Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1884 — Is Superfluous Flesh a Disease? [ARTICLE]

Is Superfluous Flesh a Disease?

Is fat a sign of health? ought long before this to have been settled by a jury of medical experts—if it were possible for a jury all of a trade to settle anything—but it has been left for a woman physician to decide that it is not; to assert, on the contrary, that it is positive evidence of disease, and to attack it and cure it accordingly. It is very well known that several beautiful and prominent women in New York society w r hose fair 30 or 40 years were marred only by a too rapid accumulatian of protoplastic tissue, have, after a summer of seclusion, suddenly appeared rejuvenated- -reduced to refined and admirable proportions, without any loss in color or texture of skin; on the contrary, their old brightness superadded to the charms of a purity and delicacy which rival youth itself. “What is the matter? What have you done to yourself ?” have been the questions asked on first meeting their friends. “Oh, I have been made over,” is usually the joking reply; but one was found who was more communicative. She gave the name and address of the physician who treats over-abund-ant flesh as a disease and cures it, dr at least has produced marvelous results in half a dozen personally authenticated cases. A desire to know how much quackery there might be ii*the treatment and something of the modus operandi prompted a call upon the physician in question. I found a bright, intelligent woman, who would not impress any one as a quack. Her success she attributed to the fact that she had satisfied herself that superfluous flesh was a disease; had studied it and worked out a cure for it—a cure which she claims to be permanent and lasts a lifetime.. In r'egardto the treatment she was, naturally, somewhat reticent, particularly as it varies with difference in constitution and habits, and what is true of one case, therefore, might not be true of another. Of forty cases upon her books, no two were treated exactly alike, but she exhibited her books, in which was kept careful record of the reduction in weight which had followed the treatment from week to week, and of the final return to normal conditions. It was freely stated, however, that the principle of cure was largely based upon diet, which was at first nitrogenous but variable, afterward farinaceous and absolute. The liver is at- • tacked and brought into line by a safe, and special remedy; hot water is used; hot medicated foot baths, and the number of meals at once reduced. It is found that very fleshy people are usually fond of sugar and sweets, and these are tabooed strictly. The reduction of flesh is to the normal standard, to what would be considered the proper weight for the height of the individual,. but the cure is not considered complete when this result is attained. The diet must .be prolonged for a “cure,” and when this is effected the appetite for unwholesome sweets and pastries and for highly stimulating viands has departed. It is a perfectly “natural” cure, if is said, and one quite in harmony with the laws of the constitution of the patient; and if so, it is not difficult to see how widely it must differ from the ordinary system of medical practice.— Health and Home.