The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1907-12-03

arc no two tissues more contrasted
than flesh and fat Flesh is muscle.
consisting of extremely active cells
or living protoplasm; fat consists
also OF cells but they contain prac-
tically no protoplasm at all, aud in
stead of it are simply filled with life
less oil. Fat cells are scarcely more
worthy to be called alive than the
cells which compose our nails or
hair. Fat is in no sense part of the
living tissue of the body. 1t may
act as reserve food; It may serve to
relieve pressure and TO retain the
warmth OF the body; but muscular
tissue is crammed with life, and di-
rectly serves it's purpose.
We recognize this distinction,
while ignoring it, when we say that
man is putting on flesh; but he is
never doing anything of the sort
wnen we say so. He is putting on
fat; nay, more, If he continues the
process he will very soon begin to
replace flesh for fat. His muscle
cells, including those of his heart,
Will degenerate, die, and become
replaced by lifeless oil Of fat. I say
advisedly, then, that when a man is
said to be putting on flesh he is losing
flesh, for flesh is muscle, and the
muscles of a man who is becoming
stout are undergoing either simple
atrophy or else atrophy with fatty
degeneration and inhltration.
No one has any business whatever
to be as stout as the John Bull OF our
artists-who are wise in what they
select for the touch of caricature.
That gentleman's corporation is a
sign not of health but of disease. He
eats too much and works too little.
His blood pressure is too nigh, lis ar
teries are becoming hard, his power
of thought is becoming impaired in
due course he will have "shock. "
III he RECEIVERS from it his bad habits
Will soon recur and he will have an
other. If the state of the nation
and its probable future has any cor
respondence to the physical state OF
the grossly overfed and degenerate
person whom the cartoonists portray
it is high time that the national will
was made and our possessions an
propriately bequeathed.
AS a German writer pointed out
not long ago, the whole secret of
prolonging ones life consists in doing
nothing to shorten it," and there is
nothing more certain than that over
eating shortens life.
lt is only quite lately, however.
that we have begun to understand
this question. and one of the iiscoy.
cries we have made is that thou IN
OBESITY shortens life and is a sign
OF overeating, yet many a ma. may
oyereat who does not become obese.
There is no question here of making
unpleasant remarks about stout peo-
PIE alone. The truth is that very
feS OF us, indeed, can escape a gen
eral condemnation, whether we are
stout or not. Thus there is no need
for the stout person to point out that
he eats no more than his neighbor.
who is not stout. Most probably
his neighbor also eats excessively, but
merely has a different method of dis
posing of the surplus.
Now the point l wish to make Is
this-that for every individual, ac-
cordins to his bodily structure. his
habits as to exercise, clothing. work.
worry, and so forth, there is on any
given day certain amount of food
| which is the best for his health. and
all beyond that is merely an excess.
Matter is indestructibie, We remem-
Der, and if, having use for certain
amount of matter, we deposit more
within ourselves something has to be
| done with it.
1t is quite possible that in some
cases the least amount of harm may
be effected by turning the superiority
into fat and storing it away as con-
veniently as possible. Though this
Is bad enough in many ways. 1t may
be less Injurious than the attempt of
the body to consume and destroy the
superhuous fuel. In many cases this
Is done, so that thousands OF people
who eat far more than is good for
| them never become stout. though
] they may he eating more largely and
J doing themselves more harm than
/ their plump neighbors, at whom they
point the finger of ascetic scorn.
These are all preliminary consider
| atoms and 1 have not yet begun ia
| approach the really important matter
| 10 which wish to devote these arti-
cles. 1t is really nothing to me that
/ my neignboT should be too stout. bul
it is a serious matter TO me. as a
student and lover of society. that the
mental powers of tho middle aged