The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-10-24

are ho tWo ttbSutb mclt CohtTdbttu
than flesh and fat. Flesh Is muscle.
consisting OF extremely active cells
of living protoplasm; fat consists
also OF cells but they contain prac-
tically no protoplasm at all, and in
stead Of 1t 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. It may
act as reserve food; 1t may serve to
relieve pressure and to retain the
warmth of the body; but muscular
tissue is crammed with life, and d.
rectly serves its purpose.
We recognize this distinction,
while ignoring 1t, when we say that
a man is putting on flesh; but he is
never doing anything OF the sort
when we say SO. He is putting on
fat; nay, more, II he continues the
process ho 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. l say
advlsedly, 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 inf1ltration.
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 high, his ar
teries are becoming hard, his power
OF thought is becoming impaired; in
due course he will have shock. "
II he RECEIVERS from 1t his bad habits
Will soon recur and he will have an
other. II 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
1t Is high time that the national will
was made and our possessions ap-
propriately bequeathed.
AS a German writer pointed out
not long ago, "the whole secret OF
prolonging ones life consists in doing
nothing 10 shorten it," and there is
nothing more certain than that over
eating shortens life.
1t is only quite lately, however,
that we have begun to understand
this question, and one OF the discov-
cries we have made Is that though
obesity shortens life and is a sign
Of overeating, yet many a man may
overeat who does not become obese
There is no question here of making
unpleasant remarks about stout peo.
pie alone. The truth is that very
few 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 different method of dis.
posing of the surplus.
Now the point l wish to make Is
this-that for every individual, ac
cording 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, ano
all beyond that is merely an excess
Matter is indestructible, we remem
Der, and II, having use for certain
amount of matter, we deposit more
within ourselves something has to be
done with 1t.
1t is quite possible that in some
c&es the least amount of harm may
be effected by turning the superfuitS
into fat and storing it away as con
veniently as possible. Though this
is bad enough in many ways, it may
be less injurious than the attempt o.
the body to consume and destroy tn,
superhuous fuel. In many cases thii
is done, so that thousands of peopl,
who eat far more than is good fol
them never become stout, though
they may be eating more largely ant
doing themselves more harm thar
their plump neighbors, at whom the,
point the finger of ascetic scorn.
These are all preliminary consider
ations and have not yet begun tt
approach the really important matter
to which l wish to devote these arti
cles. 1t is really nothing to me tina
my neighbor should be too stout, bu
1t is serious matter to me. as I
student and lover of society, that tn,
mental powers of the middle aget