The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-21
ANNIVERSARY OF THE
 GREATEST MAN IN
 THE WORLDS HISTORY

Who was-or is-the greatest man In the history of the world?
 The answers to this question will be many and varied. but the honor un- doubtedly belongs to an Englishman, Daniel Lambert of Leicester.
 AS the date of his birth is not exact- ly known, an admiring world, if 1t de- sires to celebrate Lambert's name and perpetuate his fame, will have to choose the anniversary of his death. It was just 1O5 years ago to-day, July 21 1909, that the greatest, of men was called to his reward.
 In Lambert's case, great is defined as a synonym for large" and his greatness was a matter of bulk and weight. The mountainous Lambert weighed 739 pounds. a record for cor puIency which has never been eQuall- ed. Lambert's weight was well at tested by the best scientific and medf- cal testimony of the period, and con- not be doubted.
 Lambert's death, which occurred suddenly, as he went to bed we'll and expired before nine the next morning, was viewed with general regret. "A vast multitude' followed the corpse to the grave at Stamford, in Lincolnshire. The coffin was six feet and four inches in length and four feet and four inch- es in breadth, and was fitted on wheels, upon which the remains of the worlds greatest man were rolled to his last resting place in St. Martini s Churchyard.
 Lambert made a. living by exhibit ing himself, as many obese persons have since done, and on a visit to Lon don in 1906 his presence was announc- ed by the following advertisement:
 MT Daniel Lambert, of Leicester, I the heaviest man that ever lived: who at the age of tn1rty-six years, weighs upwards Of fifty stone, or. hfty-two stone eleven pounds, which is nine ty-one pounds more the the great MT. Bridght weighed. Tickets of ad- mission, One Shilling each.'
 The great MT. Bright" referred to was a tallow-chandler and grocer of Maiden, in Essex, who died in his twenty-fourth year, in 175o, at the advanced weight of 616 pounds. Af- ter his death a wager was made that five ordinary sized men could be. en- closed in his waist-coat. At the test held in an inn in Maldon, it was found that seven men could be enclosed in the garment without unduly stretch ing it.
 Obesity is now declared to be a dis ease, and the. records of all famous fat men bear out this belief. Lam bert died at the age of thirty-nine or thereabouts, Bright was ten years younger when. he. passed away, and one Palmer, a landlord in Brompton, I was unQeI lnlTIys.e a11IeI IS St1lQ to have died of grief after viewing Lambert a man so much greater than himself John Love. a famous heavy man of the eighteenth century, was under forty when he died. An exception to the rule was James Mansfield, who weighed 476 pounds. and who was eighty-two years old when he died in 1858.
 l It was about lR ha1f-century ago when physicians began serious con sideration of methods for relieving obesity and reducing weight In l1S64 William Banting. an English man of excessive corpulences pub nshed a pamphlet setting forth his system by which he had relieved himself of his superfluous flesh, and within a year more than 5O,O0O cop ies had been circulated in Europe and A nerica. Banting recommend ed a dietary composed principally of raw meat. and urged abstinence from beer, farinaceous food, and vegetables and great moderation in the use of sugar and starch. Tn a large meas ure his recon mmendations have been found to be good. and methods Of re- ducing flesh have since been called 'fbanting,'' after the inventor of the original system.