Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-26

Thus, to become larger than the
legal measurement was looked upon
as q decline of youth and beauty,
therefore every one tried to squeeze
their waists into the regulation band, and to
this custom the French corset is said to owe
its origin. The Spartans punished their
soldiers for becoming corpulent and reduced
obese children by rigid fasting, understand
ing better than we of the nineteenth century
do that fat children cannot withstand disease
as we'll as thin children. The Greeks and
Russians professed the most profound con-
tempt for corpulent persons. At the Roman
festival of Bscchus great iun was made Of
the fat Silenus
The physicians of antiquity treated fat as
disease, and were at least as skillful In
their reduction" processes es are the doc
tors of the present day. In addition to en-
ploying most of our so-called anti-eorpulent
cures the ancient doctors resorted to bleeding.
Not Always Good Natured.
There are some popular impressions in re-
gard to the stout which are not supported
by facts One of these impressions is that
the corpulent are always good natured, an.
other that the fat are 'fat witted." An
excess of adipose tissue causes irritabillty
rather than good nature, having its under
lying base in disease. Intellectually the
tat vary, as in disposition, exactly as the
lean do. Some of the greatest minds the
world has ever known have been incor-
porated in fat bodies. Epaminondas, the
great statesman and general, was of such
enormous bulk that three people could not
encircle him with their arms. DIR. johnson
was very stout, and so was Mile. Georges,
the renowned French actress, even in the
zenith of her fame, when Napoleon the
Great SO much admired her acting. He,
too, became excessively feshy, especially
toward the close of his life.
The Princess Mathilde, cousin OF Ma
poleon I'LL, and a woman of brilliant in
tellect, was ponderously stout, a defect she
sought to conceal by wearing loose drapery.
Jules Janin, the prince of critics, was so
tat that bis cheeks and chin protruded
beyond his beard. Balzac was so large that
it was laughingly said that it was days
exercise to walk around him. Rossini broke
the furniture he sat upon, so great was his
weight. The famous Italian singer,
Lablache, was charged three fares when he
travelled.
Fat Mon Who Were Brainy.
Sydney Smith, though fat, could hardly
be called fat wItted. Eugene Sue grew SO
stout that, hoping to reduce himself, he
drank vinegar to excess. This was One 5s
the old time antidotes for corpulence and
one most detrimental to the health. Will
lam the Conqueror, John Sobieski, the
Polish King, and Ludwig XVIII. of
France were all obese men, SO was Pliny
the younger. He inherited his tendency to
corpulence from his mother, whose life he
saved with difficulty at the destruction of
PompeIi, she being too fat to run or even to
walk fast to his yacht. which lay in the bay.
Among the extremely corpulent of illus
trious Romans was Antonius, the Consul
and friend of Cesar, and Caius Marius, the
great General and Consul.
David Hume, the metaphysician,' histo-
rian and political economist, was unwieldy
from excess of adipose tissue. Catherine II.
of Russia became Of immense size, with
layers of double rolling chins. In this par
ticular she resembled good Queen Anne"
of England, who died of obesity. Accord
ing to the physicians of her time, Anne's
grossness of body was caused by her drink
ing hot chocolate and milk, sweetened with
sugar. every night before sleeping.
Eat Sugar and Get Fat.
Nothing fattens one more rapidly than
sugar, five ounces of which, eaten daily, il
is said, will increase the weight one pound
a week. This is fact for the consideration
of the lean who wish to become stout. Du-
mas pere and st. Beuve are two more in
stances of fat men, decidedly not fat-witted.
The list might be prolonged, but enough
examples have been cited to prove that,
however enervating to the physical powers
obesity may become, it does not necessarily
diminish the intellectual activity.
Are the fat always good naturedf The
old proyerb Of "Iaugh and grow tat" would
lead us to think SO. but it is not the obese
who laugh so much as the lean who laugh
them.
their waddling walk. their shortness Of
breath. their sufferings from heat and from
the slightest fatigue have from time I'M
memorial been considered legitimate sub
jects for mirth and ridicule. Even Shake
speare in his immortal creation of Falstqf,
says: 81 shall think the worse of fat men,"
CELIA LOGAN.