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:
I have not felt so well as now for the last twenty years.
Have suffered no inconvenience whatever in the probational
remedy.
Am reduced many inches in bulk, and 35 lbs. in weight
in thirty-eight weeks.
Come down stairs forward naturally, with perfect ease.
Go up stairs and take ordinary exercise freely, without
the slightest inconvenience.
Can perform every necessary office for myself.
The umbilical rupture is greatly ameliorated—and gives
me no anxiety.
My sight is restored—my hearing improved.
My other bodily ailments are ameliorated—indeed almost
past into matters of history.
I have placed a thank-offering of £50 in the hands of my
kind medical adviser, for distribution amongst his favorite
hospitals, after gladly paying his usual fees, and still remain
under overwhelming obligations for his care and attention,
which I can never hope to repay. Most thankful to Almighty
Providence for mercies received, and determined
to press the case into public notice as a token of gratitude.
I have the pleasure to afford, in conclusion, a satisfactory
confirmation of my report, in stating that a
corpulent friend of mine, who, like myself, is possessed
of a generally sound constitution, was laboring under
frequent palpitations of the heart and sensations of fainting,
was, at my instigation, induced to place himself in
the hands of my medical adviser, with the same gradual
beneficial results. He is at present under the same
ordeal, and in eight weeks has profited even more largely
than I did in that short period; he has lost the palpitations,
and is becoming, so to speak, a new made man—thankful
to me for advising, and grateful to the eminent
counsellor to whom I referred him—and he looks forward
with good hope to a perfect cure.
I am fully persuaded that hundreds, if not thousands,
of our fellow men might profit equally by a similar
course; but, constitutions not being all alike, a different
course of treatment may be advisable for the removal of
so tormenting an affliction.
My kind and valued medical adviser is not a doctor for
obesity, but stands on the pinnacle of fame in the treatment
of another malady, which, as he well knows is frequently
induced by the disease of which I am speaking,
and I sincerely trust most of my corpulent friends (and
there are thousands of corpulent people whom I dare not
so rank) may be led into my tram-road. To any such I
am prepared to offer the further key of knowledge by
naming the man. It might seem invidious to do so now,
but I shall only be too happy, if applied to by letter in
good faith, or if any doubt should exist as to the correctness
of this statement.
WILLIAM BANTING, Sen.,
Late of No. 27, St. James St., Piccadilly,
Now of No. 4, The Terrace, Kensington.
May, 1863.
