Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence: the various causes and the rational means of cure

The principal constituents of fat, therefore, are carbon and hydrogen. Again, chemistry teaches that all food not consisting of flesh, such as vegetables, farinacea, sugars, &c., resemble fat, being chiefly composed of carbon and hydrogen; and, still more, that fat exists, already formed, in some vegetable substances, as oil of olives, oil of nuts, and oleaginous seeds. If, therefore, we introduce into the system substances rich in carbon and hydrogen, we must make fat as inevitably as the bee makes honey from its elements contained in the flowers.

On the other hand, we learn also from chemistry, that one of the principal constituents of meat is nitrogen, an element which does not enter into the composition of fat. Food consisting chiefly of meat must be less productive of fat than food mainly composed of carbon and hydrogen, such as vegetables, &c.

Distinguished chemists have endeavoured to shew in what manner the development of fat takes place in the animal economy. A paper was read by me before the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, on the 15th December, 1851, from which the following extract is made:

"Three different opinions are entertained by distinguished chemists, who have given attention to this subject. The first, that of Dumas, maintains that the fatty matter of the body is derived solely from substances analogous to fat in composition, which pre-exist in the food. The second opinion, that of Liebig, is to the effect that the formation of fat is due to a modification of those ternary compounds which constitute so large a proportion of the food of animals. The third opinion suggests that fat may arise in consequence of some special fermentation taking place in the stomach.

"Numerous experiments have been made, in order to determine which of these opinions is correct; but it may be safely said that no satisfactory conclusion has been arrived at.

"In the first place, the experiments have never been conducted under circumstances favourable to the formation of a correct opinion. It is obviously of the first importance, when conducting experiments of this nature, that the food should be supplied so as not to interfere with the tone of the general health, considered morally as well as physically. We can conceive that the deprivation of liberty, in the case of an animal usually in the enjoyment of freedom, may render the experiment of dubious import. Although man is omnivorous, it is impossible that any one can submit, for a great length of time, to live upon one kind of food only, without suffering a sense of loathing.

"What inference can be drawn from those experiments, made for the purpose of ascertaining whether sugar is capable of producing fat, when they were made upon pigeons and doves, which were fed solely upon this substance; at one time being deprived altogether of water, and at another time allowing them as much as they chose to drink?

"Chemists wished to know if butter could engender fat, and doves have been gorged with it, being deprived of all other food during the few days that the experiment lasted; at the end of which time they died, of course excessively lean; and the experimentalists thence concluded that butter does not produce fat. What an extraordinary idea, to feed a granivorous animal upon butter solely, in order to test the question referred to! This experiment forms the subject of a paper written by me, and inserted in the proceedings of the Academy of Sciences, for the year 1844.

"Other experiments upon animals, conducted likewise by men of science, are less open to criticism than the one just referred to; yet it must be confessed that no safe inference could be drawn from them. I am about to submit a few established facts, which may throw some light upon the question as to the cause of the development of fat.

"For several years past I have given much consideration to the reduction of corpulency in cases where it interfered with the comforts of life, and I can reckon by thousands those who have followed my instructions. I have established it as a fact, without a single exception, that it is always possible to diminish obesity, by living chiefly upon meat, and partaking only of a small quantity of other kinds of food. Make use of whatever medicine you please, it is impossible to obtain the same result in the case of a person partaking indiscriminately of everything which may be placed upon the table. There is yet another condition, without which success is impossible; that is, to absorb but little fluid, whether in the shape of soup or drink, or by means of the bath. A moist atmosphere is favourable to the development of fat: we increase in weight in wet weather.

"I have thousands of cases on record, in support of my statement. Persons from all parts of the world, who have followed my teachings, have experienced a decrease of their corpulence."

The paper upon this subject ended by saying, that according to my opinion, fat might be assimilated by either of the three several methods set forth in the beginning of the essay, one not forbidding the action of the others. I begged to be acknowledged by the Academy as the first who had established the fact that, in order to reduce corpulence without interfering with the general health, it is necessary to live chiefly upon meat, avoiding an excess of vegetable and aqueous food, or of any of which the basis is carbon or hydrogen.

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.

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 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 homœopathic 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.

Madame d'Hervilly, residing in garrison at Elbœuf, 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 Elbœuf, 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.

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."

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.

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.

"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."

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.