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LETTER
ON CORPULENCE,
Addressed to the Public.
BY WILLIAM BANTING.
FIFTH EDITION WITH ADDENDAS,
AND REMARKS BY MR. HARVEY, F.R.C.S.
NEW-YORK:
MOHUN & EBBS,
Booksellers, Publishers & Importers.
1865.
This letter is respectfully dedicated to the Publicsimply and entirely from an earnest desire to confer abenefit on my fellow creatures.
W. B.
CORPULENCE.
Of all the parasites that affect humanity I do notknow of, nor can I imagine any more distressing thanthat of Obesity, and having just emerged from a verylong probation in this affliction, I am desirous of circulatingmy humble knowledge and experience for thebenefit of my fellow man, with an earnest hope it maylead to the same comfort and happiness I now feel underthe extraordinary change—which might almost betermed miraculous had it not been accomplished by themost simple common sense means.
Obesity seems to me very little understood or properlyappreciated by the faculty and the public generally, orthe former would long ere this have hit upon the causefor so lamentable a disease, and applied effective remedies,whilst the latter would have spared their injudiciousindulgence in remarks and sneers, frequently painful insociety, and which, even on the strongest mind, have anunhappy tendency; but I sincerely trust this humbleeffort at exposition may lead to a more perfect ventilationof the subject and a better feeling for the afflicted.
It would afford me infinite pleasure and satisfactionto name the author of my redemption from this calamity,as he is the only one that I have been able to find (andmy search has not been sparing) who seems thoroughlyup in the question; but such publicity might be construed[4]improperly, and I have, therefore, only to offermy personal experience as to the stepping-stone to publicinvestigation, and to proceed with my narrative of facts,earnestly hoping the reader will patiently peruse andthoughtfully consider it, with forbearance for any faultof style or diction, and for any seeming presumption inpublishing it.
I have felt some difficulty in deciding on the properand best course of action. At one time I thought theEditor of the Lancet would kindly publish a letter fromme on the subject, but further reflection led me to doubtwhether an insignificant individual would be noticedwithout some special introduction. In the April numberof the Cornhill Magazine I read with much interestan article on the subject—defining tolerably wel