread, butter,
milk, sugar, beer and potatoes, which had been the
main (and" I thought innocent) elements of my exist-
ence, or, at all events, they had for many years been
adopted freely.
' ' These said my excellent adviser, contain starch
and saccharine matter, tending to create fat, and should
be avoided altogether. At the first blush it seemed
to me that I had little left to live upon, but my kind
friend soon showed me there was ample, and I was
only too happy to give the plan a fair trial, and within
a very few days, found immense benefit from it. It
may better elucidate the dietary plan if I describe
generally what I have sanction to take, and that man
40 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
must be an extraordinary person who would desire a
better table :
1 1 For breakfast, I take four or five ounces of beef,
mutton, kidneys, broiled fish, bacon, or cold
meat of any kind except pork ; a large cup of
tea (without milk or sugar), a little biscuit, or
one ounce of dry toast.
' : For dinner, Five or six ounces of any fish except
salmon, any meat except pork, any vegetable
except potato, one ounce of dry toast, fruit out
of a pudding, any kind of poultry or game,
and two or three glasses of good claret, sherry,
or Madeira Champagne, Port and Beer for-
bidden.
"For tea, Two or three ounces of fruit, a rusk or
two, and a cup of tea without milk or sugar.
11 For supper, Three or four ounces of meat or fish
similar to dinner, with a glass or two of claret.
" For night-cap, if required, a tumbler of grog
(gin, whisky or brandy, without sugar) or a
glass or two of claret or sherry.
11 This plan leads to an excellent night's rest, with
from six to eight hours' sound sleep. The dry toast
or rusk may have a table-spoonful of spirit to soften
it, which will prove acceptable. Perhaps I did not
wholly escape starchy or saccharine matter, but scru-
pulously avoided those beans, such as milk, sugar,
beer, butter, &c., which were known to contain them."
Mr. Banting subsequently specifies veal, pork,
herring, eels, parsnips, beetroot, turnips and carrots
as improper articles of food.
Now, before inquiring whether this dietary scheme
be a new discovery or not, we beg to observe that Mr.
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 41
Banting has fallen into a monstrous error in asserting
that every substance tending to promote fatness or in-
crease the bulk of the human body is necessarily dele-
terious. His analogy, as he calls it, of the beans, is
purely fanciful and absurd. Farinaceous food, which,
with extraordinary presumption he denounces as un-
wholesome, forms the main subsistence of the peasantry,
not only of the British Islands, but of the whole of
Europe ; and are we now to be told, forsooth, that
bread, meal, and potatoes are " prejudicial in advanced
life," that they may be useful food occasionally, under
peculiar circumstances, but detrimental as a con-
stancy ?" Are we to conclude, because Mr. Banting's
medical adviser prohibited them, that milk and butter,
beer and sugar, are little short of absolute poison ? It
would be easy to show, from the recorded tables of
longevity, that the persons who have attained the most
advanced ages, far beyond the ordinary span of human
existence, have never used any other kind of diet save
that which Mr. Banting's adviser has proscribed ; but
the idea is so manifestly preposterous, that it carries
with it its own refutation. If Banting's bill of fare be
the right one, and if the articles which he has been
advised to avoid are generally hurtful to adults,
Heaven help not only the working classes, but the
greater proportion of the middle order, who certainly
cannot afford to begin the day as Mr. Banting does,
with a meat breakfast of kidneys, broiled fish, or bacon,
such as might make a Frenchman stare, to repeat the
diet, with the additions of poultry or game, both for
dinner and supper, to interject a fruity tea, and to wash
down each meal with a few glasses of claret, sherry
or Madeira !
In fact, Mr. Banting has fallen into the egregious
O* THB
UNIVERSITY
42
BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
error of supposing that the food which agrees with
him must agree with every other human being, and
that articles which have been, perhaps judiciously, de-
nied to him, must necessarily be hurtful to the rest of
mankind. His logical position is this :
Banting is a mortal ;
Bread, potatoes, etc. are bad for Banting therefore
No mortal should eat bread or potatoes.
But the falsity of the syllogism is apparent. We
are not all afflicted by Mr. Banting's tendency toward
obesity, and therefore we need not regard "beans"
with his more than Pythagorean horror. There is a
deep truth in the old adage that "what is one man's
meat is another man's poison ;" and Mr. Banting might
have escaped no small amount of ridicule, had he
carefully laid it to heart, before promulgating the doc-
trine that kidneys are more wholesome than potatoes,
and that bread should be generally tabooed.
We fully appreciate the excellence of the motive
which has induced Mr. Banting to offer his observa-
tions upon corpulence to the public ; but we can in-
form him that there is no kind of novelty in the system
which was recommended by his last medical adviser,
and which has led to such fortunate results. Training
has long ago been reduced to a science, and the diet
to be observed during training has received the most
careful attention. The following were some of the
rules of diet approved of by the late John Jackson,
the celebrated teacher of pugilism, with whom Lord
Byron used to spar. They are given at full length in
Sir John Sinclair's work upon health and longevity :
" The diet is simple animal food alone ; and it is
recommended to take very little salt and some vinegar
with the food, which prevents thirst, arid is good to
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 43
promote leanness. Vegetables are never given, as tur-
nips or carrots, which arc difficult to digest; nor potatoes
which are watery. But bread is allowed, only it must
be stale. Yeal and lamb are never given, nor is pork,
which has tendency to purge some people. Beefsteaks
are reckoned very good, and rather under-done than
otherwise, as all meat in general is ; and it is better to
have the meat broiled than roasted or boiled, by which
nutriment is lost. No fish whatever is allowed, because
it is reckoned watery, and not to be compared with
meat in point of nutriment. The fat of meat is never
given, but the lean of the best meat. No butter nor
cheese on any account. Pies and puddings are never
given, nor any kind of pastry."
The like diet is prescribed for jockeys, pedestrians,
and all others whose weight is to be materially reduced;
but in such cases recourse is likewise had to sweatings,
hard exercise, and preparatory doses of medicine.
Mr. Jackson, however, says with regard to training : *
"A person in high life cannot be treated in ex-
actly the same manner at first, from the indulgences
to which he has been accustomed : nor is his frame in
general so strong. They eat too much made dishes
and other improper food, and sit too long at table, and
eat too great a variety of articles ; also drink too much
wine. No man should drink more than half a pint of
wine. He says, moreover, ' A course of training would
be an effectual remedy for bilious complaints. 7 Corpu-
lent people, by the same system, could be brought into
a proper condition. "
But, not to multiply authorities, which would be
rather tedious, let us refer at once to the " Physiologic
du Gout 7? of Mons. Brillat-Savarin, a work which has
44 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
the merit of being extremely popular and amusing,
and we shall presently see that no new light was flash-
ed from the scientific lantern of Mr. Banting's medical
adviser. A translation, or rather an abridgment, of
that treatise was published by Longman & Co., in
1859, under the title of " The Hand-book of Dining ;
and from it we extract the following remarks on
* ' OBESITY OR EMBONPOINT.
" The primary cause of embonpoint is the na-
tural disposition of the individual. Most men are
born with certain predispositions, which are stamped
upon their features. Out of one hundred persons who
die of consumption, ninety have brown hair, a long
face, and a sharp nose. Out of one hundred fat ones,
nine have short faces, round eyes, and a short nose.
" Consequently there are persons whose destiny it
is to be fat. This physical truth has often given me
annoyance. I have at times met in society some dear
little creature with rounded arms, dimpled cheeks, and
hands, and pert little nose, fresh and blooming, the
admiration of every one, when, taught by experience,
I cast a rapid mental glance through the next ten
years of her life, and I behold these charms in another
light, and I sigh internally. This anticipated compas-
sion is a painful feeling, and gives one more proof that
man would be very unhappy if he could foresee the
future.
' ; The second and chief cause of obesity is to be
found in the mealy or floury substances of which man
makes his food. All animals that live on farinaceous
food grow fat ; man follows the common law. Mixed
with sugar, the fattening qualities increase. Beer is
very fattening. Too much sleep and little exercise
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 45
will promote corpulency. Another cause of obesity is
in eating and drinking too much. "
Here the whole philosophy of the matter is set
forth in a few simple terms. Certain people have a
natural tendency towards fat, and that tendency will
be materially assisted by a farinaceous and saccharine
diet. But so far from regarding such substances as
unwholesome, which view Mr. Banting, in his pure ig-
norance has adopted, Brillat-Savarin considers them
as eminently nutritious ; he would only regulate their
use in cases where the tendency has been clearly as-
certained.
u Of all medical powers, diet is the most efficient,
because it acts incessantly, day and night, sleeping
or waking : it ends by subjugating the individual.
Now the diet against corpulency is indicated by the
most common and active cause of obesity ; and as it
has been proved that farinaceous food produces fat, in
man as well as in animals, it may be concluded that
abstinence from farinaceous substances tends to dimi-
nish embonpoint.
" I hear my fair friends exclaim that I am a mon-
ster who wishes to deprive them of every thing they
like. Let them npt be alarmed.
11 If they must eat bread, let it be brown bread ;
it is very good, but not so nutritious as white bread.
"If you are fond of soup, have it a la julienne, or
with vegetables, but no paste, no macaroni.
" At the first course eat any thing you like ; except
the rice with fowls, or the crust of pates.
"The second course requires more philosophy.
Avoid everything farinaceous. You can eat roast,
salad and vegetables. And if you must needs have some
46 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
sweets, take chocolate, creams, and jellies, and punch
in preference to orange or others.
" Now comes dessert. New danger. But if you
have been prudent so far, you will continue to be so.
Avoid biscuits and macaroons ; eat as much fruit as
you like.
After dinner take a cup of coffee and a glass of
liqueur. Tea and punch will not hurt you.
il At breakfast brown bread and chocolate in pre-
ference to coffee. No eggs. Anything else you like.
You cannot breakfast too early. If you breakfast
late, the dinner-hour comes before you have properly
digested ; you do not eat the less, and this eating
without an appetite is a prime cause of obesity, be-
cause it often occurs.
"The above regulations are to prevent embon-
point. The following are for those who are already
victims :
"Drink, every summer, thirty bottles of Seltzer
water, a large tumblerfull every morning, two hours be-
fore breakfast, and the same before you go to bed.
Drink white wines and rather acid. Avoid beer like
the plague. Eat radishes, artichokes, celery ; eat veal
and chicken in preference to beef and mutton. Only
eat the crust <?f your bread ; you will be all the lighter
and younger for it."
The system recommended by Savarin is, as our
readers will observe, in essentials the same as that
which Mr. Banting has proclaimed, with so much pom-
posity, to be an original discovery ; but how infinitely
more elegant and refined is the carte sketched by the
Parisian gastronome than the gross flesh-market bill
of fare propounded by the English epicure ! It will be
observed that veal, which is expressly forbidden by
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 47
Banting, is recommended by Savarin. We side in
opinion with the Frenchman. Beef, as a constant
article of food, is too nutritious for persons of a cor-
pulent tendency. Roger Bacon, in his treatise, " De
retardandis Senectutis Malis," expressly forbids it to
old men, warning them, that, if they accustom them-
selves to eat such meat, dropsies will be engendered,
stoppages in the liver, and in like manner obstructions
in the spleen, and stones in the kidneys and bladder.
Yeal and chickens, he thinks, ought decidedly to have
the preference. And the following instance is strongly
confirmatory of that view. Humphreys, the pugilist,
was trained by Ripsham, the keeper of the jail at
Ipswich. He was sweated in bed, and afterwards
twice physicked. He was weighed once a day, and at
first fed on beef ; but as on that food he got too much
flesh, they were obliged to change it to mutton.
As there are many persons whose health and
appearance would be materially improved by putting
on a little more of that garb of flesh which has proved
such an intolerable burden to Mr. Banting, we confi-
dently recommend to their study the treatise of M. Sav-
arin, wherein the means of attaining a becoming degree
of pinguitude are elaborately explained. " Leanness,"
says this wise philosopher, "though it may be no ab-
solute disadvantage to a man, is a great disaster for
ladies, for beauty is their life, and beauty consists
chiefly in the rounded limb and graceful curve. The
most recherche toilet, the best dressmakers in the world,
cannot supply certain absences, or hide certain angles.
But a woman who is born thin may be fattened like a
chicken. It may take more time. The ladies must
pardon me the simile, but I could not find a better."
Clearly he is in the right. Even the savage instinct
48 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
recognizes the charms of female pinguitude, and takes
care that it is properly cultivated. Art follows closely
in the wake of instinct. What painter has ever dared
to depict, or what sculptor to chisel out, a wood-nymph
in attenuated form, or an angular and scraggy Yenus ?
No wonder that Mr. Banting, having a natural
tendency towards corpulence, found himself, in his
sixty-third year, much fatter than was at all conve-
nient. He has, with amiable candor, given us a sketch
of his former dietary, and after perusing it, we cannot
wonder at the result. Buttered toast, beer and pastry
were his favorite articles of consumption ; and more-
over, he was in the habit of taking four meals a day,
which is greatly too much for a man of sedentary
habits and occupation. We are strongly inclined to
think that if Mr. Banting had somewhat restrained his
appetite, practised occasional fastings, and entirely
abstained from heavy, wet, buttered crumpets, muffins,
and patisserie, he would have fully attained his object,
without discontinuing the use of bread, sugar or potatoes.
Men have been known materially to reduce their
weight, and at the same time to gain additional health
and strength, by restricting themselves entirely to the
use of the simplest farinaceous food. Such is the case
of Wood, the miller of Billericray, in Essex, stated in
the ' ' Transactions of the London College of Physi-
cians." This man, it would xappear, had attained to
such a degree of corpulency by the free use of flesh
meat and ale that his life had become a burden to him ;
but he succeeded in reducing himself to a moderate
bulk by the following means : His reformed diet con-
sisted of a simple pudding made by boiling coarse flour
in water, without salt. Of this he consumed about
three pounds in twenty-four hours, and took no fluid
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 49
whatever, not even water. On this he lived in perfect
health for many years, \vent through a great deal of
exercise in the open air, and was able to carry five
hundred pounds' weight, " which" says our authority,
"was more than he could lift in his youth, when he
lived on animal food, and drank freely of ale. 7 ' In
fact, the man fed upon porridge, from time immemo-
rial the favorite diet of the Scottish peasantry, among
whom obesity is unknown. Pure farinaceous food can
never be hurtful. On the contrary, as Mr. Banting
may learn from a perusal of the first chapter of the
book of Daniel, it is infinitely more wholesome both
for mind and body than a dietary of butcher-meat and
wine. But buttered toast, pastry, and beer are proper
materials for the formation of a Lambert ; and so long
as Mr. Banting indulged freely in those luxuries, which
we object not to his stigmatizing as "beans," he was
necessarily compelled periodically to enlarge the limits
of his girdle.
Mr. Banting, with great propriety, wishes that the
subject should be well " ventilated," and we are doing
our very best to gratify that desire. His own expe-
riences, we are bound to admit, have been quite satis-
factory, inasmuch as, by adopting a certain dietary, he
has reduced his weight from fourteen stone six pounds
to ten stone ten pounds with apparent advantage to
his health, and hitherto without any evil consequence.
It is also remarkable that these results have been at-
tained without the necessity of having recourse to
violent exercise or the use of medicine, which latter
consideration is undoubtedly in favor of his system.
Mr. Banting indeed makes mention of a certain cor-,
rective cordial which he calls the "Balm of Life," a
spoonful of which taken before breakfast, he found re-
50 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
ni ark ably salutary. The recipe for this draught he
declines to give, but we have little doubt that it is of
the same nature as that recommended by Mons. Brillat-
Savarin for the reduction of embonpoint ; namely, a
tea spoonful of bark, to be taken in a glass of white
wine, about two hours before breakfast. But he does
not seem to have used any medicines of a purgative
nature, such as trainers sometimes administer, a de-
cided point in his favor ; and altogether it is reasonable
that he should hug himself on the successful result of
his experiment. But nostrums, if we may use such a
term, are not infallible. Mr. Banting is to be com-
mended for his prudence in not insisting too strongly
upon the universal applicability of his system, which
may not, as he candidly admits, be suitable for every
constitution ; for great harm might ensue if his sug-
gestions were to be implicitly adopted, and violent
changes made in their dietary and mode of living by
persons whose bulk is not excessive. All sudden
changes of diet are hazardous ; and more especially
when the change is made from what is usually con-
sidered a light diet that is, one in which vegetable
substances predominate to a heavier kind of nutri-
ment. Excellent is the advice given in the Regimen
Sanitatis of Salerno.
"Omnibus adsuetam jubeo servare diaetain,
Quod sic esse probo, ne sit mutare necesse."
Unless much exercise is taken there is great ris"k
that such changes will engender acute disease ; and
men of sedentary habits should be very cautious of
adopting what Mr. Banting is pleased to denominate
a "luxurious and liberal dietary." Failing exercise,
their best means of maintaining' health is to use fre-
quent abstinence, and always to be strictly temperate.
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 51
Meat breakfasts, and continuous indulgence in the
flesh-pots of Egypt, are every whit as dangerous as
the copious imbibation of wine, or the consumption of
ardent spirits ; and they may be confident of this, that
a gross gladiatorial diet will neither secure them im-
munity from disease, nor promote their chances of
longevity. Man is an omnivorous animal ; but nature
by limiting the number of his canine teeth, has dis 7
tinctly indicated that animal food ought to form the
smallest portion of his nutriment, Dr. Cheyne, in
his " Essay on Health/' gives the following calcu-
lation of the quantity of food sufficient to keep a
man of ordinary stature, following no laborious
emplo3 r ment, in due plight, health and vigor. He
allows eight ounces of flesh meat, twelve ounces of
bread or vegetable food, and about a pint of wine
or other generous liquor, in the twenty-four IIOUIT.
But he adds that the valetudinary, and those employed
in sedentary professions or intellectual studies, must
lessen this quantity, if they would wish to preserve
their health and the freedom of their spirits long.
That may appear but spare diet ; and we freely grant
that a foxhunter or other keen sportsman might add
to the allowance both solid and liquid, without any
risk of evil consequences. But no man engaged in
literary work will be able to accomplish anything
worth sending to the printer, if he begins the day with
kidneys, bacon, and mutton-chops, indulges in four
substantial meals, and crams himself with as much
butcher-meat as would satisfy the maw of a hyena.
Of course his stomach would be equally clogged and
his brain addled if he stuffed himself with buttered
toast, muffins, beer and pastry ; but such viands are
more aftected by ladies of Mrs. Gamp's profession than
52 BANTING ON CORPULENCE.
by men of intellectual pursuits, who know and feel
that a clear head and a light stomach are indispensable
for the prosecution of their labors.
We rise from the perusal of Mr. Banting's pamphlet
with our belief quite unshaken in the value of bread
and potatoes as ordinary and universal articles of diet.
We maintain the excellency and innocency of porridge
and pease-pudding ; and we see no reason for suppos-
ing that any one will become a Jeshurun because he
uses milk with his tea, and sweetens it with a lump of
sugar. Starch and sugar are eminently nutritious, but
they are not therefore unwholesome ; on the contrary,
if used in moderation, they will promote longevity,
and prevent many of those diseases which the copious
consumption of flesh is exceedingly apt to engender.
Mr. Banting has certainly found a remedy for the com-
plaint which weighed so heavily on his spirits ; but we
feel assured that he would have found the same meas-
ure of relief, had he simply exercised some control
over his appetite, given his stomach more time to di-
gest, by lessening the inordinate number of his meals,
abstained altogether from beer, and resolutely steeled
his heart against the manifold temptations of the pastry-
cook. We advise no one, whatever be his weight or
girth, to adopt implicitly the system recommended by
Mr. Banting, at least until he has tried the effect of a
temperate mixed diet (the vegetable element prepon-
derating) combined with early hours and a due amount
of exercise. We have no sympathy with the vegeta-
rians who decry the use of animal food, and believe
that Nebuchadnezzar's hallucination in the way of
pasturage was prompted by a natural instinct ; but we
are assured there is no instance on record of death
ensuing from the use of farinaceous food, whereas
BANTING ON CORPULENCE. 53
close behind the carnivorous gorger stalks the hideous
form of apoplexy, ready to smite him down when his
stomach is full, and the veins of his forehead distended
with indulgence in his fleshly lusts. A mixed diet is
the best : and after all that has been said and written
on the subject, temperance is the one thing needful to
secure a man against the evils of inordinate obesity.
OX CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS.
FROM HARPER'S WEEKLY.
BY obesity we mean that state of fatty congestion
when, without the individual being ill, the limbs or
members increase gradually in size and lose their prim-
itive form and beauty. There is one sort of obesity
which is confined to the stomach. This is seldom
found in women. "I myself," says Savarin, "am a
sufferer in this respect ; yet I have an ancle, instep and
calf as firm as an Arabian horse. Nevertheless I
looked upon my stomach as a most formidable enemy;
I conquered it, and reduced it to its proper dimen-
sions." The principal causes of corpulency may be
easily stated. The first is the natural conformation of
the individual. Every man is born with certain pre-
dispositions, which may be traced in his physiognomy.
Out of one hundred persons who die of consumption,
ninety have brown hair, an oval face and sharp nose.
Out of one hundred " corpulents," ninety have a round
face, globular eyes and pug nose. It is therefore be-
yond a doubt that some persons are predestined to be
fat, and that, taking all things equally, their digestive
powers produce a greater portion of fat. And here
let us cite a few instances of men of weight. M. Lau-
rent notices a Parisian boy who must have frightened
his parents a little, for he weighed a hundred and four
pounds at four years old. There was a boy at Win-
laton, in Durham, about a century ago, who, at the
age of ten years, measured thirteen inches round the
thigh, and thirty-three round the waist ; he was a queer
56 ON CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS.
fellow in other ways, for he had six toes on each foot,
and six fingers on one hand. In 1784 died an Irish
gentleman, Mr. Lovelace Love, from very fatness.
So immense was his bulk that his coffin measured
seven feet in length, four in breadth, and three and a half
in depth. Mr. Baker, who died at Worcester in 1766,
was so large a man that, in the language of the local
prints, "his coffin measured seven feet over, and was
bigger than an ordinary hearse, and part of the wall
was obliged to be taken down to admit its passage."
Six years afterwards there died at LTsk, in Monmouth-
shire, one Mr. Philip Mason, whose dimensions were
recorded as follows : round the wrist, eleven inches ;
round the upper arm, twenty-one inches ; round the
chest, sixty inches ; round the largest part of the body,
seventy-two inches ; round the thigh, thirty-seven
inches ; round the calf of the leg, twenty-five inches.
The above instances are wanting in facilities for com-
parison, on account of the actual weights being, in
most cases, unrecorded. We give the following as
instances more specifically definite on this point. There
w^as a Kentish farmer and inn-keeper, one Mr. Palmer,
who attracted much attention in the early part of the
present century by his enormous bulk. He weighed
three hundred and fifty pounds. Five ordinary men
could be buttoned at one time within his waistcoat.
He came to London to see the famous Daniel Lambert.
The two men looked at each other. Lambert was
vastly the superior of Palmer in bulk, but the latter
puffed so much through his fatness that Lambert pitied
him as a man to whom life must have been a burden.
Palmer went home much mortified; his claim to noto-
riety was suddenly eclipsed by a rival, and his vexa-
tion hastened his death. A part of his inn had to be
taken down to allow room for his coffin to be removed.
ON CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS. 57
John Love was so thin and meagre, that a physician
advised him to eat liberally. The advice was so well
taken that John became a gormandizer ; his fatness
killed him at the age of forty, when he weighed three
hundred and sixty-four pounds. Mr. Benjamin Bower,
a native of Holt, in Dorsetshire, attained a weight of
four hundred and seventy pounds. In 1774 there died
in Lincolnshire one Mr. Pell, who weighed five hundred
and sixty pounds. He was inclosed in three coffins,
the united weight of which, with himself, exceeded
three thousand pounds. Mr. Bright, of Essex, was a
person of great notoriety in the early days of the reign
of George the Third. He died at the age of thirty.
His weight was six hundred and sixteen pounds.
Seven men were, on one particular occasion, buttoned
up within his waistcoat. When his career was ended,
and his body was encased in its monster coffin, not only
walls, but staircases, had to be cut through before it
could be got out ; twelve men drew the low carriage
on which the coffin was placed ; and ' ' an engine was fixed
upon the church, 7 ' as the local chroniclers narrate, to low-
er the coffin into the grave. There was an Irishman,
Roger Byrne, who died in 1804, whose bulk was so
great that his admirers claimed for him the merit of
being "several stones heavier than the celebrated Mr.
Bright of Essex/' It required thirty men to carry to
the grave the bier on which his body was laid. Mr-
Spooner, a Tarn worth man, who was living in 1775,
attained a weight of six hundred and eighty pounds.
He had long been too heavy to walk, his legs being una-
ble to bear him. He measured four feet three inches
across the shoulders. It is recorded of him that his
"fatness once saved his life ; for, being at Atherstone
market, and some difference arising between him and
a Jew, the Jew stabbed him in the belly with a pen-
58 ON CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS.
knife ; but the blade being short, did not pierce his
bowels, or even pass through the fat which defended
them." But of men of weight Daniel Lambert was
the king. Shortly before his death he attained the
unprecedented weight of seven hundred and thirty-
nine pounds. His coffin was seventy-six inches long
by fifty-two wide, and contained a hundred and twelve
square feet of elm. The coffin was regularly built
upon axles and wheels ; and not only the window, but
also the side of a room, had to be taken down to afford
a passage for the bulky mass. The wheeled coffin was
drawn to St. Martin's church-yard, where a gradual
descent was made to the grave by excavating the
ground.
The second and principal cause of corpulency con-,
sists in the farinaceous substances which man eats at
his daily meals. All animals that are fed upon farina-
ceous food become fat whether they will or not. Man
is subject to the same law. Another cause of corpu-
lency is too much sleep, and a want of sufficient
exercise. A last cause of corpulency consists in excess
in eating and drinking. Corpulency is detrimental to
strength, because, while increasing the weight you
have to carry, it does not increase the motive power.
It is also detrimental because it impedes respiration,
which renders impossible any labor which requires a
prolonged exertion of muscular strength. Corpulency
is detrimental to beauty, as it destroys the harmony of
proportions established by nature ; it carries with it a
distaste for dancing, walking, riding, and an inaptitude
for any occupation or amusement requiring a little ex-
ertion or skill. It, moreover, leads to apoplexy, dropsy,
swelling in the legs, and impairs the health generally.
But corpulency is not a malady ; it is at most a lamen-
table result of an inclination to which we give way,
ON CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS. 59
and we alone are to blame. When we meet in society
a charming little girl, with rosy cheeks and rounded
arms, dimpled hands, a nez retrousse, and pretty little
feet, instructed by experience, we cast a glance ten
years forward, and foresee the ravages of corpulency
upon those youthful charms, and sigh upon other evils
looming in the future. To cure corpulency the pre-
cepts of absolute theory must be adhered to : Discre-
tion in eating ; moderation in sleep ; exercise on foot
or on horseback. It requires a firm will to leave the
dinner-table with an appetite. As long as the craving
is felt one morsel invokes another with irresistible
attraction, and, generally speaking, we eat as long as
we are hungry, despite the doctors, and even, the ex-
ample of doctors. To tell a person of embonpoint to
get up early in the morning is to break his (or her)
heart : they will tell you that it will ruin their health,
and render them unfit for anything during the rest of
the day ; the ladies will complain that their eyes look
heavy ; they will all consent to sit up late, but they
must have a long snooze in the morning, and thereby
is one remedy lost. Propose to a pretty fat girl to
ride, she will consent with delight, but on three con-
ditions : she must have a handsome and quiet horse, a
well-made habit of the last fashion, and a gay young
fellow to ride with. Now these three things are not
always to be had, so riding is given up. Walking has
many other objections. It is .so fatiguing, the mud and
the dust are dreadful, and the stones cut the pretty
little boots, and that plan is peremptorily abandoned.
But in place of this natural course of treatment, sly
puss takes to drinking yes, drinking vinegar. Arid
here we would warn Miss Greatox against the great
evils resulting from a habitual use of acids. There is
no doubt but they will make a person thin j but they
GO ON CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS.
destroy freshness, health, even life itself, as the follow-
ing story of poor Louise too truly shows :
"I had a Platonic friendship for one of the most
charming persons I have ever met. Louise - - was
a lovely girl, and had that classical embonpoint which
charms the eye and is the glory of sculptors. Though
only a friend, I was not blind to her attractions, and
this is perhaps why I observed her so closely. ' Chere
amie,' I said to her one evening, 'you are not well ;
you seem to be thinner.' ' Oh no,' she said, with a
smile which partook of mejancholy, ' I am very well ;
and if I am a little thinner I can very well afford it.'
' Afford it !'' I said, with warmth ; ' you can afford
neither to gain nor lose ; remain beautiful as you are,'
and other phrases pardonable to a young man of twenty.
After that conversation I watched her more closely,
with an interest not untinged with anxiety ; gradually
I saw her cheeks fall in, her figure decline. One eve-
ning at a ball, after dancing a quadrille, I cross-ques-
tioned her, and she reluctantly avowed that, her school
friends having laughed at her, and told her that in two
years she would be as fat as St. Christopher, she had
for more than a month drunk a glass of vinegar every
morning ; she added that she had not told anybody of
it. I shuddered when I heard her confession ; I was
aware of the danger she incurred, and next day I in-
formed her mother, who was terribly alarmed, for she
doted upon her child. No time was lost. The very
best advice was taken. All in vain ! The springs of
life had been attacked at the source, and when the
danger was suspected all hope was already gone. Thus
for having followed an ignorant advice poor Louise
was carried to her grave in her eighteenth year, her
last days embittered by the thought that she herself
had cut short her existence."
ON CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS. Gl
On the subject of reducing corpulence Mr. Wm.
Banting has given an instructing and amusing account
of his own experience in a letter which he has published.
Although not very corpulent, the adipose tissues had
collected in those parts of the body which interfered
with the circulation, and in the course of one year, by
discontinuing a most injudicious and unlimited dietary
for one which his medical man had the great judgment
to prescribe by weight, he lost his fat and the incon-
veniences that attended its presence. His weight on
the 7th September, 1862, was 200 pounds ; on the 12th
September, 1803. 156 pounds loss of weight, 44
pounds. In addition to which, he says that his girth
round the waist is reduced 12 2 inches, he can tie his
shoes, he has more muscular vigor, eats and drinks
with a good appetite, sleeps well, and is relieved from
all symptoms of acidity, indigestion, and heart-burn,
with which he was once tormented. But the diet he
pursued is objectionable from several points of view ;
and in order that our guests the Greatoxcs may have
every advantage to cure themselves of this growing
evil, we have placed, as they will perceive, our own
bill of fare before them.
DIETARY FOR THE CORPULENT AXD THOSE
WHO ARE INCLINED TO BE SO.
Corpulent persons should eat in moderate quantity any
of the following articles of food.
The Lean of Butchers' Meat.
Poultry Game.
Fish, fresh or salted Eggs Toast for ordinary bread
Greens Cabbage Watercress Spinach.
And avoid Eating
Fat or Potted Meats.
Bread Biscuits Rice Arrow-root Sago Macaroni
-Vermicelli Puddings and Pastry of all kinds-
Custards Cheese Butter rCream.
Sugar in any form.
62 ON CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS.
Potatoes Parsnips Turnips Carrots.
Fruits of all kinds, fresh or preserved.
They may Drink
Tea and Coffee, without sugar or cream.
Acid Wines Claret Dry Sherry Seltzer, or Soda
Water.
Unsweetened Spirits in great moderation.
And avoid Drinking
Stout Porter and Ale of all kinds Milk Sweet and
Port Wines Liqueurs Cocoa and Chocolate.
A few words now to the Lankvs.
t/
Leanness is the condition or state of an individual
whose muscular flesh, not being sufficiently provided
with fat, betrays the forms and angles of his bony con-
formation. Leanness is not a disadvantage to men.
Their strength is not affected by it, and they are even
more vigorous. But leanness in the fair sex is a dread-
ful evil, for with them beauty is more than life, and
beauty consists especially in the rounded limb and
the graceful curve. The most recherche toilet, the best
dress-maker in the world, cannot conceal certain " ab-
sences," or disguise certain angles ; and it has been
not wrongly said that every pin which a thin woman
takes out, no matter how beautiful she may have
appeared, lessens her charms. But women who are
born thin and have a good stomach may be fatted like
fowls (the Miss Lankys will please forgive us for this
comparison, but it is the mildest we could hit upon) ;
and should a little more time be requisite, it is because
the stomach of a woman is comparatively smaller, and
they cannot be subjected to a rigorous regime, punct-
ually enforced. Persons destined to be thin are con-
structed in an elongated shape. They generally have
thin hands and feet, skinny legs, not much flesh about
the lower part of the body, their ribs visible, an aqui-
line nose, almond-shaped eyes, a large mouth, pointed
chin, and brown hair. Such is the general type. Some
ON CORPULENCY AND LEANNESS. 63
portions of the body may escape this description, but
rarely. Some lean persons have voracious appetites.
But every thin woman wishes to be stouter. This is a
wish we have heard expressed a thousand times. Now
the whole secret for a thin lady to acquire a little em-
bonpoint lies in a nut-shell. It consists in a suitable
regime. She must learn how to select and how to eat
o
her food. We shall therefore endeavor to point out
the system which ladies ought to follow who wish to
become more plump, or, to use the more elegant term,
who are desirous of acquiring " the rounded limb and
the graceful curve.''