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 properly 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 this calamity, as he is the only one that
I have been able to find (and my search has not been sparing) who seems
thoroughly up in the question; but such publicity might be construed
improperly, and I have, therefore, only to offer my personal experience
as to 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 forbearance 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 _Cornhill
Magazine_ I read with much interest an article on the subject--defining
tolerably 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 offering my
experience on the subject, but it again 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.
I am now nearly 66 years of age, about 5 feet 5 inches in stature,
and, in August last (1862), weighed 202 lbs., 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 lbs., showing a
diminution of something like 1 lb. 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
“tram-way,” 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 generation
of the parasite, detrimental to comfort if not really to health.
I will not presume to descant on the bodily structural tissues, so
fully canvassed in the _Cornhill Magazine_, nor how they are supported
and renovated, having no mind or power to enter into these 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 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 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 potasssæ, advisedly and abundantly; riding on horseback; the
waters and climate of Leamington many times, as well as those of
Cheltenham and Harrogate 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 paralyzed,--for I have been generally informed that
corpulence 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 lb. 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 medicine
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 progress 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
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 annoyance of finding no
adequate 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
accommodation 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 considerable 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 upon the ankle
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, consequently, brought the system into
a low impoverished state, without decreasing corpulence, caused many
obnoxious boils, to appear, and two rather formidable carbuncles, for
which I was ably operated upon _and fed 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 immense 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
constitution) till I had taken ninety, but never succeeded in losing
more than 6 lbs. 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 increased obesity materially affected a slight
umbilical rupture, if it did not cause it, and that another bodily
ailment to which I had been subject was also augmented. This led me
to other medical 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, 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 believed my ailments were
caused principally by corpulence, 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 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 existence, 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 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 forbidden.
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, whiskey, 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 scrupulously 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 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 5 or 6 ounces of 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--not
with any ambitious motive, but in sincere good faith to help my fellow
creatures to obtain 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 supper. I had little comfort and far less sound
sleep.
It certainly appears to me that my present dietary 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 comfort, 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 dangerous, extravagant trespass upon health. I am very much better,
bodily and mentally, and pleased to believe 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 miraculous, and I am thankful to Almighty Providence
for directing me, through an extraordinary chance, to the care of a
man who could work such a change 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 violence upon the bodily viscera, driving
one part upon another and stopping the free action of all. I am sure it
did in my particular case, and the result of my experience is briefly
as follows: