The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1827-09-26
9Ia iSc eIGa940,
ENORMOUS oBsETY

The following is an abstract of the history Of
a case of enormous obsety, which affords some
curious and interesting physiological facts,
and may serve to warn folks of the danger of
excessive eating:
Krocker (of Berlin)--for that was the fell
lows name-dd not, like Bright, Alrens, and
other truly great personages, signalze himself
much in his youth, but was content to cat and
drink the same quantity of food as his neighbors
About the age of thirty he began to give way to
a disposition to devour immense masses of
meat, and themore he ate, the more his appc-
tite increased, until his time was consumed IN
little less than in eating and sleeping. His oc-
cupation was that of butcher, and animal
food was his favorite repast, contrary to the
usual habits of such people. Krocker, howev-
er, would devour from eight to ten pounds of
tripe at meal, or from six to seven pounds of
beef and sausages. He continued in this way
to stuff himself, gradually becoming fatter, I'M
til 1T required sixteen pounds of beef daily to
satisfy his hunger For bet he has frequent
ly devoured the boiled flesh Of an entire calf in
a day, seasoned only with salt, in the presence
of many persons and on one occasion he de-
clared himself ready to attack a second, but
could get nobody to bet against him. He
could not trust himself in the sausage manufac-
tory, as he would eat the minced meat by the
pound, spreading it over bread with little
ceremony as people spread moasses By way of
the last fast, or supper he would clean from two
to three dozen of pettitoes of pigs; and it APP
pears at last to have puzzled his friends to
know how to supply him. His usual drink
was beer, of which he drank from two to three
quarts. In this way he continued to feed him.
self, gradually increasing in bulk, his breathing
became daily more difficult, and his power Of
locomoton daily diminishing until he was at
length obliged to confne himself to his large
chair and to his bed. Every now and then he
was in great danger of suffocation, and it was
on one of these occasions that Graefe, who has
related the case in one of the recent numbers
of this journal, was called to him.
He found the man stretched out upon bed,
complaining of very difficult respiration, to
such an extent as To express his fear of being
absolutely choaked. His lips were Of a dull vi
olet color, his eyes appearing to start from his
head, the conjunctival lining being of q bright
red color the entire countenance was of a
dark crimson; and the pulse was tremulous,
irregular, and frequently intermittent. He
| complained also OF great palpitation of the
heart; although, from the immense projection
of the abdomen and the huge pendulous breasts
it was impossible to bring the hand upon the
! part of the chest covering it. He could only
speak at intervals, and that with great difficult
| ty. The abdomen protuded so as to cover the
upper half of the thighs and on several parts
of its immensely distended surface were round
reddish spots, of about the fourth of an inch in
diameter, hard and painful to the touch, some
what resembling small lipoma or fatty tumors.
Although the chamber in which he lay was
keptv clean, and his linen frequently chang
ed the odour exhaled was exceedingly often
sive, and resembled much tho smell of a dissoct-
ing room, or a butchers shop on the evening
of a hot day Krocker was FIVE feet four inch
es high; the circumference of his abdomen
was Eve feet five inches the circumference of
his thigh two feet four inches of the calf of
his leg ono foot seven inches. His weight at
about 400 pounds but immense as this weight
may appear, other instances arc on record OF
those who have exceeded it. The fat man of
Lcewarden, who was exhibited before the mod
zeal faculty Of Leyden, and taken about from