CASES OF REDUCTION OF CORPULENCE.
In the month of August, 1849, M. Guénaud, a master baker, still
residing in the Rue St. Martin, Paris, presented the following
appearance:--Age, twenty-eight years; height, four feet eleven inches.
His obesity was such that he was scarcely able to walk, and whenever
he attempted to do so, suffered from difficulty of breathing. When
standing for a short time, he experienced great pain in the region
of the kidneys. He was incapable of superintending the workshop and
attending the flour market, duties which devolved upon him as manager
of an extensive bakery. An unconquerable drowsiness overcame him the
moment he sat down, and rendered him unable to attend to his numerous
accounts. When in bed he was obliged to be propped up by a number of
pillows, in a semi-recumbent position; for if his head happened to be
too low, he suffered from vertigo, dizziness, &c. His countenance was
suffused, and the veins of the head, especially the temporal, were
more than usually distended. The slightest exercise was attended with
excessive perspiration. The cerebral circulation was so much impeded,
that he could not bear even the pressure of a hat; and asserted that
he would not dare to stoop, even were it to insure him a fortune. In
this distressing condition he sought the advice of a physician, under
whose directions he was repeatedly bled, and freely purged. He was
recommended to live upon the smallest quantity of food that nature
would permit, and to diet chiefly upon watery vegetables, such as
cabbage, turnips, salad, spinach, sorrel, &c., and only occasionally
to partake of a very small quantity of meat. He was also directed to
use active exercise, to work in the bake-house, and to take long walks.
But he found it impossible to follow the latter part of this advice, on
account of a feeling of impending suffocation, and severe pains in the
region of the kidneys. He was therefore recommended to take exercise
on horseback; but this even could not be borne, and in spite of every
effort his obesity was constantly on the increase. At last he could not
walk a quarter of a mile, and was obliged to confine himself to the
house, passing his time in a listless, somnolent condition, entirely
deprived of all mental and bodily energy. His mother, who lived in the
neighbourhood of Paris, having seen the advertisement of my book upon
Obesity, and thinking of the melancholy condition of her son, procured
a copy and read it. She thereupon brought her son in a carriage to
my office. Guénaud was quite out of breath from having to ascend one
pair of stairs; he seated himself upon a sofa in my room, and soon
fell asleep. Occasionally he would wake up, and take some part in the
conversation. The mother and her son went home, and on the following
day Guénaud began to carry out the directions he had received from me;
and at the end of thirteen days he was able to walk from the Porte St.
Martin to La Chapelle, where his mother resided, delighted at having
recovered the use of his legs. What astonished him most was that he
had been able to perform the journey on foot, without once taking his
hat off. The latter remark may appear trivial; it shows, however,
the great inconvenience he had been wont to suffer from the violent
perspiration hitherto induced by the slightest exercise. By the end of
the month Guénaud had reduced his weight from one hundred and ninety to
one hundred and seventy-four pounds, and his circumference round the
belly from fifty to forty-three inches. He was recovering his activity,
both of mind and body, and his respiration was already considerably
improved. The treatment was continued two months longer, and at the
end of the three months his circumference was reduced fourteen inches,
having lost forty pounds of fat. His muscular powers were now much
increased. Guénaud had a very short neck; the two masses of fat, which
made his cheeks appear continuous with his chest, have disappeared.
The line of the lower jaw is now perfectly distinct, and without the
slightest wrinkle. Instead of his former aged appearance, induced by
obesity, his figure is now youthful, his countenance intelligent and
sparkling. Before commencing my system of treatment, the patient was in
continual danger from threatening head symptoms. It was generally said,
even by the medical men under whose care he had placed himself, that
he suffered from excess of blood; yet he has not lost a single drop
during the whole course of treatment, and is now free from somnolency,
giddiness and headache. The veins of the head are no longer turgid, nor
does he suffer from excessive perspiration of the head.
I am satisfied that this man, at the present time, has more blood
in his system than he had when labouring under obesity; but the
circulation being now free, all inconvenience has disappeared.
It is unnecessary to add that, owing to the lungs being no longer
oppressed on all sides by a superabundance of fat, their movement is
unimpeded, air finds easy access, and the difficulty of breathing,
with sense of impending suffocation, no longer exist. Guénaud can now
sleep in the ordinary recumbent position. Men of great corpulence, when
walking, experience severe pain in the kidneys, and this arises from
the enormous mass of fat which surrounds these organs, inducing by its
weight a dragging sensation. Guénaud, having lost his big belly, is no
longer troubled with this uneasiness when walking.
With respect to this patient, and in all the other cases which have
come under my care, it may be well to remark that the muscular system
has recovered its tone, and that the muscles are harder than they were
before treatment; and I can safely say, without fear of contradiction,
that every person who has been submitted to my system for the cure of
obesity, is convinced that his flesh, his muscle, has increased both in
firmness and in size.
I have had men under my care weighing two hundred and fifty pounds.
Upon the occasion of their first visit, having felt their limbs, I have
said, "I can diminish your weight by fifty pounds; but these enormous
muscles will be increased rather than diminished in size. You must not
expect a reduction of more than fifty pounds; but fifty pounds less
of fat, distributed among organs overloaded with it, will be highly
beneficial to health."
Guénaud is far from being thin, but he is strong and muscular, and
has the physical and moral energy of a robust young man. His enormous
size had rendered him conspicuous in that part of the city where he
carried on his business as a baker; but when he had become reduced
to the normal size of other men, the change produced considerable
sensation, and excited curiosity as to the cause. He has done justice
to the treatment which has made him once more a man. I will also do him
the justice to say that he has honestly carried out my instructions.
A beefsteak or a couple of cutlets, with a very small allowance of
vegetables, together with half a cup of coffee, constituted his
breakfast. Dinner consisted of meat and a very small quantity of
vegetables. From being a great water-drinker, he had come down to an
allowance of a bottle or a bottle and a half of liquid in a day. When
thirsty he drank but little at a time; and between meals, used to
gargle his mouth with fresh cold water.
A lady, residing in the town of Montereau, wrote to me in the early
part of September, 1849. She was twenty-six years of age, and weighed
one hundred and seventy pounds. Her corpulence was increasing to such
an extent that she would soon be unable to attend to her household
duties. She wished to know if my system of treatment would interfere
with her general health, and whether it would prevent her pursuing her
usual and indispensable daily avocations. On receiving the necessary
explanations, she immediately placed herself under my care, and upon
the 23rd of the same month, she informed me that her weight was already
considerably less, but that her size remained about the same. A letter
of the 12th October following states that she has lost fifteen pounds
weight, and that her size is materially diminished. The treatment was
continued for some time longer, and never caused the least interference
with the discharge of her domestic affairs.
In the course of the following year I received a communication from
Widow Rollin, of Versailles, stating that she is the only support
of a large family, which necessitates great exertions on her part:
that a daily increasing corpulence with most troublesome abdominal
enlargement gives rise to the most serious anxiety as to the future.
Provided no interruption in her daily duties be required she would
cheerfully submit to my treatment. She wrote after seventeen days
trial of the system:--"My corpulence is perceptibly diminished, and I
am no longer afflicted with drowsiness after meals. I follow rigidly
the instructions you have given me, and each day feel more deeply
indebted to you. At the end of the month I shall do myself the honour
of calling upon you, as it is my wish to continue under treatment until
entirely freed from my encumbrance. I can now walk with ease, which was
for a long time an impossibility. The pain in the loins has likewise
disappeared."
Mr. G. Chauvin, a lawyer, living at Castellane, in the department of
the Lower Alps, owing to his increasing corpulency, was subject to
great inconvenience when speaking in court. He adopted my mode of
treatment, and in one of his letters, dated November, 1851, he says:
"I have followed your directions, which have effected the result I
was led to expect. My family have expressed their astonishment at the
sudden and extraordinary diminution of size. But it has been effected
without the slightest bad symptom: the bodily functions have been duly
discharged, and the treatment has been unattended with inconvenience or
danger, &c."
Madame d'Aries, a resident of Bilbao, in Spain, wife of the French
Consul wrote to me on the 12th of May last:--"Following your
directions, I have lost weight. Since my last two confinements the
abdomen had remained unduly large: it is now much smaller. I feel
lighter. I have always been able to walk without experiencing much
fatigue. It was a great trouble, however, to move from my seat. A
peculiar inward feeling, which was a source of great annoyance, has
become almost imperceptible. I can go up stairs without bringing on
shortness of breath, and the benefit derived is as evident to myself as
it is visible to others."
On the 12th of April, 1851, I received a letter from Mr. Roberts, of
Tours, in which he says:--"I am twenty-seven years of age, and weigh
two hundred and six pounds. I fear that my great corpulence, which is
constantly on the increase, may prove exceedingly troublesome. Having
read your book, I am resolved to give your method of treatment a fair
trial. You will oblige by giving me an explicit and detailed statement
as to what is necessary to be done, and by sending from Paris such
medicines as may be necessary."
On the 22nd of the same month Mr. Roberts wrote as follows:--"I
weighed two hundred and six pounds, and now weigh only one hundred
and ninety-two. I measured forty-three inches in circumference, and
now only thirty-one inches. I am delighted with the success which has
attended your system of treatment, and am happy to be able to inform
you of it. Accept my sincere thanks, for I am indebted to you for a
condition which I despaired of ever again attaining. Yours truly,
"ROBERTS."
The following letter has been also received:
"SAINT DIÉ, 24th Nov., 1850.
"SIR,--Having read your book on the treatment of obesity, I
wish to ask if you will undertake my case, although living at
a distance of three hundred miles from Paris. I am fifty years
of age, and possessed of a vigorous constitution. Since I have
retired from business, now ten years ago, I have steadily
increased in corpulence; my present weight being one hundred
and eighty-nine pounds. I am troubled with an affection of
the heart, shortness of breath, and my legs swell, especially
when not taking much exercise on foot. I am not fond of
walking, since it induces great fatigue. My belly has become
much enlarged, and I am greatly troubled with drowsiness.
For breakfast I use coffee with milk, although I am not fond
of it, but I find that it prevents headache, to which I am
otherwise subject, &c. You will oblige me by sending the
necessary instructions, if you can take charge of my case, by
the bearer of this letter, together with such medicines as you
may direct.
"Yours, &c. K."
In answer to Madame K., I sent her the medicine, together with the
necessary information. On the 25th of February I received a letter,
from which the following extracts are made:--"Your directions have been
scrupulously observed for the past fifteen days. I take a daily walk in
the mountains, and to-day was weighed. I have lost but four pounds: too
small a reduction I fear; but perhaps due partly to my temperament. The
medicine requires to be taken in larger doses, I think. Nevertheless I
am well satisfied with the result thus far, being now free from those
troublesome palpitations of the heart to which I have been hitherto
subject."
The 9th of April following this lady wrote: "My legs do not swell as
they used to do, and the palpitations have ceased. I am delighted with
this good result of your method of treatment."
Nothing more was heard of Madame K. until the month of August in the
following year. She then writes that in accordance with the advice of
the medical men of Saint Dié, she, together with her family, went to
take the waters of Plombières. That on her return her legs were again
swollen, and that she suffered from palpitation of the heart, which
gave rise to a choking sensation. She was desirous of again undergoing
the anti-obesic treatment. On the 30th of September following she wrote
that she had followed my instructions during the last three weeks,
and had lost only four pounds in weight; but added, I have obtained
a much more valuable result, and that is, the almost total release
from my troublesome heart palpitation. I have not since heard from
this lady, but I have no doubt that she has been once more cured of
her palpitation, and that she is no longer troubled with swellings
of the feet and legs. The loss of fat in this case has been attended
with freedom from palpitation of the heart, from shortness of breath,
and from swelling of the lower extremities. What explanation can be
given as to the cause of these results? As to her ailments, did they
arise from an excess of blood in the system, or was she suffering from
cardiac disease? Physicians thought so and bled her, administered
sedatives and alteratives, and restricted the diet of the patient.
Still they did not cure her. On the other hand I recommended her food
should consist of meat principally; that she should be allowed strong
coffee and wine; which, together with the employment of alkaline
remedies, reduced her fat and effected a cure. The following season
she goes, together with her family, to the springs, and returns thence
afflicted in the same way as before, and again my mode of treatment
produces the same result.
It is manifest that this heart affection, this shortness of breath,
depended upon obstruction to the heart's action, and not upon any
excess of blood in the system, since I abstracted no blood, but on
the contrary, administered stimulants, together with the use of full
meat diet. The swollen limbs arose no doubt from a partial portal
obstruction, and ceased when the reduction of fat was effected. It
may be urged that the patient was better, or even cured, of heart
palpitation, before she had lost much in weight. She had lost, however,
four pounds; and four pounds of fat occupy a large space. The fat in
a living body is fluid and very light. A pound, therefore, is a large
quantity. When a person begins to lose his corpulency, the reduction
takes place first in the interior of the body, and consequently there
is a great improvement during the first six or eight days in the
general health of obese patients, when treated in accordance with the
principles now advocated.
An English lady wrote to me from Dieppe, on the 15th of July, 1852. The
following is an extract from her letter:--"Arrived here only a short
time ago. I at once made trial of your plan for the cure of obesity,
and have already experienced considerable improvement. I have not
yet had an opportunity of being weighed, and therefore cannot assert
positively that my actual weight is less than it was, but I certainly
feel lighter, and my hands are neither so red nor so fat as formerly."
Madame Meuriot, an actress, then staying at Chatellerault, addressed me
under date the 21st of August, 1851. Her letter is exceedingly lengthy
and full of minutiæ, that would be improper to lay before the public.
But she informs me that her weight in the course of a single year had
increased from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and seventy-five
pounds. In order to retain her theatrical engagements, she determined
to use every possible means to overcome this troublesome _embonpoint_.
She took her food in quantity barely sufficient to sustain nature; made
use of sea biscuit instead of bread that she might eat less. For some
time past she has been taking daily forty drops of the tincture of
iodine, under the direction of a physician, but without appreciable
benefit. Every portion of the body was loaded with fat, and the lower
part of the legs were swollen. Having met with my book and dreading
the effects of the iodine upon her general health, she was anxious
that I should advise her. I did so; and sent the medicine, together
with necessary directions from Paris to Perpignau, where she was then
staying. I received a letter from her on the 9th of October following,
in which she says:--"I am happy to inform you that your treatment has
been attended with the most satisfactory results. My legs are no longer
swollen. I walk with greater ease than formerly, and my breathing is no
longer oppressed. I am unable to say how much my weight has decreased,
not having ready access to platform scales; but my gowns tell me that
my size is less than it was, yet not as small as could be desired." In
conclusion she wished to know whether she might continue the treatment
a month or two longer, and if I thought so, to please send her the
requisite medicine. I did so, and heard nothing further from Madame
de Meuriot until the month of August in the following year. She was
then on her way to fulfil an engagement at Lille, and called to see
me. She expressed great delight in having got rid of her troublesome
_embonpoint_, and said that she had not been afflicted with swelling of
the legs since placing herself under my treatment. "But something has
occurred which I did not in the least expect: since my corpulency has
left me, I have become _enceinte_."
A letter from this lady, dated Lille, the 13th October last, begins
thus:--"Since I last had the pleasure of seeing you, on the occasion of
my departure from Paris, I have become fully satisfied that I am in the
family way, and have been so for the past eight months." My advice was
requested on some points having reference to her then condition.
The preceding facts tend to shew that reduced corpulency is favourable
to conception.
Towards the latter end of 1850, the wife of Dr. Pecquet, of Paris,
purchased my work on Obesity. Having read it, she spoke to her husband
about it, who said that, like most medical men, he was persuaded that
the only way to reduce corpulency, is to eat less than the system
demands.
Madame Pecquet, then about sixty years of age, had long been troubled
with excessive corpulency, and weighed two hundred and fifty pounds.
She had, in consequence of this affliction, passed the greater part of
the last eighteen years either in her arm-chair or in bed. According
to some of the most celebrated physicians of Paris, and also of her
husband, her disease at one time was said to be pulmonary catarrh--at
another time, disease of the heart--and again, something else; till at
length Madame Pecquet had no rest, day or night.
If she attempted to go to sleep in the horizontal position, she was
immediately troubled with a rush of blood to the head, accompanied
with the most distressing hallucinations, which utterly prevented her
from sleeping. She was unable to take exercise on foot, even when her
ailments allowed her any respite, owing to the excessive pain she
experienced in the region of the kidneys, and the abundant perspiration
of the head, which a walk of even a few steps was sure to induce. It
was consequently impossible for her to go out, unless in a carriage.
Those only who are unable to enjoy this pleasure, know how great a
privation it is not to be able to take a walk on a fine day, and how
wearisome it is to be compelled to make use of a carriage in order to
enjoy the advantages of fresh air, or to move from place to place.
Madame Pecquet was so situated, and many a time she has
said,--"Eighteen long years have I been in this condition! Eighteen
years of suffering and misery, in spite of every medical aid which
has been bestowed upon me!" Under these circumstances, we can readily
understand how anxiously she must have sought a means of cure. One day,
without the knowledge of her husband, she took a carriage, and called
to consult me.
Those who believe as I do, that an excessive development of fat may
induce and sustain a generally diseased condition of body, will readily
admit that the diminution of excessive obesity is the only rational
means of cure in such a case.
Impressed with this idea, Madame Pecquet called upon me, and placed
herself under my care. I prescribed some medicine, which she took
without the knowledge of her husband, who, although eating at the same
table, did not perceive that she partook of less vegetables and ate a
larger quantity of meat than usual. Having continued the treatment four
months, Madame Pecquet said to her husband,--"I have been following
the anti-obesic treatment, and weigh at the present time one hundred
pounds less than I did before commencing it. Formerly I was confined
to my arm-chair, in consequence of catarrh or something else. I could
not walk fifty yards without stopping to take breath; and now I can go
out every day if I please, when the weather is fine. Night, formerly
so wearisome, is now a season of delightful and refreshing repose; and,
in fine, I have recovered my health, after eighteen years of continued
suffering."
I again met this lady last year, and found her in the enjoyment of
perfect health. She had not regained her _embonpoint_, but was in all
respects perfectly happy, and gratefully ascribed her recovery to my
system of treatment. On the recommendation of this patient, Madame de
M., in the month of June, 1852, requested me to call upon her. She was
between thirty and thirty-five years of age, and during the last eight
years she had become enormously fat. She was ailing, and had been under
treatment for almost every variety of disease. Most of the medical men
whom she had consulted, owing to the pain she complained of, ascribed
her trouble either to organic pulmonary lesion, to bronchial affection,
or to disease of the heart. She had tried every means of cure. Had been
under the care of many of the principal physicians to the hospitals of
Paris, and also of professors of the faculty. Deriving no advantage
from these, she had consulted homoeopathic practitioners, and had
been treated by them unavailingly. In her despair, she had sought the
advice of a female clairvoyant; and in order that she might obtain
every possible benefit from the treatment, had taken her into her own
house--but her sad condition was in no wise ameliorated.
Possessed of a naturally active and energetic temperament, she was
nevertheless compelled to remain seated in an arm-chair, yet could
not lean back in it, owing to a sense of suffocation which such a
position was sure to induce. When weary of this erect position, the
only relief she could obtain was by leaning upon her left elbow,
resting on the knee of the same side. If she attempted to recline upon
the right side, she was subject to fits of coughing and suffocation.
Her days were passed in this position: at night she was obliged to
sit upright, without any support to her back; and when overcome with
weariness, would fall forward upon the left elbow, the only support
she could endure. Finally, however, in consequence of the great
and continued pressure of the weight of the body, the elbow became
inflamed, an extensive sore formed upon it, and a pad for the elbow
became necessary. She had scarcely any appetite, and had long since
given up the use of meat. She could walk a little about her apartment,
and although her sister had lived for the last six years in the house
on the opposite side of the street, she had not been able to visit
her. Madame de M. although by no means tall, weighed between one
hundred and eighty and one hundred and ninety pounds. Under percussion
the chest proved resonant throughout, and air entered freely the whole
extent of the lungs. By the aid of the stethoscope a râle was heard in
both lungs. Beneath both clavicles there existed scars, the result of
blisters and cauteries. And the whole surface of the chest and the pit
of the stomach were covered with the marks of leech bites. There were
no febrile symptoms. Complexion blonde, with a remarkably fair skin
and large blue eyes, which seemed never to have known pain. Under such
circumstances no organic lesion either of the lungs, the bronchi, or
of the heart could be suspected: and I was satisfied that the great
disturbance of health in the case of this lady arose from excessive
obesity. Having placed herself under my treatment, she experienced
relief the first week, and, at the end of a fortnight, Madame de M. had
perceptibly grown thinner. One morning, when calling to see her, I was
told that she had gone for a ride to the Bois de Boulogne, and that she
had been out also the day before, and was able to get in and out of the
carriage without assistance. She continued to lose her _embonpoint_
and her health became thoroughly re-established. She was able to lie
down in bed, and upon either side. At the end of the month she visited
friends whom she had not called upon for the last six or eight years,
and six weeks or two months after commencing my treatment, she danced
repeatedly at a ball given by her sister upon the occasion of her
recovery. Until then she had not worn corsets for the last six years.
It was not until the month of October following, that I again had
occasion to see Madame de M. Not feeling well, she sent for me. She had
caught cold the day before, when returning late in the evening from
the country, and was slightly feverish. She was, however, quite well
again in a day or two. The last two years she has enjoyed excellent
health, although, like most other ladies, she is occasionally subject
to trifling nervous attacks. In the enjoyment of health and riches, she
leads the fashionable life of a gay young lady. How forcibly does her
present condition contrast with the previous eight long years, passed
in weariness and suffering!
In the month of June, 1852, Mr. Lucian Eté, chief operator in the
chemical works of Mr. Christofle, silverer and gilder, Rue de Bondy,
sought my advice in reference to his corpulence, which gave him much
anxiety, as he feared that he would be obliged to give up work. The
sole support of a numerous family, it required his utmost efforts to
go through the duties of the day. Obliged to be constantly in motion,
and frequently to go up and down stairs, he suffered great pain in
the kidneys, and was often so much out of breath that it was almost
impossible for him to speak when giving his orders or explanations.
His head was constantly bathed in perspiration; and if he attempted to
sit down for a moment, he was immediately seized with an irresistible
drowsiness. He had been repeatedly bled and purged, but without any
salutary effect.
Lucian Eté followed my plan of treatment for two months. During the
first month he lost from fifteen to twenty pounds of fat. I do not
recollect how much he lost in the second month, but at the end of this
time he was so far reduced that further treatment was unnecessary. Let
it be observed, that during the two months he was under treatment, he
was not absent a single day from his duties in the factory.
I heard from Lucien d'Eté last year. He was then in the enjoyment of
perfect health, and his corpulence had not returned.
Mons. Desrenaudes, living in the Rue du Faubourg St. Honoré, became
very corpulent in a comparatively short time. This was a source of
great inconvenience to him, from the fact, that being much devoted to
the pleasures of the turf, his increased weight unfitted him for the
saddle. During the year 1852, he followed my system of treatment for
two months, and obtained most satisfactory results, and, as in every
other case, without necessitating the slightest interference with his
daily avocations.
Madame d'Hervilly, residing in garrison at Elboeuf, with her husband,
a captain in the 2nd regiment of the line, having met with my treatise
on Obesity, came to Paris in order to consult me. After her return
to Elboeuf, she adopted my system of treatment, and a fortnight
afterwards wrote as follows:
"6th July.--Your predictions have been verified. I am now in excellent
health, and no longer suffer from the great oppression to which I
was formerly subject during hot weather. Your medicine, according to
my experience, is everything that can be desired; but I have been a
sufferer for the last thirty years, and it will take some time to
effect a perfect cure. I have not perceptibly diminished in size, but
am sensible of a peculiar freedom of motion of the internal organs. My
husband also intends shortly to put your system in practice."
On the 11th August, this lady wrote again, to say that she was still
pursuing the treatment; that she had not weighed herself, but was then
several inches less in circumference than before.
The treatment was continued, and she became thin. Her husband
subsequently adopted the system for a month, and derived great
advantage from it. I cannot say how much his weight was diminished;
but his great desire was to get rid of an unsightly cushion of fat,
situated upon the back of his neck. I learn from Madame d'Hervilly that
this unmilitary-like appendage has disappeared.
On the 7th August, 1852, M. Alcide Desbouillons wrote to me from Brest,
to the effect that his corpulence was a source of great inconvenience;
that his duties required him to be much on horseback, and consequently
in hot weather he suffered greatly from fatigue. He weighed two
hundred pounds, and measured forty-nine inches in circumference. On
the 2nd September, after twenty days' trial of my system, and, as he
says, perhaps not as rigorously carried out as it should have been,
he weighed himself again, and obtained the following result: Weight,
one hundred and eighty-nine pounds: circumference, forty-five inches.
Twenty days after this he weighed one hundred and eighty-seven pounds,
and measured forty-three inches in circumference. This was but a slight
difference; yet M. Desbouillons, after the first few days of treatment,
could walk with less difficulty, was more active, and was no longer
bathed in perspiration. In his last letter he says, "I am continuing
your plan of treatment, and expect to find a notable amelioration both
in size and weight. The effects produced by your medicine have been
in perfect accord with what you had led me to expect. The experiment
appears so far conclusive, and I trust that my case will prove
thoroughly demonstrative."
If free from prejudice, and willing to acknowledge the truth of that
which is manifest, the cases we have just cited ought to satisfy
any candid enquirer that obesity may be entirely overcome without
prejudicially affecting the general health. At first sight, this would
appear undeniable; yet medical writers, who have hitherto insisted that
a meat diet is conducive to the development of fat, and that vegetables
have an opposite tendency, will not frankly acknowledge their error.
Physicians who have derived their knowledge from books, and from the
lectures of their teachers, must find it difficult to change their
opinions in reference to obesity. With the public, when any one is
told that the imbibition of large quantities of water is productive
of fat, and that feeding upon animal food induces leanness, a similar
degree of doubt is excited as when Galileo asserted that the sun did
not revolve around the earth. On the publication of the first edition
of my treatise upon Obesity, I experienced a degree of impatience,
and even irritation, in view of the systematic opposition which a
self-evident truth received at the hands of the medical profession. At
the present time, however, I calmly recognize that the same happened
in the case of every attempted innovation. I call to mind how Galileo
endangered his very existence. Vesalius, the founder of anatomy,
was saved from the stake only by the interference of his sovereign.
Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation, was compelled to seek royal
protection from the attacks of the medical men of his day. Peysonnel,
a physician of Marseilles, and a great naturalist, devoted himself
to the study of corals and madrepores. In 1727, he laid before the
Academy of Science a monogram, proving to demonstration that corals and
madrepores are structures due to animal life; that what Dioscorides,
Pliny, Linnæus, Lamarck, Tournefort, &c. &c. had thought to be flowers,
are in truth animals; and that these living creatures constructed
and augmented their abodes; the Academy, like most learned bodies,
admitted as truth only that which it taught, and consequently paid no
attention to this memoir, which, nevertheless, was destined to produce
an entire change in a large department of natural history. When, long
afterwards, Trembley published his discoveries on fresh-water polypes,
the studies of Dr. Peysonnel in this direction were remembered, and
naturalists were forced to admit that the physician of Marseilles
was right in maintaining that what had been taken for flowers are
in reality animals. His claim as the discoverer of a fact which was
destined to effect an important revolution in an extensive department
of natural history, has since then not been disputed, nor could it be.
All men, and men of science especially, require time before yielding to
evidence, when that evidence is in opposition to preconceived views,
and interferes with personal interest.
The system I have introduced progresses, and, as some might say, works
wonders, and effects cures in France, in England, in Belgium, in
Austria, in Russia, in Turkey, in Africa; and in almost every instance,
my patients are persons occupying prominent positions--magistrates,
state authorities, general officers, or men of wealth, who have
enjoyed the advantages of a good education, and are able to judge of
and appreciate the merits of my mode of treatment. The judgment of
such a tribunal should convince the incredulous. This is no matter of
faith. I lay claim to the possession of no revelation, which is not
to be explained, or which is to rest solely upon my assertion. I do
not say that my discovery is a mystery, and that it is your part to
believe in it. Under such circumstances, disbelief would not astonish
me, notwithstanding all the cases of cure brought forward; but when
the nutrition of the body is explained in accordance with the laws of
nature, when it is shewn to be in conformity with the well understood
laws of chemistry, and that facts are cited, in reference both to man
and the lower animals, in support of these phenomena, I confess that
opposition to this system excites my astonishment. Physicians cannot by
any possibility advance sufficient reasons against a system which, when
once explained, must appear self-evident to every one.
Another fact in support of this system must be submitted to my readers.
What would a medical man say if I should venture the following piece
of advice: You have a horse you wish to dispose of. He is a good
beast, and travels well, but he is thin. If he were fatter, he would
look better, and you could sell him to greater advantage. Make him
fat; and if, in order to do this, I advised him to give his horse a
double allowance of oats, he would only laugh at me. He would say; why,
everybody knows that if you wish to fatten a horse, the best way is to
give him, in addition to an abundance of hay, bran, mixed with plenty
of water, or in other words, bran mashes; or the horse may be sent to
pasture, to live upon grass, which is composed principally of water and
a small proportion of ligneous matter. Under such circumstances, the
horse will make fat, and his form will become more round and plump;
but if, when he was thin, he was able to travel thirty miles without
sweating and without fatigue, now that he is fat he will scarcely be
able to go five without being covered with sweat, and without shewing
manifest signs of fatigue. When thin, he was a good horse; but being
fat, he has lost his best qualities, which can be restored only by
feeding him again upon less bulky food, with a due allowance of oats,
and a small proportion of water.
I have been informed that the gentleman in charge of the stud of King
Charles X. availed himself of the knowledge of this fact, and allowed
only half the usual quantity of water to the horses under his charge,
and that this plan was attended with the most satisfactory results, the
horses being thereby able to endure a greater amount of fatigue than
under a full allowance of water.
To return to the cases of cure. Madam C., a landed proprietor, living
in the Rue de la Concorde, at Paris, went to take the waters in
Germany, in the year 1851. On her return, she made trial of my system,
on account of excessive corpulence. Meeting with the usual success,
she thought it would be of great advantage to a young lady, a friend,
whom she had left behind her at the watering place, and who was then
in bad health. This young person, about twenty-three years of age, was
very fat, and irregular in her menstrual periods. She was of lymphatic
temperament, very pale, and rarely partook of meat: her ordinary food
consisted of vegetables, sweetmeats, cakes and sweet fruits; water was
her principal beverage. At the pressing instance of Madam C., Miss
C. visited Paris, in order to be under my care. After following my
directions for a fortnight, her health was much improved. Her parents
then came to Paris, and I continued in attendance on Miss C. for three
months. At the expiration of this time, she returned with her parents
to Brussels. She had lost much of her fat, and had become regular. She
ate meat principally, both at breakfast and dinner, and drank wine.
I may lay claim, in the case of this young lady, to have effected a
complete change of temperament. With but trifling menstrual flow, and
great pallor, she was gradually progressing to a state of obesity,
which would have proved entirely destructive to health, which would
have ended in a total suppression of the menses, and ultimately in
death. But now, having overcome her obesity, the menstrual flow has
become normal in quantity, the digestive powers have resumed their
functional activity, so that she can partake of meat and wine, and in
every respect her constitution is fully restored. Should she marry,
she will in all probability have a family, which would have been very
doubtful had she married while in the previous obese condition; and
if she have children, her accouchements will be comparatively free of
danger, and her sufferings much less; for it is well known that very
corpulent females have more difficult labours than those of ordinary
_embonpoint_; while the offspring of the latter are at the same time
healthier. The same rule applies in the case of the human female as
with other mammalia; when fat, conception is of more rare occurrence;
and when they do conceive, they are very liable to miscarry. When,
however, they go to the full period of gestation, the progeny of a
very fat mother is almost always lean, and possesses little vitality.
Moreover, the milk of a very fat mother is neither so abundant nor so
nutritious as that of a moderately thin mother.
M. Albert C. was an officer in the 4th Hussar regiment. He became so
corpulent that he wished to exchange into the gendarmery. In 1852,
he was appointed lieutenant in this branch of the service. His new
position, however, still required him to be much on horseback; and
when required to travel any distance, and to trot for a short time, he
suffered much from difficulty of breathing, and complained of a sense
of oppression in the region of the heart. It seemed as though the heart
had not sufficient space for the execution of its movements. Feeling
naturally anxious about his health, he wrote to me desiring to place
himself under my care. Impressed with the idea that his trouble was
consequent upon his excessive corpulence, I gave him advice, which he
followed for several weeks; but in consequence of a severe wound in
the leg, which obliged him to keep his bed, and undergo a surgical
operation, he left off my plan of treatment. Some time afterwards,
he fell sick; he was bled, leeched, &c., and partially recovered
his health; but the heart affection became exceedingly troublesome,
especially when on horseback. His physician advised him to return to
Paris. On his arrival, he resumed my system of treatment, and after a
fortnight experienced great relief; his appetite had improved, he slept
well, and the pain which he had suffered in the region of the heart
disappeared. When he came to Paris, he was scarcely able to walk, but
at the end of fifteen days he could walk all over the city. His health
became thoroughly re-established on the loss of his obesity, and he was
enabled to resume his military duties.
On the 18th of February, 1853, I received a letter from Mr. L.,
superintendent of a royal factory at Annecy, in Savoy, in which he
says: "You were kind enough to send on the 20th of April, 1851,
medicine sufficient for two months of anti-obesic treatment. Your
directions were scrupulously attended to during the first month, and I
experienced considerable benefit--in fact I lost nine pounds in weight,
and felt more active and much more fit for business. Circumstances
prevented my continuing the treatment during the second month and the
medicine has been lost. After the lapse of two years I am anxious to
resume your plan of treatment, &c." It is now a year since Mr. L.
wrote to me, when I sent him all that was requisite. I have not since
heard from him by letter, but I know that the second treatment was
equally satisfactory. Owing to his favorable report of my system, a
notary of Annecy, during the course of last summer, sought my advice. I
am also indebted to him for other patients.
In the month of June, 1853, Madame de L., of Amiens, consulted me on
her own behalf, and also on that of her husband--both labouring under
obesity. I gave her the necessary directions, together with medicine
sufficient to last two months. She wrote to me on the 2nd of July in
the following terms:
"SIR,--In fulfilment of my promise, I send you a statement
of the result of your treatment. My husband has lost eleven
pounds in weight, and enjoys excellent health. As for myself,
owing to severe indisposition after my return home from Paris,
I have only adopted your treatment during the last eight days.
Please inform me whether the medicine you furnished to me a
month ago is too old to be of any service.
"I have the honour, &c.,
"F. L."
I answered this letter, and no doubt the lady has derived as much
benefit as her husband from the treatment.
"NISMES (GARD) 4th Aug., 1853.
"SIR,--I have read with much interest the second edition of
your precepts, based upon chemistry, for the diminution of
obesity, and have carefully examined every statement you
have so clearly set forth. The result is, that I am anxious
to follow your advice, and to place myself under your course
of treatment. I am a doctor of philosophy and professor in
the Imperial Lyceum at Nismes. During my whole life I have
struggled against this terrible obesity, but almost always in
vain. Nevertheless I have succeeded upon two occasions: the
first, about twenty years ago, by travelling on foot for three
months among the forests and mountains of the north of Europe;
the second time, about twelve years ago, by dint of continued
and intense intellectual labour. Owing to the sedentary nature
of my duties, obesity has since returned in a more threatening
manner, and is no doubt the exciting cause of many ailments
to which I am now subject, such as accumulation of mucus
in the air passages, giving rise to cough, more especially
troublesome because I am obliged to talk during the greater
part of the day; cold feet, with swelling of the legs and
ankles, &c., so that I am no longer able to perform the duties
upon which my daily bread depends. My medical attendant can do
nothing for me. He has prescribed purgatives and a vegetable
diet, without any good result. I have taken thousands of
Morrison's pills, and am worse rather than better, and now my
mind is made up to make a trial of your plan of treatment, in
full confidence that a cure may yet be accomplished.
"DOCTOR HALBERG,
"Professor at the Imperial Lyceum of Nismes."
On the 8th of June Dr. Halberg wrote:
"I find myself infinitely better, my breathing is easy, and I
am considerably reduced in size. My great desire is that the
swelling in my legs may wholly disappear.
"DR. HALBERG."
Towards the latter end of 1851, Madame Wimy, from the town of Marle,
came to consult me in reference to her husband, who was labouring under
obesity to such a degree as to be unable to attend to his business. I
gave her the necessary advice, together with some medicine. On the 19th
of December Madame Wimy told me by letter that her husband had already
much improved, that his breathing was easier, he was more capable of
exertion, and that his corpulence had notably diminished. This lady
again wrote to me in the following year, requesting a further supply
of medicine. She said:--"My husband, before commencing your treatment,
weighed two hundred and seventy pounds: he now weighs only two hundred,
and hopes to weigh still less. You are no doubt in the frequent receipt
of letters seeking advice, for we have many inquiries for your address."
In truth the case of M. Wimy has brought me a great many patients.
Anxious to know whether he still continued my plan of treatment, and
wishing to introduce a statement of his case in this the third edition
of my work, I wrote to M. Wimy on the 16th of October last and received
the following reply:
"MARLE, 19th Oct., 1853.
"SIR,--In your letter of the 16th, you requested me to give
a somewhat detailed statement of my case. I commenced the
treatment under your directions, the latter part of 1851, and
continued it during the early part of 1852. My weight was two
hundred and seventy pounds, and I measured sixty-one inches in
circumference. I walked with great difficulty--suffered much
pain in the kidneys--my legs were swollen. I had a constant
cough, and was much troubled with drowsiness. Immediately
after adopting your system, my fat began to disappear, my
appetite improved, and, after a few months, my weight was
reduced to one hundred and sixty pounds, and my circumference
to thirty-two inches. My health is now excellent. Being
landlord of the Golden Lion Hotel, at Marle, where the stages
put up, my recovery is known to a great many; and travellers
who stopped at my house two years ago, when I was labouring
under obesity, on seeing me at present, and noticing the
wonderful change which has taken place, invariably ask by what
means it has been effected.
"It always affords me great pleasure to acknowledge that my
cure is due to your system of treatment.
"I have the honour to be, &c.,
"JULES WIMY.
"Golden Lion Hotel,
Marle, Aisne."
A person who visited Marle about four months ago, and who had not seen
M. Wimy since the great change had been effected in his appearance,
was much astonished, and made inquiries respecting the cure. Some time
afterwards, this person met, at Orleans, a wealthy gentleman, about
forty years of age, suffering from obesity, and told him what he had
witnessed at Marle; recommending him at the same time to visit Paris,
in order that he might have the advice of the doctor who had freed Wimy
from his excessive fat. This gentleman wrote to Marle, before coming to
Paris, and received a satisfactory answer.
He called to consult with me, saying that he wished to place himself
under my care, provided that it would not interfere with his business
or with his usual habits. He is postmaster at Orleans, and, previous to
the building of the railroad, had a great deal of business to attend
to. Having many more horses than necessary for his business at Orleans,
he has opened a livery stable in Paris. He is consequently obliged
to attend all the fairs and markets, in order to purchase horses and
provender for his two establishments,--the one at Paris and the other
at Orleans, and is almost constantly travelling between these two
cities, and therefore leads a life of great activity. He weighs two
hundred and twenty-two pounds, and wishes to lose fifty pounds of fat,
but he cannot afford to lose a day from his business.
My reply to Mr. M. was, that so far from my treatment demanding any
cessation from work, it would rather give him strength to carry it on.
He began the treatment ten weeks since, and has already lost between
twenty-eight and thirty pounds of fat; and, as I had promised, without
causing him the loss of a single day.
It is said, that in order to be understood and believed, it is
necessary to repeat the same thing over and over again. But all things
must have an end; and all the cases which I might yet report, would
still end in diminution of obesity. It may be said, however, that,
like most medical writers, I report only favourable cases, and conceal
those which are unfavourable. My answer is, that I have never treated
a single case in which a favourable result has not been obtained,
provided the patient has observed my directions for even eight days;
and I am satisfied that if any one could be found to say that he has
not been benefited, that it would be because he has not been willing to
carry out the treatment for even eight days. It has no doubt frequently
happened that a patient has consulted me, and has then followed my
directions for two, three, or even four days, and then, for some cause,
has given them up: under these circumstances it might be said that no
benefit has been derived.
Many such cases have occurred. In one instance, a wealthy man, a
gold-beater by trade, living in Paris, sought my advice. He followed my
system for several weeks, without success. One day I said to him, "I
can only explain your want of success by attributing it to excessive
drinking. You live upon meat principally, it is true; but how much
liquid do you imbibe daily?" His answer was,--"I cannot abstain from
drinking when thirsty, and my thirst is frequent. I spend the whole
day in the factory, among fifteen or twenty workmen, and the heat is
necessarily great, as the nature of our manufacture demands it, and I
am therefore obliged to drink a great deal." I consequently recommended
him to abstain from further trial of a system which, under these
circumstances, could not possibly be of any benefit.
We meet with people who make, or seem to make, a resolution to live
according to a certain plan, for eight or ten days, and who, like
spoiled children, forget the very next day the resolution they had
made. I have met with many such cases. One would scarcely believe that
a lady, reduced to despair on account of her obesity, and threatening
to commit suicide unless relieved of her _embonpoint_, could promise
that she would obey my instructions to live chiefly upon a meat diet,
and to abstain from inordinate quantities of fluid, yet the very next
day would resume her customary mode of living;--breakfasting upon eggs,
preserves, and two or three cups of sweetened tea; and dine upon rich
pastry and sweetmeats, accompanied with a full allowance of champagne.
I could not have believed it possible had I not witnessed it myself.
Men generally carry out my directions more faithfully than women, being
firmer and more persevering in their resolves.
I am almost angry at times with this want of perseverance in persons
who boast that they have carried out my treatment without success. It
would be an easy matter to shew that the want of success in such cases
is entirely their own fault.
A young lady of one of the most illustrious families of France, and
married to a wealthy foreign nobleman, consulted me in the month of
May, 1853, in reference to her corpulence. She told me that her cousin,
the Duchess of X., had derived great benefit from my treatment; and
from what she had witnessed in her case, she was induced to place
herself under my care. She promised to commence my system on the
following day.
A few days afterwards I saw her. She told me she had forgotten to
take her medicine the day before. In subsequent visits, she confessed
that she had not taken any medicine, either because she had been up
very late the previous evening and had laid in bed late that morning,
or that she had been spending a day or two in the country; or that,
having been out for an early ride, she had forgotten all about it.
On the occasion of my last visit, she told me that she was going for
some time to her country-seat, and from thence intended to visit a
watering-place. The Baroness did not follow my treatment for three days
consecutively, and consequently lost nothing of her _embonpoint_. Under
such circumstances, want of success ought surely not to be attributed
to inefficacy of the treatment.
A very corpulent professor adopted my system for eight days, and lost
three pounds and a half in weight. Being relieved at the same time
from a sense of oppression which had continually troubled him, he was
delighted, and spoke of the happy results to many of his acquaintances.
Unfortunately at this time he received from the country a present of a
large basket of grapes, and being very partial to them, neglected my
instructions, and partook of them inordinately as long as they lasted.
The consequence is, that the professor is as fat as ever, although he
had followed my plan of treatment for eight days. Now whose fault is
this? Nevertheless, his acquaintances, to whom he had spoken of being
under my care, will attribute the failure to me. I shall see him again,
no doubt, some of these days, when in danger of suffocation.
The reader who has perused the preceding cases of cure, may say that
I have omitted to speak of obesity accompanied with skin disease, and
in my introduction mention has been made of its frequency. In truth,
many such cases have been met with; but skin disease, in my opinion,
is of such a nature that it is better not to give a hint even of the
parties in whom it has been met with and cured at the same time with
co-existing corpulence.
My method of reducing obesity being thus frankly explained, is perhaps
likely to lose its value in the eyes of many, owing to its extreme
simplicity. M. Desbouillons, of Brest, a patient whom I successfully
treated, wrote to me on the 15th August, 1853:--"On reading your
treatise a second time, I cannot but express my astonishment that the
medical faculty should so long have failed to discover the means which
you now so successfully employ for the cure of obesity."
Having accomplished the object I had in view, it matters not whether
it be the result of little study or of long and deep enquiry into
the secrets of animated nature; my satisfaction consists in having
destroyed those false and prejudicial doctrines which had existed for
ages in the writings and teachings of philosophers, and in having
demonstrated a truth destined to render important services to our
common humanity.