Transcriber's Notes:
Blank pages have been eliminated.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in theoriginal.
A few typographical errors have been corrected.
The cover page was created by the transcriber and can be considered public domain.
From the French of Dancel.
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY
M. BARRETT, M.A., M.D.
TORONTO:
W. C. CHEWETT & CO., KING STREET EAST.
1864.
PRINTED BY W. C. CHEWETT & CO., KING STREET EAST,TORONTO.
The subject of "Obesity," including itscause and treatment, has received during thepast few years a great deal of attention bothin England and on the Continent. Thousandsof persons have realized the extraordinarybenefit to be derived from the simple treatmentlaid down in the following pages.
Some members of the medical professionhave, in the course of their practice, availedthemselves of the theory first propounded byour Author, but have failed to acknowledge—eitherthrough ignorance or inadvertence—thesource of their information.
Under these circumstances it has beendeemed an act of justice, though tardy, toplace before the profession and the public atranslation of the original work of Dancel,modifications in matters of theory have, however,been introduced, which the progress ofscience imperatively demanded.
The invariable success which has attendedthe treatment of several cases of obesity inthis city, in accordance with the principles establishedby Dancel, warrants the assertionthat the system is in every respect worthy ofpublic confidence.
To the many individuals of both sexes whoare afflicted with an excessive development offat, rendering the ordinary duties of life notonly irksome but ofttimes impossible,—aneasy method of reducing obesity, in nowiseinterfering with the ordinary daily avocationsof the patient, nor demanding any diminutionin the actual amount of food consumed;requiring the use of none but the mildest andmost harmless medicinal agents; improvingat the same time the general health, and augmentingbodily and mental vigour,—mustprove acceptable.
The process will be found not a mere speculativetheory, but one based upon the greatlaws of Nature, as manifested throughout thewhole of the animal kingdom.
Can corpulence be reduced without injuriouslyaffecting the general health? This isthe grand question, and it is suggestive of another,which is:—an inordinate amount offat once having been deposited in and amongthe living tissues, is its presence necessary forthe preservation of the health and life of theindividual? My answer is,—most assuredlyno! Every one knows that an undue degree ofcorpulence is not only accompanied with greatinconvenience to the individual, but is, inmost instances productive of ill health, andtoo frequently of positive disease.
Having answered this question, anotheroccurs:—are there any substances generallyknown to the profession which have the power[viii]either to destroy fat or to cause its disappe