The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-08
SURPLUS FLESH
IS A BLESSING
Being Fat Makes This Life a
Joy Forever
SAYS THE PHYSICIAN
Now at Last Comes Consolation TO the
Fat Man, for Years the jest of
Comic Artists in All Parts
of the World
SAYS THE PHYSICIAN
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.

From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Now at last comes consolation for The
fat man and for the lady with a tendency
toward embonpoint.
For years they have both been the jes
of the comic artist and outlawed by fash
ion. More especially has the stout woman
suffered since the cruel edict that hips
must GO" and since to the well-dressed
from the feminine viewpoint. meant to ap
pear as two vertical parallel lines. the
closer together the more fashionable.
| But now comes a doctor who, without
SAYING that fat men are more elegant
than thin men and ladies of embonpoin'
more beautiful than wisp-like sylphs, de-
clares that solid fat has been unappre-
ciated and much misunderstood
DR.. George N. Niles, lecturer on physiol-
ogy at the Atlanta School of Medicine
also asserts in SO many words that to DC
fat is to be genial in disposition and op-
timistic in Temperament, while to be thin
is to be restless, pessimistic, uncontented
and temperamentally dissatisfied with life
in general.
Therefore, grow fat and rejoice in your
fairness.
DR.. Niless remarks were published in
recent issue of the Journal of the Amer-
can Medical association. 1t is apparent,
from the style In which his paper is writ
ten, that the doctor himself felt the SUD-
1ect was a ticklish one-risibly tickllsn'
He sometimes rises from the serious argu-
ment of fat to a semi-humorous ho"ery'
oratorical paean in praise of adipose mat
ter.
THE role of fat may be said to be ma
terial, aesthetic and psychic writes Dr.
Niles 1.-THE first may be physiologic path
ologic. or economic in its aspect, the sec
ond may mark the difference between
the rounded anatomic contour, displaying
at its best the human form divine the
beauteous Venus, the plump Cupid. and
the haggard ugliness shown in emacia-
ton, or in the stage Of the 'shrunk shank
and the lean and slippered pantaloon.
The psychic effect of being fat, accord
ing to the doctor, manifests itself in its in
f1uence over the temperament and dispo-
sition. from the earliest childhood, pr
from the moment when, under the subtle
urging of egg Hips or a tonic, the body
begins to grow In bulk of fatty tissue.
AS fat is acquired, so, according to the
champion of it. the mind that rules and
Is ruled by matter acquires rose colored
outlook, a sunny geniality, patience
with the small irritations that are so
characteristic of the lean and hungry
Cassius" and an involuntary philosophy
which smiles upon the life from a center
of buttressing avoirdupois.
Fat pounches have lean pates,' may
have been Shakespeare belief in one
play but in later play he had to admit
that "well-liking wits they have"
1t would appear, too, that fat has been
blamed-most unjustly, says DR.. Niles
for the sins and delinquencies of other
foods
I'm fact" says DIR. Niles, emphatically,
1.-The role of fat is unappreciated and
much misunderstood. and 1t has not re-
ceived sufficient consideration
From the aesthetic view the doctor
points out that In the history of painting,
poetry and novel writing degrees of fat
have ever been employed to mark the diff
ference between beauty and ugliness In
delneating physical charms, artists have
never made use of emaciation. While they
have never employed the ticklish word
fat" 1t is a certain amount of this same
freshness which has been used to con-
vey the idea of human beauty.
This is negatively proved by the fact
that Williams are usually depicted as lean
and cadaverous," with peaked nose, Ian
tern jaw and skinny limbs" When the
son who, like Falstafr. is comically stout,
or disgustingfy so.
But" says DIR. Niles. there is no
loneliness where there is an absence of
fat"
If there is anything in the argument
that 'if to be fat is to be hated then
Pharaoh's lean kline are to be loved,
then as lean kline are not admired, to be
fat should be to be loved
But opinions vary among different races
as to the degree of fat that constitutes
human physical beauty. The fatter the
Turkish lady the fairer the pride of the
harem Germany and Holland rather in
cline to fairness as physical charm, while
England has ever held It's noblest Britor
to be after the bovine order of masculine
beauty. 1t is hardly worth mentioning
save as a reminder, that the wise and
great julius Caesar disliked men who
were lean.
Let me have men about me that are
fat" says Julius, when he feels that the
characteristic of the lean kline are moving
in conspiracy. Caesar knew that fat mer
had a genial, child-like, unconspiring ma
ture.
Dr. Niles provides some interesting facts
on fat-facts which are not intended fol
the guidance of those who wish to reduce
weight Ear from It! DR.. Niles woul6
have no one throw away that which he
says is preventive of colds, a natural fue
reserve and, after due consideration. 9
thing of beauty.
| But every healthy body, he says, has
about Is to 20 per cent of fat. Where there
is tendency to embonpont, either inner
tied or as result of certain age or GER
| tain habits at the dinner table, fatnes:
readily increases when such a person In
creases dietary pursuits and decreases
physical exercise.
| Sleep is one of the greatest fat pro
ducers. he says. 1t should be apparen
at once, If this is so, that those who arr
the keenest pursuers of fashion SHOULD
At in with the no-fat decree of fashion
| for the maximum of fashion Is closely
and naturally related to the minimum o.
sleep.
Another consolation for the fat person
| is that, to such, life is a less precarious
matter. Granting that it is not altogethe
wise to approach the fatty degeneration
stage of obesity. this medical champion o
human bulk says that the fat person!
powers of endurance are greater than thu
| thin mans.
c,nnoee shin went down IN rnid-ocea