The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-08

the subject. He did not claim even for his
medical adviser, whose name he at first re-
fused to disclose, the merit Of discovery: he
detailed merely the instructions which he had
received, and their important results. He
now asserts that he furnishes abundant evi-
dence of the value of his conjecture; and no
one, on reading the new edition of his work,
with its prefxed and appended matter, can
gainsay the fact.
What Mr.. Banting really has accomplished
is owing to persistent publication, which had
The effect of stimulating discussion, and
bringing into notice practice which, with
the principles upon which it is based, has for
many years been known to psychologists
The extraordinary feature of the Banting
controversy is that, considering the light
which modern science has shed on the
economy of the body, writer's should have
been found to cavil at the system. Perhaps
the cause of this was that, as the application
Of the principles to the relief of obesity had
never been generally made, both principles
and application were comparatively but little
known. This probably arose from the fact
that the principles had never, before Mr.
Banting's time, been reduced to such precise
rules as those adopted and carried out reso-
lutely by him; and this, again, was probably
occasioned by the fact that physicians, as a
body, we're indisposed to reduce to system
that which would form a treatment appa-
rently SO simple as to be practised with i'm
punity by anybody, and yet one which,
attempted without due regard to individual
organization, would prove highly dan
gerous. To person with taint Of con-
sumption, the deposit of adipose tissue
is literally Of vital importance. Its
arrest produces dangerous, if not fatal, con-
sequences. We see around us every day
most insane tampering with health. Moder-
ate bathing, under certain conditions, is
healthful, and in certain diseases, curative.
Some persons practise immoderate bathing,
under improper conditions, for any diseases.
We have known cases in which thin, weakly per-
sons have been subjected to a course of cold
douche baths accompanied with meagre diet.
Cold in contact with the body absorbs heat
from it. On the other hand, nature tends to
maintain it at its normal tempera-
ture. Whence comes the surplus heat
which, when cold is applied to it,
tends to accomplish that object From the
combustion of the fatty portions of the body
itself. Consequently if the body is put on a
| meagre Diet it is stinted in that which pro-
| duces fat, and if, at the same time, cold is
applied to the surface, its fatty tissue wastes,
| and might be exhausted, since nothing can
| yield without. diminishing, unless corre-
| spondingly replenished. We must believe
| that the consideration of the evils that would
result from the abuse of dietary for the
reduction of obesity restrained physicians
| generally from publishing one, and
actuated many persons who opposed
Banting's, for, indisputably, the princi-
| Piles on which to base such dietary have
long been known to many of the educated,
| putting out of the question, scientists. The
| Banting system, so-called, is founded on two
well-established facts-al food is divisible
into fibre-renewing and fat-producing ele-
ments. No food consists exclusively of either,
| bat the relative proportions Of each in ordi-
| nary foods are known. Saccharine and farina-
ceous substances, being fat-producing, food
in which they either preponderate or exist in
large amounts should be avoided by the
| obese
To some persons, perhaps not the least
amusing part of Mr.. Banting's work. in its
| present edition, would be the letters selected
from nearly two thousand sent by the afflicted
of all ranks and conditions, who by means of
his system had been relieved of the burden
which they were bearing through life. If we
except two one Of whom is a count, the
French correspondents of Mr.. Banting are,
as might be expected, the most expansive in
their expression of gratitude to him. ''Vous
avez des grands droits ma reconnaissance, "
writes Frenchwoman ''pour m'avoir delivree
dun fleau qui faisait le d6sespoir de mon ex-
istence." A French merchant writes:
''J'etais triste ct dSsespere, malheureux, ct
j'afiigeais tous ceux qui m'entourent. Vos
conseils, cher Monsieur, m ont rendu moi
meme ceux qui me sont chers." One is
reminded of Sterne's perruquier, who sold
him wig ''But fear, friend, said Sterne,
'tbis buckle won't stand" ''You may i'm
merge it into the ocean" was the reply, 'and
it will stand"
Mr.. Banting says, 81 deeply regret not
having secured Photographic portrait of my
original figure in 1862, to place in juxtaposi-
ton with one of my present form. 1t might
have amused some, but certainly would have
been very convincing to Others and astonish-
ing to ALL that such an effect should have
been so readily and speedily produced by the
simple method of exchanging a meagre for a
generous dietary, under proper advice Mr..
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