Corpulence

portliness, bulkiness of body. Stoutness may be regarded either as a disease or as excessively good health. It is usually accompanied, if not caused, by a good appetite, an excellent digestion, tranquility of mind, and indisposition to physical exertion. It is not, however, indicative of a sluggish mind. Dr. Samuel Johnson may be mentioned as a corpulent man with a vigorous mind. Stoutness is an enlargement of the soft organs of the body, and an overloading with fat. The muscles and bones do not increase in weight. The cure for ordinary corpulence is exercise, or labor to the point of perspiration, and the avoidance of fat-building foods, such as sweets, fats, wines, potatoes, and rice. Lean meat, game, eggs, fish, green vegetables, especially cabbage and asparagus, and brown bread are recommended. Vinegar is an antifat food article. Many mineral waters have the effect of reducing weight. Bismarck was helped greatly by the use of Kissingen spring water.

Corpulence is due frequently to inherited tendencies in which case a fleshy person may be, and often is, a light eater. Not infrequently corpulence comes on a strong, healthy person as the result of high living and inactivity. Excessive corpulence is due sometimes to a diseased condition of the body which may or may not yield to medical treatment. An instance of the latter case is that of Daniel Lambert of Leicester, England, who died in 1809 in his fortieth year. Lambert ate moderately, drank water only, and slept less than an ordinary person; yet weighed 739 pounds. His waistcoat, still preserved, is so large that it may be buttoned around seven ordinary men. Lambert is supposed to have been the heaviest man that ever lived. He was only five feet eleven inches in height. Other cases are recorded in English journals. A grocer died in 1750, at the age of 29, whose weight was 616 pounds. Another young man, dying at 22, weighed 643 pounds. A girl of 4 is mentioned in scientific papers in 1813 as weighing 256 pounds.

It is stated on good authority that well proportioned men of middle age whose height is 5 feet 6 inches; 5 feet 9 inches; and 6 feet; should weigh about 150, 165, and 180 pounds, respectively. A woman 5 feet 2 inches in height should weigh about 125 pounds.