The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-12-15
Great Men Of Genius.
AND THE ENORMOUS WEIGHT SOME OF
THEM ATTAINED-IIEAVY MEN WHO
WERE DISTINGUISHED As AU-
TnORs AND COMPOSERS

Fat is by some considered an indica-
tion of laziness. Physically, this is to
a certain extent true, but not mentally.
Some of the greatest men the world
ever saw were plump even to obesity.
Napoleon was decidedly embonpoint.
Some one says that men of genius had
a parchment look formerly, because be-
ing underpaid, they were constantly un-
derfed That type is now, however, as
extinct as the dodo or megotharus.
There are no literati now, who, like
Saudery, flavor their crust with piece
of bacon stolen from mouse trap.
DIR. johnson was fleshy, even to clum-
siness. So was his biographical shadow,
Boswell. William Writ, the great or
ator of the early part of the century,
and attorney in the Burr trial, laced
with corsets so that, he was frequently
carried fainting from the court room.
Balzac, the French novelist, was 50
stout that il was days exercise to
walk around him; and he was encircled
with bandages, as if he were hogs
head. Rossini, the musical composer,
was a regular Jumbo, since for six
years he never saw his knees. The
small boys called him hippopotamus
in pantaloons. Jules Janin, the prince
of critics, broke every sofa he sat down
upon; his chin and cheeks protruded
beyond his beard and whiskers. La
blanche was charged three fares when
he travelled. Dumas the elder was
stout. Saint Beuve was cursed with
the stomach of Jack Falstaff. Eu-
gene Sue, the author of the Wandering
Jer, as well as Lord Byron, so dread
ed becoming fat that he INDUCED in
vinegar and lemon. 1t is generally
considered. when speaking of people
remarkable for flesh, that Daniel Lam
bert leads the list. He was an English
man by birth, born in l77O. Up to
the age of 10 he was merely a muscu.
lar fellow, able to lift great weights
and carry 500 pounds with ease. lie
succeeded his father as keeper of
prison, led an easy. sedentary life,
which soon told upon his bulk. In
1903 he walked from Woolwich to
London to reduce himself. He weigh
ed at that time l4S pounds. He grew
so fat that he could no longer attend to
the duties of his Office, and the magis.
trate retired him on a pension of 5000
a year. Fat as he was he was an ex-
cellent swimmer, and opened SWIM
ming school, where he gave lessons
with great success. So great was his bulk
that he could swim with two men on
his back. Retiring. he determined to
exhibit himself, and, being unable to
travel in an ordinary vehicle, had one
made for him. In London he was
quite the centre of attraction, from the
King down. In June 1909, he weigh
ed, and tapped the beam at 1877
pounds. His measure round the waist
was three yards four inches, and he
was one yard four inches round the
leg. Each suit of clothes cost him
500, and were, of course made to or
der. Seven ordinary men could be
be buttoned under bis coat at a time.
He died on June 20, 1900, and his
coffin was feet inches long, feet
4, inches wide, feet inches deep
and requiredl12 superficial feet of
plank to make it. 1t was built on two
aXle-trees and four wheels. Twenty
men worked half an hour to get this
monster into the grave, and at last slid
the coffin down an incline plaine.